Today's Pol Toon

hat tip = Democratic Underground

Some Tunes

Listen To The Music --Doobie Brothers





Your Savin' Grace --Steve Miller Band





The Warmth Of The Sun --Beach Boys





I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine --Ry Cooder





Alison --Elvis Costello





Carmelita --Warren Zevon





Can't Find My Way Home --Alison Krauss





Colorado --Flying Burrito Brothers

KO'd

I miss Keith's rants.



And I wonder why a smart guy like Stephen A Smith decides to say incredibly stupid shit like this:

I understand that Smith's main function at ESPN is Provocateur - the guy who gets paid "to say what nobody else has the balls to say on the air" (which sometimes just ends up being the SportsGab version of "both sides do it; let's hear the other side blah blah blah").  That's his niche, and he's good at it, and he's done quite well by it.

Smith got (rightly) slammed hard because his remarks sound a whole lot like Blame The Victim.

And he continues to get slammed (again rightly) for his stoopid-sounding attempts  "to set the record straight", which sounds like: "I love women; some of the people dearest to me are women; and all they need to do is not make me beat the fuck out of 'em."

This will be a long tweeted message, folks. So please stay with me and let me finish my complete thought before responding...b/c i'm ANNOYED

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

In discussing the Ray Rice ruling earlier today on @ESPN_FirstTake, me and@RealSkipBayless ventured into discussing domestic violence.

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

Upon hearing what I had to say, although admitting I could've been more articulate on the matter, let me be clear: I don't understand how on

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

earth someone could interpret that I somehow was saying women are to blame for domestic violence. And when I saw @MichelleDBeadle -- a

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

colleague I have profound respect for -- tweet what she tweeted, enough is enough. Something needs to be said right now.
REPEATEDLY i said:

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

There is absolutely no excuse to put your hands on a women. REPEATEDLY, I said dudes who do that need to be dealt with. REPEATEDLY, I echoed

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

when confronted by it in the past -- when someone was stupid enough to touch a loved one of this man, raised by 4 older sisters, a mom and

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

numerous female relatives and loved ones, that man was dealt with. From that point, I simply asked: now what about the other side.

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

If a man is pathetic and stupid enough to put his hands on a woman -- which I have NEVER DONE, btw -- of course he needs to pay the price.

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

Who on earth is denying that? But what about addressing women on how they can help prevent the obvious wrong being done upon them?

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

In no way was I accusing a women of being wrong. I was simply saying what that preventive measures always need to be addressed because

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

there's only but so much that can be done after the fact....once the damage is already done. Nothing more.
My apologies to @MichelleDBeadle

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

And any woman out there who misconstrued what I said. I have always -- and will always -- find violence against a women every bit as

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

horrific as women, themselves, find it. Always have. Always will, which my personal behavior exemplifies. I'll strive to be more articulate

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

in the future. But be clear, I wasn't BLAMING women for anything. I was simply saying to take all things into consideration for preventative

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

purposes. Period.

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 25, 2014

Yeah - kinda like Bull Connor saying, "We have lotsa negras down here; and we don't have a problem with 'em as long they don't do nuthin' that makes us turn the dogs and the fire hoses on 'em."

So maybe we're getting a little better at seeing thru the bullshit(?)  I dunno, but it looks like a feud is erupting inside the ESPN family and it'll be interesting to see how Management handles it.

Who Sez We Ain't Got No Songs?

God Fucks You Up --John R Butler





Fuck Me In Ass Because I Love Jesus --Garfunkel and Oates




More if I find any.

Nexus

Inquiring Minds:
The main focus is on trying to figure out what the real differences are between us politically; and how that knowledge is being used (IMHO) to drive us apart.



But don't forget to take a look at this:

Here's the link to the article in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

A team of Greek and German researchers has shown that the colours of sunsets painted by famous artists can be used to estimate pollution levels in the Earth’s past atmosphere. In particular, the paintings reveal that ash and gas released during major volcanic eruptions scatter the different colours of sunlight, making sunsets appear more red. The results are published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

When the Tambora volcano in Indonesia erupted in 1815, painters in Europe could see the colours of the sky changing. The volcanic ash and gas spewed into the atmosphere travelled the world and, as these aerosol particles scattered sunlight, they produced bright red and orange sunsets in Europe for up to three years after the eruption. J. M. W. Turner was one of the artists who painted the stunning sunsets during that time. Now, scientists are using his, and other great masters’, paintings to retrieve information on the composition of the past atmosphere.

“Nature speaks to the hearts and souls of great artists,” says lead-author Christos Zerefos, a professor of atmospheric physics at the Academy of Athens in Greece. “But we have found that, when colouring sunsets, it is the way their brains perceive greens and reds that contains important environmental information.”

Workplace Poetry

Thadra Sheridan

Button Poetry (on YouTube)

hat tip = Addicting Info

Friday Tunes

Mr Sandman --Emmy Lou, Dolly and Linda

Anna --Beatles

A Lover's Question --Loggins and Messina

I'll Be Gone --Amazing Rhythm Aces

Lies --JJ Cale





What Do You Want The Boy To Do? --Bonnie Raitt





I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You --Alan Parsons Project





Get It Right The First Time --Billy Joel





Every Night --Phoebe Snow

Let's All Point And Laugh

...at Ken Ham.

“Life did not evolve but was specially created by God, as Genesis clearly teaches. Christians certainly shouldn’t expect alien life to be cropping up across the universe,” he continued. “Now the Bible doesn’t say whether there is or is not animal or plant life in outer space. I certainly suspect not.”
But regardless of whether there was life in outer space, Ham asserted that it could not be truly “intelligent.”

“You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam’s sin, but because they are not Adam’s descendants, they can’t have salvation,” he explained. “Jesus did not become the ‘GodKlingon’ or the ‘GodMartian’! Only descendants of Adam can be saved. God’s Son remains the ‘Godman’ as our Savior.”

via Mock Paper Scissors and Raw Story:

Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta called Ham’s quest to end the space program “a new low even for him.”

“Jesus Christ, Ken Ham is talking about the eternal damnation of alien life forms,” Mehta wrote. “They’re all going to hell, apparently, and why go in search of life on other planets if they’re all doomed to a lake of fire?”

Kenny insists tho' that he didn't actually say aliens were all doomed to fry - all he says he said is that aliens can't possibly exist because Adam fucked it up for all mankind forever, and aliens aren't "mankind" so if they exist then they can't be saved because god made Earth for a special purpose and that means it's not possible for god to have made any intelligent life anywhere else...uh oh - Ken just said something's not possible for god.  Programming Glitch or Product Feature?

Do you think there might be a shitload of new traffic flooding Ken Ham's websites right now?  Is it unreasonable to make the radical assumption that he's not exactly sad (or surprised) about that?

I really don't mean to be quite the asshole it always seems I am when I ask this particular question of the Bible Thumpers who'll prob'ly flock to Ham's defense even when there's something so obviously Scammy about this whole thing - I just gotta ask the question:  Seriously, guys - are you that fuckin' stupid?

Today's Moronicity

Lil Brian (bless his heart) tries to make a point about how the sheriff's limited resources are being stretched too thin by helping all those dirty immigrant invaders who're busily destroying USAmerica Inc by trying not to get fucked over - or something.

So here's a question:  How do we fix the problem of underfunded border security when "conservatives" refuse to support funding for better border security?

It's just too fucking typical of the over-delegating under-thinking kind of hands-off "Modern Management Mindset" that always always always ends up saying, "We need you to improve all this mess, but make sure you don't change anything - and just let us know what you need, as long as it's nothing".

These jag-offs wanna slag Obama with some bullshit about "leadership"?

PS) I'm betting there's a fair probability that somebody's good buddy/brother-in-law is putting together a really great private-sector (or even better, a public/private) solution that promises amazing results at the low low price of about 2 1/2 times what it'll cost us if we just figure out a coupla ways to treat people like people instead of using them as political theater props in order to turn their hardship into corporate profit.

No soul and no honor.

Today's Pix

Newly Discovered

I stumbled upon this website while scanning thru a piece at AlterNet.org:

It may be easy to draw a caricature of a "quack” as a cross between the ShamWow pitchman and an alchemist, but they’re really not so easy to spot. Modern-day quacks often cherry-pick science and use what suits them as semantic backdrop to fool unsuspecting consumers. Quacks may dazzle people with fanciful research studies or scare them with intimidating warnings before trying to peddle products that make unreasonable promises. And those who use these alternative, unproven products may forego treatments that would be more likely to help them.

In short, quackery is dangerous. It promotes fear, devalues legitimate science and can destroy lives. Here are the four biggest quacks giving dubious health advice in the media and some samples of their detrimental advice.

Science-Based Medicine:

Science-Based Medicine is dedicated to evaluating medical treatments and products of interest to the public in a scientific light, and promoting the highest standards and traditions of science in health care. Online information about alternative medicine is overwhelmingly credulous and uncritical, and even mainstream media and some medical schools have bought into the hype and failed to ask the hard questions.

We provide a much needed “alternative” perspective — the scientific perspective.

Good science is the best and only way to determine which treatments and products are truly safe and effective. That idea is already formalized in a movement known as evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM is a vital and positive influence on the practice of medicine, but it has limitations and problems in practice: it often overemphasizes the value of evidence from clinical trials alone, with some unintended consequences, such as taxpayer dollars spent on “more research” of questionable value. The idea of SBM is not to compete with EBM, but a call to enhance it with a broader view: to answer the question “what works?” we must give more importance to our cumulative scientific knowledge from all relevant disciplines.

SBM’s authors are all medically trained and have spent years writing for the public about science and medicine, tirelessly advocating for high scientific standards in health care.

Steve Shives - Good News

Steve's YouTube Channel

Flip The View

Another'n?





One More



(hat tip = Facebook friend RS)

Meet Your Fellow Travelers

If you're ready to start bunkin' in with the Tea Party (aka: GOP Mainstream wannabes), then you need to know who some of these jokers are, and what they're all about.



It's about the power.  The new meme (even here in Exceptional USAmerica Inc, where we're supposed to do it differently) is "nobody just hands you the power; you have to take it".  Thru intimidation and threat, or by legal wrangling or by the actual application of force, you take power; you don't request it, and you don't play nice.

And the whole "democracy in action" thing?  There's a pretty big and important faction of "conservatives" who seem to think an election is little more than window dressing - a good way to distract the rubes so they don't notice they're gettin' fucked with their pants on.  They allow us to go thru the motions of voting, and they hang bunting from every lamp post, and we have to listen to every sappy-crappy tune that ever fell out of Nashville's ass as we fight the parade traffic trying to get to the polls - all because the pig they're peddling requires a shitload of lipstick.  Ever wonder why the Yippies wanted to crash the convention in Chicago so they could nominate Pigasus?  That wasn't a stunt so much as it was Political Prophesy.

Anyway, moving on to a little development from here in Virginia, Ken (Kenny the Kooch) Cuccinelli is among the latest failed wingnut candidates (who'll never get elected to anything again because they don't really wanna get elected because wingnut welfare is a much better-paying gig than anything Da Gubmint has to offer); Kooch clings desperately to what's left of his political relevance by coming out with this thoroughly upside down and backwards little gem. (hat tip = Blue Virginia):

Because ya just can't get pure enough.  The whole world is corrupt and evil 'cept for you and me - and I'm beginnin' to wonder about you.

This Is Your Brain

Child's brain:

Teenager Brain:

Honeymoon Brain:

Church Brain:

Thinking Brain:

War Brain:

Birthday Brain:

Party Brain:

Hangover Brain: