Friday, September 26, 2008

Salt and Sound Waves

This is WICKED COOL! Be sure to turn the volume WAY down or off, though.



I need to research the science behind this.

JUMP!

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2008/09/Jump-You-Fers.jpg

What's McCain's next hail Mary stunt?

My favorite from the list:

8. Suspends campaign until Nov. 4, offers to start being president right now.

Wall Street to GOP: Fuck you and the horses you rode in on!

It just doesn't get much better than this! This is from an e-mail sent by a money manager to James Pethokoukis at US News:

I am a lifelong ( 51 years old) "rock-ribbed" conservative.... What an eye opener this week has been! I now realize what a blowhard Newt truly is by advocating the GOP bail on the Paulson Plan. As a professional money manager I can tell you I am shocked, dismayed and depressed that the Speaker would excoriate the GOP to abandon this plan which is URGENT and necessary to avoid a financial catastrophe that once commenced may be irreversible. The level of ignorance of financial and economic reality displayed by the Speaker , Rep. Boehner, Sen. Shelby , et al, has been frightening and sad. I thought the GOP had a better grasp of such matters than the Dems. Apparently not. And if this has been pure election gamesmanship as I suspect? The willingness to play politics with the U.S. financial markets is appalling and disgusting.

I am a huge Reagan fan and admirer.I have voted GOP every election since 1976. Until now. Today. September 25, 2008. As soon as I finish this email I am going to try and get my $1000 McCain/Palin credit card donation back as I will not be voting GOP this year after watching this circus and the theatres passing as leadership displayed by the GOP. I am embarrassed to have been an erstwhile supporter of this gaggle of self-serving jerks. I hope the GOP lose their asses come November. They shall deserve it.


MoDo

Normally anything I would have to say about Maureen Dowd would be unacceptable to most people's ears, but this is actually funny. Granted, she didn't write it, which is why it's worth reading.

What about photos of Palin's daughter?

There's been a bit going on between Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic, and Howard "Novak" Kurtz at the Washington Post regarding the biological mother of Trig Palin. It started with Sullivan privately e-mailing McCain campaign blogger Michael Goldfarb to ask him if there was any truth to the rumors that Trig was her daughter's baby. Goldfarb then decided to send those private e-mails to Howie Kurtz, who pulled a Novak-style douchebag move and published them. Now that the McCain campaign has gone on the record on this issue, I think we can ask another fair question:

Are there any photos of Palin's daughter around that same period when Palin was 'pregnant with Trig'?

Friday Funny - Worse than the stock market

Who said [this]?

I'm fed up with it. Haven't seen anything like it in 25 years of public life. [My Opponent's] negative TV ads, distorting my record, full of lies and he knows it. I'm on the record for [That Thing] his ads say I'm against. I want to build [That Thing]. I'm sure he wants to build [That Thing]. So this isn't about [That Thing] issues. It's about dragging the truth into the gutter. And I'm not going to let them do it. This campaign is too important. The stakes are too high for every American family. The real question is, will we have a president who fights for the privileged few, or will we have a president who fights for you? [My Opponent] wants to give the wealthiest one percent of the people in this country a new tax break worth $30,000 a year. I'm fighting for you and your family, for affordable housing and health care, for better jobs, for the best education and opportunity for our children. It's a tough fight, I know that. Uphill all the way, but I'm going to keep on fighting because what I'm fighting for is our future.







Animal Farm Friday - Old Farts and Pigs

This goes out to the nasty old fart who killed his shot at the presidency by putting that lipstick-wearing pig out in front of his campaign instead of putting his country first. (Yeah, I went there. Palin is a pig, and I've got a massive laundry list of evidence to support that claim.)

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Mmmm... Patterns and Peppers

Nate Silver, the once infamous Kossack known as Pablano, is one of the best - if not THE BEST - of the aggregate pollsters. He's called them right more often than the other aggregates by far, so when he tosses love to individual pollsters that stand out above the rest, we should all pay attention.

Anyone who knows me probably knows that I'm far from being a math genius, but I get patterns. A useful metaphor to describe my mathematical perception is that I don't often see the trees, but I do see forests. I may not get the particulars of the equations, but I can see the patterns they form, and understand the concepts fairly well. Of course, the lack of understanding of the trees themselves tends to cast one's perceptions of the forests in doubt; if one knows the trees, one knows the forests even better. So yeah, I'm saying I can see this electoral forest, but I can't say I know it. I think I can say however, that Nate knows the trees damn well, so he also knows the forest damn well.

So, know this: stop believing your favorite polls and keep your attention focused on The Great Pablano!

Letterman Attacks McCain Day 2: "I Feel Like An Ugly Date" (VIDEO)


Judging by the sudden massive uptick in pro-McCain comments here at HuffPo and other Progressive outlets, I can only assume that the McSame campaign has expanded the duty roster of their hired Dutch and Russian writers to lurk and spam the comments the same way they write fake Letters to the Editors of newspapers.

Advice to the "locals" - see this for what it is. When you read a pro-McCain or Obama-hating comment, call it out as a phony "out-sourced" (as in, some foreign national practicing English by getting paid by the word) McCain supporter-for-hire. He's been doing it for a while, and here's proof:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/24/mccain_letters/

McCain has already proven to be willing to go so low; don't underestimate just how low he will ultimately go to win.
About David Letterman
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Boxer MAULS McKeating Five

This woman is awesome!!! DiFi and Pelosi could learn a thing or two from her!

Fuck off and die, Bill!

This guy has outlived his usefulness. He really IS a Republican masquerading as a Democrat.

Chris Rock nails it

Sad that the only honest commentary we can get these comes from comedians. But I guess that has always sort of been the case. We need another Lenny Bruce. We need George Carlin back. And Bill Hicks, too.

Stop the Barbarians

Say the opposite, say the opposite

As Ze Frank jingled back in 2006, we should know by now that whatever platform a Republiscum harps on about or champions, that they in fact really mean the exact opposite. A few cases in point:

Republicans say they are for small government, but under every single Republican leader since Ike, the government has grown - and it has outgrown Democratic governments.

  • In the 2000 elections, George W. Bush ran on a platform of "compassionate Conservatism." Does anyone remembering ever seeing any of that?
  • George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" - well, we know how that went.
  • George W. Bush said "we do not torture!" But waterboarding is torture. We waterboard. Therefore, we torture.
  • John McCain said he was going to run an honorable campaign just about the issues. Yet, we have seen almost nothing from McCain on the issues, but instead have seen only negative and dishonest personal attacks on Obama.
  • John McCain is using the campaign slogan "Country First" while every single action he's taken - most importantly with his choosing Sarah Palin as his VP - has shown that he is indeed putting "Campaign First" and no telling where he's putting the country.
  • John McCain said he was "suspending his capaign" to fly off to Wershington to save the economy, yet he still has attack ads running in local and national markets. More to the point, his surrogates are still making the rounds with the talking heads, attacking Obama. This morning, Nancy Puffinfucker, or whatever her name is, was on Fox attacking Obama, and then went to a live chat with the Wershington Times.

Just remember, whenever McCain or the Republiscums get all fired up about something and start chanting it from the tops of soap boxes, just try a little mental trick and find the exact opposite meaning of whatever it is they are championing, and run with that, because that is what they really mean.

This list of "say the opposites" with Republicans can go on for a bit. Feel free to add your own in the comments. Meanwhile, check out this blast from the past!


Like watching a train wreck in slow motion

Jeezus - this is more painful than I expected. Palin appears to be one of the most vapid politicians to hit the national stage since Dan Quayle. What's she been doing while she's been hiding away? If this is how a "quick study" performs after having lots of time to practice, America will be so incredibly fucked if she were to somehow find herself as president.

Warning: Watch this at your own risk.

McLiar even lied to Letterman

He lied to him with his own mouth, not through a surrogate or campaign aid. What a fucking coward.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Mitt?

Romney suspended his campaign. Now that McSame has suspended his, does Romney have a chance to un-thaw from cryogenic freeze his suspended campaign to fill the void? How cool would that be to see Obama debate Mittens? You'd need a drinking game for every time he says the word "liberal". Extra points for when he uses it as a noun or a verb.

McDonalds WTF?!?

Jeezus F-ing Christalmighty. This is just disturbing on a deep level. Pictured below are two McDonalds hamburgers, one bought recently, the other from 12 years ago. 12 years ago. Not preserved in any special way. Seriously. This cannot be considered food.



Read more here.

Getting the pigs to the trough

I've been a little reluctant to say much about the bailout issue, because there's almost no part of it that can be discussed without going into great length or detail, and I haven't had the time.

But I do have time to point out one certainty that should be glaringly obvious to anyone with a shred of common sense, and that is to say to Paulson, and say to the banks, "Here's our offer, on our terms. Take it or leave it."

Paulson claims that we can't "disincentive CEOs" by refusing them massive golden parachutes as part of the bailout. I say, "Fuck you, Paulson." If the CEOs don't want to accept our terms, they don't have to play. They can stay right where they are holding forth with their mountain of trash.

Bush and his cronies are crying wolf about the imminenet collapse of the economy with this deal. The truth is, no deal will stop the inevitable, if we are to assume that the 800 pound gorilla hiding in the bushes is actually a $45 trillion dollar monster, which by many accounts it is. $700 billion won't have much of an effect at reducing the $45 trillion dollar debt load of default credit swaps. That's like trying to empty a swimming pool with one dixie cup.

The bottom line of my position is that we should let some of these financial institutions completely collapse, and focus on saving a few of them, and do it on the terms that benefit the country, and not the banks or their shareholders. I'm talking about equity. Either we get it, or there's no deal. See how long it will take for the fat pigs to belly up to the trough. The fight over scraps would be the stuff of legend.

Read this.

Obama And Democrats Call McCain's Bluff


"

Another, however, lamented the fact that McCain could very well claim the ethical high-ground. "In general," said an aide. "I'd say we should have thought of it, but we did, then McCain [screwed] us."

"



I find it incredibly hilarious that anyone could think McKeating Five could ever claim the ethical high-ground on anything.
About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

How come he gets horsies?

KEATING FIVE: McCain was #1

McFraud and Lyin' Palin

I'm not surprised that the reptilian overlords running McCain's campaign would stoop so low as to hiring people to write phony letters supporting their campaign, but it doesn't piss me off any less. Oh, sure, McCain doesn't know anything about it. Yeah, right.

See some of the sample letters here.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Woman on Fire!

Cracked on Brainwashing


Hilarious! Cracked's 6 Brainwashing techniques being used on us right now. But here's the spoiler first.

















#1.

Titties










No, other than that.




I'm talking about...


















#1.

"Us vs. Them"









Holy shit. Here we go.




Sure, we know about the obvious examples, they're written across the
history books in blood and bullet holes. Racism, genocide, horrifying
caricatures on propaganda posters.







But They have figured out that the same technique that works so well
for getting people whipped into a murderous apocalyptic frenzy, can be
used sell you cars, or hamburgers, or computers.









Sounds like:




"The heart of America ain't in Hollywood! It's right here in [insert name of small town]!"




"You can listen to what I have to say, or bury you head in the sand with the rest of the sheeple!"




"You have a Nintendo Wii? Are you a toddler or just a retard?"




Why It Works:


Basically, we're hard-wired by evolution to form tribes.
The more stress we feel, the more we feel love and attachment to those
who look and sound the same as us, and the more we feel hatred to those
who don't. It's just an old survival mechanism, since the ancient guys
who didn't show that kind of blind loyalty were killed off by the
fierce tribes formed by the ones who did.




So today we get that petty dehumanization of everybody outside of our
group ("hippies," "rednecks," "fundies", "geeks", "douchebags", "libs",
"cons", "fags", "breeders", "infidels", "towel-heads", "honkies,"
"darkies", "players", "haters").







WEST SIDE SUCKA



They can play on those old, primal urges for even the most retarded
of results, such as fierce brand loyalty (the PS3 vs. 360 vs. Wii flame
wars will make you claw your eyes out).




But to really make this one work, They can't just define your group, but have to define your group as the elite group,
a shining beacon in a world full of weak-minded walking turds. The
items on this list work best in combination, and you'll see in that the
element of mockery and insulation from opposing viewpoints we talked
about earlier (why listen to the viewpoints of those lesser sheeple?).
Often this is combined with siege terminology ("The whole country has
gone to hell, but we've got to stand up for common sense, folks! It's
us against the world!")









Recently Seen:




Watch five seconds of an election stump speech. Every side does it.



In Sarah Palin's convention speech she talked about how people from
small towns are totally the best ("We grow good people in our small
towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity"). Earlier in the primaries
the Clinton campaign did the same thing,
talking about small towns as being the backbone of America where real,
honest people are found. Always there is the unspoken reminder that
these honest rural folk are under siege from those scary, phony freaks
in the city.



When speaking to those city folk, on the other hand, Barack Obama made the infamous reference to those same small town types clinging to guns and religion,
talking about them like they were savages to be studied through
binoculars from a tower, with some peasant disease that needs cured by
the enlightened.








Not only is "Us vs Them" the first and most important one on the
list, it's the culmination and end goal of all the others. Drawing you
into the right tribe is what They want most, because they can
accomplish nothing without tribesmen.



If we don't find a way to resist it, this is what could leave the
entire planet a charred radioactive ruin. And you know what else we
lose if that happens?








The titties.

Being President is a Tough Job... When You're Dead

financial 9/11?

Rachel Maddow dropped the phrase (or maybe she was just repeating it, I'm not sure) that we're experiencing a "financial 9/11". I suppose that depends on your perspective, but one key difference, besides terrorists who knew how to take over airplanes versus terrorists who knew how to take over our financial system, is that more people have foreseen this current cataclysm for years and have been warning against it. Perhaps the dissimilarities stop there, because on paper, both events look similar; there are things that both events have in common. For instance, both events might not have happened were it not for:

  • A small group of well-positioned people intent on benefiting from the massive suffering of others
  • A small group of well-positioned people with nothing to lose, and everything to gain
  • A small group of well-positioned people with the right connections to people in high places that guarantee access
  • A complacent media with a singular focus on gossip stories about celebrity infidelity (political and otherwise), and a near perfect absence of true investigative journalism
  • An indifferent populace too busy worrying about how much foam they have in their lattes, or how much Made in China junk they could stuff into their Chinese-mortgaged homes

The bottom line here is that these are seriously complex issues that require a sophisticated understanding of either global economics, or at least a modest acceptance of these time proven altruisms:
  • Absolute power corrupts absolutely
  • Money is the root of all evil
  • If it sounds too good to be true, it is
  • Treat everyone with respect, and TRUST NO ONE!
But over the past few decades, there has been a strong, systematic effort to dumb down the citizenry, and it has proven to be extremely effective. For the pre-eminent Super Power on the planet, it is striking that we have one of the dumbest and uneducated citizenry of all developed nations, yet we - as Americans - continue to claim superiority. What we really have is a country of scared sheeple begging for leadership, but a people also willing to abdicate individual freedoms at the slightest whiff of scariness, What has America become? When did we become a nation of belligerent cowards, a nation of people eager to throw rocks at other people while taking shelter behind thin paper walls?

Of course, this could only happen by having such a worthless media, a collective body so graciously willing to spread its non-greased ass-cheeks to its corporate masters, emboldened by the help from hyper-greedy, anti-social, war-mongering chickenhawks in government who work tirelessly to pass themselves off as honest representatives of the people - except when those same people aren't looking, which is most of the time. Oh yeah, a compliant media only exists because of the compliant populace willing to keep it afloat. We'l see how long that lasts in the current climate.

One of the biggest takeaways that everyone seems terrified - or cowed by the corporate overlords - to talk about is how precarious our current situation is. It is high time that Obama steps up and offers something that looks like leadership. Get in a good dig or barb on Mac whenever possible, and do it without making him out to be important enough to even run for the office.  So far, Obama has been speaking in sweeping platitudes, and not discussing details, this despite his being surrounded by very smart money-only-men, like Volkerr, et al. McCain is floundering like a fish out of water, but if Obama chooses not to exploit that, his campaign may be doomed.

Can anyone in the Corporate-Run Media call bullshit on McCain once and for all?


Monday, September 22, 2008

Welcome to the United States of France

Yeah, but the French at least have healthcare.

You just know the Frogs have only increased their disdain for us, if
that is indeed possible. And why shouldn't they? The average American is
working two and half jobs, gets two weeks off, and has all the employment
security of a one-armed trapeze artist.


How markets really work

Funny, and true.

YES on Prop 2

Why PETA Matters

Slag on PETA all you want, but don't disregard the good work that they do. If it weren't for PETA, most people would never find out about the horrendous treatment animals get in the massive factory farms.

For more than three months, PETA went undercover at an Iowa pig factory
farm, which supplies piglets who are raised and killed for Hormel
products. PETA found rampant cruelty to animals - committed by workers
and supervisors. The farm changed ownership and management during
PETA's investigation, but that made no difference to the animals who
were born and confined there: Abuse and neglect were widespread during
PETA's entire investigation.

Thankfully, there are alternatives.

Boycott Factory Farm Meat, Buy from Prather Ranch Meat Co.

While there are horrible and cruel barbarians working at factory farms supplying meat to companies like Hormel, as depicted in the video below, there is a fantastic alternative in Prather Ranch Meat Company. Support companies like Prather Ranch who implement sustainable and humane practices, and help put an end to the cruelty like that in the video below. (Full disclosure: I am a co-owner of Prather Ranch Meat Company.)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Sunday Funny - Heart's Cease and Desist order to McCain

http://www.cbsundstrom.com/fuckyoujohnmccain.jpg