Ezekiel 23:20
|
|
|
|
other |
09/30/08
This is the portrait of a fuck up, looking old, very old, John MCcain-old.
His shoulders hunched, shirt rumpled, a tie that resembles brittle parchment
paper and the hair of a man who woke up in the gutter. His arms dangle
limply at his sides in the posture of a pouting second grader who refuses
to learn his multiplication table. He is our president, even if everybody
behaves as if he is no longer. He is our leader. He is the leader of
the military with the largest budget and arsenal on the planet. He looks
a failure. He is a failure, and I've been angry about the miserable
prick for far too long now.
Here's something from 9/17/99:
About the shooting rampage in the Wedgwood Baptist Church
in Fort Worth, the Texas Gov., George W. Bush said, "This is a
terrible tragedy made worse by the fact that it took place in a house
of hope and love."
Now, is that a fact? Maybe it could have been a terrible tragedy made
better by the fact that it took place in an impoverished black slum?
No, I'm wrong because that news wouldn't even reach "terrible tragedy"
status let alone the ears of George W. Bush. [...] Fuck George 'My daddy
was the head of the C.I.A.' Bush.
That Church shooting also prompted Bush to say, "People who belittle
people of faith are exhibiting bigotry."
If that is so, then are Christians who make fun of Muslims bigots? Are
Baptists, evangelicals and other born-againers such as John Hagee who
condemn Catholicism bigots? I'd say they are, but what about a person
with no faith who sees faith of any kind not as a virtue but as the
delusions of a weak or abused mind? You can hardly call that person
a bigot.
Bush has proven himself to be a failure since he first stepped foot
into national politics, and the photo above shows the end results of
his egotism, arrogance and bluster – he is reduced and shown as
the petty small-minded man that he is, hunched over, hang-dogged while
his political betters shove his chair off to the side so the adults
can concentrate and take care of adult business.
"Here you go Georgey, here's a picture book bible for you to look
at while the big boys and girls deal with international affairs."
Pathetic. Do not ever feel sorry for him.
09/29/08
I have to be careful. It's a new moon today and tomorrow is the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It could be far too easy to go off the deep end. What I have are pictures and captions. They're taken from this Asian Banker website.
The caption for this one reads, "Ishrat Hussain (middle), former governor of The State Bank of Pakistan, receiving The Asian Banker Lifetime Achievement Award 2005 from Thai minister of finance, H.E. Dr. Thanong Bidaya (right), with Thomas Bliley, Jr. (left), former US Congressman, Co-Sponsor of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act."
It is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that is at the root of this country's current economic crisis. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act basically allowed banks, investment banks and insurance companies to all fly under the same corporate banner. It passed in 1999. It was signed into law by Clinton. He could not veto the thing. It had a veto proof majority in congress. In the senate it was a party line vote. Republicans voted for it. Democrats against it. It was all part of the Republican wet dream agenda to eliminate all the good made by FDR's New Deal. So, there's Bliley, at the Asian banker awards ceremony. What does it mean? I don't know, but I don't like it.
The caption for this one read, "Noorazman Aziz (left), managing director, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, receiving The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2005 for Islamic Finance from William Seidman (right), first chairman, US Resolution & Trust Corp."
What is Bliley doing at a conference where Pakistani bankers and the managing director of Bank Islam Malaysia are given awards? Surely he is there because the bill he passed put enormous amounts of cash into the wallets of these men. I have to wonder that if by removing federal regulation and oversight from banks, investment firms and insurance companies if it helped terrorists raise money. If it facilitated 9/11. No insurance company failed directly because of 9/11, but now terrorist-related insurance is readily available and highly expensive. An estimated $30 to $35 billion in insurance compensation was paid out after 9/11. I can't find anything to indicate how much insurance companies currently profit from insurance against terrorist attacks, but I'd wager they're not hurting from it.
Bank Islam Malaysia is a Sharia bank. The State Bank of Pakistan has an Islamic Division and a Sharia board that approves Islamic modes of financing. Sharia banks are based on the Islamic religion. It is probably safe to say they favor lending to Islamic institutions and Muslim causes.
I'd say I'm fine with this, but I can't be. It's discriminatory and bigoted, and I'm sure Christian fundamentalists in this country are quite jealous of the concept. Imagine, if Christians pull the perfect coup, gain control of government and thus our troubled financial institutions and make it so nobody can buy or sell without a crucified fish tattooed on their ass. Damn, I said it'd be easy to go off the deep end today.
What's what then? One of the chief architects of the Act that helped put the U.S.in its current financial mess is rubbing elbows with Islamic Sharia bankers in Bangkok, Thailand. A country known for it's sex tourism, and there's old Mr. Bliley, in the age of Viagra, in a country where you can get a young boy to do your bidding for a song and a shiny nickel. I'm not saying he was there and up to anything untoward. I was only mentioning what's available. Just because Bliley was in Thailand doesn't mean he ate the local cuisine.
Another one of the architects of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor. That's the same Phil Gramm who called the current economic crisis a "mental recession," and called the United Sates of America "a nation of whiners." He could potentially be the next secretary of the treasury. Not that there will be anything left in the treasury by that time.
There's more than nothing to this, but whatever the something is remains beyond rational clarity. I think Bush is right. It is a house of cards. They knocked out one major supporting card. What could be next? I find this headline less than inspiring: "Spies Warn That Al Qaeda Aims for October Surprise." Since the lapdog voters in this country run to the Republican ticket every time they get afraid, it is safe to say Al Qaeda wants John McCain to win. Any big terrorist stunt pulled off witrh an aim towards influencing the election would favor McCain, unless the stunt pulled off is within the United States, then Bush might continue his occupancy of the White House under National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20. Fascism is just a dirty bomb away.
09/27/08
Louisiana Republican State Rep. John LaBruzzo had an idea. The right hates him for it. The left hates him for it. The god damn idiots at the Catholic church hate him for it. All he suggested was awarding women who undergo Fallopian tube ligation (getting their tubes tied) a $1,000. In order to qualify for the award they have to be below the poverty line. The same for men, vasectomy = cash. I have no problem with this. I think the dollar amount is low, and I don't see why anyone, regardless of class standing, can't qualify. LaBruzzo, however, wants to grant more tax incentives to wealthy, college-educated couples to have more children. The problem, of course, is wealthy, college-educated couples don't base bringing more children into this world on fabulous new tax incentives. Why not? Well, because of the whole college-educated thing. They tend not to be that fucking stupid.
If LaBruzzo just broadened who could qualify for his $1,000 reward to include everybody of breedable age (sorry menopausal women), then I think his plan is peachy. And no tax breaks for the wealthy. They're wealthy, okay? The award for sterilization should be a full scholarship – 100% free ride – with room and board at whatever public university the sterilizee qualifies to attend. This is a mighty incentive. One grand is only going to bring in people who were going to get fixed as soon as they had two spare dimes to rub together.
The left, the right, the Catholic papal-dogma-for-brains should all lay off LaBruzzo. His heart is almost in the right place, and I do have to agree with his desire, wealthy or not, to see more college-educated couples breeding. That can't be a bad thing. They're educated, more likely to hold centrist to liberal views and are probably not absolutely crazy ga-ga for Jesus – they may like Jesus a little, on Sundays, but they're probably not ranting about how great the long dead Jew is every chance they get. The United States might be a much better place after a few decades of a policy like LaBruzzo's so stop calling him a Nazi. There's a fine line between Nazi and genius. Don't throw the bath water out with the baby Hitler.
09/26/08
In light of the story about Sarah Palin's affair ran in the Enquirer, this headline seems just a bit this side of cheeky.
09/25/08
I was reading, seated on the couch. The couch has it's green-upholstered back to the window, thus so did I. The double windows are framed like most. The frame has a small gap that runs across the top between it and the wall. The gap runs the length of the window and is approximately two inches in depth. You could stick your finger down in it if you we're so inclined and slender of finger.
It was garbage night and on garbage night the street is full of the sounds of hard plastic trash bin wheels rumbling out to the kerbside. When I heard a "skitch, skitch," noise from behind me, I assumed it was rolling trash. The noise reoccurred, and this time it was accompanied by the anguished squeal of a panicked or pained animal. I marked my spot in the book, jumped up and whirled around. The noise was coming from the window. From the space between frame and wall extended a black membrane supported by four elongated fingers. It wailed horribly. The wing rose up from the gap, extended, then folded back in and down. It was trapped. I wondered what to do if it got out. I decided a net would be good. Bats are light. A fishing net would perform the job, but I didn't have one. I asked the neighbor, but he didn't either. I grabbed a trash bag, thinking I could swing it and catch it if he broke free, but now the bat was gone. There was no more squeaking and no more skitching. Silence. Flashlight in hand, I stood on the couch arm, shone the beam into the gap and peered in. Nothing but flakes of old dried paint. Then I saw it. A hole going into the wall. The bat lives in the wall, perhaps in the attic, probably with others, and it had gotten lost and trapped. This is a new one for me. Since living here I've been mobbed by cluster flies, invaded by ants, mice, spiders and rats, had a cockroach infestation and termites persist to this day, but never did I have a bat. The bat would have been handy when I had the pleasure of a visit of a couple hundred cluster flies. That'd've been bat heaven. Maybe the bats are in the walls eating the termites. With all that's happened in this house, it's the closest I'll ever come to owning a haunted mansion. Fuck man, I live on a busy Los Angeles street, not a farm house. Rats and bats and termites and ants and mice and a few hundred flies. I've had possums and cave crickets and skunks and coyotes, black widow spiders, slugs and snails and, well... it's been the world's most disgusting petting zoo really. Except for the bat. I like those guys. They're a close relation. The German name Fledermäuse (Flying Mice) is a lot further from the truth than would be Fledermensch. I've always thought this house put off an odd aroma. It could be the walls are jammed pack with a hundred or more years of guano. It'd explain a few things.
09/22/08
Screaming in anger isn't uncommonly overheard in Los Angeles. I heard some today. I tend to ignore it. I don't want to look. Looking can make you a part of it, and since the "it" in question can be a pissed of psychopath why bring his attention upon yourself? Today the rage filled voice was across the street. When it's at a distance, I'll gawk and try to make sense of the situation.
A middle-aged man had just gotten off the bus. He was dressed in faded blue jeans, a dirty ball cap, a tattered green flannel and carried a backpack that was worn thin and frayed. He was unkempt, white, probably low in his finances, even if he did march straight into the Washington Mutual after his roadside fit.
"You heard me!" he shouted, "You heard me! Suck my ass you dumb nigger!" It wasn't the most polite thing to say. He was addressing the bus driver. At least, I think so. The bus driver was the only one around who fit the picture painted by the racial epithet. I saw a few brown folk (Mexican, El Salvadoran, etc...) near the racially charged antagonist, but they didn't raise any objections. I don't know if I would have had I been nearer. It's usually the case that anyone yelling racial slurs on the street is too fucked up crazy in the head for anyone to want to bother about. Anyway, in a few short minutes he became the problem of a Washington Mutual clerk, and he couldn't have been thrust upon anyone more deserving.
09/12/08
ABC's Charles Gibson asked McCain, "Can you honestly say you feel confident having someone [Palin] who hasn’t traveled outside the United States until last year, dealing with an insurgent Russia?"
McCain answered, "Sure, Alaska is right next to Russia. She understands that."
Sarah Palin, asked by Gibson for insights about recent Russian actions said, "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."
Let's make
one thing abundantly clear...
Is it clear now? Is it clear that McCain and Palin have no clue what
they're talking about. Why do they insist on giving the press these
basic geography lessons? Yes, Alaska is close to Russia, but this isn't
Risk™. Holding Kamchatka will not prove a wise strategy.
09/11/08
I'd talk about what day it is today, seven years later and all, but I feel I can't.
9-11™ is the proprietary trademark of the U.S. Republican party, and they reserve all rights to its political use. The memories of the dead, the national grief and trauma are all the G.O.P.'s. They own it. To discuss that day within a non-Republican approved framework opens me up to copyright infringement lawsuits. It's Patriot Day, and we all know who the true patriots are... Republicans! They are America's patriots. They're the ones who did nothing when handed a document titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike In US." They're the ones who put the anti-terrorism command center in the World Trade Center even when experts advised strongly against doing so.
They're the ones who told us to buck up and go shopping after the attacks. They're the ones who were too obsessed with elephant shit on the virgin Mary's tits to look into NY City's firefighter's faulty radios.
They were the ones who told volunteer rescue workers at ground zero that the air was safe to breathe.
They're the ones who blamed the constitutional separation of church and state for the attack ("the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians ..., the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America...helped this happen...")
They're the ones who retaliated against a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on that day seven years ago and continue to spend $12 billion a month occupying that same country.
The Republicans own the memory of 9-11™ because they are the reason 9-11™ was what it was. It could have been just another day. If not for the interference of the Republican controlled supreme court ousting Gore and appointing Bush it could have been our very own Guy Fawkes Night.
With a little minor editing of the Guy Fawkes Night page on Wikipedia...
Osama Bin Laden Day (also known as Airline Day, Terror Day and sometimes Middle East Day) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 11th of September. It celebrates the foiling of the WTC Plot of the 11 September 2001 in which a number of Muslim conspirators, including Osama Bin Laden, attempted to blow up the World Trade Center Towers in New York, New York, USA and the Pentagon in Washington D.C., USA.
Because of Republicans that's a fantasy.
09/10/08
Very quickly, I googled up Hillary Clinton and then Sarah Palin because they're the two most prominent female politicians in America (at least in these past few months) and because I wanted to see what the liberal media bias might turn up. It turned up this.
Here are the words I found used to describe Hillary Clinton: shrill, nag, cackle.
Here are the words I found used to describe Sarah Palin: plucky, "kitten with a whip," fabulous.
There are similarities. Both sets of words would rarely ever be used to describe a male politicians. Dick Cheney is not plucky. Joe Lieberman is not a kitten with a whip. The descriptions, have at their heart, sexist connotations as applied to female politicians.
There are differences. These two sets of words stand in stark oppositional contrast. Sarah Palin isn't uppity; she's a pitbull. Sarah Palin isn't a shrill nag; she's a kitten with a whip; she's a breath of fresh air; she's fabulously refreshing; she's a Massengill douche.
Let's not forget the Republican group against Hillary Clinton that called themselves: Citizens United Not Timid (C.U.N.T.). Do you think you'd see a well-funded Democratic group form with a similar acronymic attack on Sarah Palin? Something like a Treacherous Woman Against Truth? No. That's not what Democrats do. At least not well.
Maybe the people responsible for C.U.N.T. could do one for Sarah. They could defend her from the allegations that she's a proud member of the anti-science, creationist fruit basket crowd – Sarah Never Actually Taught Creationism Herself (S.N.A.T.C.H.). Sarah Palin's supporters should have a name for themselves. Some snazzy acronym that takes in their total willingness to overlook Palin's lies and ignore the fact that she was never properly vetted – Lies Are Believed In Advance (L.A.B.I.A.).
Vanquish Asinine Godly IDiots Now, Amen.
09/09/08
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country. Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," said right-wing nutcase Sarah Palin, confusing the occupation of Iraq with The Blues Brothers. I'm glad she's getting people to pray for the troops. It's much better than actually doing something practical for them. I understand now what people mean when they say, "support our troops." What they mean is "Ask the magic sky pixie to help because I can't be bothered." The troops are bound to be well looked after by God on their task "from God" if McCain and Palin win the election. Those troops will get all the prayer they could ever want. Medical attention, psychological aid and other benefits won't be as forthcoming. Prayer is cheap. Prayer gets thrown around willy-nilly. Anyone can do it, even an atheist. "Please God, I beseech thee, keep our soldiers free from harm. Help them in their appointed task from you to kill the dirty Mohammedans in their homes." There. I did my part. I feel better knowing God's on the look out, and all because of me. I rule!
What will the state of the arts be in America with a McCain/Palin victory?
If Palin's activities as mayor of Wasilla, AK acts as a barometer we might see some good old-fashioned book burnings. (old-fashioned = Germany in the thirties). Palin aggressively sought to ban books from the Wasilla public library, going so far as threatening to fire the uncooperative librarian who told Palin there was no way she'd allow the censoring of library books.
With every rock turned over there's another Republican more vile, hate-filled, idiotic and contemptible of the constitution than the last. It really is amazing. Don't they have to bottom out eventually. How dogmatically conservative and pro-war can a person get before he or she becaomes a fascist? There must be a point of no return. I fear a McCain/Palin victory will cross that point.
09/05/08
My brain has ceased to function at anything like full capacity. I bumbled my way into some poison oak. I don't know when or where. I do not have a habit of getting drunk and running bare assed through the woods. The resultant rash has me a prisoner of my skin. I am shackled. I can think of nothing else. I am obsessed by my skin and it has crippled all other thought. I now know what it must be like inside the mind of a Miss Wasilla beauty pageant winner. Outer appearance is given such weight that the insides are naught but air.
This has been an ongoing condition for nine days. It keeps spreading. It keeps getting worse. Anyone who suggests intelligent design and not natural selection is the reason these poisoned weeds are on the planet gets to smoke a peace pipe full of the shit.
Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper? These sound like horse names.
09/04/08
This is getting irritating. First, there's Sarah Palin who, when asked about creationism and evolutionary theory, said, "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both."
And now Cindy McCain steps into the mix in an attempt to prove that all Republican women are as retarded as Sarah Palin's belief her fifth child is a blessing from God. Keep that sick God and It's blessings far the fuck away from me, thanks.
Katie Couric asked Cindy McCain, who has no background in science or in education, "How do you feel about creationism? Do you think it should be taught in schools?"
And Cindy McCain answered, "I think both sides should be taught in schools. I think the more children have a frame of reference and an opportunity to read and know and make better decisions and judgments when they are adults. So, I think you know I don't have any problem with education of any kind."
There are no "sides." There is no current scientifically valid counter-argument to evolutionary theory. There is no "both" to teach. And you can hear the Christianist gears grinding in these Republican fraus heads with their use of the word "both." What is this "both?" Both implies two. There is one evolutionary theory, but there have been thousands of creation myths, and we could make up a thousand more in a couple days. It's the "made-up" aspect of it that kind of prevents it from being taught as science. Creationism is useless. You can't make predictions based on creationist dogma. Evolutionary theory has been making accurate predictions for 150 years now. Creationism would be a waste of children's time. Just because it's in the bible doesn't make it true. In fact, if it's in the bible, it's probably not true because 2,000 years ago, people were unenlightened brutish fucking pigs of the likes you can't find outside of St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center tonight.
Cindy's last comment strikes me as dangerously ignorant. She said, "I don't have any problem with education of any kind."
No problem? Education of any kind?
We should teach our children that women are inferior to men, blacks inferior to whites, Jews are keeping our country down, Communism is the only legitimate form of government, and the Bush administration was behind the September 11th attacks. Hey, it's a kind of education. Cindy McCain doesn't have any problem with it. Mein Kampf can be mandatory reading when the third graders learn about how cool and right Hitler was and how wrong the United States was to have opposed his glorious Reich.
We'll let Cindy McCain teach the class on rape. The one that teaches all girls are dirty whores and deserve a good raping. Cindy can also teach the adultery course, and how the good creationist punishment is stoning. Remember Cindy, if the theocrats you pander to ever achieve real power, you and Saint John get the first rocks. And Sarah Palin's knocked up little seventeen year old twatling gets the stones too. Who needs secular law when you have the bible? Who needs the theory of evolution when you have the bible?
Cindy McCain's American Educational System – anything goes.
No curriculum left behind.
09/03/08
Hurray! Bush has endorsed McCain like Bush endorsed social security reform, pre-emptive war, regime change, missile defense shields, Michael Brown, Harriet Myers, John Bolton, extreme rendition, warrantless wiretapping and torture among other sundries. And now Bush endorses for president the man who may have an illegitimate black baby... John Sidney "I can't keep a plane in the air to save my life" McCain.
In his endorsement of McCain, Bush said, “He [McCain] will invest in the energy technologies of tomorrow and lift the ban on drilling for America’s offshore oil today.”
And if that was true… if that could be true – why I might cast my vote for...
but the big problem is the off shore oil that Bush calls “America’s offshore oil” really isn’t America’s. It’s the oil companies' oil, and We give the oil companies our oil. The American government gives away America's oil to these corporations. Corporations that hold no allegiance to this country except to the lawmakers, the rich and the powerful.
America’s offshore oil should belong to all Americans. That oil should help fund programs for the least of our citizens. That oil should pay for our healthcare, our education, including state university education, and to the improvement of our public spaces, such as national parks and forests.
When Bush says McCain will “lift the ban on drilling for America’s offshore oil,” Bush is tacitly lying. Yes, it is America's oil, Bush knows that, but if McCain lifts the ban, that oil and the land it lays under will be handed over to the oil companies. Bush waves his left hand so the audience won’t pay heed to what his right is doing.
“America’s offshore oil?” The answer is “no, not really.” Exxon’s offshore oil. Mobil’s Offshore oil. BP’s offshore oil. Chevron’s offshore oil. It isn’t America’s offshore oil the way Norway’s offshore oil is Norway’s oil. It’s more like America’s offshore oil the way Saudi Arabia’s oil is the oil of the Saudi royals, but in this democracy, our royals are corporate executives and former corporate executives like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who go in to politics to keep America’s offshore oil out of the hands of Americans and also to make sure the question of America’s offshore oil belonging to Americans doesn’t even come up at all. It isn’t even on the table for debate. America’s offshore oil? What a laugh. And when it comes to the oil that is America's oil, Obama is just as much of a beholden corporate shoeshine boy as a dozen McCains or an army of Clintons. We can't win. Only they can.