Dec 8, 2011
News Poodles
DumFux News viewers got an eyeful recently. (hat tip = Democratic Underground)
Some points of emphasis:
First, Eva Golinger's comments starting at about 1:45.
Second, CNN screwed up on some of its coverage too, but they aired the appropriate correction/apology.
Third, DumFux News, of course, made no such attempts to correct the record that I've been able to find (and the original video has mysteriously disappeared from foxnews.com). Which very much reinforces my assertion that when you see this shit on DumFux News, it's no mistake.
New Music
By way of a friend in Oregon (Steve Pancoast - Piece of the Wind):
He referred to this young woman as his niece, but with Pancoast, ya never really know. Doesn't matter. This video is the best I could find, and while the production values are sketchy, the talent of the players is pretty obvious. And you can follow the link at the bottom to Amazon and sample the tunes as produced in studio.
He referred to this young woman as his niece, but with Pancoast, ya never really know. Doesn't matter. This video is the best I could find, and while the production values are sketchy, the talent of the players is pretty obvious. And you can follow the link at the bottom to Amazon and sample the tunes as produced in studio.
Dec 7, 2011
Post Racial Debunked
As if anybody paying any attention at all needs to be convinced or reminded, all mutterings about how "we elected a black guy president and that means we've all gotten over that whole racism thing now" can be officially stamped HORSESHIT.
And a great rundown at Balloon Juice (includes video from The Rachel Maddow Show).
Blacks have had the poorest chance of receiving the president's ultimate act of mercy, according to an analysis of previously unreleased records and related data.
Current and former officials at the White House and Justice Department said they were surprised and dismayed by the racial disparities, which persist even when factors such as the type of crime and sentence are considered.The full story at Pro Publica.
"I'm just astounded by those numbers," said Roger Adams, who served as head of the Justice Department's pardons office from 1998 to 2008. He said he could think of nothing in the office's practices that would have skewed the recommendations. "I can recall several African Americans getting pardons."
And a great rundown at Balloon Juice (includes video from The Rachel Maddow Show).
Selectively Predictive
Once upon a time, we heard a lot of blather from the "right" about what we could infer about future events, based on our observations of things happening in a certain place, at a certain time, and in a certain order.
My example here is when Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice were always going on about "the obvious nexus" of Al-Qaeda, Iraq, and WMD. They put these things together like the pieces of a matched set, and they used it to sell a specific plan of action.
Not to shift gears too abruptly here, but how come the rubes are always willing to buy all the phony shit using the Nexus Argument, and then completely ignore something that's real, and should be just as obvious about the Nexus of Economic Desperation and Access to Firearms?
From Crooks and Liars:
My example here is when Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice were always going on about "the obvious nexus" of Al-Qaeda, Iraq, and WMD. They put these things together like the pieces of a matched set, and they used it to sell a specific plan of action.
Not to shift gears too abruptly here, but how come the rubes are always willing to buy all the phony shit using the Nexus Argument, and then completely ignore something that's real, and should be just as obvious about the Nexus of Economic Desperation and Access to Firearms?
From Crooks and Liars:
The 38-year-old woman entered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission office in downtown Laredo on Monday afternoon and demanded to speak to a supervisor, said investigator Joe Baeza of the Laredo Police Department.
The woman, whom he declined to identify, pulled out a handgun and started walking through the office, threatening several employees, he said.And now there are 2 motherless kids in critical condition in a Texas hospital.
Blind Zealotry
Loudoun County in Northern Virginia is a wealthy, and oh so 'conservative' DC suburb - and the sense of Entitled Victimhood is sometimes just a little overwhelming. Especially when that feeling makes you miss the fucking point entirely.
From Leesburg Today (hat tip to Wonkette):
Read the story and be amazed.
From Leesburg Today (hat tip to Wonkette):
"I am very upset with what has happened here with this holiday as have been since several holidays ago. This is Christmas," Bill Rusciolelli said. Rusciolelli said he "respects the decision for people to petition and be allowed to represent their beliefs," but said it went too far when displays are allowed that mock religion and religious beliefs of many residents.
Leesburg attorney and father of three, Jack Hanssen said he believed if the board knew what would result, the language governing the displays would have been written differently, and added that the crucified Santa is a "direct attack" on religion.
It is certainly about as close as you come to a burning cross as I have ever seen," he said.
Read the story and be amazed.
Occupy Explained
From Mother Jones:
Americans are not opposed to the rich getting richer—as John Steinbeck is said to have noted, "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." But this prospect only satisfies so long as people believe that with luck and hard work, their ship, or at least their kids' ship, may some day come in. In a system overrun by piracy—a system in which the pirates also, sorry to stretch the metaphor, run the Navy—the dream becomes hard to sustain.
Dec 6, 2011
Seemed Like A Good Idea
Occupy Melbourne protesters seemed to have hit on a way to thwart efforts to evict them from the park by wearing their tents as clothing.
The police had other ideas.
If mayors and police chiefs would stop giving Occupiers something to push back against, the thing would most likely just fizzle and die. I guess authoritarians aren't equipped to understand that.
Another War Of Independence
From Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic:
If I look at the Civil War in that light, I can take the circumstances leading up to the American Revolution and the Civl War and the Labor Riots and The 30s and The 60s; overlay them onto what's been bubbling up since the 2008 Implosion, and I can see a truer meaning of the phrase "freedom ain't free".
Remember that it's never about what the popular narrative tell us it's about.
In our present time, to express the view of the enslaved—to say that the Civil War was a significant battle in the long war against bondage and for government by the people—is to compromise the comfortable narrative. It is to remind us that some of our own forefathers once explicitly rejected the republic to which they’d pledged themselves, and dreamed up another country, with slavery not merely as a bug, but as its very premise. It is to point out that at this late hour, the totems of the empire of slavery—chief among them, its flag—still enjoy an honored place in the homes, and public spaces, of self-professed patriots and vulgar lovers of “freedom.” It is to understand what it means to live in a country that will never apologize for slavery, but will not stop apologizing for the Civil War.Coates describes the Civil War being characterized as a tragedy in the white-folk narrative, but points out that it was, in fact, the War For Freedom for black-folk (more broadly, a step towards a more perfect union, but when the main cause is slavery and the main outcome is freedom for black-folk, then it's not a big stretch).
If I look at the Civil War in that light, I can take the circumstances leading up to the American Revolution and the Civl War and the Labor Riots and The 30s and The 60s; overlay them onto what's been bubbling up since the 2008 Implosion, and I can see a truer meaning of the phrase "freedom ain't free".
Remember that it's never about what the popular narrative tell us it's about.
Hacked By Iran
So here's something I hope somebody on our side's been working on really hard.
From Empty Wheel:
I've been worried that "our enemies" would develop a way to deliver an EMP device into the general vicinity of over-flying American aircraft, which would disable the avionics (for even a short time), which would result in our planes falling from the sky in large numbers.
Now I see we have a fuckload more to worry about. Ain't that just won-fuckin'-derful?
It's the dawning of a New Golden Age of Paranoid Isolation in America.
(hat tip = The Agonist)
From Empty Wheel:
I’ve been saying for some time that America’s hubris about drones will end as soon as one of our antagonists figures out how to hack them.
Which is why it’s interesting that Iran has updated its claims to have “shot down” an American drone to suggest they had “brought it down.” (Note, I found this statement on the Mehr website, but not the Fars one.)And won't it be interesting in a few years (maybe a lot sooner) when we start to hear about the need to build a defensive shield capable of shooting down enemy drones which could be launched from any seemingly innocuous vessel from a few miles off the shores of Virginia or New York or or or.
I've been worried that "our enemies" would develop a way to deliver an EMP device into the general vicinity of over-flying American aircraft, which would disable the avionics (for even a short time), which would result in our planes falling from the sky in large numbers.
Now I see we have a fuckload more to worry about. Ain't that just won-fuckin'-derful?
It's the dawning of a New Golden Age of Paranoid Isolation in America.
(hat tip = The Agonist)
Can You Say, "Surrender Monkey"?
Sad, but the fact that the guy (apparently) speaks French pretty well will prob'ly hurt him with some of the GOP Faithful who'll have to vote for him if he's gonna win in the primaries. Of course, it's always fun to watch the rubes struggle with a little cognitive dissonance - so there's that. Yeah.
(hat tip = The Agonist)
Dec 5, 2011
The Tyranny Of Capitalism
Separation of Powers was the great new idea that made the US Constitution one of the best things ever. Here's a pretty good look at how easy it is to slide back into a system that has always ended up having to be overthrown by violent rebellion.
Part 1(at about 5:30 - the main point): Part 2 isn't up yet. Watch for it at The Real News.
Part 1(at about 5:30 - the main point): Part 2 isn't up yet. Watch for it at The Real News.
WTF, Mr Holder?
Dec 4, 2011
Pot Cracks
I didn't know you could be fired for "personal views that were contrary..."
From newser.com: Cops Fired For Opposing War On Drugs
The whole concept of Loyal Opposition seems lost in this country. It's more than just possible for a guy to be against The Policy you've told him to implement, AND be able to execute the plan as if was his own. It happens every day in every organization you can name. In this case, it's the people wearing the badges - the ones who're at the broken end of the bottle every day - who know the most about how The Policy translates out in the real world. We need to be listening to them very closely - not firing them for telling us the truth.
And one other minor point: Something you really DON'T want in an organization that's armed to the teeth and authorized to use deadly force, is a bunch of gung-ho gonzo goons runnin' around lookin' for an excuse to go off on somebody.
From newser.com: Cops Fired For Opposing War On Drugs
The whole concept of Loyal Opposition seems lost in this country. It's more than just possible for a guy to be against The Policy you've told him to implement, AND be able to execute the plan as if was his own. It happens every day in every organization you can name. In this case, it's the people wearing the badges - the ones who're at the broken end of the bottle every day - who know the most about how The Policy translates out in the real world. We need to be listening to them very closely - not firing them for telling us the truth.
And one other minor point: Something you really DON'T want in an organization that's armed to the teeth and authorized to use deadly force, is a bunch of gung-ho gonzo goons runnin' around lookin' for an excuse to go off on somebody.
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