Al Sharpton, agent provacateur?

Today the news is ga-gah over Willard "Mitt" Romney's rise in the Iowa poll at the expense of national front-runners Rudy "America's Mayor" Giuliani and Hanoi John McCain.

So but the sensible say, America will never vote for a Mormon, even if he is the scion of wealth and privilege with the looks of a movie star. Looking like a movie star, or at the very least a television mellodrama president counts for a lot these days. But still, say the pundits, America's loonie fundamentalist Catholics and born-again Protestants will never vote for a Mormon.

Enter the Reverend Al Sharpton.



Back on May 7, in New York, journalist Christopher Hitchens debated Sharpton at forum hosted by the New York Public Library. Hitchens is hawking his latest book God Is Not Great:How Religion Poisons Everything. And it was a pretty straight forward discussion between a leftist journalist, trying to regain his credibility after soiling himself over support for Bush's invasion of Iraq, and a half-assed theologian. That was until the Reverend Sharpton opened his mouth and uttered the memorable line:“As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry about that, that’s a temporary – that’s a temporary situation.”

Then the shit hit the fan.

Now to put the statement in context Sharpton was discussing the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, in his opinion decidedly church-based, faith-based and god-based. Then followed, seemingly out of nowhere, the jab at Romney.

Of course the equal and opposite reaction followed shortly.

Take for example this blog entry from the comely Erin Di Paolo

I take exception to Sharpton's comments and I am not a Mormon.
I am a Christian whose beliefs do not disagree, on many levels, with Mormons. But I would never accuse Romney of not believing in God.

Who does Sharpton think he is and why does he feel he should be able to get away with such comments when he holds everyone else to a strict code of moral behavior? Every time I turn around, he is on television or in the newspaper, lambasting everyone who makes a comment that he determines to be racist. Now here he is, questioning a presidential candidate's belief in God, yet he feels justified in doing so.

It sickens me, which brings me to my last point: why is Sharpton not receiving as much negative press in this situation as he does positive coverage when he is attacking others for intolerance?

Also Sprach the hot white suburban lady from Denver.

Which brings me back to the title fro this little rant of why I am beginning to suspect the Rev. Al Sharpton is an agent provacateur.

Sharpton from gained fame from his involvement in the Tawana Brawley case, which has been subsequently labeled a hoax. Since that time Sharpton has involved himself in any and all incidents which may have the merest whiff of racial undertones which will garner maximum television facetime. Sharpton, besides his roles as part-time minister of the gospel and fulltime demagogue, was also for a time an FBI informant.

In short, the man should have no credibility, yet to this day he remains a favorite of the MSM.

And this is why I am coming around to Charles Barkely's view of Sharpton. You see, the reactionary right has a contarian streak as wide as the yellow streak down its collective back. So even if in the recent past fundamentalism Protestant and Catholic leaders denounced Mormonism as a cult or worse, once the Rev. Al opens his yap all previous anti-Mormon statements are conveniently forgotten. Much to the benefit of Willard Romney. And, I might add, the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Business of politics & Florida follies

The worst thing to be said about early twenty-first century politics is, like so much else that is wrong with America these days, that it is mired in free market fundamentalism and infantileism.

For your examination, the Los Angles Times reports:

WASHINGTON — For front-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Florida looked to be a major battleground in the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

But now, because of an unexpected glitch, those delegates could go to a candidate most Americans don't even know is running: a crusty former senator from Alaska named Mike Gravel. Or maybe to Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, the quixotic peace candidate who barely registers in the polls.

I guess things aren't all that bad if Florida's Democratic delegates go to either Gravel or Kucinich. The problem stems from the fact that Florida Democratic politicians, like California and Illinois Democrats, feel that their state is being left out of the party's presidential nominating process; by the time their state primary comes around it's all over but the shouting. America's more populous states loath little Iowa and New Hampshire's presidential political clout.

What leaders, or at least the business-minded among the Dems, in America's more populous states may also be jealous of is Iowa getting an economic windfall due to the early caucus. After all, Iowa is not a tourist destination in January by any stretch of the imagination. And I have heard Iowa Democrats say that an overriding reason for keeping the early caucus date is to bring dollars into the state. All those professional Democrats and Republicans from out of state need to eat and sleep, and Iowa's restauranteurs and innkeepers are more than happy to oblige. And it keeps illegal immigrants toiling in the food service and hotel/motel industries working and out of sight.

But, y'know, television news crews and presidential candidates would rather be in Flordia than Iowa or New Hampshire in January so

...Republicans in the Florida Legislature — supported by many Democrats — pushed through a measure setting Jan. 29 as the date for their state's presidential primary. Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill.

See the rub is that the Democratic National Committee has a rule that says that, following the Iowa and the new Nevada caucuses, and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, no state primaries can be held until February 5 of 2008. And there are other DNC rules that strip presidential convention delegates from any candidate raising funds in a state which jumps the gun on the primary season. And since there's oodles of campign contributions to be gathered in Florida, Hillary, Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson just can't resist making the rounds of the retirment centers, trailer courts and nursing homes to squeeze a few more shekels out of elderly New Dealers.

Of course Florida's legislative Republicans absolve themselves of any blame. "I don't think anybody made us aware of that until the very end of the process," said Marco Rubio, the Republican state House speaker. *wink*wink*

And, of course, the state's Democrats are only interested in carrying out the will of the people:

"If the choice is Florida is relevant and has no delegates versus being irrelevant and having delegates, I'd choose being relevant with no delegates," said [Jeremy Ring, a Democratic state senator from Broward County and co-sponsor of the legislation]. "We did this so 18 million Floridians could take part in the presidential primaries, not so a few hundred people can go to a party in Denver."

So I say, go for it, State of Florida! Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich can use the support.

Becareful to whom you forward a joke

Jeeze, all I did was forward a joke. This joke:

This piece of information may clear up a lot of things:

On July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico.

This is a well-known incident that many say has long been
covered up by the U.S. Air Force and the federal government.

In the month of March 1948, exactly nine months after that historic day, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Condolezza Rice, and Dan Quayle were all born.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep.

Yeah, it's stupid. It's purile. It's nothing more than a joke. Sometimes a joke's a joke, like a cigar is just a cigar.

Now I'm usually pretty careful who I forward e-mail jokes to, but this time I accidently clicked on an e-mail address of someone to whom I never forward jokes. This person seems to think he is some sort of ultra-liberal, therefore above humor of any type. This particular person also fills my e-mail inbox with news stories and e-mail updates, many of which are duplicates.

So last evening I got this reply

You do know though this seems funny, it's entirely inaccurate and completely fiction. I'm for sure the same joke is circulating with a bunch of Democrats and liberals of near the same ages. This takes advantage of those who wouldn't do a simple Goolge or Wiki search to verify birthdates.

George Bush Jr. was born in 46 (July 6, 1946). I know that because I do horoscope stuff and Clinton and Bush were born in the same year of 46 the year of the Dog in Chinese (emphasis added by me.) Cheney's I will always remember because it's that same day not year, as FDR's.

Naturally, I responded in an adult manner, requesting no more spam, thank you.

But here's what really burns my butt. I don't know if the author of the above e-mail is being sarcastic or has no sense of humor. I suspect the latter on the basis of the sentence:This takes advantage of those who wouldn't do a simple Goolge or Wiki search to verify birthdates. It's a joke. If one does not like it, delete it. Don't get on one's moral highhorse and preach. AS I've observed all my life, when one comes to the further shores of politics the ocean becomes a lake; there are Puritans on both the far right and far left. And I say fuck'em both.

LTE: May 18, 2007

The Des Moines Register's editorial staff evidently could not wait for the ink to dry on Jane Norman's May 18, 2007 report about Tom Harkin's low opinion of junk food advertising tie-ins to the popular animated film character Sherk before castigating Iowa's Democratic U.S. Senator, for being insufficiently enthusiastic about the "free market" economy.

Senator Harkin has every right to his opinion, it's guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, that's the way things work in our land of the free. And he is correct to point out that advertising of sugary snacks and breakfast cereals, with little real nutritional value, is contributing to the nation's increasing girth and declining health. Realistically one senator can do little about the United States' so-called obesity epidemic other than voice his opinion.

Yet the Register editorialist takes the Senator to task for taking on the marketing-junk food complex and counters with the puerile libertarian creed that the nation's mothers bear total individual responsibility for the nation's health. And, of course, the irony that The Register derives a portion of its revenue from selling advertising space for sugary and/or fatty snack and junk foods is apparently lost on this editorial writer.

R.I.P., asshole

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.
Yahoo.com

Unfortunately, this asshole's evil will not die with him. His organization is too well funded by right wing business interests and useful idiots and true belivers. It will take a hundred years to undo all the damage Falwell and his ilk have done to this country.

Reagan, the god

If this were 2007 B.C. instead of 2007 A.D., this stupid motherfucker would be a god. Oh, what am I saying, this stupid motherfucker already is a god! The only thing missing are the temples and priests, there are already plenty of worshippers.

By many measures, Reagan's administration was a disaster. A disasterous foreign policy in Central America, the repercussions of which we feel today in the form of undocumented immigrants. A disaster for working America, as "the Gipper's" administation signaled the beginning of twenty-seven years, and counting, of unremitting union busting, global outscourcing and stagnation in hourly wages and benefits.

Oh, but he is a hero. He ended the Cold War. Ha, ha! Against a Soviet Union tottering on the brink of economic collapse to begin with! America's baddest of badass presidents picked a fight with a tottering, old geezer, with a walker, and won! And he secured the Free World's supply of nutmeg. What a fuckin' man!!

Which brings me to the reason for the above tirade. As you many, or many not, already know the Republican presidental hopefuls held their first circle-jerk of the '08 campaign season at the Reagan Library. Needless to say it was a veritable love-fest, the inept, inane and under-qualified field of ten "...invoked the name of Ronald Reagan 19 times[.]" However, this wasn't good enough for some conservatives. Especially fulltime GOP fund-raiser Richard Viguerie.

E-mails the Manassas, VA direct-mail king:

“The three leading Republican presidential candidates continue to fail ‘the Reagan test,’” says Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause, referring to the debate aired over MSNBC. “The only thing genuinely Reaganesque about the performances of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney was their physical location at the Presidential Library.”

“We won’t have conservative policies with any of the three leading candidates, and most of the others, so I continue to urge conservatives to withhold their support,” Viguerie said.

Viguerie’s Full Statement:

“For the past ten years Giuliani, McCain, and Romney—as well as most of the other presidential wannabees—have given conservatives no leadership against the Big Government policies of the Republican Congress and President Bush. Well, it’s too late. We’re now at the pandering stage of the campaign—pandering for conservative support—and if they wouldn’t speak out before, how can we believe them now?


They Fail “The Goldwater Test”

“Senator Barry Goldwater became the first political spokesman for the conservative movement because out of all the Republican politicians who claimed to be conservative, he and he alone was willing to confront the sitting Big Government Republican in the White House. President Eisenhower’s policies were ‘a dime store New Deal,’ he said on the floor of the Senate. He spoke truth to power.

“Well, again we have a Big Government Republican in the White House, and now it’s no longer a dime store New Deal—it’s a supersized Wal-Mart of a New Deal. The Republican welfare state is far worse than anything the Democrats achieved. To Giuliani, McCain, and Romney I say, ‘I knew Barry Goldwater, and you’re no Goldwater.’

They Fail “The Reagan Test”

“Throughout the 1960s and ’70s Ronald Reagan walked with us. He was there at our conservative functions, and not just at the head table—he mingled with us, listened to our concerns, and made it clear where he stood. Also, our friends were all around him as he governed in California and then ran for president—people like Dick Allen, Ed Meese, Lyn Nofziger, Marty Anderson, Judge William Clark, etc., etc.

“Where are the long-time conservative activists today around Giuliani, McCain, or Romney? I’m not talking about ‘campaign consultants’ who sell themselves to the highest bidder at campaign auctions. I mean dedicated and recognized conservative thinkers and activists who will work only for truly conservative candidates.

“If conservatives were not part of the Giuliani, McCain, and Romney inner circles before they ran for the presidency, we cannot expect them to have conservatives advising them if they get elected. And in politics, personnel is policy.

“P.S. Leave it to the Stupid Party to have Chris Matthews, a liberal Democrat, moderate a debate to select the Republican nominee for president!”

Jesus christ, how far right does this asshole want to go? Attila The Hun! Will you be satisfied, Dick, when little old ladies and little kids are begging on the streets for food? Will you be satisfied when the only programs funded in the federal budget is the military? And Chris Matthews "a liberal Democrat"?!

Look, Dick, I have a way so you can get out of your dilemma. Why don't we exhume Reagan's moldy corpse, get the Disney Studios to re-animate him and you and Grover Norquist can pull Ronnie's strings to your heart's content. And there would be plenty of the braindead who'd vote for Ronnie again, even if he were a zombie.

Acceptable Register comment

Here's a little update on the posts below and what constitutes acceptable an post at The Des Moines Register:

Thank you trooper for your proud service. I have been honored to be in the same army as all of you brave lads, and lasses!
This saddens me like no other!
You kids do not get the recognition you deserve from so many out in the "world" but in your hearts you know you have done the right thing!
Hoohaaah for giving the ultimate sacrifice, you and your family will be in my prayers today. May you R.I.P.!
May hell readily accept these savages that have done this despicable act. The cowards they are!(emphasis added)

Obviously the above poster does not understand the simple dynamics of the Internet, or why it's called the World Wide Web (that's the "www" preceeding every URL.) I don't know how many times I have admonished our reactionary friends that more speakers of Arabic, as a first language, can read and speak English than Eglish speakers can read and speak Arabic.

Here's another one from a different perspective on the same story:

Try to come and hang me, you SOB. I dare you..

What a tool. Sorry about your dead kid, but that kind of rhetoric has consequences, pops, and they are not good.

And here's another sample:

. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. -Jesus Christ.

"There's people that want to pull (the troops) all out," Soenksen said. "Those people should be taken out and hung. It's a slap in the face to every American."

Christ died in vain.

Guess who will feel the wrath of Mr. Michael Cory, Digital Content Editor, next.

Register on top of Iowa news.

This news story was posted at the BBC's Web site two hours ago:

US prison sees keys sold online

A prison in the US state of Iowa has changed its locks after a set of keys was sold online for $12.

The state spent $6,000 on refurbishing the Anamosa State Penitentiary after keys that belonged to a guard who retired in the 70s were auctioned.

Officials at the 135-year-old jail were not sure if the keys still worked but could not take any chances, a warden told KCCI-TV in Des Moines.

Anamosa is a medium-security jail but holds a number of violent criminals.
BBC.co.uk

When I did a Google search for this story, even though, from what I can see, it's a day stale, the "Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon" deigned not to cover it.

The worst man in America

19-year-old Davenport, IA native Katie Soenksen was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq Wednesday. Her grieving father said of his daughter's sacrifice:

"There's people that want to pull (the troops) all out," [Ronald] Soenksen said. "Those people should be taken out and hung. It's a slap in the face to every American."
The Des Moines Register

Thank you, Mr. Soenksen, for your mannered and well-reasoned defense of the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Badge of honor

One of my many Internet personae has been banned by The Des Moines Register. Here is a stern e-mail of warning from a Mr. Michael Corey, Digital Content Editor:

I'm writing to inform you that you due to violations of our terms of
service you're being banned from posting to the blogs or forums for 30 days.

The Register's conversation standards say, in part, that we may remove comments that include:

- Sexually explicit or crude sexual comments about someone.

- Nasty name-calling (language such as "moron" and "white trash").

- Swearing or obscenity.

Here's a few comments we've recently deleted:


Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:00 am
When the government bans guns, all you NRA dudes' d*cks will fall off!

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 10:11 am
Laughing Laughing Laughing slycotton82! Sounds like a tampon!!!!
Laughing Laughing Laughing
Gotta go, dude! Laughing Laughing

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject: AvgDude or AvgDoofus?

I don't wanna take anybody's gun. I don't care if Les Baer moves to
LeClair. Kinda hope they do.

I just wanna know why you bad*asses think you have to walk around with
a pistol in yer pants? I mean, the more you guys talk about bein'
bad*sses with firearms, the more you sound like p*ssies. Wink


If after 30 days you feel you can stay within the bounds of the terms
of service and would like to be able to post again, please contact me
then to be reinstated.

This is in reference to a story concerning the firearms manufacturer Les Baer relocating from Hillsdale, Illinois to LeClaire, Iowa. The gist of the news story was that a local LeClaire minister and his wife, J. Elmer Brunk and Cynthia Vaughan, oppose the move and are attempting to block same. So what.

But, of course, that brought out the Second Amendment nuts. And, of course, they began posturing about how big their guns are, and how they love to carry their gun and stroke its barrel, and how everybody should walk around with one. So I decided to have some fun and troll.

Now trolling is more usually a wing nut sport so I thought I'd turn the tables on our reactionary friends. They didn't like it. And, apparently, neither does Mr. Michael Corey, Digital Content Editor. But then again, "THE" Des Moines Register has always tired to maintain an air of gentility in a state full of foulmouthed dirt farmers, hicks hayseeds and white trash. Moreover, I've read some pretty vile things posted at "THE" Des Moines Register in response to comments from my other, non-offending persona, which, unfortunatly, is also blocked because they share the same IP. And some of these same wounded little boys, whom I've so deeply offended, regularly use veiled racist and ethnic slurs, and advocate mayhem, violence and the death penality for criminals, expecially minorities.

Aww, well, even I thought I may have gone too far. But Mr. Michael Corey, Digital Content Editor is merely being fair and balanced.

Lump of the day

There's new hope for couchpotatoes:

Nodaway, Ia. — J.R. Cook would not be the first person to credit a video game system with bettering his life.

He just may end up as one of the first to be right.

Nine weeks and 120 rounds of air boxing, 80 games of air tennis, and several dozen lanes of air bowling into his "Nintendo Wii weight-loss plan," the 27-year-old Nodaway native says he's shed a little more than 20 pounds.

He's shooting for 80 by the end of the year.

News of Cook's quest has reached an international audience, thanks to his blog, www.wiiweightlossplan.com, which registers as many as 25,000 hits a day.
The Des Moines Register

Now don't get me wrong, the fact that this rotund young man is exercising is good. But the question remains:Why does he need a computer video game to accomplish it? Well let J.R. speak for himself:

The idea behind Wiiweightlossplan.com came to me the first day that I had received and started playing my Nintendo Wii back in early January. I knew after a couple hours of playing Wii Sports (and a few sore muscles later) that this gaming system could really be a good workout and could probably help me get back into shape. Best of all though, it was FUN.

However, I'm lazy(emphasis added by me).Wii Weight Loss Plan.com

Nodaway, Iowa is a town of 132 people, out in the middle of nowhere, with plenty of open spaces in which to wander. But this young man, until he received his Wii, perferred the life of a couch potato.

Now, granted, the nearest fresh pizza to be had is at the Casey's General Store in Villisca. That's a hike of five and four tenths miles! Not an ungodly distance, mind you, but by the time one walks the return trip the pizza will either be stone cold or consumed. That is a dilemma.

One good reason for keeping Iraq War going

Now, hold on, hear me out for just one second.

Look, I've written here and in my eariler blogs my opinion that the invasion and subsequent, and continuing, occupation of Iraq is the worst foreign policy blunder ever. I've written in the past that the troops must be withdrawn, in order to cool the situation in Iraq itself.

But, after viewing the documentary Jesus Camp I've changed my mind.

Keep this Iraq occupation going. In fact, let's invade a couple of more Middle Eastern countries that are doing us no harm.

Let's keep this meat grinder going long enough so the kids in the motion picture can grow up and enlist in the military. Jesus Camp founder, true believer and useful idiot, Becky Fischer wants her kids to be as fanatical as the kids in Hamas, Hizbollah, al Qaeda and the Taliban; to be was willing to die for Jesus as Islamist kids are for Allah.

I say, rather than worrying about Bush's puppy dog terrorist, let's send as many right-wing fundamentalist Christian warriors off to the Middle East as want to go. Fuck, I'd be for deporting all of 'em. This woud be a helluvalot better country without 'em.

LTE: April 22, 2007

The cynicism exhibited by the anti-immigrant crowd, headed by U.S. Representatives Tom Tancredo, CO, and Iowa’s own Steve King, can only be topped by the Register editorial board's hypocrisy in its April 22, 2007 editorial “Iowa should lead way on immigration.”



It is a long held business school mantra; labor is the only cost variable which management can totally control. Low wages equal high profits and stock prices. Toward that end, for the past twenty-five years, business has engaged in a winning strategy of union busting, global outsourcing and encouraging illegal immigration.



Illegal immigrants flood into this nation from the world over, but the greatest numbers come from Central America and southern Mexico. It should be remembered that the adventurism of the Reagan/Bush I administrations in Central America is in large part responsible for the economic conditions in that part of the continent. Moreover, President Bill Clinton reneged on so-called “side agreements,” permitting organizing by American labor unions in Mexico, after signing the North America Free Trade Agreement.



The Register’s contention of a looming labor shortage, due to falling birth rates and the aging Baby Boomer generation, is as pernicious as the anti-Latino slanders throw round by the anti-immigrant crowd, and ignores the simple and contrary logic: The smaller the labor pool, the higher the wage for the laborer.

Stupidity triumphs

Ever since I discovered the late Carlo M. Cipolla's 1987 essay on "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" on the Web, I kept it bookmarked.

Cipolla's Third, or "Golden Law" of Human Stupidity is that the actions of the stupid always result in loss for the stupid person himself and quite often other around him. Or something like that. I'm quoting Cipolla's Third Law by memory, for his heirs, or at least someone who holds the copywrite, have caused it to be scrubbed from the Web. Obviously worldwide the business community has something to hide, Cipolla, after all, was a professor of economics at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley.

So any way, in total disregard and disrespect of Prof. Cipolla's heirs I have found the basic laws, without explanation. I suggest printing them for future reference.

First Basic Law: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

Second Basic Law: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

Third (and Golden) Basic Law: A stupid person is a person who caused losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

Fourth Basic Law: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be costly mistake.

Fifth Basic Law: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Corollary to the Fifth Basic Law: A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.

Certainly someone out there wants stupidity to triumph over intelligence, or at least common sense. Look are our current president, George W. Bush. He most certainly illustrates the "Third (and Golden) Basic Law" as do many, many of our so-called business leaders.

Gee, I hope I drop dead

Christ, I had an appointment for a "Nuclear Study using Treadmill Cardiolite protocol" this morning at ten.

I went. And I left. Why?

Because I refused to sign the release. And why did I refuse to sign the relase. Because I don't want any radioactive goo coursing through my veins for 48 hours, that's why! Oh, but it's in small doseages. Oh, but it's been used for fifty years. Oh, but when I send in my badge it shows my body's only absorded trace ammounts of radioactivity.

What a bunch of horseshit!

Cardiolite is radioactive, goddamnit! What the fuck doesn't the medical community get about that!

33 students, faculty member killed at Virginia Tech campus

That was the big news yesterday and the headlines yet reverberate today. This is, as the sob-sisters of the mainstream media are wont to tell us over and over ad nauseam, a tragedy of monumental proportions.

But the real tragedy of this terrible loss of life will not come today or tomorrow or even next week. No, it will happen within six months to a year when some self-serving young man or lady, who just happpened to be in Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus when the gunman began his rampage, writes a book on, "How God Saved ME." It will be the usual infantile drivel about how, as the bullets flew, "god reached down and touched ME," and "god saved ME because god has a plan for ME."

I reckon god didn't give a shit about the 33 other folks who died. Either that or god needed a quick transfusion, since we don't offer up blood sacrifices in the form of babies or lambs to the old boy these days. Or maybe god was short a few tenors in his heavenly choir, and an extra soprano or two couldn't hurt.

My guess is that god saved "ME" to write a sappy book to sell to suckers. My guess is that god saved "ME" so TV sob-sisters, like Diane Sawyer, Oprah and Montel Williams, can coo and oooo over how brave "ME" was in a scary situation. TV appearances, book signings and fat honorarium checks from fundamentalist "Christian" churches all for "ME." That certainly beats having to find a real job.

And that, to me, is the real tragedy of these senseless killings at Virginia Tech.

A litte more on "300"

An e-mail from a friend (I have a couple) said:

The last comment on I made Huff was in response to Iran's getting being insulted by the movie 300. I said how I missed all the Spartan slaves - they must have been hiding. I enjoyed the film like I enjoyed Sin City. Graphic novels on the big screen make for entertainment, not a history lesson. The old complaint about Hollywood is the botched job they make of stories and mood. Too many wanna-be's messing with the artistic vision. At least with 300, the vision seems pretty intact.

I responded:

Yeah, I liked "Sin City" too, and, naw, you can't convince me that "300" is anything other than neoFascist garbage with a pretty face, actually buffed and tanned bod. The worst feeling one can have on leaving a movie theater is boredom...and that's how I felt after leaving "300."

Anyway, I stand by my distaste for "300." Labeling it "art" or a "cinematic experiment" doesn't excuse the palpable racism. The 300 Spartants of "300"
are Goebbels-esque poster-boys. If film technology were such that this film
could have been made in 1937, I can imagine Himmler, Goering and Hitler all
creaming-in-their-jeans.

I was googling to find an image from "300" the original graphic novel to compare that with "Nazi" art, but I ran across this exchange at FreeRepublic.com :the(sic) writer of the graphic novel "300" of course !! HE IS ON OUR SIDE ! I was right !

The "writer" of the graphic novel "300" is artist Frank Miller, one of comic book fandom's reigning gods. A clip of a post-SOTU NPR "Talk Of The Nation" interview with Miller is posted at the chickenhawk Web site Little Green Footballs.com. There Miller complains that Twenty-first Century Americans are a bunch of whining, wimps, and spoiled brats; that we are at war with a "existential foe" who "genetically" (sic) mutilate their daughters. Listen to him. The wing nuts are praising him for his tough talk about waging war and making sacrifices.

This is brave talk for a 50-year-old man who never once spent a day in the uniform of any branch of the United States' military. This is bold talk for a 50-year-old guy who's too old to ever have to serve in the military. This is big talk for a 50-year-old man who sounds like a scared little boy.

Let's bury this Imus fool and ethnic slurs too!

For a week now, ever since an overaged cowboy called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed ho's" on his radio program, we've had to endure the soap opera of Don Imus and his bullshit mea culpas:

"Want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team.

"It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry."
Maynard Institute.org
And:
"Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it," he said. "And because the climate on this program has been what it's been for 30 years doesn't mean that it has to be that way for the next five years or whatever because that has to change, and I understand that." CNN.com

Oh, just fuck you, Don Imus. Just look at that jackass, nearly 70-years-old and he wears a cowboy suit to work. Hey, this would be O.K. if he hosted the show from Phoenix or Las Vegas or Laramie, Wyoming! But he's lived and worked in New York City since 1971!

And he's a repeat offender in the racial/ethnic/gender slur catagory.

So this old fool is wiggling in a pathetic attempt to try and save his job. His employers, CBS Radio and MSNBC, are giving this aging asshole a two-week suspension. Wow! that's gotta hurt, especially for a 67-year-old man with a fondness for cowboy clothes (I ain't even gonna touch the homoerotic undertones of his particular fetish.)

But dumbass Don's reactionary friends are springing to his defense. Today, Michelle Malkin, the reactionary Filipina-American columnist, writes:

Let's stipulate: I have no love for Don Imus*, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson. I repeat: A pox on all their race-baiting houses.

Let's also stipulate: The Rutgers women's basketball team didn't deserve to be disrespected as "nappy-headed hos." No woman deserves that. I agree with the athletes that Imus's misogynist mockery was "deplorable, despicable and unconscionable." And as I noted on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor this week, I believe top public officials and journalists who have appeared on Imus's show should take responsibility for enabling Imus—and should disavow his longstanding invective.

But let's take a breath now and look around. Is the Sharpton & Jackson Circus truly committed to cleaning up cultural pollution that demeans women and perpetuates racial epithets? Have you seen the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart this week?

She then proceeds to merely copy a list of "gangsta" rap lyrics, verbatim. This is one little Flip ho' who knows how to work her ass off to meet her column's deadline. Malkin's implication, and a heavy-handed one it is at that, is that if it's O.K. for "gangsta" rappers to use offensive ethnic, racial and sexist slurs, it must be O.K. for old assholes who wear cowboy hats indoors to do likewise.

Of course Michelle doesn't question who buys the crap or why " gangsta" rap is so popular--suburban white boys be cause it erritates the hell out of a generation of adults who grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead. Or who makes it possible to market this crap--white MBA's who run the record/CD companies, radio stations and TV-music video channels! Michelle and her reactionary crowd seem to think that all African Americans condone the usage of "gangsta" rap and therefore "gangsta" slang and attitutes.

Writes Morehouse College English instructor Darren Rhym of "gangsta" rap:

Typically, gangsta rappers use sexist and misogynistic lyrics for three reasons. First, they are selfish and seek to empower only themselves. Second, they put business before art: Songs with misogynistic lyrics sell millions of CDs and tapes. Sales mean money. Money means power. Finally, gangsta rappers reinterpret their experiences into a packageable product that can sell. They peddle half-truths and fantasies that formulate a stereotypical mythology in which all black women are bitches and/or all gangsta rappers live the life of driving sports cars, collecting thong-wearing, gyrating women, and smoking chronic.
And:
In the end, this whole argument boils down to the fact that misogyny is ingrained into our culture and we allow it. We buy CDs and go to concerts where gangsta rappers call black women "bitches" and "hos." It is not just black women who are victimized. Since gangsta rappers disrespect our mothers, sisters, and daughters, every black man is a victim.

Excuses -- "I like the beat," "I don't listen to the words," and "They are only referring to certain types of women" -- are not acceptable. When gangsta rappers disrespect men and women and preach violence and hate to us, we must reject their messages. We cannot buy their CDs, albums, or tapes, or attend their concerts, or appear in their videos, or even support record labels or radio or television stations that advocate gangsta rap in any way. Malcolm X used to preach about the ills of airing "dirty laundry," and that is what gangsta rappers do when they disrespect black women in rap songs.

Rap is not just music; it is our African-American culture. It is the way we blacks perceive ourselves, and the way we are perceived by the world. The content of gangsta rap music in its current form is unacceptable. It cannot and should not be tolerated by anyone.
Womanist Theory and Research

The right's excuses to get Imus off the hook are bullshit and racist too boot. The reactionary thugs who run this nation know that racism is the easiest method of covering their crimes against the working middle class. Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter and the rest are ready to do their bidding because we let them. By excusing Don Imus we are excusing our own inherent racism, we legitimize it regardless if we are of European, African or Asian heritage. But not only should we, the United States' white community, bury Don Imus and all his reactionary "shock jock" ilk our black brothers and sisters must likewise bury the "gangsta" rap mystique. And all us together must bury the "N" word, now and forever. It can be done.
*Pure, unadultured bullshit. She wouldn't have "written" her stupid column if she weren't rushing to Imus' defense.

I'm sick of badasses. How 'bout you?

You want to know why I think the United States is losing respect in this world?

There are just too many people in this country who think they are badasses. Let me tell you what I mean.

Yesterday I went to my local Radio Shack store to exchange a telephone I bought there just after Christmas. Shouldn't have been that big of deal, you know. I tell 'em what's wrong with the phone and they give me a new one, smiles and thank yous all around.

But no.

This young gal, after I told her what was wrong with the phone, asked me why I didn't buy Radio Shack's extended service thingie, that this was the one and only time she'd allow me to return a telephone and yaddy-yaddy-yadda! I mean, why would you spend thirty bucks for an extended warrantee on a forty-five dollars phone? And I only want to exchange this phone, it's not like it's something I do every day! But on and on she lectured about extended warrantees, and in general being a young bitch.

She ended her lecture with a bit of advice, "Maybe you need to clean you phone lines. Have a nice day."

I might not be the shapest knife in the drawer, but I know an insult when I hear one. This gal might as well have added "asshole" at the end of that "have a nice day."

This isn't the first time I've run into this. There was the kid a the Menards store when I went to buy a replacement window. I didn't know shit-from-shinola about windows, I just knew I needed a window...aww, the window's in now and looks great, but you know, the fucking kid, not once, walked his lazy ass out from behind the counter to show me through all the windows on display so I might get a better idea of what I needed. He just asked me a bunch of questions, some of which I didn't think were relevant, and entered bullshit into a computer.

But I digress.

To take my mind off things I decided to watch a movie, Babel. Well, that was a mistake. It's not that it's a bad movie, but some of the heavies are US Customs and Border Protection guards. Now I've had some experience with these assholes, and let me tell you, even if we didn't have a jerk in the White House and an illegal occupation of a foreign country going on, these pinheaded bastards quarantee that anyone from another country gets a bad first impression of the United States.

To show you the kind of assholes you meet when you're crossing the border, here I am, a middle-aged, blue-eyed, white guy, with with a fucking Iowa driver's license, and this motherfucker in a black uniform asks me in a Mexican-Spanish accent, thicker than the waiter's at the restaurant were I just ate cabrito, if I'm a fucking American citizen! No, motherfucker, I'm from Venus! And there's these fucking signs all over the place saying, "No Jokes!" I'm not shitting you! And now, the fucking government demands everybody going back into the United States from Canada and Mexico produce a passport! Oh! like I'm gonna smuggle fucking' bombs into the country. Oh, won't that make us more safe from terrorists. Fuck you!

This fucking country ain't no fucking fun anymore!

Well, it's Tuesday and that means it's garbage day. Got to get the garbage out.

300 reasons to stay home

Finally saw 300 last night. What a piece of crap.

Here's a link to a review

Slant Magazine--Film Review:300

My advice: Don't throw your money away on this stinker if you want to see a motion picture. If you want to see comic book artwork immitating a motion picture, then maybe the ten bucks is worth it.

As for historicity, forget it. Yeah, there was a Battle of Thermopylae, and, yeah, there was a Spartan King Leonidas, and, yeah, he led three hundred hand-picked Spartan hoplites. And, yes, there also really was a Persian King Xerses. And that's about all the true history you'll garner out of this flick.