Friday Groove

Let It Roll

(headphones recommended for the Zeppelin cut - #2 - cuz it's freaky, man)

Today's Quote

Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want. — Jonathan Swift

And just to move things along, we need to be able to think about these issues beyond the sentiments of the quotes and the bumper stickers and the memes.

We can fill our heads with righteous indignation when "conservatives" spout the usual blaming bullshit about the "Professionally Poor", and we should be pissed about that, but we should be pissed about that because it's a tactic of deflection - it puts us in a position that makes us look like we're defending "waste fraud and abuse", which legitimizes an almost-totally illegitimate argument.

Waste Fraud and Abuse accounts for about .001% of total expenditure (not that we know with any precision cuz - you know, people need to hide that shit).  Anyway, it goes up some - sometimes getting as high as 1 whole percent on individual programs - but it's nothing near what "conservatives" love to fantasize about.  But that still means you're defending against a phantom threat.  Stop doing that. 

And don't get bogged down when they shift to The Tyranny Of Large Numbers crap either.  Yes, 1 or 2 percent of a humungous number is still a very large number - until you divide that very large number by that other very large number - poor people who just need a little fucking help, asshole. You're gonna get all bent outa shape because some guy scraped an extra 82 bucks out of the system's gutter just so his kids had a decent breakfast once in a while? Well ain't you just chock full of the spirit of Christian love and charity.

But that's not the point either.  The point is that when we're on the defensive like that, we miss the opportunity to point out that Waste Fraud and Abuse is what the big guys have built into the system to benefit themselves; and what the small-to-medium sized guys can take advantage of as well (so they can feel smart too), while they're all soaking up the tax dollars intended to help people who actually need the help. And here's the kicker on that part: these jokers are happy to throw a few crumbs at the poor because they can use that tiny bit of tax money to fuel the judgmental hypocrisy of Wingnut Autocrats and their army of Orcs rubes. 

Waste Fraud and Abuse is what happens when Archer Daniels Midland puts half-a-billion tax dollars in its pocket, and then hides behind a human shield that Coin-Operated Congress Critters get paid handsomely to refer to as Moochers or Welfare Queens.

These people have no soul and no honor. Stop helping them.

About That Loss Thing

A little poem for my own bad self on my own special day, cuz living can seem like it's all about loss.



You're not a kid who gets to spend hours throwing dirt clods at a stick in the irrigation ditch
That's lost.

You're not a bullet-proof teenager with 4 bucks and a badly rolled blunt in his pocket, looking to score some Coors
That's lost.

You're not gonna be a football star
You're not gonna be among the legends of rock-n-roll
You're not gonna be the greatest cocksman who ever strolled thru a singles joint
That's lost.

You're not gonna be a boy-genius jillionaire
You're not in the Sweet Spot Demographic anymore
You're not your sisters' brother
You're not your mom's baby boy
You're not the loving husband
You're not the pride on your dad's face when you played well
All gone. 
Lost.

Living has a nasty tendency to pare you down
To carve away everything that's not you
Til there's nothing left but you
It isn't amazing that you managed to survive all that
It's a little amazing how stridently you've resisted becoming who you need to be

Today's GIF

Each day it seems like we get one more taste of just how FUBAR the GOP is. And each day, we think, "Well, it can't get any worse than this shit right here". And each day, it fucking gets worse.

So screw it. Here's today's Republican Party In One Brilliant Insight (du jour)

 

Today's Pix

 

Today's Quote

Almost Forgot

Ben Carson dropped out of the GOP race 4 or 5 days ago and, in keeping with how most people regard his general demeanor, I didn't even notice.

So I guess we're kinda into the quarter-finals now.

Today's Poem

Medicine Woman --Cheryl Savageau

medicine woman they call me
as if I should like it
like the kids in school
who called me little white dove
from some stupid song
about one more Indian woman
jumping to her death
how come you have an animal name?
they asked me, how come?
and I went home to ask my father
how come, Dad, how come
I have an animal name?

now white women come into my shop
and ask me to bless their houses
(what's wrong with them, I want to ask)
name their grandchildren
(do I know your daughters?)
blow some smoke around
say some words, do
whatever it is you do
we want someone spiritual -
you're Indian, right?

right. my tongue is held
by their grey hair
they are grandmothers
deserving of respect
and so I speak
as gently as I can
you'd let me, a stranger
come into your home, I ask
let me touch
your new grandchild
let me name
the baby
anything
that comes into my head?
I am not believing this
but they are smiling
and tell me again
we want someone spiritual
to do it

I write to my father
how come you never
told me who we are, where
we came from?

Women keep coming into my shop
putting stones in my hands
Can you feel that? they ask
Of course I can feel it
I'm not dead, but that
is not the right answer

My father writes back
the garden is doing good
the corn is up
there's lots of butterflies
all I know is
we come from the stars

Today's Day

International Women's Day

My mom. From the typeset plate for the front page of the Arvada Citizen-Sentinel Jan'77#InternationalWomensDay pic.twitter.com/digTj9lYNS

— Mike Roberts (@EvilleMike) March 8, 2016

Samantha Bee

I like Trevor Noah and I want him to do well, and I want the suits to stay with him until he can get his feet under himself, but seriously, Comedy Central's got the wrong guy hosting The Daily Show.

Colbert And The Dongald

I wanna stop being part of the problem, but I can't helping thinking that part of the solution is to make sure more and more people have to look at what a 3rd rate burlesque show the GOP has become.  And to remind the Repub voters that this is what they've been asking for all along.  Trump, Cruz, Rubio - these are their guys.

And then this from College Humor:

Today's GIF

What We Really Need

"... are fewer people who think there's one single thing that will solve all of our problems ..."

Lily Eskelsen, NEA President:

Gimme what we'll spend the next several years on a coupla fully-loaded Ford class aircraft carriers, and I'll turn every public school in this joint into a fucking palace.  Not by painting the walls and landscaping the parking lots, but by helping the people who struggle sometimes just to survive in the neighborhoods where those schools are. 

You can't fix the schools if you don't fix the neighborhoods.  And you can't fix the neighborhoods without giving people solid reasons to believe we're not gonna turn our backs on them and allow their kids to be mangled and pulverized by the cycle of poverty ignorance and crime. 

Oddly Not Godly

The Sedlec Ossuary located in the suburbs of the medieval town of Kutná Hora in Czech Republic is one of the most unusual chapels. Decorated with more than 40.000 human skeletons, the medieval gothic church is also known as the Church of Bones.

Not to be overly generalize-y, but you're not gonna convince me that most of this churchy shit isn't really just a death cult rebranded.

Monday Pix