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Get hip, hippies.  Ya wanna beat back the raging Tide Of Assholes?  Use your available resources.

The State Of The Fourth Estate (updated 0952EDT)

...is pretty fucking bad.

"...I've seen scaffolding that covers congress better than you guys."

hat tip = Blue Virginia

And now this:

Listening to Bill O'Reilly out-gassing about how journalism is supposed to work is like being lectured on fire safety by Mrs O'Leary's cow.

Questions On Sunshine

Why do we need "outsiders" to make us see these things?  

And just how fucked up is the "American Press" when they miss this to the point of it being totally unknown to practically everybody?

How have we managed to forget that allowing government to operate in secret is always the best way to encourage Official Skullduggery?  Weren't we supposed to be the exception to all that?

hat tip = truthout

Friday Tunage

Rock On --David Essex

Can't You See --Marshall Tucker Band

I Hear You Knockin' --Dave Edmunds Band

Ticket To Ride --Beatles

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover --Paul Simon

It Bears Repeating

“Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home – but not for housing. They are strong for labor – but they are stronger for restricting labor’s rights. They favor minimum wage – the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all – but they won’t spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine – for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing – but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think the American standard of living is a fine thing – so long as it doesn’t spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.”  --Harry S Truman

I posted this one a while back - and I think I may have tagged it with something like:

Gee, the more things change, the more they (the Grifters-On-Parade) stay the same.  

If I didn't, I should've.

That Duck Schmuck

Phil Robertson's a piece of work, ain't he?

Morality is a rational thing that grows from an understanding of what it takes to live in a world with other people who have exactly the same rights and responsibilities that you have.

Those ISIS fuck wads have a god-given morality.  Jim Jones had a god-given morality.  David Koresh had a god-given morality. Jephthah had a god-given morality that led him to burn his daughter alive as a way of sucking up to that god.

I don't have a nice easy 10-word bumper sticker solution for the problems of ethics and morality, and it should be pretty obvious by now that we're not getting anywhere just listening to the voices in our heads and consulting with imaginary friends that turn out to be nuthin' but brainwave activity in our right temporal lobes.

So let's start fresh with something like this:

It takes a buncha work and a lotta thought, but ya gotta figure out how to live your life without needing your mommy or a cop or Jesus looking over your shoulder all the fucking time.

hat tip = Right Wing Watch

Today's Tune

Don't Fuck It Up --Linus Of Hollywood

hat tip = Little Green Footballs

A Woman's Right

I'm not a big Diane Feinstein fan, but when she earns cookies, I gotta give her cookies.

The meek-n-mild Appeal To Emotion by begging to be allowed to win just one after losing so many for so long ain't gonna cut much, but even tho' it's not a great argument, she kinda makes it stick by stealing the "deeply-held principle" angle.  Not a bad turnaround.

So OK - but here's what I'd really love to see (shit, I'd be glued to C-SPAN all day if I tho't this'd pop up once in a while):

CORNYN: Why shouldn't the law take exception to paying for abortions with tax dollars?

FEINSTEIN:  This isn't about your objections to using tax dollars in a way you find inappropriate - that's just a quickie handjob for a buncha rubes who think your "opposition to abortion" is actually a solid campaign promise instead of the Contribution Gravy Train we've all been riding for as long as anybody can even remember.  Look, I know you're not such a bad guy, but on this one thing, within this narrow focus, here it is: Fuck you - keep your fairy-tale religions out of this government, and keep your government out of my granddaughter's uterus.  Now, how 'bout we stop fuckin' around like this and let's get somethin' done for a fuckin' change?

I'll be emailing this post to my congress critters.  Feel free to do the same.

Shut Down The Fuck Barrel

When I see "police", I think "Sheriff".
And when I see [insert city name here],
I think "Nottingham".