Can't Anybody Around Here Take A Hint ?

The Netherlands is ending its military involvement in Afghanistan, after four years in which its 1,950 troops have won praise for their effectiveness.
Ahem.

Not The "New" Black Panthers

We're not even pretending to care (Saturday night, we'd claim, but the sad-ass work-a-day existence means nothing to us any more.) so if we've brought this up before, pardon the living hell out of us; it's important in the current media environment.

There Is No New Black Panther Party: An Open Letter From the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation

In response to numerous requests from individuals seeking information on the "New Black Panthers," the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation issues this public statement to correct the distorted record being made in the media by a small band of African Americans calling themselves the New Black Panthers. As guardian of the true history of the Black Panther Party, the Foundation, which includes former leading members of the Party, denounces this group's exploitation of the Party's name and history. Failing to find its own legitimacy in the black community, this band would graft the Party's name upon itself, which we condemn.

Firstly, the people in the New Black Panthers were never members of the Black Panther Party and have no legitimate claim on the Party's name. On the contrary, they would steal the names and pretend to walk in the footsteps of the Party's true heroes, such as Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton, George Jackson and Jonathan Jackson, Bunchy Carter, John Huggins, Fred Hampton, Mark Cark, and so many others who gave their very lives to the black liberation struggle under the Party's banner.

Secondly, they denigrate the Party's name by promoting concepts absolutely counter to the revolutionary principles on which the Party was founded. Their alleged media assault on the Ku Klux Klan serves to incite hatred rather than resolve it. The Party's fundamental principle, as best articulated by the great revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was: "A true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." The Black Panthers were never a group of angry young militants full of fury toward the "white establishment." The Party operated on love for black people, not hatred of white people.

Furthermore, this group claims it would "teach" the black community about armed self-defense. The arrogance of this claim is overwhelmed by its reactionary nature. Blacks, especially in the South, have been armed in self-defense for a very long time; indeed, the spiritual parent of the Party itself was the Louisiana-based Deacons for Defense. However, the Party understood that the gun was not necessarily revolutionary, for the police and all other oppressive forces had guns. It was the ideology behind the gun that determined its nature.

Because the Party believed that only the masses of people would make the revolution, the Party never presumed itself to be above the people. The Party considered itself a servant of the people and taught by example. Given massive black hunger, the Party provided free breakfast for children and other free food programs. In the absence of decent medical facilities in the black community, the Party operated free medical clinics. In the face of police brutality, the Party stood up and resisted. Considering the overwhelming number of blacks facing trials and long prison terms, the Party developed free legal aid and bussing-to-prison programs.

The question the Foundation raises, then, is who are these people laying claim to the Party's history and name? Are they reactionary provocateurs, who would instigate activities counterproductive to the people's interests, causing mayhem and death? Are they entertainers, who would posture themselves before the media, and, according to numerous sources, with empty guns, to spin gold for themselves? Are they, given the history of their late-leader Khalid Muhammad, a group of anti-Semites like the very Ku Klux Klan they allegedly oppose? What is their agenda?

Conditions for blacks in America today are worse than when the Black Panther Party was formed in 1966. Blacks in the main continue to live in poverty; disproportionate percentages of blacks die from AIDS and cancer, as the black infant mortality rate continues to be double that of whites. There is a desperate need for a liberation agenda. The Black Panther Party unarguably set the example, espousing principles and a history that certainly should be embraced by all those still struggling for freedom. Rather than appropriating the Party's name, however, groups that purport to represent African Americans ought to follow the Party's true historical example. In the absence of such commitment, the Foundation denounces the usurpation of the Black Panther Party name by this questionable band of self-appointed leaders.

War Of The Eagles

We must be on some kind of roll ("How far the motherfuckin' Kaiser rolls?") 'cause just about everything we've cranked out recently (pogroms, for example) has led us to more on the theme, if not the actual event.

This rant about our shit-shovelers came back like pepperoni from a frozen pizza when we had the misfortune to visit a reactionary ninny site & saw this outfit linked there:

Shall we say that the Warrior Legacy eagle here is awfully stylized, as in feathers that don't occur in nature? Not terribly unlike ...

As disgusted as we are by militarism, it's equally disgusting that anyone wounded in the service of the United States should have to have one fucking penny raised for them. The tax-paying slobs of these United Snakes should be forced to cover any & all possible bills, expenses & needs for these poor bastards who murder & die in their name. (Not in our name, though. We pay no taxes, & take as much from the federal coffers as we can. Doing our bit to stop the war machine!)

And we intend to hold this position until the next time we're so revolted by the whole deal of these fools volunteering to murder &/or be made mincemeat to defend a nation that can't/won't offer them any options other than enlisting, & we start  thinking they & anyone closely related to them should be sterilized for the betterment of this repugnant species of which we so desire not to be a member.

Cootie Patrol

Everything we've dealt w/ today has been so disgusting & time-consuming we aren't going to bother much w/ this, other than to point out to its homophobic (& comment-phobic) typist that:

1. Maybe if the guy weren't treated like crap by the United Snakes & its military, he might not be so willing to expose how the U.S. military is a fucked-up mess. While we are a different-sexer (Not that there's anything wrong w/ it.) we missed being socialized to the bullshit of this horrid society (indeed, entire world) of shit, pain & suffering we were brought into w/o anyone even asking us, so we completely understand Pv't. Manning's attitude.
2. Perhaps, rather than blaming someone's sexual orientation, Assrocket Hinderaker might look at the way people are treated by their society, & its attitude toward them for something in which they had no choice.  (Blame should be ascribed to the 'phobes, not the 'mos, is what we mean.)

Here (so you needn't supplement his income as a tool of legal repression) is Dartmouth grad (What's w/ that place, anyway?) Heinie's take on Pv't. Manning (Our emphasis & editorial snark.):

First, Private Manning is openly homosexual. [Cooties! Homo cooties!! Cover your crotches, real men!!!] Did you know that? I didn't; if the fact has been reported in the American press, I've missed it. Moreover, Manning was an activist who demonstrated against Congress's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. His Facebook includes a photo of him at a gay rights rally, holding a sign demanding equality on "the battlefield." Further, he has posted anti-military comments on his Facebook page. An uncle describes him as "an introverted kid who loved computers and was fired up politically." That tantalizing reference is left hanging. Whether he was fired up about something other than gay rights remains unknown, for the moment.

Imagine being fired up about anything besides the injustices of "income taxes, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, welfare" & shit. What a fucking loser.

The source of Assrocket's above bullshit would seem to be this in the Torygraph. ("Torygraph" brought to our attention by Smut Clyde of the Antipodes, where/what/ever the hell they are/is.)

Almost forgot this:

These are facts that would no doubt be of interest to American readers, yet, as so often happens, our reporters and editors appear to be engaged in a policy of collective discretion. Imagine, though, if Manning had been a tea partier, if he had been photographed holding an anti-government sign at a tea party rally, and if friends described him as being "fired up" about conservative politics. Do you think those facts would be prominently featured in the media narrative about the leaks?

Imagine, our ass. No one can possibly believe that anyone who was "'fired up' about conservative politics" would leak anything but deceptively edited (& not further investigated) videotape in an effort to smear someone. Breathes there a conservative anywhere opposed to acts of organized military (& other) violence against those who do not subscribe to their reactionary ideology?

Second "almost forgot:" Tip o' the chapeau to Milou & master's Tweet:

Assrocket pissed that MSM won't say WikiLeaks source is an anchor-baby fag, which, of course, explains the leak.

What The Fuck-Tuck-Tucking Hell Is Wrong W/ Your Awful Species?*

Not just in Israel. Limeys, too, are now looking to fuck w/ Gypsies & Irish Travellers.

Dozens of families face the prospect of being pushed off plots of land they own and forced to move back into illegal "side-of-the road" and wasteland camping. Children will be unable to go to school and the elderly and infirm unable to access health services, say the campaigners.

Eric Pickles, the communities and local government minister, is drafting new laws to allow police more powers to evict and arrest people for trespass on public land. Planning laws are also being changed to stop applications for retrospective permission to put caravans on private land.

Property rights? Don't mean shit if you don't have armed fascist bullies (The police, if we haven't made that abundantly clear.) to defend those can-be-eliminated-at-any-moment rights, do they? Why is it even called "public land" if the fucking public can't use it?

"Gypsies are being squeezed on all sides in this wave of intolerance and racism which is unlike anything I've ever seen before," said Gratton Puxon, 69, a founder member of the Gypsy Council.

There are around 18,000 Gypsy and Traveller caravans in England, with 80% of them on authorised sites, land they own or rent. The numbers on illegal sites is so small, according to the government's own reports, that they could all be accommodated on one square mile.

If only the pathetic willingness of humanoids to scapegoat could, just this once, be applied to the wealthy & powerful, that is, the actually evil among us? Just once? Or maybe six or seven billion times, if that isn't too much to hope?

The clampdown comes against a background of rising attacks against Roma people in Europe which has led to a demand for the EU to tackle what some are calling an attempted "ethnic cleansing" of travelling people. France has intensified its crackdown on Gypsies, announcing that 300 sites would be closed down in the next three months and any Gypsies found breaking the law would be deported. In 2008 the Italian government declared its Roma population was a national security risk, while in 2009 more than 100 Romanian Gypsies were attacked with bricks and bottles in Ireland and driven from their homes.

We haven't been following the latest Tory experiment in destroying the social fabric"imposing austerity" too closely, but the reference below to the elimination of regional assemblies may be indicative of just what's up.

In Essex, where the statutory requirement for the provision of sites to accommodate 104 travelling people has now gone with the abolition of the regional planning assemblies, Basildon council issued an eviction notice last week on eight families living on their own land at one site. It is also embroiled in a court battle to evict a further 70 families from a site at Dale Farm, on the outskirts of the town. At the former scrapyard, bought by Irish Travellers 10 years ago and slowly transformed into a caravan park, families have been buying tents in preparation for their eviction. The camp's 50 or so children have no idea whether they will return to their primary school after the summer holidays.

We anxiously await calls for "PROPERTY RIGHTS!!!" from all those for whom property "rights" trump simple humanity & decency. [Checks time again. Waits several beats. Checks again. Waits. Sighs, gives up, goes looking for a weapon.]

---

*We've come to the conclusion that, as we are not fascist asshole jerks (our recent non-stop calls for revolution & murder notwithstanding) it is highly unlikely that we are Homo sapiens sapiens, but just might be a decent & humane mutation thereof. (Despite all the unprotected sex, we've only come close to reproducing once, & it didn't take. Can't even produce sterile human mules w/ you hideous creatures.)

Pogrom Up-Date

More on the destruction of al-Akrib, from Max Blumenthal. We, too, were appalled by this:

One of the most troubling aspects of the destruction of al-Arakib was a report by CNN that the hundreds of Israeli riot police who stormed the village were accompanied by “busloads of cheering civilians.” Who were these civilians and why didn’t CNN or any outlet investigate further?

Here's a surprise. It's even more appalling.

Arab Negev News publisher Ata Abu Madyam supplied me with a series of photos he took of the civilians in action. They depicted Israeli high school students who appeared to have volunteered as members of the Israeli police civilian guard (I am working on identifying some participants by name). Prior to the demolitions, the student volunteers were sent into the villagers’ homes to extract their furniture and belongings. A number of villagers including Madyam told me the volunteers smashed windows and mirrors in their homes and defaced family photographs with crude drawings. Then they lounged around on the furniture of al-Arakib residents in plain site of the owners. Finally, according to Matyam, the volunteers celebrated while bulldozers destroyed the homes.

“What we learned from the summer camp of destruction,” Madyam remarked, “is that Israeli youth are not being educated on democracy, they are being raised on racism.” (The cover of the latest issue of Madyam’s Arab Negev News features a photo of Palestinians being expelled to Jordan in 1948 juxtaposed with a photo of a family fleeing al-Arakib last week. The headline reads, “Nakba 2010.”)

Conclusion:

The spectacle of Israeli youth helping destroy al-Arakib helps explain why 56% of Jewish Israeli high school students do not believe Arabs should be allowed to serve in the Knesset – why the next generation wants apartheid. Indeed, the widespread indoctrination of Israeli youth by the military apparatus is a central factor in Israel’s authoritarian trend. It would be difficult for any adolescent boy to escape from an experience like al-Arakib, where adults in heroic warrior garb encourage him to participate in and gloat over acts of massive destruction, with any semblance of democratic values.

As for the present condition of Israeli democracy, it is essential to consider the way in which the state pits its own citizens against one another, enlisting the Jewish majority as conquerers while targeting the Arab others as, in the words of Zionist founding father Chaim Weizmann, “obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path.” Historically, only failing states have allowed such a corrosive dynamic to take hold. Thus the scenes from al-Arakib, from the demolished homes to the uprooted gardens to the grinning teens who joined the mayhem, can be viewed as much more than the destruction of a village. They are snapshots of the phenomenon that is laying Israeli society as a whole to waste.

None dare call it fascism.

That About Which We Could Not Possibly Care Any Fucking Less

Royal Wedding. Though we don't blame Ms. Clinton for all the attention focused on her. We do blame her for being a hedge-fund employee though, for which she will soon enough have to account before a Revolutionary Tribunal. Enjoy the honeymoon, centrist corporatist capitalist sow, 'cause it won't last forever.

American Xians: Not As Moral As Muslims, Says Minn. Hate Group

One collection of assholes (to put it mildly) appears responsible for both the TARGET/Best Buy mess in Minn. (See below somewhere, linking is a pain!) & Anne Rice getting huffy about Jesus freaks: You Can Run But You Can't Hide.

Long a cause célèbre for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has twice lent her name to the group’s fundraising efforts, You Can Run (YCR) had a booth at the GOP convention in April, and the group’s frontman, Bradlee Dean, reports that gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer recently accepted an invitation to visit with him at Dean’s home. But recent controversial statements by Dean — that Muslim countries calling for the execution of gays and lesbians are “more moral than even the American Christians” — have drawn the ire of some both within and outside the party.

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”

“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”

“The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”

Goodness.

Tom Emmer with YCR's Jake McMillian (right) at the GOP convention, via Facebook

Those w/ functioning CCDs (Closet Case Detectors) are invited to direct them toward YCR's Jake McMillian (right). And toward this Axl Rose wanna-be as well.

The day after the GOP convention, Dean and radio co-host Jake McMillian spoke on-air about attending the event and their relationship with Emmer (mp3), stating that party chair Tony Sutton wanted them at the convention to attract a younger demographic to the party.

“We were at the GOP, the GOP saw what we do and they identified with it,” McMillian said. “Even when I was sitting down with Tony Sutton and just going over what we do as a ministry, I said to him, ‘Do you know any other groups that are reaching the demographic we are reaching with the message that we are?’ And, of course, it was blink-blink, ‘No, I don’t, so I want you guys a part of this convention with us.’”

He added, “And then they invited and they gave us a free table. Amen.”

The GOP "identifies" w/ this? Huh? Read it all, we can't be troubled to point out every bit of irrationality & homophobia. We might just call for a fatwa on their closeted keisters.

Red Channels

Local comsymps & progressives are reminded that Democracy Now, tee vee version, is available at 2300, M, Tu, Th & F, on KLCS-TV, channel 58.1. Consult your local cable co. for the channel number they've shoved it to. (15, in our TWC universe.)

KLCS is the Los Angeles Unified School District's station. Hope no reactionaries notice; one can imagine the  "commie infiltration" whining: "Democracy? What kind of idea is that to be teaching our kids?" To which we reply, "Why are people teaching young goats?"

Feudalism Cracks Some Of You Up

Some tee vee writin' limousine liberal hack reads the same shite we do. Of course, because he's a fucking tool of the consent-manufacturing industry, he thinks it's ha-ha funny.

His kind will not be spared either.

Frog Pogrom

Text.

(Looks as if the cretinous fuckwads of CNN are unable to make their embeds work. Click "text" if you want to see the grimness.)

Wrapped in The Flag, Carrying A Cross & A "Warrior Ethos"

Can't be arsed (ever, for anything, really) but we've at least a vague memory of having bitched about this "warrior" garbage that's been going on the last few yrs. A stark example:

Here's an excerpt from the new Airman's Creed (2007):

"I am an American Airman.
I am a Warrior.
I have answered my nation's call.

I am an American Airman.
My mission is to fly, fight, and win.
I am faithful to a proud heritage,
a tradition of honor,
and a legacy of valor."

The Army's Soldier's Creed (2003) makes the same point about the need to be a warrior first and foremost.

Just how much "honor" & "valor" is there in bombing civilians from 30,000 ft., or in playing a video game that involves actual meatspace death & destruction of wedding parties & the like, or "collateral damage?"

A retired USAF LTC agrees w/ us, & has a bit of history to back it.

The historian (and retired citizen-airman) in me says "no," and I'm supported in this by a surprising source: An American army pamphlet from World War II with the title "How the Jap Army Fights." After praising the Japanese for their toughness and endurance, the pamphlet, citing a study by Robert Leurquin, makes the following point:

"The Japanese is more of a warrior than a military man, and therein lies his weakness. The difference may be a subtle one, but it does exist: The essential quality of the warrior is bravery; that of the military man, discipline."

In 1942, our army cited the "warring passion" of the Japanese as a weakness, one that inhibited their mastery of "the craft of arms." Yet today, our army and air force extol the virtues of being a "warrior" to young recruits.

Today's cult of the warrior, as represented by these new "creeds," may seem cosmetic, but it cuts to the core of our military's self-image. That most Americans have no knowledge of it speaks volumes about the ongoing militarization of our language and even of our country.

After nearly a decade of war, we don't need more "warrior ethos." What we need are disciplined citizen-airmen and citizen-soldiers who know their craft, but who also know better than to revel in a warrior identity. We knew this in 1942; how did we come to forget it?

Oh, we'd assume pants-pissing-&-pooping cowards who've decided that the best way to defeat "America's enemies" is to become just like those enemies. Not unlike our honorable & valorous warriors developing interrogation techniques from the field manual advising Korean "police action"-era service members how to resist dirty Commie interrogation techniques. In other words, we now use North Korean/ChiCom torture methods. How much more honorable & valorous can a warrior get?

(Makes us want to start a little war ourself, if you know what we mean. Wonder if the recruiting station at Sunset & La Brea is still there? Not for long, as we like to say.)

卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐

Title reference (Or not, whaddya know?) & vaguely related musical interlude:

24 Hrs. Later ...

... Former Prison Camp Guard Jeffrey Goldberg still seems to believe that John Podhoretz edits Mother Jones.

Really, what the hell goes on (or doesn't go on) at The Atlantic?

Constitutionality

We're waiting for Arizona Gov. Jan ("Hair Color That Doesn't Appear In Nature In Humans Over Five Yrs. Old") Brewer, of the tuck & rolled eyesockets, to send the Arizona National Guard to invade Iran "because the Obama admin. isn't doing enough to protect us from the Sharia menace."

Culture Of Death

Besides our national Death Cult (Christianism) awful Americans fetishizing dead people & making a big fucking deal over the eventual disposition of the lifeless corpses of those they send to murder in their names (& die, too) make us nauseous.

What fucking difference could it possibly make whether Junior is actually under the headstone that bears his/her name, rank, service branch & the date they were murdered by/for their government? Huh?

Put the dead fucking bodies to use; grind them up for fertilizer. Strike a blow for life, morbid assholes!

(If these "brave & noble" young people are so fucking important to you armchair generals, why do you make murderers of them & send them to die?)

Note: Plenty of people who've passed through our empty, meaningless life are deader than fucking doorknobs. Never been to visit one of their damn graves. (Funerals excepted.) And our late (But not late enough, damnit!) mother left her wretched body to science, if you can call the UCLA cadaver program science.

Theft Is Morality

Looks as if the only way to acquire material objects w/o condemning one's immortal soul to an eternity in hell is using the five-finger discount.

Or at least not buying anything from corporate entities headquartered in Minnesota.

F*ck Censorship

Goldman Sachs Bans Swearing in E-Mails 
The new communications policy comes after an April Senate hearing in which the company was embarrassed by repeated references to an e-mail that contained profane language.
Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Thursday, July 29, 2010

If Anyone Out There Has A Plane They Don't Need ...

... this would be the perfect place to fill it w/ high-explosives & drop it on the heads of a large collection of reactionary pigs.

Let's have a "7/30" that will do more good than "9/11" did!

America Bends Over & Takes It (Again)

Economic security, Yankee-style:

The sharp rise in economic insecurity documented by the Rockefeller Foundation study is the outcome of a three-decade-long offensive by the American ruling class against the jobs, wages and living standards of the working class. This assault has only intensified since the eruption of the financial crisis in September 2008, which ushered in the worst recession since the 1930s. Under Obama, the drive to offload the crisis onto the working class has been stepped up, in the form of wage cuts, speedup and savage cuts in social spending at the state and local level.

The Obama administration extended the Wall Street bailout launched under Bush. It then signaled the intention of the ruling class to use mass unemployment to permanently lower the wages and conditions of American workers toward those of impoverished workers in Asia when its Auto Task Force drove General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy last year. This was done to impose new plant closures and layoffs and slash the wages of newly hired auto workers to half the previous level.

Next came the so-called health care “reform,” which will lower health costs for businesses and the government by rationing care and reducing benefits for tens of millions of workers and retirees. Since the passage of the health care overhaul, the administration has abandoned any economic stimulus measures in order to focus on slashing the budget deficit by attacking basic social programs upon which millions of working people rely.

The result of these policies is a record rise in corporate profits, based almost entirely on the reduction in labor costs through layoffs, wage and benefit cuts, and speedup. In many cases, companies have reported sharply higher profits, even though their sales and revenues have declined.

In an article headlined “Industries Find Surging Profits in Deeper Cuts,” the July 26 New York Times reported that US corporate profits jumped by 40 percent between late 2008 and the first quarter of 2010. It noted that by next year, analysts expect profit margins to reach 8.9 percent, a record high.

The Times wrote that among the S&P 500 companies that have reported their second-quarter results, 175 in all, more than one in ten had higher profits on lower sales, nearly twice the number in a typical quarter before the current recession. Among the firms that have reported earnings for the second quarter, revenues rose 6.9 percent on average while profits surged 42.3 percent.

Next suit-wearing pig we see is going to be on the receiving end of one fuck-tuck-tucking hell of a lot of existential agony.

Has Not/Did Not Work For Us

Drinking Alcohol Regularly Cuts Risk of Arthritis, Study Finds

How are "scientists" allowed to get away w/ such bald-faced lies? The booze industry?

Intellectual Property Is Theft

Appeared in our reader. We didn't give a shit until we read this crap:
This feature may not be reproduced or distributed electronically, in print or otherwise without the written permission of uclick and Universal Press Syndicate

Come here & stop us, or shut your fucking keyboard, tough guys.

Pogrom In The Desert

We aren't anti-Semitic, but we become more & more anti-Israel every day.Read here. Via.

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, al-Araqib villagers have been fighting for recognition in the courts. Ranaan told The Electronic Intifada that in the early 1950s, after they were forcefully expelled from their land by Israeli forces, villagers were fined for “trespassing” in their own homes by the Israeli government. Israel has refused to acknowledge al-Araqib villagers’ land deeds and receipts of land taxes paid to the Ottoman authorities well before Israel’s establishment.

“As we speak, the fate of al-Araqib hasn’t been decided in a court,” Ranaan said. “Despite this, Israel came and demolished the homes. Israel is not just changing the facts on the ground, it’s erasing them.”

Most disgusting aspect:

Eyewitness reports say the police were accompanied by several busloads of right-wing Israeli civilians who cheered during the demolitions.

Sickening. Fucking lynch mob, except too chickenshit to do it themselves. Someone get some guns to the Palestinians, already. Oy.

TARGET Up-Date: Putting One's Money Where One's Mouth Is

Tip of the Bouffant chapeau to Lesley, commenting & linking chez Sadly, No!

Retarded Republican Runs

Not to offend anyone, but is this Republican just a bit "slower" than even most Rs?

Closeted HitlerJugend Pope In Pictures

We must admit she looks better than usual here, w/ those bags under her eyes hidden.

See the other 14, un-enhanced.

Via The Daily Dish.

Open Letter To West Hollywood

Burn the WeHo Target (Santa Monica & La Brea) to the ground. Now!! And we're very sorry for all the crap we've bought there. (Our only rationalization: Target is "hipper" than K-Mart. Never been to a Mall★Wart, there are none near us.)

As Target plans new stores throughout the Los Angeles area, they've come upon controversy and it's not about city planning. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows companies to make campaign contributions, the hipper alternative to Wal-Mart recently made a direct $150,000 donation to a Minnesota Political Action Committee backing the state's Republican Gubernatorial Candidate.

"So, to follow the money," Matt Baume writes at SFist, "Target gave $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, which bought TV ads for [Gubernatorial Republican candidate] Tom Emmer, who says "I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman," and who hangs out with a guy [Christian Rocker Bradlee Dean] who thinks killing gays is moral."

The Target Corporation says their support of the LGBT community is "unwavering" and that the donation was to support the company's business objects of job creation and growth.

Prior to the SCOTUS (We feel so clever typing "SCOTUS.") decision, we knew that the head-asshole-in-charge of Target gave plenty of money to reactionary candidates & causes. What do Target stockholders think about "their" money being given to shit like this?

Actual Equivalence

"Rights" Are For Whites

Here's a talking point:

Writing letters, however, is small potatoes for the commission. The commission's biggest yearly project is the annual enforcement report. The Panthers investigation comprises the entirety of this year's enforcement report.

Last year, it was a 250-page report on civil rights and the mortgage crisis.

They're certainly doing their job. Can't see any reason to fire* any of them on such weak evidence.

They got rights too!
*By which we mean lynch, obviously.

Nothing Good On Tee Vee Anyway

Went to sleep about 0100, managed to stay sacked out until 1230, though we'd planned on getting up 0900-ish.

Still cranky, irritable, & as ready as not to commit murder, however.

VIDEO UPDATE (in case you morons don't get it):Fuck, forgot what a rocking number that is: Turn it the hell up, & if your boss Hitler bitches, tell him/her to go fuck her/his mother w/ a splintery broomstick!!!!

Jesus Loves The Suffering Little Children's Branded Arms

The family of a boy who said his eighth-grade teacher burned a cross on his arm and taught Christian doctrine in the classroom has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit against the teacher.

Attorneys representing teacher John Freshwater's insurance carrier and the family of Zachary Dennis have chosen not to release details of the settlement agreement, said Scott Miller, court deputy.

From The Columbus Dispatch

Joe Klein Thinks He Is A Big Deal

If Newt actually believe what he claims to--that the American way is superior--he'd be in favor of placing the mosque near Ground Zero, as a demonstration of American freedom and tolerance. But he's running for President and so he has to pander to the yahoos. I'm afraid we'll be seeing this sort of un-American intolerance from more than a few of the Republican candidates as the presidential campaign fires up; I'll be on the lookout for those who have the courage to stand up for true American principles on issues like this one.

Need any help carrying that cross, Joe?
From Luce's rag.

Capitalist "Creates" Wealth For Sluts/Angels/Whores

Read all the juicy stuff too.

It’s unknown whether or where Redstone’s relationship with Singh falls on that spectrum, but in both this instance and with The Electric Barbarellas, Redstone is seemingly using his status as the chairman of not one, but two publicly traded companies (CBS and Viacom) to advance his personal interests.

In doing so, he is negatively impacting shareholders in both of those companies. In a research report last week, for instance, Wunderlich Securities wrote that it discounts Viacom’s stock by 10 percent simply because the erratic Redstone remains in command. Put another way, if Redstone were to be removed from Viacom, the securities firm says that its share price would gain 10 percent immediately. That’s more than $3 per share based on Viacom’s closing stock price of $32.87 yesterday, or $1.8 billion in total market value. CBS, presumably, suffers from a similar discount.

We suppose Megan McArdle is OK w/ this, because Sumner Redstone is a titan of job-creating industry.

Further Feudalism

From the local suck-up-to-the-wealthy rag:

Perhaps sensing a similar shift, the parks themselves are moving ahead with new offerings aimed at the upper crust. After several years of planning and site preparation, last month Walt Disney World Resort began presales of homes inside its exclusive Golden Oak residential development, where multistory mansions will be priced as high as $8 million each. SeaWorld Parks Entertainment, meanwhile, is expanding Discovery Cove, its limited-admission boutique park where swim-with-dolphin packages start at $199 a person.

Abe Pizam, dean of the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said one explanation could be that rich travelers are beginning to feel more comfortable displaying their wealth now that the worst has passed of a brutal global recession in which extravagant spending would have been considered shameful.

"I think these people didn't spend a lot before not because they couldn't afford to, but because it was not socially acceptable," Pizam said. "Now it is not so shameful as it was."

Oh, good, we were worried that they'd be embarrassed or something. This is right in line w/ this item.

Off The Radar

Sad-ass jag-offs Internet-wide seem to give a shit about a video game available today. A clue for them: Compulsive masturbation is still better for you, mentally & physically, than "gaming."

How many hrs. left downloading before you & your little friends can get the on-line circle-jerk going?

File under: Boring, Stupid, Boring & Stupid, People More Fucked In The Head Than We Are.

So Much For Mickey

If you've been worried about the fates of Mickey Kaus & David Wiegel, you should get some help for your psychiatric problems.

On the other hand, schadenfreude!

After getting fired from the Washington Post following a coordinated smear campaign by the trashier elements of the right-wing media, libertarian journalist David Weigel has been hired by ... the Washington Post Company's Slate. Weigel will launch a politics blog. (Mickey Kaus, meanwhile, is still blogging at the website of his failed Senate campaign. Which is still soliciting donations.)

Americans Made Redundant

"We The People." You, the suckers.

Welcome to Feudal America. Now get out.

More Local Nost

Pretty much beyond concern or interest in anything, but what the hell, right?

"Be quiet or be killed"

We generally prefer pop music w/ guitars, but these guys weren't bad.The Guardian piece neglects to mention that Tomata's been dead for 10 yrs.

Raider In Peace

Oakland Raider Jack "The Assassin" Tatum, dead of a heart attack at 61.

This Jan. 9, 1977 file photo shows Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sammy White losing his helmet as two Oakland Raiders hit him in the Super Bowl XI game at Pasadena, Calif. Raiders are, defensive backs Jack Tatum (32) and Skip Thomas. Tatum, the All-Pro safety for the Oakland Raiders best known for his hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in an NFL preseason game in 1978, has died. He was 61. Nicknamed "The Assassin," Tatum died of a heart attack Tuesday July 27, 2010 in Oakland, according to friend and former Ohio State teammate John Hicks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jack Tatum, the Pro Bowl safety for the Oakland Raiders best known for his crushing hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in an NFL preseason game in 1978, has died. He was 61.

Nicknamed “The Assassin,” Tatum, died of a heart attack Tuesday in an Oakland hospital, according to friend and former Ohio State teammate John Hicks. Hicks said Tatum had diabetes the last several years, and lost his left leg because of circulation problems.

On Aug. 12, 1978, in an exhibition game against the New England Patriots, the hard-hitting Tatum slammed into Stingley with his helmet while the receiver was running a crossing pattern. The blow severed Stingley’s fourth and fifth veterbrae and left the receiver paralyzed from the neck down.

The two never met after the hit. Stingley died in 2007.

Tatum was not penalized on the play and the NFL took no disciplinary action, but it did tighten its rules on violent hits.

Despite Tatum’s failure to show remorse, Hicks said Tatum was haunted by the play.

“It was tough on him, too,” Hicks said. “He wasn’t the same person after that. For years he was almost a recluse.”

Tatum had said he tried to visit Stingley at an Oakland hospital shortly after the collision but was turned away by Stingley’s family members.

“It’s not so much that Darryl doesn’t want to, but it’s the people around him,” Tatum told the Oakland Tribune in 2004. “So we haven’t been able to get through that. Every time we plan something, it gets messed up. Getting to him or him getting back to me, it never happens.”

Part of the alienation came after Tatum wrote the 1980 book, “They Call Me Assassin,” in which he was unapologetic for his headhunting ways.

In a statement, the Raiders said, “Jack was a true Raider champion and a true Raider warrior. … Jack was the standard bearer and an inspiration for the position of safety throughout college and professional football.”

After starring for Ohio State under coach Woody Hayes, Tatum was drafted in the first round by the Raiders in 1971. In nine seasons with the Raiders, Tatum started 106 of 120 games with 30 interceptions and helped Oakland win the 1976 Super Bowl. He played his final season with the Houston Oilers in 1980.

Tatum also wrote books titled “They Still Call Me Assassin: Here We Go Again” in 1989 and “Final Confessions of an NFL Assassin” in 1996.

In the latter he wrote, “I was paid to hit, the harder the better. And I hit, and I knocked people down and knocked people out. … I understand why Darryl is considered the victim. But I’ll never understand why some people look at me as the villain.”

Tatum was a central figure in “The Immaculate Reception” in the Raiders’ 1972 playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. With 22 seconds left, Tatum jarred loose a pass to Frenchy Fuqua from Terry Bradshaw, and the ball bounced off Fuqua’s foot and ricocheted into the arms of Steelers running back Franco Harris. Harris never broke stride and ran 42 yards for the winning touchdown.

Despite their lingering resentment, Stingley was gracious in 2003 when he learned that Tatum had diabetes and several toes amputated.

“You can’t, as a human being, feel happy about something like that happening to another human being,” Stingley told The Boston Globe.

Tatum began a charitable group to help kids with diabetes and helped raise more than $1.4 million to fight the disease in the Columbus area.

Tatum grew up in New Jersey and had little interest in organized sports until high school. He grew to love football and was offered a scholarship to Ohio State.

Recruited as a running back, Tatum would sneak over to the defensive side to play linebacker. In time, the Ohio State coaches — particularly secondary coach Lou Holtz — recognized that Tatum was a natural on defense.

Tatum was a part of the “super sophs” class that led Ohio State to an unbeaten season and the national championship in 1968. He stole the headlines in the Buckeyes’ showdown with No. 1 Purdue early in the season, shadowing All-American running back Leroy Keyes in Ohio State’s 13-0 upset of the Boilermakers.

In his three years as a starter, Tatum’s teams went 27-2 and won two Big Ten titles.

Each week after an Ohio State game, the coaching staff awards the “Jack Tatum hit of the week” award for the hardest tackle or block by a Buckeye.

“We have lost one of our greatest Buckeyes,” current Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said in a statement. “When you think of Ohio State defense, the first name that comes to mind is Jack Tatum. His loss touches every era of Ohio State players and fans.”

Raiders safety Michael Huff sent a message on Twitter after learning of Tatum’s death: “R.I.P. Jack Tatum the assassin. One of the best safetys to ever play this game, his legacy will live forever.”
___

AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in Oakland contributed to this report.

Our hope & inspiration here is that we, too, will be able to paralyze some SOB before we die.

Good News From The New York Times

The ultimate goal of climate legislation — be it the bill that the House passed last year or the bill that died in the Senate last week — is to align the incentives better, so human ingenuity can be harnessed to fight global warming. The bills would increase the cost of emitting carbon, thereby giving companies reason to emit less. Absent that, the best bet seems to be that emissions will keep rising and the planet will keep getting hotter.

That cheers us up, & gives us reason to continue existing, in the hope we'll still have the strength to drown some of them in the rising waters. Fuck you, short-sighted ignoramuses!

Vatican Still Ruining Children's Lives

On the radio:

The latest is that a court-ordered study in Italy has warned of “important risks” of dying of cancer for people who had resided at least 10 years within a nine-kilometre (5.5-mile) radius of the radio station’s antenna towers near Cesano, about 12 miles north of Rome. A Rome judge ordered the report in 2005 as part of an investigation into a complaint filed in 2001 by Cesano residents who alleged health hazards posed by the electromagnetic waves.

“There has been an important, coherent and meaningful correlation between exposure to Vatican Radio’s structures and the risk of leukaemia and lymphoma in children,” the report said, according to the daily La Stampa. The charges are so serious that there’s talk of indicting some Vatican Radio officials on charges of manslaughter.

Well, that's a start.

Gun Porn

Looks like Bow-Tie Daddy is moving to make The Daily Caller a somewhat more specialized read.

Don't forget the lube, gay-ass gun-lovers!

Comes in a "Squesze Bootle." Who lets these fucking retards have guns??

Tenn. Tea 'Tard Talks

"Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it," Ramsey said. "Now certainly we do protect our religions, but at the same time this is something we are going to have to face."

Republican brain trust at work.

Out Of Touch W/ Mainstream America

America’s Best Deer Cartridge

By Bob Robb - American Hunter | Published: 12:19 PM 07/26/2010

If you want to fire up the team in deer camp this fall, start a discussion about religion, politics—or deer cartridges. In all three, everyone has an opinion, and none of them are wrong.

For the sake of discussion, assume you are just starting out and need to select that first deer rifle. The first question you have to ask is, what caliber should it be chambered in? Before we can answer that question, it must be determined what it is you expect that cartridge to do for you.

Naturally, the key when making your final choice will revolve around where you live and hunt most. Those who hunt mostly in thick forested areas have different needs from those who hunt the wide open spaces of the West. Before we move into a discussion of which cartridge is the very best all-around choice, let’s talk about unrealistic expectations and debunk a couple of old wive’s tales.

Full story: America’s Best Deer Cartridge

How many Americans will be in "deer camp" this fall? Not very many. Most Americans (Tucker Carlson included; can you imagine the little sissy w/ a weapon?) will be in cities & suburbs, not getting drunk & waving their shrunken manhood (& still big GUNS) about at homo-erotic campsites.

Did They Now?

Censure The Confederates

Got a big ha-ha from Zack Wamp (R-Antebellum) & his call to vote or "separate."

If not the sedition laws, at least Wuss-o-crats could censure this reactionary buffoon.

The Constitution, Article VI:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.

Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN):

I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 so that states are not forced to consider separation from this government... Patriots like Rick Perry have talked about these issues because the federal government is putting us in an untenable position at the state level.

Fine Christian gentleman that he is, no doubt Wamp swore his oath to defend the Constitution "so help me God," with one hand on the Bible and the other raised to Heaven. By breaking an oath sworn in such terms, he has violated the Third Commandment (the Second, if you're Catholic): "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

But let's leave Wamp's perjury and blasphemy to his own conscience (if any) and concentrate on his political apostasy. Wamp, and Perry, and much of the Tea Party wing of the GOP with them, have chosen to stand with Calhoun and Jefferson Davis on the side of nullification and secession. How anyone, having done so, could then have the effrontery to appear at a Lincoln Day dinner is beyond my poor powers of comprehension.

If the Republicans found time on the Congressional schedule to denounce MoveOn over the "General Betray-Us" ad, surely the Democrats could find time to censure Zach Wamp -- who, unlike MoveOn, is subject to Congressional discipline -- for violating his oath of office. If all the other Republicans want to vote in favor of sedition, bring it on.

This does not require the consent of the leadership. A resolution of censure, as an exercise of one of the privileges of the House, is a privileged motion. Can we find someone to offer it?

Bringing this about would be worth writing or otherwise harassing your elected representative.

Same Shit, Different Headline

Huffington Post

Tucker Carlson

Pentagon Papers, Vol. II

Secret Archive Gives Grim View of Afghan War

A six-year archive of classified military documents to be made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal.

The secret documents, to be released by an organization called WikiLeaks, are a daily diary of an American-led force often starved for resources and attention as it struggled against an insurgency that grew larger, better coordinated and more deadly each year.
Read More:

Night Of The Lepus

They don't draw them like this anymore.

Read it all.

Digging AC's outfit: A Teabagger w/ the head of the male lead in a '30s/'40s stag film. (Historical research. For a friend.)

Monster Chiller Horror Theatre

Hot off the electrons from BTC News:

Regarding Cheney:

The pump runs something like a drill bit, continuously rotating at 9,000 rotations per minute rather than squeezing and releasing, so Cheney now officially has no pulse, according to Dr. Stuart D. Russell, chief of heart failure and transplantation at Johns Hopkins’ Comprehensive Transplant Center.

But we knew that.

[Lurch-style "uhmmnnn" of disgust.] Literal hair crawling up the back of the neck there.

We suspect the Cheneys are proud of this.

Ending it all: the threat to the entire universe

It has been called "the ultimate ecological catastrophe", but even these strong words fail to convey the true horror and finality of a grim kind of natural disaster known to physicists as "vacuum decay".

Forget pandemic viruses that wipe out humanity, asteroid strikes that devastate life on Earth and even black holes that devour the planet. Vacuum decay leaves the entire universe not only lifeless, but without any hope of life for ever more.

Vacuum decay, which is happily only a theoretical prospect, occurs when part of the universe is knocked into a more stable state than it exists in today. This creates a bubble of "true vacuum" that expands at the speed of light. As the bubble grows, it reduces the energy locked up in the vacuum of space and rewrites the laws of nature.

In 1980, the late Harvard physicist Sidney Coleman published calculations that showed for the first time that vacuum decay was eternally terminal. He wrote: "One could always draw stoic comfort from the possibility that perhaps in the course of time the new vacuum would sustain, if not life as we know it, at least some structures capable of knowing joy. This possibility has now been eliminated."

Theory. So enticing, so disappointing.

Central Intelligence Agency Culinary Institute Of America California Institute Of The Arts

There used to be more active culture in yoghurt than in all of Los Angeles. (Runs 15:00, time shown notwithstanding.)NB: The scene imagined at 13:00 is fantasy. The County Hollywood Museum remains chatter, 46 yrs. on, & the CalArts campus was built in the hellhole of Valencia, miles to the north of the Hollywood hilltop campus drawn here. At least the Bowl hasn't been demolished.

Thinking About The Subway

We were once told by a successful "underground" FM disc jockey that one should never play an original & cover back-to-back. We're throwing those rules out the window. Stand clear!

Hornet Down

"Lethridge?" Silly AP.

Who Will Be Number Three?

We enjoyed Nixon Enemies Lister Schorr on NPR when the fascists made us go to work early Sunday mornings.Obviously next (If she's not meat already.):

Death Panel at work?