Aug 16, 2014
How Great I Art
Nothing like a little shameless self-promotion to get me goin' early in the mornin'.
I noticed my traffic numbers went way up for yesterday, and I tho't it must be another Russian Phishing expedition - or maybe the Gold Line spammers are at it again.
But wow - my silly little blog got a mention at Crooks and Liars!?!
Must've been a really slow day for 'em over there, but hey - thanks, guys.
Aug 15, 2014
Musica
A little pensive tonite.
(for whatever stupid reasons, the levels on a lot of classical stuff is AFU - you'll wanna standby your volume/mute so you don't get blasted by the commercials)
Adagio in G Minor --Albinoni
On Wings Of Song --Mendelssohn
Nocturne No.2 Op.27 Adagio Sostenuto --Chopin
(for whatever stupid reasons, the levels on a lot of classical stuff is AFU - you'll wanna standby your volume/mute so you don't get blasted by the commercials)
Adagio in G Minor --Albinoni
On Wings Of Song --Mendelssohn
Pavane For A Dead Princess --Ravel
Reverie --Debussey
Solace (Mexican Serenade) --Scott Joplin
Aug 14, 2014
It's A Wonderment
We can always count on the NRA to come up with something clever to say every time some dipwad kills somebody with a gun.
So I'm wondering why they've said nothing about how the folks in Ferguson wouldn't be having all these problems if they were all properly armed.
And since we're seeing some actual repression of people by an over-amped militarized local police force - as opposed (eg) to the phony crap that went down at the Bundy place in Nevada - where are all those valiant defenders of freedom? Where is the Tea Party Militia? Where are the Oath Keepers?
I'm really disappointed that the True Patriots haven't showed up yet - if for no other reason than to show the Murican Public once and for all that they aren't really the gun-sucking, whiny-butt-pussy, racist assholes we all know them to be.
Francis Wilkinson at Bloomberg went to the NRA website:
So I'm wondering why they've said nothing about how the folks in Ferguson wouldn't be having all these problems if they were all properly armed.
And since we're seeing some actual repression of people by an over-amped militarized local police force - as opposed (eg) to the phony crap that went down at the Bundy place in Nevada - where are all those valiant defenders of freedom? Where is the Tea Party Militia? Where are the Oath Keepers?
I'm really disappointed that the True Patriots haven't showed up yet - if for no other reason than to show the Murican Public once and for all that they aren't really the gun-sucking, whiny-butt-pussy, racist assholes we all know them to be.
Francis Wilkinson at Bloomberg went to the NRA website:
What I was looking for, of course, was outrage over "jack-booted thugs" terrorizing the populace. After fundraising and paranoia, outrage is the NRA's chief product. Whether it's President Barack Obama conspiring to subvert the constitution and strip citizens of self-defense, or former President Bill Clinton deliberately fomenting violent crime as a predicate to gun control, NRA leader Wayne LaPierre has always been extra vigilant about government's potential to abuse its police powers.
"If you have a badge" under the freedom-hating Clinton administration, he said in 1995, "you have the government's go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens."
I wonder: Has the shooting death of the Missouri teen traumatized LaPierre into silence?
Logical Fallacy #22 - Anecdotal
The expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. Because of the small sample, there is a larger chance that it may be unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise non-representative samples of typical cases.[1][2] Anecdotal evidence is considered dubious support of a generalized claim; it is, however, perfectly acceptable for claims regarding a particular instance. Anecdotal evidence is no more than a type description (i.e., short narrative), and is often confused in discussions with its weight, or other considerations, as to the purpose(s) for which it is used. This is true regardless of the veracity of individual claims.[3][4][5]
The term is often used in contrast to scientific evidence, such as evidence-based medicine, which are types of formal accounts. Some anecdotal evidence does not qualify as scientific evidence because its nature prevents it from being investigated using the scientific method. Misuse of anecdotal evidence is an informal fallacy and is sometimes referred to as the "person who" fallacy ("I know a person who..."; "I know of a case where..." etc. Compare with hasty generalization). Anecdotal evidence is not necessarily representative of a "typical" experience; in fact, human cognitive biases such as confirmation bias mean that exceptional or confirmatory anecdotes are much more likely to be remembered. Accurate determination of whether an anecdote is "typical" requires statistical evidence.[6][7]
What I Love
It seems a lifetime ago, but there was a time I had the great privilege of being allowed to hang around at the periphery of arguments like this one:
There's just something amazingly inspiring to me when I hear the heavyweights gettin' after it like that.
And also too, the exchange between Tyson and Dawkins was exactly that - it was an exchange. Both men are strong advocates of their respective points of view, and they don't mince words in presenting them or defending them. But what makes this important to me is that both men have points of view that have real and intrinsic value. They're both coming at it from the perspective of reason and provable fact - and they'll battle it out as to the best way to get their points across to an audience less knowledgable than themselves. Ya just can't not love that.
But instead of hearing this kind of smart discussion, the "debate" we get to witness on practically any subject is limited to a stultifying exhibition of Fact vs "Yeah, but Jesus" - or Fact vs "Yeah, but some people say" - or Fact vs "Yeah, but the Democrats".
And it ends with, "So, scientists are telling us the earth is a sphere that rotates on its axis and orbits the local star, while others believe this not to be the case - obviously some good arguments on both sides, but we'll have to leave it at that because the marketing department needs to sell you some shit you've never heard of, which you don't need, and you can't afford. Please join us tomorrow for our featured segment - Oxygen: Essential to human life or just another scam from the Chemical Manufacturers?"
There's just something amazingly inspiring to me when I hear the heavyweights gettin' after it like that.
And also too, the exchange between Tyson and Dawkins was exactly that - it was an exchange. Both men are strong advocates of their respective points of view, and they don't mince words in presenting them or defending them. But what makes this important to me is that both men have points of view that have real and intrinsic value. They're both coming at it from the perspective of reason and provable fact - and they'll battle it out as to the best way to get their points across to an audience less knowledgable than themselves. Ya just can't not love that.
But instead of hearing this kind of smart discussion, the "debate" we get to witness on practically any subject is limited to a stultifying exhibition of Fact vs "Yeah, but Jesus" - or Fact vs "Yeah, but some people say" - or Fact vs "Yeah, but the Democrats".
And it ends with, "So, scientists are telling us the earth is a sphere that rotates on its axis and orbits the local star, while others believe this not to be the case - obviously some good arguments on both sides, but we'll have to leave it at that because the marketing department needs to sell you some shit you've never heard of, which you don't need, and you can't afford. Please join us tomorrow for our featured segment - Oxygen: Essential to human life or just another scam from the Chemical Manufacturers?"
Aug 13, 2014
Image Is A Thing
In the picture below, there are 5 guys clearly visible.
Only one of them is not dressed (and not behaving) in a manner which might indicate that he's looking for trouble.
I'm not saying there's anything that justifies the riots. Sometimes, the reality of shitty circumstances plus the tears of impotent rage just kinda catch up with you and it all blows up in unpredictably unavoidable (and understandable) ways.
You may be at the protest to show a little solidarity with your community, and maybe to vent your spleen a little by yelling at the cops, but all it takes is for one jag-off to throw one bottle, and suddenly a really bad situation gets a whole lot worse.
Cuz here's the thing: Authoritarians will always provoke you into actions they can use to rationalize their intentions to lord their power over you. Once that bottle is thrown, they have the excuse they were looking for all along.
Only one of them is not dressed (and not behaving) in a manner which might indicate that he's looking for trouble.
I'm not saying there's anything that justifies the riots. Sometimes, the reality of shitty circumstances plus the tears of impotent rage just kinda catch up with you and it all blows up in unpredictably unavoidable (and understandable) ways.
You may be at the protest to show a little solidarity with your community, and maybe to vent your spleen a little by yelling at the cops, but all it takes is for one jag-off to throw one bottle, and suddenly a really bad situation gets a whole lot worse.
Cuz here's the thing: Authoritarians will always provoke you into actions they can use to rationalize their intentions to lord their power over you. Once that bottle is thrown, they have the excuse they were looking for all along.
Aug 12, 2014
A Question
...if I may, please. How come this story gets decent coverage on one of HBO's comedy shows, but not on any of the big network "news" shows?
favorite line: "Apparently, even the cluster fucks are bigger in Texas."
hat tip = Wonkette
favorite line: "Apparently, even the cluster fucks are bigger in Texas."
hat tip = Wonkette
Revisiting The Visitors Thing
From The Daily Press (Virginia tidewater area) yesterday, talking about the most recent attempt to swing government towards the Authoritarian side of the spectrum:
It's not always easy to see who's wrong and who's right, but sometimes it's actually pretty clear. But then somehow, no matter what the issue is, and no matter what the outcome was; for the public, the discussion of these problems must always be shoe-horned into "both sides..." and "plenty of blame to go around" and "it makes everybody look bad" etc etc etc. False Equivalency must prevail.
The Press Poodles have become extraordinarily adept at making it sound like they're just trying to be the voice of moderation - trying to keep the peace - trying to maintain a healthy balance.
Maybe we're seeing the logical progression of the very sorry state of affairs in the News-As-Profit-Center model of "journalism" in the 21st century. They can't afford to take any financial hits, so if they piss off any of their readers then they stand to lose revenue, and that means they dance according to whoever's paying the band, and that means we get "news" that's been bleached to the point of invisibility.
But for me it also means we're being told not to pay attention; we shouldn't let it worry our pretty little heads, and we can all just go back to sleep.
Bullshit.
It matters what's true and not true.
It matters what's best for the most.
It matters what my government is doing in my name and with my money.
It matters that I have a say in how my government operates.
And it matters a lot for the 4th Estate to get back up on its hind legs and start doing it's fucking job again.
Hey, News Editors - if you think something's fucked up, then you say so. If it turns out you got it wrong, then you own it and you say you were wrong about it - and hey, guess what - that means you'll have something to put in your little newspaper tomorrow. Could we try that for a while?
We are quick to criticize elected officials and government bodies when they seek to limit the public's access to information, either by operating behind closed doors or concealing documents which should be readily available for the asking. It is similarly important to single out such groups for praise when they make a decision respecting those principles.
That brings us to the University of Virginia, the commonwealth's flagship institution, which smartly walked away from a worrisome aspect of a proposed "statement of expectations" being prepared for its Board of Visitors by a subcommittee of that board.
A draft circulated earlier this month attempted to quash dissent by members, instructing them to avoid speaking publicly on board decisions "whether past, present or imminent" unless granted the approval of the board's leader. Essentially it would require the board to speak with one unified, unquestioning voice.Starts out pretty good, but then this:
Dr. Sullivan was pressured to resign before public outcry led to her reinstatement in what can charitably be described as a debacle for the university's Board of Visitors and a highly visible black eye for the entire U.Va. community.That last bit sounds a lot like Blaming The Victim, so I gotta ask - in what way do you think Terry Sullivan was at fault for being the target of an attempted coup orchestrated (in secret) by Helen Dragas; and how exactly was it wrong for an outraged public to protest such dirty dealing?
It's not always easy to see who's wrong and who's right, but sometimes it's actually pretty clear. But then somehow, no matter what the issue is, and no matter what the outcome was; for the public, the discussion of these problems must always be shoe-horned into "both sides..." and "plenty of blame to go around" and "it makes everybody look bad" etc etc etc. False Equivalency must prevail.
The Press Poodles have become extraordinarily adept at making it sound like they're just trying to be the voice of moderation - trying to keep the peace - trying to maintain a healthy balance.
Maybe we're seeing the logical progression of the very sorry state of affairs in the News-As-Profit-Center model of "journalism" in the 21st century. They can't afford to take any financial hits, so if they piss off any of their readers then they stand to lose revenue, and that means they dance according to whoever's paying the band, and that means we get "news" that's been bleached to the point of invisibility.
But for me it also means we're being told not to pay attention; we shouldn't let it worry our pretty little heads, and we can all just go back to sleep.
Bullshit.
It matters what's true and not true.
It matters what's best for the most.
It matters what my government is doing in my name and with my money.
It matters that I have a say in how my government operates.
And it matters a lot for the 4th Estate to get back up on its hind legs and start doing it's fucking job again.
Hey, News Editors - if you think something's fucked up, then you say so. If it turns out you got it wrong, then you own it and you say you were wrong about it - and hey, guess what - that means you'll have something to put in your little newspaper tomorrow. Could we try that for a while?
Aug 10, 2014
The War Picture
This has been making the rounds, and the story is that media editors refused to publish it because it was just a little too gruesome for domestic consumption. Bullshit.
First, it's bullshit because there's never a shortage of War Porn consumers.
But second, sometimes when we're feeling more honest than usual, we'll say, "Well, it's awful; but, you know, it's war - and people die in war".
Bullshit again. People don't just die in war. They aren't lying around waiting to drift off into some eternal slumber. They're killed - usually with a very particular purpose in mind, and in the most horrific and brutal ways it will ever be anybody's misfortune to witness or even imagine.
Whether you were for the war or against it; whether you thought it was necessary or stoopid; that picture shows us what was done in our names and on our behalf - either because we said that's what we wanted done, or because we didn't do enough to keep it from being done.
We have no right to turn away.
First, it's bullshit because there's never a shortage of War Porn consumers.
But second, sometimes when we're feeling more honest than usual, we'll say, "Well, it's awful; but, you know, it's war - and people die in war".
Bullshit again. People don't just die in war. They aren't lying around waiting to drift off into some eternal slumber. They're killed - usually with a very particular purpose in mind, and in the most horrific and brutal ways it will ever be anybody's misfortune to witness or even imagine.
Whether you were for the war or against it; whether you thought it was necessary or stoopid; that picture shows us what was done in our names and on our behalf - either because we said that's what we wanted done, or because we didn't do enough to keep it from being done.
We have no right to turn away.
Aug 9, 2014
Aug 8, 2014
Today's Video
You know you're politically dead to about 60% of the country when Jon Stewart cuts you into tiny little pieces and scatters your remains to the wind.
I won't say ol' Vaginal Bob is all washed up - lord knows there's a double-digit percentage of voters with single-digit IQs who're thinking "anybody them libruls hate that much cain't be all bad". The guy actually still has a constituency, and that makes him worth something to the GOP machine.
So he'll find his way into the Wingnut Welfare System. My guess is that he'll drop out of sight for a while - he has to raise a shitload of money for "the defense fund" and that means he has to stay low while some of his "friends" make a shitload of money off of his need for a shitload of money (politics is as good a scam as religion in exactly that way), but mostly he needs time to reflect and to assess and to search his soul, and to find a good ghost writer for the truly inspiring story of his rise to the Governor's Mansion, and his fall (because of the wickedness of his helpmate who was tempted by the Evil One because of her lustful heart); and his time in purgatory, and his eventual redemption in the eyes of The Lord - can I get a fuckin' AMEN here, people!?!
And then he'll end up with a relatively low-profile job at one of the Lobby Shops, where he'll slave away for a few election cycles, and then suddenly pop up at one of the "conservative" circle jerks - CPAC or whatever - to take his shot at re-emerging as a viable political player etc etc etc.
We've seen this movie a thousand times.
I won't say ol' Vaginal Bob is all washed up - lord knows there's a double-digit percentage of voters with single-digit IQs who're thinking "anybody them libruls hate that much cain't be all bad". The guy actually still has a constituency, and that makes him worth something to the GOP machine.
So he'll find his way into the Wingnut Welfare System. My guess is that he'll drop out of sight for a while - he has to raise a shitload of money for "the defense fund" and that means he has to stay low while some of his "friends" make a shitload of money off of his need for a shitload of money (politics is as good a scam as religion in exactly that way), but mostly he needs time to reflect and to assess and to search his soul, and to find a good ghost writer for the truly inspiring story of his rise to the Governor's Mansion, and his fall (because of the wickedness of his helpmate who was tempted by the Evil One because of her lustful heart); and his time in purgatory, and his eventual redemption in the eyes of The Lord - can I get a fuckin' AMEN here, people!?!
And then he'll end up with a relatively low-profile job at one of the Lobby Shops, where he'll slave away for a few election cycles, and then suddenly pop up at one of the "conservative" circle jerks - CPAC or whatever - to take his shot at re-emerging as a viable political player etc etc etc.
We've seen this movie a thousand times.
Friday Tune-A-Rama
Red Handed --Obadiah Parker
I'm Yours --Jason Mraz
In A Sentimental Mood --Emily Remler
I'll Be Over You (cover) --Andy McKee
White Rhythm and Blues --JD Souther
Words --Gregory Alan Isakov
Hellos and Good-Byes --Tommy Emmanuel
Love Song --Sara Bareilles
I'm Yours --Jason Mraz
In A Sentimental Mood --Emily Remler
I'll Be Over You (cover) --Andy McKee
White Rhythm and Blues --JD Souther
Words --Gregory Alan Isakov
Hellos and Good-Byes --Tommy Emmanuel
Love Song --Sara Bareilles
Aug 7, 2014
Logical Fallacy #21 - Appeal To Nature
Some people use the phrase "naturalistic fallacy" or "appeal to nature" to characterize inferences of the form "This behaviour is natural; therefore, this behaviour is morally acceptable" or "This property is unnatural; therefore, this property is undesireable." Such inferences are common in discussions of homosexuality, environmentalism and veganism.
The naturalistic fallacy is the idea that what is found in nature is good. It was the basis for Social Darwinism, the belief that helping the poor and sick would get in the way of evolution, which depends on the survival of the fittest. Today, biologists denounce the Naturalistic Fallacy because they want to describe the natural world honestly, without people deriving morals about how we ought to behave (as in: If birds and beasts engage in adultery, infanticide, cannibalism, it must be OK). The moralistic fallacy is that what is good is found in nature. It lies behind the bad science in nature-documentary voiceovers: lions are mercy-killers of the weak and sick, mice feel no pain when cats eat them, dung beetles recycle dung to benefit the ecosystem and so on. It also lies behind the romantic belief that humans cannot harbor desires to kill, rape, lie, or steal because that would be too depressing or reactionary.[5]
Aug 6, 2014
A Certain Sameness
Addicting Info ran a piece about how the Wingnut Militia Goons who were supposed to gather en masse along the US-Mexico border have come up just a tad bit short.
The Right Wing Echo Chamber's a real thing, but it's actually intended just to make you think you'll be joined by a gigundous mob of like-minded cheese fritters just itchin' to go for a little target practice while playing Rambo Junior in the desert southwest. The Panic Pushers are hoping to manufacture a critical mass when there really isn't the slightest potential for such a thing to happen organically. That kind of self-delusion is what got you that Romney Landslide in 2012, remember?
Do ya just never get tired of chasing the tin cans they're tyin' on your tail?
As a simple exercise, every once in a while take whatever nonsense du jour pops up and google the main point; something like "immigrants infected". No matter what it is, an awful lot of the time, you'll get several pages of hits that say practically the same thing - including a bunch where it's an obviously copy-n-paste-verbatim kinda deal. And it's not just DumFux News and Breitbart and Wingnut Daily either.
As it turns out, patrolling the border isn’t exactly the adventurous and glamorous life that right-wing militia members thought it would be.
In fact, the militias are all talk and no walk with internal disputes and just plain boredom leading to many armed vigilantes taking their weapons and going home.
Last month, a Minuteman militia member named Chris Davis announced via video a plan for stopping undocumented immigrant children from crossing the border. They’re idea? Aim guns at them and shoot if they don’t turn around and go back to the hell they’re escaping from. After catching much flak for it, the man who issued the call in the first place backed away from his words and removed the video. His plan failed and his hope for a groundswell of volunteers to militarize the border fizzled as well. Currently, Davis and a tiny band of militiamen are spread out along a wide swath of the border along three states.So the effect here is pretty interesting. These guys (prob'ly) got all het up about patrolling the border cuz they spend way too much time surfing the wingnut website whirlpool where every link they click on takes 'em to another page that says almost exactly the same thing as all the other pages, and so they end up believing not only the bullshit story, but that everybody buys the bullshit story, and it's driving millions of good decent Muricans - just like their-own-bad-selves - to take up arms and defend our sovereign purity from the hordes of filthy vermin blah blah blah.
The Right Wing Echo Chamber's a real thing, but it's actually intended just to make you think you'll be joined by a gigundous mob of like-minded cheese fritters just itchin' to go for a little target practice while playing Rambo Junior in the desert southwest. The Panic Pushers are hoping to manufacture a critical mass when there really isn't the slightest potential for such a thing to happen organically. That kind of self-delusion is what got you that Romney Landslide in 2012, remember?
Do ya just never get tired of chasing the tin cans they're tyin' on your tail?
As a simple exercise, every once in a while take whatever nonsense du jour pops up and google the main point; something like "immigrants infected". No matter what it is, an awful lot of the time, you'll get several pages of hits that say practically the same thing - including a bunch where it's an obviously copy-n-paste-verbatim kinda deal. And it's not just DumFux News and Breitbart and Wingnut Daily either.
It's good to refresh your memory about just how In The Tank these chuckleheads really are, and how way too many Press Poodles are doing anything they need to do to cater to some people's willing ignorance in order to sell 'em some extra camo shirts or dippin' snuff or gold-leaf-plated pot metal "coins". Business is the first order of business after all; and the "News Bidness" is no exception - not any more.
But it's just as important to remember that rubes are always willing to buy into the belief that no matter what they get talked into doing, as long as they're convinced they're acting in the name of some greater calling or higher power, nothing is out of the question, so everything is acceptable.
'Twas ever thus, and ever thus 'twill be I suppose. Society carries the seeds of its own destruction just as our own individual bodies carry a host of harmful bacteria and viruses that can kill us whenever the balance of "good germs vs bad germs" goes a little wacky.
The body politic seems in dire need of a powerful high colonic right about now.
Aug 5, 2014
The Power Of Nightmares
This is a blast from the past, and I'm putting it up again because (1st) it's a good look at how the perceptions and opinions of whole populations can be cynically manipulated, and (2nd) because as time passes, we need to stay aware of the extreme dangers that arise from the merger of Religion and Politics.
You can watch the 2nd and 3rd episodes at the archive site.
You can watch the 2nd and 3rd episodes at the archive site.
Aug 4, 2014
Just Chill A Minute, Dammit
Thanks to (and a big ol' hat tip for) Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs. It's good to take a step back and try to remember where we were trying to go before all this weird shit happened and we started feeling so lost.
Shower The People --James Taylor
Shower The People --James Taylor
Today's Wingnut
hat tip = Addicting Info
I guess Lil Donny is off his meds again - railing against the docs who contracted Ebola Fever while trying to be professionals who actually give a fuck:
"People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences"
That would certainly help explain why Trump and his fellow-traveler "conservatives" are so dead-set against trying to make the VA a better place. Soldiers who go to far away places to help us out are great, but they knew the risks when they signed up, so if they don't have sense enough to die over there, fuck 'em(?)
How is it that these guys are always making stoopid general pronouncements, and nobody "on their side" ever seems to get wise to it?
And then there's RushBo:
Be afraid. C'mon guys - if I'm wrong about y'all being a buncha whiny-butt pussies who're frightened by every shadow and every fleeting glimpse of anything you can't either immediately identify as friendly (aka "exactly like you") - or anything you're not allowed to shoot 47 times with your 50-calibre manly inadequacy compensator - then ya gotta be able to recognize that you're being played for suckers.
And now I'll trot out the old standby (Groaner Alert): These "Thought Leaders" on the far right must think you're all mushrooms - why else do they keep you in the dark and feed you a steady diet of shit?
I guess Lil Donny is off his meds again - railing against the docs who contracted Ebola Fever while trying to be professionals who actually give a fuck:
"People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences"
That would certainly help explain why Trump and his fellow-traveler "conservatives" are so dead-set against trying to make the VA a better place. Soldiers who go to far away places to help us out are great, but they knew the risks when they signed up, so if they don't have sense enough to die over there, fuck 'em(?)
How is it that these guys are always making stoopid general pronouncements, and nobody "on their side" ever seems to get wise to it?
And then there's RushBo:
Be afraid. C'mon guys - if I'm wrong about y'all being a buncha whiny-butt pussies who're frightened by every shadow and every fleeting glimpse of anything you can't either immediately identify as friendly (aka "exactly like you") - or anything you're not allowed to shoot 47 times with your 50-calibre manly inadequacy compensator - then ya gotta be able to recognize that you're being played for suckers.
And now I'll trot out the old standby (Groaner Alert): These "Thought Leaders" on the far right must think you're all mushrooms - why else do they keep you in the dark and feed you a steady diet of shit?
Aug 3, 2014
Huh?
As if anybody needed another indication that DumFux News is a bad place to get anything but dumber.
Cuz everybody knows Murica has to be 110% against that sub-human mongrel in the White House.
hat tip = Democratic Underground
Cuz everybody knows Murica has to be 110% against that sub-human mongrel in the White House.
hat tip = Democratic Underground
Aug 2, 2014
Connections
I wonder if this:
...might hook into this:
Big O has been really really careful never to say the word 'torture' in any public setting - not that I can recall anyway (update*). So I have to wonder why he's saying it now, and I don't think it's solely because it's come up and he's trying to do the damage control thing by blaming Bush or whatever. That said, tho', the guy can be crazy stupid good at political judo, and keeping in mind that it's never just about what they tell us it's about, here's a few possibilities stumbling thru my brain clutter today:
Anyway - back to stumbly thingies:
...might hook into this:
Big O has been really really careful never to say the word 'torture' in any public setting - not that I can recall anyway (update*). So I have to wonder why he's saying it now, and I don't think it's solely because it's come up and he's trying to do the damage control thing by blaming Bush or whatever. That said, tho', the guy can be crazy stupid good at political judo, and keeping in mind that it's never just about what they tell us it's about, here's a few possibilities stumbling thru my brain clutter today:
- he's floating the torture thing to counteract the impeachment thing. "you fuck with me on impeachment, and I'll fuck you back even harder by arresting Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and a hundred others and I'll personally deliver 'em all the The Hague to face charges for their war crimes". (you'll notice Liz Cheney popped up on DumFux News almost immediately to slag the Prez for a good 4 minutes - talking about torture and making no mention of her dear ol' dad - of course)
Anyway - back to stumbly thingies:
- he's angling for better support from his own wingers. The guy does an awful lot of Hippie-Punching, and so he's throwing a bone to the Left Wing to get 'em all out to the polls this fall.
- he's finally getting around to addressing the post 9-11 madness. And so this is all about trying to signal an attempt to make up for doing nothing about it; or he needs to move a little closer to traditional foreign allies in order to get something from them(?) - maybe shore up support for sanctions on Russia and Iran and/or slapping Israel(?)
Dunno, but things happen for a reason, and maybe this happened late on a Friday so it wouldn't get much coverage, which means it'll generate very little heat, which means everybody's expecting the Press Poodles to keep it on the down low because there's a coupla dozen trainloads of politicians and operatives and bureaucrats and Press Poodles who should rightly be in prison because they took an active part in the shittiness or they actively avoided doing anything to prevent it, or they made sure we didn't notice or whatever.
As long as you can make it look like everybody's responsible, then nobody can hold anybody accountable for anything - ever. Welcome to America's Imperial Era.
*Update = From Little Green Footballs:
*Update = From Little Green Footballs:
Obama’s statement on torture wasn’t really news; in May 2013 he said pretty much the same thing: Remarks by the President at the National Defense University | the White House.
Still seems kinda odd to me tho'.Meanwhile, we strengthened our defenses — hardening targets, tightening transportation security, giving law enforcement new tools to prevent terror. Most of these changes were sound. Some caused inconvenience. But some, like expanded surveillance, raised difficult questions about the balance that we strike between our interests in security and our values of privacy. And in some cases, I believe we compromised our basic values — by using torture to interrogate our enemies, and detaining individuals in a way that ran counter to the rule of law.
The Challenge
On the The Professional Left podcast this week, Bluegal referenced the video below (Samuel L Jackson saying motherfucker - 171 times)...
...and then issued a challenge: Somebody should do something similar with Chuck Todd and Cokie Roberts and any other Press Poodle who draws a paycheck for being adept at Pimping The Horserace - ie: making sure that whenever Ted Cruz walks across the rotunda and publicly skull fucks John Boehner, what we hear at the end of the TV segment is, "Yeah, but the Democrats..." and "Both sides..." and "There's plenty of blame to go around..."
Once you know what to look for, it's easier to find.
...and then issued a challenge: Somebody should do something similar with Chuck Todd and Cokie Roberts and any other Press Poodle who draws a paycheck for being adept at Pimping The Horserace - ie: making sure that whenever Ted Cruz walks across the rotunda and publicly skull fucks John Boehner, what we hear at the end of the TV segment is, "Yeah, but the Democrats..." and "Both sides..." and "There's plenty of blame to go around..."
Once you know what to look for, it's easier to find.
Aug 1, 2014
Today's Rude-ness
The Rude Pundit starts it all off:
7/31/2014
In Brief: Quotes That Mean as Much Now as When They Were First Said (With a Photo for Context)
The quote is from a just-released recording of former President Bill Clinton speaking to a group of business people in Melbourne, Australia, on September 10, 2001 (or "One day before everything changed forever and we lost our country"). Clinton was talking about how he might have been able to get to Osama bin Laden: "I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him. And so I didn’t do it."
You can tease that out and say that killing those 300 people would have created even more terrorists. Or you can say that those people were accessories to bin Laden by their proximity and that Clinton was a hypocrite because of other missile strikes he ordered or that Bill Clinton was a pussy whose inaction helped cause 9/11 (and then you can merrily go fuck yourself).
The photo is from the Gaza Strip in the last few days. The context is how intractably screwed people are when they don't give a shit about those innocent men, women, and children:
And I'll just add this - I don't pretend to know what exactly we should do, or even how we're supposed to figure out what "the right thing" is, but I think I know this much: The process for making the decision on "doing the right thing" never starts with "Step 1 - Fuck those kids - they don't matter as much as this other thing".
Jul 31, 2014
Meet Ryan Anderson
Ryan Anderson is the young gun occupying the William E Simon chair at The Rich Boy Vanity Project Heritage Foundation - the guy's a piece of work.
Quick Recap: The point here is supposed to be about pushing the Phobes at Heritage to defend their stoopid - ie: Marriage Inequality within the IRS Code. So the questioner asks why he shouldn't be allowed to file a joint tax return with his husband just like all the straight couples get to do - and behold the awesomeness beginning at about 1:00:
Anderson uses Slippery Slope to build a Straw Man made of Special Pleading, and finishes it off with a near-brilliant Tu Quoque flourish, just before he deploys Begging The Question as a lead-up to blaming the victim (it's your own fault because you wanna marry the wrong person).
Once you know what you're looking for, it gets easier to find.
hat tip = Mock Paper Scissors
Quick Recap: The point here is supposed to be about pushing the Phobes at Heritage to defend their stoopid - ie: Marriage Inequality within the IRS Code. So the questioner asks why he shouldn't be allowed to file a joint tax return with his husband just like all the straight couples get to do - and behold the awesomeness beginning at about 1:00:
Anderson uses Slippery Slope to build a Straw Man made of Special Pleading, and finishes it off with a near-brilliant Tu Quoque flourish, just before he deploys Begging The Question as a lead-up to blaming the victim (it's your own fault because you wanna marry the wrong person).
Once you know what you're looking for, it gets easier to find.
hat tip = Mock Paper Scissors
Irony-Challenged
Whenever I hear "Frivolous Lawsuit" or "Litigation Crazy" or "Litigious", it's pretty automatic that I'm going to think "GOP" because they're the ones who're always carping about how everybody just wants to sue everybody whenever they don't get their way, or they're just looking for a nice fat payday for doin' nuthin' blah blah blah.
Is there anything more frivolous than the crazily litigious House Republicans voting to sue Obama - at the end of the least productive legislative session since Hammurabi and right before these douche nozzles leave town for 5 weeks of vacation?
Jul 30, 2014
Logical Fallacy #20 - Begging The Question
Begging the question means "assuming the conclusion (of an argument)", a type of circular reasoning. This is an informal fallacy where the conclusion that one is attempting to prove is included in the initial premises of an argument, often in an indirect way that conceals this fact.[1]
The term "begging the question" originated in the 16th century as a mistranslation of Latin petitio principii "assuming the initial point".[2] In modern vernacular usage, "to beg the question" is sometimes used to mean "to raise the question" (as in "This begs the question of whether...") or "to dodge the question".[2]
Today's Rational Thinking
Some of the discussions in the comments sections are trying to address the "economics" of this thing, and it occurs to me that we'll need somebody to look into the potential economic ripple effect of people feeling less comfortable in public places, and so deciding to stay home rather than accept the increased risk (real or imagined) that they'll be the victims of random gunfire while simply attempting to order out at the local deli.
PQED.org
hat tip = Crooks and Liars
Jul 29, 2014
About That Flag
Some knuckleheads down in Richmond decided a while back to put up the CSA Battle Flag because they tho't it was a good way to show their...uhm...American Pride(?) Yeah, that one still eludes most of us graced with the sense the good lord gave the average okra pod.
Anyway, they've put up another one, but there seems to be some real push-back goin' on (or at least a little wishful Photoshoppin'):
And BTW:
Anyway, they've put up another one, but there seems to be some real push-back goin' on (or at least a little wishful Photoshoppin'):
And BTW:
hat tip = Addicting Info
Modern GOP Arithmetic
Teacher: Johnny, if you have 12 cupcakes and you give 3 to Jamal, how many cupcakes do you have left?
Johnny: I have 12 cuz I ain't givin' nuthin' to nobody.
Teacher: Well, if you have 12 cupcakes and I take 3 from you and give them to Jamal, then how many do you have?
Johnny: Then I have 12 cupcakes and 2 dead bodies to dispose of.
(Ed Note: I'm not clever enough to have come up with it on my own - I saw this not too long ago on the discussion thread of a "conservative" website.)
Johnny: I have 12 cuz I ain't givin' nuthin' to nobody.
Teacher: Well, if you have 12 cupcakes and I take 3 from you and give them to Jamal, then how many do you have?
Johnny: Then I have 12 cupcakes and 2 dead bodies to dispose of.
(Ed Note: I'm not clever enough to have come up with it on my own - I saw this not too long ago on the discussion thread of a "conservative" website.)
Jul 28, 2014
(2nd) Coming Soon
Prob'ly not gonna be what most of us were taught to expect.
And we can always count on the Right Reverend Fishsticks to step in it with a lack of self-awareness that'd make a Sea Sponge blush:
big hat tip = Mock Paper Scissors
He all but says it straight out - torches and pitchforks for everybody - let's go fuck up somebody's embassy!
And as an extra added attraction (after about the 10:30 mark), we get the Denialist Bullshit du Jour, citing Calvin Beisner. But that's another story.
Classic - and BTW, Black Jesus looks to be more than just taking shots at Xianity. Aaron MacGruder's critiques of "Black Urban Culture" are often relentless and unblinking to the point of being uncomfortable for me to watch; partly (I suppose) because of the kernels of White Guilt I wish I didn't have to lug around with me, and partly because I just really don't get some of it.
You can send Adult Swim a message here.
And we can always count on the Right Reverend Fishsticks to step in it with a lack of self-awareness that'd make a Sea Sponge blush:
big hat tip = Mock Paper Scissors
He all but says it straight out - torches and pitchforks for everybody - let's go fuck up somebody's embassy!
And as an extra added attraction (after about the 10:30 mark), we get the Denialist Bullshit du Jour, citing Calvin Beisner. But that's another story.
Classic - and BTW, Black Jesus looks to be more than just taking shots at Xianity. Aaron MacGruder's critiques of "Black Urban Culture" are often relentless and unblinking to the point of being uncomfortable for me to watch; partly (I suppose) because of the kernels of White Guilt I wish I didn't have to lug around with me, and partly because I just really don't get some of it.
You can send Adult Swim a message here.
Jul 27, 2014
Jul 26, 2014
Some Tunes
Listen To The Music --Doobie Brothers
Your Savin' Grace --Steve Miller Band
The Warmth Of The Sun --Beach Boys
I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine --Ry Cooder
Alison --Elvis Costello
Carmelita --Warren Zevon
Can't Find My Way Home --Alison Krauss
Colorado --Flying Burrito Brothers
Your Savin' Grace --Steve Miller Band
The Warmth Of The Sun --Beach Boys
I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine --Ry Cooder
Alison --Elvis Costello
Carmelita --Warren Zevon
Can't Find My Way Home --Alison Krauss
Colorado --Flying Burrito Brothers
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