Gotta love this. Barney Frank hands it right back to some female "Obama is Hitler" wackjob at a town hall meeting:
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Barney Frank Stands Up to Psycho Freak
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 10:23 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
When Does Negotiation Become Appeasement?
When it comes to the Health Care Debate, it already has. In what is so far the biggest disappointment in the Obama presidency, I saw that certain "signals" were being put out over the weekend that the "public option" will likely be thrown under the bus, in exchange for the approval of the Rethugs in Congress.
Well, how about that?
I think someone needs to tell our president that negotiation with those people is fruitless, that they ultimately will vote down any health care bill that the Dems propose, and that it's time for the true majority in the Congress to kick their across-the-aisle buddies to the side. They've already shown that bipartisanship is not in their nature. Any gestures towards bipartisanship are seen as weakness, appeasement, to be exploited in drawing even more lines in the sand.
Witness Sunday's Meet the Press, where David Gregory asked Tom Coburn (R-Sanctimonious) if he would vote for any of the proposed bills if the public option were taken out.
Guess what? The answer, once you got through his politician bullshit, was "no". And that's the case across the board with the assholes of the right. All their job is now is to obfuscate and obstruct and prevent any health care bill from passing.
And the commanding general of the dick army, Dick Armey (R-Dickhead), admitted -- at Rachel Maddow's prodding -- that he considers Medicare to be "tyranny".
That's the mindset of these people. It's hilarious that they are now trotting a video from 1961 with Saint Ronald Reagan railing against "socialized medicine", saying that it would signal the end of freedom in this country, blah blah blah.
The proposed legislation that he was frothing at the mouth over? Medicare. Jesus, how many times can you go to that well and expect to be taken seriously. The vast majority of people who are on Medicare think it works well and do not want to lose it.
Note to the Dems: Forget bipartisanship, forget negotiation, forget the Party of No even exists. You have 60 votes in the senate and a mandate from the American people: Do the right thing and pass comprehensive health care/insurance reform, WITH THE PUBLIC OPTION.
Anything less would be, in the words of that commercial from several years back, "uncivilized".
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 10:31 AM 2 comments
Monday, August 17, 2009
Rachel Hands Dick Armey His Lunch
For those who don't normally watch Meet the Press, here's a highlight from yesterday's show that is a "must see", in which Rachel Maddow "owns" Dick Armey:
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:29 PM 0 comments
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Let's Call it What it Really Is: Racism
Those loud and disruptive morons at the town halls want "their America" back. Yeah, that would be the America of Jim Crow laws, full segregation, "Sundown Towns" and "Strange Fruit".
They just can't stand the fact that a black man, of all people, is president of the United States.
So what do they do? Show up at town hall meetings and act like a bunch of neo-fascist brownshirt thugs, shouting down anyone and everyone who even looks like they might have voted for that uppity Chicago jiveass motherfucker.
They are angry white people who have been caught on the wrong side of history. So what do they do? Behave like a dangerous bunch of senile two-year-olds, throwing temper tantrums because they can't have what they want. It's a disgusting display by a bunch of people who really ought to know better, but apparently don't. They've allowed themselves to be whipped into a frothing-at-the-mouth frenzy by Glenn I'm-An-Asshole-AND-I-Play-One-on-TV Beck and Rustie Fatboy-Bigmouth-Draftdodger-Limpdick Limbaugh and that walking talking piece of human nitrogenous waste Sean Hannity, to the point where civil discourse is now an impossibility.
Remember, I grew up in the 1950s in Oklahoma, I went to a segregated grade school (the modern one, of course -- the black kids attended a falling-down two-story firetrap over on the "wrong" side of the tracks). I know about racism first hand, and I know the people who still harbor their just-below-the-surface innate racism.
While there are no longer signs on towns across America -- North AND South -- that say "Ni@@er, don't let the sun set on you in OUR town", the attitude is still there. And now we have one of THEM in the office of the presidency, living in ... the WHITE House!
Oh, the horror, the horror.
Except that it's not funny. Gun sales have shot off the charts since November, being purchased by people who see the end of their America right around the corner and are going to approach it armed and dangerous. Just south of me, along Interstate 5, a reactionary wingnut keeps the infamous "Uncle Sam" billboard. The latest says "I'll take god, guns and gold. You can keep the change". And this is in the western part of Washington State, which voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Of course, it is in rural Lewis County, where in 1999 the state supreme court ruled that just because a couple gets a divorce, it doesn't mean that they're not still first cousins...
So, take a look at that bozo in New Hampshire who wore a loaded sidearm to the Obama speech in the high school? Did you catch his sign: "Water the tree of liberty"? Recognize that? It's from Thomas Jefferson in his firebrand years: "The tree of liberty must from time to time be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots."
Jeez, now what do you think that bloodthirsty knuckledragging moron was really thinking? Who was the "tyrant" and who was the "patriot" in the scenario working its way through his enfeebled feverish brain? That borders on being a "clear and present danger" threat on the life of our president. So what does that motherfucker get for his troubles? Arrested? Even questioned by the Secret Service?
No, he gets his 15 minutes of fame, not only on ClusterFux News but also on Chris Matthews' Hardball. Give me a fucking break already. This lowers the bar on nutjob batshit craziness to the point where some Rethug asshole is going to think he can bring an RPG launcher to the next presidential press conference.
I think what's going on is that the Limbaughs, the Becks, the Hannitys, the O'Reillys and their ilk are intentionally fomenting an armed rebellion, knowing that their minions will never be able to pull one off, but instead will be put down forcefully.
Which will result in a "See, I told you so" movement on the toxic wingnut airwaves, a self-fulfilling prophecy that the Obama Administration is suppressing dissent, which in turn will whip up more revolution, in a slowly-constricting cycle that will provoke more suppression, etc etc etc.
You know, that whole "blood of tyrants and patriots" thing.
I think that the wingnut puppeteers are ultimately placing their bets on the armed rabble -- especially since they are doing their utmost to create more of them -- to turn back the clock on progressive changes and reinstate THEIR America.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:18 PM 7 comments
The Glenn Beck Advertisers
Over at the Color of Change website, they've got a simple on-line petition that they will send to the hapless capitalists who are still advertising on Beck's totally-nutso squirrelfucking-insane show.
Please consider dropping by and signing the petition. Send them a message that Glenn Bilk and his ilk do not represent us and the REAL America.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:42 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
An Embarrassment of Ignorance
I always check out my hometown newspaper's online site, just to see what's going on in the rural KKK part of the state, and I am seldom disappointed in what I find, since it's pretty much exactly what I expect.
Witness today's reader-contributed commentary by the local liberal, Will We Destroy Another President?
The knuckledragging mouthbreathing subhuman morons who inhabit the blogosphere in Cowshitz County, Washington, come out in fire-breathing mobs when Bill Kasch has anything to say, and they haven't disappointed this time.
Witness the following, submitted by someone who goes by the monicker "Tiger":
The corporations back when FDR was in power, had to close their doors, because the President, and his congress increased taxes over 69% when FDR started all his first programs and someone had to pay for them. By the way, many of FDR's programs failed miserably, and no one left to pay for his Ideas.Okay, I don't know what he means by "religion grows" (except I'm reminded of those pro-pot posters back in the 60s that showed a healthy marijuana plant and the slogan "god grows his own"...), but the rest of that garbled crap is straight out of the Faux News Misinformation Machine.
That is why we had high double digit unemployment, and a deep depression until we entered WW2 in 1941, and the depression was not over until 1954. Now Obama is taking the same stupid moves that will prolong our next depression for decades.
If Obama is successful in pushing through this healthcare plan, and the Environmental Cap-and-Trade program, our costs will speed to the sky at hugh leaps. Fuel will become shortages, and of course you will not have a job to pay for it anyway. We will have a depression that will make the one in 1929 through 1954 look like a cake walk.
In the first depression, my Dad lost everything, and he told me that when he found a part time job, all he had to eat was 2 slices of home made bread with a piece of cabbage between, because that is all he had! If we went into the same situation today, it would be like hell on earth. People will kill someone for a loaf of bread, because todays people haven't any idea where milk comes from, or how to grow vegetables. Religion grows.
So your old buddy Farnsworth had to ring in on this issue himself:
Tiger, before you start shooting your mouth off about things you know nothing about, you might want to read a little history. The Great Depression, despite what you hear on Faux News, was the direct result of nearly a dozen years of continuous Republican rule, and it started in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932 & didn't take office until March of 1933.Not that this is going to change Tiger's misconception of the world or how it really works. I'm actually embarrassed to have graduated high school in a county where this kind of ignorance runs rampant.
Even though the vast majority of the programs instituted by FDR and the Democrats helped immensely, the depression they inherited was so bad that it still stretched on for another eight years or so, until the deficit spending required by WWII created jobs and bailed out industry. So don't fall for the wingnut slogan that "no nation ever spent itself into prosperity"--it's a lie, as WWII shows.
I don't know where you got that date of 1954 for the end of the Great Depression since the post-WWII decade was, by all economic indicators, an era of unprecedented prosperity and job growth. And the top marginal tax rate during the 1950s? You'd better sit down for this one Tige -- 91%!!!
So all of you people out there who think that tax cuts are THE answer to everything seem to be ignoring both history and reality. But I guess your continual quoting of Faux News and Fatboy Draftdodger Rustie Limbaugh, has already demonstrated that: "My mind is made up, so don't confuse the issue with facts."
But what're ya gonna do? Aside from beating some sense into their heads, and I'm a little long in the tooth to actually engage in the kind of violent retribution these fuckers really deserve...
BTW, I will be attending one of those "Town Hall" meetings in a couple of weeks, given by my "other Congressman", and I'm taking my video camera with me. Assuming that I don't end up in the hospital after being assaulted by the Neo-Nazi reThugs, I'll be posting the after-action report here.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 5:12 PM 1 comments
Monday, August 10, 2009
I Am an American Conservative Shithead
As with A Day in the Life of Joe Republican and A Day in the Life of a True Conservative, both of which are featured prominently in my permanent links sidebar, there's a new one going around:
What a bunch of hypocritical assholes. These are the same ones who yell "SOCIALIZED MEDICINE" at the top of their lungs, and in the same breath, "AND STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SOCIAL SECURITY!"I Am an American Conservative ShitheadThis morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 2:20 AM 1 comments
Sunday, August 09, 2009
So Who is Blackwater's "High Executive" Joseph Schmitz?
He's been all over the news channels, the ones who are covering the Blackwater hearings anyway, appearing as some kind of shadowy borderline sleazy obstructionist at the Pentagon for his Lord and Master, Erick Prince.
But did the media bother to tell us just who the fuck he is?
No, they did not, but I'm here to correct their sins of omission.
He is one Joseph Schmitz, the son of dead Orange County California rightwing wacko, fulltime nutjob, former US Representative (R-Fascist), minor party presidential candidate, adulterer (naturally: he was a Rethug after all) and an accused-and-therefore-likely child abuser John Schmitz, who was considered "too extreme" for the John Birch Society and was expelled.
Old John Schmitz also just happened to be the father of über-horny fired-in-disgrace grade school teacher and convicted child rapist Mary Kay Latourneau.
In this case it appears that the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, but you'd never know it from the news coverage. It's like Little Joey "Rat-Faced-Git" Schmitz popped out of thin air, the result of some Immaculate Misconception, and immediately started scurrying for a dark hiding place like the rat he so strikingly resembles.
When will the media do its job and report fully? Short answer: Never, as long as they remain beholden to -- in thrall to -- the rich capitalist pigs who really run this country. You can bet your bottom dollar if it were a Democrat who had all these weird skeletons in his closet, it'd be on the news 24/7 and you'd never hear the end of it.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 2:27 AM 0 comments
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Rendering Unto Caesar...
This is one of those great "nyuk nyuk nyuk" moments.
Down in Florida, the Dinosaur Adventure Land theme park, founded by a Religious Right wingnut named Kent Hovind, is foundering. Hovind also founded something called the Creation Science Evangelism Ministry and is now doing a ten-year stretch in a federal pen because he neglected to pay the IRS more than $470,000 in payroll taxes.
Now his theme park is likely to be seized and sold at auction to repay some of those massive debts.
Hovind, naturally, still is claiming that he's not guilty, and that he and all of the theme park employees were "employed by god" and so he didn't have to pay taxes. Nor, evidently, did he.
So what happened to all that "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto god that which is god's" that supposedly came right out of the mouth of Jesus Christ himself? (Hint to Hovind: You can tell because the stuff that JC said shows up in red in the so-called Red Letter edition of the New Testament.)
Oh, that's right -- he's working directly for god, and Caesar doesn't enter into the equation. Except for those pesky and impertinent IRS agents who trundled poor Hovind off to federal pen. But I'm sure that Hovind is one of those "imprecatory prayer" guys who is already praying for god to sweep those nefarious agents of the Antichrist off this world and straight into the mouth of hell.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 11:13 PM 2 comments
You Too Can Vote in the Chamber Pot
It's actually the Chamber Poll, but some of the questions are so loaded that they belong in a chamber pot... you know, questions of the "have you stopped beating your wife" variety, but what can we expect from a bunch of rightwingers who will skew their own survey so its results are what they want them to be?
As I think I mentioned before, I'm on the mailing list of something called Friends of the US Chamber of Commerce. Not because I agree with anything they stand for, but it's one of those stealthy espionage "know your enemy" things.
So they have a poll going on right now on their website, and I'm sure that pretty much the only people voting in it are rightwing assholes. But it isn't limited to them. There's no litmus test to take the poll.
So everyone, spread the word to all your progressive friends to take the poll at http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/takeaction/index.cfm.
Here's what I put in the comments box as to what incentives congress can provide small businesses:
Universal single payer health insurance will relieve small businesses like mine of the burden of providing decent health insurance. I am all for it and I can't believe that other small businessmen are against it. In fact, they AREN'T, once they learn the truth, and the Chamber ought to start the dissemination of some hard facts about it instead of using scare tactics and suborning the intimidation of US representatives.Okay, so I may have a "small business" but I don't have any employees. So I lied. So sue me.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:59 PM 2 comments
I Guess We Were ALL Born in Kenya...
...and here's my Kenyan birth certificate to prove it:

I know the text is pretty small on this copy, but you can see the larger version here and you can even make your own!
Lots of fun! Fool your friends!
[HT to Dusty over at It's My Right to Be Left of Center for the link]
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:03 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Blackwater Head a Murderer? Say It Isn't So.
The news today is that Eric Prince, the founder of Blackwater and one of god's own annointed, has been fingered in two sworn statements (here and here) by two men before a federal court for murdering people who were cooperating with the Feds investigating the company.
According to one of the statements, Prince
...views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."I guess we might now want to be on the lookout for Prince to show up at that notorious C-Street House of God to get absolution for these sins: If you are working for god, you are not committing crimes no matter what you do.
In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on Prince's private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the US State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.
Anyone who has followed the career of Eric Prince -- specifically having read Jeremy Scahill's fascinating Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, knows that this outfit is capable of literally anything, including the murder of its own consiglieri, in order to maintain its power. Watching Prince is like watching scenes from The Godfather II.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 9:51 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
A Dangerous -- and Disgusting -- Tactic
Over the course of the last week or so, there has been a closely coordinated -- there's no other word for it -- attack on US Representatives when they've been speaking at their local "town hall" type meetings.
The opponents of health care reform banded together to ambush the poor public servant, shouting down those in the audience who oppose them, and in general turning what is supposed to be a "peaceful assembly" into something that resembles an angry mob scene.
Anyone recall the last time the Rethugs organized "spontaneous" angry mobs to get their way? No, it wasn't Nazi Germany (but that was a good guess).
It was Florida in the waning days of 2000, when the GOP trucked in professional thug operatives from all over the country to storm the barricades at the voting-counting locations. Sadly, that tactic worked all too well, even back then, and there's no reason to suppose that they've learned anything from it -- except that it works.
I'll be attending the upcoming town hall meetings my two Representatives give (I have two because I live on the line dividing two Congressional districts, and while I vote in only one of them, I still consider the other guy my "other Representative") to see if any of these Rethug assholes try any bullshit shenanigans.
I'm not sure what action I will take in response, but I'm hoping that it will be reasoned and measured.
Bullshit. Fuck 'em, I'm going ballistic.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 11:24 AM 3 comments
Monday, August 03, 2009
Okay, I'm Back
The heat wave is more or less history -- for now. It's a reasonable 85 degrees today and we're back to speaking to each other in moderated tones. Let me tell you, though, going through a week plus of temperatures hovering near the triple-digit mark can be very trying on a relationship.
Fortunately one of us (guess who) maintained his sense of humor through the whole thing and, aside from the day when I had to sponge up She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed from the tile floor in the kitchen and stick her into the fridge until she reconstituted herself, it was pretty bearable.
For me, anyway. But I told her when she came out of the refrigerator not to count on me to do that consistently, because...
Because...
Because I don't do "chick work"...
The bruises have pretty much healed up by now, and the doctor says that I'll eventually be able to walk again, once the full-body cast comes off and I go through some rigorous physical therapy...
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 3:50 PM 2 comments
Thursday, July 30, 2009
104 Degrees: Still Alive -- Barely
I've been quiet the last few days -- because of Global Warming we are having unprecedented record-breaking temperatures here in what used to be called The Wet Corner. Not that the heat bothers me so much -- I grew up in rural Oklahoma in the 1950s -- but She Who Must Be Obeyed melted yesterday afternoon. I had to sponge her up off the kitchen tile and put her in the freezer for an hour until she reconstituted. Good thing she didn't melt into the carpeting.
Yesterday it got up to 104 with no breeze, and our house, like pretty much every other house in town, doesn't have air conditioning. It actually never really needed it before, but with this heat spell due to last for several more days we thought about getting one of those portable A/C boxes.
Hah. It turned out that we were, surprise, not the only people in the South Sound to want one. Naturally they are all sold out. A store in Seattle had people lined up starting at 1:00 AM, only to find out at 10:00 AM that the truck delivering the units had not arrived. I think the only thing that prevented a riot was that it was too hot to fight.
So I'll be back in a few days, when it's cooled off again. We're going to the lake and cool off in the water.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 7:53 AM 2 comments
Monday, July 27, 2009
The The Late Scores: Shana Holmes 1, Canada 33.7 Million
By now I'm sure everyone has heard of poor benighted Shana Holmes, who has been all over wingnut media serving as a cautionary tale for anyone even considering the benefits of single payer health coverage.
Especially Faux News, which considers poor Shona's story red meat for the unschooled, the uneducated, the moronic, the infantile -- the average Faux News viewer.
The only problem with poor Shona's red-meat story is that the testimony of the other 33.7 million Canadians proves it to be a lie.
Besides we shouldn't even be talking about this shit, since none of the proposed health care programs even comes close to the "socialism" of Canada's. Or Britain's. Or western Europe's. Or any other civilized nation on this ball we call earth.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 7:48 PM 6 comments
Friday, July 24, 2009
You Go, Girlfriend!
I can always rely on my good buddy Blue Gal to cut through the bullshit:
Take that, you moronic birthers!
Of course this will have zero effect on the morons on the right, who would not accept a sworn statement from Pope John the XXXIII-rd that it was correct. Or from Hey-suss himself.
I can't believe that here it is midsummer of 2009 and we're still putting up with this nonsense...
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:08 PM 2 comments
The Daily Show and the "Birthers"
This is a must-see clip, a terrific sendoff for the wackadoodle Obama-birth-certificate nutjob moron crowd, like that crazy lady at the Republican US Rep's town hall. This is why, with Uncle Walter Cronkite no longer with us, Jon Stewart is now the most trusted name in television journalism.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 9:51 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Email Slime Job on "Queen" Nancy Pelosi
Once again the Internets are providing the rabid slavering dogs of the right with plenty of willing sheeple who will pretty much believe anything. As long as it consists of slandering Democrats.
A friend of mine got this email the other day:
I thought you would appreciate a story that helps reaffirm your confidence in our Congressional leaders.This came with a couple of pictures attached to it, one of Newtie Family-Values-Republican Gingrich smiling pretty at the camera with wife number three (or maybe wife number two; I don't know, and I pretty much don't care). And the other was a photoshopped Nancy Pelosi decked out like Queen Elizabeth, complete with tiara and scepter.
Newt Gingrich, A Republican, served in the House from Georgia From 1978 and as House Minority Whip in 1989. He was Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999. During that time he never made use of military air craft.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from California , Current Speaker of the House. The Pentagon provides the House speaker With an Air Force plane large enough to accommodate her staff, family, supporters, and members of the California delegation when she travels around the country.
But, Pelosi wants routine access to a larger plane. It includes 42 business class seats, A fully-enclosed state room, an entertainment Center, a private bedroom, state-of-the-art Communications system, and a crew of 16.. Pelosi Wanted "carte blanche for an aircraft Any Time," including weekend trips home to San Francisco . Pretty nice but very expensive perk! Her Air Force C-32 Costs approximately $75,000 an hour or approximately $750,000 per trip home.
And she has the guts to confront the Big Three CEOs for flying their Corporate jets to Washington ! YOU WOULD THINK, SHE ALONG WITH A HUSBAND WORTH AN ESTIMATED BILLION DOLLARS, WOULD LEASE OR BUY AND FLY THEIR OWN PLANE, OR FLY FIRST CLASS ON A COMMERCIAL AIRLINES LIKE OTHER RICH PEOPLE.
NANCY PELOSI FACTS: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's home District includes San Francisco .....
Star-Kist Tuna's headquarters are in San Francisco , Pelosi's home district. Star-Kist is owned by Del Monte Foods and is a Major contributor to Pelosi.
Star-Kist is the major employer in American Samoa Employing 75% of the Samoan workforce.
Paul Pelosi, Nancy 's husband, owns $17 million Dollars of Star-Kist stock. In January, 2007 when the minimum wage was Increased from $5.15 to $7.25, Pelosi had American Samoa Exempted from the increase so Del Monte would not have to Pay the higher wage. This would make Del Monte products Less expensive than their competition's.
YOU CAN BET I WON'T BE BUYING ANY DEL MONTE OR STAR KIST PRODUCTS
Last week when the huge bailout bill was passed, Pelosi added an earmark to the final bill adding $33 Million dollars for an 'economic development credit in American Samoa . ' Pelosi has called the Bush Administration"CORRUPT"??
How do you spell "HYPOCRISY"??
EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD GET THIS EMAIL. IT IS ENOUGH TO MAKE A HOLY PERSON ANGRY ENOUGH TO GO THROW THEM ALL OUT ON THEIR BEHINDS.
The only problem that I can see with this email is this: Every single word of it is wrong except possibly for the assertion that Gingrich didn't fly on a military plane when he was Speaker. But his successor, Denny Fatboy-Make-That-Three-Triple-Cheeseburgers Hastert did. And why do you suppose that was? It was because the Republican controlled and dominated Congress, aided and abetted by Baby Doc Bush, wanted it that way. This happened after 9-11 and was justified as a security measure, and I didn't hear any of these whiny-assed Rethug crybabies wailing about it then, did you?
It's not like it's particularly difficult to shine the light of truth on crap like this – a simple visit to a website like Fact Check.org will tell you the real story, for example see here and here.
But the truth has never been of even the slightest importance to the Faux News Gang of Media Thugs and Rush Ass-Pimpled-Limp-Dick-Draft-Dodger Limbaugh or their mentally challenged and morally mutant dittohead followers.
However, in one respect I do agree with the moron that wrote this: Every hypocrite politician should be thrown out of office. But that of course would rid the entire government of all Republicans.
Not that there's anything wrong with that…
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 8:53 PM 3 comments
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Where Does Faux News Get These Assholes?
There must have been a sale at Walmart.
I'm talking about the latest Faux News talking head, a dick named Ralph Peters, who advertises himself as some kind of a "strategic military analyst", who claims to be a retired Army light colonel, and who came right out and said over the weekend regarding the Taliban taking American soldier Bowe Bergdahl hostage:
Bergdahl is "collaborating with the enemy" on the released video, and strongly implies he should be executed by the Taliban and "save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills."(Uh, "boku deep kimchee"??? He must have picked that phrase up while watching a Rambo movie. Nobody in Germany, where Peters spent most of time, even talks like that. Besides, it's not "boku' -- it's boocoo, pidgin French-Vietnamese from the French beaucoup, and kimchee is Korean...)
...nobody in the military that I’ve heard is defending this guy. He is an apparent deserter. Reports are indeed that he abandoned his buddies, abandoned his post, and walked off. We’ll see what the ultimate truth of it is, but if he did, if he’s a deserter at wartime, well, as one of my old platoon sargeants [sic] would say, he’s in 'boku deep kimchi.' Now there’s another problem Julie. On that video, he is collaborating with the enemy. Under duress or not--that’s really not relevant--he’s making accusations about the behavior of the military in Afghanistan that are unfounded, saying that there are no rules, he’s lying about how he was captured, saying he lagged behind the patrol.
This is an excerpt from a much longer piece over at the Boise Idaho NewsWest Boise, and here's the video from YouTube:
I don't know jack shit about this so-called lieutenant colonel, but I'm willing to bet that he's never been within a hundred miles of a war zone. Not when he can come out with statements like this, condemning the man because he made a propaganda video for his captors. [Postscript: I looked him up on Wikipedia -- I was right; he was never anywhere near an active war -- instead he worked in the oxymoronically-named Military Intelligence]
Okay, can anyone still remember Grampa John McCain? When he was a "guest" of the North Vietnamese at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, he was tortured and made to sign a confession that he was a war criminal, etc., before he got medical assistance. Where was this shitball of an officer when that was going on? Does that make McCain a liar, a collaborator, a traitor?
Yeah, come to think of it, there were some flapping gums about all that last year or so, from the same kinds of dickwads who are now ardent Obama "Birthers" -- the shit never stops and it just gets crazier.
Peters himself has long been a wingnut wacko -- he was instrumental in the infamous Killian Documents case in 2004 which "proved" that Baby Doc Bush wasn't a deserter, the way we all thought he was. And is. So Peters is so solidly in the rightwing camp that he can't recognize the truth when it comes up to bite him on the ass.
And that mouthy motherfucker has got absolutely NO business saying shit like Bergdahl ought to be murdered by the Taliban, to save us a lot of money.
You know, I'm so old that I remember when people used to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Apparently I'm behind the times, when people like Ralphie
Well fuck you, Ralphie. We need to wait until all of the evidence is in, there's been an investigation and the facts are out. Until then, you fucking pissant, help yourself to a steaming cup of STFU and get out of the way.
BTW, this case is clearly a lesson as to why we should do our part to abide by the Geneva Convention when we take prisoners. It's a little hollow to pull the "do what I say not what I do" card at this point.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:19 AM 3 comments
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Mojave Cross
I know, it sounds like a western movie title, but a battle is raging in California's Mojave Desert over a cross that was erected as a "veterans memorial" by the VFW back in 1934.
And there it stood mutely for a number of years, out of sight and out of mind.
There was only one small problem with that: It was erected on public land, in what is now the Mojave National Preserve. And, to make matters worse, no other religious group has been "allowed" to erect their own religious memorial on the site.
Okay, fast forward a few years, and now the whole issue has landed squarely in the robed laps of The Supremes, who agreed to hear Salazar v. Buono this coming term.
As a member of several veterans groups (all of them progressive in nature -- I would never join VFW or the American Legion -- nor would they have me, as I think you all could have guessed), I get on some pretty weird email threads.
And today some joker sent me a breathless missive wailing about the tearing down of this symbol of veterans' sacrifices:
OK Folks. Take about 6 minutes and watch this and see what you think??? Amazing how off-base the courts and government can get!!!!!!I guess nobody told this asshole that typing in ALL CAPITALS is shouting...But maybe that's what he meant...
THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN AFEW THOUSAND HITS ON THIS VIDEO. IT NEEDS TO BE SEEN BY MANY, MANY MORE PEOPLE. PLEASE SPREAD IT AROUND TO YOUR ENTIRE ADDRESS BOOK. TO THINK ONE INDIVIDUAL, JUST ONE, CAN TAKE A CASE LIKE THIS TO THE CA SUPREME COURT AND GET A HEARING.
WE SHOULD DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO PREVENT THIS MEMORIAL FROM BEING TORN DOWN.
ACLU insanity EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD SEE THIS VIDEO.
I cannot believe how this can happen in our country....wait until you hear the reason the complaint was started and what it has turned into....
Anyway, here's the video:
This case, with its abrupt turns and attempts at legal obfuscation, is confusing enough for legal scholars (go ahead and read the summary), let alone the general public. Which is why it's really easy to confuse people and get them to believe something that Liberty wants them to believe.
And finally, it looks as though this will be the first "establishment clause" case that Sotomayor will hear. Let's hope that she's more liberal than she appeared in those "show trial" hearings last week.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 2:36 PM 0 comments
Labels: church and state, Mojave cross, Supreme court
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Five-Year-Old Wanted to Explain Evolution Simple Math to the Discovery Institute
Over at one of my favorite science blogs, PZ Myers' Pharyngula, he asks the rhetorical question Any 5 year olds want to explain the problem to the Discovery Institute?
The so-called Discovery Institute, for those not in the know, is an organization of professional morons whose goal is to try to denigrate the Theory of Evolution in general and Charles Darwin in particular. And, to my everlasting chagrin, they are headquartered in, of all places, my own Seattle!
But anyway, back to the question. Today's news that Thomas Jefferson would have supported so-called Intelligent Design has drawn, of course, much laughter on the side of science, scientists and the reality-based community in general.
Go read PZ's take on the whole thing, including the timeline which includes the following notation for 1859: Thomas Jefferson, still dead (and has been since 1826); Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.
To get to the heart of the matter, how could the father of the wall of separation been an evolutionist fifty-three years before Darwin published his work? Granted, Thomas Jefferson was undoubtedly an ultra-genius, but really...
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:58 PM 2 comments
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Fault, Dear Brutus, Lies Not in the Stars but in Ourselves...
In my innocent youth -- my time of naivety about how the world really works -- I was more or less surrounded by howling packs of intellectually-challenged emotional morons, blatantly bigoted racists, quasi-neo-nazis and sheet-on-the-clothesline members of the KKK.
Mostly they were a squalid lot, a rabble of tarpaper-shack-dwelling semi-toothless goons with chronic white-lightnin' breath, tobacco stains on their chin-whiskers and family trees that looked like telephone poles.
But when I considered them, I thought two things that turned out to be problematical:
(1) These assholes were all old -- at least to my young eyes -- and how much time did they really have left to spew their bullshit anyway, and who would listen to it?So, obvious conclusion, all we had to do was basically wait it out until the old fuckers died off, and their attitudes and beliefs died along with them, and then we'd be free. Free at last. Yes, great gawdamighty, we'd be free at last.
(2) None of the younger generation -- my generation --shared their beliefs, not even their own children.
Except it didn't quite work out that way. Here it is, nearly 60 years after I arrived at those faulty conclusions, and this is what I observe now:
(1) They might have died off, but their ideas remain vibrant.Of course, looking back (in retrospect, which is the best way to do it...), I realize that even at that young age I would not have included in my circle of friends anyone who thought that way, which left me with a self-limiting sample, in statistical terms a bad thing.
(2) The younger generation that I knew personally was, apparently and evidently, an insufficiently diverse sample from which to draw any conclusions.
Which brings me to the news today, that the new president of an outfit called the Young Republicans is one Audra Shay (R-Deluded), who, at nearly 40, stretches the definition of "young", and who is just as racist and bigoted and psychotically paranoid and homophobic as those old geezers I knew 60 years ago.
Shay is actually little younger than Sarah Palin (R-Quitter), and it is just a little odd that someone who is approaching the age of 40 could be a leader of the YOUNG Republicans, but there she is, Audra Shay, now famous for her racist rants and her Bachmann-Beck-induced trumpeting of an impending Obamanation Meltdown.
In the meantime, our old friends the Freepers over at the so-called Free Republic website, are insulting the Obama daughters (children!) thusly: "A typical street whore ... A bunch of ghetto thugs ... Ghetto street trash ... Wonder when she will get her first abortion." (See the exposé of this over at The Political Carnival and brace yourself -- it's pretty ugly stuff). But this is really nothing new for the party of hate, whose spokesman and chief motherfucker Limbaugh said many years ago that Chelsea Clinton was the White House dog...
All of which goes to depress me some, knowing that I was wrong -- REALLY WRONG -- way back in the day. But that's not so depressing (if I started counting up everything that I've been wrong about in my life, the numbers would outlast the days I have left until my biblically-allotted threescore and ten...) as the fact that this shit is still with us, and it seems to be getting more virulent.
And in the famous words quoted from William Shakespeare by Edward R. Murrow when he was basically the only person to stand up to Joseph McCarthy: "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars but in ourselves."
In other words, we let this happen. We let people like Audra Shay and Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin and Michael "Savage" Wiener and the hundreds of other raucous voices braying Big Lies over a public airway at an uniformed populace without break, without end, and without correction.
I'm for free speech as much as anyone, but in the words of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., free speech does not extend to "falsely shouting fire in a crowded theatre".
And no, I don't have any immediate solutions. But these people have an immense amount of psychological power over their sheeple listeners and they need to be dealt with somehow. I'm not so much in favor of silencing their voices (except on a personal level -- after all, I did challenge Limbaugh to a wild-west shootout...), but I do like the idea of boycotting their sponsors.
If anyone can provide a comprehensive list -- hell, even a semi-comprehensive list -- of the sponsors of hate-talk/lie-talk venom, including Faux News and the manifestly-misnamed Excellence in Broadcasting Network (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rush Limbaugh), I'd be glad to promote it.
One of our biggest problems over here on the left is that we lack the Nazi-like organization, the Gestapo-like regimentation, and the blind willingness-to-follow-any-orders-at-all that the right wing has been perfecting for years, and that lack of lock-step skills has left us in the lurch so many times. The very fact that I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the sponsors of hate talk illustrates this.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 2:48 PM 5 comments
Top Ten Palin Out Edition
In case you missed, this week's Top Ten Conservative Idiots gives the top three positions to none other than Sarah Palin, soon-to-be (but-not-soon-enough) ex-governor of Wasilla, Alaska. (Note that I say Wasilla and not the entire state -- little old pit bull/hockey mom Sarah couldn't be bothered to actually go to the state capital in Juneau to perform her duties, perfunctory though they might have been. But hey, you can see Russia from Wasilla, ya betcha!)
My personal favorite? Number three, which talks at length about Sarah P. pouring the cold water of reality over Rich Lowry's boner. Remember last year, when he had this to say about her:
I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. [emphasis added]Oh, how things can change. Now Lowry has this to say:
...she needs substance, not the hackneyed sound bites she clings to for dear life...she needs a positive program, not just the hatred of conservatism’s favorite enemies. On this score, her premature exit from the governorship makes her task all the more arduous. As the soon-to-be-former half-term governor of a small state, she makes that other prominent populist social conservative, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, look formidably credentialed in comparison.Jeez, just don't tell me Lowry's got a boner for Huckleberry now...
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 2:23 PM 0 comments
Friday, July 10, 2009
Is Jeb Bush a Child Molester?
That's the question being asked over at AmericaBlog. The answer? "I don't know, define child molester for me".
This is of course poking some innocent fun (okay maybe not so much fun for the victim) at Jebbie Bush as a result of this story on CNN
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told an interviewer that he could not say whether or not President Barack Obama is a socialist, and that the president would not have been elected if he had been honest with Americans about his agenda.Bush would not answer the question of whether he agreed with the assessment of some congressional Republicans that the president is a socialist. "I don't know. Define socialism for me," he told Esquire Magaznie. "It's a word… I believe he's a collectivist. He believes that through collective action, through government, you can solve more problems." He added that he believed the word "socialism" was a pejorative, and "didn't help" the GOP make its case.
In terms of political discourse, this kind of thing is right down in the Republican gutter. You'd think that gutter would be overflowing by now, what with all the slander and shit and garbage in it, but they must have found, miraculously, those waste water removal tools that mysteriously went missing from New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina... That's what keeping the Rethug gutters flowing. They can pour tons of their shit out there every day and there's always room for more.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:05 AM 0 comments
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Another Repug Sex Scandal? Yawn
This time it's Nevada's US Senator John Ensign (R-Naturally), whose -- get this -- whose parents bailed him out with an almost $100,000 payoff to the family of the "other woman"...
That's the only aspect of this story that raises it even slightly above the yawn stage when it comes to Republican sex scandals, that makes it more than your routine "dog bites man" story.
But it does give a whole new slant to those "Republican family values", doesn't it now?
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 7:00 PM 0 comments
The "Real Victim" of the Vietnam War
Jesus, what the fuck happened to the Washington Post? It used to be in the vanguard of the Fourth Estate (remember Watergate?). Now it is just another suckup rag excuse for a newspaper.
Witness its despicable editorial "obituary" of Robert McNamara:
...in 1995, 30 years after the launching of the American buildup in Vietnam, Mr. McNamara made the astonishing (if only for its candor) admission that he had suspected almost from the beginning that the war could not be won. Rather than closure, that brought a new wave of vilification, not just from the war opponents but from those who had supported the American action and saw Mr. McNamara's attempt at penance, or at an honest accounting, as a betrayal.Well boo-fuckin'-hoo. Poor Bobby McNamara. Hated by the left, then hated by the right. I feel so fucking bad for him...
No, not really. I'm beyond the point in my life where I can somehow "forgive" McNamara for his sins. It's not my place, really. As I've said before, it's almost worth wishing for some kind of "judgment day" after death, just so I can see the evil that people have done come back to bite them on the ass. But that's too much to hope for, I guess.
The judgment of history will have to suffice.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 5:05 PM 0 comments
Batboy's Batshit Crazy Advisory System
Thanks much to my blogbuddy Blue Gal, here's a new Batshit Crazy Alert:

Great to see that our favorite Congressperson, Michele Bachmann (R-Insane) has been honored with first place.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:49 PM 1 comments
McNamara Update
Here's Pat Olyphant's take on the death of Robert McNamara:
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:38 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Robert McNamara Dead at 93
I missed this poignant bit of news yesterday. Robert McNamara, SecDef under JFK and LBJ, died at the age of 93.
This is the man, you'll recall, who was the chief architect and most gung-ho supporter of the US massive intervention in Vietnam. But tragically, according to his later "second thoughts" revelations, he became resigned early on to the fact that it was a hopeless task, an unwinnable war.
Got that? That goddam McNamara knew -- he fucking knew! -- that we were doomed, and figured it out that we had been doomed from the very start of that ignoble misadventure.
Never mind that...he STILL kept sending troops there.
Including yours truly. And many of my friends who had misfortune to die there, or leave body parts there, or be cursed in their later years by the damaging effects of Agent Orange poisoning.
Thanks, Bob. Thanks for everything.
And I'm sure that a large number of those 58,000+ who died in Vietnam would be thanking you too. If they could. They never got the chance to attain those "golden years" of which you seem to have been served more than your share...
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:17 PM 0 comments
Today's the Day: Harry Reid, Shit or Get Off the Pot
Al Franken, fresh from his victory lap around the mouldering bones of Norm Coleman, will be sworn in at the 60th Democratic Senator of the 111th US Congress.
What this means, for those who have been living under a rock under a boulder under a crashed comet under the ocean for the last fifteen years or so is that now Harry Reid won't be able to mumble out that wishy-washy namby-pamby mommy-the-were-mean-to-me whining about the Dems not being able to pass any legislation because of the threat -- just the threat! -- of a Rethug filibuster.
Well now, Harry old boy, it's time to shit or get off the pot. Knock off that cross-the-aisle bullshit you've been sowing and start passing some fucking legislation!
Universal single-payer health care would be a great place to start, doncha think? If the Republicans don't want to play nicely, remember what Farnsworth always says: Fuck 'em! They're now as marginalized -- more marginalized -- as the Dems were for so many years.
It's not like they're even a viable party any more. Cut 'em off at the knees and let 'em crawl out of the capitol like a bunch of the crippled war vets that they've been so eager to create in the last eight years.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:06 AM 2 comments
Monday, July 06, 2009
Palin a Corrupt Politician? Say It Ain't So.
After a few relaxing days camping at Long Beach (WA) and another couple spent hunkering down in the bunker from the resounding artillery strikes from my neighbors (aka the celebration of Independence Day) I'm back.
The first thing on the radar, of course, is the resignation of Sarah Palin from the Alaska governor's seat. Even though the USA today story's headline said that top Rethugs were "puzzled" by her abrupt resignation.
Speculation has run rampant, of course, mostly centering on some of the apparently shady deals she engineered while still mayor of Wasilla.
But the best part of the USA Today article is this line: "Her lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, threatened legal action against reporters and bloggers who suggest any wrongdoing by Palin or her husband, Todd."
Legal action???
Sorry Tommy Van Fink, but she's a public figure and as such she is fair game for those of us out here in Left Blogistan. Bring it on, you sorry excuse for a hemorrhoidal human wart. Your client and her husband are corrupt crooks who will soon be under Federal indictment.
So sue me.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 11:52 AM 2 comments
Monday, June 29, 2009
Off on Another Vacation
This one not so far away. We're going to Long Beach (WA not CA) for a few days of camping. Our trip to California last month didn't entail any camping (even though we'd planned on it, it was too early in the season and none of the National Forest campgrounds were open yet, nor was Mt Lassen National Park.
Nor was the pass that would have taken us from east of the Sierras into Yosemite.
So okay, Long Beach isn't going to make up for Yosemite, but it's close and it's warm-ish this time of year.
Back in a few days.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:10 AM 0 comments
Friday, June 26, 2009
Time's Fun When You're Having Flies...
It's hard to believe, but I've been at this blog for four years already. You can check out my first wobbling steps here, with some great headlines like Shut the Fuck Up (chickenhawks), A Midget Among Giants (Ronald Reagan), Flag Burning Amendment -- A Solution in Search of a Problem, and my favorite, Rush Limbaugh You're an Asshole, in which I call the fat fucker out "...face to face with a Democrat-votin' meat-eatin' gun-ownin' beer-drinkin' Jeep-drivin' liberal Vietnam vet who will be more than happy to entertain the thought of kicking your fat lily-white ass."
Still no response from The Great Pimple Ass Draft Dodger, but I guess I didn't really expect there to be.
Four years and still kicking. And it's been a ton of fun. Here's to another four years, at which point I'll probably slipping up on my dotage faster than Darth Cheney shooting an old man in the face, and I'll be lucky if I don't spill my drool cup while I'm trying to choke down my Viagra...
Thanks for reading, everyone.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:59 AM 4 comments
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Savana Victorious in 8-1 SCOTUS Decision!
A while back I posted the sorry tale of young Savana Redding, the 13-year-old honor student who was humiliatingly strip searched by school authorities because she was suspected of being the school's number one dealer of ... ibuprofen!
Today the Supremes issued a decision in the case, finding for Savana by an almost unbelievable margin of 8 to 1.
Even "Stripsearch Sammy" Alito voted with the lopsided majority.
The only holdout? Clarence Thomas.
No, I don't know what the fuck is going on in his head, but when it comes down to this kind of lopsidedness -- especially when he is the lone holdout even against his judicial mentor and moral guardian Anthony "Tony Quack-Quack" Scalia, then you have to wonder about his mental health.
This ought to have been a slam-dunk 9-0 decision, but it wasn't. Is there a fund to contribute to that will allow wacked-out judges to get a mental evaluation and treatment? I'm just asking...
Which reminds me of a number of years ago when Oral Roberts was being held hostage by god, who was going to "call him home" if an insufficient number of Oral's posse didn't cough up the cash he needed. Ozzy Osbourne sent him a dollar with the stipulation that he use it only for psychiatric help.
I'd be willing to cough up a similar amount of cash to get poor Clarence the help he so obviously needs.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:27 PM 1 comments
Rethug Sex Scandals: An Encyclopedic List
Over at The Daily Kos, Marcos and the gang have come up with something he calls the Dkosopedia (not to be confused with the also-valuable Dickipedia).
A prominent section in the Dkosopedia consists of an extensive list of dozens and dozens (must be close to 100 names) of Republican Sex Scandals.
We all know about Sanford and Vitter and Craig and Foley and Haggard, but here are a few of the lesser-known yet in many ways more salacious ones:
· Daniel Dean Thompson, 31, a Utah retailer of "family-friendly" tapes and DVDs (Hollywood films with the "dirty parts" cut out of them), arrested and booked into the Utah County jail on charges of sexual abuse and unlawful sexual activity with a 14-year-old.And that's only the top of the iceberg.
· John David Roy Atchison, Republican prosecutor, was arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-year old girl, then killed himself three weeks later. At the time of his arrest, Atchison was an "assistant U.S. attorney" appointed by President Bush's attorney general
· Ted Klaudt, former South Dakota State Rep., found guilty of four counts of second-degree rape of two teenage foster daughters
· Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. In August 06, Beres confessed.
· Don Haidl, Assistant Sheriff of Orange Country, in violation of California's rape shield law, led a smear campaign against the child his son poisoned and then violently gang-raped on videotape, adding up to 24 felony counts. He said that his son "acted accordingly" because the child was a "slut"
· Jim West, Spokane Mayor. Supported a bill, which failed, would have barred gays and lesbians from working in schools, day-care centers and some state agencies. Voted to bar the state from distributing pamphlets telling people how to protect themselves from AIDS. Proposed that “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person” among teens be criminalized. Had a sexual affair with an 18 year old boy
· Brent Parker Utah State Representative. Arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover officer posing as a male prostitute
No, the Rethugs don't have a monopoly on hypocritical behavior, but try finding even a quarter of that number among Democratic politicians who have weathered sex scandals.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:28 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Another Family Values Rethug Bites the Dust
Jeez, what is it with these guys? Isn't there a single Rethug out there who doesn't have the self-control to just keep it in his pants? It's to the point now where it really isn't news any more: Another Republican hypocrite? Yawn...
I'm talking of course about South Carolina Governor and now erstwhile presidential wannabe Mark Sanford, who mysteriously vanished for several days, during which it turned out he had secretly scuttled off to South America to squeeze a few with his Argentine homewrecking slut.
I'm sure you all remember the Republican Party -- you know, the party that has always stood up for "family values" and whose upstanding members were falling all over each other to see who could be the most strident in condemning Bill Clinton for his sexual peccadilloes...
Ah, how the worm turns... Remember that old saying about glass houses and rocks?
Nyuk nyuk nyuk.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 2:11 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Wanted: Freedom from Religion
That's the title of a new essay by Michael Lind over at the New America Foundation, and it's well worth the time to read. It puts into stark perspective what is really happening in Iran, and why the Rethugs are wrong when they start their self-important posturing about "stifling" democracy in Iran:
Secular government is the basis of both liberty and democracy. It is important to emphasize this, because of the tendency to portray the struggle in Iran in terms of a global conflict between democracy and dictatorship. Set aside, for a moment, the fact that former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi was one of four candidates, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who were approved to run as presidential candidates last May by the clerics of Iran's Guardian Council. It does not take away from the heroism of Mousavi or his followers to point out that if Ahmadinejad stole the election he stole an election that was already rigged.There's a lot more. Like I say, it's well worth the read.
...
The idea of universal, basic natural human rights is incompatible with theocracy in any form. While Christians and adherents of other religions can believe in natural rights, the theory of natural rights itself, influenced by ancient Greek sophists and Epicureans, is inherently secular. Natural rights by definition are those that ordinary people, using only their reason, can agree upon -- things like life and liberty and property or happiness, meaning access to subsistence. The list of natural rights varies from thinker to thinker, but they all have one thing in common -- they are not revealed by a divine intelligence to a prophet or priests.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 6:16 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 22, 2009
Capital City Pride Festival
I took a few days off to finish some projects. Didn't finish them, of course, but it's time to come back to the real world.
Had an absolutely terrific day yesterday at the Capital City Pride Festival. It's hard to imagine now that just a few years ago our LGBT brothers and sisters could never have pulled off something like this.
I was there as a representative of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. We had an information table set up under a canopy (a necessity in case of rain in the wet corner) in the park where the festival was headquartered, and as a result of our presence I think we'll have some new members for our local chapter.
The LGBT community by and large recognizes that one of their -- if not the -- major stumbling blocks toward full equality is the pernicious influence of the Religious Right on politics, and since AU is in the forefront of the fight against the infiltration of our government by the religious wackos, we are all on the same side, natural allies in the fight for justice and equality.
So it's ironic that some anonymous asshole chose yesterday to make an I-hate-gays entry on my Arizona Memorial "Desecration" post. I gave him my usual "I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man" answer, and if he ever decides to come out from under that cloak of anonymity I'll be glad to answer his pathetically weak objections (example: "Why do whatever deviant sex acts they practice need to be mentioned in any way. Why is the act of sex between two people of the same sex deemed so Noble now anyway? Keep it to yourselves homos!")
Why do I call him a "he"? Because nine times out of ten it's a man who has an issue with gays. Go figure.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 3:03 PM 2 comments
Thursday, June 18, 2009
I'm Still Alive
It's just that I've been involved with a few "projects" that are taking up a lot more of my time than I expected. I'll be back to regular blogging next week. In the meantime, thanks for reading.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 11:17 AM 0 comments
Saturday, June 13, 2009
When "Imprecatory Prayer" Becomes Threat
Also known as voodoo, hex, jinx or curse, Imprecatory Prayer is one of the weapons used by the faithful to smite god's enemies. Or, in their version of things, god is listening to their pleas to smite his enemies and then giving them what they want, which he apparently otherwise wouldn't do... It's shaky theology which begs the whole question of their god's ominipotence, but that is another question for another day.
Back to Imprecatory Prayer: Conveniently for the practitioners of it, it always seems that god's enemies are their enemies as well.
It all sounds a little primitive, superstitious... savage, even ... except of course for those who actually practice it. A case in point is the Reverend Wiley Drake, a Southern Baptist who prayed mightily for the smiting of Dr. George Tiller, and is now crowing that god answered his prayers and smote indeed, yea mightily did he smite, Dr. Tiller.
So that means that our incarcerated wackjob Scott Roeder was actually just carrying out the orders from god, according to Wiley Drake. Well, shit, if that's all, then cut him loose...
This is the same Wiley Drake who has also been fervently praying -- ineffectually so far -- for the deaths of such notable enemies of god as Rev. Barry Lynn, the head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Fair enough, I suppose, since Drake -- contrary to the words of Jesus -- actually hates Lynn, but that's nothing compared to his latest bombshell, which came on June 2 in an appearance on Alan Colmes' radio show on -- where else? -- Fox News Radio:
Before appearing on Alan Colmes' radio show June 2, Drake had issued a statement that his imprecatory prayers for the death of slain Kansas Dr. George Tiller had been answered. He said that he "absolutely" believed that God wanted Dr. Tiller dead.Got that? Wiley Drake's god is going smite Barack Obama! Now that's coming pretty goddam close to a physical threat on the President of the United States if you ask me, and at the very least it ought to earn Drake a personal visit from the Secret Service. This is really no different from some lunatic-fringe follower of The Great God Neptune shouting that his god is going to drown Obama. You can be sure that that guy would get some personal attention from the feds.
But Drake announced on Fox News Radio something that even Colmes could not wrap his head around. Apparently, in addition to AU's Lynn and Dr. Tiller, Drake has been praying for the death of – wait for it –President Barack Obama!
"So you're praying for the death of the president of the United States?" host Colmes asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Drake responded.
Drake said he didn't fear that these statements would maybe place him on a Secret Service or FBI watch list.
"I think it's appropriate to pray the Word of God," Drake said. "I'm not saying anything. What I am doing is repeating what God is saying, and if that puts me on somebody's list, then I'll just have to be on their list."
Later, still stunned, Colmes restated the question, "You would like the president of the United States to die?"
Answered Drake, "If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that's correct."
It was one thing (though still wrong) for Drake to lash out Americans United back in 2007. After all, he was angry that AU reported his church to the IRS for partisan electioneering. We alleged that Drake violated the law by using church resources to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
But it's a completely different story to wish for the death of the president of the United States. It's just plain evil, and it serves as another example of the fanatical thinking of some members of the Religious Right.
"This whole concept that we're always to pray little, nice, soft, fluffy prayers – that we're not to pray imprecatory prayer – has been something that just, in all honesty, that Southern Baptists have lost, and we need to regain imprecatory prayer," Drake said.
"It is in the Bible," Drake continued, "and we are proud to say as Southern Baptists that we believe the Book. You've got to believe the whole Book, brother, or you don't believe any of it."
These assholes like Drake have a bunch of sheeple at their beck and call, and how long will it take before some unhinged nutjob like Scott "Angel of God" Roeder or James "Wacko" von Brunn listens to Drake and tries to take down the President of the United States "because it is god's will"?
Sidebar: Speaking of believing "the whole Book", of course anyone who has actually read "the whole Book" knows that every word of it cannot be literally true since it contradicts itself in numerous passaged throughout the whole thing. Even a third-grader can see the internal contradictions starting right at the beginning, in the first two chapters of Genesis with two very different accounts of how it all started.
Like I've always said, Jesus protect me from your followers.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:08 PM 4 comments
Friday, June 12, 2009
Right Wing Talking Points on Von Brunn
I was wrong when I said the wingnuts would fall all over themselves in denial that they had any responsibility in Wednesday's terrorist attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
I was way wrong. Instead they came out swinging, insisting that James von Brunn's racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions were the responsibility of the Left, and not the Right.
Cue the Scooby-Do "Huh?" sound clip.
Yesterday Pimple-Ass Limbaugh went into a rant about von Brunn's views being "Leftist", and that was followed up by one Kathy Shaidle at the Washington Examiner (naturally a rightwing rag), who says that von Brunn's political views, "like so many in the Anti-Semite community, track left rather than right".
Huh?
Memo to Limbaugh and Shady Shaidle: Just because Nazi Party had "socialist" in its title does not mean that they were "socialists" or had "socialist" ideas. Do a little research, people, for chrissakes.
But, as we all know, the truth is meaningless to these assholes. They are still adherents to the "Big Lie" theory, and will do everything they can on every occasion to blame the ills of the country on "The Left". And they'll continue getting away with it as long as their sheeple keep following them blindly.
I also heard on the radio yesterday some joker -- I tuned in somewhere in the middle and didn't get his name -- who was apparently speaking for the NRA, arguing with Big Eddie Schultz about whether people like Asshole von Brunn who are as openly and violently hostile to a class of people such as Jews or African-Americans should be allowed to own firearms.
It's an interesting question and one that deserves discussion, but this guy of course added nothing to the debate, instead falling back on the NRA's same tired old position, "enforce" the laws we already have, everyone has a right to own a gun, etc etc etc.
But remember that it was the NRA who was very late to the game in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and it wasn't until they were basically shamed into it that they protested the ongoing confiscation of firearms from New Orleans residents.
Why? Because those residents were predominantly black, and the last thing the NRA really wants is a bunch of armed black people...
Okay, now fast forward to Wednesday, and try to tell me with a straight face that if the Holocaust Memorial murderer was a black guy named Mohammed that they still would come out so vociferously for him to have been able to carry a gun.
Uh-huh.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 9:45 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
More Rightwing Terrorism: RIP Officer Johns
The shooting at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC was a horror that didn't need to happen.
But it did.
And the shooter was a happily -- if senile (the fucker is 88 years old) -- self-styled member of the anti-Semite militia. His website (I won't provide the link) "Holy Western Empire" is a hodge-podge of seemingly pro-veteran and weird-assed anti-Semitic crap (example: "A new, hard-hitting exposé of the JEW CONSPIRACY to destroy the White gene-pool"), which is now "unavailable", but do a Google cache search and you can see it.
We just got back into town from a ride up Hood Canal where we bought a dozen oysters at the remarkable Hamma Hamma Seafood and I was all ready to kick back on the deck while the oysters were on the grill and toss back a few cold ones, and then this smacks me in the face.
I haven't seen any news or read any websites other than the main news, but I'm willing to bet my next paycheck that the wingnuttery will be falling all over itself, as usual, in complete denial that they had anything to do with it.
And I guess if you discount the atmosphere of hatred and violence that those assholes have created and fed, every day over the airwaves, then they're right... They are completely innocent... Throwing gasoline on the fires of hatred? "No, we'd never do that"...
BTW, I'm sure that I met and talked to Stephen Tyrone Johns, the security guard that this asshole murdered. Whenever I go to museums or other similar places, I always talk to the guards. Since they have to stand around all day, while all around them people are pretending that they don't exist, I always make it a point to talk to them, if only briefly.
And after seeing the photograph of Johns accompanying the news stories, I'm certain that I talked to him the last time I visited the Holocaust Memorial.
My heart goes out to Officer Johns' family and friends for their tragic loss.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:38 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 08, 2009
A SCOTUS "Common Sense" Ruling
In a closely-contested US Supreme Court case (Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co.) the High Court ruled for the first time that bribing a judge to get a favorable opinion in a case you've brought before him is unconstitutional.
Like I say, that seems to me to be a glaring example of a "duh"-moment common sense ruling.
But what do I know? Four of the august "great minds" on the court disagree, and with that narrow 5-4 decision, it still seems that justice can -- almost -- still be wholly bought and paid for.
Want to take a guess as to who the dissenting four were? Yep, it was the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse themselves: Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alioto, all of whom said it was just fine to pay three million dollars to get a judge elected to office just so you could bring your case before him and have him rule in your favor.
Actually, no surprises there, with those four über-Republican judges, and don't let's forget Antonin "Quack-Quack" Scalia's fishing trip with Darth Cheney right before SCOTUS heard a case that involved the vice-presidency. No conflict of interest there, was there? So it's not surprising that he thinks this bribe is okay.
At least Sotomayer, who is replacing Souter, is on record as being with the majority opinion.
This is why it was SO important to elect a Democrat in 2008 and to reelect Obama in 2012.
We just can't afford to have any more wingnut bribe-taking rights-abusing freedom-hating capitalist-pig-Republican-protecting neo-judicial-activist judges on the Supreme Court.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 10:28 AM 1 comments
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Bible-Based Marriage
Who knew that traditional Bible-based marriage could be so much fun? Or so weird? Or so just plain nasty (and not in a good way)?
Here's Betty Bowers, who just happens to be America's Best Christian, to explain it all:
[HT to It's My Right to be Left of Center for the link to the video.]
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 5:53 PM 0 comments
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Take That, Billo!
This is priceless. Bill Orally flatly lies and states that CNN did not cover the Arkansas military recruiter shooting until 10:00 the next night.
Watch CNN's Rick Sanchez hand Billo his lunch. Like I say, priceless.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 1:27 PM 1 comments
Friday, June 05, 2009
Worst President Ever?
Okay, Baby Doc Bush immediately leaps to mind, followed closely by James Buchanan. But according to Robert Parry, Saint Ronald deserves to be added to that list.
Yep, Ronnie Ray-gun himself, idolized by the teeming millions of mindless sheeple, canonized by wingnut radio, and lionized by a right wing that, if he were still alive, would not really welcome him into that shrinking tent that's become the Rethug Party.
Granted, the very idea of rating Reagan as one of the worst presidents ever will infuriate his many right-wing acolytes and offend Washington insiders who have made a cottage industry out of buying some protection from Republicans by lauding the 40th President.I've been saying for nearly 30 years not that I don't get it when it comes to the glassy-eyed adulation that has been heaped on The Gipper. I always thought it was one of those "emperor's-new-clothes" things, and that eventually everyone would sober up and realize what awful things Reagan did to this country.
But there’s a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan’s presidency. There’s also a grudging reassessment that the “failed” presidents of the 1970s – Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter – may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country.
As usual, Robert Parry nails it. Read the entire article -- it's well worth the time.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:34 AM 6 comments
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The Serial Crimes of Michele Bachmann
PM Carpenter today has a piece on Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Unreality) outlining many of the serial offenses to reason and logic that she's committed over the years:
· The Hoot Smalley Tariff...Carpenter's piece is an argument that the Rethug Party needs to clean house and get rid of Bachmann and those of her ilk. That's were I take issue with him.
· Baghdad's "Green Zone" is like the Mall of America only nicer...
· The scariest Big Brother intrusion is ... fluorescent bulbs!
· Minnesotans should be "armed and dangerous" to fight Obama's plans to stop global warming...
· The US is in danger of "running out of rich people"...
· Certain Members of Congress should be investigated for being "Un-American"...
The more goofy morons, religious wackos and detestable ass-pimple pricks that the Rethugs can keep front and center, the more like the Dems are to win elections.
So my vote is keep her there and on the air.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 9:37 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Domestic Terrorism
There's really no other way to describe it, and for the eight long years of the BFEE it was dismissed, pooh-poohed, conspiracy-theory-ized and denied. With the connivance of the wingnuttery and their agents in the CPM*.
The DHS Domestic Terrorism Report which came out in April (and which had been ordered by the Baby Doc Bush Maladminstration sometime earlier, but was cleverly released after Obama had taken office) was immediately attacked by the slavering pitbulls of the right, to the point where DHS Secretary Napolitano was forced to issue a half-hearted apology.
Sidebar: Fuck that shit, Janet. You ought to know that you don't show weakness to a mad dog.
Of course now that report was found to be right on the money, that we are (like no one has known this before) much more likely to be attacked by domestic terrorists than "foreign" terrorists.
See Domestic Terrorism in the US for the alarming statistic that between 1980 and 2000 -- a mere 20 years! -- 250 of the 335 terrorist acts in the US were carried out by American citizens!
See also Anti-Abortion Violence for a breakdown of the history of violence against women's clinics and reproductive health providers.
And yet Darth Cheney remains strangely silent on the issue of domestic terrorism. Why is that? He'd certainly be quick on the trigger if we were suddenly subjected to another "foreign" terrorist attack.
Could it be that The Dick actually knows some of these "lone nut" losers? Could it be that he doesn't want anyone looking into the "nonexistent" domestic terrorists?
Could it be that he is, in fact and in thought, a domestic terror enabler/crime boss himself?
I'm just asking...
[* CPM = Capitalist Pig Media, aka the Main-Stream Media, aka the So-Called "Liberal" Media]
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 4:15 PM 0 comments
Randall Terry: Hypocrite in Chief
It didn't take activist abortion foe, creepy dickhead and fulltime hypocrite Randall Terry to hog the spotlight on the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas. Among other things, Terry said that Tiller basically caused his own death, having brought it on himself for his participation in the "slaughter of the innocents".
Never mind, Randy, that the accused killer, one Scott P. Roeder, 51, was an active participant on your blog. Never mind, Randy, that one James Charles Kopp, who murdered a New York reproductive health doctor in 1998, was a known close associate of yours.
And while I can't find, in a cursory search of the Internets, any reference to the incident, I remember clearly way back in the early 1980s, Randy was the honcho of a group of anti-abortion rioters who took over a clinic somewhere in upstate New York. At some point during the violence, an employee of the clinic who was six months pregnant was hit in the stomach, resulting in the loss of her child.
So wouldn't you think that the person who did this would be willing -- no, eager -- to be charged with "murder of an unborn child" and demand the full punishment of the law? After all, these people are pretty mouthy when it comes to the "rights" of those unborn Americans.
No, you people are smart enough to know the answer to this: The guilty party (and I can't recall now who it was, but it was someone close to Randy, who had been rioting on his orders, thereby making Randy equally culpable) plea-bargained it down to something like "simple assault".
(If anyone can find this story, please let me know so I can get my facts straight.)
Hypocrites, every last fucking one of them. And who the fuck is Randy Terry to tell other people what to do with their lives when he can't even control his own? After all, he's divorced, alienated from most of his many children (including the gay one, naturally), and now married -- the obvious result of a midlife crisis -- to a woman 17 years his junior.
And this after he said in one of his books, "Families are destroyed as a father vents his mid life crisis by abandoning his wife for a 'younger, prettier model.' "
What was that line from the Xian bible about being so concerned with a mote in someone else's eye that you can't see the two-by-four in your own?
Like I say, every fucking one of them is a hypocrite. And while hypocrisy itself is not so bad in the long view of things, when it comes to Randy Terry and those of his ilk, it has led directly to the multiple bombings of women's clinics and the murder of many reproductive health providers in this country .
Enough is enough. I'd like to see him prosecuted for conspiracy to commit murder. Sadly, though, I don't see that happening. All I can see is more domestic terror coming down the road.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:59 PM 0 comments
Children of a Stupid God
This was sent to me by my secular-humanist 16-year-old grandson:
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 12:11 AM 0 comments
Monday, June 01, 2009
We're Back!
Back from a terrific long weekend at Lincoln city on the Oregon coast with my daughters, several grandchildren, and especially ten-month-old Allie, my only (so far) great-grandchild! We stayed at the SandeCastle, a terrific place, right on a bluff overlooking the beach, a big neo-victorian house with sleeping arrangements for 16 people, fully furnished with everything you'd need, including board games and a pool table. And we had the entire house to ourselves, not some tiny room under the stairs where you have to share the bathroom with strangers (as in your average B&B).
Naturally we didn't want to leave, but sooner or later you always have to bounce back to reality.
Sigh.
Posted by Farnsworth68 at 11:17 AM 0 comments