Good Morning, Everybody

...and fuck you, NSA.

Rest o' y'all, have a great day.

Fuck You, NSA

I just wanna give a good solid shout-out to my government, as it wastes an enormous amount of their time and my money looking for shit they can hang on people who have nothing more nefarious in mind than fixing a decent meal for their families, and knowing something about the world they live in.

A New York woman says her family's interest in the purchase of pressure cookers and backpacks led to a home visit by six police investigators demanding information about her job, her husband's ancestry and the preparation of quinoa.

Michele Catalano, who lives in Long Island, New York, said her web searches for pressure cookers, her husband's hunt for backpacks and her "news junkie" son's craving for information on the Boston bombings had combined somewhere in the internet ether to create a "perfect storm of terrorism profiling".

Members of what she described as a "joint terrorism task force" descended on Catalano's home on Wednesday.

I may have to post just that simple loving phrase every day - I may even have to answer my phone with a good hearty "Fuck the NSA", like a lot of us used to say "Fuck the FBI" back in the 70s - and I say 'loving' because just like practically everybody else, I truly love this joint which means I have to insist on expecting my government to live up to the ideals it was founded on.  I want us all - together - to be the country we know we once were, and can be again.

So yeah - Fuck You, NSA.  Here I am.  Come and get me.

Loser Sosh'list Dweebs

According to this piece from The Pachamama Alliance website, the idiots in the Swedish gubmint put together a program that's become so efficient, they've run out of garbage.

Of course here in God's USAmerica, we'd never allow such a thing - there's a not-so-subtle (even if subconcious) attempt to flaunt our status by making sure the neighbors can see the evidence of our latest acquisition, or the sheer volume of the shit we discard, cuz everybody knows the success of your lifestyle is directly proportional to the amount of trash you put out at the curb every week.

In order to continue fueling the waste-to-energy factories that provide electricity to a quarter of a million homes and 20 percent of the entire country’s district heating, Sweden is now importing trash from the landfills of other European countries. In fact, those countries are paying Sweden to do so.

You read that correctly, countries are paying to get rid of a source of fuel they themselves produced so that Sweden can continue to have the energy output they need. You don’t have to be an economist to know that’s one highly enviable energy model.

Why do we insist on being the Capital of Dumb-Ass-istan?

Just Thinkin'

Each of my eyes is made up of about 6 million cells, and each of those cells is made up of about 100 trillion atoms.

Add the hundreds of trillions of atoms that make up all the other cells just in the rest of my Central Nervous System, and you get a number that's as difficult to comprehend as the universe itself.

But consider this:  every one of those atoms was created in the core of a star billions of years ago.  And now, those atoms making up the cells making up my eyes allow me to capture and analyze and appreciate the energies released from the same process that went into creating my ability to capture and analyze and appreciate...

Like the man said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."

Yeesh

While we're feeling dewy and inspired by how plucky and brave these guys are, let's try to avoid thinking this isn't just supremely disheartening.



Yes - it's both.  But why the fuck do we think it's OK to put people thru this kind of hell? Do we really believe it's good for a thousand people to have to live like feral dogs in order to give 30 kids a small shot at making it outa there alive?  This 'tough-love-pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps' bullshit is exactly that - it's bullshit.

Here's a tho't: let's stop dumping our garbage on people and then pretending that's what makes 'em good people.  Imagine where these folks could take themselves if they didn't have to start in the shitter.

Tea Party Logic

via Wonkette:

“I am upset at the cost” [$2.4 million], Representative Giovanni Capriglione, a Tea Party Republican from Southlake, told the Star-Telegram. “I think we need to remember why we are having this extra special session. One state senator, in an effort to capture national attention, forced this special session.

“I firmly believe that Sen. Wendy Davis should reimburse the taxpayers for the entire cost of the second special session. I am sure that she has raised enough money at her Washington, D.C., fundraiser to cover the cost.”

Because "democracy" should be available only to those who can pay the admin costs out of their own checking accounts, or of course, from the slush fund they set up in the shell organization hidden in their Super PAC.

Follow The Money Indeed

This is my Rep in Congress - the "honorable" Robert Hurt:

Here's a quick look at Mr Hurt's top 10 contributor sectors, and - merely by the wildest of happenstance - why Lil Bobbie sits on the Banking and Finance Committee:

Anybody surprised?  Yeah, I didn't think you would be.

No soul and no honor.

Find out about your Rep at MapLight

Today's Pol Toon

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

This little spiel (the part that matters IMO) from Pat Robertson is a near-perfect example of the classic "after this therefore because of this" argument.

1) The Roman Empire fell apart
2) Some of the Romans had "porno" murals on their walls depicting all kinds of sex acts (which Mr Robertson apparently disapproves of)
And so, without benefit of any actual fact, or cause-and-effect link, the attitude of some of the Romans that sex should be free and fun is what led directly to the fall of Rome.



And of course, that's exactly what's happening in USAmerica right now because of all the LGBTs who think they shouldn't be fucked over and treated like a buncha skeevy dogs.

What a complete doofus this guy is.

Wanna know one reason the Roman Empire fell apart and doesn't exist now?  Cuz a lot of crazy shit happened over about 300 years, and a lot of assholes convinced a lot of Roman Rubes that all of their problems (and all of the solutions for those problems) could be boiled down to a few simple 10-word phrases that could be neatly scratched into the ass end of their ox carts.

Need one more?  OK, try this one - sex was a big part of Roman Religious Tradition.  So following your logic, you're saying the Roman Empire was destroyed because they believed more in their religion than they did in their civil government.

Try listening to what you're actually saying once in a while, Patsy - and then get over your fuckin' self.

Finally Back - With Today's Pix