Sauce For Ganders

Seems like every time I get into any debate on any subject with any "conservative", it's all but inevitable for that "conservative" to tell me I really just want "the nanny state" to take care of me.

It's a tough one to rebut because it takes time (which the opponent doesn't give you), and you have to string a buncha things together (which the opponent insists on disrupting); it requires a bit of thought (which the opponent seldom allows himself to do), and assumes a fundamental level of knowledgeability (which the opponent refuses to acquire).

So here's the thing:  "What's the difference between my Nanny State and your Daddy State?"

You claim I want to be taken care of by a government that will meet my every need by stealing from somebody else.

At the same time, you say I shouldn't be involved in the decisions being made regarding what happens to me and mine; I should just shut up and go along with whatever you and your coin-operated politicians think I should be willing to kiss your ass for; and BTW - the stuff your Daddy State is handing to you and your guys is the stuff you're stealing from me and my guys, so go shit in your hat.

Need one more?  Both sides, motherfucker.  Since both sides do it; both sides are the same; both sides are to blame for whatever it is we wanna piss and moan about right now - well if the Nanny State's a thing, then the Daddy State has to be a thing too.  Booyah.

The Real Outrage

Olbermann brings it - and nothing will ever be the same.

It Just Ain't Healthy

Mashing up Christianism and Patriotism and Militarism - then taking impressionable young men and training them to put aside their instincts for compassion and kindness - and then arming them to the teeth and turning them loose in a place halfway around the world where they don't speak the language and the native culture is a complete mystery to them - what could possibly go wrong?



This is not (and never was) only about the wounds we can see - the savagery of war is trained into the minds of the people we send to fight it.  There's no way we can justify feeling shocked or appalled or somehow indignant when we find out some of these people have done what we've told them to do.

And let's try not to pretend these veterans can come home and "be normal" - nobody comes out of a war not fucked up way or another, civilians included.

The First Black Prez

In Remembrance

Lux aeterna, Luceat eis, Domine
Thy everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord.
Turn to me and be gracious, for my heart is in distress.
Oh God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
My tears linger at night, but joy comes in the morning light.
Lord, in your infinite mercy, grant them rest.
Rest forever more.

Veterans' Day

It's not just about what we want "our" guys to do to "their" guys.  

It's about what happens to everybody when we do the things war demands of us.

Adapt. Improvise. Overcome

Life goes on, but it may have to go on without us.

Black Fungus Eats Harmful Radiation in Chernobyl

BY CHRIS V. THANGHAM MAR 3, 2008 IN SCIENCE

Fungus living in the walls of a failed nuclear reactor in Chernobyl was found with high melanin content, implying it survived living under dangerous radiation. Fungus might be a possible food source in high-radiation places like outer space.

Black fungus was found growing on the walls of Chernobyl’s damaged and highly radioactive nuclear reactor by robots sent to scour the area. Later, scientists analyzed the fungus and found it contained high content of melanin, a pigment found in human skin that gives it color, as well as protection from solar and ultraviolet radiation.
Melanin is found in many fungal species. Scientists say the melanin found in fungus and humans are similar in chemical composition.

Nuclear (and other high-energy) reactions give off ionizing radiation, dangerous rays and particles that can damage genes and thus cause mutations and eventually cancer. With fungi, however, they seem to thrive under the same conditions.

Ekaterina Dadachova at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine explained the reason why fungi thrived in Chernobyl: She said just like pigment, chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical energy that allows green plants to live and grow. The melanin helps fungi to make use of the ionizing radiation and makes them grow.

Researcher Arturo Casadevall, an immunologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York said to LiveScience.com:  "In general we think of radiation as something bad or harmful. Here we have a situation where these fungi appear to benefit, which is unexpected,"

So, the researchers wanted to test this theory and see whether it is reproducible. They did experiments on three species of fungi and found that ionizing radiation significantly boosted the growth of fungi that contained melanin.

As LiveScience.com reports: The researchers exposed two kinds of fungi – one that naturally contained melanin (Wangiella dermatitidis) and another that scientists induced to make the pigment (Crytococcus neoformans) – to levels of ionizing radiation about 500 times higher than normal, the doses one might see at high altitudes. Both species grew significantly faster, findings detailed in the May 23 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.

Although fungi seem to thrive in nuclear radiation, they do not clean it. They are only able to harness the energy that radioactive materials give off.

Scientists say this ability of fungi to live off ionizing radiation could be useful in space. Dadachova said: "Since ionizing radiation is prevalent in outer space, astronauts might be able to rely on fungi as an inexhaustible food source on long missions or for colonizing other planets."

Today's Pix

Drug It Up

By now we all know it, but it's good to keep it in mind - It's not really a war on drugs.  It's more of a war on the drugs that aren't controlled by Bayer and Glaxo and Pfizer - or any of the other big houses.

It's also good to remember that Coin-Operated Politicians have been put in place by the Big Bux Donors to ensure the flow of money out of our pockets, into theirs.

Chris Hedges

People are not moved by fact or reason.  They are moved by skillful manipulation of their emotions.



And so, what is Hedges doing?  
And so, both sides...  
And so, we remain paralyzed.


Manufacturing Consent

The Message

...to the United States of Amnesia:

The Real News

I'm not nearly as optimistic as Col Wilkerson, as you may notice in the next post down from this one.

We Lose

Tom Brokaw (aka: The Designated Dumbest Fuckin' Guy On TV At That Random Moment) went on MSNBC to tell us all how miraculously amicable Congress will suddenly become as the Repubs take control of the Senate and decide to reach across the aisle to give the Democrats something in order to achieve some measure of what the fuck is this idiot even talking about!?!

The Repubs have to govern now?
The Repubs will have to compromise?
The American public is angry and fed up with the dysfunction in Washington and so we're about to see some resurgence of The Era of Good Feelings?

Seriously - what the fuck?

We're looking at 2 more years of Do-Nothing-And-Blame-Obama-For-Everything.  Because it's not enough to have both houses of Congress and 5 Robes at SCOTUS.  Ya gotta get the White House too.  So if voters are mad enough to act a little crazy and elect more of the idiots who're doing the things that're making voters mad, then it certainly follows that if you do more of the Making-'Em-Mad stuff, then there's a good chance voters will be mad enough to deliver a Repub Prez in 2016 - especially now that you know how to fuck with the election process itself (Voter ID Suppression) to swing just enough precincts to make it come out in your favor while feeling pretty sure your guys at DumFux News and all the Press Poodles on TV will say it still looks like a fair fight.

Don't forget that this has never been a fight between Red and Blue, or Dems and Repubs, or Conservatives and Liberals.  It's always a fight between Radicals and Moderates.  That's what the whole Checks and Balances thing was all about.

Still, it's an amazing time to be alive.  I'm sure it had to be truly astounding to watch the beginnings of our little experiment in self-government - it's no less awe-inspiring to sit here and watch it die.

Buh Bye

We'll hear a lot about the Midterm Massacre of 2014 - about how the Dems just didn't get the message quite right, and about how the Repubs got their ground game going again, and how angry voters rose up and begged the GOP to beat them all a bit harder because apparently we need to get our minds right and beatin' us is exactly the kind of incentive we need.  Yassa boss.

But here's the difference as I see it:  Repubs got real busy making it harder for people to vote, while the Dems were busy doing absolutely nothing to make their voters willing to fight thru it to get their votes counted.

Obama has put together a pretty decent record in spite of constant Repub obstruction.  So maybe a message like, "Things got better.  Imagine how much more we could do if we didn't have to fight The Recession and the GOP and DumFux News and the Press Poodles..."  instead of, "Vote for me because I'm not quite the asshole that other guy is".

And if you tho't the Obama Hate was bad before?
If you tho't the fuck-off-and-die economic policies were bad?
If you tho't shit can't really get a lot worse?
You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

I'm kinda done beating my head against this wall.  Y'all're on yer own.  I got shit to do.

Go Vote

Today's Pix

Go Vote

TOMORROW

Fun With Numbers

So, let's try to remember one silly little thing when we hear all the frenzied screeching about ebola:  Exactly .0000003% of the entire population of USAmerica, Inc is currently infected with the ebola virus.

That's one guy out of 316,000,000 people - and that one guy's actually doin' pretty good right now.

Don't Vote

Happy Halloween