And the Beat Goes On

Tags

Buck Rogers, economy, energy, energy tax credits, Entertainment, fundamentalism, GOP, Pat Robertson, sci-fi, taxes, teabaggers, wacko religious right, Wal-Mart

Well, it IS the weekend, and it’s not like I’ve squandered the entire morning. I have a load of wash under my belt, and new bedding down. But I have to admit, I’m feeling rather lazy.

That’s one good reason to slip over to Infidel753 and save yourself time and trouble. He’s really got a smashingly good list of links that will keep you busy for several hours. I saw a good half-dozen that I need to take a look at.

Like a wack-a-mole, Pat Robertson keeps popping up with more unGodly, mean and hateful rhetoric. Today he tells us that Amerika has turned into Sodom and Gomorrah. No prayer in schools, abortions, homosexuals running rampant, and our Christianist principles all gone amok since they were lovely laid down by our Christian forefathers. It’s just a mess, and Pat just knows there are at least 10 righteous Americans (Abraham bargained God down to 10 righteous in S & G to save it from destruction).  What Pat knows about Sodom and Gomorrah would fit on the end of one nugget of brimstone. Shaddup already.

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The President is calling upon Congress to end gas and oil company tax breaks. Given their outrageous profits the last few years, it would seem that the President is on the side of both right and the public here. It shall be interesting to see how the sycophant GOP will respond as it seeks to protect its interests. Expect the usual “drill baby drill” rhetoric along with whining about “too much regulation.”

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I have more beefs against Wal-Mart than you can shake a stick at. The problem for us is that living on a tight budget, their prices cannot be beat. But we have weaned ourselves off to the point where we don’t get our groceries there, except for one or two things that we can’t get elsewhere. Still, it means that we are spending more than $400 a month elsewhere, and that is an accomplishment.

Whether you hate them for their union-hating methods or because they destroy small-town businesses, read this report from AlterNet and you will be confirmed in your determination to shop elsewhere.

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If you are like me, many days, you don’t have much time to read really good but long articles. There is a service that picks the best of the weeks long reads and presents them to you with the length, and if one strikes your fancy, perhaps you can find time for just that one. Anyway, you can sign up for this service here. It’s called “Longreads”.

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Heads up all you old sci-fi nuts. TMC is running the old old old Buck Rogers series. I mean the one from the 40’s. I mean with Buster Crabbe. I mean the worst worst graphics ever known to sci-fi movie-making. Well, excepting perhaps the Attack of the Shrews. That was pretty darn awful. Anyway, look it up in your guides or on-line. We caught the very first episode last week. I’d never seen it. Buck was in dirigibles before he was in space. It was hysterical, and I roared the entire time. Cool people watch really bad sci-fi! (I think they are on Saturday night. We TIVO everything so I’m not exactly sure.)

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GOPer’s have tons of excuses why they can’t tax the rich. Chris Christie came up with the latest: tax the wealthy and they will just up and move to another state. Well, studies show that that just ain’t the case. Political Irony has the story and the facts.

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And that’s all ya need for today. Go out and smell the daffodils.

What’s on the stove: hotdogs, backed beans, cole slaw.

Carmen Miranda Meets Bullwinkle the Moose

Tags

Britain, gay rights, PPH, racism, Royal Wedding, Stonewall Uprising, wacko right wing, Women's issues

Okay, so Troy Mills isn’t such a fashionista’s dream, but we do have a clue at least. We may tend more toward straw hats and baseball caps, but we know awful when we see it.

Pictured here are Prince William and Sarah Ferguson’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenia. I know not which is which but does it matter?

The blue monstrosity fails on every level from the gaudy blue to the what look like grapes plated on her hat overlaid by a feather duster.

The beige dress on the other is fine, but that thing glued to her forehead is simply ghastly. I mean it looks like a pair of antlers.

Those were the only serious faux pas I saw among attendees at THE wedding. The Beckhams looked elegant in every respect.

Of course hats are essential at any Royal affair, and so all the women were decked out in hats of every description and style. A couple of other women (no doubt purchasing from the same “designer” and I use that term loosely) also chose to tack wriggly messes of snakes alongside their heads. These were simply not hats, but head dresses and thankfully were worn by lesser unknowns who assuredly won’t be in any family pictures.

I have no clue why the Royals are so big on hats. I’m sure there is a history, but I’m not aware of it.

One person of course stood out among all the women and that was Katherine herself. I thought her gown was simply beautiful in every respect as was that of her sister’s who was her matron of honor. They were elegance and beauty personified.

All this of course is so much hoopla about nothing much at all. Much more important things are going on in the world, but heck, we don’t really have anything comparable and its kinda fun to see all the pomp and circumstance.

Oh, one important proviso here. The Contrarian warned me against writing anything at all positive about the Royals today. He reminded me that it takes only two people in Iowa to have a person committed, and he would sure be unhappy should I not be available to accompany him to New Mexico.

So, if you don’t see me around here next week, do look into it and come to my assistance. I’m not crazy for watching a Royal wedding! No I am not!

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Me thinks they speak with forked tongues. The wacko extremist right is not giving up its fight to defund Planned Parenthood, now called “Klanned Parenthood” in an attempt to marry the group to its founder, Margaret Sanger who certainly did have racist ideas.

However, so did the several other institutions in their infancy, and certainly there is no reason on earth to attribute Sanger’s beliefs to the groups activities today. Of course the insane right continues to paint the organization as out to commit genocide on the African-American community. The do this by citing that African-American abortion actual numbers are higher than for other women. This of course means nothing at all, it simply means there are more poor black women than white who need its services.

Moreover, these same groups who are “so concerned” about the lives of African-Americans, are the same folks who are against affirmative action programs, the use of federal funds to aid poor women and children (more black than white) with health matters and such things as Head Start and so forth.

Worse, they are the first to screech against any black person who suggests that racism still exists in this country, calling them “racists” and players of the “race card.”

These are the people who continue to disbelieve that the President was born in the US, and now question how he got into Columbia and Harvard, ugly innuendos that convey a covert racism that is all too clear.

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Don’t know if you saw this or not, but last night we watched a taped PBS American Experience, on the Stonewall uprising. If you are not aware, the Stonewall was a gay bar in Greenwich Village in NYC. Periodically the NY police raided these establishments rousting patrons and generally disrespecting all gay people. This was back in the early 60’s.

One night, for reasons unknown, the patrons decided not to go nicely, and soon the streets were filled with protestors. The police are the ones who finally backed down.

What was more poignant and sickening were the stories many now middle-aged and older gay men and women told of those times, of some of the systems in place. Worst of all was a police detective addressing a school of youngsters, all around maybe 10 years of age, warning them to avoid homosexuals and that behavior because in his words, “we will find you and arrest you.” Imagine saying such things to children.

It was uplifting in how far we have come, and utterly sad in remembering where we were.

 

Buckle Up: It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Ride

Tags

affirmative action, African Americans, Ayn Rand, budget, GOP, Paul Ryan, racism, Trump

It probably comes as no major surprise that not everybody was convinced yesterday by President Obama’s disclosure of his “long-form” birth certificate.

Fully 51% of Republicans, down albeit from 70%, still have doubts or are “convinced” it is a forgery. And of course, this relates not at all to the quality of  the evidence, but rather to deep-seated hatred of the President that is in some large respect motivated by conscious or unconscious racial bigotry.

Everyone knew this would be the case, as the post from yesterday featuring the dullards of The Blaze so aptly showed. The good news is that those who are of normal intelligence now know the truth, and the continuing yammering by the insane right will only serve to ensure that people will now see them for the loathsome vermin they truly are. Of course, the media whores from the right will make every attempt to claim that Obama and his crew invented this issue and surreptitiously pushed it, all to make the GOP look bad. No surprise there.

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Meanwhile the GOP continues to claim that it ain’t a racist bunch. New evidence from Oklahoma, where the GOP controlled House of Representatives has introduced a constitutional amendment ending affirmative action in state government. Rep. Sally Kern (R) explained that discrepancies in pay between whites and blacks were based on “blacks not wanting to work as hard as whites” and that black youngsters in schools don’t study as hard, because they “said government would take care of them.”

Kern comes by her bigotry in many forms. She wants teachers to be forced to teach against evolution, and considers homosexuality a greater danger than terrorism. She’s a full-basket full of crap. Oklahomans must be so proud.

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Don’t blame me, I’m just reporting the news! [from Joe.My.God who got it from The Onion]

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So, okay, maybe that was a bit over the top. Do ya like this one better? [From ICanHasCheezeburger.com]

 

 

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 We are respectable negroes has a much deeper question to ask about Obama and the “birther” question. A question, that I don’t know the answer to, but surely needs to be asked, discussed, and thought deeply about. Go on over and join that conversation.

Make no mistake this is so much about race. Trump in his egotistical hair mind, boasts that he is “proud” of himself. And now he moves on to his next target: how did this “boy” get into Columbia and Harvard. If you can’t see the implied racism in the very question, then well, you need a refresher course in racism 101 and the place to go is today’s post from stopthemadness at Angry Black Lady Chronicles.

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Paul Ryan says he got into politics because of her. All manner of folks from Rand Paul to Sean Hannity, sing her praises. She is the hero of the teabagger phenomenon. Who is she? Ayn Rand. Her famous and largely lousy book, Atlas Shrugged is the book they all tout, although The Fountainhead many would argue is a good book. In any case, if you want to see what the GOP really is all about and who they don’t care about and what they think about YOU, then do read AlterNet’s article.

Believe me, after reading it you will be chilled to the bone and see the GOP for what it is, nothing but a cold-hearted champion of the rich. We are the parasites, all of us collectively, who infest the wealthy who are the only true creators of wealth. Creepy.

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What’s on the stove: steak, baked potato, corn, salad.

 

Related Articles

• Oklahoma GOP Rep. Sally Kern: ‘Blacks’ Don’t Work As Hard As White People (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Oklahoma GOP Lawmaker Sally Kern: ‘Blacks’ Don’t Work As Hard As White People (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Atlas Whined: ‘Shrugged’ producer may drop sequels to film nobody watched (dailykos.com)
• Radical RAND: The Truth About GOP Hero Ayn Rand (ynative77.wordpress.com)

Well, That Settles That. . .NOT!

Tags

Beck's Nincompoops, birthers, Blaze comments, GOP, Humor, Obama, satire

Hey Jimbo, come on in, mind that door handle, it’s hangin’ by a thread. Ralph is stoppin’ off to get some Bud and Velma wanted some of those little cocktail weenies. Me, I got a can of pork ‘n beans and pork rinds.

Just push that stuff offa the couch there, and oh, that towel, cover up that spot there when you sit. Little Jennie’s bladder ain’t so good any more, but it’s dry.

Did ya hear? The boy in the White House, he done put out a real honest to goodness birth certifiCATE. Looks all legal and everything. What do you think?

Oh, here is Velma and she’s got Hyacinth with her. Would you mind changing to the chair there Jimbo, Hyacinth will bust that thing for sure if she sits on it. Hey, and there’s Ralph.

Well, let’s get down to our D-scussion shall we folks. What do you all think of this birthy paper?

My Hero-Allen West-click my name

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:45am

Have to say he may have actually caused this to happen as he was not going to go away on the issue. But in the end what does it matter. Is the certificate real? We will never know as being the POTUS would certainty give someone enough pull to make things appear and disappear at will.

Yeah I hear ya Allen West butt kisser. What in the end does it matter? Course you been sayin’ it mattered more than anything else. There isn’t a thing that anyone could produce that would convince you after all. Being that Allen West is your hero. Need anyone say more?

　

mikem1969

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:51am

This is not the original birth certificate. His birth name was Barry not Barack, so once again this still leaves the same questions, where is his ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE WITH HIS ORIGINAL BIRTH NAME?

Yeah Mike, where is the original? Where is your original? Are you a fake Mike? If you’ve never seen his original Mike, then how do you know what he birth name is? Mike, admit it, you were born in the country of denial.

　

Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:55am

Trump claims credit, and as predicted, the POTUS is using this matter to launch another set of irrelevent (sic) propaganda for his future destructive policies. Trump and Obama are BOTH progressives, and need to never be in the White House, or for Obama, never again.

Hey no time like the present to start a new conspiracy–Obama and Trumpy were in this together! Boy I do like the sound of this one. Conspiracies after all are free-floating ephemeral wisps of reality. Who predicted this? You? What exactly is the “set of irrelevant propaganda” you speak of? Come on admit it. . .you just hate him doncha?

randy

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:58am

Wake up people…..This was nothing but a side show put on by Obama.
And Trump was picked to play the lead role…
It’s not the real Birth Certificate. It is still only the Certificate of live birth.

I thought it was the long form you’ve been demanding? Oh, well it seems you have taken a sip from Snowleopard’s kool-aid. Is this really Wednesday? Or had Obama caused us all to sleep an extra twenty-four hours while he reset America’s clocks? I am suspicious I tell ya.

Blackhawk1

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:20am

Found something real interesting here.

How did Obama get a certificate numbered No. 151 – 1961 – 10641 and two twin girls were born the day after him and their numbers were No. 151 – 61 – 10637,No. 151 – 61 – 10638. Something stinks to high heaven here!

You are right, something stinks here. Did you put on any deodorant today? It’s all in the numbers. Hey, is your conspiracy numbered after the Obama-Trump conspiracy? Or is something stinking to high heaven about that?

Obama Snake Oil Co

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:47am

I would still like to know why it says race; African? I believe in the 60s, it would have negro……

Well, you just caught them red-handed now didn’t ya? And that would be Negro with no capital wouldn’t it? You little white trash in-ta-lect-chul.

ds7

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:51am

now he needs to explain his connecticut social security number. how he got into harvard? who paid for it? how does someone who is a lousy student go from occidental to columbia to harvard without ever accomplishing anything, and then become head of the student harvard law review without ever writing anything?

Yeah, and he sure better start explaining why he likes basketball better than baseball, and hamburgers which sound awfully European when you get right down to it, instead of hotdogs which are as everyone knows real American food. And while he’s at it, let him explain why he reads without his mouth moving. That’s a dead give-away of a NOT American.

Hadituptohere

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:57am

Where are the baby foot prints?

Preserved in the mud of a Hawaiian volcano of course. Geesh I thought everyone knew that.

GymCy81

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:41am

As a side question:
Did the typist of the certificate have the ability to change the size of the font?
Does it appear that the font size in the name row, is different than in the next row of information?

Perhaps a review and comparison of other certificates, at that time, could help to sort thru that question, and find the whole truth.

There are a lot more important issues and concerns in this country than this One.

Sherlock! you live! It’s a sure sign of a fake. Government typewriters don’t have font sizes! Somebody quick, analyze the ink!

buckj1013

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:14am

This again is the Cert of Birth and not the BIRTH CERTIFICATE. BC is much longer Dr name, etc; and is black background with white print from this hospital in 1961.

Right’o. Every knows its B before C except after. . .something. A certificate of birth is not a birth certificate. Anyone can see that!

US MARINE

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:33am

This is not the real BC – The real one notes Barry is a Caucasion, born of a white mother…

Are you a Caucasion (sic)? I thought it was supposed to be negro? Can you conspiracists all get on the same page PLEASE!

Fedup

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:56am

This one does not have the impressed seal… Just sayin.

His mother was 18. Perhaps that was what he was trying to hide. What was she doing at 17 years old in 1961 slutting around with a guy who was 8 years older?

You’re not a very good counter. Was she 17 or 18? Slutting? I think that maybe you are the slut. Just sayin.

chiefparker

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:58am

Now Mr. President, you’ll have to do something about that pesky “Natural Born Citizen” line in the US Constitution.

I guess you and all your law-degreeless friends will have to hash that out. Legal minds have real issues to contend with. Get a life.

redbone007

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:33am

Should the BC does not mention how much weight and size?

yeah, pretty fishy I’d say. How much does your brain weigh? Does it slosh a lot when you shake your head?

redbone007

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:38am

what a these numbers (low lighted, 8, 9, 9, 1, 0) next to the parents information?

Oh they are the numbers reserved for those not from this planet at all. In Hawaii 89910 designates the zip code for Sirius. Duh, everyone knows that!

Spooky George

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 11:09am

If this birth certificate was real it would mention he’s a communist. It’s clearly fake

I saw yours and it said, drooling idiot party.

branch manager

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:21am

This is not over by any means. We ain’t no dumy.

Yeah, actually I think ya are.

darkknight91

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 10:14am

Has anyone looked at the info on that thing? Besides the green pattern it’s printed on looking very strange, the serial number is later than the example shown on WND, yet his birth date is the day before said example. This is going to be fun…

Everyone knows that WorldNewsDaily is THE official place to go for truth. Here’s a flashlight DK, you’ve been in the dark too long.

Muetter

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 11:41am

Look how pristine that looks? That has never seen the light of day to be almost 50 yrs old with no signs of oxidation whatsoever! It can’t be real! (That will be the next conspiracy) Just sayin!

you betcha. And the Shroud of Turin–yeah, yeah, carbon dating! Get busy!

Charlie Justice

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:23am

Fine, but where was he CONCIEVED? Huh? Huh? Huh?

Now you are on to something there Charlie…Details, we want all the details…

American-first

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:28am

Why does the right side of this thing look as if something is missing? Not saying it is fake but what is going on?

You noticed that too? It looks like something should be there, doesn’t it…perhaps a pineapple or a palm tree? Or maybe a menu?

　As always folks, all the above comments come to you courtesy of Blaze, that bastion of enlightened discussion run by Beck and his thunderbutts. There were no less than three “articles” so their internet servers wouldn’t jam up I guess. Scary thought–these folks have the right to vote. 　

Related Articles

• Poll: Trump Takes Credit for Birth Certificate, What Say You? (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
• Obama releases full birth certificate info (capitolhillblue.com)
• Obama’s Birth Certificate (thedailybeast.com)
• Breaking: The President Releases His “Long Form” Birth Certificate (kaystreet.wordpress.com)

One Witticism Goes a Long Way

Tags

Barack Obama, Calvin and Hobbes, Christopher Hitchens, Donald Trump, Entertainment, Extreme right-wing, GOP, Halley Barbour, Literature, racism, teabaggers, wacko right-wing media

“It’s hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” [Calvin & Hobbes]

Believe me, there are days I think like that.

Most of the time, I’m a mild-mannered pleasant enough woman, the one you meet here everyday. But some people and some things get my dander up, and I seriously wonder if the planet would not be a better place should they depart it. It’s then that I secretly almost wish that Hell existed.

I figure most people have their list. You know, the list of those who most certainly deserve hell and damnation.

I also figure that no two lists are probably identical.

That signal fact convinces me that I best leave the whole thing up to God.

My revenge then lies in witticisms, snarks, and acid-dripping sarcasm.

I tend to bow to those who do this well, even when I sometimes, mostly, or even always dislike their point of view on just about everything. Christopher Hitchens is one of those types. William F. Buckley was one. Gore Vidal is one.

Vladimir Nabokov famously said that he thought as a genius, wrote as a distinguished author, and spoke as a child. He was awful as an interview in other words. Martin Amis, writing for the Guardian UK, suggests that Hitchens is just the opposite. And for me, that is exactly true. His ideas are simply awful and knee jerk, he writes wonderfully, and he oratory is captivating and brilliant.

“The measure of an education, is that you acquire some idea of the extent of your ignorance.”

“A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realisation that you can’t make old friends.”

Just a couple little gems.

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We groused here often about why so much of the working class in this country votes against its own economic interests in voting for the GOP. Up through 2010, the Rethuglicans have been successful in painting President Obama as “other” meaning other than a white man. They have called him a socialist, a communist, a dictator, they have challenged his birth, his patriotism, his religious affiliation–all this in an attempt appeal to the deep-seated and hotly denied latent racism present in America. PoliticusUSA has a fine piece on the topic.

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Oh by the by, we are 1-1 on our predictions so far. Halley Barbour has opted out of running for the Oval. I’m not sure more than three people took note.

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Oh, if you want a fun site with tons of Calvin and Hobbes quotes, I found this today. I am an unabashed lover of all things C & H, even named the ginger twins after ’em.

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It comes as no revelation to me that air traffic controllers are constantly falling asleep at the switch. Have you looked at those radar screens? What is there that would not  put you to sleep? Which reminds me of what I thought was probably the most boring job yet created. A man who comes to work each morning, weighs himself on the company scales next to the assembly line, and then steps on a platform. As each set of bathroom scales comes down the line, he steps down on to it, checks its accuracy, and steps, back. He does this all day. ALL DAY!

I once applied for a summer job in a large building in downtown Flint, Michigan. The lady gave me a set of about 25 3-x5 cards and ushered me into a very very very very very large room where there were aisles and aisles and aisles and aisles of tiny file cabinets just the right size for 3-x5 cards. She told me to file the 25 in alphabetical order, and return to her when I was finished. (This was my “test”). I stood there, I looked at the first series of cabinets that rain A’s the entire length of the room. I turned, walked out, placed the 25 cards on her desk, and walked out without saying a word.

Got a “most boring job”? Let us hear about it.

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Trumpy is upping the ante, now wondering how a relatively poor and relatively stooopid little black kid ever got into Columbia and Harvard. The Trumpster ignores all the evidence to the contrary, merrily making evidence-lacking assertions that sound good to the airheads on the extreme right. No, they don’t sound good, it’s the stuff they desperately want to hear to justify what they really want to do, which is hate Obama without being accused of that pesky racism they do deeply harbor in their cold shriveled hearts.

Like his baseless assertions that the President might not be a citizen, again here, he’s “heard” it from someone that Obama was a terrible student, and he knows “lots” of kids with great grades and boards who can’t get in, so, well, it smells, The Donald alleges. And well, you hair smells too Donald, shall we conclude it came from another country?

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You may have heard that the Prez went to Sunday services on Easter. Well, the wackos on the extreme right had something to say about that too. Of course it was a “racist” church, where there were only “black” people and well, you get the drift. Chauncey De Vega gives his take on the “conservative media’s”  assessment.

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What’s on the stove? Shrimp pasta with a lemon/wine Alfredo sauce, and coleslaw.

I Don’t Believe They Meant to Say. . .

Tags

big oil, DOMA, Donald Trump, gay rights, GOP, Humor, Middle East, oil prices

[h/t Joe.My.God]

The situation in Syria continues to be beastly. Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad continues to reign death upon his people, determined to retain power at all costs. Following in the footsteps of Qaddafi and Bahrainian  King Hamid bin Isa Al Khalifa, Assad orders his military to fire upon peaceful protesters as well as those who try to recover bodies from the street or venture from their homes.

The situation is dire in Syria and Libya. Yemen is erupting once again in protest as the agreement whereby the Prime Minister would resign by the end of the month has apparently fallen through. Ali Abdullah Salah has gone back on his promise. Bahrain is heating up once again, no doubt encouraged by the bravery exhibited in Syria and Libya.

Much bloodshed is in store I expect, yet I believe that in the end, these uprisings feed each other, and ultimately they will prevail. No one can predict what these countries will look like in the end. No doubt some will fare better than others. Yet change will come and the Middle East will never be the same. I can imagine the fear that the Israelis feel since they no face potential unrest all around them. But that has always been the potentiality there it seems to me.

Sooner or later, I think all dictatorial regimes must conclude that over the long haul, such governments cannot prevail. One can only hope that Washington learns a lesson here, and regardless of the “strategic position” we cannot make nice with governments that repress their citizens all the while the elites live lives of splendor and comfort.

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Speaking of dictatorships, we have our own here in America. Big oil continue to hold the country hostage to higher and higher gas prices, resulting in increasing “pain at the pump” as well as rising prices for just about everything.

Meanwhile the Oil Conglomerates continue to reap enormous rewards from their speculation in oil futures and from oil subsidies which the GOP thuggery continues to vote for them in Congress. It’s absurd, its immoral, and yet there is no public outcry. While the GOP is feeling the wrath of the people when it comes to Ryan’s medicare killing legislation offer, no such hew and cry arises against them for their continued support of recession-deepening oil subsidies.

Absurdly, the American public blames the White House who has almost no control over the issue.

Obama calls for more regulation of speculators and the GOP responds predictably with “drill baby drill.” Experts of course point out that Obama has authorized more drilling and that won’t cure our current problems in the least for 4-5 years, besides the fact that THERE SIMPLY IS NOT ENOUGH OIL WITHIN AMERICAN CONTROL TO MAKE AN REAL DIFFERENCE IN THE LONG RUN.

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“If God had meant us to see the sunrise, he’d have scheduled it later in the day.” [h/t Exploring our Matrix]

 

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a “Member of Congress” But I repeat myself.”  “Mark Twain”  [h/t Under the Lobsterscope]

 

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This is just one of those posts that make you sing with happiness. Remember when President Obama informed us that the Justice Department would no longer defend certain provisions of DOMA? And he told Congress, it was up to them to do so. So they did. They hired a law firm by the name of King and Spaulding.

Well, the law firm took a longer look at what it was going to defend, and said, “thanks but no thanks” claiming they had not “thoroughly vetted the decision” meaning that they realized after some legal study that the provision in question (which called for the denial of federal recognition of same-sex state law marriages) was indefensible. Least that is what I read between the lines.

Such a law simply fails on equal protection grounds. This is the basis upon which the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a refusing issuance of a marriage license to same-sex couples must fail. It’s not at all about “judicial overreach” or the common “legislating from the bench” but rather it is the simple exercise of placing the proposed ban against the constitution and finding it comes up short.

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This is so much fun, it ought to be illegal. They are eating their own again. If The Donald could be called one of their own that is. Rove is trying to get the conversation off the damn birther issue foreseeing that it only plays to the GOP, and will never enthrall the Independents. In fact it will drive Independents away.

Meanwhile Trumpy is telling Rove to go take a retirement! Trumpy thinks birtherism is just a hot issue that can be ridden to success in 2012.

Meanwhile, thoughtful? GOPers like McCain make fun of the The Donald by suggesting that “he’s having a ball getting all this attention” and basically dismiss him as a showman. In that they are assisted by the Democrats who virtually laugh at the idea of his being a real candidate.

It is all hard to understand and makes my head hurt. For, one thing is clear. If you poke a stick at an egomaniac, he tends to respond. Keep making fun of Trumpy and he will run. So it makes sense to poke him if you are a Democrat, but not so much if you are a grubby GOPer.

But then maybe Trumpy is a secret Democrat who is trying to destroy the GOPers from the inside?

It all gets so confusing. As I said, it makes my head hurt. So I’m going to recreate Easter dinner. Bye.

 

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It’s a Good Good Friday

Tags

Art, atonement, crucifixion, Jesus, religion, Zoology

I am aware of course that many of you are not believers, at least in a traditional way. And because of that, I try not to spend too much time on things having to do with faith, especially denominational faith. I leave that to my other blog, Walking in the Shadows. However I found this article so compelling that I thought I would share it with you, in keeping with the day.

I have for a long time not believed in what is referred to as “substitutionary atonement” or the tenet that God sent Jesus to earth with the express purpose of suffering and dying for our sins, the sin we carry from Adam’s original sin. It doesn’t comport with my view of God quite simply. As Kenneth R Overburg, SJ suggests, it takes Jesus out as Plan B, and replaced Him with the Word, foundational in creation, planned from the beginning to dwell among creation in the fullness of time.

It is the Incarnational model and centers Jesus as love offering, come among humanity at the right moment in time to offer the WAY to unity with the Godhead. Overburg writes a beautiful and compelling explanation of this interpretation which I think allows many who have rejected Christianity specifically because of the implications of the substitutionary atonement theory. Please enjoy, The Incarnation: Why God Wanted to Become Human.

♦

Isn’t he cute?

And aren’t they lovely?

Blessings to you all!