I’m Arabically Dsylexic He Cried

Tags

GOP, Jim DeMint, Mitch McConnell, science, stupid people, unions, What's up? time

We start with the faux reality that time is and ever was and not a function of space. After all, it is called the SPACE-TIME continuum is it not? This is the reality that the Contrarian lives within, where time has always existed. This somehow makes him comfortable rather than the TRUTH which is that time has no meaning unless it has something to relate to like MATTER and SPACE!

Okay, calm yourself. That is hardly the story here.

You see, it is the Contrarian’s JOB to get up in the morning, turn on my coffee and wake me gently at 5:45 a.m. so that I can have a few sips of coffee with Morning Joe before I am hauled into the desert for romping with Diego. Simple enough, right?

So, this morning, I turn over in my usual, half-dream state and just start to settle into my favorite left-leg over right leg and head snuggled into the pillow supported by my right arm which is at a 85° angle to my shoulder. Too much information? Oh, well okay.

So, just as I am settling, as I said, I hear, “babe, it’s 5:45!”

After cursing my birth, the universe, and time itself I start to roll to a sitting position, whereupon I am assaulted with the slobbery kisses of aforementioned dog, who whines quite clearly, “let’s not be late, I have bushes to pee on!”

I thereafter engage in all the processes of which you are no doubt not interested, until I have reached the point of making the bed, whereupon said Contrarian shuffles into the bedroom and whispers, “I was a little off,  about an hour,” and scurries away ducking and dodging to avoid being hit in the head with whatever might be at hand.

I curse. I fume. I cry.

I look at the clock for the first time, having until now been confident that a 62-year-old-man can be entrusted to so simple a task. Yes, it is now, 4:50 a.m.

So I endured an hour of the dog, “is it time yet?”

I got more than a few sips of coffee.

I got to see more of Morning Joe than I’ve seen in months.

As I prepared to take the walk, I wandered into his office.

“You owe me big time you know,” I assured him.

“But it’s not my fault. I’m Arabically dyslexic! I had all the numbers right, just in the wrong order.”

“The numbers are 5:45, and you woke me at 4:40 to be exact, how is that the same numbers?” I queried.

“Well, dyslexia is like that you know, it’s a most mysterious syndrome. I can’t be held responsible for such a troublesome malady.” He actually smiled at this, figuring that once again, he’d managed to come up with an air-tight excuse for his mistake.

“Find me flash cards online! I’m starting Diego’s number recognition training as soon as possible,” I sighed.

The halo GOD, if you please!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Or, at least meanwhile.

Las Cruces, while incredibly sane and rational as cities go, has its supply of idiots, managing to exist within its environs. Take this little ditty from the local Sun-News. A man called police to report a crime. The crime? The prostitute he had hired stiffed (oh please) him out of ten minutes. Police calmly sympathized and got his location. They sent a car. Imagine his surprise when the cuffs went on him.

Meanwhile, government forces sprayed the crowd that had accumulated at the capital. Cairo? Damascus? Um, no. Try Lansing, Michigan.

It seems the GOP, unable as usual to read the tea leaves, handwriting on the wall, or any other metaphor for JUST PLAIN FRACKING STUPID, are trying to pass right to work legislation in a state that is pretty much noted for its unions. So when people came out to protest this action, the Governor ordered, first the capital closed, and then when that didn’t disperse the crowds of protestors, he had them sprayed. Yeah, the GOP has nothing left in the tank but stupid.

Meanwhile, somebody did a study and decided where the best place to be born is. Hint: it ain’t the US of A. In fact, the US is not even in the top 10. It used to be. But no more. I’m sure the far-right will blame that on the black guy in the White House. But of course we know better.

By the by, if you think all search engines are the same? No they are not. I did a search on the above story because I heard it on the news. Ask.com provided me with NO good links. Google gave me three immediately. I have no clue about Bing? Do you have a favorite search engine? Why? Grades will be given so show your work.

If you ask me, the best place to be born right this minute is Washington state. The legalization of pot went into effect at midnight or something, and well, the whole state looked pretty darn happy to me. Just sayin’.

See, I’m a big mouth. I gotta waste your time with my chatter. I think you NEED my opinion. Squatlo Rant just gives you the cartoons and lets your think for yourself. Go and enjoy yourself. I’ll stay here and keep talking.

Jim DeMint is leaving the Senate. Hurrah, Goodbye, Don’t let the door hit you in the rear. Another Tea NUT gone. Slight uptick in the IQ of the Senate. I didn’t know it was possible for the Heritage Foundation to sink to a lower low, but it has.

Speaking of people who can’t count–Mitch “The Turtle” McConnell pops to the fore. Seems the dope called for an up or down vote on the president having the authority to raise the debt ceiling on his own. Except that when he finished counting, he didn’t have the votes to win. So when Harry Reid called for the vote, Mitchy Mucho Muttonhead filibustered his own motion. And they say animals are stupid. I bet a few species could give old Mitch a run for his money.

Okay, I’ll shut up.

Until tomorrow.

When my mouth runneth over once more.

Related articles

• DeMint tells Rush how to fix GOP (politico.com)
• DeMint to Leave U.S. Senate to Head Heritage Foundation (bloomberg.com)
• The Paradox of Infinite Time (blogtruth.wordpress.com)

Nobody Knows Just How Crazy Some Folks Are

Tags

abortion, Adam West, Africa, contraception, GOP, Jim DeMint, media wackos, MLK, Qaddafi, Rick Santorum, teabaggers, Women's issues

We woke up today to the news that Moammar Qaddafi is reportedly dead, killed most likely by rebel forces. There are reports that he was found in a drainage pipe, and shouted, “don’t shoot” when discovered.

Of course, that was ignored, and it is widely believed that he was executed on the spot.

That seems the way of dealing with unsavory dictators. We have always done so historically, although I guess at times we have resorted to mock trials before the rope or firing squad was used.

It seems we make no progress. That Qaddafi was the author of much horror in the world is undoubtedly true. One would think however that taking satisfaction that he resided in a small cell for whatever time he has left would have been preferable. No more hair dye, no more fine wines or big screen television. The pound of flesh could have been savored one would think much more enjoyably rather than this quick dispatch.

But that is now how we function as humans. . .yet.

♦

Yes, I know, I changed the blog again. And before you ask, I don’t redecorate my house. I am not addicted to every passing fashion in shoes or clothes.  WordPress has this pesky problem of introducing new themes every time one turns around (literally every week), and well I was never that happy with the last one. I thought the sidebar was unattractive. I rather liked the header, but I have to tell you a secret. If you noticed the date (September 9, 2009) you would realize that the picture was of a teabagger rally in Washington. I never realized it until later, and I just didn’t have the time to find another.

The header up now is of the Return to Sanity rally run by Jon Stewart, et al.

♦

You might well have missed this important notice. It seems that Marines in Afghanistan were formally advised that they should cease and desist farting in the country. It seems it is considered a serious rudeness among Afghans.

I must tell you that the Contrarian is making it very sure that he is not drafted by the Marines. Just in case any are lurking outside our house waiting to scurry him off to a recruiting center. No sir, he is unfit. He farts as often as possible throughout the day and night, just to be sure they are aware.

And you still doubt my application for sainthood?

♦

Did you hear that Pat Buchanan has a new book out? You should no doubt skip it. As one person said yesterday, Pat gets away with some pretty obvious racism in the name of “analysis.”

The idiot claims that somehow we were all much happier in the 50’s when we were united as “one people” with similar goals. Now we have that pesky “African-American” thing and well, all those people from the South (America that is) with their “otherness”.

Buchanan basically bemoans the demise of whiteness in America. Read about it at Angry Black Lady Chronicles.

♦

I watched a bit of the festivities at the King Memorial this past weekend. I distinctly recall his children speaking. They rightly pointed out that their father would have supported the OWS movement. After all, he was assassinated while supporting union sanitation workers. Dr. King certainly understood the build in inequality of wealth distribution in this country. It is wildly worse now than it was in his day.

Yet, Adam West, (R-FL) all-around idiot, says nay. He claims that King would never have supported such detris as the OWS crowd. No, King was “divinely inspired” and wouldn’t be a part of such things.

Professor Chauncey de Vega weighs in on the continuing attempts by the crazy right to turn Dr. King into their pet hero.

♦

I like to report on Ricky (Don’t Google me!) Santorum. He’s amusing as a little circus monkey. He has not a chance of securing the nomination, and no doubt he knows that, but he is bored, and he likes the free food offered along the campaign trail.

So Ricky, ever in the hopes of finding somebody to listen, decided to appeal to the tiniest tiniest segment of the Catholic church. Contraception! Ricky will have none of THAT in his administration (the one in his head, where he is grand pupah president). Because THAT leads to, you know, THAT, and we can’t have any of THAT now can we?

And unicorns will graze in meadows, and butterflies will bring you faery dust at bed time.

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Some folks need a time out, a brain roto-rootering, and a sedative. One of them is Jim DeMint. He’s an idiot.  I think there is a certified letter to that effect.

He takes the collective IQ of South Carolina down a whole 17 points all by himself.

This super TeaNutz® has introduced an amendment to an utterly unrelated bill, that would make it illegal for a woman to have a video conference with her doctor if the subject was abortion.

I swear he did that.

I swear he needs to be committed for his own sake.

I swear a lot when Jim DeMint’s name comes up.

♦

What’s on the stove? Ribs, mac and cheese (a new recipe I’m trying out, so stay tuned), and broccoli slaw.

Related articles

• Qaddafi Dead as Troops Seize Stronghold, Officials Say – New York Times (news.google.com)
• Pat Buchanan Isn’t Racist, but… (slog.thestranger.com)
• Pat Buchanan: America is Disintegrating Because White America is an Endangered Species (crooksandliars.com)
• Pat Buchanan’s Latest Screed Full Of Racism, Not Worth Even $1.99 (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• Marines Not Allowed To Fart In Afghanistan! (perezhilton.com)
• Marines Not Allowed To Fart In Afghanistan! (lukewilliamss.wordpress.com)

It’s So Hard to Believe

Tags

Benjamin Franklin, Christine O'Donnell, de Tocqueville, election 2010, happiness, Jim DeMint, Joe Miller, Michael Steele, psychology, Todd Palin

I’m a really humble person. Except when I’m not. I’m not more than I am. It’s the truth. I won’t deny it.

I have a healthy ego. I’m not insufferably stupid by a long shot, so intuitively, intellectually, and soulfully, I know that you don’t hang on every pearl of wisdom dripping from my typing fingers. I know you don’t expect to be enlightened ala the Buddha and damned if I can find a Bodhi trees around here anyway! I know you don’t expect the latest news and perfect analysis.

But I do believe all that in the secret place within my heart. Which means that I’m shocked, nay, bowled over, nay, near stricken with palsy, that some people (don’t worry, I won’t out you!) have become just the slightest bit borrrrrrdddd with my incessant lamentations on Facebook about my “ad troubles.”

In case you have missed it, I’m being bombarded by ads on Facebook which has slowed my already snail-paced leviathan of a computer to an inch an hour speed. And of course, nobody on FB seems to share my dilemma or my anger.

First I went to Firefox which solved the problem for two days, and then the ads returned. Then I googled around and found an adware block designed for Firefox, and I installed it. It worked perfectly but pretty much ground everything else to a halt.

So, I disabled it for most everything, and figured, okay, I’ll just use it for FB. Well, apparently it doesn’t play nice with other code, so “the troubles”  continued. So, I uninstalled the entire crappy thing.

Then I discovered that goggle was now offering a toolbar access to a limited FB on a little drop down. That wouldn’t load on Foxfire, but did on Explorer. Go figure. So far it seems to fit the bill in terms of letting me see my “news” and “wall” and “notifications” and “messages.” I can “comment” and “share.” I feel all warm and fuzzy again.

But I’ll be sure to keep you up to date. I  know you wanna share it with your family and friends over dinner no doubt. And if you have advice? Go ahead and share. Just remember I have D I A L – U P,  so treat me as a nearly extinct Tyrannosaurus.

***

Besides feeling all cuddly and wiggly, I’m cozying up to some goodly written stuff today. So do drop over to the quarterly, City Journal and read a great piece on happiness and the American manner of mucking it all up and making it a trial. Indeed from de Tocqueville on, we have been rightly perceived as a not so happy bunch here in Merika the great. Lots of interesting stuff on Benji  Franklin as well, another favorite of mine. Best lines:

If men are so bad with religion, just imagine what they would be like without it.

“Let us rejoice and bless God that we are neither Oysters, Hogs, or Dray-Horses; and not stand repining that He has not made us Angels; lest we be found unworthy of that share of Happiness He has thought fit to allow us.”

And that about says it all doesn’t it? (Note that the author of the piece has a book out called: Benjamin Franklin Unmasked. Might be worth a check out.

***

A book review you might enjoy is What Ever Happened to Modernity? by Gabriel Josipovici. He traces the movement from the 16th century forward through a line of philosophers. If ever you have difficulty with philosophy, then books such as this, I think serve to help us navigate. Ormsby writes in the WSJ, so you know it’s highbrow.

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Tidbits from the insane:

• Todd Palin, hubby of the Palinator is mighty pissed that Joe Miller, who owes his political life to said Mooselini, refused to endorse her.   One can commiserate, Todd.  After all, she is your meal ticket ya know.
• Meanwhile, Christine (no sex for you)O’Donnell struts her international cahones by claiming that China was plotting the overthrow of the US.
• Jim (I’m riding this gravy train!) DeMint says that sexually active single women and gays need not apply to teach school. Guess sexually active men are okay though. Whew, glad somebody is left!
• Michael (my mojo still works for me!) Steele, has no clue what the minimum wage is. Fine as long as you are purporting to speak for your party and their concerns about the little folk.

***

Everywhere you go we keep hearing that the Dems are polling better and the Rethugs worse as election day approaches. The Daily Kos has some interesting speculations as to why this is.

Related Articles

• What Ever Happened to Modernism? by Gabriel Josipovici | Book review (guardian.co.uk)
• Are These Emails Proof Sarah Palin Is Running For President? (mediaite.com)
• Leaked Emails: Sarah Palin Doesn’t Give Out Endorsements for Nothing [Emails] (gawker.com)

Looking Under a Rock and Finding DeMint

Tags

Darwinism, Fox News, GOP, Jim DeMint, Media, rightwing nuts, Sarah Palin, social Darwinism, Stephen Hawking

I mean, it’s not like I’m telling you something you don’t already know. Jim DeMint, (R-SC) is nothing more than your average jackass of a GOPer.

You remember him from early on in the Obama administration when he announced that health care reform would be “Obama’s Waterloo”, signaling that Republicans were only about destroying a president and not doing their constitutional duty to govern the nation.

He has of course stayed true to form. Worse, he has traveled far to the dark side, way past Darth Vader. He’s cozied up with the teabagger movement, making it most clear that he is willing to throw even other Republicans under the bus in pursuit of wacko teabagger ideals. That they have no actual policies outlined, is of course, besides the point.

It all goes to show that DeMint is a true lover of power, with no principles. It’s not like he has any issue with re-election. His opponent is laughable–Alvin Greene–someone so idiotic that it’s hard to believe he’s not a teabagger himself, except that he’s not. And being in South Carolina pretty much ensures his re-election anyway.

So, DeMint signals that his only true desire is to be a leader of the group he is banking will be a mover and shaker in the up-coming Congress. He made all this quite clear in the Value Voters Summit where he blatantly threatened, ala the Palinator, that you better either get with the “program” (which is really just a long list of dislikes), or you too will find yourself looking for work.

To show how awfully nasty he really is, and of course, his truest colors, when Democrats asked for unanimous consent to give the Oil Spill Commission subpoena powers, he alone stood up and objected. It is hard to know whether it’s just because he opposes anything proposed by a Democrat no matter how benign or universally agreed to, or whether he is protecting the oil interests of BP. In either case, it’s another case of refusal to consider the public interest in favor of personal political interests.

It points up of course the radical schizophrenia that inhabits the Teabagger movement. Surely these hard-working middle class folks can’t be in favor of the destructive activities of BP in the Gulf. Surely they would want them held accountable. Yet they will ignore DeMint’s betrayal of the public trust, because he is “for them,” and their political acumen is just that thin that that is held to be enough.

@@This just in: DeMint and Colburn vote against a bill that would allow the sale of a piece of federal land to a private interest for purposes of building a Women’s Museum. No taxpayer money was involved. The bill had popular support, across the aisle. Why you ask? Women already have a “Quilter’s Hall of Fame” and “Cowgirl’s Museum.” Yeah, right.

@@@This just in later even: It now seems that Master of the Universe, Jim DeMitt has sent a letter to all senators indicating that he will oppose any and all legislation not cleared through his office by end of the day today unless it has been hot-lined, meaning it has cleared each caucus with no objections. It seems the demagogue-in-his-own-mind desires to shut down government completely and then of course blame the Dems for not passing anything. The man is simply nuts.

***

Meanwhile, the Chronicle, gives a really captivating and thoughtful review of Stephen Hawking’s new book. Drawing strongly on the philosophy of Wittgenstein and Toulmin, Carlin Romano, makes a good argument that Hawking went a bit too far in his claims that God is unnecessary to the universe. Apparently, and I should have guessed, Hawking also argued that philosophy itself has had it’s day and should close up shop. Stimulating reading.

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An intriguing poll sponsored by Politico and reported in the Washington Post, suggests that Sarah (that women is an idiot) Palin may  or may not be accomplishing what she wants to. If her goal is to be a force to be reckoned with within the GOP, then she appears to be doing that. If on the other hand, she is hopin’ to be the next POTUS, not so good. Her quitting of the governorship of Alaska, and her position as Fox Noise pundit, have served to increase and harden those who strongly disagree with any efforts of hers to seek the presidency. A strong 58% find her unacceptable.

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Oh Snap! The wacko right loves to call liberals elitists. Yes they do. Forgetting of course that their darlings, such as Billy (the nerd) Kristol were graduates of Harvard both undergrad and post grad. While a goodly clump of GOPers disfavor real Darwinism in favor creationism, when it comes to social Darwinism, we may have a different story. Social Darwinism, in case you are a bit rusty, is the Darwinian misuse of the idea of “survival of the fittest” promoted in the 19th century. Started by LIBERAL ELITISTS, it was co-opted by wealthy industrialists, to justify ruthless practices that left most of America in poverty. Ironic no? Read Robert Reich’s analysis.

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Kevin Drum has an excellent explanation of why the right-wing crap flies. It has to do with Fox and how it operates. Basically, they hammer a story round the clock, using all their pundits, and so-called journalists to bang the same drum. More often than not, the mainstream media feels forced to pick up the story and say something: and thus we get more and more of our time taken up by non-stories such as the New Black Panther party. MSNBC keeps their punditry and their actual news quite separate, so the exposés don’t get the mainstream media play.

***

What’s on the stove? Chicken Cacciatore and Soft Polenta with butter and Parmesan, with rolls and homegrown corn.

Related Articles

• Chancellor DeMint dissolves the Senate (dailykos.com)
• Jim DeMint: The Emperor of the United States…. (tagg-lines.com)
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