Slouching Towards Oblivion

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Gotta Go Back To Cable

TBS premiered Samantha Bee's new show - Full Frontal - last night and, of course, I'd forgotten all about it.

Here's a great clip that's great just for including the line describing Donald Trump as "an oddly tinted collection of psychiatric symptoms".  You can't not like that shit.


More Bey




Mr Giuliani seems to think speaking the truth isn't wholesome.  He's saying having an opinion, stating an opinion, and defending that opinion is OK but only in places and/or circumstances prescribed by - who exactly?  The masters?  The Ruling Class?  Some blobby "majority" or "the American people"?  It's always some vaguely-defined image of an America that can be changed to fit whatever narrative they're flacking right now, but it always always always comes down to inviting the inference of a kindly white hegemony in a soft-focus past where all the black people were the good kind of black people who knew  how lucky they were to spend their lives cleaning our toilets and then conveniently dying with nothing to show for it - long before we had to think maybe we should pay them back for any of it.

The authoritarian mindset is always trying to tell everybody to shut up; get with the program; and don't say or do anything that might make anybody feel uncomfortable with the way the boss needs people to believe things are. And one of the main tools is Divide-n-Conquer. They work hard to pit us against each other to make sure we go on paying their rent, while looking for any opportunity to point and say, (eg) "Hey, look - Beyonce is being divisive".

They talk "Unity", but if you make any attempt to get people together, they'll be happy you've given them another chance to slag you by saying you're the one "tearing this country apart".

We're being fucked with like we've got tails.

Today's Tweet

Monday, February 08, 2016

Ends In A Tie

Some more or less random thinking on the day after Super Bowl.

So yesterday was the 50th Annual Billionaires' Bash-a-Rama, nestled in the snuggly warmth of Silicon Valley's mega-bucks party in the richest city in USAmerica Inc.

OK, I'll see that bet and I'll raise ya Black History Month, plus the 50th anniversary of Huey and Bobby starting the Black Panther Party (in the Bay Area BTW).



(still don't know why the sound was so lousy - either an engineer forgot to flip a switch or CBS was playin' it a little too cool and the whole thing had to go thru one guy's panel so he could pull the plug in case there was a Wardrobe Malfunction situation - you noticed Justin and Janet were absent from the retrospective, right?)

Was Bey kicking the beast from the inside, trying to give somebody a signal of some sort?  Is it "disrespectful" that she'd do that at the Super Bowl? Or is it insulting to our intelligence, and/or more than a little ironic that a creature of "the system" is working hard to convince us she's fighting the system?  Or maybe it's just more shiny things - bread and circuses.

Any subversive worth his salt knows the dominant force loses completely if they don't win outright, and that the insurgency wins if all they do is survive to fight just one more day.  So how does anybody "win" anything in this kinda shit - when it's all mashed up together like this?

In a game featuring (mostly) black guys, where the Most Valuable Game's Most Valuable Player is a black guy, didn't anybody think it was little weird how the guy nobody could stop talking about was a washed-up white-dude quarterback who played like he had a coupla strands of linguini floppin' around where his throwin' arm's supposed to be?

One more tidbit - the Broncos Defense has 25 guys listed on the depth chart. 24 of 'em are black.  Black men brought that trophy home to you, Denver. I don't know what that means, if it means anything at all, but a little acknowledgement on that one wouldn't be outa line.  Maybe that's all Beyoncé was trying to say.

Anyway, my Donkeys won, and I'm a happy guy right now, and I can make a decision on whether or not I stay with this football thing later.  Time for another drink.


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:




Sunday, February 07, 2016

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:



Saturday, February 06, 2016

Senator Big Gulp's Night Out

Go, Ben Go

Live TV is the best fucking thing ever.

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.

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, February 05, 2016

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:





Thursday, February 04, 2016

Today's Tweet



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.