I'm pretty sure that this will be my new method of posting. I just don't seem to get organized enough to sit down, arrange all of my pens, pencils, post-it-notes and steno pads and then get down to wri--oh, fuck, that's not the proper way to bone tilapia; why the hell would anyone eat that shit, anyway?--where was I?

So, here's another comment/screed from the "Like Shooting Fish in a McMansion" thread over at Gin And Tacos.

Enjoy--or lose your shit, your choice!

_______________________________

In reply to a comment by commenter Srsly:

"I think my reality is a lot fucking harder than yours. Here, in my reality, Donald Trump is the president and the Republicans have dominated the Congress and state houses since 1994, with a two-year break in 2008 brought on by the total collapse of finance, an unpopular war, and a miracle candidate. My "view," and maybe it's just my "personal situation," is that the Democratic Party sucks at elections, and should probably do more to rectify that than blame the imaginary behavior of thousands and thousands of activists who spent a lot of time and money volunteering to campaign for a candidate in their primary."

Really, you think that's somehow DIFFERENT from what I live in. WTF did you do AFTER the primaries were over? Did you stop caring who won?

It sounds like you're really pissed that Hilz got the nod–I get that. I'm still REALLLLLLLY pissed that a lot of U.S. voters preferred the sweet, sweet lies of Nixon, Reagan, B41&B43 and Trumpligula. I remember hoping that the lies would be debunked by the media–before the elections–and that people would come to their fucking senses.I really liked George McGovern; I kinda liked John Anderson, knowing that he had no shot at winning; I despised Mondale and Humphrey; I wasn't fond of Carter, Kerry, Gore OR Barack Obama (who, despite being hobbled by a recalcitrant group of BlueDick dems and a totally obstructionist Congress STILL got some shit done); I liked Bill Clinton's intellect and could never understand why he didn't just keep his dick in his pants–it cost us all, a lot. In sum, I've NEVER voted for a democrat for president that I was on fire for. I've never felt that I really had a choice of "Good, better, best"–it was always, "Meh, WTF? Oh, hell, FUCKING NO!".

The reason that politics are so fucked up is that it takes a special person to be in politics–one who will subsume his principals and pander to his constituents. NOBODY gets elected to any office unless they do that. Now, in some areas–Metro NYC or the middle of Louisiibumfuck, pols, especially incumbents CAN pretty much ignore a fair number of their constituents (up to 49%) and STILL get elected/re-elected. That's simply not the case most places. My City Councilman (turncoat motherfucker), my county rep and my state and U.S. reps and senators ALL try to walk a tightrope and not say the WRONG thing to the WRONG group.

You sound like you want purity in politics–it does not exist.

So, since you are, obviously, a BernJillGarbro, gimme a solution that's workable.

"I'm angry, yes. I have to live in the future imposed upon me by a disgusting minority of Americans.

What did YOU do to prevent the outcome of last year's election being a plebiscite on racism and Hilzhate? What?

What are YOU doing, today, to change the political landscape. Not what are groups you hear about, read about, whatever, doing. What are YOU doing?

Bernie could have won?

WHOA, bro, I don't need a citation for that–there isn't one, btw–you need to figure out why people like me think that people like you are ungrateful for what the dems gave you and your parents since 1932. Don't bother thanking me, I don't need your approval.

BTW, did you talk everyone you know into going to the polls and voting for BernJillGar or was that somebody else's job?

When I was your age, clueless assholes who didn't know shit told me how I should think. I'm not clueless and I don't care how you think, but I can tell you that being resentful that your guy didn't get the nod–and thinking that you're going to change the political landscape of the U.S. from the top down–is navel gazing and counter-productive.

So,. after reading this, what's the opposite of 10KFireemojis?

Well, I guess we just can't HAVE nice health care (or nice anything that includes gummint)!

Dear Reader and morontrollz:

It's been a while since I've posted anything and there seems to have been some changes made. The part below the comment policy caveat is from a comment I made over at Gin and Tacos blog on the "New Math" thread.

Comments are moderated, due to asshat infestations. I will try to get back to check the in-box as often as possible.
___________________________________________

My problem with people like Srsly and some others is that they think that their personal situation and their "views" are reality.

Reality is a fuck of a lot harder than that.

I know people who voted for Trumpligula–few of any of them will admit it. Many of them have children and grand-children who are, at the very least, going to feel the bite of the idiotic policies of the larcenous P-in-C*. I doubt that they've really thought about it yet. When it finally penetrates their thick skulls, they WILL blame dems/Obama/OTHER–anyone but themselves–for the outcome of their childish petulance and its disastrous results. Fuck'em. I feel for their kids but them? Fuck'em.

I have been listening to underinformed, deliberately ignorant and maliciously dishonest people who WANT to make sure that others can't HAVE what they do, 'cuz REASONS–for as long as I've been able to understand them. Sixty years+ of mouth-breathing, pissed-off, willingly conned rubes. Fuck'em

I'm gonna die in the next whatever number of years having never been wealthy or even close to it–in the terms of people who count property and leisure activity as those things of great value–and yet I will have lived a far better, more secure and less precarious life, by far, than literally MILLIONS of people who haved worked just as hard.

Why might that be you? BECAUSE I'm white. Yes, there are other factors but BEING white is the single marker that separates me from approximately 30% of the people who live in this country. Being white gives me an automatic boost in the line. Being a male, another boost. Nominally Christian, now we're talkin'! I'm ahead of about 75-80% of USAians–at the start. Now, I'm old, slow, lazy, pissed-off (but relatively aware of all of those things) so the fact that people without all of my privilege and advantage stream past me should NOT be as surprise. For me, it is NOT a surprise but, obviously, for a lot of men–white, christian men–it IS. This situation is not the fault of the people who are darker, femaler, harder working, better educated, etc.,. It is a simple, fucking FACT.

It has become the ONLY strategy in GOP electioneering to OTHER everyone except the candidate of their party and that candidate's vocal, ardent, visible supporters. Vilification of the OTHER is cheaper, easier and, in terms of "winning", far more effective than any other strategy. That the loyal cadre are viewed by the party apparatchiks as simply useful idiots never seems to penetrate their conciousness and diminish their reflexive, tribal loyalty.

The democratic party is viewed by many as having "sold out" to Wall Street and the other BIGS. That this view is often held by people who received educations; gummint sponsored/guaranteed loans for homes, educations and business start-ups/expansions; union representation and workplace protection; safe food, water and air–largely through the efforts of democratic legislators and despite the obstruction of republicans seems to never occur to them. Fuck'em.

They're stupid, exclusionary, racist, misogynistic tribal assholes. Fuck'em.


* Plundercrat-in-chief

Wow.  I guess I don't spend enough time clearing out my cache.

I just came across a couple of comments that were posted to my last post, about nine months after I put it up on the blog.

They were signed, "anonymous". I thint that I actually know who wrote them, but they seem, despite their professed courage (due, in large measure, to their having lots of gunz) to want to remain in the shadows.

Too bad, so sad.  You'll just have to stay home and jerk off on your Trump poster.

Be humane, or be a dick, you can't be both.

I am currently on a bus, returning to Oswego, NY from my old nothome place in MassachuHampshire (there's a lot of 'bleed-over').

While waiting for a bus at Boston's South Station--one of the few, like, actually pleasant buswait envioronments--I engaged the following folks in conversation

1.)  A couple from Ghana, going to Syracuse to see their family who lives there.

2.)  A young, recent immigrant from Haiti who plays soccer for a Boston university and is going to Syracuse to see some of his family who live there.

3.)  Another young man who is studying sociology at a Syracuse area school.

4.)  An anthropologist who teaches at a SUNY campus.


4 of the 5 folks I spoke to were African or African-ish American.

The couple from Ghana; lovely, older people who seemed sweet, educated and happy to be visiting kin.

The young Soccer player; busy, as young people tend to be, with various digital accoutrement but friendly. He asked me to watch his bag, while he got a quick bite from McD's in the concourse and, after a cursory look inside, I said sure.

The sociology student, likewise, asked me to keep an eye on his huge piece of aluminum luggage. Again, I complied.

All of us had a chat, short enough to remain uncreepy, long enough to establish that we are all good with one another.

The anthro guy was not a bad person, but he was either a liberpublican or jerking my chain.

He don't like him some NPR getting money from the man. He's convinced that people who can't read and drink/drug/beat their kids or spouse, etc., would be all good if they could be made to stop drinking*. I'm running into a lot of this sort of person, lately, the person who can't understand why other people can't just get their shit together and be successful, like them, I guess.

The fact that he self-reports as an adjunct at a SUNY campus might indicate to some that his "success" is not, um, notable.

OTOH, he says that teaching people who drink, do drugs or otherwise live a less than probitive life should not have resources, such as literacy programs wasted on them, as they have chosen to be the way they are. I told him that I was on welfare (SS and VA Healthcare), I did not, however show him my EBT (good for 16$/month of sweet, sweet gummint sugar) or my Bamaphone.

He kept accusing me of changing the subject (I admit to touching on numerous, interconnected points of debate about how "welfare" can mean LOTSA different things) and asked if I just argued until people got tired of it and they gave up. I think that those of you who know me (and, in some cases, revile me) know me better than that. If I want you to stop arguing, I tell you to go fuck yourself--hey, it usually works.

It's really not so much that I want people to stop arguing. What I want is for them to stop offering up canned points that they are getting from so called, "conservative" commentators and pols.

Here's a hint: if you're telling me something that can be traced back to Rush or any of the dozens of talkingshitheads on ReiKKKwing Radio and television, well, go fuck yourself.






* FWIW making people "stop drinking" is an exercise with almost zero long term deterrent effect.

Just a thought...

I was listening to the news and heard that Hulk Hogan was bounced from the WWE because he used "bad language" and racist slurs when speaking about a young man who was dating his daughter.

Aside from the irony, it's all very sadfunny.

One of the local radio personalities was whining about how it was a private conversation and the Huckster had an expectation of privacy, yada-yada-yada...

Well, fuck Mr. Hogan and really, Really, REALLY fuck the people who think that it's okay to use offensive slurs against people who are, as a condition of  birth, gay, black, female, whatev.

Here's something for allathem, "I'm just so tired of being oppressed by the PCPolice!" folks.

Whatever that word or phrase that you like to use in private might be? Try using it in a situation where the people you're offending can kick your ass, or worse.

Otherwise, STFU.

Going off the reservation

I have finally had enough of TimeWarner's bullshit. I called them this morning and cancelled my service. It will be interesting to see what they do re: billing.


I will be restricted to checking my e-mails and limiting my rants to a few minutes a day for the time being. I'm sure that will make a number of clueless assholes quite happy.--c'est la vie.


Cheers and be well.


As Rocky Racoon said, "I'll be better, doc, as soon as I am able."

I'm not a very nice person, V 2Brazillion

I was commenting on another blog the other day (here: http://southernbeale.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/gmooooooops/) being my usual, not terribly polite, self and had, as sometimes happens, a disagreement with another commenter.

Barbs were flung or gauntlets thrown by myself and Mr. McCarthy and after a couple of sallies he left the field (not that I felt as if I had "won" anything) saying:

"I could give example after example of scientists who have committed even obvious fraud using their credentials and standings as scientists who have not been defrocked, as it were. Some retaining major academic positions and renown within the community of scientists, Fritz Haber was given the Nobel in Chemistry in 1918 when he should have been on trial for war crimes using his science, for example. But I won’t abuse the hospitality of Southern Beale to do so. Only, apropos of her post, when it comes to biological creations that could reproduce, uncontrolled and to horrific results, there is no reason to trust scientists to police themselves and good reason to not allow them to."

I made additional comments to him and other folks. The comment thread went dormant and it's now closed. That's all good.

What's not so good is that Mr. McCarthy then went back to his blog and wrote a post about the exchange, an exchange in which he was the victor, I guess. I became aware of this when I found an e-mail which I had missed when it was sent last week. I went to his blog:  (here: http://zthoughtcriminal.blogspot.com/2014/07/you-can-always-tell-atheist-but-you.html).

It's not that I don't expect people to take away that I'm a prick after an exchange like the one we had--or that I actually give a fuck if they do. But, it tends to annoy me when someone does something like he did.

I went to that thread and typed a long comment which for one reason or another would not post properly. It's below this paragraph. Let me be fair, or as fair as I get, in saying that Mr. McCarthy might be a really swell person, I don't know him. I doubt that we'll be buds, but that's not terribly important.

________________________________________________

Most of us are grown up enough to consider the source on a blog when the other person is a frequent commenter. Apparently, you're not.

 

Your first post was an accusation. You said:

 

"His faith in the benevolence and omniscience of scientists who are just as corruptible as anyone else is willful blindness."

 

That's an accusation of all scientists as being corruptible; but wait, there's more.

 

This:

 

"Science, as a profession, isn’t notably good at following its own rules, as the frequent retraction of papers, at times due to fraud, quite often due to the review process being either faulty or fraudulent, itself."

 

is your reply to my comment that scientists, as a class, are no more or less dishonest than other people.

 

Did you miss the bit in my second comment where I said:

 

"Right. That shit happens in every profession except politics and religion."

 

BEFORE saying:

 

"I don’t believe in omniscience, being atheist I expeshly don’t believe in GODLY omniscience." ?

 

It was you who first brought up omniscience which, though you may be unaware, is a faculty that is demonstrably unavailable to humans.

 

FWIW, I don't accept as "settled" the issue of the safety, efficacy or economic fairy dust of GMO's, NuKiller power, U.S. foreign policy or any of a large number of other products and enterprises that public and private corporations or the gummint engage in.

 

You never answered this question:

 

"So, who brought the fraud to the attention of the scientific journal? It had to be someone with at least a modicum of scientific training, yes?"

 

So, who was it that broke the story and what is the level of their scientific  expertise? For that matter how do MOST of these stories wind up being told? It's not like anyone who has no understanding of science is going to be able to refute it. It's a classic slippery slope argument.

 

You seem to have a hard-on for science; why do you even use sciency stuff like the internet?

Home of the Free, Land of the Mutt

N.B.:

If you're coming here from FTB, welcome. Unless you're one of the several trollishfuckbags that have infested the blog of late. If that's the case, Fuck OFF!

Comments are moderated because some of my lurkers are very sweet people who do NOT want to read comments by people who use words such as, "Fuck", "Fucker", "Asshole", "Douchebag" and other profane or obscene terms*.

"We were not a nation of immigrants in 1789.”

Thus speweth Pat PuKKKecannon, here:

http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/america-no-longer-1-nation-1-people/

He's right that they weren't REAL immigrants, expeshly if you think of MurKKKa being more like Sudetenland in 1938 or Silesia at around the same time. Not immigrants, except in the same sense as the Scots-Irish in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland were in the period ca. 1600--1750. After 1715 a lot of the Scots-Irish came to the colonies and did much the same as they done in Ireland, supplanting the original inhabitants (and in both cases helping the Crown to rid itself of "troublesome" individuals, tribes and nations.

and that's only ONE of the numerous, assholishly obnoxious and completely fucking WRONG memes that Pat is pushing in his latest Op-Fucked-in-the-head columns @ WND. How anyone can consider people like PuKKKecannon, Scalia and other ReiKKKwingers to have EVER been intelligent is way the hell beyond me.

This:

http://www.charliekeenan.com/product/homeland-security-t-shirt/#

is one of my favorite t-shirts, since the first time I ever saw it. I'd buy one if I did that sort of thing.

Needless to say but the current FUKKAK** at the U.S./Mexico border is sorta pickin' up where Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and some other places since 1945 left off in the area of killing totally innocent people for being fucking alive and hurting our fee-fees.

This:

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/video-former-mandarin-major-now-builds-us-china-relations-banjo

is how I prefer to have our international relationships fostered.

*      Unless they're my comments or the comments of people I like.

**    First Unholy KKKristian KKKrusade Against Kids

The KKKristian War on teh GAY!!

That above? That is your brain.


This below? That is your brain on teh GAY!




It appears that the largely KKKristianist ReiKKKwing of the GOP* has decided that flogging one dead horse, The War on Drugs, is not enough.

Now they want to show the same level of the Burnin' Stoopit indignorance and bigotry on another front--the War Against teh GAY!

I don't got no crystal ball but I can see a line clear to the horizon, starting with the Chik-Fil-Aholes who will now want to restate their "religious convictions" that require them to be complete dicks. Not that they need to tell us twice that they're complete dicks.







*   The 99+% that give the rest a bad name.

Hitler took away our gunz, no, wait it was Putin, no wait, we had gunz but decided not to fire them at Russian Spetnatz and fucking tanks, 'kay? thxbye.

Tell me that I'm just a bit behind the curve and other people have been trumpeting this loudly from the rooftops.

Crimea had LOTZAGUNZ when they got annexed by Putin.

This:

http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/cp/Ukraine

says that Ukraine (of which Crimea WAS a part) had something like 6+ gunz per person. And we're not talkin' bout single shot, bolt action .22 cal. "plinkerz*"; nosireebob, we're talkin' bout AK-47's and other military weppins--a fuckton or so of them.

I gotta do some more googlin' and Buddy the Wonderdog sez I need a walk** and so there's that. This might get more treatment later.







*    According to at least one FBI source the round used most frequently for killin' people. The source is several years (or more) old so it may have changed, still....


**  I have not, to date, had to kill anyone or even carry a Colt 1911 in my Kimber 4000183 CC holster. And Buddy never says "HooooooooooooooooooooAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!", neither.

Memorial Day is not Veterans' Day, homz.

I was over at Penigma's blog, just a few minutes ago. There is a post on there, thanking U.S. military veterans on this Memorial Day.

I can only speak for this veteran.

First; Thank you.

I am a veteran but I'm still alive. I appreciate that people want to thank U.S. soldiers, sailors, wingnuts* and marines. Please do it on Veteran's Day.  Memorial Day is for the fallen, either in battle as a result of wounds from battle or after their live is otherwise over. That's just my take, ymmv.

Second; I don't need praise or thanks for something that I did almost 50 years ago.

I enlisted in the AF (prolly one of the handful of genuinely thought out decisions I made in my life) and was lucky/smart enough to know that the AF sent far fewer troops into combat zones than the Army or Marines. I don't do large steel boats, very well.

I'm not a fighter (nor much of a lover--kvetching, though, I'm good at that, DAMNED GOOD!) so a non-killing job was good for me and my country. I don't need to be thanked for that, although I would not insult a person doing so--unless of course they are some political stuffed-shit** or a wingnut v 2.0 who is using the occasion to make political hay*** EXPESHLY if they're chicken hawks.

What I DO require from my country is that they honor the commitments made to me and other veterans in return for our service. Nothing more, nothing less.

It appears that the GOP is going to use the Phoenix VA scandal to push for privatization of the VA medical centers. If you want to do me and every veteran who uses or might use those services (just about everybody who has worn a uniform for the required time is potentially a client) make sure that your congress critters are aware of this AND opposed to it. And send that fucking asshole John Boehner a personal "Go FUCK Yourelf". Boehner did serve, sorta, eight weeks in he got an honorable discharge for a bad back. He looks remarkably good (although it appears that he could have been the original "Agent Orange" if he had gone into, say, the CIA). So, don't diss him. Thank him for his eight weeks of service--THEN tell him to go fuck himself.

Thank you, dear reader**** for taking the time to come and visit my blog.

Resume the parade of stuffed-shits (not a politician) with their faux patrioligiousness on Main St. USA! USA!! USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




*   That term was used back in the early 70's by folks who disparaged USAF as "non-soldiers". I'm sorry it was stolen by people to use as a descriptor for the unhinged loonz that populate the ReiKKKwing of MurKKKan politics. Oh, btw, you guys that didn't like me and thought I was NOT a "REAL soldier"? Fuck you, very much.

**    NOT a typo.

***    Digressing for a moment from my current rambling incoherency. GOPinheadz like building strawmen and throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks. I'm not sure if they're aware that bricks can be made using straw and dung (Source: http://inhabitat.com/one-brick-two-bricks-lets-use-poo-bricks/). Indeed, I like to think of the modern GOPeabaggist Party of being built like a shitbrick house.

****   And yes, "reader", I know that I have "grate blog with much good idea for my think about." and I'm rushing out, first thing tomorrow to open a bank account so's I can send you some routing numbers and passwords to allow you to give me millions of dollaz so's I can buy Viagra at a HUGE discount that will only be small when viewed next to my enormous jo--, well, you know what I'm saying.

Today is Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day.

Today is the day we honor and acknowledge those who died in military service on behalf of this country.

Today is the day we honor and acknowledge that sacrifice in defense of our nation, our form of government, our Constitution.

The core premise of our government, what is established by our Constitution, what was so beautifully articulated by Abraham Lincoln, president during the Civil War which inspired this holiday, is "government of the people, by the people, and for the people". 

That is what those men and women, all of them back to the American revolution died to protect and defend and to ensure continues.

That government of the people, by the people, takes place through the function of one man (or woman), and one vote.

That is NOT one vote ONLY for a few, special, privileged people who have the 'right' color, ethnicity or origins, the 'right' religion, or the 'right' economic status, or the 'right'  political ideology.

That is the opposite of one person/one vote.  That is the opposite of legitimate representative government - the form of government that defines our nation. 

That was what those wars where those people died we honor today were fought to oppose - to prevent control of government by the few, to prevent human beings from treatment as second class citizens.

I think about that every time I see an effort by conservatives to suppress or limit or restrict or in some way impair or make more difficult the right of people - American citizens - legally to exercise their right to vote.

The National Report recently ran this headline, reflecting an ugly moment of honesty and candor:

Secret McConnell Recording: Tea Party Lost Primaries Because It “hasn’t learned to conceal its racism”

“They have their strong base, their core. But, they don’t have success courting the middle. You know why? It’s their overt racism. The Tea Party hasn’t learned to conceal its racism. That’s where they fail. The Republican party knows better. Want to keep minority voters from the polls? Fine, set up hindrances to “prevent voter fraud”. Want to cut social services? Fine, but do it for “fiscal conservatism”. These Tea Party idiots and their supporters are out hollering the N word, calling Obama an ape, suggest Michelle is a transvestite. That alienates the middle. That’s what costs them. You want to think those things? Think them to yourselves. You want to legislate against that them? Come up with an excuse. The Tea Party will remain an also ran unless they work on their poker face a bit more”.

It should be obvious to Mitch McConnell and to all conservatives that keeping minority voters from the polls, or keeping anyone from voting as easily as others vote that he is dishonoring what those veterans fought and died to protect by voter suppression.

By voter suppression I mean

•  creating long lines by reducing polling places or making them inaccessible, 
• reducing early voter days, 
• not providing bathrooms to people who come to a location to vote, 
• purging legitimate voters from voting rolls, 
• voter ID when there is not a problem with voter fraud that would be solved by that solution-in-search-of-a-problem, 
• laws which disenfranchise criminals who have paid their debt to society so as to disproportionately disenfranchise minority ethnicities
• laws which make it more difficult or expensive for people to register to vote
• laws which privatize voting, and which require voting machines that result in 'hanging chads' or dubious electronic results vulnerable to tampering

Think of that today. Think about what people died to preserve, think about the ideal, think about Lincoln's words (a liberal), think about Jefferson's words (another liberal) in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

All men (and women) are created equal, have equal rights, all men - and women - are NOT second class citizens.  Men and women have bled and died for that.

Whining while Discriminating = GOP

from the WAGE project:


Employers pay women less than they pay men for the same reason male dogs lick their balls - because they can.  And like male dogs, employers won't stop willingly.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT PROVIDING EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. PERIOD.  FULL STOP.

It is a systemic problem in need of a system-wide legal solution; it has been ongoing for more than 40 years without the 'free market' providing anything resembling a solution to the problem.

There is absolutely NO factual basis to claim that women don't want to earn equal pay - as was made by a Wisconsin conservative law maker who took as his factual authority his understanding of something claimed by the blond idiot Ann Coulter.

There is absolutely NO factual basis for a claim made by a Texas woman in that state's Republican party that men are better negotiators.  And there is absolutely no rational assertion that demanding to be paid fairly and equitably will result in being perceived as inferior in any way, or as whining.  These right wing women just make stuff up; it has no validity or substance. Those are all radical right wing excuses -- BAD excuses - for cheating women.

It is a systemic problem, part of the larger problem of suppressed compensation for large sectors of the labor market, and is reflected (for example) in the failure to adequately raise the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation.  It is reflected as well in the disproportionate number of women in so-called 'C-class' positions (CEO, COO, CFO, etc.) and in the smaller percentage of women in the more important positions of authority in government than the percentage of women in the population (governors, members of Congress and the Senate, and of course NO woman president EVER).

Conservatives hate women, they hate minorities, and they are the servile puppets of bad economic policies and corporate entities whom they serve instead of their human constituents.

Recently we had two examples of failed Republican thinking:
from MSNBC, quoting MN Rep Andrea Kieffer:

“We heard several bills last week about women’s issues, and I kept  thinking to myself: ‘These bills are putting us backwards in time. We  are losing the respect that we so dearly want in the workplace by  bringing up all these special bills for women, and almost making us look  like whiners,‘ “ Kieffer said last Wednesday.

In some Minnesota counties, women make considerably LESS than the average of $0.77 to every $1.00 earned by men for equal work.  In Minnesota, where the minimum wage is below the federal level, in some counties the average is considerably lower.

Kieffer is playing the front-person for the Republican line which is trying out the stratagem of using their token women to make misogynistic statements for a change, after the epic failure of their male-dominated "legitimate rape" and other public relations fiascos.  The right wing women are not any more successful; the problem is the message and the policies, not just the messenger.  We've seen other radical right conservative women fail, from Michele Bachmann on pretty much everything, to the offensive claims of women like Phyllis Schlaffy that "good" women are never sexually harassed in the workplace:

"Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women."
- Phyllis Schlafly

Of course, we KNOW that is a false assumption, and blaming victims for bad conduct by employers and those in management positions in authority over them is wrong, just like denying equal pay for equal work. NO woman 'deserves' to be harassed, just like no woman - or man, or child - deserves to be raped or otherwise sexually coerced, or abused in the workplace in any way.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/phyllissch383405.html#o4LlVbJxGCugL5CG.99

Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/phyllissch383405.html#o4LlVbJxGCugL5CG.99

And the same criticisms of factual deficiency can, of course, be said of any policy or legislation from the right relating to women's reproductive health, privacy, or freedom of choice.

Kieffer, a good little empty-headed plastic dolly reciting pre-recorded lines like an old "Chatty Cathy" doll, is just following like a good little soldier where she is directed to go by the big old white men in charge of the MN GOP.  There is not an original thought in the mix, or an independent idea.:

continuing from MSNBC:

“I wasn’t completely shocked or surprised. This seems to be a pattern  of really sort of ignorant remarks by Republican lawmakers in this  state as well as around the country. I think what we’re seeing is these  legislators and other Republican elected officials really, truly showing  their stripes,” Ken Martin, party chair of the Minnesota  Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, told msnbc.

Equal pay pits women against women in Texas 

The battle for equal pay continues to be a dividing issue in  states around the country, including Texas. Cari Christman, executive  director of a political action committee for Texas Republican women,  last weekend struggled to explain the GOP’s opposition to fair-pay laws.  Women don’t need measures like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, she  argued in a television interview, mostly because “women are extremely  busy.” In an attempt to clarify her counterpart’s comments, Beth  Cubriel, executive director of the Texas Republican Party, this week  explained that men are better negotiators than women.

Republicans continue to demonstrate they do not value women, or view us as equal, ranging from comments like Rush Limbaugh's comment that
"we already have museums for women, they're called malls", but excused that comment by noting “Hey, I could have said brothel.”   to the Texas governor Republican candidate, Greg Abbott, who would undo the Lily Ledbetter Act -- and did, regarding women college professors in the Texas state education system (as well as in his own office, ditto minorities, who are paid less than white men).

Conservatives believe thing that are demonstrably NOT TRUE, things which are usually hateful, hurtful and demeaning. Facts are not the friends of conservatives; they appear to be totally unacquainted with them.

If we leave it to the radical right, women will lose the vote, be kept at home mostly barefoot and pregnant, less educated, dependent for financial support, and probably stuck in corsets and long dresses with high collars and long sleeves, and no freedom or equality.  The GOP and worse, the tea party  are oppressors and do not believe in or value women, the family, genuine equality or freedom.  Their evil actions give the lie to their words, and to add insult to the injury, they don't even make the effort to produce credible lies.  The radical right deserves to lose badly in the 2014 election cycle, and this is an issue that will hurt them more than most.

Conservatives must go.

Follow on pilin-on Jimbo

Poor, poor pitiful Jimbo, he likes to come over to Southern Beale's blog and leave his bons mal.

It's okay with me if he does that, as long as he doesn't mind being pointed at, laughed at and vilified for it.

After being criticized for parroting the ReiKKKwing's anti-Obamacare propaganda (yesterday), he said that he doesn't know who Frank Luntz is and he doesn't listen to Fox. I find the first claim to be plausible (although not really excusable) the second? Nah.

This was my comment following his latest (and as in the previous post it's got a few edits: sue me)
___________________________________________________

“I have no clue who Luntz is as I do not watch Fox News ”

You used ten words more than were necessary, counting backwards from “News”.

THIS:

“Luntz frequently tests word and phrase choices using focus groups and interviews. His stated purpose in this is the goal of causing audiences to react based on emotion. “80 percent of our life is emotion, and only 20 percent is intellect. I am much more interested in how you feel than how you think.” “If I respond to you quietly, the viewer at home is going to have a different reaction than if I respond to you with emotion and with passion and I wave my arms around. Somebody like this is an intellectual; somebody like this is a freak.”[3]

In an article in The New Yorker Luntz is quoted as saying, “The way my words are created is by taking the words of others…. I’ve moderated an average of a hundred plus focus groups a year over five years… I show them language that I’ve created. Then I leave a line for them to create language for me.”[8]

In a January 9, 2007, interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Luntz redefined the term “Orwellian” in a positive sense, saying that if one reads Orwell’s Essay On Language (presumably referring to Politics and the English Language), “To be ‘Orwellian’ is to speak with absolute clarity, to be succinct, to explain what the event is, to talk about what triggers something happening… and to do so without any pejorative whatsoever.”[9]

Luntz’s description of “Orwellian” is considered to contradict both its popularly-defined meaning as well as that defined by George Orwell.”

and this:

“Luntz was Pat Buchanan’s pollster during the 1992 U.S. Republican presidential primary, and later that year served as Ross Perot’s pollster in the general election.[11]
Luntz also served as Newt Gingrich’s pollster in mid-1990s for the Contract with America.[12] During that time, he helped Gingrich produce a GOPAC memo that encouraged Republicans to “speak like Newt” by describing Democrats and Democratic policies using words such as “corrupt,” “devour,” “greed,” “hypocrisy,” “liberal,” “sick,” and “traitors.”[13][14]”

are both from wiki. There’s a fuckton of primary source material on Luntz, a lot of it true, the rest is from GOP/RNC sources and various ReiKKKwing “(NON)Think tanks” and “expertz.”.

This:

“IN THE SPRING of 2009, as the titanic fight over President Barack Obama’s health care proposal was beginning, Frank Luntz—an infamous Republican consultant who specializes in the language of politics—drew up a confidential 28-page report (PDF) for congressional GOPers on how they could confront, and defeat, Obama on this crucial issue. He suggested that they use a particular phrase: “Government takeover of health care.” And they did. Again and again, for the entire months-long debate. During one Meet the Press appearance, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), then the House minority leader, referred to Obama’s plan as a “government takeover” five times (without once being challenged).”

is from Mother Jones (an unabashedly progressive source (one that is not funded by some deep pocketed billionaire assholes who have a vested interest in extracting money--without offering anything of value in return--from the working poor and middle class) and there’s plenty more to read.

Luntz and his fellow Liars-for-hire pretty much CREATED the current problems that we are seeing with Obamacare. A large part of their “work” concentrated on disinformation, misinformation outright fabrication to sway the low information voter (Yes, Jimbo, that would be your crowd). Utilizing pretty much the same tactics as the MIC (you can look it up) and the NRA and the KKKristianist ReiKKKwing to gin up the hatred for all things that do NOT make the 1%’ers any moolah. They also got at least 16 states to go along with the GOPers' Congressional obstructionism In order to get the fundies and other Teabaggists on their side they throw them the red meat on hot button issues like teh GAYanything, evillution, uppity wimmen and their satanic desire to control their own vaginas, AGW and last, but certainly not least, people who have the temerity to be PWB*.

Now, now, Jimbo, I know that you might want to offer that Frank Luntz has a BA and a Doctorate from OXFORD UNIVERSITY. Indeed he does, those degrees qualify him to be a propagandist, not an economic analyst or healthcare delivery systems specialist.

Read up on Luntz and his cronies or don’t and just keep coming here and shoveling their shit into the threads. I’ll be waiting to call “bullshit” and tell you that you’re an idiot.


* Presidentin’ While Black

IT COSTS TOO MUCH! IT COSTS TOO MUCH!! IT COSTS TOO M--, HUH! I'M SAVING MONEY? THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!

And here we have another post engendered by a spectacularly braindead member of the Teabaggist Nation's comment, here:

http://southernbeale.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/best-healthcare-in-the-world-v-eleventybillion/#comments

My comment got away from me, as tends to happen, and so I copied it to post here as I wasn't sure that it would fit on Southern Beale's comments section. It appears it did. This is a slightly edited version of that comment.

_________________________________________

"“If it had been $500 I would not have been able to afford it.” What do you suggest for the people that now have $1000 or higher deductibles to go with their new Obamacare health insurance plans?
If you can’t afford the deductible do you really have health insurance or access to health care?"

If I didn't have the VA, shit for brains, I'd be in that pool of people who didn't have any kind of coverage UNTIL Obamacare came along.

Is Obamacare the panacea for the endemic clusterfuck that is the current state of U.S. healthcare? Not hardly. Is it WORSE for those who had NO coverage before?  Ask anyone who's on it--Anyone who isn't too stupid to understand basic economics or isn't busy shilling for the GOP, like this useful idiot:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140310/LIFESTYLE03/303100100/Dexter-cancer-patient-who-called-health-care-unaffordable-will-save-more-than-1K

who, it turns out (wotta sooprize!):

"is the ex-wife of Mark Boonstra, the former Washtenaw County GOP chairman whom Gov. Rick Snyder appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2012."

Now, I don't know about you, Jimbo, but I suspect that the last thing an ex-wife of mine (especially one who claims as Debbie Boonstra did, that she's NEVER been political) would be interested in doing is giving MY political party a boost. She's either too fucking dumb to do her own shopping or she's lying--there's really not a middle ground.

Specific facts, Mr. Sooperjeenyus, you need specific facts. Give us the plan to plan comparisons, not your fucking bullshit talking points. You libertardlican moronz are constantly spewing anecdotal and apocryphal stories about how you're all being fucked over by Obamacare without any genuine DATA to back up your hand waving healthcare horror stories.

You want to come here and peddle your Kochian bullshit, be prepared to be called a liar, jerkoff.

Based on numerous earlier comments by you, I'm guessing that your default position is that people who aren't you and your near and dear can go fuck themselves if life throws them a curve like cancer;  they get seriously injured in an auto accident caused by some idiot who has no insurance or shot by some moron with a semi-automatic handgun, 14 in the mag, 1 in the pipe and fewer than that many functioning brain cells to work with.

Do you have any idea why healthcare in general and visits to ER's in particular are so expensive? It's BECAUSE people who don't have money or insurance use them for minor injuries and low-threat illness ISNTEAD of a doctor. The patient is seen, diagnosed, treated and sometimes admitted for further treatment. A bill is sent and ignored because the recipient of the bill has NO FUCKING MONEY and NO FUCKING INSURANCE. Do you get how that works, Jimbo?

I'm not sure how you think that keeping people from having some sort of coverage, so that they can see a doctor or nurse practitioner without going to a fucking hospital is going to be a net cost savings device. Explain to me WHAT mechanism will do a better job, go ahead--but do some reading before you say something else as stupid as what you said in your most recent comment. Or do you simply think that we should just let people get sick and die or hunt them down to eliminate them from society*. Those are pretty much the three choices you have, you selfish, self-centered, sanctimonious schmuck.

*  Fortunately, for me--at least for the time being--I'm a veteran and all of those flagwaving asshole republicans in Congress are restrained by their need to appear to give a fuck about veterans are restrained from following their native inclination to cut any funding that doesn't make the rich richer or increase the level of intrusiveness into women's vaginas.

GAY, it's the NEWEST black!

I often get my ideas for posts by visiting other peoples' blogs and seeing a post that they've written.

I read the post and think to myself:

"This calls for some truly absurdist comment."

and, well, things just get legs, noI'msane?

Ms. dog gone over at Penigma put up a post yesterday about the idiocy of the now completely Teabagged GOP (in her defense, idiocy is about the only GOPeabaggist activity that there IS goin' on); it's here:

http://penigma.blogspot.com/2014/03/gay-black-any-minority-that-is-not-old.html#comment-form

It's like they think that the poor, jobless, homeless, illiterate or ill--without health insurance--people are in those categories by having made a  conscious decision to be there. Actually, given a choice between any of those things and being a heartless, braindead, pack mentality, KKKristian tribalist Teabaggin' piece-of-shit, I think that many of us WOULD choose to be in one of the former categories. 

I was going to leave a reply but then I decided, wth, I'll just do a post about that post. Here 'tis.

________________________________________

Per Mr. Stewart's face-palm moment in the linked post, the leftist propagandists are trying to get you to buy into the notion that it's the racebaitin', gayhatin', witch huntin' majority that IS the SA arm of the post-1960's GOP are makin' shit up as fast as they can. They will try to convince you that it's all a
"Great Rightwing Conspiracy" to just say things that are not true. Like, if it's not some fucking nonsense about Obamandingo's FEMA Death Camps, run by his Islamatheonazi , nancybooted jackthugs who're comin' for yer gunz and white wimmen then it might be the meme about how Obamascare healthplans are going to be forced on MurKKKa's TROO PATRIUTZ(tm) by Shariacourt judgimams! That's what they want you to believe, that we, the Party-O-GOD are horrible people and liars!

But, now, NOW, the truth is out. MurKKKa is poised to tip over the precipice! Our GREAT AND GODLY NATION is about to go full S&G*!! Teh GAYmawwiage is becoming MANDATORY, state by state; the Stars&Bars, er, I mean the Stars&Stripes will be replaced by the Rainbow Battle Flag of Dominance and Ruination!!!

There will be two sets of drinkin' fountains. The ones for teh GAYZ will be at a normal, convenient height but the ones for Heterochristians will be at a height that forces them to bend double at the waist and grab their ankles!!!!*** and THEN drop their trousers 6!. Oh, wait, a minute, that'll have to go the other way around (note to self: for speech at the rally, change it to "Drop trou, bend double at the waist and grab your ankles) yeah, okay.

And that's just the beginning. Within a year or two, your home and business will be confiscated and turned over to one of teh GAY, unless you're willin' to pass by doin' your job while wearin' lipstick and a tutu (if you're a man) or a flannel shirt, DADjeanz and Doc Martens (for the wimmin) 7!

Then, in rapid succession, they'll take your good, GODfearing children and put them in GAYMadrassas where they will have to learn samesexlove and wear really gorgeous outfits 8! They'll have their choice of beverages with their bento box lunches, as long as it's HOMO milk 9!

Then, when they've completely taken over our beautiful country, they'll be comin' for YOU 10! That's right, Mr./Miss/Mrs. tolerant, complacent, live'n'letlive, wimpy JESUS worshipper 11! The ObamandingoFEMA will come for YOU and put YOU into their festively painted tumbrils**** and take YOU off to teh GAY Death Camps 12! When YOU arrive YOU will be stripped naked by very well built and quite attractive young men (or ladeez, as the case warrants) and forced to watch, "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" or some other GAYhorror propaganda film***** 13! After they have debased, despoiled and disgraced YOU with their torturing, they will give you a choice; embrace teh GAYNESS, go over to the Multi-colored Side OR DIE 14! Choose YHWH and you're off to the GAYotine highway 15!

Hey, bunky, I'll bet that scared out ALL your body fluids (when you're "Shitscared" it's not a convenient, tight package, if you get my drift? But, I mean, really, didn't that just give your poor, persecuted KKKristian heart a little bit of a thrill (especially that last bit about being stripped and all--c'mon you KNOW that you had some sinful thoughts at that point).


I've been thinking about turning black for a long time, now, just for the free Cadillac, gummint supplied crack'n'smack and all that sweet, sweet TANF (Up to $10K/ week if you use just this one weird trick! True story).

Your post makes me think, however, that turning black AND teh GAY at  the same time would be a much better idea. That way I would get all of the above plus I'd be able to make the huge majority of U.S.ians that are Christians all butt-hurty by making them bake GAYmawwiage cakes and divorce their current spouses to marry same-sex in-laws**



*  Sodomistical & Gommoreahic

**  We're only thinking of the children. t's far better for them to be able to tell all of their classmates that instead of having two daddies or mommies that they can, for example, say, "I have two daddies, but one of them is my uncle, so that's all good, yeah?". Well, you've heard of "KKKompassionate KKKonservatism", right. This is Accomodationist Atheism.

***   In the interest of pixel conservation, I will, in future use a symbol/numeric, um, symbol, starting with "5!" to appropriately convey the escalating level of urgency in dealing with the plummeting level of morality being FORCED upon us by teh Gayz 5! (CewudImeen?).

**** They'll look somethin' like this guy:  http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=still+photos+of+the+child+catcher&id=FB792A8BBC845A122306A4091E58A5ED1D881D48&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=DA634F33FEDF172BBBF54479A842D5CDD27D2DCC&selectedIndex=6


*****  YOU have to admit that Terence Stamp looks way less like a homofascist in "Priscilla" than he does here:  http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Terence+Stamp+as+general+in+Superman&id=4D6536845EAF420D6CE67DE99BCFA09AD8C022D2&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=2661604A51E4E3B56A3F4D2EADBD2182E919F800&selectedIndex=178

For the right wing nuts of all stripes, flavors and varieties

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