Treason, Sedition, or Just Plain Stupidity?

Just a quick note on this "rebellion" garbage popping onto the radar screen from the Republiscums is something I think should be taken seriously. As angry and hateful as I have been to the Bushies/Neo-Cons/ex-Nixonians/Conservatives/Republiscums, I've always kept my anger in check. I may have forgotten my civil tongue in the presence of close company, but I've never publicly advocated revolution, secession, or insurrection, i.e., in a setting that could never have been perceived as anything more than an expression of frustration. But when idiots and assholes openly and publicly advocate for armed takeover and/or violent transfer of power, they have crossed the Rubicon, and should be immediately condemned as enemies of the state, and dealt with accordingly.

To be clear, I am not against people expressing their grievances against their government. I've done quite a lot of that over the past eight years. I also believe that a time may arise when political actors need to be removed from office by force. But those times are - and must be - extremely rare. Only when the majority - or some number coming close to that - is being oppressed by a minority, or when the elected leaders are willfully and deliberately violating the Constitution, should force be considered an option. But, force is only an option when all other civil options have been completely exhausted. Then, and only then, should civil - or non-civil - disobedience be considered an option. But that said, any type of non-civil opposition should expect - and certainly deserves - fierce opposition from the sitting polity.

My main opinion here is that any and every American citizen advocating or publicly discussing armed and violent overthrow of an elected official or body of government should expect to be considered enemies of the state and treated as such. If and when they are found guilty of same, they should also not be surprised if they find themselves guilty of treason, and dealt with accordingly. Some asshole said on Hannity's forum, "it's only treason if your side loses" (or something to that effect). While this may be true, I wonder how many of these Republiscum blowhard assholes are brave enough to ante up. I'm sure they'd make fine bullet-stoppers.

I say put up or shut up, or suffer the consequences for either , because we are - if nothing else - a nation of laws, not men.

Raisin of Reason: Atheist Toast

yep there's No hidden picture of Jesus or the Virgin-Mary - it's just toast.
For as we used to say as students "Toast is the Truth" - Mrs B (aka Chi)

Hypocrites

Why does THIS not surprise me?

Animal Farm Friday: Dedication to the Fat Cats

Nothing like a breath of fresh coal air!

Every penny of 2% Would be a great start

Some money-grubbing coward at the Wall Sleaze Journal - a staff writer or editor too gutless to take responsibility for this piece of garbage op-ed claims that Obama's plan to increase taxes on the top 2% in order to bring some fairness back to the tax system and put more money back into the Treasury won't work, even if we take every dime.

I say that it probably won't work either, only because nothing really will given the size of the problem, but taking every goddamn dime from the top 2% would certainly be a great start, if for nothing more than the entertainment value of watching the Masters of the Universe cannibalize themselves.

The anonymous writer claims that because taxing the top 2% won't be enough, Obama will have to start taxing the middle class too. This is a classic and thoroughly debunked BS defense that the rich like to throw out as chaff to deflect unwanted attention, and it won't work this time. What little credibilty the WSJ had over the past many years has completed evaporated in this current economic climate. They gotten it wrong on every note, every time, just as they are getting it wrong with this op-ed (with the one exception being this).

Taxing the top 2% will not be enough, that is true. But it would be a hell of a start.

Sauce Wednesday

The Catholics have their Ash Wednesday today, so in honor of Flying
Spaghetti Monster, I will enjoy spaghetti and meatballs that my lovely
wife is making for dinner. I hope she doesn't mind if I rub a little
sauce on my forehead.

Twitter explained

Great moments in presidential speeches

Smudge

Excellent ad from the Reality Coalition.

Political Rogues

Political - Rogues
Originally uploaded by DiscoWeaselWaaaaa-waaa-waa-waa-waaaa.

Raisin of Reason: The Great Buzzword

This post isn't against religion, so much as it's against junk science and pseudo-science, which I find a greater threat. Because when people believe and find so-called "scientific evidence" to support daffy and ridiculous claims, this undermines the credibility of the scientific method.

Take this witty post slamming the ridiculous idea of "The Great Filter" (Or, Why We've Never Discovered Signs of Alien Life) for example:

The very existence of life makes finding a four-leafed clover with winning lottery tickets for leaves look like a sure thing.  Add the staggering improbability of our evolution from single cells and you end up with odds so vast they've driven the invention of everything from the Drake equation to an invisible sky-beard who seems unnecessarily preoccupied with what we do one day out of every seven.  People who study this subject file all that under "Shit we already knew", and were too busy actually working on the science to come up with a garbage buzzword phrase that would look really awesome in bold type on the cover of a hardback book (available now for $29.99!)  Luckily Robin Hanson was ready to do that for them.

I love sarcastic scientists! (The whole post is a short entertaining read.)

WTF Obama?: Lost Emails

Time to start a new category of posts to keep track of all the back-pedaling and reversals from Obama's campaign promises, since there seems to be a new one each day.

The latest one flies smack in the face of his claims for more transparency.

The Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush,
is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be
millions of missing White House e-mails in a stunning reversal of
Obama's rhetoric about Bush secrecy on the campaign trail.

I'll be going back to capture and post on the other flip-flops that I've been letting slide, because I think I see a pattern developing.

Benevolent tyrant, indeed.

WSJ finally gets one right: W worst ever at jobs

Bush On Jobs: The Worst Track Record On Record

President George W. Bush entered
office in 2001 just as a recession was starting, and is preparing to
leave in the middle of a long one. That’s almost 22 months of recession
during his 96 months in office.

His job-creation record won’t look much better. The Bush
administration created about three million jobs (net) over its eight
years, a fraction of the 23 million jobs created under President Bill Clinton’s administration and only slightly better than President George H.W. Bush did in his four years in office.

Fatburgr

I suppose if you eat at crappy chain restaurants, this site could be useful. They're providing a good service, and the illustrations are sure fun!

The last word on George Will

I've been wanting to unload all week on George Will, much as I have unloaded on him in the past in my Axis of Evil blog of yore. Unfortunately, not having full use of my left arm makes typing strenuous, especially for this hunt-and-pecker. Lucky for me, Jamison Foster from Media Matters has a brilliant post that contains a lot of stuff I was planning to unleash, and even more.

I'll just add in this summary paragraph, and invite you to read the full article and follow the many links provided, which demonstrate the utter fraud that is George Will.

Basically, George Will routinely makes false claims large and small, holds politicians to disparate standards, and engages in ethically dubious conduct on behalf of his preferred candidates. The Washington Post can hide behind multi-layer processes all it wants, but as long as it publishes Will, it will continue to misinform its readers. The Post doesn't need to give Will a better fact-checker; it -- along with the rest of the media elite -- should instead give him a good, thorough shunning.

Seriously, George Will is a model symbol of the worst of Washington. He's an ignominious liar masquerading as an honest intellectual. He's intellectually dishonest, if anything.

Epic quote - brief yet poignant

From a well-educated atheist to some Believers in a debate over the existence of God:

"Honestly, it's like arguing with children about the monster under their bed."

More from Matt on George

I missed this post by Matt Yglesias earlier, one I think makes an even stronger case against George Will's intellectual dishonesty, and the Washington Post's professional malpractice.

Some of those people [at the Post] do bad work, which is too bad. And some of those people do good work. And unfortunately, that’s worse. It means that when good work appears in the Post it bolsters the reputation of the Post as an institution. And the Post, as an institution, has taken a stand that says it’s okay to claim that up is down. It’s okay to claim that day is night. It’s okay to claim that hot is cold. It’s okay to claim that a consensus existed when it didn’t. It’s okay to claim that George Will is a better source of authority on interpreting the ACRC’s scientific research than is the ACRC. Everyone who works at the Post, has, I think, a serious problem.

The new "N" word

I don't mean to denigrate anyone by this notion, so please don't take offense. I think, however, that progressives ought to treat the term "nationalization" as though it is the N word, and stop using it. Republiscums use the term to make the practice of the government stepping in to keep the banks from collapsing is some sort of Leftist Socialist/Communist tactic. The appropriate term to use is "receivership" which is a term commonly used positively by capitalists, and better represents what is inevitably going to happen anyway.

The key is that financial reorganization of failed companies -- whether it's receivership, or bankruptcy proceedings, or something else like it -- is textbook rule of law capitalism. TPM

Receivership is used to denote a situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver. In law, a receiver is a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights."^[1]

Are Republicans really lying sacks of garbage?

This Republiscum (Pete Sessions) seems to support that notion.

Good riddance, cont.

Matt Yglesias has a great post today taking the Washington Post's editorial board to task for their latest example of professional malpractice, in this case a completely dishonest and disingenuous op-ed from George Will, conservative douchebag whom has been given far too much unjustified respect.

Matt frames the pushback against Will's "post of lies" smartly, and connects it to the slow demise of print journalism, which is because perhaps people no longer trust the big newspapers anymore. As Jason Linkins at HuffPo asks:

why should anyone on the Post's op-ed page even bother to tie their opinions to ANY real-world truths? Why can't everyone just MAKE SHIT UP?

Just look back to the inane reporting in the elections last year. Or look a little further back to the media's culpability in the run up to the Iraq War. Or go even further back to how the media helped decide that Bush was the real winner of the election in 2000. Then turn and look at Fox News, and all the crap that comes out of Rupert Murdoch's media outlets.

Why should people trust the media anymore? The problem is that the media outlets don't see their role in their own demise. As Matt says:

But it's [insulation from market competition] also bread [sic] this weird arrogance where nobody in the business seems to think that the deplorably low quality of the product plays any role whatsoever in the declining relevance of these institutions. But here’s a George Will column in my paper, lying to me about global warming. Here’s Will’s editor refusing to correct the record or say anything about why he decided it would be a good idea to run a column in which George Will lies about global warming. And now here’s the very same indifferent-to-the-truth editorial team writing about global warming. And I’m supposed to read the editorial why? What value to me, as a consumer of information, do inaccurate uncorrected George Will columns offer me?

What actually sheds a little more light on this topic is this:

How will the addition of Bill Kristol to the roster increase the value of the newspaper to me as a consumer of information?

Because Kristol did such a great job at the New York Times? The decision makers at WaPo seem to be lacking in the ability to think critically.

Animal Farm Friday: Self Pity?

I'm feeling like a three-legged dog right now, but my story is trivial compared to... well, it's trivial. This story, while a little sad, is full of all kinds of hope.

As for why I missed posting last Friday, well...

Awesome Hangar

Great little discovery revealed by the folks at The News Pakistan via Wired's Danger Room blog. An old Google Earth image shows some Predator drones parked on the tarmac of an airfield in Pakistan. This image is not dated, and I am more than certain these particular drones were originally used in Afghanistan, but obviously they could still be the same drones bombing targets inside of Pakistan.



This updated image (captured this AM, but dated to 3/30/07) no longer shows the drones, but look at the awesome hangar they now have to [hide] in.

Just a thought

The Obama administration needs to learn very fast that no matter what it does to placate the GOP, it is pointless. The GOP will do everything they can to impede progress, just like they did with the Clinton administration. A successful Obama administration means bad news for Republicans, so they have no incentive to do anything that would benefit the Obama administration. They can let the country go down the tubes (as they have for the past eight years), then deflect blame to Obama. I don't get why Obama can't see the obvious. Thinking that Dems and GOP can work together towards common good is the height of naivete.

And to Obama's common refrain that "Republicans have good ideas," I ask what are they? We've had almost a decade of Republican ideas. I'm open to hearing of a single one.

Seriously. If you know of any good Republican ideas, please let me know what you think they are.

There are blogs...

...and then there are blogs like Talking Points Memo, and Glenn Greenwald's blog at Salon.

(Updated with new links.)

Like so many others, this blog is more commentary/broadcast relay - like say, Andrew Sullivan's blog. We don't do any real journalism, apart from occasionally piecing together different perspectives on stories and sometimes finding patterns that might otherwise be unseen. We're also trying to hold truth to power, and trying to keep the truth on record in this post-fact society, especially with a corporate media establishment that is still so hard wired for Republicans that it is hard to tell that they are almost an irrelevant party.

There is HuffPo, but apart from the boots-on-the-ground citizen journalists in the Off the Bus section that ran during the elections, not a whole lot more goes on there other than commentary. But not to devalue that, there are some really smart perspectives and insights in the posts at HuffPo. But again, not much actual truth digging. DailyKos is more activist, but still light on investigation, heavy on commentary.

But then there are blogs that do what so few others do, and they are my two favorite political blogs at this point. TPM, headed up by former attorney Josh Marshall, as I just mentioned, and also the blog by the tenacious and loquacious, Glenn Greenwald, former constitutional lawyer turned journalist.

These guys go above and beyond just providing perspective and commentary on the reporting of the day, they also dig deep and do their own investigations, just like real journalists used to do. TPM has been a rising star these past few years, and are blossoming in to a real journalistic outfit, with a decent sized staff that is ever growing. Even some of their alumni have gone on to prominent gigs, and some not-so-prominent (come back, Greg!). But these guys are getting into some real meaty stuff. Like this nugget that sprung up from looking deeper into that story about the mini-Madoff clown, Sir Stanford.

The forever unapologeticly liberal Glenn Greenwald is also a force to be reckoned with. A good piece of advice is to never debate him unless you are armed to the teeth with facts, and not spin. There are few bloggers or journalists out there who are as well read and well versed in the facts on any topic of interest than Glenn Greenwald. Right now he is doing the hero's work of trying to reclaim America's honor from the Constitution-shredding, immoral, torturing scumbags that were the Bush administration.

So if you are a believer in the truth, and you care about the honor and dignity of the US, but you are not reading TPM and Glenn Greenwald's blog daily, I urge you to do so.

NY Post Defends Cartoon, Slams Al Sharpton

I know from first hand experience that political cartoons can easily be misinterpreted, but as a cartoonist, I assert that either Delonas is a racist or he's an idiot. To say this is tone deaf is polite. But no matter. If he wants to make a statement with such vile imagery, let him. Free Speech and all that. But most of us can see this cartoon for what it is, despite the Post's CYA defense. As this country moves forward daily towards racial equality and justice, tabloid rags like the NY Post, and the racist, ignorant pigs working there - Delonas especially - are becoming more marginalized and more irrelevant every day.



That's the nice thing about free speech. People are free to express themselves and proudly display just how pathetic they really are.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Fiscal Stimulus Will Pay For Itself

The premise of this entire article is flawed because of misunderstanding the very nature of our economic problems, and from misquoting Jefferey Sachs. Mr. Sachs never said the stimulus deficit would cripple us, he said the fiscal hole we're in will. As in, the hole that we are in now is much larger than most people paying attention are willing to realize.



The stimulus will indeed help, and even if it doesn't right the US economy, at least we'll be getting some badly needed infrastructure improvements out of it. The author - and most others writing about economic matters - should have a more realistic understanding of just how bad the global economic crisis is before writing such irresponsible articles.
About Stimulus Package
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What an emBurissment

Burris Changes Story: Now Admits He Tried To Raise Money For Blago

Where has all the money gone?

Another Madoff for you, but this one looks much more colorful! What is it with Texas?

Gitcher Party On

Operating at Limited Capacity

This title is a double entendre. Firstly, it speaks to my present inability to type very well since I have almost no use of my left arm for the next few weeks. So to that end, The Low Bar will be publishing at a very limited rate.

The other intent of the title references our US government and its handling of the economy. In what capacity is it limited? How about that of sanity and reason. Never mind all of the bailouts and stimulus cluster-f***s, how about standard operating procedure. It seems the Congressional Budget Office uses some backwards accounting practices to arrive at its numbers, which are different from the method nearly every other office uses, and that of Wall Street, which is GAAP accounting.

The skinny of the problem is this: the CBO says we have a budget deficit of $455 billion, when in fact it is $5.1 trillion. But the more scary number is that, if the CBO used GAAP accounting, we would have a future projected budget shortfall og $65 trillion. That's larger than the world's GDP.

Still think we're going to pull out of this?

Too much bacon

Can there be such a thing?

Why we are doomed

With all of the talking heads spewing crap from their pie holes without knowing what the hell they are talking about, lost amid the noise and chatter is the message from the two guys who saw this all coming - Nouriel Roubini, and Nassim Taleb. They really appear to be the smartest guys in the room. If not that, they are certainly smarter than the cadre of idiots at CNBC.

Both men do their best to explain in adult terms the real dangers of our current economic crisis, and what needs to be done to get out of it, and all the CNBC morons want are stock tips. Un-F-ing-Believable. You've got to see it for yourself.

We are doomed, indeed, as long as assholes like the clowns at CNBC are broadcasting.

This is why you're fat

So that's why.

You have no excuse!

If you're even marginally interested in how we've gotten into this economic crisis, and want a modicum of insight into how we might possibly survive this current crisis, then you have no excuse for not clicking this link.

This one.

Here it is.

Click it.

Or shut up.

Animal Farm Friday - Spineless with an identity crisis

I'm having a hard time these days trying to figure out who's on whose side, who's genuine, or who's pretending. Between the endless Republiscum inanity being vomited all over us incessantly by the Corporate-Run Media, and spineless Democrats acquiescing to the same dead-end ideas as they have for the past decade, instead of championing effective progressive ideas, I really can't tell who is worth supporting. But hey, sometimes being spineless and having an identity crisis can be a good thing - if you're an octopus:

The end of tokens!

I noticed right away when recently there were suddenly more black people in the ads on TV and in print. I'm not talking about the token black people either, but ads featuring real black people, not necessarily in white settings, or even with token white people in the ads for balance. I'm also not talking about black people in exploitative ads either, like for KOOL cancer sticks, or Hennessey Cognac. I'm talking about white people ads with no white people. You know the ones I mean. Ads for home improvement, groceries, luxury goods, and every place you'd expect to find only white people (or maybe a token black person). It's even spilled over into comics!

In fairness, comics have generally always been at the forefront of social change and civil rights, fully aware of controversy. Comic books had black heroes before blacks could get equal pay for equal work (well, they have lots of women heroines, but women are still fighting for that same right). They had gay and lesbian heroes, and even heroes that died from AIDS. But this is ARCHIE Comics! Check it out! The whitest of the white comics. Now, Chuck Clayton has been around for a while. The editors at Archie dust him off every now and then when they fear a black uprising coming on. Other than the Black Panther, Black Goliath, Luke Cage, or Robbie Robertson, Chuck here was one of the first black dudes I saw in a comic book. But Chuck Clayton here made being a token negro cool (to Archie fans at least). This character helped popularize the whitey apologist expression "I'm not racist, I have a black friend!" because fans learned that from Archie and Jughead.

Don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic seeing more black people in commercials and ads, and especially in Archie (even though I don't read Archie). It's long past overdue. How long past? Well, this ancedote might help:

I worked on ad campaigns for a medical imaging company for several years in the late 90s through early 00s. This company was founded by a Turk-Cypriot, an Asian-American, and a gay white male. My primary contact at head of marketing was a black Canadian. This company was founded in San Francisco. Here's the sweet part. For every ad that I created for them that included people, I made a conscious effort to include an equal balance of people that reflected our Bay Area community (white, black, asian, latino), every time I was told that there weren't enough white people in the ads. This was communicated to me by the black dude. I kid you not.

I expected that kind of thing when I was working in Florida, which is why I left Florida. But in the San Francisco Bay Area? Man, that's been bugging me for over a decade.

So what if Archie Comics is dusting off their token black guy once more 'cuz it's the cool thing to do. Maybe now it won't be just the trendy thing to do, but perhaps Chuck will stay with the gang permanently. Maybe Chuck might even get his own series! And maybe, just maybe, whenever producers feel the need for token character, they'll be deciding between a chihuahua and a shitsu, or a calico and a tabby.

What to bring to a gunfight

For a while, it seemed like Barack showed up to the Republiscum
gunfight with cookies and flowers. Then yesterday, we saw him brandish
a little cold steel, but now it looks like it's possible that the cold steel might actually be loaded. Lets hope it's like Tybalt's Rapier.

Stupid should be painful

This is painful enough on this end, but it really ought to hurt to be so stupid.

Bipartisan Agreement?

On the Moulitsas Deficit Reduction Act of 2009.

Barry was scarin' me

I guess I should have gotten through all of the days news before posting, but this just in from Greg Sargent, formerly of TPM, now one of the few shining beacons of hope in the WaPo family.

This blog has spent a fair amount of time wondering when President Obama would more aggressively take on the Republicans opposing passage of his economic agenda.

So it’s noteworthy that today Obama amped up his rhetoric, making a
clear attempt to draw a sharper contrast with his foes — in
philosophical and ideological terms. In his remarks on the economy
today at an event where he called for a cap on executive salaries,
Obama said (according to the prepared remarks):

Now, in the past few days I’ve heard criticisms of
this plan that echo the very same failed theories that helped lead us
into this crisis –- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our
problems; that we can ignore fundamental challenges like energy
independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our
economy and our country to thrive.

I reject that theory, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change.
So I urge members of Congress to act without delay. No plan is perfect,
and we should work to make it stronger. But let’s not make the perfect
the enemy of the essential. Let’s show people all over our country who
are looking for leadership in this difficult time that we are equal to
the task.

It's about time. Barry was scarin' me there for a while. But he still needs to drive the point home that bipartisanship is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. Bipartisanship could also be a dead end, especially if the other party is undermining your party at every step.

Defining Obama's presidency

Theda Skocpol gets it.

[Obama] spent the last two weeks empowering Republicans -- including
negotiating with them to get more into Senate and his administration
and giving them virtual veto-power over his agenda... The country is in danger and he ran for president to solve this crisis
in a socially inclusionary way. He should be fighting on that front all
the time with all his energies -- and he certainly should give a major
speech to help educate the public and shape the agenda. That is the
least he can and should do. Only that will bypass the media-conservative
dynamic that is now in charge.

My guess is that Obama has until the end of February before the course of his first term is defined for him by the Republicans, and their Corporate-Run Media allies. He seems to be going out of his way to make it easy for them. In fact, unless he takes to the pulpit in the next few days and enlists the help of the American people, he risks being wrongly branded as Carter was. The bully pulpit is the only real shot now. With the Democrats being outnumbered by Republicans with airtime, Obama is the only Democrat that can compete on the airwaves.

mv=pq, or the velocity of money

And why the bailouts are doomed to failure. Here's a great little walkthru one the global financial crisis.

Deep Thought

From a reddit discussion:

If one of Jesus' hairs was found preserved, scientists should extract the DNA, clone Jesus, and experiment on his superpowers.

What do you need his hair for? Just let a Catholic eat a cracker (which
will transubstantiate), then surgically remove it from their stomach.
Bingo-bango, flesh of Jesus. Clone him up, and there you go. Jesus 2.0

Raisin of Reason: Another cool bus advert

Israel planning to attack Iran

Israel's ambassador to Australia accidentally caught on camera saying "...[Israel's] recent military offensives were a
pre-introduction to the challenge Israel expects from a nuclear-equipped
Iran within a year."

Ambassador Yuval Rotem went on to say "Israel's efforts in Gaza were to bring about understanding that we are ready to engage in a decisive way."

Animal Farm Friday - RELEASE!

Obama has done more good in the last eight days than Bush did win the last eight years. It feels like the chains of the last eight years are starting to lift, despite the bad economy.

See ya!

FSM proof

Your bailout tax dollars are bing used to bribe Republican Congressmen

This egregious act of corruption is very HUGE, yet the Corporate-Run Media is largely silent about it, in spite of the evidence.

I'd say now is a good time for anyone with credit card debt to just stop paying it back. And you might as well stop paying your taxes too. If everyone did it at once, there would be a few people that would have to pay a heavy price. That's the case with all revolutions. But they can't get everyone, nor can they even get all that many people. And the results would be, well, revolutionary.

But if you're not in the revolutionary spirit, but still want to take action, you can pledge to withhold any donations to Congressional candidates at Change Congress.

(tip to AdamGreen)

Have you Saddlebacked?

Better than the Silver Ring Thing.

If the majority of Palestinians were Christians, what would Palestine look like today?

Accepting that Israel would not exist in its current state without the incredible amount of monetary, military, and political support from the United States, I am trying to imagine what the region of Palestine (the regions west of the Jordan River, south of Lebanon, and north of Egypt) would look like in terms of geopolitical boundaries, and subsequent political influence on the world stage.

If Palestinians were predominantly Christian, would they have received equal or greater support and largess from America? What if Palestine was only 1/3rd Christian? Would Jewish political influence be as great or as successful in American politics? Would there be as many Jewish political operators in the US government? Would Kissinger have had so much power and influence? Would there ever have been a "Six Day War?"

Perhaps even engaging in this discussion is tantamount to discussing what the world would be like if unicorns were real, because the idea that Palestinians - nay Palestine - could be Christian is quite farcical. But pondering what that region of the Middle East would be like were it not for the US government's massive, unwavering support in capital and goods to Israel is at least more potentially useful than pondering the effect a fancy horse would have on the world.  (Unicorns could never save the world, but perhaps if the US were to cut off the supply of refined fuel to Israel for a few months, and maybe not sell them so many bombs, some measure of peace might be found.)

Alas, I know that if Palestinians were predominantly Christian, there probably wouldn't be that many of them in the Middle East, as is evidenced by the tiny numbers of them in other ME countries.  So I guess the crux of my point isn't so much about Palestinian religiosity, as it is about which side the US government ended up supporting. Though both go hand in hand.

We - the US - made the choice to support the Jews over the Arabs. Ignoring the lobbying efforts of wealthy and influential Jewish operators, the other part of my point is a question about the relationship between Jews and Christians, versus Jews and Muslims throughout history.

Christians historically have harmed Jewish peoples more than any other nation or tribe, yet it is the support of a self-declared Christian nation given to a self-declared Jewish nation that has allowed this Jewish nation to thrive, while occupying the lands and oppressing the Muslim inhabitants. 

Is this atonement? Or is there another prevailing reason for our decision to support a Jewish nation over Islamic nations?

The making of Obama Street

I love this city!

Raisin of Reason: Another reason Fox News is my mortal enemy

This video is actually the antithesis of reason, and is why I advocate violence against Fox journalists. I wish I was a pacifist, but I'm not.


MORE AT ATHEISTNATION.NET

Raisin of Reason: Atheist bus adverts suit - Case Closed

Launching a new feature to encapsulate political topics of the philosophical kind. This world is overrun by kooky superstitious folks who believe in magic, witchcraft, angels, and some super-dude in the sky that takes time out of his busy schedule to hear - but generally ignore - their prayers. Logic, science, and reason struggle under the oppressive weight of ignorance, apathy, and delusional thinking, but occasionally manage to break into the light. So, whenever I find that little raisin of reason in triumph over superstition, I'll share that under the auspice of a tiny taste of fruit of knowledge.

Perhaps not the ideal inaugural example, the case of the Believers' suit in Britain against the atheist bus advertisements being shot down is still a triumph of sorts. The only drawback is the ASA's position that "... the claims in [the ads] were not capable of objective substantiation."

That's a bit presumptuous, I think.

Who's to blame for the meltdown

Not a question...

Incredible Inauguration photo

AMAZING! 1,474 mega-pixels big, from 220 individual photos.

another reason CRM journalists should be beaten on site

I just love how our vaunted Corporate-Run Media - the so-called Fourth Estate - seems to have become adversarial to the other states of democracy now that Democrats are in charge. It would have been exceptional if they showed even an modicum of spine during the past eight years. I've long railed against how useless, pathetic, and slavish the Corporate-Run Media has been during the Reign of Republiscum, and these bottom-feeders stridently continue to support my claims. It's sad that they do, because the press was once the peoples' only bulkhead against the onslaught of tyranny. It is entirely evident that the media has become complicit in supporting tyranny, even as the tyrant flees. Therefore, it is encumbent upon the citizenry of this Republic to meet reprisal against the failed Fourth Estate.

If you see a journalist paid directly by a Corporation, punch IT in the throat. You'll be doing your patriotic duty. (Sorry, Greg Sargent. You chose your bed.)

Animal Farm Friday - Sorry Suckers!

1st Day of School 2012

Senate Republicans To Delay Holder Confirmation Over Torture Prosecutions

First Cornyn obstructs Clinton, now he's obstructing Holder. If this transfer of power wasn't so peaceful, that tool might be finding himself in front of a firing squad. Meanwhile, the O-team will continue to play nice-nice with the Republiscums, and they'll give Obama the Bill Clinton treatment.


The thing to remember is that just because a shark isn't biting you right now, that doesn't mean it's not going to.

About Eric Holder
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Jews run America. Seriously.

That's not a racist statement. AIPAC runs this country. Then. Now. Tomorrow.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Happy New Day, America!

My parting shot to W

(the shoe I'd like to throw at W)

Chief Justice Roberts drops the ball

Another of many reasons why he is an embarrassment to this country, John Roberts screwed up the oath of office. I wonder if it was deliberate?

Why Texans are stupid

Apologies to my loved ones in Texas, but seriously, Texans had the chance to elect Rick Noriega as their senator, but instead, they re-elected one of the biggest wastes of skin ever to disgrace the senate, John Cornyn. Texans can really be fucking stupid.

Adding to his quiver of useless and pointless accomplishments, Sen. Cornyn can add this new waste of valuable taxpayer dollars as he pouts, holds his breath, and holds up the confirmation of Clinton as Secretary of State.

Rick Warren sucks, but Aretha rocks!

He nearly ruined the inauguration for me, but Aretha Franklin brought it all back!

Ronald Reagan says US must prosecute Bush for war crimes

Well, he and his crew have to be investigated first, but since they've all but admitted to torturing detainees, the US is legally bound to prosecute them. For the record, I'm giving Obama the pass on this one, because the executive doesn't do this kind of work to begin with. War crimes prosecution is between the DOJ and Congress. Of course, Obama could hamstring the DOJ if he wanted to, but that would be kind of dumb.

Sorry, Republiscums, but a law passed during the rule of the almighty Reagan says the US government is bound by law to prosecute torturers. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of other scum-sucking, pus-filled, corpulent, walking demons like John Yoo and David Addington that could shit and vomit all manner of legalese to refute this premise, but the underlying premise that cannot be refuted is that these vermin - Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Addington, Gonzalez, et al, are all morally vacuous. To even defend themselves and their reasons for approving and advocating torture is enough to warrant conviction (and hanging, given that is what is done to war criminals).

Waterboarding is torture. Torture is a war crime. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Addington, Gonzalez, and their crew have admitted to authorizing, attempting to have authorized, or have advocated for waterboarding and other "harsh interogation techniques", also known as "torture". Therefore, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Addington, Gonzalez, and their crew are war criminals.

Lawyer up, fuckers.

When The Onion got all Nostradamus on us

It wasn't funny then, and it isn't funny now, only because it's true. And sometimes the truth really does fucking hurt.

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by
implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession,
which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in
consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the
recession even further.

Juan Cole's Farewell to W

Juan Cole does an amazing job encapsulating most of what should be remembered in this very well stated send-off to George W. Bush. One of the more important passages is directed at the Bush apologists who thinks W. can now get a pass on Iraq:

There are weasels among the pundits who say that
Bush has been vindicated, insofar as Iraq has regained better security
than it had in 2006. This is like saying that the Norwegian brown rat
was vindicated when the Black Death ran its course, having killed a
third of Europe before it subsided.

Bush has not redeemed the
Vietnam War but rather made us live through something very like it all
over again, the only difference being that this time we are likely to
have the sense to get out before we are thrown out.

But what we must always remember about the humiliating embarrassment that was the presidency of the spoiled, rich, frat-boy George W. Bush, is that he ran this country like he ran everything else he helmed, into the ground.

Bush never escaped the habits of his
ne'er-do-well undergraduate days at Yale. In the end, he replaced being
drunk on beer with being drunk on power. He replaced wooing the women
with wooing the corporations. He replaced frat boy hijinks with ruinous
wars that wrought a devastation across the rugged expanse of West Asia
unlike anything seen since the pagan Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258.

Our nation renews itself, and makes small revolutions with its political
campaigns. We have the opportunity now, to choose truth over
propaganda, responsibility over recklessness, compassion over
brutality, altruism over self-interest, and ability over incompetence.
We have the opportunity to repudiate the past 8 years, and to transcend
them once and for all, to redeem ourselves as a nation. The persons we
choose to serve us as first among equals in our republic can bring us
shame or honor as a nation. But it is our choices as individuals that
make us shameful or honorable in ourselves. We must never again allow a
crew of crooked bullies to make us underlings, lest we be laid to rest
in dishonorable graves.

I hope W. fades away faster than Nixon did. The only news I ever want to hear of that sorry bastard is that he's been convicted of war crimes, and will meet justice accordingly.

We could all be so lucky.

(thanks Shan!)

Inauguration Speech Generator

Have fun!

Animal Farm Friday - It's Not the End of the World

Okay, so not really animals, but the band is Super Furry Animals, and the song is It's Not the End of the World. I'm indifferent to the song, but the video is really cool, and seems perfectly relevant in light of Gaza, and Dick and Bush's much anticipated and long awaited departure.

Here's a bonus Super Furry Animals video which is actually just as appropriate, Presidential Suite (reminds me of W flying over NOLA in AF1 after Katrina. Georgie's safe and content inside his cocoon, all happy, carefree and indifferent to the waste and destruction he's left behind.):

Adieu!

(h/t to htk!)

Obama's sit-down with conservatives

From Kossack Filegirl:

Basically its a room full of people whose work over the past year and a half or so was dedicated to defeating Obama. And now they have to sit down at a table with the living, breathing proof of their total defeat.

Heh. I feel better already.

What just happened?

I'll need a few drinks and some happy pills before I read this Bush timeline.

War Crimes? What War Crimes?

Glenn Greenwald continues to make an eloquent case for all the reasons the Bush Administration won't be tried for war crimes, at least not by anyone in the US. For the simple reason that Democratic members of Congress like Pelosi and Rockefeller, and the Beltway Establishment "journalists" were aware of and complicit in allowing war crimes to be committed, they will do nothing to bring any Bush administration officials to justice. Because, in order to do so, they would expose their culpability int he commission of war crimes, and could even be found just as guilty.

Of course, as the economy continues to crumble, and our political leaders are ignoring the will of the people, the government better start worrying about a popular uprising. If that happens, a lot of those folks could find themselves in a whole lot of trouble.

Humility

Sen. Vitter (R-Bordello)

Hahaha! Nice one, Josh!

An Appalachian tale

Holy Bile: the damage that atheism has caused and is causing

This from a sitting US congressman:

I was very moved by the song that talked about the damage that atheism has caused and is causing. It was very moving…. The songs carry the sense that evil will not prevail, and so the message is that the truth ultimately prevails…. These times will pass because eternal truth will survive atheism and the difficulties of the 20th Century.
-Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-FL CD21

Can you imagine what the reaction would be if an atheist congressperson were to intone about the damage religious fervor has done to this country?

Of course, atheist politicians are as real as Clean Coal. But it does astound me when any religious person makes the claim that atheism is damaging and destructive, especially in light of the Christian and Jewish wars against Islam currently taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in Gaza. Don't even pretend for a moment that these are wars on terror. There would be no Islamic terrorists if it were not for Christians and Jews stealing Arab land and resources.

That's hot!

Bush's Failures

The full list. Go ahead and rank them while you're there.

On torture and cowardice

Apart from the douchebag wanna-be tough guys - like Alan Dershowitz - who get erections from watching Jack Bauer torture bad guys on 24, and soil themselves from reading true accounts of Americans torturing detainees, most of us with the capacity for thinking with our brains and not our testicles know that torture is more likely to produce false information more akin to what the interrogators want to hear, rather than anything resembling the truth.

This article from the December issue of Vanity Fair makes it pretty clear.

But setting aside just for the moment that it doesn't work, the real problem with torture is simple: It is sick, and it is wrong. Torture is the manifestation of everything that is bad about humans. It is sad to see what little it takes to get humans to regress to their most base and vile state, shrug off any morals they may have once had, all because of fear.

Torturers, and those who support it, are the weakest of cowards.

Absolutely zero justification or acceptable explanation

There can be no acceptable reason for this BART cop to have shot this man in the back.

USA - doing our part to kill as many Palestinians as we can

Hamas or civilians, apparently doesn't seem to matter, as we look to ship 3,000 tons of ammo to Israel.

Israel has finally gone too far

First they force 100 Palestinian civilians into a single house, then they bomb it to smithereens?

Fuck you, Israel. Reap what you sow, fuckers!

Animal Farm Friday - demoCrAT pussies and an angry REPublicanTILE

There was a time when I thought that Democrats were subtle but tough, and relentless in their pursuits for justice and equality. I don't believe that anymore. This video serves as a decent metaphor for how I perceive Democrats these days: They act tough, but they're really pussies.

Watch as these DemoCrATS get handled by an old, sloggish, wrinkled - yet tenacious, REPublicanTILE. (Puns intended. Duh!)

When will we get serious?

I've reached my limit for the incessant, vapid coverage of the quaint theater surrounding the Obama administration.

Seriously.

This country is at a crossroads potentially more perilous than any
it has ever experienced since its founding, and we're all still
bleating about rules and tradition and proper deference and other
nonsensical bullshit that is not going to keep the mighty US from becoming
Argentina circa 80s or Mexico circa now.

Focus, people. Focus. This country is the Titanic sinking, and
everyone is arguing over when's the proper time for the quartet shift
change, and who should be on bass.

A New Age of Liberalism, indeed. Ha!

It would genuinely be exciting if Liberal Ideas were truly gaining in popularity, but I seriously have my doubts. That said, it would only take a brilliantly sublime marketing campaign - well-timed seasonally - to cause a sea change in opinion.

If anything, Apple has at least taught the world that people don't know what they want until they're told what it is they truly want.

Of course, Apple is not all that Genius. Evangelical ministers, Shamans, priests, used car salesmen, and quite a few dictators have known this Secret since they first began preaching the gospel and inciting the masses. The secret to the success of these masters of message is to first assess what it is people are looking for, or to discover what they are missing. Once that is figured out, the rest is simply manipulating their emotions adroitly enough to imbue your product with the features .

Marketing 101. Saturation and Domination.

But in a country - nay, world - saturated with and dominated by dumbed-down, Wal-Mart-style wholesale Conservative ideology, we are all in dire need of a targeted
messaging campaign to popularize critical thinking and celebrate common
sense.

It's nice to see someone trying.

Just a thought

The US stood on the sidelines for two genocides in Africa (Rwanda and
Sudan), so why does anyone think the US will care about a comparative
handful of Muslims in the Middle East?

I used to create planets...

Christians can be so stupid

"I am sure that Stephen Green really does think there is a great deal
of evidence for a God (though presumably only the one that he believes
in) but I pity the [Advertising Standards Authority] if they are going to be expected to rule on the
probability of god’s existence."

Hey Christians! Bring it on! Please!

Is it even possible...

...for George W. Bush to not look stoopider than everyone else around him?

Well, 'stupid is as stupid does' is what Momma always used to say.

Vote Now!

Do you want "In God We Trust" removed from our currency?

Gaza Crisis

Andrew,

This statement seems to undermine your entire position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict:

I need to repeat: There is no "just war" excuse for Hamas' murderous terrorism or for its refusal to acknowledge or peacefully co-exist with Israel.

It seems that you expect the Palestinians and other Arab countries to roll over like dogs to the almighty Christian Westerners and the Jewish invaders, and just meagerly accept that they are a beaten and broken people, and must acquiesce to the demands of the mightier power. Ironically, this is exactly what Christians - and the Romans before them - once demanded and expected of the Jews.

The undeniable fact is that the Jews have stolen - and have been stealing - Arab and Palestinian land - since the mid-20th century. The Arabs and Palestinians have been fighting back ever since.

Certainly, the Palestinian Arab's are not the first people who have had their land stolen by a superior power, but the simple fact is that the Palestinians and Arabs have refused to accept defeat at the hands of the Jews and their Western supporters. Much the same as no Western power has been able to conquer the Arabs, the Israelis as America's proxy will also never conquer their Arab neighbors. Israel may steal and occupy their land, oppress, starve, beat, and demoralize them, and they may even bomb them to bits, but they will not conquer them.

It's an obvious lesson that Conservatives - and certainly neocons - never seem to learn.

Robber or Emporer, Pirates or Coast Guard?

Another interesting article which warrants further research, but the author's claim that the Somali pirates - while some may be nothing more than thugs - are actually a Volunteer Coast Guard attempting to defend their shores against European ships illegally fishing their waters at one end and dumping toxic nuclear waste at the other, or at least trying to collect a tax on those vessels.

The article has this great quotation:

The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber?

Sort of sums up the world writ large. One peoples' terrorist is another peoples' freedom fighter. One peoples' liberator is another peoples' conqueror. One nation's protector is another nation's criminal.

Or better yet: One peoples' torture is another peoples' harsh interrogation technique.

"As the Arabs see the Jews"

I can't vouch for the authenticity of this letter by King Abdullah of Jordan (which once controlled part of Palestine), but this particular passage really stands out for me:

I was puzzled for a long time about the odd belief which apparently persists in America that Palestine has somehow "always been a Jewish land." Recently an American I talked to cleared up this mystery. He pointed out that the only things most Americans know about Palestine are what they read in the Bible. It was a Jewish land in those days, they reason, and they assume it has always remained so.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is absurd to reach so far back into the mists of history to argue about who should have Palestine today, and I apologise for it. Yet the Jews do this, and I must reply to their "historic claim." I wonder if the world has ever seen a stranger sight than a group of people seriously pretending to claim a land because their ancestors lived there some 2,000 years ago!

"As the Arabs see the Jews"
His Majesty King Abdullah,
The American Magazine
November, 1947

What do you think the reaction would be by most Americans if Native Americans claimed rights to this land that they have lived on for thousands of years? Oh right. We'd do to them what the Israeli's are doing to the Palestinians.

Again, I'll say it. Israel is nothing more than America's proxy in the Middle East. No Western country has been able to conquer the Middle East ever, so rather than continue fighting directly, we instead arm to the teeth others that will fight. We promise the Jews their "Promised Land" and give them the bombs to take it from the Arabs. In return, they do the dirty work of conquering the Arabs.

But once again, we see that the Arabs will not be conquered. Occupied, oppressed, starved, beaten, and bombed to bits, but not conquered.

Top 5 Lies About Israel’s Assault on Gaza - by Jeremy R. Hammond

Here are the lies:

Lie #1) Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and
is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.

Lie #2) Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment
is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such
rocket attacks.

Lie #3) Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.

Lie #4) Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault.

Lie #5) Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because
it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted.

Here are the details about the lies.

Role Reversal

In this current war between David and Goliath, the mythical David has become Goliath. And while this new Goliath is being pelted with stones just as David once threw, this new Goliath now retaliates with 2,000 lb. bombs, gratefully supplied to them by an even bigger giant. As far as I am concerned, this war is no longer Israel against Palestine; this war is the United States against Palestine, and Israel is our proxy.

The plain and simple truth is that without US money and military weaponry and bombs, this war on Gaza would not be happening. Truth be old, none of Israel's wars would have been possible without the support of the US.

Israel v. Palestine: Which is the true aggressor?