January 2009 Archives

We read about this last month. Now it makes the big time news before the Super Bowl.

Frankly, fifteen years ago, I would love to attempt making this monstrosity. Now I don't even want to be in the same zip code as one.

Yikes!

Remember when the military went after independent suppliers of body armor because their's was supposedly superior. Too bad their superior armor is being recalled.

Stay safe boys. Your government, as usual, went with the lowest bidder.

Big surprise. Hummer drivers are jerks who ticketed more often.

I was hoping this was true and have a nice warm feeling in my belly knowing now that it is true.

"Al Qaeda has unleashed a stream of verbal attacks against President Obama, calling him names and saying his policies will all end in failure. Well, who do these people think they are, Rush Limbaugh?"

-Jay Leno

Seriously. Read this.

This whole thing alternately amuses and disturbs me. Check it out.

SCIENCE!

Yes, science is back. No longer held down by the Bush administration, I expect we'll hear more and more about the science conducted in silence during the Dark Age of Bush. Here we have the miracle of flood resistant rice, which could potentially save millions of lives.

Good job folks! Keep up the good work.

The first few in a series...I hope.

Getting one step closer to that whole "more perfect union" business. As noted earlier, nice to see the GOP showing where they stand on equal rights for women. Which is, namely, opposed to it.

You keep giving us more and more reasons to vote against you cavemen.

Here's a story concerning the concept of unfriending people on Facebook.

I've got to be completely honest, I have done a certain bit of this lately. Some folks think it is hilarious to make racist jokes. Others are making completely angry and virulent political jokes. These folks are increasingly quit to exit my friends list. I doubt they even notice. I really, really doubt they even care.

A few I am going to keep friended. They really have no clue how angry and stupid they truly sound. Plus, they rarely vent so and it gives me a view into the world of conservative angry bigot fucks so at least I know what the lay of the land without being completely mired in it.

Basically, it lets me know whether I should be more wary of Ryder trucks near my kid's daycare and the like. Yes, Timothy McVeigh was a Republican, folks. And his successor are fuming on Sean Hannity's forum right now.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Just that it is once again nice to see someone putting words to the things I am feeling.

A far better response to Republican's thinking of women as chattel instead of as fellow human beings.

I know Obama is trying to be even-handed, but dumbing down to GOP stupidity is NOT the way to do it.

Some tool of a veteran state trooper in Iowa decided it would be cute to collect mugshots of folks in Obama gear and send them to his pals.

Yeah, real progressive individual there.

And there are tons of folks like him. Many, many in law enforcement.

*sigh*

Feel any safer yet?

Wait a minute!

I'm supposed to FEEL SORRY for these nitwits? And by nitwits, I mean the girlfriends of the douchebag bankers who helped screw up our economy. For some f'in unfathomable reason, the New York Times did a spread on a support group for the no-job-having, money-sucking-leeches that attach themselves to the wealthy and powerful on Wall Street.

You know what? You want a new pair of shoes or a handbag, go GET A FUCKING JOB! Oh, can't get one? Welcome to the real world!

Don't we ALL have something better to do than worry about Gold Diggers Anonymous? Christ, seriously, don't click that link. I get more pissed the more I think about it.

It works both ways. Except that the only ones the GOP are hurting are Americans. Yes, Rush Limbaugh has the congressional GOP in his fat, drug-addled mitts. NONE of them voted for the stimulus bill. The only message we can glean from that? They want the economy to fail even more than it has already.

You know, for the votes it will get them later.

It isn't as if the President hasn't tried to get them on board. Hell, the bill is full of shitty, useless tax breaks that can hopefully be removed now so we can actually FIX this country. Things should go better for bi-partisanship in the Senate. That said, if the Rethugs are more worried about the 2010 elections than in getting people back to work, call them out on it, ignore them, and say screw it.

A very interesting article on how President Obama uses touch to influence others.

I never thought David Frum was capable of using common sense, but he may be starting to see the light now that corporations are swindling our tax dollars and using it for their own dirty ends.

I mean, he's still a Rethug, but at least he's trying to address reality.

Incidentally, Reagan made up the "welfare queen" story. It's probably one of those two-percent stories the GOP uses to stonewall or destroy progress. Sadly, he really DID help create al-Qaeda.

Yes, it is 2009 and the GOP still refuses to get on board with anything that would guarantee equal pay and discrimination protection for women.

I don't have a lot to add to that other than this needs WAY more press than it is getting and, yes, the GOP are a bunch of scumbags. I mean, even FEMALE GOP members voted against this.

On a side note, my gaming club membership is taking a further slide today after the angry neocon faction spent a lot of time talking about firebombing Democrats today. If anyone knows of a Star Wars club that is NOT currently dominated by a second-in-command and his cronies that make Timothy McVeigh look reasonable, let me know, okay?

Here's your idiotic Fifth Column do-nothing Republicans at work.

Yesterday our nation lost another 70,000+ jobs. The GOP is nitpicking over condom distribution in the stimulus package instead of getting our nation back to work.

Meanwhile, "helpful" Republicans like New York's Peter King are tackling the important issues of the day with this bill that would work to reduce the amount of panty shots perverts make with their cell phones.

President Obama is working to shut down our illegal torture prisons, reopen peace negotiations in Palestine, trying to extricate us from iraq, and trying to reverse our destruction of the Constitution, science, and personal liberty, and the best idea the GOP has is to make our cell phones click when taking a picture.

And you wonder why they got voted out of office.

How did I miss this episode?

Christ, suddenly I'm hungry. Granted, it's a bit biased but a good roundup of the different kinds of pie you can find across our great land.

I need to get some more categories because I am VERY sure that putting pizza under Health and Diet is just a bad idea.

How religious stunted our development of math for centuries.

It isn't enough to be a book burner. Apparently some felt the need to write scripture over the corpse of knowledge itself.

Yes, it was probably an innocent mistake, but jeez.

Check this out.

Seriously, give it a good read.

We could have found a cure for Type I diabetes...except that all the big pharmaceutical companies were scared to touch anything involving stem cell research after the Bush zealots went all anti-science, anti-progress, and anti-intelligent.

Now the professor is back and looking for support. Good luck to him. Millions could be saved. More importantly, more COULD have been saved if Bush hadn't been such a prick. Let's just go ahead and add those deaths to his increasing scale of murder, torture, and neglect from his wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, and sanity itself.

Even MORE stuff for the Obama administration to fix.

Oops!

Check this out. I'm actually going to say something complimentary about Sarah Palin:

At least she turned in her hundred thousand plus dollars worth of g-strings and power suits

That said, the Rethugs were supposed to donate her skanky wear to charity...or to Republican fetish whores who want to rub their junk against something their Sarahcuda once wore. Ugh.

Instead all those clothes are just sitting around an office, benefiting neither the women of America or the closet cross-dressers of the GOP.

Figures. Even when one of them does the right thing, the party itself is such a miserable failure.

President Obama has more than the steaming pile of hate and Luddite BS to tackle that Bush left him. He also has to modernize the White House infrastructure to meet the 21st century.

The hits just keep on coming.

Another quality interview with Rachel Maddow. This time with 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl. Enjoy.

Watch this:

Read more here, particularly the comments.

If you haven't seen this vile product shilled on TV, you can not possibly understand the loathing I have for it, much less the sheer utter humor value of this parody:

We still have some dangerous zealots to weed out of our schools before we can lead the world in science again.

That said, consult the whole list to get a more optimistic view point on the future of our minds and our planet.

Bonus: Just for the heck of it, Obama is proving my point that optimism is back by doing away with Bush policies that rewarded the oil and car companies and the let's-rape-the-planet-so-Jebus-will-come-faster Rapture Bunny crowd. No, now we actually CAN increase emission standards and reduce the level of foulness of our vehicle exhaust.

Yes, it is going to cost money. Then again, what the hell ELSE are those morons going to do with the money we gave them?

From Alternet, some commentary on Limbaugh wanting Obama to fail as president.

Presumably this means he wants millions more out of work, losing their homes, closing their businesses, both mom and pop and corporate.

This is the Republican Way, folks. Either they have to be in charge, destroying the Constitution, giving pollutants, traitors, torturers, and their corporate pals everything on a silver platter, or they want things to go even WORSE so they can blame it on someone else.

These idiots don't want to fix America. They want to destroy it. And if they can do so with both fists in the Treasury, more to the good for them.

Stewart has a good approach on this as well.

So much for bipartisan support to fix our nation. The GOP is already crying and bitching so that we can't fix the country.

I mean, they were on board (for the most part) when it came time to give their banking friends free money, but not when it comes to giving taxpayers some of THEIR OWN money back.

Wow. Apparently you are supposed to run the free world without even the benefit of a good modem. No wonder Bush kept f'in everything up.

No, wait. That was STILL Cheney's fault. And the chief dimbulb himself, of course.

Well, that's probably how such a conversation would actually go. Check it out.

Check it out. Fresh presidential limo. More pics here.

Wired covers the new ride, following up on an earlier story.

More from HuffPo and the Telegraph as well as the Detroit Free Press. Popular Mechanics covers the history of presidential limos.

And why was the President so calm and cool when he stepped out of the limo during the parade yesterday? Aside from his usual steady demeanor, he was likely wearing a bullet-resistant coat. Nice threads if you can get them.

Helen Thomas explains Obama's inauguration speech in case you missed the high points.

Honestly, it makes my head hurt.

But damn funny nonetheless.

(Thanks Marcos. I think.)

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Beautiful photos.

That said, this one speaks volumes about what is about to change with our nation.

Why does anyone even listen to pundits? That said, most of these tools are conservatives and they haven't had a correct opinion in ages. Here it is. Good for laugh anyway.

You know, ten years ago a list of 50 strong beers would be my New Year's resolution.

Now it just makes me tired to think about it. Not that I don't mind a good brew, I just don't aim to get knocked on my ass by drinking. This isn't to say that I might not laminate said list and have the occasional sample from it should I run into one or three.

I'm a sucker for food history stories, and this one is not any different.

I actually knew some of these histories but the ones I didn't makes me want to find out more.

Another example of the continuing failures of the Bush administration.

Chief Justice John Roberts can't even deliver the presidential oath of office correctly.

Read how it played out here.

You know, maybe he was playing dirty tricks. Or maybe his brainwashed Rethug mind froze up when he said the phrase "Barack Hussein Obama" and had to be respectful while doing it.

And what the hell was with the big huge question mark behind "So help you God?"? I mean, are we still playing the "is he a secret Muslim?" game?

Even though Bush has flown to his only-recently-integrated gated community to whittle or whatever, we're stuck with his dirty, vile appointees.

Let us hope we can bypass their hate and resistance and fix America despite them.

Change you can surf to.

As a sampling, look at all the good things coming to America in the form of technology, civil rights, and the environment.

An 83% approval rating? This is wonderful. Looks like America is willing to give Obama a chance.

Suck it Limbaugh. Peddle your hatred somewhere else.

Yesterday's Fresh Air was primarily a great interview with John Lewis, covering a range of topics from Barack Obama, the Civil Rights Movement, and Gay Rights as well. Pretty good stuff. I already respected the guy, now I appreciate the way he thinks a bit more.

He also has a nice writeup over at Politico, discussing the Obama administration and the context in which it sits.

Making some final pre-inauguration posts this morning. Don't mind me.

Frank Rich tries to get a grasp of the day and does a pretty good job.

Thanks for the link Tracy.

These fucking Talibangelicals need to get the hell out of serving the public. And thanks to Bush, incidents like this one and bound to be on the rise.

I don't care if you beat off nightly to a picture of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount. It does NOT give you the right to enforce your personal mindset onto the lives of others.

A rewind to Bush's power grab. Fiction as truth.

Thanks Keith.

I find this hilarious.

The GOP and their mouth-breathing internet pals are just SO up in arms about a stimulus package. Particularly that teabag-loving Boehner. Maybe he'll tear up some more and talk to us about how sad he is about, well, everything not going his way lately.

Look, these fuckholes had NO problem sending our soldiers off to war without enough comrades in arms beside them. Without enough armored vehicles. Being given water to drink that had washed corpses by Chene's bitches at Halliburton.

What did that cost? I mean other than over 4,000 American lives and 12,000 plus wounded? Not to mention the 100,000 or so Iraqis? Oh, eventually THREE TRILLION DOLLARS!

These same scumbags - for the most part - had no issues with given $700 billion to banks, even turning speculative investment banks into the regular kind so they could feed generously at the government trough. Then again, the GOP LOVES giving free money to businesses with no strings attached. Indeed, other than to give the Klan something to do politically, I'm not sure what ELSE the Republican Party is around for.

What has that done for us? Not a whole hell of a lot. Heck, Bank of America has gone back to the trough for a THIRD trip and still won't lend any money. The SEIU has some ideas on what they should do.

Hell, the only ones even trying are the auto companies. Sure, they are scumbags too, but frigging GMAC opened up it's credit rules the day after the feds gave them $5 billion. And even then they're still being tight asses.

So, $350 billion in and only $5 billion has shown any good results.

And now Obama wants to provide jobs and give the taxPAYERS a break. And the GOP is solidly against it.

I sure hope America is watching and taking notes. And, yeah, partisan division aside and all that, but Obama needs to point out the argument these guys are making, which is this: TRILLIONS for war, TRILLIONS for corporations, and not ONE FUCKING DIME for those who actually pay the taxes.

Roger Simon gives a history lesson.

Yeah, it is quite a mess Bush is leaving behind.

I blame his mother. She might be a bitch but she obviously coddled her sons too much. Neil is a felon, Bush is torture-loving war criminal, and Jeb apparently will willingly violate the Constitution to help out his drug addicted brother.

Cheers!

A new day is dawning folks. Check it out.

Just a small list of Bush's sins and crimes.

Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya, you piece of shit.

Jan 13, 2009

MP3 link.

Gravity, inertia, and external forces are all parts of Newtonian physics. Commentator Robert Fielden says they're a part of our economic downturn too.

This applies to just about everywhere, but Dr. Fielden gives a good insight into things here in Las Vegas. As usual, he lays it out very plain and simple and to the point.

"Making history doesn't erase history"

- John King, on CNN, discussing how electing Obama does not mean racism is dead

It needed said. Surprisingly, it was said by a white conservative TV journalist.

Thanks Dave.

More proof that our Talibangelicals have more in common with our enemies than with actual Americans.

Zealotry is a disease people. Get help.

Limbaugh is already on board the Fifth Column train. And he's ,a href="http://www.theseminal.com/2009/01/19/rush-limbaugh-who-once-suggested-dissent-was-treason-now-says-he-wants-obamas-plans-to-fail/" target="_blank">already a hypocrite to his own rules. Typical Republican. Hell, he couldn't even wait to be a Quisling so he's doing it in advance of Obama becoming president.

Meanwhile, his traitor pals Malkin, Delay, Steve King, et al are jumping on the Traitor Train too.

Miserable cretins.

Personally, I don't think they are traitors for not liking Obama. I think they are against democracy and cheered on the raping of our Constitution during the Bush years. They are entitled to their (entirely wrong) opinions, but these fucks have a lot to answer for over the past eight years and their constant and continuing violations of their own made-up rules will be vastly entertaining as they watch this nation try to fix itself. It would be nice if they would just pitch in and help, but I doubt we'll be seeing too many Rethugs doing that.

So just get over on the side of the road, spread your hate, and get the hell out of the way you morons.

Racism: Japanese style.

It hasn't happened in a long time, and definitely on matters that don't relate to economics, but I actually agree with Paul Krugman on something.

Obama should go after the Bush Crime Family for the laws they have broken, particularly the violations of the Constitution they have committed. I don't even care if they do time, though that would be nice. I would just like anyone found guilty to be banned from EVER serving the federal government again.

They've taken a steaming shit on our democracy and, if found guilty of doing so, should lose the right to have the public's truth as they've obviously abused said right and sullied the good name of our nation in doing so.

Now, I'm not saying this should be the FIRST thing Obama should do. Just that it should be on the list.

Hey kids! Find out which one of your neighbors is a bigoted piece of shit with eightmaps. You can search by location to see who gave money to pass Proposition 8 in California.

Obviously this will work better in California and Utah, but nice tool.

Hey ladies! If you live in New York City, head on down to the spa for this deal:

Plus, more on the Shave the Date movement.

Step One: Insert tongue directly into side of cheek. This is pretty severe satire.

Step Two: Read this.

This is the finest example to turning the other cheek that I've seen in a long while.

It exemplifies what being religious SHOULD mean.

It also shows the patience, tolerance, and love of all mankind that Liberals believe. Not the cruel, crude, and carnal caricature that conservatives have turned the word into, but actual Liberalism.

The "in case you missed the last eight years" overview of events.

It occurs to me that, as patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, so history is the last refuge of the failed president.

The official "I hope you live long enough to see you written in the history books as the villain" goodbye editorial.

Also good reading.

Surprise. Surprise. Bush has dumped the ranch and presumably his ten gallon hat and boots.

Asshole was scared of horses anyway. And Rethugs call him a cowboy?

Well, at least he's back to being a smug elitist bullshit artist. Well, he was already that, but with a cowboy hat prop.

This is today's best pick. Read this.

Well, this is kind of like trying to address the problem.

The reliance on keeping the Buick label alive flies in the face of anything approaching logic though. I mean, really, have YOU considered ever buying a Buick? Me neither. Then again, I haven't received any AARP mail either.

This is part of a series this week tackling the challenges facing our army in the post-Bush era. Today's installment is on the massive backlog of equipment repairs our military needs.

As usual, Robert Reich makes more sense than any economist I've ever heard.

Why this man isn't working for the Obama administration is beyond me.

Wow. A non-fellating article critical of Bush in the Wall Street Journal.

It's like some kind of miracle.

Oh, if only.

You know, except for the bit about Cheney being president.

Yeah, this explains a lot about me and most people I work with.

Check this list out. I mean, this guy and his mob have screwed this country up so bad, we've even forgotten things that would normally damn an administration all by themselves.

I did not make this, and I'm not necessarily endorsing it, but for those of you ladies so inclined, here's an inaugural event for your consideration.

It might help it you are on Facebook to see that properly. I don't know.

I can't do it justice in small form, so click here to get the whole sordid set of facts.

"The mind-set from top to bottom is fight and fight cruel; this is a war, not another pinpoint operation."

Fighting dirty, and fighting for keeps in Gaza. Both sides are using all the tricks they can think of to win the conflict. Not that I think winning is an option for anyone involved in this mess.

Had these sitting around and kept meaning to link them. Pretty stunning stuff.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Some more truth for ya courtesy of Bob Cesca.

Yes, he's only got about 12 days left, but let's not give Bush a free pass on anything. He's a major league tool who wrecked this country more than the Redcoats, Nazis, and al Qaeda combined.

Screw that bitch.

Here's a great assessment of Israel's thinking on invading Gaza.

Obvious, but strangely none of the talking heads are saying it.

Here are your thousand words. Thirty four thousand to be exact.

I'm not going to say I enjoyed the stories from Juarez, but check them out. At least the entries from January 5-7.

For all we've lost in our country, at least we haven't devolved to this. Let's hope their is a way to improve life in that city.

And THIS is why you keep Jim Webb in the Senate instead of making him Vice President.

Look, the guy is a loose cannon, but that's a good thing. He's tackling issues that need addressing, and damn the politics and games involved in doing it the "normal" way.

I don't agree with everything he's ever been for, but hey, we NEEDED a new GI Bill. And we equally need to reform our prison system.

Good on you Jim. Keep up the good work.

To follow up on the blog post on what to do with GM, apparently Chrysler may be too stupid to save.

The ad sucked so bad even FAUXNews is against it.

When the (loud)mouth of the GOP is against a corporation, it really screwed the pooch.

I'm gonna be honest here. My grandfather was damn near a Socialist and I was more or less raised with the whole class struggle thing in mind. So, like 10% of our population is locked up for petty drug offenses and the assholes that drive our economy to the ground are living like this?

How is THAT fair. Or, more to the point, how is THAT democracy? These pricks, and the Enron/WorldCom/Whatever scumbags, and damn near anyone in Halliburton or has shaken George Bush's hand should be doing hard time in federal max. Instead, they are ALL off the hook.

The ONLY reason these people aren't being dragged into the street, beaten, and then hung from light poles like some of them deserve is that everyone knows that, unless you are Bill Gates, if you do it, you'll be beaten by the cops, given a show trial, and your life destroyed.

Don't smoke a jay but you are free to destroy the economy, people's lives, the economy, our nation's financial and ethical standing and get away with it.

Freedom?

And Letterman assesses Bush according to his own words:

Now I know who to blame for all those $2 Long Islands I used to down at Murphy's every Tuesday when I went to U of I.

For the record, David Gregory couldn't wipe Tim Russert's ass and has no business trying to fill his shoes. I watched a few minutes of Meet the Press Sunday but couldn't stomach it. Made up BUS like this is a good reason.

In case I'm not being clear: what a piece of shit he is.

I think I'm hungry. I keep reading all the food entries. Here's another one.