BlogWorthyish

Hey, where are our jobs?

2010-11-04T13:29:00.000-05:00

LMAO - call John Boehner and ask why the GOP hasn't fixed the economy yet. And while you're at it, demand a copy of his birth certificate.

The day after

2010-11-03T07:13:00.000-05:00

The day before ?

2010-11-01T09:12:00.000-05:00

Obviously, I can't keep a blog going for shit. I apologize. I really used to be good at this. Maybe it was because back in the early days of my bloggage it wasn't all about politics. Yeah, I think that's it. Since then, the political atmosphere is just so depressing/infuriating/terrifying/hopeless/hilarious that I can hardly form a coherent sentence about it.

Okay, onward...

So this is the day before the mid-term elections, and I wonder if it's the day before the end of democracy (some would say that's already happened), or the day before America got its act together.

Whatcha think?

Pass the Popcorn

2010-09-18T09:42:00.000-05:00

Sarah Palin Tells Karl Rove Where To Go

Perfect!

2010-09-17T07:19:00.000-05:00

Yes! This is what we need: The Rally to Restore Sanity!

Mark your calendar: OCTOBER 30th

The Crazy is Mainstream

2010-09-15T10:29:00.000-05:00

I finally removed my Obama '08 bumper sticker. Not because I'm angry at Obama (annoyed, yes, but not angry), and not because I don't plan to vote for him again (I do), but because I am afraid. Of crazy people who are now emboldened - no longer by the silence of the Republican leadership, but by their open encouragement - to the point where insanity is reported as regular news, not a sidebar look at the fringe.

I'm aware that this has been happening for some time. But two recent incidents in particular made me afraid. (Let me just say that when I first got that Obama '08 bumper sticker, the minute it was available through MoveOn, my car was keyed once. And I live in Texas. I find that remarkable. But it's not the car I'm afraid for; it's my own personal safety.)

Incident 1

Republican Senatorial candidate Sharron Angle's threat of "Second Amendment remedies" to deal with the "tyrannical (which she pronounced "TIE-rannical") U.S. government" and to "cure the Harry Reid problems." She points out that people are quietly stocking up on ammunition in case they have to "fight for liberty." We knew the Teabaggers were nuts, but now the Republican nominee for Nevada is saying, in effect, People, if we don't win in November, start shooting! (Rule of thumb: Armed nuts are way more dangerous than unarmed nuts.) Although Angle's comments were made as early as January, I didn't learn of them until a week ago, on Rachel Maddow's story.

Incident 2

This occurred, for me, in two parts. First, there was Newt Gingrich's bizarre claim that Obama follows a "Kenyan, anti-colonial worldview," (neglecting certain facts in Kenya's history.) And second, it was the article that Gingrich cited, which he said was "the most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama." The article was a cover story in Forbes Magazine (!) entitled, How Obama Thinks. As PZed noted in Pharyngula, the article's author "does everything short of accusing Obama of being a spear-chuckin', bone-in-the-nose savage — he paints a picture of Obama as being some kind of angry African tribesman using ritual magic at his father's grave to gain revenge against the colonial oppressors of the imperial West."

This "Kenyan anti-colonial" meme will gain momentum as we approach the November elections. It's clever, actually. They can't come right out and admit their racial bigotry. So why not do the next best thing? Frame it all in sociological terms, conjuring historical images of rabid, black, savages attacking those nice, innocent, white colonials. And point out that the nice people need to arm themselves, and stock up on ammunition.

The Stupid is Spreading

2010-08-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

The Stupid is Spreading. It's Approaching Critical Mass.

You've seen the statistics. More and more Americans believe the President was born in Kenya and is a Muslim. Billy Graham's son opined that the (Muslim) seed is passed from the father to the son (and which gene marker would that be, I wonder.) Glenn Beck is having a "Take America Back" rally today at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. Beck tells us this is an appropriate day for his rally because "we" brought Civil Rights to you, and "we" are going to "reclaim" it. (Huh?) And speaking of cognitive dissonance, sadly one of Dr. King's nieces will speak in support of Beck's rally to bring America back to God (she's an anti-abortionist.) The wingnuts want to know why the ACLU isn't leading the charge against the "Ground Zero Mosque" - the ACLU leads the charge against anything the Christians want to do, don't they? (Guess they missed that whole freedom of religion bit.) The phrase "Ground Zero Mosque" itself is part of the Stupid and was instantly taken up by the MSM.

It's All in The Family

Republicans are saying that if they regain control of Congress, they are going to launch multiple "investigations" against the President. It doesn't matter what the charges are. What matters is keeping a negative focus on Obama for years to come. Meanwhile, they can put the country back in the shithole they got us into before (except for their dear upper 2%.) That this will hurt the country is apparently beside the point. Actually, it may BE the point. The people behind the Stupid, the ones who've been manipulating the sheeple, want to turn the country into a theocracy. Their theocracy's Chosen are those who head not just the three branches of government, but all the major corporations, the media, and the military. This movement has been operating since at least the 1930s, and they've made some impressive progress in all areas. If you haven't already, read about it in The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, by Jeff Sharlet, a journalist who went on the inside.

Ignorance Can Be Cured, But Stupid's Forever

Combating the Stupid requires educating the sheeple. They are ignorant of the facts, so once they see the fallacies of their beliefs, their ignorance can be cured. Simple, right? I mean, that's what so many of us have been trying to do - get the facts out there. Wrong. Some sheeple (perhaps most of them) will cling to their spoon-fed convictions until their last breath (whereupon they'll get to meet Jesus or 70 virgins or whatever, which in itself is part of the problem - if you're already willing to believe nonsense despite lack of evidence, then it's not a great leap to accept even more nonsense.) It's no coincidence that critical thinking is denounced, that home-schooling is encouraged, and where possible (such as in my home state of Texas,) text books are changed to fit the Stupid.

Sorry You Got Mad When My Facts Collided With Your Beliefs

I don't know about you, but I run into this situation often when it comes to politics. Someone will say something Stupid and I'll counter with the Facts, and they'll get mad and attack me, alleging that I was the one who attacked them. Interesting that presenting facts counter to their beliefs constitutes an "attack." Their attack of me is never about the facts and always about "feelings." Again, interesting.

So, What To Do in the Face of Willful Ignorance?

Beats me. I'll continue to get the facts out there as best I can, and speak up (always politely) when I choose (except when, as was the situation yesterday, my highly-recommended fundie dentist put the ceiling TV on FAUX News right before he was going to put sharp objects inside my mouth.) But facts will not help change stupid people's minds. They have to be willing to look at the facts first, but too few will do so. Some say that hereditary religion must be stamped out. Granted, that would help. Even better, religion itself disappearing would help immensely, but that's not going to happen soon enough to make a difference, if it ever happens at all. The religious fundies will get us all blown up before we've evolved enough to stop believing preposterous fables and face reality. You know that saying, "I've never seen faith move mountains, but I have seen what faith will do to a couple of skyscrapers." Make no mistake, the rabidly faithful are multiplying and no amount of reason is likely to change them.

So, again, what to do? Because the Stupid is spreading.

And the Hysteria Continues

2010-08-23T02:52:00.000-05:00

There are now so-called patriots, whether delusional, ill-informed, or just plain ignorant, joining a Facebook group that wants to get a half million users to "fly the flag" on their Fb pages in protest of the so-called "Ground Zero" mosque. Whaaa ???

NO Mosque at Ground Zero!

We're asking 5 million people to fly the flag on their Facebook profile to oppose the Muslim worship center at Ground Zero.

Would you like to fly the flag on your profile?
Yes

No

* No app install required.

That's the American flag - you know, the one that represents freedom of religion and all the other rights we enjoy in this country. If anything, it should be flown in protest for the opposite reason - say, if the government tried to prohibit the building of a place of worship on private property. THEN it would make sense to fly the flag in protest.

I've tried to get this point across, I really have. The first person took her flag-flying post down, but not because she saw the hypocrisy. It was because so many people left comments against her post. Then today another Fb friend puts this group's flag up (and btw, the group is now over the quarter million people mark.) You know, I should have given up after I was encouraged, in all sincerity by a lovely woman, to "watch Fox News, it's enlightening." ~facepalm~ But no, I continued with, "FAUX News doesn't enlighten, it frightens." (catchy, huh?) And proceeded to spew logic at her. After a lengthy round of comments, I finally left it like this:

People either believe in what the flag stands for, or they don't. Supporting the freedom of religion (on private property with private funds) is one of the basic rights upon which the country was founded. Flying it in opposition to anyone building a place of worship is antithetical to what it stands for. I have ancestors who fought and died in the revolutionary war. My father fought in two wars for this country, and it wasn't for curtailing the rights of those who may have different religious beliefs (like the Jews in Nazi Germany had different beliefs than the Christians.) And the hysteria continues, only this time against Muslims: [and gave this website] The anti-Muslim hysteria spreads far from NYC.

The article is about a peaceful Muslim community in Tennessee that used to meet and worship in spaces they could rent or borrow. Now that they want to build their own 52,900 square foot community center and school, the "patriots" have gone batshit crazy, shouting hysterically in the town square, complete with Keep Tennessee Terror Free! signs.

This is the Twilight Zone, right?

Ya think?

2010-08-22T11:06:00.000-05:00

Wikileaks man says Pentagon may be behind rape claims

I had to laugh when I saw the headline the other day that an arrest warrant was out against Julian Assange for rape. Someone in our government authorized some governmental agency to play the sex scandal card. How 20th Century. That's the laughable part.

It's the part about going outside the law to try to shut this man down that bothers me.

The War in Review

2010-08-19T08:01:00.000-05:00

The last combat unit left Iraq today. Some will come home. Some will be redeployed to Afghanistan, where they should have been sent in the first place nine years ago to wipe out Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

So, after 4400+ American military deaths, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian and military deaths, thousands of American and Iraqi wounded for the rest of their lives, what has been accomplished by invading a sovereign country that had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11?

Well, let's see ...

No WMDs were ever found
A ruthless dictator we set up and armed was removed
Al Qaeda could finally get into the country and set up shop
... while we ran the greatest recruiting campaign they've ever had
Iraq's infrastructure was destroyed while our own continues to deteriorate
Billions of US taxpayer dollars are unaccounted for
Our Constitution was shredded with the so-called "Patriot" Act
Any shred of dignity we had left by upholding Geneva conventions was destroyed

You know what - I need to get ready to leave the house for an appointment this morning. Would you like to pick up where I left off here?

My father fought facism for this?

2010-08-18T02:52:00.000-05:00

GOP Candidate Calls For Internment Camps

Have they seriously not thought this through? Yes, our borders need to be secure and yes, it should have been done long ago. But it wasn't, so millions came across illegally for a chance at a better life BECAUSE THEY COULD. Yes, something should have been done, like ENFORCING EXISTING LAWS. But it wasn't, so employers continued to hire cheap labor to increase profits BECAUSE THEY COULD. This resulted in an estimated 10 to 12 million+ illegal aliens residing in the U.S. This has been going on decade after decade with a wink and a nod to employers.   Now, we have talk of CONCENTRATION CAMPS? Seriously? I guess they're taking a page from the fascist handbook the Nazis used: the way to gain power is through fear, by convincing people that their way of life is threatened by the very existence of a certain group (pick one.) I suppose Jews must be "so 20th century," so now Hispanics are "in.") 

So now the good little Germans, er, white American Christians, want to actually round up MILLIONS of men, women, and children, put them in boxcars (while making them wear specially marked arm bands, no doubt) and ship them to concentration camps. Have they considered the logistics (not to mention cost) (not to mention morality) of this? (Of course, plenty of tips can be found in the history books - Germans were big on logistics.) People, you left the figurative barn door open and now you suddenly try to scare hell out of white America in an election year. Perfect. My father fought fascism in WWII for this?

This is seriously the only solution they can come up with? Will reason never prevail? If you really wanted to do something about illegals (not just use them to fear-bait the sheeple), why not come up with something that would actually work? Like actually securing the borders. Like putting the big-shot employers in jail instead of giving them a slap on the wrist. Like making English the official language (or, alternatively, making Vietnamese, Japanese, the hundreds of Chinese dialects, Italian, French, German and other languages part of the culture on all signage, textbooks, employee applications, and so forth.)

And what to do about the millions of men, women, and children who already got through that barn door you left open? You're going to have to grant them amnesty, or start getting your gas chambers ready, you fucking fascists.