On the Road Again

Tags

environment, faith, journeys, racism, religion

“Are you Catholic?” Alex asked. “Yeah,” I mumbled. “You know,” he added, “I grew up at St. Genevieve’s, went to school there too. But. . . .” So went another of the ever-occurring reasons for “why I don’t go to church anymore”. I can relate.

Substitute, writing for Catholic, and you have my last few weeks in a nutshell.

Confused?

Welcome to my world.

So am I.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had returned to the Church once again, seeking. . .something? Hell if I know what.

I didn’t find it. Nothing bad happened. The priest was okay as priests go. I don’t expect much.

If you don’t know what you are seeking, it’s pretty likely you won’t find it. How would you know?

Writing is just about as confusing. I’ve written a lot over the years. All sorts of writing. Big bold essays of a hundred pages, footnoted to Hades and back. Short, “reflections”. Legal arguments chock full of citation to other learned writings. Notes of books I’ve read. And then all this blogging. Years of it. thousands of posts, millions of words, ideas formed, bent, twisted, reconfigured, spit out. Arrogance, pomposity, mendacity, with a rare humble crumb offered here and about. My guts displayed for any who bothered to note it.

Do I have nothing left to say?

Perish that thought. I’d shrivel up and croke. My enemies (having enemies is a true joy if you think about it seriously) wish I would just “shut the fuck up”. That alone should spur me forward.

I start, I stop, I flounder. As good as I came, I saw, I conquered (veni, vidi, vici) doncha think?

Why are we so three oriented? Tragedies come in three, examples are most often offered in threes. Trinity? Trifecta? Triple creme? Triple crown. Banana split which has little to do with the split banana and everything to do with three scoops.

I’m reading a very intriguing book. What is God? Not Who, but What. It all stems from that flip. Turn a globe upside down and leave it like that. It will make you rethink a few things.

I’m processing faith versus religion. I’m pretty down on religion right now. Composed of fallible humans what would you expect? Is it necessary? Church votes yes. I’m pretty much votin’ no at this point.

I choose to express my faith through some rituals of this faith system. I call it Catholicism. You can call it the Whore of Babylon if you are not well educated. I don’t care. There is too much wrong to defend it. There is more right than I often admit.

I’m pretty sure that God is not what we think. But I am not at all sure. I don’t think I’m supposed to be sure. Augustine said we can only say what God isn’t. That is hardly a recipe for success.

Church is like stopping off at a rest stop. It is good to get out and stretch your legs, relieve your bladder, and munch a snack. But it’s not home. You got to get back at the grueling drive that never ends. Thinking, watching, staying awake. Driving requires concentration  if you plan to do it successfully over time. So is God-seeking.

One premise is that there is always something not quite real about reality. We sense there is more, but we can’t see it. We recognize the unreality. We have become desensitized to unreality. It passes by us with nary a nod.

A man says, “I am going to kill you because you are raping our women and taking over our country.” Another man says, “that’s hate against Christians,” (since the dead are Christians). Whose reality are we talking about?

I don’t reject the Catholic Church because of its theology. There is a Catholic Church here that is “not aligned with Rome”. They love my politics. But I don’t go and sit in the pews there. There is one of those Universalist Unitarians, or something here. There is Bahai here. I am not interested.

I plant my butt in a pew and I sit, and I wonder why I’m there. I count off the various “parts” until we get to communion and then the closing prayer, and then the closing hymn and then. I’m free again.

Why do I go?

I stopped going.

I feel something missing. Vicious and jealous mistress you faith!

Faith and religion. Two separate but unequal things. Faith matters, religion is some bonus at least once upon a time. Ever? Never? I did good once. It does good sometimes, somewhere.

The problem as always is the people. Fallible humans muck up the mud. Turn it ugly and personally motivated.  I hate welfare not because I don’t want to help the poor but because I want to decide who to give my charity to. So they say. What they mean is I can then avoid giving welfare to lazy queens and princes who lay in bed half the day before they saunter down to the welfare store and pick up their checks. As I JUDGE them anyway.

I don’t want the government to tell me how much to give. I bet ya a million bucks you couldn’t come begin to tell me how much the “government is taking out of you in taxes” to support medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and so forth. You couldn’t even give me a ball park figure of what they take. But somehow, you assure me, you would give more if it were voluntary. Yeah, sure ya would.

Religion starts off with laudable goals. Seek God. Take care of God’s people. But your old fallibility rose like the skunky smell it is, and you changed that to “God’s chosen people” however YOU JUDGMENTALLY DECIDED THAT.

I’m for Israel because they are God’s chosen, you utter with perfect surety. Bullshit.

If you believe God has favorites then you believe in an awfully wicked and strange being. One who creates so poorly that He finds one poor slob called Abram and tells him, he will “create a nation” of him. Hope he does it better than the first couple of times. Dont’ forget the whole fiasco of Noah and that damned ark that couldn’t be built large enough to begin to house “all God’s creation”.

Yet you got a passel of morons whose brains are so gucky with sludge that they gotta cling to that stuff as literal and then make it their life’s work to make you take it literally too.

And God is not in that damned Book you fool. PEOPLE wrote the book. They wrote it about the God they were seeking. Since you can’t tell me much about God on your own, why do you think they were any better at it? They’re just trying, same as you and me. Yet you kneel before the freakin’ book.

So here I sit. I read that the Pope has offered up an encyclical on the environment. As sure as it’s June and it’s hot, right wing Catholics are finally letting out what they really think. They really really don’t like this pope at all. Unlike their precious JPII and Benedict however, Francis doesn’t inherit the “God’s chosen” appellation. We don’t have to pay attention to Francis when we don’t like what he says.

“He’s not a scientist. He’s just giving his opinion on a subject that he has no expertise in.” So the upshot is to ignore what he says. He’s a dupe of some libtards in the Vatican who haven’t explained to this poor illiterate fool that words matter. “He’s a marxist, anyway.”  If you tried to continue the conversation say about women priests, they would tell you. “Pope John Paul has spoken on that issue and we will not allow further conversation because he says it is a closed issue.” Some personal opinions count. Oh yeah, the one’s you agree with.

Whose reality are we talking about?

Everywhere I go, I see the same thing. Distinctly different takes on reality. Both can’t be right. Or perhaps they can.

God is in the mysteries of life.

Oh, seeking Him there is not as easy as sittin’ in the pew. Reading and thinking and meditating, and working out the details. Only to realize that each and every insight provides fresh mystery, new questions, and potential conflicting yearnings.

Open your eyes, and your ears. But mostly open your heart. Take little if anything for granted. Seek serendipity, and sweet harmony. Enjoy the sugary taste until the bitterness creeps in. Seek further, and never stop. Ever.

That is human becoming.

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It’s Not Time to Cry Wolf

Tags

environment, global warming, tornadoes

It’s so very tempting to cry out in anger and frustration. If you are one of those self-serving climate change deniers, best cast a wide berth around me today. That is what I am tempted to say.

My heart aches for the people in Oklahoma who have suffered the loss of all their material lives but in addition, many have lost loved ones, many of those children, huddled in an elementary school for safety. Unfortunately, the twister cut a death road right through it.

After all the natural disasters we have suffered in the past fifteen years, it is tempting to believe that we are reaping the consequences of our refusal to seriously address the damage we are doing to our planet. It is so very tempting. And a lot of people are saying just that.

I was tempted. My first reactions were probably much like yours. “Now tell me again that there is no such thing as man-made climate change.” Of course there is, and we know it to be a fact. We know it because of studies done again and again. The science is clear, and the scientific community is also clear, remaining at the level of 97%. When independent studies are conducted, looking at nearly 14,000 peer-reviewed articles on climate change, only 24 were skeptical. That’s a powerful number.

Yet a fair look at the data regarding tornadoes does not suggest that we should make the assumption that climate change is the culprit in what seemingly are more severe and fatal tornadoes. You can look at the actual listing of tornadoes in America since the earliest recorded one in 1671 to the present. A number of things should be remembered:

1. Reporting in terms of damage and severity of twisters changes over time. We use a new system for instance starting in 2007, the Enhanced Fujita Scale. We have better equipment for measuring intensity and damage.
2. We are much more populated. Areas that were virtually uninhabited are no longer so, and fatalities may reflect that to some degree.
3. We have better warning systems that no doubt save lives.

The facts are that scientists generally do agree that climate change is driving a lot of weather phenomenon such as heat waves, drought, flooding, hurricanes and snowstorms. But tornadoes are something else again. The science is not there. There is still much that remains unknown about tornadoes and the main causes–energy in the form of warm, wet air meeting colder air, and wind shear, cut in opposite directions as far as climate change is concerned. This doesn’t mean that climate change is not driving tornadic activity today, but no one can say that with certainty at this point. 

Numbers suggest that 2011 was one of the worst years for tornadoes, but so far 2013 seems relatively sedate. However it is also noted as of the last few years, there seem to be tornadoes of higher intensity and with greater loss of life than we have seen in most of our lifetimes. That is merely anecdotal evidence at this point, and points to no clear trend as far as the science is concerned.

While we generally approve of Democratic Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse and his positions on any number of issues before the American public, he spoke to quickly in my humble opinion in assigning a causative claim to the Oklahoma twister in Moore to “climate change”. Since the science simply doesn’t support the allegation, Senator Whitehouse only serves the reactionary right when he offers up an opinion that can be so easily taken apart.

This is distressing for the reason that as we all know (all of those who are rational, read the actual scientific papers and listen to their testimony) that man-made climate change is real and it is taking and will continue to take a serious toll on this planet, making life uncomfortable for many, and perhaps unlivable for many others. I read just yesterday of,  if memory serves me, a small island in Fiji where the inhabitants recently moved a seaside settlement inland by a mile to get away from rising ocean levels that were washing into their crop lands and destroying them with salt water. That is reality.

It simply doesn’t help to cry wolf at indefensible tragedies no matter how tempting. There is more than enough reality to use as examples.

Related articles

• Can we blame the Oklahoma tornado on climate change? (rawstory.com)
• Is tornado intensity increasing? (livescience.com)
• Can we blame climate change for the tornado that took out Moore, Oklahoma? (grist.org)
• The Oklahoma Mega-Twister Is More Weather Than Climate Change (science.time.com)

Fool Me Once. . . .You Know the Rest

Tags

budget, environment, gay rights, GOP, immigration, Internal politics, sequester, teabaggers, Violence Against Women Act

I’m having a bizarre discussion on Facebook with a reactionary. I say that because he is a Republican, a small businessman (three employees), and a climate denier.

He’s sure that green energy is a total waste of time. He finds all kinds of bogus “studies” to prove that and that the sun is the culprit in our current environmental woes. He tried to “prove” his case by suggesting that Greenland was named by the Vikings as such because one thousand years ago it was temperate.

That makes as much sense as saying, “hey it’s snowing! So much for global warming!” A tiny investment in some research shows that the Vikings never ventured inland and the coasts of Greenland are always ice-free, and Erik may have named it so precisely to encourage settlement there when he returned to Iceland.

In any event, I find it curious when little guys like this are so enthralled with being in the “club” with the big guys that they don’t realize that while they may be members of the same club, i.e. “business” entrepreneurs, they are waiting tables rather than eating at them. What it boils down to is they don’t want to pay the taxes they perceive come with supporting green technologies, but they are more than happy to continue to pay taxes to subsidize industries like Exxon-Mobile who make BILLIONS in profits every year, and the only part of that they will ever see is as a valet tip.

Meanwhile the Tea Bibbers continue to weigh as an anchor around the neck of the GOP whose rational members are paddling like crazy while the Tea Bibbers continue to punch more holes in the bottom of the boat. They are the sticky paper once touched that you can’t get off your fingers no matter how hard you shake them.

The latest polling suggests that the world for the GOP remains dismal. Nearly 50% of the electorate things they are crazy and useless. The numbers if anything, have gotten worse than they were immediately following the election. Republicans cannot seem to find their way, and when one jumps to the front and announces the “new” pathway, he or she is shot full of arrows from the bottomless quiver of the Tea Faction that wants no truck with RINOs.

As Joe Scarborough put it, the CPAC boys and girls chose not to invite Chris Christie, a governor who enjoys a 74% approval rating in a blue state. His conservative credentials are not in question by rational people. But he had the temerity to act nicely to the President and that is not allowed by the rank and file nuts.

Rubio, who is hungry for a shot at the White House, cut  his teabag in half and got on board with some form of immigration reform that leads to citizenship. Well that caused the expected riff. He’s up against the insanity that John McCain ran into out in Arizona–“where’s the damn fence?” and “they come here and get on welfare.” With that kind of mentality, the reactionary Right ain’t going to get on board. Hell they are going to shoot holes in the bow.

Plenty of the truly demented want the sequester to kick in, because they just want to prove that they are in control. They aren’t but they sure have Johnny Boehner by the short hairs. He’s fallen to the dubious task of lying through his bright whites about how black is white and white is chartreuse. Having no clue what the American people want, he continues to spout that he does, and of course people continue to laugh. John is finding that we actually read papers and read magazines and we KNOW how we got to this place, and his dirty fingerprints are all over it.

Republicans can’t bring themselves to stop sucking at Wayne La PeePee Lapierre’s nether regions long enough to read a poll that suggests that over 90% of Americans want strong background checks on all gun purchases. They are all over the place on this one, from the usual “not from my dead cold hands” to “okay, I can handle background checks.”

Similarly, when it comes to gays, the GOP is turning itself inside out. A number of Republicans have broken from the pack and suggested its time to get out of the dark ages and move into the sunshine. That of course is met with derision and out right calls for hanging among the insane wackos. I do not foresee a happy resolution here no matter what is proposed. The wingnuts are firmly stuck in Leviticus, wallowing in their presumed righteousness, all the while munching on pork chops and engaging in usury, things also prohibited by the Almighty in his dealings with the Chosen.

On women, things get no better. The party that insisted that the “war on women” was merely a campaign ploy by desperate Democrats, continue to amass a mountain of dead (women who will never vote Republican) in their non-war. Plenty of states are still doing everything possible to make sure that women’s private goodies are open for inspection by well-meaning (read lecherous) legislators who are so sure women can’t imagine what is in that womb of theirs that they need men to explain it to them. And then putting impossible demands upon abortion providers that cause them to close their doors in dismay. All this while tens of thousands of women lose the only health care they ever had.

And of course  who can forget that a goodly group of morons parade around as grown-ups yet are unwilling to pass the Violence Against Women Act because it protects Native women from assault by non-native men. And good grief we aren’t going to protect same-sex men and women against violence by their partner either, because well, that would suggest we really do love them, just not the “act.” And since they really DO hate them, well you can see why that can’t be passed. The bill remains in limbo as the Senate version (with the above) is up for a vote by the unwilling jackasses otherwise known as Tea Bibbers.

Well, as I see it, the GOP has learned nada and is headed for more election troubles. And of course, we haven’t even touched upon the anger Karl has unleashed by his attempt to shut the Tea Bags the hell up!  It’s a party for us, and the best show in town.

Related articles

• Don’t bite on GOP’s clever sequester trick, Dems (washingtonpost.com)
• BREAKING: House Republicans Backing Down On Violence Against Women Act (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Sequester Poll Gives GOP Low Marks On Federal Spending (huffingtonpost.com)
• The GOP’s Ted Cruz problem (salon.com)
• Why do more and more Americans despise the GOP? It’s the hypocrisy (eclectablog.com)
• New Poll Shows Majority Of Americans Think The GOP Is ‘Out Of Touch’ And ‘Extreme’ (addictinginfo.org)
• MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: GOP Full of ‘Resentment,’ ‘Hate’ & ‘Anger’ for Not Inviting Christie (ijreview.com)
• Joe Scarborough: GOP Cheating To Win Implies Party In Decline (VIDEO) (addictinginfo.org)

 

I Hate to Forget a Title for a Post

Tags

cabinet, cartoons, climate change, Congress, environment, gun control, Humor, NRA, Politics, teabaggers, Women's issues

You’re the apple of my eye. Both of them. Truly. I really mean it. Honestly. No foolin’.

Okay, so  I made an apple pie today. A nice fat ol’ big one. Deeeeeep dish.

And we are having a good old-fashioned pot roast. With gravy, and mashed taters and nicely caramelized onions and carrots. And some copycat Red Lobster cheddar biscuits.

Why am I such a good wife?

I ask myself the same question.

I guess I was just born that way.

I’m getting a cramp in my shoulder. Trying to pat yourself on the back has its draw-backs.

Hey, I’m just happy today. I’m happy most days.

I got a good man, a good dog, and I love my house, my city, and my state. I love my brain and I love you guys, and I love God. And that was in no particular order–you know that Lord!

But I am still a snarky woman who is old enough to not give a good poo what you think about anything I say or think, so let’s see what we can find in the wacky world of cartoon politics.

Plenty of folks in the know, or in the think at least, figure that things aren’t going to improve much this year over the last four.

As to the Congress that is. It’s still (thanks to gerrymandering) entirely too full of yesterday’s child, the ubiquitous Tea People who are like wack-a-moles, popping up again and again.

We’ve said so much about their lack of knowledge about anything beyond which is the finest beer–Bud or Coors (yes even Sam Adams is way beyond these folks) or what is the best NASCAR track Daytona or Talladega, that little more can be said.

Boehner will continue to look mildly embarrassed as they continue to search uteruses, strut their 2nd Amendment bona fides, and vote for the umpteenth time to outlaw Obamacare. And Harry Reid will continue to sigh as McConnell filibusters each and every bill, because Reid can’t make himself alter the damn rules to return the Senate once again to a majority vote forum.

Business as usual–meaning no business at all.

Meanwhile, we all saw the reports that this past year was the warmest EVER.

That means EVER.

While the Right continues to worry us about the legacy of debt we are leaving to our next generation (a legacy not nearly as dire according to REAL economists), they of course deny that climate change is real, that we have anything to do with it, and that we should STOP F**king around and get busy.

The Left, full of bombast, tells us  that of course it’s real and of course the evidence of the VAST majority of scientists suggests we have a lot to do with it, which is GOOD news, since that means we might be able to undo the damage.

But where is the legislation? Where is the serious discussion where were are confronted with the alternatives and what we need to do NOW?

Oh, yeah, we are expecting answers from the 113th.

I wonder if hibernating might be a good idea. Course, if I was a polar bear in my snow cave, I might just find the thing melt out from over me.

Ya see, Hagel is like mainstream. He’s supported by all kinds of retired generals, and previous Secretaries of Defense. And he is NOT the policy maker in the first, second or third place.

And the neo-cons hate him because he turned on their pet rock the Iraq war really quickly. And so they hate him, because he exposed how wrong they were with their all “they will greet us as liberators” and crap.

And the usual cast of tantrum havers will have at it–tantrums that is. They will threaten and whine, and in the end Hagel will be confirmed. And then they will do the exact same thing to Brennan and Lew.

And that is how you pretend to do something, when in fact you are doing nothing at all, because you can’t get past the Tea People, who have almost no support nationwide, but locally they still  can win an election, because guess what, just like rich people tend to live with rich people? Well Tea People tend to find trailer parks the garden of Eden. Go figure.

The GOP doesn’t hate women.

It just doesn’t see them as a significant reason to do something to protect them against men who get out of hand with their hands.

You know how America just can’t bring itself to agree that if service men and women are in another country and commit a crime, they should be tried by the jurisdiction they are in?

Well, Republicans don’t think that Native tribal authorities should be able to arrest NON-NATIVE perpetrators who have assaulted Native Women. Kind like the same thing.

And don’t get me started on how they don’t want to even touch assaults in same-sex cases.

But the GOP is not anti-women or anything. Frankly they don’t think about women much at all. Except when they want to have sex, or dinner, or need a clean shirt, or need another beer from the fridge which is way the hell on the other side of the house and all. Then they think of women.

Have you noticed?

Ummm, yeah, they are all white men.

Now I’m not totally against white men. I am married to one. He’s a good one.

But doncha think that appearances matter there Mr. President?

I mean step out on a limb and get yourself a woman or two, a Hispanic? A BLACK? Whoa, are we getting out there or something?

I know you will say you looked for the MOST qualified. Well, what does THAT say?

I mean I am with ya on most things, but Sir, please. We can handle the big jobs. I know you know that. So. . . .?

The NRA went to the White House.

They sat down with the Vice President.

Mr. Wayne PEE PEE LaPierre didn’t attend.

He’s still recovering from the increased dosage of his anti-schizo meds.

He and Alex Jones are in the same ward.

Hey Mr. Pee Pee, if you say that we need to get guns out the hands of criminals, how exactly are we to do that when you don’t want background checks or registration or limiting the sale of certain weapons? I mean how is the gun seller supposed to know? Maybe we should brand all convicts on their forehead? You know, a criminal ain’t a criminal until they have been convicted. The horse has kinda left the barn Mr. Pee Pee.

Oh, he’s not able to receive visitors yet?

The strain of reality takes a long time to recover from.

I see.

The Good News Is. . . .

Tags

AIG, banks, climate change, Entertainment, environment, gay rights, GOP, gun control, Lindsey Graham, NRA, right wing nuts, teabaggers

After the bad. I believe in delayed gratification. I told you that a thousand times. Take your medicine and then you can have dessert. So this is your medicine:

This is how we are going to win the war against assault weapons. Bring on this fool along with Mr. La Pee Pee Lapierre and this goose is cooked. I mean, as Commonweal suggested, THIS is all you need to argue in favor of gun control. This fool should never be allowed near a safety-pin let alone a gun.

So you have had your medicine and now you get the dessert:

1. I’m told that according to Rasmussen polling, only about 8% of people now identify with the agenda of the Tea People. That’s great news. The GOP appears screwed however since they have gerrymandered the map so badly that at least on the congressional level they will still be finding these bedbugs crawling out from under the mattress for some time to come. Which means the GOP will continue to act and sound like petulant and really stupid children who need a good paddling, if I were of the persuasion that children should be assaulted physically, which I am not. But it’s worth considering an exception here. No, just kidding. Just pat them on the head and send them to bed without supper.
2. The Washington National Cathedral, home to the diocese of the Washington Episcopal church announced it will be performing same-sex marriage. This is in keeping with the national church’s decisions as I understand it. The national church was on the verge of this I believe when I was still involved with it, a couple of years ago. This is wonderful news to all of us who believe in equality.
3. Lindsey Graham continues to dig out from under John McCain’s shadow and establish that he can be an even bigger douche on his own. Lindsey, terrified of being primaried for 2014, is just throwing tantrums left and right. His latest? He may place a hold on Brennan’s confirmation as the next director the CIA unless he gets answers on Benghazi. Do you hear? Lindsey wants answers. He’s determined to try to prove that the Obama administration changed the facts to help the election campaign, although it is still unclear how that was supposed to work. Lindsey sounds like Julia Child on drugs. And he is still determined to “shut ‘er down” if he doesn’t get some spending cuts and pronto too. This is all Lindsey is saying now, until he gets new directives from the Tea People who depend on 6th graders to transcribe their irrational thoughts onto paper.
4. Nicki Minaj has just signed with KMart to do a line of clothes. I know, I can’t wait either.
5. The military is thinking of offering yoga and meditation classes. This has Tony Perkins of Family Research Council all in a tizzy. It seems to this nut looking for shell, such things are “wacky substitutes” for that good time religion of the fundamentalist flavor.
6. You have heard of the Breitbots haven’t you? Breitbart is deceased. But his followers go on in his name. One of them has written a book. It suggests that after all this time of being so nice to liberals, they just can’t do it any more. It’s time to be uncivil they proclaim. I don’t think if we hadn’t been told we would ever have known the difference. No more compromise with those bullies they shout!
7. Winner of the “YOU DAMN FOOL” award this week goes to Congressman Steve Palazzo, who years after Katrina is still asking Congress for money for his state of Mississippi, didn’t vote for disaster relief for the victims of super storm Sandy. We understand the Congressman has suddenly realized that stupidity has consequences. He now pledges his support. Tea People–stupid is as stupid does.
8. AIG, who in concert with a few others, nearly ruined this country. They were bailed out. They were SAVED from their own stupidity. They have paid the money back. Now they are thinking of suing the US government, kinda of like saying, thanks for saving my life, but dang you tore my expensive jacket in the process–please pay for it. What a bunch of douches. (I need new words to describe these dopes) Just go to jail, and do not pass GO.
9. Move along, no gawking. Nothing going on here. Oh, yes, the US recorded the highest average temperature EVER in the history of counting. EVER. But that is got nothing to do with climate change. There is snow on the ground in the usual places. ‘Nuf said.

I know, you are plum tuckered out from all that dessert. So take a break and move into a mood swing or two.

Related articles

• Sen. Lindsey Graham Speaks His Mind (huffingtonpost.com)
• Hagel Foes Graham and McCain Praised James ‘F**k the Jews’ Baker (crooksandliars.com)
• GOP Senator Lindsey Graham Takes Nation Hostage – Raise Social Security Retirement Age Or Else (addictinginfo.org)
• Will Lindsey Graham ever accept the 2012 election results? Does he need counseling? (mbcalyn.com)
• Just how awful is Lindsey Graham (R-SC)? (prairieweather.typepad.com)
• LINDSEY GRAHAM: ‘I Will Not Vote To Raise The Debt Ceiling Until We Have A Plan’ (businessinsider.com)
• GOP Pollster: Tea Party Popularity Has Evaporated – Half of Voters View It Unfavorably (pensitoreview.com)
• How budget battles in Congress are killing the GOP’s image (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• When Gun Nuts Write Gun Laws, Nuts Have Guns (slate.com)

What’s Not to Like?

Tags

Election 2012, environment, GOP, Herman Cain, right-wing religiosity, tea baggers

Pundits seem puzzled.

It makes perfect sense to me.

Puzzled about what you ask?

About the fact that polling suggests that Herm Cain’s lady woes don’t seem to be causing him any grief among his peeps.

I don’t find this odd at all.

There are NO MORE sacrificial lambs on the horizon for the TeaNutz® to glom on to. Santorum? Old “frothy mix” is a family joke who is a proven loser. Newt? Just too, too Establishment, and lazy to boot.

So, there is nobody left. Much as the Weally Hideously Insane Right (WHIR) would love to ditch the House Negro, they have nowhere else to turn. So, he’s it, for better or worse.

(PSST! Sarah! Now would be the time!)

Hey folks, this is free comedy. Enjoy it. Can you even imagine old Herm debating the President? I just may happen. That really hate Mitty that much.

♦

Finally! At last! America finally ranks first in something. While slipping badly in terms of education, health, and almost any other indice you can think of, America leads the world in:

 

H/T to Joe.My.God for the pic.

♦

I repeat. You cannot make this stuff up.

I swear.

I actually do swear when I read this stuff.

Joe Walsh, you know the idiot congressman from Illinois, the Obama hatin’ TeaNutz® one? The one who owes over $110K in back child support? The one who failed to show up for a court hearing regarding same? The one who spent thousands of his own money on his election campaign, and bled “poverty” when it came to taking care of his kids? That one. Remember him?

Well, the Family Research Council has awarded him its “Pro-Family” award. For being “100% true-blue supporter of family, faith and freedom.”

Seriously.  

♦

A serious up tick in the sale of bullet proof vests has been reported in Madison Wisconsin. Purchases are going on at a brisk pace, according to inside sources. The purchasers? Members of the Madison state legislature.

Why?

Republicans (WHIR), have voted to allow concealed weapons inside the capital and in the galleries. It should be noted that cameras and signs are still not allowed, as much to dangerous.

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I’ve seen this twice today. Andrew Sullivan posted it. I give you a “whhhhat?”

“I’ve been as consistent as human beings can be,” – Mitt Romney.

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Paul Krugman has a good OP-ED in the NYTimes. Is our democracy really a democracy any more?

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Agent “Orange” was asked about how he felt about the influence of Grover Norquist over his House Republican caucus. Orange Slice answered:

“It’s not often I’m asked about some random person in America,” he said. 

Yeah, sure John.

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Super Muslim hater, Pamela Geller supports the Cain man, his limitations notwithstanding:

“I endorse Herman Cain. What he doesn’t know, we’ll teach him,” – Pamella Geller.

Pammie, you might want to talk to Ann Coulter and together you can figure out how to handle “your” blacks.

Excuse me, while I get mildly nauseous now.

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We’re having Coney dogs for dinner, and you’re not.

Bring In the Clowns

Tags

economists, economy, environment, global warming, Humor, Koch Brothers, marriage, personal relationships, political humor, psychology

I used to like clowns. Until they became evil. Now I don’t like them.

Anyway, have a happy Halloween. We don’t get trick or treaters back here in the hollow. So I don’t carve pumpkins. I eat pumpkin instead.

The candidates all were invited to go to a Halloween party I’m told. They all chose to go as clowns.

Campaign managers across the board suggested that might be dressing too close to the mark.

So they are going as statesmen and women, something none of them need worry that they will ever be confused as.

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The poor Northeast is getting smacked with a very early year snow storm. I feel for them. Not enough however to wish it were here instead. Here it’s sunny. And seasonable. And the leaves are falling still. I don’t think they can keep that up much longer without become bereft of foliage.  Oh as to that October Nor’easter, that’s not climate change. In case you were wondering.

 Just ask the Koch brothers. They funded a climate change skeptic to prove that the data was all wrong. Except he didn’t. He said it was true. Funny how the MSM, you know, the media that is supposed to be squarely in the lap of progressives, hasn’t much mentioned that. But the Koch brothers and their minions will continue to deny climate change because it suits their interests.  

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There is a long but very interesting article at The Atlantic about the changing ideas about romantic relationships. Kate Bolick’s experiences as a child were not at all like mine. Her mother urged her to find herself as a woman and not “settle” for domesticity until she found an emotionally satisfying relationship. My mother, never understood my independence nor could she get why I wasn’t married. I married on the verge of middle age, 49. (Yes, as you age, you push middle age further and further down the road kiddies.)

Where are all the good men? They were there in her 20’s and 30’s. Now they seem to have disappeared from the landscape, leaving only the failures and the predators. But are women looking for the wrong things? The 50’s model of marriage might well be nothing more than a blip on the screen, and not at all what has been normal throughout history.

It’s a long read, but a really interesting and informative one. It’s Saturday. Relax. Or mark it for tomorrow and some lazy day reading.

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If you want to engage in some more serious reading, I recommend this one from The Nation. Entitled, How the Austerity Class Rules Washington, it documents the long history of how a minority economic theory has gained control of not only the Republican party, but has controlled the dialogue in Washington. Deficit hawks have gained ascendency and “cut taxes, cut programs”,  plays well to the great uneducated masses who think it makes sense. After all, who doesn’t get–“You are in debt? Stop spending so much.” 

The fact that this is not the way to end a recession has been lost in a howling of cut, cut, cut. Very worth the read.

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And since it’s Saturday.

And since I like ya.

Romney puts the “R” in relative. As in “my opinion is relative.”

As in “My opinion is relative as to whether it helps or hurts me with the voters.’

As in “My opinion is relative as to whether it helps or hurts me with the voters. . ., today.”

As in “Tell me what my opinion should be, today.”

As in “I barely have an opinion that I am alive.”

Gingrich puts the G in “go look up the word Grifter.

Or in the word “getting”.

As in “I’m getting your money and giving nothing back in return except more bills.”

As in, “I’m getting to enjoy making a living by funneling off ‘expenses’ from all of my bogus organizations that I set up for the collection of donations to my lifestyle.

As in, “I’m glad you people are this stupid. I might have to actual find a job otherwise.”

As in, ” I never met a scam I didn’t like.”

Cain puts the C in “Can I interest you in this fine used car.”

As in, “Can I count on your being slightly stupider than me?”

As in, “Can you buy my book.?”

As in, “Can you tell me tell me anything about any foreign country?”

As in, “Can I dance a little soft-shoe for ya?”

As in, “Can you believe that all my supporters are white people?”

And just cuz:

What’s on the Stove? Stuffed portabella mushrooms and homemade onion rings. Recipes to follow on the food site. 

Related articles

• Koch brothers accidentally fund study that proves global warming (csmonitor.com)
• Is Herman Cain, GOP Clown of the Week, the Koch Bros’ Manchurian Candidate? (my.firedoglake.com)