Funny Weiner!

I've been away traveling in Syria and unable to post from there, since they block Blogger. I've got some things to say about that trip, but in the interest of this return post being delightful, I present to you this hilarious video from Rep. Anthony Weiner from NY. Really, this IS funny!

Animal Farm Friday - Thumbs up for our new overlords!

Animal Farm Friday - Pussy Charlie Sheen

More Cats Quoting Charlie Sheen here.

Shared Sacrifices? My White Ass!

Animal Farm Friday - The Necessity of Recycling

I can't believe I never noticed this, but I can see why Disney would reuse entire sequences of animation. I find it interesting, nonetheless.

Animal Farm Friday - Puppy vs Cat

A Message to David H. Kock

David H. Kock, relative to your wealth, the pittance you donate for philanthropic efforts is not enough to undue the pain and suffering caused by your efforts to undermine free speech, nor the damage done by your support of 'astroturf' groups like FreedomWorks. Ultimately, the only one you seek to help and benefit is yourself.

For the record, seeing your name at the front of PBS programs you support is sickening, considering the majority of your political contributions go to a party seeking to undermine these very programs.

I would say 'shame on you', but I seriously doubt you are capable of experiencing shame.

Animal Farm Friday - Slo Mo Kitty #2

Animal Farm Friday - Slo Mo Kitty

8 Reasons Global Capitalism Makes Our Lives Worse

Our way of measuring our worth is so twisted says Helena Norberg-Hodge, that when there is "an oil spill, the GDP goes up; when drinking water is so polluted we have to buy it in bottles, GDP goes up. War, cancer, epidemic illnesses -- all of these involve an exchange of money, so they end up on the positive side of the balance sheet."

But there is hope.

Is This What We've Become?

Animal Farm Friday - Stop! Thief!

I am a US Air Force Intelligence Veteran of the War in Afghanistan and I support Wikileaks.

I am a US Air Force Intelligence veteran of the war in Afghanistan and I support Wikileaks.

[...]

After reading many of the Iraq/Afghan/Cablegate logs I am compelled to inform my fellow citizens that I saw nothing in these logs that could endanger our troops or public servants.

Here’s what I did see: I saw Iraq war logs that painted a very bleak picture of the situation there which doesn’t match up with the “improved security” that’s been reported by the “Defense” Department for years. I saw proof of public officials acting dishonestly and abusing their posts. Overall, I saw an out of control government that is in over its head and does more to endanger the lives of its people than any publishing organization ever could.

I volunteered to protect this country under the impression that my government followed the will of the American People and adhered to the US Constitution.

I'm not a Ron Paul supporter, as the writer of this post appears to be, by I am in line with Paul's anti-war/pro-WikiLeaks stance. I also think it's high time for everyone who has taken the oath to defend the Constitution to take a moment and think about it, to think about whether or not their actions are consistent with the Constitution, and whether or not it's time to take decisive action in defense of the Constitution against those who would malign it by breaking their oaths.

We Americans Have No Principles to Sacrifice

To say that most Americans are without principle can only be accepted as a misstatement insofar as there exists no direct data to support the descriptive "most". But all one needs to do is look at the available evidence from innumerable sources to find support for this statement.

As just a few past examples, how many of us Americans who railed against the support AT&T and Verizon gave to the government to illegally wiretap American citizens still give money to these companies for services?

How many of us railed against Obama after he campaigned vehemently against warrantless wiretapping, only to flip-flop and help block legal action against these companies?

And more recent examples, how many of us Americans actually tried to hold Obama accountable for grievously breaking his promise to not extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, compared to those who gave him a free pass?

How many Wikileaks supporters actually boycotted Amazon, or PayPal, or Bank of America when these companies shamefully blocked off support to this organization, ostensibly at the behest of the Federal Government, justified with spurious claims that their terms of service were being violated, even though these companies still offer services to pedophiles, and the KKK, and such?

How many of us Americans complain against the mistreatments and physical violations thrust upon us by the TSA, yet refuse to stand up against these abuses, but instead choose not to miss our flights?

How many of us Americans complain loudly against climate change and global warming, yet still drive cars instead of taking public transportation, or walk, or ride bikes?

We live in a country where lies are no longer lies, but are simply misunderstandings, or misrepresentations. We live in a country where we all idly stand by and accept that it is okay to send thousands of our citizens off to fight and die in unjust and illegal wars. We live in a country where the vast majority of us can be bought off with a little chump change in order to pump the greatest amount of our national treasure to the least amount of people, those who need it the least, all while our country's infrastructure continues to crumble. We live in a nation where the principles of most of us only extend as far as our tweets and status updates. We live in a country where convenience and our insatiable desire for entertainment far outweigh our ability to take any sort of stand based on principle.

The sacrifices for principle that most of us Americans are unwilling to make these days are not the kind of sacrifices people once had to make. These days, we won't even sacrifice our iPhones or our iPads or our Droids or our Comcast cable or our ability to buy crap from Amazon and pay for it with PayPal for principle.

This is not like being forced to choose between crossing the picket line versus being able to pay your bills. This is not like being asked to choose between the shame of accepting food stamps versus not being able to feed your families. Most of us Americans today are unable to give up something as small and needless as a magazine subscription to stay in alignment with our principles.

Perhaps this is simply because we Americans have no more principles to sacrifice.

Animal Farm Friday - Jingle Goats

Animal Farm Friday on Monday - TED Talks: Life Lessons from Big Cats

This is incredibly important, an absolute must to watch. Be warned, though, it is as heartwarming as it is heart wrenching.

Animal Farm Friday - Let the Bodies Hit the Floor!

Instigating parrot!

THIS is not America!

How did we get here?

This country was founded by enlightened men, spilling their blood to fight the oppression (through taxation) of a tyrant. The people of this country have long upheld and demanded the right to our personal freedoms since before the founding documents were signed into law. Our unwavering commitment to our freedoms, and championing the cause for freedom around the globe has for centuries been a symbol for what it means to be an American.

Yet, for more than the past decade, our freedoms and our rights have been eroding, bit by bit. We've accepted this in the name of more security, and the promise of prosperity, but we've been given nor earned neither.

Instead, we have the majority of our political leaders, feigning opposition, but in fact, colluding with one another at the behest of their corporate masters to willingly defraud us all of our tax dollars for the primary benefit or making the rich more wealthy, and the poor more poor, and those of us in the middle heading further down the economic ladder than up. We let them do this to us because they promise us everything they cannot–and will not–deliver.

They make backroom deals with fossil fuel companies to determine our energy future, not a future in our healthful interests, but in the interests of profit. They make backroom deals with health insurance companies to determine how much we (not they) will pay for our healthcare, not in our interest, but in the interest of profiting the insurance companies. They make backroom deals with the very bankers who nearly collapsed not just our economy, but the global economy because of unregulated 'gambling' that is otherwise illegal in most cases outside of the banking industry, and they use the money we've made through blood and sweat to "recapitalize" those hucksters (by recapitalize, I mean "award even more extravagant bonuses than ever to those who provide no tangible benefit to anyone besides themselves); then they tell us they have no other choice. They make backroom deals with each other to keep billionaires from paying their fair share in taxes, but make sure your taxes and my taxes help to ensure these corpulent vampires get richer and richer, so they might in turn throw them back chump change to fill their campaign coffers, or give them lucrative lobbying jobs when they retire (voluntarily, or not).

We the people stand idly by and let this happen. (Caveat: Tea Partiers, screw yourselves. You're equally complicit, if not more so. Evidence that corporations were pulling your puppet strings was more obvious and public than anytime in American history, and you ate it up like crack-laced chocolate).

There was a time when America and Americans championed those who would speak truth to power. There was a time when we Americans, once exposed to the lies and treachery of those who claim to be our leaders, would demand accountability and force those so-called leaders to accept responsibility for their transgressions. We would even accept the international shame of putting those failed leaders on trial (in a manner of speaking) for the sake of retaining our credibility and standing on the global stage.

America 2010? This is not the America I grew up in. In this America, we now have public and private figures in this country calling for the censorship of the free press, and for assassination of those willing to expose the lies and the treachery of the so-called leaders who continually sell us people out to the bidding of their corporate masters who finance their campaigns, those whose feet should literally be held to fire.

If this was the America I grew up in, we'd all be marching in the streets, protesting on campuses, risking tear gas and bullets, and demanding that we will not let ourselves be trodden on, nor abused by the privileged and powerful; we would instead show them all where the real power lies. The French had the courage to stand up for themselves over two hundred years ago, and Americans did too.

What are we Americans going to do now? Are we going to stand idly by and allow our leaders to sell us out to the highest bidders? Are we going to continue to allow our *leaders to send our loved ones into battle to die for principles they refuse to honor and uphold? Will we continue to allow our bloated nouveau riche (Palin, Beck, Hannity, Rush, O'Reilly) to pretend to be on our side while they rake in millions and millions of our dollars, all while pushing the agenda of their political and corporate masters?

OR!!!

Will we Americans actually do something about it?

Teabaggers - Ironic or Hypocritical...

...both, and also fun to make fun of.

(click to embiggen)

Animal Farm Friday - An Idiot, an Asshole, and a Cute Puppy