Today's Pix (and shit)

Hey - Wow

The federal deficit is down almost 60% since Obama took office.

We take you now to practically every major media outlet for coverage of this important breaking story:

Today's Toon

Save Our Dead Zones!

It's All In Your Head

(paraphrasing) "If you understand the psychology of the Big Mac, then you understand why we believe in god"

Andy Thomson:



Check it out - richarddawkins.net

Today's Pix (and a toon)

Your Moment Of Clarity

Lee Camp:



The last I heard today, DMX was ready to sign on, and the promoter was working on the deal.

(CNN) -- Let's get ready to ... mumble.

As in, what now, George Zimmerman?

Seems like the former neighborhood watchman has found yet another way to remain in the public limelight.

This time, he'll be stepping into a boxing ring. Although no contract has been signed, a promoter is negotiating with rapper DMX to fight him, according to the promoter and a rep for DMX.

I wonder what (usually) happens to a doughy-white-boy-wanna-be-tough-guy when he has to put it on the line.



Dude, you just got your ass kicked by Todd Bridges - the guy who couldn't even win a verbal fight with Gary Coleman.

Another Day

...another political phony.  Meet Jason Priest - a Repub (wow, there's a surprise) State Senator in Montana:

From Addicting Info:

Jason Priest, a ‘pro-marriage’, ‘family values’ republican state senator from Montana was arrested on February 1, 2014. The charges included domestic assault and resisting arrest. According to KTVQ.com, out of Billings, Montana, the Senator is accused of using force against his wife, as well as fighting with a police officer.

Yeesh

Angry about being pissed off about being outraged about being manipulated into being irked...

Any wonder why so many people just reject everything and try to walk away from it all?



The New Colossus --Emma Lazarus, 1883

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

It's All For Show

I'm with Tommy Jeff on this one.  Mr Jefferson disliked the notion of the Prez delivering a speech to Congress so much that he decided to send it in a letter instead. 112 years later, politicians started to realize the PR value of it all, and of course over the last 100 years, it's been allowed to degenerate into the usual and customary exercise in advertising and media manipulation.

From DecodeDC:

Comic Jesus

You can't make god laugh cuz ya can't surprise him - no such thing as the unexpected with an all-everything god.  He  knows what's going to happen before it happens, and he already knows all the punchlines.  Kinda makes for a lousy audience.

Told Ya

Farmed And Dangerous Promo

Today's Pix

First Labor - Then Capital

Big hat tip to The KrugMan

This is kind of funny: Eric Cantor feels the need to explain to his fellow Republican legislators that most Americans not only don’t own their own businesses, they have no desire to own their own businesses. It’s a message he’s apparently having a hard time getting across.

But I’m surprised that none of the commentary I’ve seen mentions Cantor’s own infamous tweet on Labor Day 2012, when he took the occasion to honor … business owners:

   Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.

 From The Washington Monthly link in Krugman's piece:

The deeper problem is that most conservatives simply do not believe wage-slaves contribute anything that matters to the economy. And this, as Paul Waldman notes at the Prospect today, reflects and reinforces a moral valuation of Americans as divided into producers and parasites:

   We all believe that some people are just more important than others, and for conservatives, no one is more important than business owners. Remember how gleeful they were when President Obama said “you didn’t build that” when discussing businesses during the 2012 campaign? Sure, he was taken out of context (he was talking about roads and bridges, not the businesses themselves), but Republicans genuinely believed they had found the silver bullet that would take him down. He had disrespected business owners! Surely all America would be enraged and cast him from office! They made it the theme of their convention. They printed banners. They wrote songs about it. And they were bewildered when it didn’t work….

--and--

But if your mindset is such that the only alternative to deification (Waldman’s term) of big business is deification of small business, it will be difficult for you to develop an agenda attractive to people who don’t own businesses at all, particularly if that requires acknowledgement that labor contributes as much to the success of enterprises as capital. Abandon that rampart, and before you know it, you’re acknowledging the legitimacy not only of government regulation of entrepreneurs on behalf of their empoyees, but of unions! And that way lies socialism, obviously.

Some Alternatives Are Worse Than Others

There's no such thing as Alternative Medicine.  If a therapy has been properly tested and proven effective, then we just call it 'Medicine'.

That's not to say you shouldn't do something if it makes you feel better, but the first order of business is to be skeptical - let's be careful out there.



Here's the guy's website: What's The Harm?

Monday Morning Tunage

The Journey --Tommy Emmanuel

Ouch

If ya saw my post from yesterday, you may have tho't I'm not the football freak that I actually am.   Football's my game, but it really bothers me when it gets all mashed up with the US military and god-bothering and compulsory patriotism and hyper consumerism and a need to see ourselves in soft-focus that strikes me as more than just a little creepy; I guess it just seems like we're putting all those things together and synthesizing a kind of national religion, and it bugs me.

Speaking of bugs - I don't recall seeing this, but they tell me it ran last nite:



BTW - I grew up hating to love the Broncos because it seemed like they were always just good enough to break your heart (SB #'s 32 and 33 notwithstanding of course), and last night was a good example.  Denver has now lost more Super Bowls than any other team, and they're the proud owners of 3 out of the top 4 blowout losses in Super Bowl history.  That's my guys.

What We'll Prob'ly Not See Today

Today is the climax of the Festival In Superbowl-y Triumph, when the entire world can enjoy watching America FIST-ing itself on hi-def TV, thanks almost solely to a squad of Corporate Slags who'll give 3 or 4 million dollars to some other Corporate Slags to air a 30-second spot, placed by even more Corporate Slags at the ad agencies who've been whipping the armies of minimum-wage interns mornin' noon and night in order to come up with the little gems that we'll be raving about for a good two weeks, while we're slaving away to make the money we'll need to give to the beer companies and the insurance companies and the car companies and the sports franchises (and to the governments so they can give even more to those companies and franchises in direct and indirect ways) - just so we come right back here next year and do it all over again.  America - 'cuz FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's one piece that I'm betting didn't make the cut.

Saturday Nite Tune

Wilco (NPR Tiny Desk Concert)

Dawned On Me
Whole Love

Born Alone

War On War

Saturday Nite Tune

Goin' Down --The Monkees  (yes, those Monkees)




Floatin' down the river
With a saturated liver
And I wish I could forgive her
But I do believe she meant it
When she told me to forget it
And I bet she will regret it
When they find me in the morning wet and drowned
And the word gets 'round
Goin' down
Goin' down

Coming' up for air
It's pretty stuffy under there
I'd like to say I didn't care
But I forgot to leave a note
And it's so hard to stay afloat
I'm soakin' wet without a boat
And I knew I should have taken off my shoes
It's front page news
Goin' down
Goin' down

I wish I had another drink
It wouldn't be so hard to sink
I should have taken time to think
Besides I got the picture straight
She must have had another date
I didn't need this extra weight
I wish that I could see the way to shore
Don't want no more
Goin' down
I'm goin' down

And now I see the life I led
I slept it all away in bed
I should have learned to swim instead
And now it's really got me stumped
I can't believe why I jumped
I'd like to get my tummy pumped
I can't believe they drink this stuff in town
This dirty brown
Goin' down
Goin' down

I wish I looked before I leaped
I didn't know it was so deep
Been down so far I don't get wet
Haven't touched the bottom yet
This river scene is gettin' old
I'm hungry, sleepy, wet and cold
She told me to forget it nice
I should have taken her advice
I only want to go on home
I'd gladly leave that girl alone
What a way to spend the night
If I don't drown, I'll die of fright
My pappy taught me how to float
But I can't swim a single note
He threw me in to teach me how
I stayed there floatin' like a mama cow
And now I've floated way down stream
I know this has to be a dream
If I could find my way to shore
I'd never, never do this anymore
I'll give you three, I've been down nine
I'm goin' down just one more time.
Goin' down.
Goin' down.

Now the sky is gettin' light
An everything will be alright
Think I finally got the knack
Just floatin' here lazy on my back
I never really liked that town
I think I'll ride the river down
Just movin' slow and floatin' free
There's a river swingin' under me.
Waving back to the folks on shore
I should have thought of this before
I'm floatin' on down to New Orleans
Goin' to pick up on some swingin' scenes
I know I'll know a better day
I'll go down groovin' all the way
Goin' down
Goin' down

A Woman's Work

We're 5 years post-Ledbetter, and it's kinda like it never happened.  I just really don't get what people have against what I was always taught were basic American concepts like equality and fairness and treating regular human beings like regular human beings.  When did the idea of lookin' out for each other become all "girly" and weak, or a political liability, or nice and warm and fuzzy, but something we simply can't afford anymore?  That's pretty fucked up right there.

From The Institute for Women's Policy Research:

Nearly 60 percent (59.3 percent) of women would earn more if working women were paid the same as men of the same age with similar education and hours of work.

The poverty rate for women would be cut in half, falling to 3.9 percent from 8.1 percent among working women. The very high poverty rate for working single mothers would fall by nearly half, from 28.7 percent to 15.0 percent.
The total increase in women’s earnings with pay equity represents more than 14 times what the Federal and state governments spent in fiscal year 2012 on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

Excerpts from The Shriver Report, A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink, and additional information are available at ShriverReport.org and AmericanProgress.org.

C'mon all you hardcore pragmatic capitalists - pay a little out, take a shitload back in.  Isn't that what you guys are always saying it's all about?  Or are you just too meat-headed to do the right thing until it jumps up and kicks you in the nuts?

(hat tip = FB friend MM)

Friday Nite Tune

Run Away --Sarah Jarosz

Friday Nite Tune

If The Phone Don't Ring --Paul Berrere

Friday Nite Tune

Busy Bein' Blue --KD Lang

Friday Nite Tune

99 Miles From LA --Art Garfunkle

Friday Nite Tune

Traction In The Rain --David Crosby

The Industrial Food Image Bureau

This one ran on the front end of a music video I was trying to watch:



And I just had to go to the website (farmedanddangerous.com), where I found this:



I've been "on the web" in one way or another since the late 80s, and I think this is the first time I've ever come across a pop-up kinda ad that I've actually clicked on.  I guess Google's gonna get all of us eventually.

Today's Regional Dialect Study

Take the quiz and find out:

a) you're from X, or at least that's how you sound
b) you're adaptable
c) you're a fuckin' poseur

NYT Sunday Review

(hat tip = FB friends SS and SFB)

The Jig Is Up, Repubs

When Jon Stewart goes this far away from his usual centrist perch, something might be changing in a way that feels kinda significant.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

(hat tip = FB friend VWE)

Yo - Gun Freaks

Meet one of your fellow travelers:

Another "responsible gun owner" who doesn't even know enough to keep his finger outside the trigger guard.  Unless you guys get a handle on this kinda shit - rapidly - these idiots are gonna ruin the party for all y'all.

A Few Toons

Today's Pix

Today's Douchebaggery

Via HuffPo:

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) got in a reporter's face and threatened him after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night.

During an interview with NY1 after Obama's speech, Grimm refused to answer questions about allegations concerning his campaign finances. Grimm can be seen in the video walking away from the reporter, but returning and getting in the reporter's face after he went off air.

From CNN:



Quick Aside to the CNN Anchor Blonde:  "...don't let it happen on camera, if you're gonna let it happen at all".  Really?  That's your take-away?  You guys say shit like that and then you wonder why your numbers are spreading into the leach field?

Quick Aside for the NY1 reporter guy, Michael Scotto:  Yo, Mike - ya gotta stay on camera even when you're afraid you're about to take a whuppin'.  I know it goes against your survival instincts, but if we get to see you cowering a little - or even better, gettin' yer ass kicked by some Congress Goon - it makes for great television.  Cuz never forget: if it bleeds, it leads.  Could make ya a star.  But really, ya done awrite, bubba.

Anyway, this is Grimm's "statement" to HuffPo afterwards:

I was extremely annoyed because I was doing NY1 a favor by rushing to do their interview first in lieu of several other requests. The reporter knew that I was in a hurry and was only there to comment on the State of the Union, but insisted on taking a disrespectful and cheap shot at the end of the interview, because I did not have time to speak off-topic. I verbally took the reporter to task and told him off, because I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect, especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor. I doubt that I am the first Member of Congress to tell off a reporter, and I am sure I won’t be the last.

So ya see, he was doing NY1 a favor by graciously deigning to cast a few pearls before the swine.  But then that bad ol' reporter just had to go and ruin a beautiful moment by trying to ask a buncha uppity questions about how maybe the guy's a fuckin' crook.

For future reference, Mr Grimm - you just lost all your Bitchin' Privileges when it comes to the GOP's standard Blabber Point of "America's sense of entitlement".

One last thing - Grimm didn't "tell off a reporter" - he threatened that reporter with grievous bodily harm because the reporter tried to do what we desperately need reporters to do.  Scotto was pretty gracious about it - saying he didn't take it seriously - but let's not be silly enough to think a tin-plated martinet like Michael Grimm wouldn't love to do exactly what he threatened to do.

Watch your 6, guys.

Why We Fight

The Lt Governor in Texas is the guy who runs things - at least that's how the Repubs do it.

C'mon now, you don't really think guys like Lil Shrub Bush and Rick (Trigger Dick) Perry are actually capable of managing anything other than a high school car wash do ya?

Anyway, meet the braintrust of the Texas GOP.  These guys are the cream of the Repub crop:



It's all such standard patter now.  And I have to give 'em a point or two just for being able to recite it all, especially since each one says almost exactly the same thing while saying it with enough variation to make the rubes think they're listening to differing views on the subject.  So even tho' it all sounded the same to me, I'll bet shekels to shitballs there's a large pile of Texas Conservatives whoopin' it up over what a nice diverse buncha guys they've got to pick from.

I don't know much about the Dems, but you can take a look at 'em here.

On Second Thought

And here's a picture of all the fucks I give about anything Sean Hannity has to say:

A New Way Of Doing The Same Old Thing

...which is to say, "Fuckin' us over".

From truthout:

Here's food for thought: Fast-tracking could become the model for a new and profoundly subversive model of governance – one in which elected government becomes little more than an afterthought to corporate-backed deal-making. It's not hard to imagine a dystopian future where this becomes the norm.

In the right hands it might make a good science-fiction novel: a world in which individual governments, treaty organizations and even the United Nations have been replaced by a new governing body comprised entirely of corporate representatives. Think of it as a World Financial Parliament or a Global House of Corporate Lords, where the only "voting" the rest of us do happens when we watch a movie, play a video game, or take a prescription medication.

And even when we do, we don't really have much of a choice at all.

Back in the 90s, I tho't NAFTA was a great idea.  I was wrong.  See how that works?  You take a look at the effects of a given policy after it's been in place for a while, and you learn a little something about how maybe we shouldn't have done what we did, and then you do that most horriblest thing that anybody could possibly do - ya change your mind.

ed note:  it grates on my soul to think I agree with Ross Perot, but hey - even a blind hog roots up an acorn now and again.

Free trade is great.  Free trade is a good way to break down some really stupid artificial barriers and get people to work together instead of blowin' shit up.  Unfortunately, if that free trade isn't fair trade, and it ends up slamming millions of rock-solid Americans so hard they practically drop out of the labor pool completely, then it's just a matter of time before people get hip to these tricks, and we're right back to blowin' shit up again anyway.

Things like TPP and KeystoneXL are great deals for (almost literally) a handful of people who don't feel the need to wash their hands before they pee.  But it's a really lousy deal for anybody who actually works for a living, and for whoever thinks we should figure these things out together instead of leaving it up to a few guys in $800 suits.

Call your Congress Critter.

Damage Done

Not that anybody's at all likely to do anything about it now, but:

A key figure in the Republican establishment surrendered belatedly on the central tactic for voter suppression, the myth of voter fraud. For the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, Jan 2014 to admit that voter fraud is “rare” is an understatement. However, for a commission co-chaired by vaunted Republican election law attorney Benjamin L. Ginsberg to sign off on that admission is epic.

Voter fraud is the rational for voter identification (Voter ID) requirements. For years, Republican legislatures across the country have enacted voter identification card (voter ID) requirements to suppress the Democratic vote. There can be no other reason since it was established years ago by the Bush Justice Department that voter fraud didn’t exist. A comprehensive study in 2007 showed that in three years of Bush Justice Department efforts (2002-2005), only 38 cases of voter fraud were brought with only 24 guilty findings. Voter fraud isn’t just “rare,” it is virtually non-existent.

Yet, thanks to the fantasy of voter fraud, we have voter ID laws in 20 plus states. It’s a little late to say “I was wrong.” But, it is not too late to repeal all those voter ID laws based on the voter fraud scam.

Read all about it at The Agonist.

Try that one on when you're blabbering away about "both sides do it". There's only one party that thinks keeping people from voting is good for democracy.

Today's Little Twist

If I can convince you that the propaganda I'm peddling is the truth, then it's easier for me to convince you that the truth someone else is telling you is propaganda.