A Sensible Position Statement

Finally - a Dem with enough starch in his britches to stand up and say it straight out and for real.  Never mind that he's on his way out and so he risks absolutely nothing if he actually tells the fucking truth for a change, but hey - I can give the guy one last Atta Boy:

"Every dollar that we spend on fossil fuel development and use is another dollar we spend digging the graves of our grandchildren. And I'm not going to be a part of it anymore. I'm through."  -- Sen Tom Harkin, D-IA

hat tip = Democratic Underground

And So It Begins

New Xmas music From Kristen Bell, backed by Straight No Chaser:

Here Comes The Sun

On day 3 of a weather cycle that seems determined to destroy the resilience of even the cheeriest among us - science, muthuhfuckuh:

The surface of the sun from October 14th to 30th, 2014, showing sunspot AR 2192, the largest sunspot of the last two solar cycles (22 years). During this time sunspot AR 2191 produced six X-class and four M-class solar flares. 

The animation shows the sun in the ultraviolet 304 ångström wavelength, and plays at a rate of 52.5 minutes per second. It is composed of more than 17,000 images, 72 GB of data produced by the solar dynamics observatory (sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov) + (helioviewer.org). 

This animation has been rendered in 4K, and resized to the Youtube maximum resolution of 3840×2160. The animation has been rotated 180 degrees so that south is “up”. 

The audio is the ‘heartbeat’ of the sun, processed from SOHO HMI data by Alexander G. Kosovichev. Image data courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.”Image processing and animation by James Tyrwhitt-Drake.

To use this video in a commercial player or in broadcasts, please email licensing@storyful.com

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

Give It A Try

Lamenting the dearth of good solid "librul" radio, Driftglass and BlueGal mentioned this on The Professional Left podcast today:

Netroots Radio

Friday Music (updated at 7:25 pm EST)

A quickie.

The Book Of Right On (cover) --Sarah Jarosz




And some Jackson Browne too:

Obama Hits Back

If only.

Sauce For Ganders

Seems like every time I get into any debate on any subject with any "conservative", it's all but inevitable for that "conservative" to tell me I really just want "the nanny state" to take care of me.

It's a tough one to rebut because it takes time (which the opponent doesn't give you), and you have to string a buncha things together (which the opponent insists on disrupting); it requires a bit of thought (which the opponent seldom allows himself to do), and assumes a fundamental level of knowledgeability (which the opponent refuses to acquire).

So here's the thing:  "What's the difference between my Nanny State and your Daddy State?"

You claim I want to be taken care of by a government that will meet my every need by stealing from somebody else.

At the same time, you say I shouldn't be involved in the decisions being made regarding what happens to me and mine; I should just shut up and go along with whatever you and your coin-operated politicians think I should be willing to kiss your ass for; and BTW - the stuff your Daddy State is handing to you and your guys is the stuff you're stealing from me and my guys, so go shit in your hat.

Need one more?  Both sides, motherfucker.  Since both sides do it; both sides are the same; both sides are to blame for whatever it is we wanna piss and moan about right now - well if the Nanny State's a thing, then the Daddy State has to be a thing too.  Booyah.

The Real Outrage

Olbermann brings it - and nothing will ever be the same.

It Just Ain't Healthy

Mashing up Christianism and Patriotism and Militarism - then taking impressionable young men and training them to put aside their instincts for compassion and kindness - and then arming them to the teeth and turning them loose in a place halfway around the world where they don't speak the language and the native culture is a complete mystery to them - what could possibly go wrong?



This is not (and never was) only about the wounds we can see - the savagery of war is trained into the minds of the people we send to fight it.  There's no way we can justify feeling shocked or appalled or somehow indignant when we find out some of these people have done what we've told them to do.

And let's try not to pretend these veterans can come home and "be normal" - nobody comes out of a war not fucked up way or another, civilians included.

The First Black Prez