Just in time for the Republican Convention: Customized outdoor urinals. Indoor bathrooms have been deemed too risky for use by younger GOP'ers.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Fancy New Urinals
Just in time for the Republican Convention: Customized outdoor urinals. Indoor bathrooms have been deemed too risky for use by younger GOP'ers.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Jonah Goldberg is a big fat moron
But you knew that.
I will never cease to be amazed that some of these right wing nutjob pundits get to keep their jobs. Wait, did I say some? In yesterday's column Goldberg says that he is shocked that Obama would tie federal college grants to some form of compulsory community service. This, Goldberg claims, is exactly like slavery, something a black man, and our constitution, should be against.
Well, I guess even white overstuffed idiots who write books in which they don't even understand their own premise (Nazis were liberals because they had "socialist" in their title) should be against slavery.
But it seems to me that when a democrat makes a proposal that a Republican ought to love - spending government money with an expectation of a return on that investment - the Republican talking point machine has to melt down and what it spits out need not make any sense whatsoever. It should invoke racial tensions, a fabricated air of fiscal intelligence where none actually exists and use all the hotpoint words.
Jonah Goldberg could easily be replaced by a machine. Or, more cheaply, his job could be off-shored to a ten year old Indian girl with a list of handy phrases next to her computer.
Perhaps that has already happened.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sweet Pea
My favorite pick your own produce farm opens tomorrow! Yay! A few years ago I joined a CSA and got a big box of veggies every week. Unfortunately, we couldn't eat most of it and that's when we started our compost pile. I did learn to love kohlrabi, though. I can't grow a decent vegetable to save my life and don't really have the yard for it anyway, the sad little row of beans I planted by the fence will attest to this. The pick your own place is my dream come true.
So it is pea season. Every year it sneaks up on me just as we get ready to head nort' for the 4th of July weekend. Nothing is better in the middle of winter than fresh frozen peas, and I've sworn this year I'm really going to stock up. I even have a little pea-sheller that is supposed to make the job easier. As long as the pea pods aren't too thick and tough that is. But I haven't got a clue when I'm going to fit pea picking into my schedule. I've already missed the strawberries that I swore I'd make into jars and jars and jars of jam. At least there are later season berries to make up for the strawberries.
Man, I'd be the world's shittiest farmer if I had to do it for a living.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Schwarzenegger tells tales on the dead.
I watched Meet the Press this morning with Tom Brokaw. It was actually good. How odd to watch a journalist interview a subject, issue actual tough follow up questions and listen to the answers. I know that it's unpopular to go against the current hagiography of Tim Russert, but watching someone else do his show pointed out just what a political hack he was. Sorry.
Tom Brokaw interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger on today's show. He asked a quick "how did you love Russert, we'll pause while you count the ways" question and Schwarzenegger's response was astounding. He said that when he won the governorship in California, Russert called him and said as soon as Ahnold was ready to run for president, he should call on Russert who would make it happen--changing the constitution and everything. This story was not retold as if it was a joke. Arnold said "sadly, it never happened".
So there we have it. Russert believed himself to be a kingmaker.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
I Lied
My darling Wunderlings, I am sorry, but I told you a lie. Life has not been fireflies and lemonade stands, though there's been some. The image just sounded beautiful, like a place I would like to be rather than the place where I am.
I should explain.
Last week I stood on her patio, watering her plants. I thought "she'd be happy to come home and see these". As if she went away on vacation. But she did not. On the last Saturday in spring, just past dinner she said she'd come and do the dishes in a minute but rather sat down in her chair for a rest. She fell asleep, coughed a little, and she did not get up.
We buried her on the last day of spring. Can you believe that at least 300 people came to the church to say goodbye? Can you imagine that I stood up in front of all of them, refusing to cry, and told the world what she meant to me? I could have talked all day, if they'd let me. But did you know that the Catholic Church doesn't like anything secular to invade on their holy space? Just before I spoke I was told that the only reason I could talk about my godmother, my aunt, at her funeral was because my family has been so prominent in the church. God bless the poor sucker who is not. Imagine why I'm no longer Catholic. The priest said "keep it to 3 minutes". I stood at the marble lectern she bought for that church and spoke for more than ten. And no one was sorry that I did.
They buried her, as I said, on the last day of spring. I came back to the grave that night. Already the casket was in the ground, already the dirt was flattened over it. Under the Strawberry moon I sat in her dirt, pulling up fistfuls and telling her "I want you back. I want you back". A wish. It won't happen. I left, barefoot, but a clump of dirt in my hand.
I've so many relatives, so many people-more than 300 as I said. Everyone suffers. But to me, the pain is all around. If I leave my house and go west I will pass her house. When the girls and I go to swim lessons we pass her house. She lived there for more than 50 years. She let me live there for a while too. If I go east, I pass her grave. We saw how they tamp down the dirt with a noisy gas-powered tool. We saw how they cover the grave with straw. Inelegant, true. But how the details are done. We are forced to see them. When the girls and I go to tennis or soccer, we pass her grave. Every day, every day I pass both her house and her grave. I cannot stand the sadness. I want her back.
Two weeks ago I came home from her house, a little slip of a plant in the basket on my bike. I looked like a bush on wheels. She wanted me to have it from her garden. She had insisted and we dug it together. What did I know? This was an everyday thing. I wouldn't have guessed that two days later she would die. Last week I came home from her grave, the last of the dead flowers from her grave. I looked like a dead plant on wheels. Ferns and palms poking from my basket.
I want her back.
There are messages on my answering machine. Everyday things but in her voice. I won't hear again. My whole life I imagined how sad this time would be. Losing her is not like losing a parent, I know that. But it is awfully close. I'm off my rails a bit. I cry too much. I can't find it in me to be quite normal right now.
I want her back. Please understand, I'm just taking a bit to get back to right.
I should explain.
Last week I stood on her patio, watering her plants. I thought "she'd be happy to come home and see these". As if she went away on vacation. But she did not. On the last Saturday in spring, just past dinner she said she'd come and do the dishes in a minute but rather sat down in her chair for a rest. She fell asleep, coughed a little, and she did not get up.
We buried her on the last day of spring. Can you believe that at least 300 people came to the church to say goodbye? Can you imagine that I stood up in front of all of them, refusing to cry, and told the world what she meant to me? I could have talked all day, if they'd let me. But did you know that the Catholic Church doesn't like anything secular to invade on their holy space? Just before I spoke I was told that the only reason I could talk about my godmother, my aunt, at her funeral was because my family has been so prominent in the church. God bless the poor sucker who is not. Imagine why I'm no longer Catholic. The priest said "keep it to 3 minutes". I stood at the marble lectern she bought for that church and spoke for more than ten. And no one was sorry that I did.
They buried her, as I said, on the last day of spring. I came back to the grave that night. Already the casket was in the ground, already the dirt was flattened over it. Under the Strawberry moon I sat in her dirt, pulling up fistfuls and telling her "I want you back. I want you back". A wish. It won't happen. I left, barefoot, but a clump of dirt in my hand.
I've so many relatives, so many people-more than 300 as I said. Everyone suffers. But to me, the pain is all around. If I leave my house and go west I will pass her house. When the girls and I go to swim lessons we pass her house. She lived there for more than 50 years. She let me live there for a while too. If I go east, I pass her grave. We saw how they tamp down the dirt with a noisy gas-powered tool. We saw how they cover the grave with straw. Inelegant, true. But how the details are done. We are forced to see them. When the girls and I go to tennis or soccer, we pass her grave. Every day, every day I pass both her house and her grave. I cannot stand the sadness. I want her back.
Two weeks ago I came home from her house, a little slip of a plant in the basket on my bike. I looked like a bush on wheels. She wanted me to have it from her garden. She had insisted and we dug it together. What did I know? This was an everyday thing. I wouldn't have guessed that two days later she would die. Last week I came home from her grave, the last of the dead flowers from her grave. I looked like a dead plant on wheels. Ferns and palms poking from my basket.
I want her back.
There are messages on my answering machine. Everyday things but in her voice. I won't hear again. My whole life I imagined how sad this time would be. Losing her is not like losing a parent, I know that. But it is awfully close. I'm off my rails a bit. I cry too much. I can't find it in me to be quite normal right now.
I want her back. Please understand, I'm just taking a bit to get back to right.
Those Whacky Pranksters at Blackwater.
And they'd have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for the meddling kids at the ATF. Honestly, the only thing that surprises me about this story is that federal agents went and did the right thing. I didn't think this administration allowed that kind of "doing-one's-job" thing anymore.
Here's the story from USA Today:
Federal agents raided a Blackwater armory Tuesday and seized 34 automatic rifles that the company purchased and stored on behalf of a local law enforcement agency, the Associated Press reports.
Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, tells AP that ATF agents searched the Moyock, N.C., facility. The raid came after reports on a deal in which the company paid for weapons that were registered in the name of the Camden County, N.C., Sheriff's Office.
"The 2005 agreements gives the sheriff's office unlimited access to the weapons, including 17 Romanian AK-47s and 17 Bushmasters," the wire service says. "But [Sheriff Tony] Perry said his department has only used the AK-47s in shooting practice at Blackwater and that none of his 19 deputies are qualified to use them."
Federal law prohibits private companies or individuals from purchasing automatic weapons.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Suffer the children of Fallujah
From the Inter Press service:
IRAQ:
'Special Weapons' Have a Fallout on Babies
by Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
FALLUJAH, Jun 12 (IPS) - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.
The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.
After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.
In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tonnes of DU in Iraq thus far.
Many doctors believe DU to be the cause of a severe increase in the incidence of cancer in Iraq, as well as among U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and through the current occupation.
"We saw all the colours of the rainbow coming out of the exploding American shells and missiles," Ali Sarhan, a 50-year-old teacher who lived through the two U.S. sieges of 2004 told IPS. "I saw bodies that turned into bones and coal right after they were exposed to bombs that we learned later to be phosphorus.
"The most worrying is that many of our women have suffered loss of their babies, and some had babies born with deformations."
"I had two children who had brain damage from birth," 28-year-old Hayfa' Shukur told IPS. "My husband has been detained by the Americans since November 2004 and so I had to take the children around by myself to hospitals and private clinics. They died. I spent all our savings and borrowed a considerable amount of money."
Shukur said doctors told her that it was use of the restricted weapons that caused her children's brain damage and subsequent deaths, "but none of them had the courage to give me a written report."
"Many babies were born with major congenital malformations," a paediatric doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "These infants include many with heart defects, cleft lip or palate, Down's syndrome, and limb defects."
The doctor added, "I can say all kinds of problems related to toxic pollution took place in Fallujah after the November 2004 massacre."
Many doctors speak of similar cases and a similar pattern. The indications remain anecdotal, in the absence of either a study, or any available official records.
The Fallujah General Hospital administration was unwilling to give any statistics on deformed babies, but one doctor volunteered to speak on condition of anonymity -- for fear of reprisals if seen to be critical of the administration.
"Maternal exposure to toxins and radioactive material can lead to miscarriage and frequent abortions, still birth, and congenital malformation," the doctor told IPS. There have been many such cases, and the government "did not move to contain the damage, or present any assistance to the hospital whatsoever.
"These cases need intensive international efforts that provide the highest and most recent technologies that we will not have here in a hundred years," he added.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concern Mar. 31 about the lack of medical supplies in hospitals in Baghdad and Basra.
"Hospitals have used up stocks of vital medical items, and require further supplies to cope with the influx of wounded patients. Access to water remains a matter of concern in certain areas," the ICRC said in a statement.
A senior Iraqi health ministry official was quoted as saying Feb. 26 that the health sector is under "great pressure", with scores of doctors killed, an exodus of medical personnel, poor medical infrastructure, and shortage of medicines.
"We are experiencing a big shortage of everything," said the official, "We don't have enough specialist doctors and medicines, and most of the medical equipment is outdated.
"We used to get many spinal and head injures, but were unable to do anything as we didn't have enough specialists and medicines," he added. "Intravenous fluid, which is a simple thing, is not available all the time." He said no new hospitals had been built since 1986.
Iraqi Health Minister Salih al-Hassnawi highlighted the shortage of medicines at a press conference in Arbil in the Kurdistan region in the north Feb. 22. "The Iraqi Health Ministry is suffering from an acute shortage of medicines...We have decided to import medicines immediately to meet the needs."
He said the 2008 health budget meant that total expenditure on medicines, medical equipment and ambulances would amount to an average of 22 dollars per citizen.
But this is too late for the unknown number of babies and their families who bore the consequences of the earlier devastation. And it is too little to cover the special needs of babies who survived with deformations.
IRAQ:
'Special Weapons' Have a Fallout on Babies
by Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
FALLUJAH, Jun 12 (IPS) - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.
The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.
After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.
In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tonnes of DU in Iraq thus far.
Many doctors believe DU to be the cause of a severe increase in the incidence of cancer in Iraq, as well as among U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and through the current occupation.
"We saw all the colours of the rainbow coming out of the exploding American shells and missiles," Ali Sarhan, a 50-year-old teacher who lived through the two U.S. sieges of 2004 told IPS. "I saw bodies that turned into bones and coal right after they were exposed to bombs that we learned later to be phosphorus.
"The most worrying is that many of our women have suffered loss of their babies, and some had babies born with deformations."
"I had two children who had brain damage from birth," 28-year-old Hayfa' Shukur told IPS. "My husband has been detained by the Americans since November 2004 and so I had to take the children around by myself to hospitals and private clinics. They died. I spent all our savings and borrowed a considerable amount of money."
Shukur said doctors told her that it was use of the restricted weapons that caused her children's brain damage and subsequent deaths, "but none of them had the courage to give me a written report."
"Many babies were born with major congenital malformations," a paediatric doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "These infants include many with heart defects, cleft lip or palate, Down's syndrome, and limb defects."
The doctor added, "I can say all kinds of problems related to toxic pollution took place in Fallujah after the November 2004 massacre."
Many doctors speak of similar cases and a similar pattern. The indications remain anecdotal, in the absence of either a study, or any available official records.
The Fallujah General Hospital administration was unwilling to give any statistics on deformed babies, but one doctor volunteered to speak on condition of anonymity -- for fear of reprisals if seen to be critical of the administration.
"Maternal exposure to toxins and radioactive material can lead to miscarriage and frequent abortions, still birth, and congenital malformation," the doctor told IPS. There have been many such cases, and the government "did not move to contain the damage, or present any assistance to the hospital whatsoever.
"These cases need intensive international efforts that provide the highest and most recent technologies that we will not have here in a hundred years," he added.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concern Mar. 31 about the lack of medical supplies in hospitals in Baghdad and Basra.
"Hospitals have used up stocks of vital medical items, and require further supplies to cope with the influx of wounded patients. Access to water remains a matter of concern in certain areas," the ICRC said in a statement.
A senior Iraqi health ministry official was quoted as saying Feb. 26 that the health sector is under "great pressure", with scores of doctors killed, an exodus of medical personnel, poor medical infrastructure, and shortage of medicines.
"We are experiencing a big shortage of everything," said the official, "We don't have enough specialist doctors and medicines, and most of the medical equipment is outdated.
"We used to get many spinal and head injures, but were unable to do anything as we didn't have enough specialists and medicines," he added. "Intravenous fluid, which is a simple thing, is not available all the time." He said no new hospitals had been built since 1986.
Iraqi Health Minister Salih al-Hassnawi highlighted the shortage of medicines at a press conference in Arbil in the Kurdistan region in the north Feb. 22. "The Iraqi Health Ministry is suffering from an acute shortage of medicines...We have decided to import medicines immediately to meet the needs."
He said the 2008 health budget meant that total expenditure on medicines, medical equipment and ambulances would amount to an average of 22 dollars per citizen.
But this is too late for the unknown number of babies and their families who bore the consequences of the earlier devastation. And it is too little to cover the special needs of babies who survived with deformations.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tim Russert. RIP
Zowie.
Tim Russert collapsed and died this afternoon at the age of 58.
Why do I think Cheney was involved?
Okay, that was uncalled for, but if I were Scott McClellan, I guess I'd have someone else tasting my food.
Revisiting the flood insurance issue.
In my post yesterday I said that anyone can buy flood insurance, regardless of whether you've been deemed to be in a 100 year flood plain by FEMA. The man that I discussed who lost his house had said in his interview with NBC that he didn't have insurance because "it's complicated". How true is that.
Reading through this morning's paper, I can't seem to find an exact answer on whether you can always buy flood insurance. Even the state official that is in charge of the program is unclear. If your municipality opts out of the national flood insurance program you either cannot get flood insurance or you must pay obscene amounts of money to get it.
Why would river and lakes communities opt out of flood insurance? To quote the State Journal article "officials fear that joining the program will stunt economic development by boosting construction costs and restricting the ability to build in high-risk flood areas."
So, ultimately what that means is that if a municipality opts out, but your insurer recognizes the risk, they won't insure you. And can you blame them?
If that were me, I guess I'd reconsider my decision to build in a hazardous area. What is sad is that there are people living in towns and villages throughout the state whose municipal governments chose not to participate in the national flood insurance program. People whose businesses on Main Street are now wiped out, with no federal aid forthcoming because their local government didn't want to stifle economic development out in the resort areas. You see, if you don't participate in the program and your town gets wiped out you are not eligible for federal disaster assistance.
Though these towns are allowed to try to get into the program in six months.
A writer to our daily paper had this to say
Reading through this morning's paper, I can't seem to find an exact answer on whether you can always buy flood insurance. Even the state official that is in charge of the program is unclear. If your municipality opts out of the national flood insurance program you either cannot get flood insurance or you must pay obscene amounts of money to get it.
Why would river and lakes communities opt out of flood insurance? To quote the State Journal article "officials fear that joining the program will stunt economic development by boosting construction costs and restricting the ability to build in high-risk flood areas."
So, ultimately what that means is that if a municipality opts out, but your insurer recognizes the risk, they won't insure you. And can you blame them?
If that were me, I guess I'd reconsider my decision to build in a hazardous area. What is sad is that there are people living in towns and villages throughout the state whose municipal governments chose not to participate in the national flood insurance program. People whose businesses on Main Street are now wiped out, with no federal aid forthcoming because their local government didn't want to stifle economic development out in the resort areas. You see, if you don't participate in the program and your town gets wiped out you are not eligible for federal disaster assistance.
Though these towns are allowed to try to get into the program in six months.
A writer to our daily paper had this to say
"A decision was made to benefit business interest in the short term. A few people benefited for a few years; now many more are dealing with an economic disaster.
Be careful when you see a proposal for less government or lower taxes. Contaminated food, bad drugs and pollution are the result of insufficient government control. Big corporations have only one objective - to make money regardless of the impact on society.
Only government agencies that act in the interest of consumers can reduce these catastrophes. The irrational American Conservative dream that everyone can be in the top 1 percent has exacerbated recent calamities".
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Global Warming. Local Floods.
Last weekend there was flooding to the north, south, east and west of us. One little town, Gays Mills, said it may never recover, as it was completely flooded last August as well. Sadly, to the west of here are many little farms who are trying to practice either sustainable or organic farming. Last year many were wiped out. And organic farmers don't get much insurance money for a failed crop because they don't have as much invested in their resources like genetically modified seed that needs to be repurchased every year, nor in the massive amounts of petroleum based fertilizers our mono-culture corn farmers need. I don't know what's going to happen to the farmers who managed to hang on to this year.
Last year as fires raged out west, a blogger that I read regularly commented that in many of those areas where the fires were destroying homes, the people had no business building there. Often, those areas have been repeatedly ravaged by fires, and developers go in and build and damn the consequences. Except that we all pay higher premiums to cover them.
The news of the past few days showed a very nice young man and his family after their $500,000 dollar home was washed away when the man-made Lake Delton carved a new outlet to the Wisconsin River. He laments that he had no flood insurance.
I don't know his personal situation that well, and he has my sympathy, but there are a few things that ought to be said.
Anyone can buy flood insurance. He said on television that he couldn't because FEMA and his town hadn't come to an agreement on the flood level in his area. If his property were deemed high risk, insurance would be mandatory. His mortgage lender would be legally bound to require it. This man could have estimated that his location between a river that runs through 2/3's of Wisconsin and a man-made lake that's only eight feet deep, might mean he should pick up the insurance. He could have opted to, though it wasn't required.
The other thing is that Lake Delton is a very desirable recreational lake. It has been over-developed for the last thirty years at least, due to its being really close to Milwaukee and Madison. This house was built in 2003 which leads me to believe that for a long, long time it was recognized that the property he built his house on was not stable. I admit to this being a guess, and would gladly claim to be wrong if I am.
It does seem in very many lake communities that regulations are for the poor and people without influence. I've been awestruck by new construction on other lakes that comes far too close to the water's edge, or landscaping that allows for run-off into the lake or riverfront. We do need government. We do need a community to recognize that some things are a bad idea and ought not to be allowed. Otherwise, if every man is for himself please do not cry to me when your house floats away. Laissez-faire is a harsh reality.
Last year as fires raged out west, a blogger that I read regularly commented that in many of those areas where the fires were destroying homes, the people had no business building there. Often, those areas have been repeatedly ravaged by fires, and developers go in and build and damn the consequences. Except that we all pay higher premiums to cover them.
The news of the past few days showed a very nice young man and his family after their $500,000 dollar home was washed away when the man-made Lake Delton carved a new outlet to the Wisconsin River. He laments that he had no flood insurance.
I don't know his personal situation that well, and he has my sympathy, but there are a few things that ought to be said.
Anyone can buy flood insurance. He said on television that he couldn't because FEMA and his town hadn't come to an agreement on the flood level in his area. If his property were deemed high risk, insurance would be mandatory. His mortgage lender would be legally bound to require it. This man could have estimated that his location between a river that runs through 2/3's of Wisconsin and a man-made lake that's only eight feet deep, might mean he should pick up the insurance. He could have opted to, though it wasn't required.
The other thing is that Lake Delton is a very desirable recreational lake. It has been over-developed for the last thirty years at least, due to its being really close to Milwaukee and Madison. This house was built in 2003 which leads me to believe that for a long, long time it was recognized that the property he built his house on was not stable. I admit to this being a guess, and would gladly claim to be wrong if I am.
It does seem in very many lake communities that regulations are for the poor and people without influence. I've been awestruck by new construction on other lakes that comes far too close to the water's edge, or landscaping that allows for run-off into the lake or riverfront. We do need government. We do need a community to recognize that some things are a bad idea and ought not to be allowed. Otherwise, if every man is for himself please do not cry to me when your house floats away. Laissez-faire is a harsh reality.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Keep Dr. Dobson OUT of the Hall of Fame
Focus on the Family kindly sent me an e-mail letting me know that Dr. James Dobson is up for a National Radio Hall of Fame award. Would I kindly cast my vote?
Sure enough, and I would like to ask you to kindly do the same. Please pass this along to anyone you know who would also like to cast a vote against Dr. Dobson.
Dr. Dobson's fellow nominees are Bob Costas, Dr. Laura, and Howard Stern.
I briefly considered voting for Howard Stern, since having Stern defeat Dobson seems the most fitting, but I couldn't do it primarily because I despise Howard Stern. These days "misogynist" gets bandied about to the point of losing all meaning. Howard Stern fills up that empty-meaning cup and lets his demeaning drivel overflow.
I voted for Bob Costas. Mostly because he is the only professional the National Radio Hall of Fame put up for nomination this year anyway.
The whole thing seems rather sad. Nonetheless, if there is a God you will help to ensure that Dr. Dobson goes home from the banquet empty-handed and cursing the Lord who hath forsaken him.
Te he.
Here's the link. There's extra bullshitty signing up stuff involved, but remember: it's us against the fundies. You know they'll all be working hard to get him in. They won't let a little registration whoo-ha stop them. Go the extra mile. Tell your friends. Start a campaign. Tell 'em Jess sent you.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Ed McMahon - Feels like snark, but I got nothin'.
Ed McMahon was on Larry King last night talking about the recent news that his home is in foreclosure. I want to be snarky about it, eat the rich and all that, but I think it is just sad.
What rarely gets reported, and what probably goes to the fact that being rich don't make you smart, is that McMahon won more than the value of his home in a lawsuit against a company that was supposed to clean the mold from his house, but did not. McMahon could have paid his home off at that time but he chose not to. They say that the money went to gutting and rebuilding the interior of the home, but it doesn't look like that's what they did. From the little clippy they showed this morning, McMahon & Wife's excuse on being broke was that they spent beyond their means and showered too many gifts upon their friends. Well, when you go door to door doling out 10 million dollars, sooner or later it catches up with you.
McMahon is not alone. It seems that in Manhattan, some erstwhile Susie Socialites are quietly trying to scale back but are hoping that no one will notice. "I know the Escalade is two years old, but I just can't bear reprogramming the mp3 player". Look for victory gardens atop Fifth Ave penthouses all summer long. "The corn? It's ornamental!" I hear koi are delicious.
From Dailykos:
So New York’s very wealthy are addressing their distress in discreet and often awkward ways. They try to move their $165 sessions with personal trainers to a time slot that they know is already taken. They agree to tour multimillion-dollar apartments and then say the spaces don’t match their specifications. They apply for a line of credit before art auctions, supposedly to buy a painting or a sculpture, but use that borrowed money to pay other debtsWhat was that thing about the subprime mess being the fault of ignorant, low class borrowers who had no business messing with finance? Ha Ha! I found my snark.
You know what Ed McMahon and I have in common? Ascot? no. Faded trophy wife? no. Halitosis? Let me check-(huhh, huhh in my palm) yeah, probably particularly if he likes as much coffee as me. No the other thing is that Countrywide Mortgage foreclosed on me, too.
A few years ago in the midst of the re-fi, go-go market, Ben and I bought a duplex. Right after we bought it, a new lender bought the mortgage from the lender we had at closing. That lender was Countrywide. For some reason, Countrywide sent all correspondence to the rental unit (though our home address was prominent in the closing papers) where the tenant promptly threw it all away. At our house we would casually notice that we weren't receiving our mortgage bills but assume that the shell game was continuing and that sooner or later we'd get our statement.
When we finally got our statement it was in the form of a sheriff knocking on the door and handing me a summons.
In the next few weeks our conversations with Countrywide were truly bizarre. Let me say that the first thing we did upon discovering which company owned our property for us was to pay up our balance. However, Countrywide didn't want to dismiss the foreclosure until we paid their legal and search fees, which they claimed came to over three thousand dollars.
"Send me your itemized bill. Show me the hours you've been charged for," I said.
"Well," they hesitated. "A lot of that is internal. We had to do a search to find you so that we could serve you with papers."
"How did you do that?" I asked. "Did you hire a detective?"
"No. We did an on-line search".
They googled me for three grand?
"Did you check your own database?" I asked.
"Of course"
"Then you probably should have found us, since you hold another of our mortgages."
So Countrywide dropped the foreclosure, and we promptly financed through another lender. I could never say for sure but my suspicions are that Countrywide had a little scam going where they quickly moved for foreclosure so that they can collect fees they don't incur. I think that by the time we were served we had missed two of their statements. Unfortunately, the foreclosure is on our credit reports - as resolved, but still. The other crappy thing is that all those people who bought those real estate get-rich guides call you on the phone because they've seen in court records that there is a foreclosure against you. They want to buy your property for pennies on the dollar. Even though we weren't actually losing a home, it felt humiliating to get condescending calls from rank amateurs.
I feel for people, even Ed McMahon, who go through it for real.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
I think this is a fabulous post
Will Bunch, who writes for the Philadelphia Daily News and who tries to rein herd at his blog Attytood has written this piece about the events during the week that Barack Obama was born in 1961.
The following article was datelined Aug. 5, 1961, and appeared in the Sunday New York Times the following day. It was headlined: BLIND RIDER HELPS BREAK COLOR LINE:
JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 5 (AP) -- Two Freedom Riders, a blind white woman and a Negro, broke the segregation barrier today in a Jackson, Miss., bus depot.
When that landmark event took place, Barack Obama was all of one day old. He was born on Aug. 4. 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Here's some other stories that appeared in the Times the week that Obama was born:
3 U.S. SUITS SEEK VOTES FOR NEGROES:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The Government filed three civil rights suits today. They charged that Negroes had been denied voting rights in Montgomery County, Alabama, and Walthall and Jefferson, Davis Counties, Mississippi.
NEW CANAAN GETS HOUSING-BIAS POLL:
NEW CANAAN, Conn., Aug. 5 -- A survey to determine whether Negroes would be welcomed as home owners here is being taken by the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
On the day that Barack Obama was born, there were no black federal judges in the United States -- that would not happen until the day after:
HYANNIS PORT, Mass., Aug. 5 (AP) -- President Kennedy has decided to name James Benton Parsons as a Federal district judge. He will be the first Negro appointed to such a judical post in the continental United States.
On the day that Barack Obama was born, black people in a number of cities and towns across the United States could not swim in the same public pool, drink from the same water fountain or use the same restroom as white people. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was still nearly four years away on Aug 4, 1961.
Between the day that Barack Obama was born and 1968, at least 28 people were killed as they actively worked for the rights of black people to live in an integrated society, vote, and eventually run for public office. Their names are:
Louis Allen, Willie Brewster, Benjamin Brown, James Chaney, Vernon Dahmer, Jonathan Daniels, Henry H. Dee, Cpl. Roman Ducksworth Jr., Medgar Evers, Andrew Goodman, Samuel Hammond Jr, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Wharlest Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr, Rev. Bruce Klunder, Herbert Lee, Viola Gregg Liuzzo, Delano H. Middleton, Charles E. Moore, Oneal Moore, William Moore, Rev. James Reeb, Michael Schwener, Henry E. Smith, Clarence Triggs, Virgil Ware, Ben Chester White, Samuel Younge Jr.
These men and women did not die in vain.
They died because somewhere in their souls they knew that someday in America, there would be a night like this night, a night like June 3, 2008:
[T]onight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another—a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.
This is not to say that Barack Obama is some kind of Messiah, or even that he will win in November -- he now has five months and a fair opportunity to try to do what 43 other men before him have done, to prove that he has the leadership skills to become the president of the United States. This is just to say how remarkable it is that a man who wasn't even guaranteed the right to vote when he was born is now the Democratic nominee for the White House -- and to say thank you to the people who fought and who even gave their lives to make this moment happen.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Conversations With The Five Year Old
Ima: (looking at pictures from the hospital when she was born) Momma, why do they put babies in boxes?
Me: They put babies in boxes?
Ima: Yes, look! (shows me picture of her in one of those acrylic crib things)
Me: Oh, that's so you'll be ready for your cubicle later.
Ima: What?
Ima: Momma, why do they put that thing on your wrist
Me: So they can match you up with your parents. Who knows, they could have made and mistake and you might have been sent home with someone nice!
Monday, June 2, 2008
You Be The Judge
Following are quotes from the comments at the rightwing website Little Green Footballs and from the comments at the leftwing Hillary Clinton supporting Taylor Marsh.
You, dear reader, get to try to see if you can guess from which site each quote originated.
1. When Obama said in one of his speeches that HE would heal America's broken soul, is when I really had enough of his BS. That is not the presidents job! That's a faith healers job. Protecting the Constitution is the presidents job. I don't want Obama mesing with my American soul!
2. The ObamaMessiah is headed off to a synagogue in Florida -- to woo the wary...
3. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA: YOU ARE GETTING ON OUR NERVES. WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING THE REGAL 1ST PERSON PLURAL ROLL OFF YOUR ARROGANT TONGUE. WE DON'T LIKE IT
4. The O'ccult Master will not allow defection in the msm.
The O'ccult Master will send out memo's and re-statements.
Thus say the O'ccult Master of the humming loons of America.
Humm the O'ccult tune or be declared off key.
5. Obama is a nasty piece of work.
6. How terribly sad that so many people have thrown their principles out the window to support a slacker like him
7. .....Thats when POTUS Obama starts Sharia Conversion Jan 21st
8. I recall reading a spin-off link about how the MSM was finally taking the ObamaMessiah to task -- that was months ago...and I think the critical, analytical articles are few and far between (they are flukes) -- the critical pieces drowned out in a vast sea of non-stop praise and worshipful awe
9. If the Dem. Convention becomes a bloodbath, thats best of all!
10. THE FACTS ARE CLEAR, WE WHITE VOTERS WILL NEVER VOTE FOR DUMBO EARS!
11. Better four more years of Republican misrule than the unAmerican BO and his passel of thugs dirtying up our country.
Prizes will be awarded. Do your best!
UPDATE: The answers that are Little Green Footballs are in green, natch. The answers from Taylor Marsh are in red, because that's the way that website's readers hope to turn the country. Goodluck with that formerly progressive people who valued a woman's right to choose and who thought torture was bad. Your new candidate, McCain, is really going to take some getting used to for you.
You, dear reader, get to try to see if you can guess from which site each quote originated.
1. When Obama said in one of his speeches that HE would heal America's broken soul, is when I really had enough of his BS. That is not the presidents job! That's a faith healers job. Protecting the Constitution is the presidents job. I don't want Obama mesing with my American soul!
2. The ObamaMessiah is headed off to a synagogue in Florida -- to woo the wary...
3. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA: YOU ARE GETTING ON OUR NERVES. WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING THE REGAL 1ST PERSON PLURAL ROLL OFF YOUR ARROGANT TONGUE. WE DON'T LIKE IT
4. The O'ccult Master will not allow defection in the msm.
The O'ccult Master will send out memo's and re-statements.
Thus say the O'ccult Master of the humming loons of America.
Humm the O'ccult tune or be declared off key.
5. Obama is a nasty piece of work.
6. How terribly sad that so many people have thrown their principles out the window to support a slacker like him
7. .....Thats when POTUS Obama starts Sharia Conversion Jan 21st
8. I recall reading a spin-off link about how the MSM was finally taking the ObamaMessiah to task -- that was months ago...and I think the critical, analytical articles are few and far between (they are flukes) -- the critical pieces drowned out in a vast sea of non-stop praise and worshipful awe
9. If the Dem. Convention becomes a bloodbath, thats best of all!
10. THE FACTS ARE CLEAR, WE WHITE VOTERS WILL NEVER VOTE FOR DUMBO EARS!
11. Better four more years of Republican misrule than the unAmerican BO and his passel of thugs dirtying up our country.
Prizes will be awarded. Do your best!
UPDATE: The answers that are Little Green Footballs are in green, natch. The answers from Taylor Marsh are in red, because that's the way that website's readers hope to turn the country. Goodluck with that formerly progressive people who valued a woman's right to choose and who thought torture was bad. Your new candidate, McCain, is really going to take some getting used to for you.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Good Sportsmanship is Dead.
I'm listening to Clinton supporters on Face the Nation right now swearing that Hillary Clinton has played by the rules throughout this campaign. Excuse me? Clinton has tried from Nevada on, to try to change the rules as long as that benefits her. Obama did the right thing in Michigan by not putting his name on the ballot. Mandy Grunewald, Clinton's media advisor, just said "Too bad, so sad, that was his choice". And then she stuck her tongue out. Okay, I kid, those were not her exact words, but the effect was the same.
These people spin like republicans.
Please, Hillary. Stop. You are killing us.
These people spin like republicans.
Please, Hillary. Stop. You are killing us.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
This will end in a book review.
Hi all y'all. It's the end of the school year so of course there are seven million end of the school year field trips, recitals, parades, plays and festivals, so I've been off doing real life. Now is the time to pretend that global warming does/does not exist based on the temperature in my neighborhood. Glad to say you can all continue to drive your land yachts even if it does cost 75cents a mile to do so! Mother Earth has put on a sweater this spring. It is cold! (Do I give a fig* if there are ozone warning days in Dallas due to the heat? No, I do not. Scientists can do that until we de-fund all of the Darwinist bastards).
Last Tuesday night midnight found me lying in the dark with hot tears streaming down my cheeks and into my ears. This is all the fault of Suzy at Luminiferous Ether. You see, Suzy said that a certain book was worthy of a spot on the bookshelf next to "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". These are two of my favorite books of all time. Those were fighting words, Suzy! Over-reaching at best, blasphemy at worst.
I went post-haste* (in interweb time that's click, click another click, search, click) to Audible. com where I found the book called "The Book Thief". I get one book a month at Audible on my membership and had already listened to May's book "The Brothers K" (excellent). The Book Thief, though only about 12 hours long, was two credits! Books rarely cost two credits. Then I read the reviews, all glowing.
I splurged. After downloading I discovered that this book is categorized in kids' books. Crap. Then I started to listen. The first half hour practically makes no sense at all. The narrator of the book is Death and Death is talking about colors and discussing the story at hand in a completely non-linear fashion. 'Hard to get into' is an apt descriptor.
The reason I like to listen to books on my iPod is that I can listen to them while doing something else. In the summer I sit at swim lessons, knitting socks and listening to a book. This weekend I painted a fence and listened to most of The Book Thief getting past the odd beginning. I'm glad I did. Death the narrator tells the story of a young German girl who is taken in by foster parents near Munich at the start of World War II. As far as thinking a kids' novel would be somewhat dumbed down, rest assured that when Death tells the story, and when the language alone should help to get the book banned in book banning territory (f'rinstance: 'ass-scratcher' is a term of endearment) it's really hard to fathom that this book has been written for a youth audience. But I'm so glad it has.
Tuesday night I started listening. I was nearing the end and I thought I'd give it an hour or so before bed. Four hours later the story was over and I was crying. If I was someone watching me cry over the end of a book like that, I'd probably have to punch me in the stomach for being such an idiot. But it was that remarkable. It can go on that shelf by "To Kill a Mockingbird". Thanks lots, Suzy!
*When John McCain is elected president we will all be required to use idioms like 'don't give a fig' and interjections like 'Alas'. We will all be harkening back to an erstwhile Norman Rockwell past all the while blowing the shit out of brown people around the world. Alas!
Last Tuesday night midnight found me lying in the dark with hot tears streaming down my cheeks and into my ears. This is all the fault of Suzy at Luminiferous Ether. You see, Suzy said that a certain book was worthy of a spot on the bookshelf next to "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". These are two of my favorite books of all time. Those were fighting words, Suzy! Over-reaching at best, blasphemy at worst.
I went post-haste* (in interweb time that's click, click another click, search, click) to Audible. com where I found the book called "The Book Thief". I get one book a month at Audible on my membership and had already listened to May's book "The Brothers K" (excellent). The Book Thief, though only about 12 hours long, was two credits! Books rarely cost two credits. Then I read the reviews, all glowing.
I splurged. After downloading I discovered that this book is categorized in kids' books. Crap. Then I started to listen. The first half hour practically makes no sense at all. The narrator of the book is Death and Death is talking about colors and discussing the story at hand in a completely non-linear fashion. 'Hard to get into' is an apt descriptor.
The reason I like to listen to books on my iPod is that I can listen to them while doing something else. In the summer I sit at swim lessons, knitting socks and listening to a book. This weekend I painted a fence and listened to most of The Book Thief getting past the odd beginning. I'm glad I did. Death the narrator tells the story of a young German girl who is taken in by foster parents near Munich at the start of World War II. As far as thinking a kids' novel would be somewhat dumbed down, rest assured that when Death tells the story, and when the language alone should help to get the book banned in book banning territory (f'rinstance: 'ass-scratcher' is a term of endearment) it's really hard to fathom that this book has been written for a youth audience. But I'm so glad it has.
Tuesday night I started listening. I was nearing the end and I thought I'd give it an hour or so before bed. Four hours later the story was over and I was crying. If I was someone watching me cry over the end of a book like that, I'd probably have to punch me in the stomach for being such an idiot. But it was that remarkable. It can go on that shelf by "To Kill a Mockingbird". Thanks lots, Suzy!
*When John McCain is elected president we will all be required to use idioms like 'don't give a fig' and interjections like 'Alas'. We will all be harkening back to an erstwhile Norman Rockwell past all the while blowing the shit out of brown people around the world. Alas!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
In the Whatever Happened To...Column
I am so glad that the Philadelphia Inquirer signed Rick Santorum on as a columnist. This way, we can continue to be amused at his batshit crazy fundamentalist logic. I mean, what's Mark Foley been up to? Who knows?
Now that California has said that creating separate language in the state constitution for a group of individuals amounts to discrimination, thus opening the doors for gay marriage, Rick is all 'uh hum, toldya the world would end' in his Inky column.
I plucked some bon mots:
First, he says his alarm! went unheeded. It's right in the title:
One could just say you lost, Rick.
He says:
Okay, he's upfront in admitting that his notion of what is marriage comes from his faith. But then, get this and try not to giggle, he says that it's due to the facts of human nature that only men and only women should marry. His source? An anthropolgist? A genetic scientist? A biologist (known to Santorum as a Darwinist, btw). Nope. The Pope. Yeah, all us non-religious types who believe in equality and separation of church and state should look to that man of science and reason for our stand on human nature. The Pope. Who, I don't think, gets peer reviewed.
Then he raises the clouding of a spurious correlation to a high art. In Norway, he says, gay marriage was legalized in 1990 and then all hell broke loose. (If it's Norway, does that mean that Hell has frozen over? Just WonderingTM)
How is this related to gay marriage? I haven't the foggiest idea and Santorum doesn't bother to explain. How does he know these children are growing up without father? Maybe some of them are growing up with two dads? Further, does he really want to use Norway as an example of a place where they suffer the little children? Norway has, since adopting the gay marriage law also raised itself to the top spot in standard of living among all countries of the world - a feat it has been repeating year after year. Since adopting the gay marriage law, Norway's infant mortality rate has steadily dropped every year. It currently stands at 3.64/1000 births compared to the US who's rate is 6.4/1000.
Okay, but that's the disingenuous part. What of the batshit crazy stuff? Well lookie here:
Wha? Where to begin?
Let's look at Santorum's Syllogism, shall we? (As if he didn't get enough abuse from his man-on-dog comments)
I know the Appalachians run up through Pennsylvania, Rick. But really.
He rightly assigns the governance of marriage to the government. It is after all the government that issues the license. But then he goes on to say that it's a privilege. Then he collapses all sanity by saying that only the government is allowed to confer privilege on people and it can do so by saying which ones deserve the privilege. Which is exactly the point the Supreme Court of California made.
Going into foaming at the mouth mode, he claims that if two people in California get married my free expression of religion is going to be infringed upon. Again, we don't get the mechanics of how this works. Yes, if my religion says that I'm going to hell for casting my eyes upon an elderly gay couple sitting in a hospital room kissing each other goodbye on the day that death do them part, then yeah. But what kind of religion is that? Makes you want to run to your nearest atheist temple and lie prostrate upon the ground, doesn't it? Oh, I kid. There are no atheist temples. Maybe universities, or libraries, or possibly Unitarian churches. But we're not much into organization.
Then he says he's going to make a crazy prediction. (Oh, Rick? They've all been crazy, this isn't your first). All of his predictions center around Churches losing their federal advantages for promoting bigotry. And my response is: yeah, so?
Here's the deal. If you want to have a church that doesn't allow gay marriage go right ahead. But do it without the federal grants and the federal tax exemptions. In other words, religions, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. No one says you have to go out of existence. We're just saying our tax dollars don't have to support you.
That's a position you ought to understand.
Now that California has said that creating separate language in the state constitution for a group of individuals amounts to discrimination, thus opening the doors for gay marriage, Rick is all 'uh hum, toldya the world would end' in his Inky column.
I plucked some bon mots:
First, he says his alarm! went unheeded. It's right in the title:
The Elephant in the Room: A wake-up call on gay marriage after '03 alarm went unheeded
One could just say you lost, Rick.
He says:
Five years later, do I regret sounding the alarm about marriage? No.
I'm just saddened that time has proved right those of us who worried about the future of marriage as the union of husband and wife, deeply rooted not only in our traditions, our faiths, but in the facts of human nature: as Pope Benedict said, "The cradle of life and love," connecting mothers and fathers to their children.
Okay, he's upfront in admitting that his notion of what is marriage comes from his faith. But then, get this and try not to giggle, he says that it's due to the facts of human nature that only men and only women should marry. His source? An anthropolgist? A genetic scientist? A biologist (known to Santorum as a Darwinist, btw). Nope. The Pope. Yeah, all us non-religious types who believe in equality and separation of church and state should look to that man of science and reason for our stand on human nature. The Pope. Who, I don't think, gets peer reviewed.
Then he raises the clouding of a spurious correlation to a high art. In Norway, he says, gay marriage was legalized in 1990 and then all hell broke loose. (If it's Norway, does that mean that Hell has frozen over? Just WonderingTM)
Look at Norway. It began allowing same-sex marriage in the 1990s. In just the last decade, its heterosexual-marriage rates have nose-dived and its out-of-wedlock birthrate skyrocketed to 80 percent for firstborn children. Too bad for those kids who probably won't have a dad around, but we can't let the welfare of children stand in the way of social affirmation, can we?
How is this related to gay marriage? I haven't the foggiest idea and Santorum doesn't bother to explain. How does he know these children are growing up without father? Maybe some of them are growing up with two dads? Further, does he really want to use Norway as an example of a place where they suffer the little children? Norway has, since adopting the gay marriage law also raised itself to the top spot in standard of living among all countries of the world - a feat it has been repeating year after year. Since adopting the gay marriage law, Norway's infant mortality rate has steadily dropped every year. It currently stands at 3.64/1000 births compared to the US who's rate is 6.4/1000.
Okay, but that's the disingenuous part. What of the batshit crazy stuff? Well lookie here:
But what about love? That's the question a student asked this winter when I spoke at Georgetown University.
Is anyone saying same-sex couples can't love each other? I love my children. I love my friends, my brother. Heck, I even love my mother-in-law. Should we call these relationships marriage, too? Marriage is and always has been more than the acknowledgment of the love between two people.
What about the constitutional right to equal protection under the law? Marriage is not an inalienable right; it is a privilege, a license granted by government conferring certain governmental benefits.
There is a constitutional right that is under threat: the free exercise of religion.
Let me go out on another limb here and make another crazy prediction. Within 10 years, clergy will be sued or indicted for preaching on certain Bible passages dealing with homosexuality and churches, and church-related organizations will lose government contracts and even their tax-exempt status.
Wha? Where to begin?
Let's look at Santorum's Syllogism, shall we? (As if he didn't get enough abuse from his man-on-dog comments)
I love my brother. Marriage=Love. Therefore I have married my brother
I know the Appalachians run up through Pennsylvania, Rick. But really.
He rightly assigns the governance of marriage to the government. It is after all the government that issues the license. But then he goes on to say that it's a privilege. Then he collapses all sanity by saying that only the government is allowed to confer privilege on people and it can do so by saying which ones deserve the privilege. Which is exactly the point the Supreme Court of California made.
Going into foaming at the mouth mode, he claims that if two people in California get married my free expression of religion is going to be infringed upon. Again, we don't get the mechanics of how this works. Yes, if my religion says that I'm going to hell for casting my eyes upon an elderly gay couple sitting in a hospital room kissing each other goodbye on the day that death do them part, then yeah. But what kind of religion is that? Makes you want to run to your nearest atheist temple and lie prostrate upon the ground, doesn't it? Oh, I kid. There are no atheist temples. Maybe universities, or libraries, or possibly Unitarian churches. But we're not much into organization.
Then he says he's going to make a crazy prediction. (Oh, Rick? They've all been crazy, this isn't your first). All of his predictions center around Churches losing their federal advantages for promoting bigotry. And my response is: yeah, so?
Here's the deal. If you want to have a church that doesn't allow gay marriage go right ahead. But do it without the federal grants and the federal tax exemptions. In other words, religions, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. No one says you have to go out of existence. We're just saying our tax dollars don't have to support you.
That's a position you ought to understand.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Can You Believe I Just Listened?
And didn't say a word?
Me Neither.
Last night at Lotta's dance class two moms were talking politics. I had my nose stuck in "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein. (Did you know that mentioning Klein's 'No Logo' is one way to brand yourself as a white person who likes things?) I had previously pegged one of the moms as a GOP'er, since she thinks No Child Left Behind might not be such a bad idea. (She had experience with graduates in the Chicago area who could not read).
Nope. Dems.
Now in another age and time we'd have shown each other the secret high sign and pondered impeachment and other dreams (to crib a phrase from a great blogger). But these days, no chance.
The one mom - one I don't know all that well - started talking about the election. The other mom (NCLB lady) was more of a listener, a devil's advocate.
It soon became very apparent that first mom was a Hillaryite. And it occured to me that she was very close to becoming unglued. She was speaking in a low voice at high speed. It seemed feverish. She had the tone of a 9/11 Truther when you say you agree with some, but not all, of their claims.
"And now, Obama says 'lay off his wife,'" she snorts. "I mean, hey, it's an election. She's fair game, she's campaigning for him".
My nose slowly rises from the pages of my lefty book. I squint.
"All the wives campaign. Nobody goes after them," I intrude on a conversation that I'm not really in yet.
"Yah but" (is a Wisconsin expression) "Michelle discusses policy. For instance," the Hillaryite continues, "I think its perfectly fair to go after Elizabeth Edwards for her stand on healthcare".
"As I understand it" (I haven't seen the ad)"they are attacking her personally, portraying her as unamerican. That's not policy." I say. And then I make a Cindy McCain joke that does not include the word cunt, which is not easy, and it does not get a laugh.
The other mom is nodding with me.
"Yah but" rejoins the Hillaryite "Michelle Obama has said A LOT of things that make me wonder about her. Yah know, she's pretty down on a country that's given her so much ....." she searches above her glasses for the word, "opportunity."
"Well, okay aside from the 'for the first time in my adult life' comment, what has she said?" asked the other mother.
"Oh you know" said Hillaryite. Conspiratorial whisper: "there's just a lot out there. And besides I don't think that 'first time' comment was a mistake. I mean, she's the Vice President of the University of Chicago hospitals, she's in Public Relations- she knows how to address a large crowd."
The other mother (okay, actually it was me, but that doesn't fit the narrative of me passively sitting by just listening, does it?) deftly steered the conversation around to things we could all agree on. The fact that the media covers the horse race and ignores the issues. Oddly, Hillaryite comments that it's just not fair that every little gaffe the candidates make gets covered ad nauseum. She sees no hint of irony in her stance.
A few moments later we are called into the ballet studio to watch our daughters' routines. NCLB mom whispers "I hate talking about politics right now. I'm just waiting for this to be over."
Me too.
When I get home I consult Google. I can't find much quantity in anti-American comments uttered by Michelle Obama. I do find much on the "first time" comment. The only other thing I find is a report on her senior thesis at Princeton which discusses the racial experience of blacks at Princeton. How they are treated, if there is assimilation after graduation, etc. I find that this was a controversy from February that completely passed me by. It seems some pearl clutchers see a conspiracy because Princeton is not releasing the thesis. It seems that the number of requests for the thesis is overwhelming the archivists at Princeton.
What has me somewhat perplexed, coming late to this controversy, is how anyone can be shocked that Michelle Obama would look around at Princeton and see racism. It is unforgivable for fellow dems to make this complaint.
The reason?
Samuel Alito.
Concerned Alumni of Princeton. The organization opposed to both women and minorities on the campus of Princeton. The organization devoted to the advancement of privileged white sons. The same people who, nostalgia brimming, longed for the days when the Ivy League had no women, had no blacks, had no hispanics. Might have a Jew. Anyone remember them?
Yeah, that crazy Michelle. Imagining racism at Princeton. What will we do about that?
Perhaps she's just uppity.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
George Bush took the war on terra to Iraq without knowing the difference between Sunni and Shia muslims, or much about Kurds in the north for that matter.
How'd that go?
Well enough, according to John McCain that we should extend our know-nothing foreign policy into Iran. McCain doesn't know how the Iranian government is structured, doesn't know who is in charge of what, doesn't know which brand of muslims are in the majority and doesn't know what their affiliations are. Yet he takes Obama to task for saying he would talk to Iran before going all shock and awe on them. Bomb first, ask questions later. In fact, he thinks Iran is as great a threat to us today as the Soviet Union was to us throughout the cold war.
Bomb first, ask questions later. (On the upside there would be no "Cuban Missile Crisis". We'd just bomb, bomb, bomb.)
And McCain's strong point is foreign policy because he doesn't know much about economics?
How'd that go?
Well enough, according to John McCain that we should extend our know-nothing foreign policy into Iran. McCain doesn't know how the Iranian government is structured, doesn't know who is in charge of what, doesn't know which brand of muslims are in the majority and doesn't know what their affiliations are. Yet he takes Obama to task for saying he would talk to Iran before going all shock and awe on them. Bomb first, ask questions later. In fact, he thinks Iran is as great a threat to us today as the Soviet Union was to us throughout the cold war.
Bomb first, ask questions later. (On the upside there would be no "Cuban Missile Crisis". We'd just bomb, bomb, bomb.)
And McCain's strong point is foreign policy because he doesn't know much about economics?
Monday, May 19, 2008
I got nothin'.
But this.
I need to find something to feign sadness and gravitas all at once so that people will think it is not allergies, but some tragedy. Yet with the GOP in a tidee-bowl death spiral I'm coming up pretty happy.
Except for the damned allergies. Screw you, ubiquitous green pollen!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Yet another strain of the virus
Looks like m. yu tagged me about the same time I tagged m.yu.
Here's this appendage:
"I had been shuffling around the house for a few hours and already felt tired. The doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw a figure striding away from the house, quickly and purposefully. I looked down and saw a bulky envelope. I picked it up. The handwriting was smudged and cramped, and I could only make out a few words." (Splotchy)
"Meet me at two o'clock at Grisham Square. Don't be late!"
"What? I already had an appointment at that time. In fact, that was the only reason I had even taken off work that Wednesday. But, when I saw the photos, I knew I had to go and see what the hell was going on. Oh gosh, now I wish I hadn't, but how was I to know then that Elizabeth would take this whole thing so far?" (Freida Bee)
"I saw I had an hour to go to get there so went inside, and grabbed my bag, my video camera, and just to be safe, my new taser gun that my Dad gave me for Christmas. As I drove out of town to Grisham Square, I remembered how all this began. Or should I say, began to go wrong.
Elizabeth was always someone who could talk me into anything. Her mischievous smile and "I dare you" eyes have gotten me in trouble many times before. Now looking at those damn photos, I couldn't help thinking she had done it again!
"Let's go out there," she kept saying. "No one will know," she said running her hand along my waist like she always does, knowing how it melts me. Damn her! Damn her golden brown and oh so soft spankable hide! In the back of my mind, I knew things would come to trouble. They always do with her. I should never have gone with her out to that abandoned prison for that video shoot. With all that time we were there and with all those depraved things we did, I always thought we were alone. Now I know. I was wrong." (M.Yu)
Look, lovin spoofuls of depredation are sometimes only sexy if you think someone is looking on. Proferring a grade. I often wonder if sex was really, really dull before the onset of celluloid pictures, or if it was better thanks to neither partner performing, rather just doing. Who knows? Our grandparents probably just rutted a lot. Though this is something I'd rather not think about.
But our secret was out. And does it matter if it's a secret? What's the purpose of a secret? To hide or to protect? Would I care? I don't want to hide. Protection is another matter altogether.
___________
Okay, who to send this on to? I've got no idea. Ummmm, I think I'm just going to send it back to Mr. Splotchy Smartypants to see what he will do with it.
Here's this appendage:
"I had been shuffling around the house for a few hours and already felt tired. The doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw a figure striding away from the house, quickly and purposefully. I looked down and saw a bulky envelope. I picked it up. The handwriting was smudged and cramped, and I could only make out a few words." (Splotchy)
"Meet me at two o'clock at Grisham Square. Don't be late!"
"What? I already had an appointment at that time. In fact, that was the only reason I had even taken off work that Wednesday. But, when I saw the photos, I knew I had to go and see what the hell was going on. Oh gosh, now I wish I hadn't, but how was I to know then that Elizabeth would take this whole thing so far?" (Freida Bee)
"I saw I had an hour to go to get there so went inside, and grabbed my bag, my video camera, and just to be safe, my new taser gun that my Dad gave me for Christmas. As I drove out of town to Grisham Square, I remembered how all this began. Or should I say, began to go wrong.
Elizabeth was always someone who could talk me into anything. Her mischievous smile and "I dare you" eyes have gotten me in trouble many times before. Now looking at those damn photos, I couldn't help thinking she had done it again!
"Let's go out there," she kept saying. "No one will know," she said running her hand along my waist like she always does, knowing how it melts me. Damn her! Damn her golden brown and oh so soft spankable hide! In the back of my mind, I knew things would come to trouble. They always do with her. I should never have gone with her out to that abandoned prison for that video shoot. With all that time we were there and with all those depraved things we did, I always thought we were alone. Now I know. I was wrong." (M.Yu)
Look, lovin spoofuls of depredation are sometimes only sexy if you think someone is looking on. Proferring a grade. I often wonder if sex was really, really dull before the onset of celluloid pictures, or if it was better thanks to neither partner performing, rather just doing. Who knows? Our grandparents probably just rutted a lot. Though this is something I'd rather not think about.
But our secret was out. And does it matter if it's a secret? What's the purpose of a secret? To hide or to protect? Would I care? I don't want to hide. Protection is another matter altogether.
___________
Okay, who to send this on to? I've got no idea. Ummmm, I think I'm just going to send it back to Mr. Splotchy Smartypants to see what he will do with it.
Friday, May 16, 2008
The Power of The Bloggers
Sorghum Crow puts out a great blog, and I am a happy fan. But did you know that Sorghum's been up to so much more than merely posting the snark? Rather than complain about the problems of the day, Sorghum is doing something:
DEVELOPMENT: Can Sorghum Solve the Biofuels Dilemma?
Way to go, Sorghum. Way.
And the story goes....
Splotchy started another story virus. Thus far no eyeballs in applesauce jars, and least not per Splotchy, FranIam and DGuzman who has infected me. (Cover your mouth when you sneeze, Miss D!)
Here goes:
Splotchy's ominous beginning:
"I had been shuffling around the house for a few hours and already felt tired. The doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw a figure striding away from the house, quickly and purposefully. I looked down and saw a bulky envelope. I picked it up. The handwriting was smudged and cramped, and I could only make out a few words."(Splotchy)
Despite the throbbing pain in my knees and the dull ache in my lower back, I bent down slowly and picked up the envelope...
Oh no. It did not say this, did it?
Oh yes, it did. It did.
The handwriting was familiar in a way that inspired a cold sweat and a bout of nausea. It was the penmanship of my former husband. You know - the one that was presumed dead.
He disappeared in a suspicious blogging related accident a number of years ago and was never heard from again. I was devastated. I had hated the blog, loathed the thing. What began as a hobby that took but a few minutes a day had morphed into an addiction, the proportions of which could not be measured. It was pure evil.
The blog turned into a cruel and demanding mistress and her siren song was more than I could compete with. One day he left for an evening event, never to return again.
All fingers pointed to one blogger, but I could never get the charges to stick. That one is slick- slick, slick, slick. He can talk a good game and write like nobody's business. But there is something about him, it just is not right.
So my husband was gone, that other one kept blogging and I had to rebuild my life, which I did.
So I finally had the bastard declared dead. And now this. (FranIam)
I took the envelope inside and got out a magnifying glass. I studied the scribblings on the front and made out the words “This is for you. You KNOW why” just above the undead bastard’s name. What the hell?
What could it be? What did he mean, I “KNOW” why? What did I do? I had never been anything but faithful to him and his "interests." I followed his stupid blog as it meandered through the vapid expanses of his small mind, trying my best to be polite when he talked about some comment he’d gotten on a particular post, or a funny link he’d dropped into a post.
Just thinking about it made my stomach hurt.
Despite a fleeting fear that there might be anthrax powder in the envelope, I opened it and pulled out the contents. (dguzman)
A noodle, a meatball and one of the six legs of a squid? (Squid have six legs, not eight, right? Unsure I rushed to my computer to ask The Lord Google. OMG, I was wrong! Squid do have eight legs. And two tentacles. Like cuttlefish. I digress. Damn you Google!)
What was he working on when he had that blogging accident? I thought back to the nights of feverish typing. The nights the keyboard fairly reeked of despair, flopsweat and ricola. He would babble "vision quest" "noodly appendage" "the alpha and the semolina" "green sticky spawn of the stars". This last I just attributed to far too much interest in the pussy photos of Britney Spears.
In shaky handwriting was the couplet:
I felt that I was beginning to understand. He had been killed in an epic battle of Good versus Not-So-Good or even "meh!" (Jess Wundrun)
***********
Okay, got that done. Let's see. I am going to tag Randal Graves, though he's been tagged once already with the virus I practically wrote my addition for him to clean up. M. Yu at Social Seppuku, and Commander Other. If any of you are staunch anti-meme-ists, my regrets.
Here goes:
Splotchy's ominous beginning:
"I had been shuffling around the house for a few hours and already felt tired. The doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw a figure striding away from the house, quickly and purposefully. I looked down and saw a bulky envelope. I picked it up. The handwriting was smudged and cramped, and I could only make out a few words."(Splotchy)
Despite the throbbing pain in my knees and the dull ache in my lower back, I bent down slowly and picked up the envelope...
Oh no. It did not say this, did it?
Oh yes, it did. It did.
The handwriting was familiar in a way that inspired a cold sweat and a bout of nausea. It was the penmanship of my former husband. You know - the one that was presumed dead.
He disappeared in a suspicious blogging related accident a number of years ago and was never heard from again. I was devastated. I had hated the blog, loathed the thing. What began as a hobby that took but a few minutes a day had morphed into an addiction, the proportions of which could not be measured. It was pure evil.
The blog turned into a cruel and demanding mistress and her siren song was more than I could compete with. One day he left for an evening event, never to return again.
All fingers pointed to one blogger, but I could never get the charges to stick. That one is slick- slick, slick, slick. He can talk a good game and write like nobody's business. But there is something about him, it just is not right.
So my husband was gone, that other one kept blogging and I had to rebuild my life, which I did.
So I finally had the bastard declared dead. And now this. (FranIam)
I took the envelope inside and got out a magnifying glass. I studied the scribblings on the front and made out the words “This is for you. You KNOW why” just above the undead bastard’s name. What the hell?
What could it be? What did he mean, I “KNOW” why? What did I do? I had never been anything but faithful to him and his "interests." I followed his stupid blog as it meandered through the vapid expanses of his small mind, trying my best to be polite when he talked about some comment he’d gotten on a particular post, or a funny link he’d dropped into a post.
Just thinking about it made my stomach hurt.
Despite a fleeting fear that there might be anthrax powder in the envelope, I opened it and pulled out the contents. (dguzman)
A noodle, a meatball and one of the six legs of a squid? (Squid have six legs, not eight, right? Unsure I rushed to my computer to ask The Lord Google. OMG, I was wrong! Squid do have eight legs. And two tentacles. Like cuttlefish. I digress. Damn you Google!)
What was he working on when he had that blogging accident? I thought back to the nights of feverish typing. The nights the keyboard fairly reeked of despair, flopsweat and ricola. He would babble "vision quest" "noodly appendage" "the alpha and the semolina" "green sticky spawn of the stars". This last I just attributed to far too much interest in the pussy photos of Britney Spears.
In shaky handwriting was the couplet:
That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange æons even death may die
I felt that I was beginning to understand. He had been killed in an epic battle of Good versus Not-So-Good or even "meh!" (Jess Wundrun)
***********
Okay, got that done. Let's see. I am going to tag Randal Graves, though he's been tagged once already with the virus I practically wrote my addition for him to clean up. M. Yu at Social Seppuku, and Commander Other. If any of you are staunch anti-meme-ists, my regrets.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
I wonder if he crosses his fingers behind his back
In remarks before the Knesset in Israel today, President Bush said "We believe in the matchless value of every man*, woman*, and child*. So we insist that the people of Israel have the right to a decent, normal, and peaceful life, just like the citizens of every other nation*. We believe that democracy is the only way to ensure human rights. So we consider it a source of shame that the United Nations routinely passes more human rights resolutions against the freest democracy* in the Middle East than any other nation in the world."
If this is his vision for a free democracy, or the type of democracy he dreamed of bringing to the oppressed people of the world, I think we can understand what went so terribly wrong.
By the way, in his speech he mentions the democratically elected Hamas only long enough to claim that they want to "wipe Israel from the map". He mentions Palestine or the palestinian people exactly never. I don't say that in support of Hamas, but in grasping the reality of the situation on the ground. Something Mr. Bush has no real interest in doing.
*Much like the game where you read your fortune cookie fortune with the suffix "-in my pants", the statements of George Bush need to be read with the silent suffix -"unless you're Palestinian".
If this is his vision for a free democracy, or the type of democracy he dreamed of bringing to the oppressed people of the world, I think we can understand what went so terribly wrong.
By the way, in his speech he mentions the democratically elected Hamas only long enough to claim that they want to "wipe Israel from the map". He mentions Palestine or the palestinian people exactly never. I don't say that in support of Hamas, but in grasping the reality of the situation on the ground. Something Mr. Bush has no real interest in doing.
*Much like the game where you read your fortune cookie fortune with the suffix "-in my pants", the statements of George Bush need to be read with the silent suffix -"unless you're Palestinian".
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Our "Secretary" of State brings new dignity to the job
Okay, I kid. But honest to pete, here's the real caption (shamelessly stolen from Princess Sparkle Pony)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives at the residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres, Wednesday, May 14, 2008, in Jerusalem. Looking on at rear is President Bush, left, and President Peres. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Did you detect a missing word? Vanna?
PS> as an aside, I went to a Yiddish translator site and asked to have "Beautiful Woman" translated into Yiddish for Shimon Peres to be saying. The translator said "Sorry, this word does not translate in Yiddish". Boom bappa chee! Be sure to tip your waiters!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I have had it.
In the past I've reproduced e-mails from my right wing friends that I find disturbing for us to chuckle about here. Could someone explain to me why left wing people don't have the same paranoic urge to send e-mails around? I mean, I have to say that the majority of people with whom I associate are left wing, none of them send these dumb ass screeds around the internet.
I know the answer: we are an elite band of brothers, secure in our knowledge who don't need to share the fear. But they do. What is wrong with Kansas? Or rural Wisconsin? Why do they want the rest of us to cower like they do, while all the time pronouncing how fearless, how brave they are? Fucktards.
That said, I think I hit the final straw with one of my rightie e-mail forwarders. It wasn't too hard. This woman is the wife of a highschool classmate of my husband's.
Here is what she sent to me:
Here is my response:
Holly, you should check Snopes before you forward these. Neither the University of Kentucky (UK) nor the United Kingdom passed these rules you claim they did.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp
I thought this was a great e-mail at first. It's true that history will try to deny the worst atrocities. There ARE Holocaust deniers and that is a sin against humanity. Then your e-mail took a fabulous twist and became the same ugly bigoted missive that it portends to be against.
Amazing how you can use one holocaust to justify another one. I guess 6 million dead jews don't yet equal 650,000* dead muslims, (the figure for dead Iraqis ) but with luck we'll get there, eh? (I personally believe we are at about a 6:1 ratio, meaning that in only five years we've killed one million Iraqis. The Third Reich had twelve years to get to 6 million. But what's in a number?)
Unfortunately, you are promoting the exact same hatred toward a religious group as Hitler did. And you are doing it by promoting lies and bigotry against a group that you know nothing about. Or please, tell me about your muslim friends. I wait....
That would be called irony, wouldn't it?
It IS a shame for good men to do nothing when evil raises its head. In this case you would like to condemn a billion muslims worldwide for the actions of 19. Oddly, the vast majority of whom came from a country that is still an ally of the United States. (Saudi Arabia, have you heard?) So, because I agree that it is a shame to do nothing in the face of ugliness and hate, I am going to tell
you that your bigotry is not acceptable to me. I will not tolerate your racist filth in my in-box. And when our country builds concentration camps for muslims(Guantanamo, anyone? Extraordinary rendition anyone?) I will speak up.
Did you know that I used to work for a country at the United Nations whose citizens were all muslim? None of whom fit your hateful description? They would be in awe of the bigotry you so carelessly promote. (Bangladesh)
If this were Germany in 1933 I know exactly where I would be and where you would be. Trust me, you wouldn't be on the side of religious tolerance. Your arm would be held so high up in the air in a Heil Hitler that the rest of us would have to duck from the backswing. And Ben and I have stood at Dachau that self-same camp and on that soil you want to weep for and the most striking thing about standing on that ground is that there are only about 300 yards that
separate the concentration camp from the village of Dachau. And I know that those citizens that lived in Dachau Village did nothing and pretended that nothing was happening because they bought, hook line and sinker, the fear that Hitler sold.
They pretended to be on the side of God.
So do you.
You change the word Jew to Muslim in all your little missives and you'll see
that you are promoting the exact same hate that Hitler did.
Proud of yourself?
Jess
*that figure is two years old, where are we now? Most likely well past one
million. Will you speak up when we reach 6 million? Or are any dead children
okay with you? I myself find any child a tragedy.
I know the answer: we are an elite band of brothers, secure in our knowledge who don't need to share the fear. But they do. What is wrong with Kansas? Or rural Wisconsin? Why do they want the rest of us to cower like they do, while all the time pronouncing how fearless, how brave they are? Fucktards.
That said, I think I hit the final straw with one of my rightie e-mail forwarders. It wasn't too hard. This woman is the wife of a highschool classmate of my husband's.
Here is what she sent to me:
Those of us who were alive at the time saw pictures like this in the newsreels at the movies and read about it in the papers. Those who fought in World War II in the area saw it first hand. Soon we will all be gone; I pray that we will not let others rewrite history to take true events out of the history books.
IT DID HAPPEN.
It is a matter of history that when Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps, he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
He did this because he said in words to this effect: 'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the track of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'
'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'
Edmund Burke
This week, the UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offended' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred.
This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving in to it.
These photos were taken in Germany by James Emison Chanslor, an Army Master Sergeant who served in World War II from 1942 until 1945.
Here is my response:
Holly, you should check Snopes before you forward these. Neither the University of Kentucky (UK) nor the United Kingdom passed these rules you claim they did.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp
I thought this was a great e-mail at first. It's true that history will try to deny the worst atrocities. There ARE Holocaust deniers and that is a sin against humanity. Then your e-mail took a fabulous twist and became the same ugly bigoted missive that it portends to be against.
Amazing how you can use one holocaust to justify another one. I guess 6 million dead jews don't yet equal 650,000* dead muslims, (the figure for dead Iraqis ) but with luck we'll get there, eh? (I personally believe we are at about a 6:1 ratio, meaning that in only five years we've killed one million Iraqis. The Third Reich had twelve years to get to 6 million. But what's in a number?)
Unfortunately, you are promoting the exact same hatred toward a religious group as Hitler did. And you are doing it by promoting lies and bigotry against a group that you know nothing about. Or please, tell me about your muslim friends. I wait....
That would be called irony, wouldn't it?
It IS a shame for good men to do nothing when evil raises its head. In this case you would like to condemn a billion muslims worldwide for the actions of 19. Oddly, the vast majority of whom came from a country that is still an ally of the United States. (Saudi Arabia, have you heard?) So, because I agree that it is a shame to do nothing in the face of ugliness and hate, I am going to tell
you that your bigotry is not acceptable to me. I will not tolerate your racist filth in my in-box. And when our country builds concentration camps for muslims(Guantanamo, anyone? Extraordinary rendition anyone?) I will speak up.
Did you know that I used to work for a country at the United Nations whose citizens were all muslim? None of whom fit your hateful description? They would be in awe of the bigotry you so carelessly promote. (Bangladesh)
If this were Germany in 1933 I know exactly where I would be and where you would be. Trust me, you wouldn't be on the side of religious tolerance. Your arm would be held so high up in the air in a Heil Hitler that the rest of us would have to duck from the backswing. And Ben and I have stood at Dachau that self-same camp and on that soil you want to weep for and the most striking thing about standing on that ground is that there are only about 300 yards that
separate the concentration camp from the village of Dachau. And I know that those citizens that lived in Dachau Village did nothing and pretended that nothing was happening because they bought, hook line and sinker, the fear that Hitler sold.
They pretended to be on the side of God.
So do you.
You change the word Jew to Muslim in all your little missives and you'll see
that you are promoting the exact same hate that Hitler did.
Proud of yourself?
Jess
*that figure is two years old, where are we now? Most likely well past one
million. Will you speak up when we reach 6 million? Or are any dead children
okay with you? I myself find any child a tragedy.
Blogrollin'
m.yu from the Jade Gate has created a new blog. One that I didn't see because I have been far far too busy as of late. But, thanks to about twelve hours of sleep last night I think I can get back to spying on all y'alls blogs and commenting and putting up more posts here.
Anyway, m.yu's new blog, Social Seppuku is less sexysex exotic erotica and more about the bumfarking we've been getting since about the Nixon admin. Hopefully I'll get some time to read all the way back to the end of April when the blog began with this pithy post:
Welcome to my new place. In order to keep my other blog, The Jade Gate, more consistent and on message (more bond age, rope, naked people and sex, which seems to disturb some politico types,) I have started Social Seppuku in order to give myself freer rein to vent and, as they say now, rant, bitch, yell and otherwise express my discontent for the current state of things. This harder edge of sarcasm and contempt seems to be more acceptable to some than mixing it with erotic power themes. Who'd have thunk it?.....
In other words, I do not want to contaminate the nice wholesome subjects of sexual fetishism, Erotic power play, Dominance and submission, sadism, masochism, alternative sexual lifestyles and practices, sexual orientations of all types and many other nice things with other postings of inane and pernicious things we do and allow to be done to us (non-consensually of course) by the institutional corporate fascists powers that be. Because after all, the society we live in is really some kind of strange ritualized social suicide of the most graphic kind but accepted and acquiesced to by we little baa baa sheep. This suicide allows us to keep living as we do.
So be sure to tell your friends and enemies to stop by here at Social Seppuku,
"Where the World Comes to Slit its Belly
So there you are m.yu. I'm telling everyone, get on over! One man's entrails is another man's tripe. (Wait, I think that came out all wrong...)
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Made In America Update
We've been at this for four months now, trying to buy only American products. At first I would wander around a store, just looking, until I found something that I needed with a USA label. Now I aggressively ask clerks for help and they are happy to oblige. Then we get into long, protracted discussions about globalization. It's been very interesting. Friends and family all know about it now, and while no one else has said "Hey, I'm going to do that, too" many are taking second looks at their purchases. Even a relative who works at *Sam's*.Ima turned five recently. I shopped for her birthday present at Kmart. Did you know that of 'baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet", at the very least in that list those baseballs are no longer made in America. A few baseball bats are still made here, but I could find no softball, tee ball or baseball manufactured anywhere but China. Maybe there's a factory that produces all those American flag pins, American flags and baseballs all at the same time.
I thought I was pretty good at reading packaging to determine where something is made. Some products that are made in America just put the company's address on the package. I bought Ima a soccer ball (red white and blue flag motif no less) that looked for all the world like it was manufactured in Oregon. When she took it out of the package I spied in 2pt type the itty bitty word CHINA along side the valve stem. Rats! Ben had bought her a piggy bank, pink plastic with electronics inside that make squealing noises when you drop in a coin. He bought it at Walgreen's before the start of the challenge so the rules didn't apply. We didn't even check: plastic, electronics, Walgreen's=China. But guess what? It was manufactured in Ohio. And I must confess to one glaring violation of the rules that I made. I bought a Disney Princess clock radio for Ima. In a lawyerly application of our agreement, I justified the purchase because I needed a radio to listen to while I worked on the house in Milwaukee last week. And the rules state the purchases needed for work don't count. I should have taken a picture of the pink Disney Castle radio sitting on top of my toolbox. Incongruous to say the least.
Greeting cards are a whole 'nother wonder, I've discussed them in the past, but I think I have gotten pretty good at standing at Hallmark and being able to pick out the Chinese cards from an endcap away. Cards with glitter may still be printed here, but cards with little goo gads attached or 3-D effects that take some intricate piecework to assemble are made in China.
Last month was my anniversary and of course yesterday was Mother's Day. For Mother's Day I received some beautiful hand-crafted objets produced quite close to home by little 5 and 7 year old hands. These child laborers were not even paid for their work, but rest assured were given a healthy snack time right after putting away the paint and the glue. The other thing that I got for Mother's Day was a saute pan made by All-Clad in Pennsylvania. Which followed the 12" pan I gave Ben last month for our anniversary. We know that there are still cookware companies in Wisconsin, but sometimes you just draw the line and say Wisconsin might be better than Pennsylvania in the buying hierarchy of needs, but Pennsylvania beats China any day. As an aside, I have perfected the omelet! But in the 12" pan it takes six eggs to make a good omelet.
Shoes are the next big hurdle. Ima is set for the summer, but I'm not quite sure what to do about Lotta. I have found that New Balance still makes some children's shoes here, but summer time sandals are going to take some searching. And I myself am just about crazy for some new shoes. If you see a woman openly weeping in the shoe department it's probably me. Kicky thongs? Cute slingbacks? Those little slipper sneakers? Sob.
Gotta go. Ima wants to play with all the Chinese crap she got for her birthday.
Friday, May 9, 2008
And You May Tell Yourself
This Is Not My Beautiful House
The credit crisis, which is sapping America's economic strength, was the result of an almost religious belief in deregulation whose excesses are now coming home to roost.
It is instructive to compare the American financial mess with the economic situation in nations that resisted deregulation. Old Europe tends to get a scornful press in the U.S. But Europe is not suffering a financial meltdown today -- mainly because Europeans (with the exception of Britain and Switzerland) took only a few sips of the financial Kool-Aid so heavily promoted by U.S. banks.
read more at the American Prospect.
It is instructive to compare the American financial mess with the economic situation in nations that resisted deregulation. Old Europe tends to get a scornful press in the U.S. But Europe is not suffering a financial meltdown today -- mainly because Europeans (with the exception of Britain and Switzerland) took only a few sips of the financial Kool-Aid so heavily promoted by U.S. banks.
read more at the American Prospect.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
You Say Elitist...
I say "uppity nigger".
Don't know how else to explain a kid who grew up on food stamps with a single mother and who made it big through the promise of the American dream, who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, being given the "elitist tag".
Hillary might let that go, now that she's being asked to quit.
But you know McCain won't.
Yes, massah. Bes yah keeps thuh uppity niggahs down.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Tenants.
Went to Milwaukee to clean out the apartment vacated by a bad tenant. Super nice guy, terrible tenant. According to the woman living downstairs, he would often leave his dog alone in the apartment for long stretches of time. Brand new carpet had to be pulled because it was soaked with dog pee. When they moved in this couple told me they had a small terrier, who lost all its teeth as a baby and needed to be carried down the stairs to go to the bathroom. I guess they thought I'd never come around and see that it was a pit bull. With lots of teeth and very functioning legs. When it wasn't peeing on the carpets, it was taking shits on the balcony. There are turds inbetween the planks on the balcony and in the downspouts.
On the upside, his ex-girlfriend left her video tapes of their sex life. Oh, I kid. There was a little standard missionary sexin' on the tape, rather ho hum. Tenant says that his fiance left him for her drug dealer (oy vey) and that now she's pregnant and on bed rest and doesn't know who the father is. The ovulation kit and four pregnancy tests I found under the bathroom sink say otherwise. For the record, she told neighbors that he was the one on drugs. (I cross myself). Others say that both of them had a problem with alcohol. The SWAT team that showed up one night at 2 AM after the tenant rolled his vehicle on the freeway offramp and then ran away on foot would probably agree with that assessment.
So I'm going back for the next few days to finish the cleanup. I wonder if that sage burning thing they're always doing out in California to rid the place of bad juju has any merit? Sigh.
On the upside, his ex-girlfriend left her video tapes of their sex life. Oh, I kid. There was a little standard missionary sexin' on the tape, rather ho hum. Tenant says that his fiance left him for her drug dealer (oy vey) and that now she's pregnant and on bed rest and doesn't know who the father is. The ovulation kit and four pregnancy tests I found under the bathroom sink say otherwise. For the record, she told neighbors that he was the one on drugs. (I cross myself). Others say that both of them had a problem with alcohol. The SWAT team that showed up one night at 2 AM after the tenant rolled his vehicle on the freeway offramp and then ran away on foot would probably agree with that assessment.
So I'm going back for the next few days to finish the cleanup. I wonder if that sage burning thing they're always doing out in California to rid the place of bad juju has any merit? Sigh.
Friday, May 2, 2008
More About Me, meh.
* The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
* Each player answers the questions about himself or herself.
* At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1. Ten years ago I was:
Married to someone else and building a house that I designed. (Yep, I was the general contractor after I fired the guy who was a friend of the ex's) He still lives there. I wish I could've kept the stove - it cost more than one of the cars we have today.
2. Five Things on Today's To Do List:
-Pack for me, kids, dogs to go to Milwaukee to clean up an apartment a tenant just left in a bad state.
-Take Ima to kindergarten orientation
-Go to Lotta's "Reader's Theater" presentation
-Try to find Ima's immunization record. Will give up and call for the clinic to fax me yet another one.
-Stop at favorite truck stop on way to Milwaukee for dinner.
3. Things I'd do if I were a billionare
* Build new homes in New Orleans on a totally new, independent, green power grid.
* Travel obsessively
* Kick Donald Trump in the nuts for being such a dickwad and then laugh at his puny helicopter.
4. Three Bad Habits
* Procrastination
* Poking at trolls with sticks
* I drink too much diet soda.
5. Five Places I've lived
* Oshkosh, Wisconsin - when they still made the overalls there
* New Brunswick, New Jersey - the train conductor said "ElizabethMatawaaaaanEastBrunswickNewBrunswick....."
* Richmond, Virginia - Ben calls it the city of Second Place Trophies for all the Civil War statues in town. I love you, Richmond. Take a joke, please.
* Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On days you didn't smell the foundry to the west, you could smell the mash cooking at Miller Brewery to the east. Contrary to what you might think that's not a great smell.
* A suburb of Madison, Wisconsin (where I am right now. Look at me on Google Earth! I'm right by the window. Wave! Hi there! Ben, put your damn pants on, people are looking!)
6. Five Jobs I've had in life:
* clerk at Ben Franklin store
* Sampler at grocery stores for 7 UP.
* Sales & Marketing Manager for a cat toy company
* Estimator for a construction company
* Lunch lady at a daycare center.
I am going to tag Yoga Korunta, Dr. Zaius, Dean Wormer, ed, and Germaine Gregarious.
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