Today's Pix

Science Monday

I'm putting this up the day before Denver loses it's record 6th Super Bowl - actually, I'm  trying to put up a lotta stuff in advance, because if my Donkeys pull it off, I'm prob'ly gonna be drunk for several days.

So here's some great stuff from The Thinking Atheist:

Medical Neglect In The Name Of God

Sunday-Go-To-Meetin'

On Friday's podcast, Blue Gal did a Bible Bitch segment - generally too rare an occurrence IMO.  I'm pretty god-hostile, but she always gives me something interesting and useful.  Anyway, it centered around this Depression-era Methodist hymn:

O Young And Fearless Prophet --S Ralph Harlow, 1931

O young and fearless Prophet of ancient Galilee,

Thy life is still a summons to serve humanity;

To make our thoughts and actions less prone to please the crowd,

To stand with humble courage for truth with hearts uncowed.

We marvel at the purpose that held Thee to Thy course

While ever on the hilltop before Thee loomed the cross;

Thy steadfast face set forward where love and duty shone,

While we betray so quickly and leave Thee there alone.

O help us stand unswerving against war’s bloody way,

Where hate and lust and falsehood hold back Christ’s holy sway;

Forbid false love of country that blinds us to His call,

Who lifts above the nations the unity of all.

Stir up in us a protest against our greed for wealth,

While others starve and hunger and plead for work and health;

Where homes with little children cry out for lack of bread,

Who live their years sore burdened beneath a gloomy dread.

Create in us the splendor that dawns when hearts are kind,

That knows not race nor station as boundaries of the mind;

That learns to value beauty, in heart, or brain, or soul,

And longs to bind God’s children into one perfect whole.

O young and fearless Prophet, we need Thy presence here,

Amid our pride and glory to see Thy face appear;

Once more to hear Thy challenge above our noisy day,

Again to lead us forward along God’s holy way.

And here's the podcast:

Senator Big Gulp's Night Out

Can't improve on this. https://t.co/elRQzYvslk

— Mike Roberts (@EvilleMike) February 7, 2016

Go, Ben Go

Live TV is the best fucking thing ever.

Stop watching the debate and just keep watching this Vine of Ben Carson's entrance: https://t.co/75a51YFRP2 #gopdebate

— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) February 7, 2016

Pretending It Doesn't Matter

It bothers me a lot that they can't play football for more than a few minutes without somebody being in need of medical attention.

Football's my game.  I loved playing it.  I love watching it.  I get it and it gets me.  It's my game.  But there's something wrong with it, and I have to admit there's something wrong with it.

I just really wish I had confidence that the people who have the power to make the necessary changes will, in fact, make those changes.

hat tip = politicians are poodyheads

Pretending It Matters

On the eve of Super Bowl 50!!! 

So I guess the NFL needs to lose the bullshit Roman numerals thing when it comes to their annual biggest fucking thing in the whole world ever?  'Cuz the 'L' looks like a typo or something? Or it looks more like "Super Bowl - LARGE".  I've never quite understood why we feel the need to dress that kinda shit up by using substitutes for numbers - like we're trying to make it look more important than it actually is - why can't we just let it be what it is? 

So anyway, fuck that shit.  But wait - Roger Goodell had to sign off on the '50' thing, so maybe Mr Goodell is of more use than tits on a bull after all(?)  Or maybe, actually, somebody in Goodell's office handled it; well, more likely, it was somebody in the marketing department; or the PR firm that the NFL outsources all the important decisions to...so yeah, Roger Goodell is about as useful as tits on a bull.

Anyway, here's an oldie from Jay Smoothe - it starts as a reaction to some weird shit that flew around the web because of LebRon and Miami and the NBA and whatever, but Jay does a good job widening it out into a decent perspective on the pathology of Sportsball Mania in general.

Anyway - Go Donkeys!  Losing a 6th Super Bowl is a record that could stand for a very long time.  Make me proud, fellas.

Friday Nite Listenin'

By now, I suspect, this is something of a chestnut.  

Don't care.  Good guitar good poetry and good harmony never gets old.

Prologue --Milk Carton Kids

Spread The Blog

Honoring and remembering on this Blogroll Amnesty Day (thanks Tengrain).  They also serve who sit and type.

From Scarfolk Council:

Today's Tweet

At this point Democrats don't have a leg to stand on when mocking the GOP process. The infighting has been vile.

— Smartassicus Totalus (@Cynicalreality) February 5, 2016

Can't prove that by me.  I'm all in for Bernie.  Until or unless it's time for me to be all in for Hillary.

And BTW - The only thing dumber than somebody saying they won't vote because "you're just choosing between the lesser of two evils" is the willful blindness required for somebody not to understand that it's about pushing back against the greater of the two evils.

Smarten up and vote.  Then smarten up again, work together, and get shit done.

My Quote

Synthesizing and deriving from Napoleon and a movie called "The Contender".

Your willingness to be petty is shown in what you do to get power. Your commitment to greatness is shown in how you exercise that power.

Today's Tweet

Amazing action shots of Kingfisher hunting in winter, by Manfred Delpho. pic.twitter.com/pFXNXiXp6u

— Weird Science (@weird_sci) February 4, 2016

Trump's Huge #2

Today's Tweet

Obama Triumphs As House Republicans Fail To Override Obamacare Repeal Veto https://t.co/moZX5iN25R So now they'll get going on jobs. right?

— margaret stuart md (@marstu67) February 3, 2016

Waiting

Today's Quote

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection. --Henri Poincairé

GOP Update

In Case You Missed It

hat tip = FB pal CB and Democratic Underground

Today's Charlie

Charlie Pierce on the little stroke fest going on between Chris Matthews and Hillary:

Chris Matthews had an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton on the MSNBC channel of the electric teevee machine Tuesday afternoon that was flatly astounding. This is especially true if you remember Matthews' sorry history with the Clinton family, especially concerning HRC, against whom he was so hostile in 2008 that kindly Doc Maddow called him out on it on the air. Now, though, apparently, Matthews sees HRC as the only thing keeping the Battleship Potemkin from sailing up his driveway.

I don't need a lot of encouragement to slag Tweety.  The guy is a political sycophant who made his bones serving congress during a time that became pretty notorious for official corruption - not that anything can compare with what's going on now, but back then, bribery  was still illegal.  Aah, the good old days.

Anyway, Matthews giving Hillary a tongue bath on the air like a dutiful little Press Poodle was a little surprising given the outright hostility that Charlie points out, but it makes a lot of sense from the stand point of the corporate media needing to rally around the power center and protect the status quo against the efforts of a Bernie Sanders who seems to be trying to turn this joint into some dirty little democracy or some such.  Eww. 

Careers are at stake here.  If they allow Bernie to gain any real momentum, the whole Political Infotainment Industry is in real danger of total collapse.  They know he's that much of a threat.  Isn't it interesting how some people are so sure that protecting their paycheck is more important than serving our little experiment in self-government?  That's the mindset of the overseer.

Somebody - actually a group of very powerful somebodies - has made a decision that Hillary's going to be our next POTUS.  They'll hedge their bets by flacking Marco Rubio, but that's the window dressing; that's the match-maker shit they pull on us every fucking time.  

Rubio is being cast as the GOP's Barack Obama - coming from behind to knock off all the favorites in the playoffs and win a shot at the title.  I think it's interesting that Cruz (IMO) is being used as the cat's paw to countervail Trump, while Rubio is being pimped as some kind of quiet giant killer.  BTW - I tho't that role was going to be Jeb's, but the guy is apparently even more adept at fucking up a free lunch than his dumb-as-a-stump brother, and I'm dumb enough to have tho't otherwise.

Anyway, we all remember what an epic battle it was for the Dem nomination in 2008 when we had the crafty veteran squaring off against the upstart newcomer, so why not just replay that whole fucking show; that was a dandy - but this time, we'll put 'em on opposite sides in a contest for the ultimate prize - it'll be a spectacularly spectacular spectacle to see these two valiant warriors in action as they slug it out for blah blah blah.  This isn't even a horse race anymore - it looks a lot more like Professional Wrestling.

Call me wacky and y'know - I may be paranoid, but that don't mean nobody's out to get me.

Wanna know what stops this shit - or at least changes it for the better?

A Brief Predictive History

Some day, we might get a peek at a few of the encounters that've set this epically wacky political year in motion, and maybe, the running battle between The Lord High Priebus and Donald The Invincible of Trumpkinland will be remembered ever so grandly thus:

Oh, Jeb

This just in from Jeb! campaign HQ: