Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Gunz

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/bob-costas-seeks-to-clarify-controversial-gun-comments

I started this post on the day after Bob Costas made comments on Sunday Night Football, related to the death of a KC NFL player who, before taking his own life, killed his girlfriend (and mother of his child).  The NRA's response to this? As you might imagine, Ol' Weenie LePutrid is comin' out with the "Obama wants to haz YUR GUNZ!!"

Well, aside from the fact that it's a complete fabrication and a deliberate misrepresentation  of current U.S. firearms ownership policies....

So over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton put up this post:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/12/10/obamas-coming-for-the-guns/#more-13586

On the comments thread I left this comment:
________________________________________

Weenie LaPutrid makes the top 25 list, here:

http://www.charitywatch.org/hottopics/Top25.html

He comes in sixth, the first three on the list are doctors who are, ostensibly involved with organization that SAVE lives. Fourth place goes to  the President of the Jim DeMint Propaganda..., er, I mean The Heritage Foundation. In Fifth is the head of the Bigot Scouts of America.
I'll bet when they all get together for their annual meetings, the reptilican disillluminati have a good time yankin' Ol' Weenie's chain about bein' the third best paid. I mean, wtf, he lies just as much as they do (and about as convincingly, at least to people who actually use their brains to think). he should be as well compensated.

The NRA wants unfettered freedom and ZERO responsibility. I'll bet the beverage alcohol and tobacco industries--to name but two of the bidnetheth out there that cater to people who do things that might get them or others killed--ask their lawyers and lobbyists why they can't get that sweet deal for them.

No liabilities attach to people selling guns that are used to kill and maim. No liability insurance is required for those who own firearms and have them disappear and turn up later at a crime scene. Dozens of "accidents" involving "unloaded" or "I keep the gun on the nigntstand, for home protection. I have no idea how the three year old got his hands on it and shot his snotty older sister." scenarios go unprosecuted as they are "horrible, unforseeable tragedies" instead of "negligent manslaughter"* or some other category of crime.

Gunzloonznation** loves to say that Ol' Weenie does what he does just because he loves his 2nd Amendment Freedumbness. Bullshit, follow the money.

with a pair of footnotes which are at the bottom of the page.

Then a commentor, Dingojack--from Australia--asked about the upcoming Zimmerman trial, scheduled for next June.

I answered his question with one comment about the trial and the "Stand your ground" laws in Florida.
____________________________________________________

Dingojack:
The FL case ( I assume you mean the Zimmerman murder trial) is scheduled for next June. This one:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/28/us/florida-music-shooting/index.html
is of more recent vintage, about two weeks ago. The shooter claims, after telling someone to turn down their loud music (he was in the parking lot of convenience store, not his own property or property for which he had responsibility or control) got some backchat from one of the youths, returned to his auto and grabbed his trusty semi-auto pistol and fired 8 or 9 rounds into the car, killing one youth–the one who gave him the backchat. He is, of course, invoking the “Stand your ground” law and saying that HE saw a shotgun in the car, which the poleece–being the moronz that they are–couldn’t find when they searched the vehicle in which the decedent’s body was found.
___________________________________________________________

and a second post about the lie that a lot of gunzloonz like to tell about places like the U.K. and Australia being "Free fire zones" for armed criminals.
_________________________________________

(Dingojack)

I'm told, btw, that you people down in Oz fear for your lives 'cuz you don't can haz teh gunz and are virtual sheep being lead to slaughter by your Gunzhatin' gummint. I know it's true in the U.K. where they had almost THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MURDERS*** committed with something other than a pointed or edged weapon in 2011. By way of contrast, the U.S. state of AZ had ONLY 222 murders**** committed with firearms in the same period. So, there--everbody knows "Gunz don't kill people, Gunzhaterz kill people by keepin' them from hazzin' teh gunz!'.
_______________________________________________________________

There are many, many people with whom I disagree on a wide range of subjects but I find that gunzloonznation guyz are the ones most likely to have read nothing beyond the rantings and railings of their own cheering section. Here's a hint, fellas, if it comes out of Weenie LaPierres liehole it's not worth much in the marketplace of truth.




* Compare and contrast this story : http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20121208pennsylvania-gun-store-boy-shot-killed-mercer.html with the death early last Saturday of the Dallas NFL player who died in an automobile accident while in a car being driven by a teammate who was arrested for DUI. If that death is adjudged the result of a DWI the penalties are severe, up to and including life in prison (99 years, actually). This is not to get into the area of civil litigation which will probably result in the offender being bankrupted by wrongful death lawsuits--whether he wins or not.

** This is NOT the responsible firearms owner--even those with whom I disagree about their need for ccw--but those who equate ANY regulation with the sort of bullshit that LaPutresence peddles as a fait accompli waiting only for sufficeint transport and nancybooted FEMA jackthugs to start the door-to-door collectin'.



***     http://www.citizensreportuk.org/reports/murders-fatal-violence-uk.html

****   http://www.azdps.gov/About/Reports/docs/Crime_In_Arizona_Report_2011.pdf

NB Math is not my strong suit--more like a leopard print thong, if you get my drift--but I extrapolated from the data provided to come up with figure of 222 firearms related murders. Somebody can check my calculations and haul out the steel edged ruler if I'm wrong.l

Why I'm not brokenhearted and bereft at my lack of comments

In my several years of blogging and commenting I have been on blogs that receive thousands of comments on a SINGLE post and on blogs that don't have any comments, by design or otherwise.

It seems to me that, blogging, like journaling or writing poetry, is often a way for a person to simply put their thoughts into words. In writing (or speaking) we employ the use of syntax, grammar and various organizing prinicples. In writing we also need to be aware of punctuation and spelling if we intend to be understood*.  So, blogging is in the first instance, for many folks, a private process made public. For some it's a way to raise money or attempt to influence others in areas of social policy, political activism or other areas.

My blog draws a very small number of comments these days. It would be nice to have some thoughtful persons commenting--whether they agree with me or not--and offering their "two cents". Otoh, back when I allowed commenting without moderation I had to come in with a broom and dustpan every few hours to sweep up the merde mots that were left by some seriously deranged people (gunzloonz, almost exclusively). I decided after a year or more of that sort of nonsense that moderation was required. Since then I have had exactly three comments by those clowns.

I might wonder if they were "boycotting" my blog to hurt my feelings; if that's their aim? Please, oh, please do not throw me into the briar patch, fellers!

To those of you who lurk without commenting:

If it's because of the commenting process being a pain in the ass, sorry, but I think it's necessary to keep the shitbombs at a minimum. If it's because you like to pop in occassionally, read a bit and say, "Yep, same ol' crazy democommie.", then, enjoy.





*   Obviously I misspell a lot of words.  Most of the misspelling is deliberate and done for effect, I'm quite sure that it annoys the shit out of a lot of people--that makes me smile.

Paragon? Pariah? We report, you decide

Well, I see that Rushbo Limpboy has weighed in (that is not a "FAT" joke. Rush is a fat joke.) in the recent shooting by an NFL player of his girlfriend and then himself.

Well, I guess that Rushbo will never shoot at least four women--the FOUR that he's been married too; but he must have been one dangerous mofo between weddings.

A perfect marriage ceremony for gunzloonznation:

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now lock'n'load!".

Could give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "shotgun wedding".

Rushbo sez he's looked at all the stats on single parenting and what it does to people, so I guess he's a stat's oriented guy.

I wonder if he's seen the stats on obesity* and it's effect on both span and quality of life?

I wonder if he's looked at the stats on serial marriage addicts**. If not being married means that you're more likely to get murdered than it must be a real bitch for Rush when he's between marriages to women whose gag reflex can, after all, only be stifled for so long--no matter how much money hubby's got. Maybe that's why Rushbo rushes off (hey that's a play on words, "Rushbo rushes", neat ain't it!?) to the Dominican Republic with a supply of boner pills every so often.

I'm also curious to know whether Rushbo has regained his hearing*** since he stopped eating oxycodone tabs like they were M&M's****. 

Yeah, Rush is a guy who I want to take advice from--oh, wait, no I don't. He's a flaming asshole, a serial adulterer, oxyaddict, congenital and pathological liar and all around fuckbag. I wonder when he's going to announce his run for public office.

*      "one in three heart attack or stroke deaths and one in 12 cancer deaths in the US are due to being overweight or obese.(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090319224823.htm)


**     "A state's education levels, for example, tend to be associated with the median age at marriage and the multiple-marriage patterns of its residents. In states with high shares of college-educated adults, men and women marry at older ages, a finding supported by other research indicating that highly educated individuals marry later in life. In states with low shares of college-educated adults, adults are more likely than average to marry three or more times. In states with low income levels, men are more likely than average to have been married three or more times. (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1380/marriage-and-divorce-by-state)


***     "Oxycontin addiction can also lead to emotional difficulties in the long run, including the incidence of delusions, hallucinatory effects, and even the onset of delirium when long-term addiction occurs. Cognitive processes may also be disrupted, leading to disorientation and confusion, particularly during the withdrawal phase. Due to alterations in natural brain chemistry, prolonged Oxycontin use can also trigger mood swings, clinical depression, panic attacks and sleep disorders." (http://www.milestonesranch.com/psychological-effects-of-oxycontin-abuse-and-addiction/)
and
"The auditory nerve the stems from the ear to the auditory part of the brain, carrying sounds from the outside world to the brain to be processed and heard. When the auditory nerve is damaged, the result is a loss of hearing slightly, or almost completely. It is believed that oxycontin can cause hearing loss if it is overdosed. Current media speculates that talk show host Rush Limbaugh lost a great deal of his hearing due to his drug abuse of Vicodin and oxycontin, thus furthering the tie between oxycontin and hearing loss. (http://www.healthfitnesswellbeing.com/hearing_loss/causes/oxycontin.htm)

****   I guess that considering Rushbo's ongoing battle with the bulge and his need (yes goddamn it, he NEEDS several grams of oxycontin a month) for Rush's Little Helpers, he could confuse one for the other (http://bulkecandy.com/landing/m&m%20white/white-mms.html?gclid=CM20j7XmhbQCFQqe4AodUi0AFw). Just a word to the wise, Rush; if your blood sugar spikes after you do a handful of them, it's not your meds. If you go into a coma and die--it is.

Bob Costas hates MurKKKa!

Once again I have mikeb302000 to thank for getting my juices flowin'.

He has a post up about the murder/suicide in K.C., one involving a football player and a woman he lived with, on the day before yesterday.

In the process of making a notpology to the gunzloonz guyz over there--mikeb302000 wrote something I didn't agree with--but I missed it and was, rightfully called to task for it.

It occurred to me to look up what Bob Costas had said during the halftime festivities at Arrowhead last night and that prompted this:
_____________________________________________

Shit. I forgot to ask if the NRA had already sent out a petition for you guyz to sign; one that demands that NBC fire Bob Costas for having the temerity to speak his mind on NATIONAL TELEVISION about his views on gunz.

Oh, wtf, am I talking about, Weenie LaPutrid would never say anything like:

"(People) didn’t tune in to listen to Bob Costas in a way make excuses for a murderer, whining about his social agenda of gun bans in the middle of a football game, and that’s why he’s getting the reaction that he’s getting."

Except he did.

See, here's the thing; if Bob Costas had said,

"If only that woman who let herself get killed because she was too stupid to have a gun had busted a cap in that bozo's ass she'd still be alive. Or if Romeo Crenell wouldahad hiz gunz wit him, he wouldn't have to wait for that crazy bastard to kill himself--he coulda shot him as soon as he saw that he had a gun!"

I doubt that Weenie or Teddyteabagz or the rest of gunzloonznation would have been moved to attack him for taking time out of an important NFL broadcast to bleat about gunz.

I particularly enjoyed Weenie's saying that Costas comment:

"make excuses for a murderer".

Obviously Ol' Weenie's an ace deconstructionist of Mr. Costas comment, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uOi7If0zW9s

I just don't remember hearing Costas say, at any time during that 1:32 "RANT*" of his at halftime of the Dallas/Philadelphia game, that the murderer had an "excuse" for killing anyone. I just watched it, again, to see if there was some subliminal stuff that I might have missed--I have special tinfoil subliminal hippieliebral speech detectors--in his 92 seconds of "ranting*". Nope, sorry, no, nothing there.

So, looks like Ol' Weenie might have been MAKING SHIT UP. Well, wtf, when you rely on the likes of John Lott for your "statistics" shit like that is bound to happen.

All of this is just in service of giving you fellers a little perspective.

I say something that turns out to be WRONG and you boyz are all over that shit (I only thank GOD that I didn't say something like, "The gunman was armed with some kind of "assault rifle" and he had lots of extra clips fulla bullets"--boy, I'd NEVER live that down!)  So, anyway, I was wrong and since I'm almost as widely read as Greggie's masters thesis it's gonna affect the balance of powers. I can see why there's such a furor over it.

Otoh, a guy like Weenie, who is an experienced public speaker, a responsible executive and a guy who knows the power of words just happens to tell a little bit of fib to his several million readers--yeah, there's some equivalency for ya. I wait, with low anticipation for the gunzloonz greek chorus to castigate Ol' Weenie for his loose use of language.

*    As Lloyd Benson might say if he were still alive, "Folks, I've known some ranter in my time, and that was no rant".

** He actually used his own words for just over 52 seconds of the piece, reading/reciting from memory a portion of Jason Whitlock's comments from Whitlock's "FOX Sports" column, written the day after the murder/suicide for the remaining 40 or so seconds of the piece.

___________________________________________

You can go here:

http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2012/12/jovan-belcher-commits-murder-and-suicide.html?showComment=1354575574869#c1572037432554705637

to read the whole thread if you like, I find it somewhat tedious. 

Trump calls drop in popularity survey ’total bull@!$%#’

Trump calls drop in popularity survey ’total bull@!$%#’

No, I'm not a KKKristianist, really, I'm not

It seems that I don't really need to go looking for things to write about. Other blogs that I go to provide a near inexhaustible source of solar corona level Burnin' Stoopit comments for me to work with.

This latest one is actually a series of comments made by a Mr. Anthony McCarthy over at Southern Beale's blog (and my rebuttals--some of them a bit sharpish).
____________________________________________________

McCarthy:

"The secular government is quite a different thing and, I’d contend, the problem of it pandering to the greed of the powerful is derived, in part, from the suppression of the moral force that used to be provided by people who took what Jesus taught seriously."

Moi:  The U.S. government does not now have, nor has it ever had a charter to be other than "secular".  Your comment is either disingenuous or you have never read the U.S, Constitution.

McCarthy:  "Here, in our recent successful marriage equality fight the large number of churches and clergy who supported equality were crucial in convincing people to vote for equality."
Since we don't know where, "here" is, there's really no way to check your claim. If it was in any red state then it's highly likely they were voting in opposition to their church's stance.
"I’ve seen the increasing secularization of society matched by an increasingly right wing, materialist, self-centered country."

Moi:  You need new glasses. The movement of the Overton Window, ever further to the right, has been driven by neo-cons and fundamentalist religiowhackos of one stripe or another--working in concert.Your comment neglects the demonstrable fact that the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Scandanavia are all "secular": countries (despite the fact that several of them have official religions) and rightward is not the direction of their slow drift into hell.

Several countries come to mind when I think of "religious" gummints. Off the top of my head; Russia, Afghanistan and Uganda come to mind. Russia is being run by Putin who's getting very cozy with the Orthodox Church's hierarchy (he threw them a nice bone with the "Pussy Riot" trial and conviction). Afghanistan, it's lie West Virginia on steroids--and just a bit fundy. Uganda, from the madness of Idi Amin Dada to this:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/ugandan-president-repents-of-personal-national-sins/
Ugandans are being helped along, in their efforts to make being GAY a capital crime, by none other that Scott Lively, a former ReiKKKsminister of the Calfornia KKKlaven of the AmeriKKKanner Family Association AND current president of Abiding Truth Ministries, a lovely Neo-KKKristianist organization in California.

So, I think you need to spend a little more time studying and a little less time parroting NSK. (the Newnited States of KKKristianity) talking points.

I know that Southern Beale is a polite and refined person; I am neither where the subject of telling the truth is concerned. What you and your fellows posit as "GOD's will" is actually "GOD swill".
_________________________________________________

I don't generally go to the blogs of the commentors on other people's threads but in this case I wanted to check and see what Mr. McCarthy was putting up at his own place.

Well the first post I see has him equating the religious right with the materialist "left" (his scare quotes) .  You may go there (http://zthoughtcriminal.blogspot.com/) and read it for yourself.

Now, I don't know Mr. Mcarthy, so I don't know if the referenced post is typical of his work, but it is a load of crap.

Equating the likes of the KKKristian ReiKKK (who are ministers without portfolio--but, boy, do they have BIGASS collection baskets--of the GOP these days) with the goofs on the fringe of the fringe of the left in the USA is either woefully naive or deliberately disingenuous. There is no equivalence in numbers or in their aims and goals. The uninformed/misinformed fringe lefties are, in general, NOT authortarian top-down gummint types. They are far more likely to be anarchists, eschewing government (foolishly) and chasing the pink unicorn rainbow of racial, ethnic and religious/non-religious equality. The vast majority of public "christian" figures in the U.S. are hawkers, shills and snake oil salesmen. They rally their sheeple against the democrats in the election booth and against the "other" from the pulpit. They don't dislike teh GAY or uppity women--they fucking HATE THEM because "those people" represent a threat to their hegemonic dreams.

UPDATE

As a result of continued correspondence over at Southern Beales' blog on this issue, I penned a response.

Southern Beale:
 

I have no problem, none whatsoever, with people having faith in whatever deity they wish to believe in.

I have an enormous problem with ANYONE who thinks that religion has been the thing that has been most uplifting element of human society. That is, quite simply, preposterous. I also consider this statement:

“The belief that you have to give up things you don’t want to, that you have to do things you don’t want to and you have a binding moral obligation to recognize the needs and rights of people you would either not like or be indifferent to requires a force that can’t be found in sufficient quantities to change behaviors outside of religion.”

to be an insult , implying that I or anyone else who is “secular” lacks an adequate level of morality to be a decent human being.

As you point out, in the south, it was the black churches who were those that acted on the issue of  civil rights (my bad, I thought that was very self evident). It would be disingenuous to assert that those churches acted purely from a desire to be "good christians". The pastors of those churches and the willing members of their flocks were, and rightly so, motivated as much by their desire for equal treatment under the law and in society at large as they were by any "christian" impulse. Their commitment to the cause was, in many instances, informed and bolstered by their christian beliefs. It was also a fact that the churches in presenting a generally united front in the battle for civil rights were practicing a form of machine politics. When Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 he was doing so, largely, for  personal reasons, including establishing his legacy as a stateman. There was also, of course, the undeniable fact that there was a large bloc of black voters who had been a “swing” constituency for some years; bringing them to the side of the democrats was also a factor in his using his skills as a former majority leader to help pass both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. 

Throughout the period from the 1830’s until at least 1965 many southern churches' religious leaders used their pulpits to agitate AGAINST equality for non-white U.S. citizens. Wallace, Maddox, Helms, Thurmond and hundreds of other prominent segregationists—all professed Christians—fought against the notion that black Americans were equal to whites.

At present, those same black christian churches are among the most resistant to the notion that teh GAY have an expectation of and deserve equal civil and legal rights with the rest of U.S. residents. I find that stance--and it is based, by them, on their “Christian” faith--hypocritical and deeply offensive.

I am friends with and related to many self-professed Christians. I view their actions and hear them speak and find them to be no better or worse than any of my atheist or agnostic friends. Otoh,  I find the churches to which a number of them belong—the RCC, Baptist, Mormon and a number of fundamental evangelical congregations to be anything but honest, compassionate and inclusive.

If Mr. McCarthy wants to think that HE cannot function as a decent human being in society without being prompted/compelled to do so by his Christian faith, that would be his problem. I don’t need GOD or any supernatural agency in my life to make me do what’s right or to know the difference between right and wrong.

I don’t hate Christians. I despise organized religion, of every variety.

And, I have no time for KKKristianist apologia, regardless its source.

Gunzloonz and their leapin lizards of logic

Like a number of my recent posts this one began as a comment, over here:

http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2012/11/false-dgu-uncovered-mn-homeowner.html#comment-form

"mikeb302000:

In a recent, completely unscientific survey I've scanned a number of your posts about shootings.
Some of those shootings have involved gunz, "inanimate objects that just happen to kill and wound thousands of U.S.ians every year" going off while being displayed or unforeseeably pointed at someone that was NOT an intended target.

Some of the shootings have involved young children unforeseeably shooting each other with gunz that were left lying around, apparently loaded, for the tykes to play with when they got bored with their Tonka Trucks.

Some of the shootings involved teens and tweens being unforeseeably shot by friends or parents/guardians who just happened to be holding teh gunz when they, inexplicably, went oof by themselves, wounding or killing whoever, in the immortal words of the Allman Brothers, "wound up on the wrong end of a gun.".

The thing that most of these posts have in common is that there are few if any comments on the majority of them. The ones that have long comment threads are those that involve mikeb302000 saying that maybe there should be a bit of regulation in the area of firearms use and ownership--then the floodgates open, predictable with one of Greg Camp's pompous assertions that mikeb302000 does not "get" that HIS RIGHT TO SHOOT GUNZ trumps everything else. That comment will of course be followed by a barrage of bullshit from the other members of the Gunzloonz Greek Chorus that infest the threads here.

I think that mikeb302000 performs a valuable service, he gives the gunzloonz a place to vent which prolly helps them feel better, cuts down on the inarticulate shouting that their mothers hear coming from the cellar and, yes, gives the dark ObamaFEMA overlords' underlings the information they will need to round them up, just before the the 2016 election is cancelled! 1-11ty!!*

It is always entertaining watching the gunzloonz turn themselves into moebius strips of self-delusion when, as in the instant case, the ol' DGU turns out to be more os a DMTNT** sortathang.

In the situation reported in this post, the police state that the man shot both teens, multiple times, did not attempt to render aid, moved the bodies from where they had fallen and did not call the police to report the shootings. He also, according to police, self-reported that he had killed both teens AFTER they had been wounded and no longer constituted any sort of threat--shooting the young man in the face with his rifle and shooting the young, "probably more times than was necessary" with .22 handgun.

Well, of course, it would be insane for anyone to think it was a DGU (unless his lawyer is able to get 12 of the Hutaree Militia or some like minded PatriotestiKKKal bunch in the jury box during voir dire).

Otoh. If the homeowner had testified that they forced him into his basement and that he had only shot them both several times to save his own life...But, no, he had to go and incriminate himself by admitting that he killed both teens after they had been incapacitated by a previous shot.

Except for the fact that this bozo admitted to wrongdoing, I'm fairly certain that Greggie's Gang-O-Gunzloonz would be screeching about his 2ndmendmentright to kill any mofo that tries to come in his house!

Except that this case is one where the shooter incriminated himself during a police interview we would be treated to the same sort of fucking parade of self-righteous idiots wit teh gunz as we saw after the Trayvon Martin shooting.

Meanwhile, the NRA's, Weenie LaPutrid is making a killing and facilitating others with his fearmongering amongst the gunzdeluded.



*   For the benefit of the mouthbreathers, this last paragraph is "snark", well, some of it anyway.

**  Dead Men Tell No Tales. Nor do infants, toddlers, siblings, spouses, girlfriends or the guy who came and took your stereo 'cuz you didn't pay for the crack he brought you last week."

I decided instead to put it here and save mikeb302000 the trouble of sweeping up the turds that the comment would draw to his post.

UPDATE

This is another shooting incident that mikeb302000 wrote a post about, several hours ago. It appears that the shooting, which by the account I read, looks like straight up Gunzrage is a prime candidate for the gunzloonz idea of a DGU--at least in the minds of some of mikeb302000's usual clownmentors.

Here's a link to the story: http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2012/11/lawful-florida-gun-owner-commits-murder.html?showComment=1354140370051#c8896318870151919699

Yeah, this baby didn't grow in a hothouse or a mexican field

dog gone put up a post yesterday about Walmart (that picture's worth a lot more than 1,000 words)and it's dishonest representation of itself as an "All American" company. Walmart has stripmined the commercial districts of countless small towns in the U.S.--those small towns about whose values the Teabaggist Walmart shoppers are constantly keening. They screw their employees, their customers and their suppliers as much as is possible. They are not just non-union, they are rabidly, reflexively and, often, illegally ANTI-UNION.

Walmart, while making billions in profits for its major shareholders (most of whom are the Walton family and their management teams*), pays their employees much less than a living wage and manages to give them pretty much nothing by way of employee benefits.

I saw that photo and read the first two comments and it made me think of the photo of an Amish farmer, holding a tomato that came from his own fields.

I'm not nuts about Amish religious beliefs but you can't fault their work ethic.

Ben's not a big man, maybe 5'9", about 175 lbs., but he's got forearms like Popeye, from driving his teams of Belgians, among other things, and could probably crack a nut--a coconut--with his bare hands. He's a quiet sortaguy with a passel of kids, some of whom work the stand with him at the farmer's markets and, I'm sure, in the gardens and fields at the farm.

I'm not sure how this photo will scale if you enlarge it, but if you can focus on his hand you'll see dirt in his cuticles and a lot of wear and tear on those hands. Yet, he holds that tomato like it was a baby. The day that I took this photo he was dealing with a customer who was complaining about having bought tomatoes that looked ripe but weren't (not from Ben) at the previous farmers' market. Ben picked up a tomato and held it in his hand. He did not squeeze it to see if it was soft. He simply hefted it in his hand and felt the weight of ripeness.

This will be my only semi-civil post of the week. Enjoy.






*     http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_owns_the_most_stock_in_walmart  --not the definitive source but they provide links. If there are any Walmartbots out there who want to dispute the data, just supply some of your own.

The Loozyannites can have their TurDucKen, I think we might be having RacPosUnk for our Thanksgiving (for everyone except the aboriginal denizens of our fair nation) Feast, again this year.

First off, you go out to some busy stretch of highway (NY 481 or I-81 in my area) and watch for sudden braking or swerving--or if you're looking for "aged" meat, flocks of crows or turkey buzzards--as that indicates that the larder is being stocked. Investigate the scene. The ideal candidate for the project would be a big ol' raccoon boar--the fatter the better, an adolescent possum and a cute little, baby skunk (no, you may NOT use teh unstriped, unscented kittehs for this dish!). It is difficult at times to identify some of the ingredients* but that's part of the fun!

Once you have harvested, cleaned and arranged your main ingredients it is a good idea to marinate them in a mixture of fines herbes, orange and lemon slices, several cloves of garlic and enough 190 Proof grain alcohol to cover. Allow the mixture to macerate for several days and, after removing the meat from the marinade, reserve the marinade for sauces and gravies.

Having previously gutted, skinned and boned the animals it is the work of just a few moments to remove any scent glands and any stray bits of road surfacing materials that may have been worked into the skin**.

It is best to assemble and cook this delicacy on the deck or in the yard. While oven roasting is certainly an acceptable method we here at democommie.fud&spyritz, ltd., recommend placing the assembled RacPosUnk on a spit and roasting it in front of a roaring fire of old pallets, construction lumber cut-offs***, heirloom furniture and the like. For those who are more traditionally minded, the 10 gallon vat of 375 degree fat (beef suet gives WAY more flavor than that insipid peanut oil, goddamn those killjoy cardiologists!)****.

Side dishes may include whatever tickles your fancy. I lean towards the tater tots simmered in Guiness Stout, the Cheetos Au Gratin (Velveeta, the WD-40 of cheese, where would be without it?) and, of course, The Jim Beam Candied Yams--if they're made with the right amount of Jim Beam they can actually double as emergency stove fuel in the event of a power outage!.

After all of the work of prepping and cooking the entree du jour and the "sides", you're prolly gonna just wanna have a simple dessert like Ho-Ho's, Ding-Dongs or maybe something seasonal like the Hostess SnoBalls in yule colors.

Well, I hope this holiday menu guide has been of some help in your party planning.

Just remember; if you're all sittin' out in back, jawin', chawin', spittin', sippin' and shootin' squirelz and crazy Uncle Lem comes barrelin' off the back porch with that screechin' harpie, Cloris hot on his heels, hogleg in hand, blazin' away--which consternation causes Lem to run right THROUGH the dadgummed fire, knockin' over the fryer,  scatterin' embers and RacPosUnk bits everywhere and leaving a trail of liquid fire as he races towards the relative safety of the swamp--ya allus got the GRAVY!

UPDATE:  I received a helpful tip, from one of the several voices in my head, suggesting that if there is a shortage of skunks in your neck of the woods that you might want to use one of the several recently unelected reptilican critters. The texture may be a bit different, but they smell the same.



*        It is not possible to assemble this dish from "Interstate Pudding" and cornstarch, heaven knows, I've tried.

**      I find that I actually like the "flavor note" of a tiny bit of asphalt paving, otoh, I abhor the bitterness of Portland cement, ymmv on this

***    Let's be careful this year. Last holiday season saw far too many trips to the ER for cases of poisoning of our Chef's du Garage because they didn't pick out that lovely green lumber (treated with more hazardous chemicals than a Hostess Twinkie) before setting the pile alight.

****  Kitchen tip:  When testing the fat to see if it's the correct temperature, dip a small piece of the offal into the fat--DO NOT IMMERSE A FINGER OR TEST IT ON THE INSIDE OF YOUR WRIST!!

KKKristian Love

In a blogpost over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars (http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/11/18/oreilly-rants-about-secular-progressives-again/#comment-193262) a commentor, Laurent Weppe took me to task for comments I made about U.S. christians. You can read the original, but suffice to say that the first quote in this entry (his words) is representative. I respect Laurent Weppe's views and agree/disagree along the lines of what I know from personal experience or have learned from reading the views of respected authorities and discussing same with intelligent people.

I admit to having an animus against ANY organization, religious or otherwise, that uses its power and authority to attack those whom it deems undesirable--especially when it is being hypocritical. The various christian churches are, all too often, included in in that group.

So.......

"So tell me: are you completely ignorant of what’s happening outside your own tiny social circle or simply mimicking the american newstertainment industry pretending that they don’t exist so you can abstain from making the truly herculean intellectual effort of aiming before throwing rhetorical turds?"

Laurentweppe:

I've spent over 60 years living in an overwhelmingly self-professed christian society. During these 60+ years I HAVE, rarely, seen a few christians of my own acquaintance who called out the haters and liars in their own ranks. Those few are out of many, many thousands of christians I have lived, worked, played and, for far too long, prayed with. 

Your first link doesn't work (503 error). Your second link is instructive in letting me know that one writer is criticizing the U.S. KKKristianist establishment. That is not even what I'm talking about.
The vast majority of U.S. christians of all sects are mute on the subject of their leaders' politicization of the faith and on their pronouncements of doom and gloom for the U.S. because of our sinnin' ways.

I don't even care if they offer a vocal protest. They vote for the fuckers with their pocketbooks. Churches are not supported by gummint here (not to any significant extent) except by way of tax exemptions. Cut off the head, you kill the snake. Starve the tumor that is the KKKristian hierarchy (a large %age of church leaders who have influence in politics and the media) by cutting off their funding and you might just cure the body of Christ--not that I believe there is one.
It is not a matter of conjecture or of my being:

"ignorant of what’s happening outside your own tiny social circle or simply mimicking the american newstertainment industry pretending that they don’t exist"

They DON'T exist in numbers large enough to matter; if they did they would have done.

Why Mittmoroni lost and why the GOP is looooooooooooooooooozerz

This:

""They spent all their time making Mitt Romney unacceptable and making him out to be someone who was untrustworthy and unacceptable to enough of the American people — and it worked," Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said in an interview."

Was one of several attempts by the GOP to blame the democrats for the RomneyRyan Expresstrainwrecktohell'n'beyond in the most recent exercise in USian semi-democratic participatory politics.

They lost because their lies were unconvincing. They lost because they offered nothing, NOT ONE FUCKING THING, as a genuine solution to any of the many problems that the U.S. faces. They lost because when they ran out of ways to generate fear and hatred, they were nothing but empty suits.

Get your filthy paws offa my vagina!

First they got the vote, now they want the ball!  (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/internet-sensation--nine-year-old-girl-shredding-defenses-to-the-tune-of-25-touchdowns.html) 

First of all, a hat tip to Mikeb302000 for his post on the Edshow with Terry O'Neill, the day after the ladies handed Mittmoroni his walkin' papers--the putz. Go over to his place and watch the video

It is said by Ed, Ms. O'Neill (in the clip) and LOTS of other people that the single biggest mistake that Romney's campaign, and the GOP, made was to allow, co-opt or find common cause (it is impossible to know what Romney actually believes about anything other than money--he wantz all of it) with the JHWHfaction of the ReiKKKwing (approximately 100%--within a margin of error of, well, 0--KKKristianist Fundamentalist Asshats and the lickspittle politicians that kowtow to them).

But y'know what? It's not the pols, stupid it's the lack of GUNZ that been keepin' teh ladeez under teh MAN'S thumb--and that's a fact, JACK!!

If only more women had teh gunz! They wouldn't need no steenkeen laws or lawmakers to help them with their problems.
.
You got raped*? blow that mofo away!

Man gets more money than you for the same work? blow that mofo away!

Man doesn't want to watch the "Bridget Jones" series with you? Blow that mofo away.

Man criticized your tunafish/badada chip casserole? BLOW THAT MOFO AWAYYYYYYY!!

Gunz don't make teh galz, gunz make teh galz be paid attention!

I know that moronz like Pauliewingnutz and the Mittmoroniunswillard FUCKINGLOOOOOOOOZERZ are wantin' to have 'em a nice, shiny new amendment againzt Ickymansbuttsex bein' legal** and prolly another one about life beginning at the erection.

But what would they do if teh ladeez said, "Hey, jerkoff, I got me a SECOND AMENDMENT SOLUTION! Getcher pryin eyes out from under my skirt, or I'll blow your junk off! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!!

There, now I feel better!***

I gotta run. I promised my 15 pound roommate that I'd take him for a walk on the beach at Plaice Cove in Hampton, NH. One short walk for Buddy, 6-6-1/2 hours driving--one way--for the "smart" one. Dumb animals, my ass.



*       Legitimate rape that is. Wives, girlfriends, provocatively dressed sluts, those stupid enough to accept free drinks and the like? They WANTED IT!

**     Icky ladeezonlysecks they don't seem to have a problem with.

***  I regret having to do so, but I suppose that for a certain sub-set of Mikeb302000's regular detractors and assorted idjits wit teh gunz, I need to make clear that the foregoing is snark. It is bothersome, but the same people that know that Rushbo is "only kidding, he's a kidder, he's an entertainer"--when calling women sluts or implying that black athletes (and presidents) are being held to a lower standard of behavior and performance than white males--seem to be completely ignorant of the entire mechanism of sarcasm when it is employed by others.

Now what?

Last night, when I was leaving the bar, er, I mean, educational soiree, after playing trivia, one of the young guys at my table trotted out the "My dad said I should vote for Romney, because he's a businessman.". This was at the point where Romney had a 3% lead in the popular vote count.

I spent the next minute or two peeling the paint off of the woodwork while explaining to him that Mittmoroni is not a fucking businessman, but a thief, a liar and a conman. He, the young feller, said that Obamacare (what a misnamed plan that one is) was his biggest reason for voting for Romney. I told him that he and others who think like him fail to understand that we will ALWAYS be paying for the healthcare of those who cannot do so. I told him that it ain't the rich folks getting stuck with the bill, it's the middle class, just like it's the middle class that pay the bulk of taxes in this country.  I told him that until he and his friends are ready to start euthanizing those who are on welfare this situation cannot change. He then trotted out the "welfare queens" canard. I asked him if he knew anyone on welfare (he did not answer that question) but he regurgitated the GOPuke about people scamming the system and wanting to do so, rather than work. I didn't completely lose it but I was more than a bit loud in my deconstruction of his magical thinking mythology.

I think that he was unprepared for an old fart like me displaying that level of passion. What occurs to me, on reflection, is that most of the Romney supporters I spoke to were without much passion (if you discount their racism and RKDS*) . Really they lack passion and I suspect that is because they know that their candidate is a lying sack of shit and they were just hoping that few enough people would realize it that he could eke out a win.  I am so happy that they were wrong. Four years of Mittmoroni and Pauliewingnutz would be a lot to deal with.Now, what?

Will President Obama, who can not be re-elected, tell his party to grow a fucking spine and support him for a change instead of caving to special interests and reptilican threats? Will he allow the chicanery of demagogues in the House and Senate to go unchallenged? Will he finally, now that he's got the second term, start doing some of those things for which he was originally elected and STOP doing/allowing the continuance of Bushco's excesses and crimes against the nation?

*   Reptilican Kick Down Syndrome

Post-racial society? Can't see it from my front porch

As is often the case, this post is the result of a comment I started typing to someone else's OP; in the instant case it was over at "Coyote Chronicles". Go there, read his post, it's more temperate.

This is mine:

"Well said, Mack.

But this:

"I could go on forever, but, lastly, it’s the country that said if you were poor, hungry, tired or oppressed, you were welcome here."

Has not changed.

The only part that's changed is that Mittmoroni and the morons he's mentored want those hungry, tired and oppressed to do the work that they, the JC's and JCW's*, are too good to do while continuing to be poor, tired and oppressed and, oh yeah, STFU about it, okay? Cuz, you like harsh our buzz over at the country club when you're whining about your sick kids while you're detailing our golf carts and mowing the greens with combs and straight razors.

My local radio station is running a poll that currently has 80% of the polled saying they're voting for Romney. It's complete horseshit of course, but the idiots that believe it are the same sort of fuckheads that start rooting for THEIR team--right after they win the championship.

Mr. Obama has done many things I don't like and not done many things that I think he should have. OTOH, George Bush with a compliant congress and a 24/7 propaganda mill demonizing the opposition accomplished most of what Romney and his friends wanted. Electing Romney would be the icing on the cake for the likes of Grover Norquist.

What doesn't surprise me but does sicken me is the rampant and overt racism I've come to expect from the ReiKKKwing KKKristianists of the GOP (which seems to be most of them, these days). Their naked hatred and fear are palpable and repellent.

A recent newstory has it that racism is WORSE than it was before Barack Obama took office. Post-racial America my fucking ass. I still hear, daily, from someone something about how, "Those people" are just naturally criminal or irresponsible or scarily fertile** or poor money managers. Whenever I hear it, I think to myself, "What an ignorant fucking excuse for a decent human being you are.".

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to live in a nation where I was one of the minority old, white, (formerly) christian men. If demographics trends are to be believed I may be able to know that feeling before I die, as our population continues to become !!11onety!!! DARKER!!

Well. there, I've exposed my racist traitorlinessosity! And I'm damned glad I did it, let me tell you!

Vote. It matters."

Something like 50% of those who are eligible to vote can't be bothered to do so. Those people are the true traitors. They live in a country where their liberties and rights have been fought for and guaranteed*** by those who came before them. They have lives that they would not have in other countries.  And they can't take the time to register their approval/disapproval of the process or the people who represent them in the one way that genuinely might make a difference.

You think we've got poverty? take a trip to Africa, Asia, South or Central America--you might be surprised to find that there are countries where people who work their asses off seven days a week STILL see their children go to bed hungry, suffer debilitating--but easily cured, with modern pharma--diseases and die before they're five.

You think we have an oppressive gummint? Check out Chad, Iran, China, Singapore or, for that matter, Switzerland. What's that you say, you like anarchy?  Okey, dokey, pokey; buy a one way ticket to some garden spot like Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan or a number of other countries where central governments are powerless over the "Local Rule" folks.

There's a much longer list (it's prolly in the pants that are in the washing machine at the moment) of things that many of us take for granted in this country. Things that people in other countries yearn to have. Things that people in this country worked their asses off and, in many cases, gave up their lives to provide for us.

I almost wish we had something like the "Purple Finger" from Iraq's first freely and fairly rigged election after Saddam's shuffling off this mortal coil. Then at least I'd know whether the person who is bitching to me about how fucked up my country is--and who I'm about to tell to go fuck himself-- actually, like, cared enough to go out and make his choice on Election Day.

I know of one group that votes, the low information bots of whatever demagogue is currently trotting out some scapegoat or other to blame for MurKKKa's woes. Those folks vote with their amygdala's, Terry Schaivo would STILL have a better idea than they do about WHOSE interests are really being served by their lockstep indignorance.

I was watching a bit of a documentary about the War of Southern Treachery on Sunday evening and it occurred to me that the same class of people who co-opted the good and decent yeomanry of the American South to do the actual fighting and dying in a war that they started for purely economic reasons (to ensure their place at the top of the food chain, supported by the labor of the humans that they fucking OWNED)  are, once again, co-opting a significant portion of the U.S. population/voters to serve their selfish ends and preserve their "rightful" place on top of the heap. Whenever I encounter the people who tell me that they're voting "R" to preserve liberty and freedom and JESUS, I tell them to look at their candidates and FOLLOW THE FUCKING MONEY. Maybe one of these days they'll listen--I ain't holding my breath

Did I already say, "VOTE!". Yeah, okay, I'm beating a dead horse with some of you; for the rest, I'm gonna go get Gallagher's mallet, my pretties and it will get fugly.

Amen.



*        Job Creators and Job Creator Wannabes

**     I often regale my companions with tales of my large family (ll kids). My parents, like many second and third generation descendants of immigrants had oodles of chirren, cuz they were used to seeing them die young and, hey, how ya gonna take over the country if you don't produce at least one doctor, lawyer, nun, priest cop, pol, teacher, bureaucrat and criminal****. It appears that my numerous nieces and nephews are content to have as few as 0 babeez with a max of 4--there's still WAY too many to buy presents for all of them!

***   It  appears that a number of those rights and liberties have pretty elastic warranties with numerous limitations and exclusions. Except that 2nd Amendment--that one is INVIOLABLE, because Charlton Heston, JESUS, Wolveriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinezzzzzzzzz, Shut up, that's why.

**** Criminals are those enterprising entrepeneurs working outside the strictures of law to find a "third way", of sorts, to The Land-o-Milk'n'Honey.

I was in an epistolic mood.

cross posted from penigma:

Dear Rush Limbaugh;

You really are an ugly pig of a human being, (apologies to actual swine for that comparison).

Is there ANYTHING you cannot twist into an ugly sexual story? I realize that a drug abusing, boner pill swilling, serial adulterer and sexual tourist like yourself is a perverted right wing nut.

But still, your ability to make shit up with a sexual theme is quite amazing.

We had you claiming that Sandra Fluke who spoke out for the availability of birth control pills for non-contraception therapeutic use for another woman - a LESBIAN, by the way - was a prostitute, seeking to have the government pay for her to be promiscuous. That wasn't true. In fact there was nothing remotely like that about Ms. Fluke or what she was advocating. But you're the expert on hiring prostitutes aren't you Rush, not Ms. Fluke.

Millions of women use birth control pills for hormone therapy for other reasons, including managing the symptoms of menopause.  But it is also used for the control of acne and other problems which relate to hormonal imbalances.  Unlike your boner pills, women do not take a birth control pill every time they have sex, but frankly limp dick, their sex lives are their business, not yours, and not the governments.  Their health care decisions are between them and their doctors, and neither you nor the government should be dictating those MEDICAL decisions.

Nor should a pervert like yourself be presuming to criticize anyone else's sex life, frankly.  It makes you a Goodyear blimp-sized hypocrite.

Then we had you weighing in on the Obama ad done by Lena Dunham, claiming that she was appealing to women to have - again, with your unhealthy sexual obsessions - the government pay for women to have sex, pay for contraception, and then drive them to Planned Parenthood the next day.

Actually, Dunham was making a more entertaining and far less sexist comparison between first time voting and virginity, which your hero Ronald Ray-gun did more than 30 years before. You didn't get your giant-sized tidy whities in a twist over that, you bulging gas bag of a hypocrite. In fact Dunham did not directly mention sex at all, and you not only spun that into something that was never suggested or implied, your incredibly ugly and sexist comment was not only filthy, it was internally inconsistent.  Why would a woman having safe, responsible, protected sex NEED to go to Planned Parenthood the next morning? To have a breast exam, or a pap smear to check for cancer?

Because you see Rush, despite your obscene fascination with other people's sex life, women mostly use Planned Parenthood for other reasons than abortions.  They use Planned Parenthood for things like CANCER SCREENING for cervical and breast cancer. With those flabby man-boobs you have from being obese, you might want to get checked for that yourself, because the reality is that despite your being a giant boob, you apparently are unaware that MEN GET BREAST CANCER TOO.

Then you move on to your gay-baiting, when you try to twist a legitimate compliment from Chris Christie into 'man love'.  Seriously, is this the best you could come up with for legitimate criticism?
It displays a terrible lack of imagination on your part that the best you could do was to accuse Governor Christie of 'man love' for Obama when the two of them were working effectively to save lives.

That is what they were supposed to be doing - cooperating to save lives.

You, Rush, had to try to turn that into something sexual, you had to try to make it dirty.

Believe me when I tell you that there is plenty of contamination involved in the flooding; that catastrophe is already more than dirty enough to take a very long time to clean. What we DON'T need is you trying to add to the filth with your personal brand of giant, gas-filled bags of ugly and stupid.

You demonstrate daily that you are not a good critical thinker, and that you are not very well educated Rush, and also that you are a malicious, sexually obsessed hypocrite of giant proportions.  So let me share with you one of the many things about which you seem to be ignorant. The English order of the garter has a motto, honi soit qui mal y pense.  Loosely translated from the medieval French, it means that the only evil present is in the mind of those who have evil thoughts.  That is true of you here, Rush Limp-bone. The only evil here is YOU.  The only sexual perversion here is yours, and those who mistake you for someone either informed, or entertaining.  You are neither.

I'm glad we got that sorted.

Dear Jeb...

cross posted from Penigma:

Dear Jeb

You've been complaining that Obama blames your brother 'Dubya' for what happened during his presidency.

Let me be clear.

It is not ONLY Obama who blames your brother.  We ALL DO.

That is because your brother and his policies were an unmitigated disaster. Your brother was one of the worst presidents in our entire history, and the single WORST president in the past century.

It's not ONLY your brother however, that bears the responsibility of those EPIC FAILURES. It was the neocons and other right wing nuts, groups to which you belong, who have failed policies, failed ideas, and not to mince words here -- failed priorities and values.

Your Republican economic policies frankly suck, especially your tax policies.

Your other Republican domestic policies frankly suck, and the bad ones are too numerous to list here.

Your Republican foreign policies suck worst of all.

So quit your damned whining about your brother; he deserves every bit of blame he gets.

And btw - we don't think much of you, either, after your hanging chad fiasco and voter disenfranchisement and election tampering in Florida. We also still don't believe the lying promises from your party either, and the obstructionist tactics you have employed have justifiably merited the highest disapproval ratings in the history of ratings for Congress.

It is highly unlikely YOU will ever be president; and if you want to know why, look in the mirror - and blame the failures of your brother.  It is because neither of you know how to lead or govern.

Just so we're clear.

If I wanted to be nice to people I don't like, I'd get a job being a greeter at fucking Walmart

I was going to publish this comment over at Penigma but their commenting section is not allowing me to do so. It's not working properly and won't allow me to type the character strings to validate the comment.

dog gone has written a post about the lying fuckbag Romney's actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, "It's about the INTEGRITY stupid." and I was replying to her OP with this comment.
_________________________________________________________
This is Mittmoroni:
"ROMNEY: We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all. (emphasis added) {source: http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2012/10/30/romney-on-fema/}
AND THIS:
"the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign now insists that Romney would keep FEMA in place:

“Gov. Romney believes that states should be in charge of emergency management in responding to storms and other natural disasters in their jurisdictions,” Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement. “As the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities, and to direct resources and assistance to where they are needed most. This includes help from the federal government and FEMA.”

A campaign official added that Romney would not abolish FEMA." {source: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/30/1110921/romney-flips-fema/?mobile=nc}
is Mittmoroni's campaign manager.
Just like SoupkitchenPaulie, Mittmoroni is doing some "carin'&sharin'moments" for the cameras.
Lying sacks of crap.
____________________________________________________

dog gone does a great job at Penigma (and when she posts here) but there are some issues re: commenting that make me comment less there than I might. There is also the issue about my calling fucking liars, "fucking liars" and my profanity in general. In that regard, we (and I mean that, "we", in the sense of me and the lint in my pockets)  are always happier when unfettered by strict--or, to be honest, pretty permissive--rules re: our fucking language.

It is interesting to me that although I see almost no comments here that I'm getting page views that are in a range that is far too high for them to all be misdirects. Some of that might be because the reiKKKwingassholes who are free to say incredibly stupid shit--and to lie with impunity--on a few other blogs I go to are unhappy that their fuckbaggery is not allowed here. Too bad, so sad. And then, of course, some people are just turned off by my nastiness. Being nice to assholemoronz who carry water for the SKKKrotalMurKKKinPatriotiKKK Front is a non-starter for me.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, The Mittmoroni/Pauliewingnutz axiz of teh Burnin' Stoopit is, once again proving that they are both insincere and tonedeaf. Why they feel the need to keep calling attention to it is simply beyond the understanding of those of us who have rational thought processes. For the majority of USians their transparent humbuggery is obvious and painful to endure. For their committed followers, it just doesn't fucking matter. Their decent, GODfearin', gunztotin', Whollybabble clutchin' base would vote for them and continue to fund them if they were serving dead baby canapes at their fundraisers.  I mean, they are voting for two people, one of whom belongs to a polygamist cult and the other who is a slave to the Whore of Babylon--and calling them both, "christians".  Mass delusion, the name is Teabagnation.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and outrage. If it's not contentless drivel it will get past the moderating function. If it IS contentless drivel (for examples of "contentless drivel", just cruise "FreeRepublic" or any other reiKKKwing blog or the comments section of more tolerant blogs than this one) it will be just another example of stupid people wasting their time to write stupid comments that are only fit to be shoveled onto the same manure pile as their predecessors.

Have a nice fucking day.

Schadenfreude is a dish best served with some nice fava beans and an unpretentious but impudent Chianti

Hat tip to Southern Beale whose original post, today, drew this comment from me.

""The 2006 consent agreement was signed under Gov. Romney. Of course it was! But to learn a lesson from this case one needn’t finger-point, play the “blame game,” “politicize a tragedy” and do all of that other stuff Republicans say is wrong when it makes their side look bad but which they’re only too happy to indulge in when it serves them. Nope, we don’t even have to go that far, not here."
Well, you're right, of course. But, if we wanted to go that far:
Gregory Conigliaro, 46, is described by former employees and two former neighbors as a charismatic entrepreneur. They said that he like s to give parties, and in September he raised $37,000 for Sen. Scott P. Brown (Lying, hypocritic, reptilican fuckbag*) in a fundraiser at his Southboro home, according to The Boston Globe. Brown has since said he would donate the Conigliaros' contribution to charity." (http://www.telegram.com/article/20121025/NEWS/121029699/1052)
then, well, you can see where I might be going with this.
There's also this:
'Oliver’s investigation of NECC, the supplier of the contaminated drugs in question, led her to carefully examine the history of NECC’s disciplinary actions and enforcement under then Governor Romney’s Health and Human Services Department. Oliver found that NECC had a history of violating accepted pharmaceutical industry standards and that, during Governor Mitt Romney’s tenure, the Massachusetts state government consistently conceded to requests by NECC’s counsel for more lenient treatment rather than the initial requested penalties according to correspondence between NECC and the State of Massachusetts." (http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/)
and this:
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name_address&lat=42.3109030000&oldest=1&lng=-71.5422440000&lname=CONIGLIARO&fname=GREGORY
Ya gotta love this quote from the FreeDemocracy webpage:
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." Samuel Adams, (1722-1803)



*  Additional material provided at no charge by Teamdemocommie."

Fifty Years Ago, Black Saturday and the Cuban Missile Crisis

cross posted from Penigma:

Fifty years ago today

CIA reference photograph of Soviet intermediate-range
nuclear ballistic missile (NATO designation SS-4)
in Red Square, Moscow

The Cuban Military Crisis resulted in what is known as black Saturday. Historians consider it the closest conflict to breaking out in nuclear war of the 20th century Cold War era.

PBS did an excellent documentary, Three Men Go to War, about the political figures of President John F. Kennedy, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.

Alfred Hitchcock did an excellent fictional version of the French role in his movie Topaz, in alerting the U.S. to the leaking of NATO secrets and the infiltration of the French government of Charles De Gaulle by Soviet intelligence agents, just part of the backdrop to American U-2 pilots discovering the missile sites while overflying Cuba.

On October 27, 1962, another U-2 flying over Cuba was shot down, and later that evening, the U.S. Navy dropped depth charges on a Soviet submarine challenging the U.S. blockade of Cuba, not realizing the sub carried at least one nuclear torpedo. And later that evening, another U-2, that was supposed to be sampling nuclear fallout from Soviet bomb testing, took a wrong turn due to the Aurora Borealis, and invaded Soviet airspace for 90 minutes. The Soviets scrambled their MiGs, chasing the U-2, flying on fumes, back over the Bering Strait, and the U.S. in turn launched F-102s, also armed with nuclear air-to-air missiles.

The upshot was that was that - obviously - nuclear war was avoided, Kennedy pulled some old, obsolete missiles out of Turkey in a secret deal and Krushchev pulled the missiles out of Cuba in exchange for a promise not to invade.

Earlier this week, Fidel Castro, the last of the three still alive, although supposedly having relinquished power, at least day-to-day operational power to his brother Raul, made an appearance at the Havana National Hotel to prove he's not dead yet.

I would encourage readers to check out the PBS web site on an important historic event, something we should all know about our own history, and world history, with parallels to our modern era politics. The entire 13 day Cuban Missile Crisis is far too complex to address here in the detail it deserves; but it is a classic example of what a difference the individual in the oval office makes.

Black Saturday 1962, it's an important date - then and now.

Fishing.......

From MikeB by way of Under the lobsterscope:


Masturbation is a terrible sin if you're roman catholic. Where or where is the outrage about that?

The reality is that masturbation and all of the other ways of achieving orgasm are good for men's health (and presumably, if they are responsible about it, happiness) relating directly to prostate health, especially as they get older. Depending on the source, recommendations range from twelve to  twenty-one or more orgasms a month are recommended for prostate health.

The British National Health System actually included advocating a healthy and active sex life as part of material provided to school kids - more progressive than anything you'd ever see in this country.  But then, they DID give the world Monty Python....

 

It's Saturday; have a little fun.