TBT: The Brutal Truth

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Well, That's Capitalism!

The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

...

Privacy experts said the sale of the list was legal and even predictable, if ghoulish.

"I think it's amusing," said Robert Gellman, a privacy and information policy consultant. "I think it's absolutely classic America. Everything is for sale in America, every type of personal information."

The New York Times
List Of Schiavo Donors Sold To Direct-Marketing Firm
Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

Translation: *Ding-Dong* YOU'VE GOT SPAM/JUNK MAIL!!

Excellent! Now, your wife can save $19.95 on that autographed 700 Club penis pump she always gets pestered about in her Hotmail and you -- being the man of the house -- get 20% off the consultation fee at The Jerry Falwell College Of Breast Implants. Hey, not only is Jerry the president ... but he's also a client.

Only in America, people.
Only in America ...

Monday, March 28, 2005

Bringing It On!

Axis Of Logic's Beth Moore gets it:

I have been told, many, many times, that my writing and activism will place me at risk. That I will be on a “list,” and that I should consider my children’s welfare, and perhaps back down and keep a lower profile. My answer is this: If the government of my country is that oppressive, and that dangerous to those of us who would exercise our freedom to speak out and to try to change it, then I have no higher responsibility to my children, and to the world, than to oppose it and seek to replace it.

America is on the verge of fascist, theocratic rule from right-wing Christian Fundamentalists. They're itching to bring on their own revolution and have been for some time. They got this far because we -- with our "EverQuest" lives and our toothpick attention spans -- sat on our hands in apparent contentment to just let the corporate, for-profit, Republican owned and operated, mainstream media bullshit us with homogenized propaganda masquerading as news. Just to keep us sedated and lulled. No more. I say if it's a revolution they want, we should oblige. Afterall, one should reap where one sows.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

An Open Letter To The Right Wing Pundits

Hello,

I'm Jason Sizemore, the author of a blog entitled "TBT: The Brutal Truth", and it has come to my attention thanks to this Media Matters article, that many of the pundits along the Right have accused "liberals" for wanting Terry Schaivo to die because of "their hate for Bush" or because of "payback" to Christians. I don't speak for all Liberals but I do, however, speak for myself. I'm going to take the time and truthfully respond to each of these accusations. And, yes, you will get the truth from me. Afterall, my blog is all about truth and that's the currency I deal in, even if the truth is something you folks can't stand.

First, I'm going to address the questions from Rush Limbaugh:

How many of you want Terri Schiavo to die simply because some Christian conservatives want her to live?

Well, Rush, if you would've asked me this roughly two weeks ago, I would've said that Terri Schaivo's life or death is none of my business, relegating it as a matter between her husband and family. I would've also opined that I didn't think it was the business of the Christian Conservatives, either. Lastly, I would've made it clear that her plight isn't something I would consider actual newsworthy to the degree that the for-profit-and-ratings, corporate, mainstream media has sensationalized it out to be.

However, after witnessing the GOP dominated Congress last week overstepping their bounds in drafting a bill that can only be accurately described as an unthinkable act of spitting on states' rights for the sake of adjudicating from the legislature, the incessant garbage being spewed by Randall Terry (a man who strikes me as one that is seriously considering casting away the mantle of part-time abortion clinic demogogue in exchange for a more full-time role as a general domestic terrorist), and the self-serving political grandstanding by Sen. Tom Delay (a man so rife with ethics violations and corruption that he makes the soil at my local landfill look cleaner than the confessional booth at St. Mary's Catholic Church), I must confess that yes, I want Terry Schaivo to die because, other than the idea of being dependant on a feeding tube to ensure my survival, I could think of no other worse way to live than to have that plus the lack of a cerebral cortex necessary to witness my unfortunate circumstances being paraded on national TV by a bunch of bourgeois idiot politicians hoping that their use of me as a meat-puppet will effectively engergize a portion of their voting base.

The fact that such of a thing is going on right now with Terri Schaivo makes me so ill that the only rational thing that comes to my mind is to pray and hope for a quick and painless death so that her precious soul will be released from such a foul, heinous world and into the loving hands of a Savior who might take a keen interest in remembering the names of all the rotten crooks that voted in favor of that bill by the time His Great White Throne judgement rolls around and if He were to also remember the names of all their cheerleading political pundits, I for one won't argue with Him.

You just despise the red-state, hayseed, holy-roller crowd that you think is steamrollering the country.

Actually, my loathing of the red-states has very little to do with hayseeds and the holy-roller crowd that indeed IS steamrolling the country (Jesus wept, history shows that every single time religion and government is mixed together, bloodshed and inquisitions follow and I'm convinced more than ever before that such foaming-at-the-mouth lunatics like the above mentioned Randall Terry & Ann Coulter would be all too happy to lead a theocratic Christo-Taliban regime here) and has everything to do with the fact that those red-states are mouching off the blue states in order to fund their STOP signs, Valley Authorities, church-sponsored Bingo games, and tax evading, self-hating, hookering, hack journalist plants!

And, since you don't like Christian conservatives so much you want them to be disappointed. You want them to find out what it's like to be on the losing side.

Personally, I believe Christian conservatives ARE on the losing side because I don't consider them Christians at all. I see them as the parasitic frauds cloaking their bloodthirty, war-loving appetite in a shroud of righteousness some of our forefathers warned us about. Christ himself even warned us about them in Matthew 7:21-23 as well as the Apostle Paul thru his second letter to Timothy (3:1-7). Aw, would you look at that? I'm using some of the most popular passages the fakers use to villify those on the left! How does that work?!? I don't know. Maybe their Bible is different from the ones I use? Maybe it's a Holy Spirit thing. It's okay though for I'm sure the right-wing Christians think I'm the one whose the fake Christian because I voted for Clinton twice and don't concern myself with abortions and gays. And yes, I very well DO want Christian Conservatives to be disappointed because that's the only time they show their true colors and, apparently, they learned it from Yassir Afafat who used to do the same thing according to numerous quotes by Afafat I've read in countless Hal Lindsey publications. You guys do consider Hal Lindsey credible, right?

Now to address some questions from Mr. Scarborough:

Why is that the same activists who fight to save the whales, the spotted owls, and a snail darter, for God's sake, sit quietly by while the U.S. government helps kill Terri Schiavo?

I wouldn't call 89% of Democrats, 72% of Republicans, 84% of liberals, 76% of conservatives, and a whopping 68% of white evangelicals as the same activists you're railing against. According to John Aravosis's math skills, he concludes that, "Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, the Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council, and the American Family Association COMBINED represent less than 1/3 of all white evangelicals. Not only do these guys not speak for most Christians, they don't even speak for most evangelicals." And yet, here you are, Mr. Scarborough, schlacking them all together with the "activist" mantle. Besides that, considering Terri Schaivo had bolemia and her husband reports that she was overly concerned about her weight, if anything killed Terri Schaivo, it was Terri Schaivo. That's the sad reality of this and it would seem that such a person with moral values such as yourself would be foolish to overlook it.

But do they hate George Bush so much that they are cheering for Terri's death only because the president of the United States and his brother are fighting for Terri's life?

Although I've already stated my own personal reasons for Terri Schaivo to die, I believe that the only disingenuous group of people really rooting for her death are people like YOU, Mr. Scarborough because the Conservative Republican apparatchiks that you praise so much are down there for political reasons and really don't give rat's ass about Terri Schaivo at all. They're down there because they're starting to realize that one can only rehash the same refrain over and over again before it starts to sound old, tired, and forced. Thus, it loses it's desired effectiveness. The GOP, party line pundits, and Free Republic lapdogs are in need of fresh material to use in demonizing the Left because they've worn the "Dirty Liberal Hippies Love Saddam And Hate America" meme completely out. People are starting to wise up and wake up ... and that's exactly what Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Karl Rove, and George W. Bush can't afford to happen. In fact, the very idea that you and other conservative pundits bring such a notion into public debate proves that you're the ones with the guilt on your conscience. How? It's like that old rule of farting in public -- it isn't going to be a big deal until someone prides it out to be a big deal by drawing attention to it, and once they do, it's all "Ye Who Smelt It, Dealt It!" Therefore, I'm convinced that whenever right-wing pundits concoct silly notions about the true intentions and beliefs of liberals, they're actually saying more about themselves than they are about the liberals they're castigating.

Let's tackle Ms. Noonan briefly:

On Tuesday James Carville's face was swept with a sneer so convulsive you could see his gums as he damned the Republicans trying to help Mrs. Schiavo.

And they deserved to be damned, hence the reason why only 47 Conservative Democrats voted with the GOP on the passing of the Schaivo Bill -- the rest of the party did what the majority of Americans believe Congress should've done in the first place: Stayed home and butted out of the private Schaivo affair.

Now, I'll address Bill O'Rielly:

Why do you care whether she lives or dies?

At first, I didn't. But thanks to the corporate, for-profit, Republican-owned and operated, mainstream media that gainfully employs people like you, I was bombarded with salacious and sensationalistic details over and over and over again to the point where I couldn't avoid it any longer. Of course, I've could've changed the channel to maybe GSN but damn that FOX NEWS is like a big train wreck. You know you shouldn't look ... but you can't help yourself. Besides, turning off the corporate, for-profit, Republican owned and operated, mainstream media is something I can't do as a Blogger who wants truth, demands truth, and when I don't get the truth, I fire up this blog and proceed to do something that journalists used to do: speak truth to power!

For free, too! Love or hate Bloggers, the corporate bean counters must know that if we are doing FOR FREE (aside from ads and PayPal contributions) what the salaried journalists are refusing to do out of either fear of their corporate taskmasters, fear from being pidgeonholed by some sanctimonious pundits, or from just plain old fashioned complacency, then there's got to be a point where diminishing returns will set in, creating more fed-up Bloggers who may even start really effecting the corporate bottom line by taking a page from L. Brent Bozell's playbook and reaming the sponsors of the media. We've witnessed Bloggers tear down the ivory towers of Eason Jordan, Dan Rather, and Jeff Gannon in short order and I doubt very much the sponsors want any of that. And I'm sure the Corporate media would get their "soundbyte" rocks off if perhaps some of these Bloggers end up even running for office themselves (that is until the words "Fairness Doctrine" appear in their stump speeches).

So, to answer your question, I didn't care all that much and I don't think the majority of the American people did, either, no offense to either Micheal Schaivo or the Shindlers. But, people like you starting bloviating about it when there were far more important other things worth bloviating about (fake journalist gay hookers in the White House press corp come immediately to mind).

Lastly, I'll take on something Bay Buchanan said:

This judge has basically told her husband, here, take a gun and shoot her. It's the same thing.

That goes to show the sad irony in all of this. Had Terri Schaivo been "Old Yeller", none of us would be here talking about it. Hell, if Dr. Kervorkian was still in business, he'd be getting all the damn flak from the Right instead of a good portion of Americans who voiced their views in the polls. Interesting how the conservative pundits are ignoring that and it's reminding me of the words of a former White House hack journalist saying something about certain people being "divorced from reality".

Musings From A Domestic Terrorist

"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."

Randall Terry
August 16th, 1993
The News-Setinel
Ft. Wayne, Indiana

When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we will execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed ... If we're going to have true reformation in America, it is because men once again, if I may use a worn out expression, have righteous testoserone flowing through their veins. They are not afraid of contempt for their contemporaries. They are not even here to get along ... Somebody like Susan Smith should be dead. She should be dead now. Some people will go, "Well how do you know God doesn't have a wonderful plan for her life?" He does, it's listed in the Bible. His plan for her is that she should be dead."

Randall Terry
Aug 8, 1995
U.S. Taxpayers Alliance Banquet
Washington DC
(On the subject of abortion doctors and volunteer escorts)

And the fascist right says Democrats & Liberals are the "party of death"...

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Getting Regressive...

It has come to my attention that a different "Brutal Blog" exists (or did exist at one point or another) so I have decided to bring TBT - the original name - back from the graveyard. The old-school Flash logos (circa 1997-2001) will likely be ressurrected at some point as well. Also, depending on availibility, I'm considering a Blogger address change to make visits, linkage, and possibly other things (Hi, Mr. Gannon -- how those lawsuits coming?!?) a little more easier. I must confess that an addy change would help me more than anything because, despite my having this joint bookmarked, I often find myself typing the URL in manually. Translation? Trying to type "psychosy" while drunk is a bitch.

Chalk it up to the dain brammage...

"For They Have Sown Seed In The Wind ..."

Hunter over at The Daily Kos has a must read article about the MSM's poor handling of the Schaivo debacle:

If you have been paying attention to cable coverage of the Schiavo case, you will see two major themes repeated over and over. First, the repeated bookings of and citings of "witnesses" and "experts" that have previously been debunked, claiming that among other things Ms. Schiavo is "alert and oriented". A neurologist who touts himself as a nominee for "The Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine", an utterly false claim regarding an award that does not exist, has been given apparent run of the airwaves in order to repeatedly assert that Ms. Schiavo is "not that bad", and would be able to "communicate verbally" and "use her arms and legs" under his treatment plan -- a miraculous treatment plan for which, according to Judge Greer, he has been able to offer "no names, no case studies, no videos and no test results". We have even, as many have pointed out, been treated to "psychic" John Edward asserting he was in contact with Terri Schiavo.

Against this background of exploitation and misinformation, the usual bevy of archconservative media pundits has in the last several days begun to increasingly endorse a premise that is, to any rational mind, remarkable: the notion that because the courts have ruled in this particular fashion, it is now time for individuals and government figures to disregard the courts, and take matters into their own hands.

We now have a situation in which two dangerous elements are coming together in a manner that is ratings gold for exploitative "news" outlets. Yellow journalism, finally returned in all glory.

You might be wondering how in the world could this be transpiring? How could American people become so emotional involved in an event to the point where they've crucified their brains in exchange for the raging fire in their fundamentalist bellies? I believe our good friend Juan Cole - professor of history at the University of Michigan - has the goods:

The cynical use by the US Republican Party of the Terri Schiavo case repeats, whether deliberately or accidentally, the tactics of Muslim fundamentalists and theocrats in places like Egypt and Pakistan. These tactics involve a disturbing tendency to make private, intimate decisions matters of public interest and then to bring the courts and the legislature to bear on them. President George W. Bush and Republican congressional leaders like Tom Delay have taken us one step closer to theocracy on the Muslim Brotherhood model.

The Muslim fundamentalists use a provision of Islamic law called "bringing to account" (hisba) ... In this practice, any individual can use the courts to intervene in the private lives of others ... {and} one of the most objectionable features of this fundamentalist tactic is that persons without standing can interfere in private affairs. Perfect strangers can file a case about your marriage, because they represent themselves as defending a public interest (i.e. the upholding of religion and morality).

Translation: the Christian Taliban is upon us.

On other liberal blogs, I've read opinions from people whom beleive that the reason why the Democrats weren't nowhere to be found last weekend and have been laying low ever since the signing of the Schaivo Bill is because they knew the Bushies were treading on potentially troubled waters by using Schaivo as politcal hay for their fundamentalistic Christian base and thus wanted to distance themselves from the backlash when the inevitable shit hit the fan. In other words, it's the old "Never Interupt Your Enemies Whilst They Make A Mistake" approach.

Personally, this would take alot of spinal collumn and honest discernment on their part which clearly the Democratic party doesn't have. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that in general Terry Schaivo herself has more evidence of a spine than much of the Democratic party and only a small, select few over there in Jackass Land has been vocal with their protests from the very beginning such as Pelosi, Frank, and Reid. For the most part, the Democrats have been playing ostrich, burying their head in the sand hoping that they don't get caught in the crossfire. And as the legislative options of both George W. and his brother Jeb run out and the pressure from the Shindlers and their Christian Fundamentalist supports, they too have found themselves on the run hoping they can join the Democrats' ostrich game mid-period. It's too late for that now as a quick perusal of FreeRepublic leaves one to belive that even those rats are contemplating jumping ship.

Those Republican fucktards should read their Bible instead of give it lipservice.

"For they've sown seed in the wind, and shall reap a whirlwind."

When Schaivo dies (and she will), the Bush Brothers, Frist, DeLay, and the GOP will reap what they've sown.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Off The Deep End ...

Look out, America! Hot on heels of Republican representative Shays saying that we've moved into fascist territory with the passing of the Schaivo Bill, another person from the Right steps forward and gives Jeb Bush the following advice: "Send in the National Guard!" Considering that the majority of Americans are in agreement with previous court rulings regarding the removal of Schaivo's feeding tube as well as in agreement that Washington overstepped their authority in the drafting and passing of the Schaivo Bill believing that it was politically motivated instead of steeped in actual genuine concern for the woman, what lunatic wingnut would dare suggest to Jeb Bush to bring the military in for the rescue?

Why, none other than Blondie Bin Coulter!

Of course, that's not so surprizing is it?

If you honestly think you're capable of reading her "Fattwa" without puking or wanting to tear every strand of blond hair out of her skull (a skull that's filled with donation upon donation of the gunpowder passing for the jism in Sean Hannity's balls), by all means do so. But I'm sure I could boil it down to one simple and honest sentance: "The problem is that these liberals are denying conservatives the right to deny the liberals' rights! Why those fuckin' liberals!! Let's kill them all and convert them to Reconstructionist Christianity!!"

I got a better idea -- let's invoke the National Guard in rescuing America from Ann Coulter's mouth all in the name of national security. She's obviously a Timothy McVeigh waiting to happen. I wouldn't put it past this bitch to immolate a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage church, pull a Nick Berg on one of us liberal bloggers, or suicide bomb a future Democratic National Convention.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

So Long, My Kentucky Jew ...

Some of you who know me from NvNews.Net may recall me talking about my brother-in-law Allen Schneider, an honorably discharged Vietnam Vet who suffered from Agent Orange exposure. Like some of his band of brothers like John Kerry or even the Swift Boat Veterans, Allen not only came home a very changed man but to a very changed country. A country that repeatedly denied him his VA benefits from the moment of discharge all the way until 1997 when, as a result of his failing health, my parents asked Allen & Darlene (my sister) that if they wanted to leave Las Vegas and come back home to Michigan, they'd foot the bill. Not an easy feat for my parents as they were "Depression Era" children in their 50s and only brought home $20,000 a year.

Allen & Darlene agreed and stayed with us for about a year or so and with my Dad's help (and after a lengthy battle), Allen finally got the VA Benefits and medical attention he deserved. Not long after that, the lack of a nightlife here in Michigan made them yearn for Las Vegas again. Once we were assured that Allen's VA Benefits and health care would continue the moment he landed, we sent them on their way.

In the years since they're departure, my Dad had quintuple bypass surgery, contracted diabetes as a result of the steroids he was on, and got a short-term lease on life until he suddenly passed away in my lap almost 3 years ago to the day (April 8th). Since his death, there's been a series of other deaths in our family starting with his mother 6 months later. His best friend of 50 years - Harley Green - buried his wife Dora just a few months ago, and last week the Green family buried Harley. All these deaths in such short noticed has left me wondering who was next. Since my mother had a heart attack last summer, I'm thinking she's on borrowed time.

I come home early tonight around 7:30PM and noticed a message on our answering machine. It was Darlene and all she said was, "Mom ... you there?" I didn't think much of it. Checking the Caller ID, I noticed that Darlene's cell-phone number appear multiple times through out the afternoon. Again, I didn't think nothing of it because let's just say Mom is popular and she's gets calls from her children, grand-children, and her friends every day (sometimes much to her chagrin as she's not always in the mood for gossip.

My mother showed up at around 11PM. Our conversation was as follows:

Me: "Did you go to 'work', Mom?" (it's a euphemism we use for "Bingo")

Mom: "Yes. I didn't plan on going to Bingo but you know Amy ..."

Me: "Oh. Hey, Marge called. Also, Darlene has been calling here all afternoon according to the ID. Sometimes back to back."

Mom: "I already talked to her around 4PM ..."

Me: "Well, these are repeated calls after 6PM. A brief message in on the voice mail, too."

Mom: "I'll have to call her back ..."

Me: "Must be important, whatever it is ..."

Mom: "OH! You weren't here -- Her husband died ..."

Me: "Wuh?!? ALLEN DIED?!?"

Mom: "She told me at 4PM that Allen died at the hospital. He said (I love you, Dar) he loved her and immediately after Darlene replied ('I love you, too, Allen), he closed his eyes and died."

Allen was something else -- constantly joking and fucking with you (even if you weren't in the mood), kinda happy-go-lucky. But not always. Sometimes, he could be hard to handle like when he would have his flashbacks from the war. One had to be careful around him - they either came suddenly out of the blue or could be inspired or induced (I found that out once when I was playing an online shooting game on my PC). He also was very compassionate and open-minded. He once told me that when he was lifted out of Vietnam, he overlooked all the bodies he could see from his high vantage - VC and American alike - and the torn country side, blown up shacks, wildfires, etc., his first thought was on how utterly senseless war was. So senseless that people could kill each other either for paltry reasons or out of total ignorance. He then told me that something Jesus said in The Bible jumped at him:

"If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out, for it is better to enter the Kingdom Of God with one eye than witness Hell with both. If your hand causes you to sin, tear it off, for it is better to enter the Kingdom of God disfigured than to be whole and tossed into Hell."

And in that instant, he thought that Jesus admonishment would also apply if the context was Male or Female, Catholic or Protestant, Black or White, Arab or Jew. "In that moment," he said, "I made the decision that I would wage war no more. If this," pulling out the Star of David around his neck ... "causes me to sin, then I'll cast it off. If this," pointing to his surname on his license "causes me to sin, then off it comes. Bottom line, kid. Neither race, religion, or ignorance is an excuse for war. None. It's like that Styx song that goes 'Just remember it's a grand illusion and deep inside we're all the same'."

"You sound like a self-hating Jew," I replied as a joke.

"Then so be it," he said. "Being human is more important than being black, white, Jew, Arab or whatever. Our money is green and our blood is red. Those are the only two colors that should matter in humanity."

"Spoken like a true Zionist," I said jokingly.

"Shutup, you fucker!" Allen would gripe and slug me on the arm.

I also asked him if he ever visited the Vietnam Vets memorial and he quickly lowered his head and said, "No. I couldn't never do such a thing."

"Too many memories. Too many friends, eh?" I asked.

"That's not the real reason," he said with tears in his eyes. "It's because my name isn't there."

Allen, my Dad, and I would often argue for points for we all loved to argue or needle each other. Our rule was that the first person to make one of the others clench a fist or curl their bottom lip won. Allen lost quite a few of those "arguments" but it was always funny because his Jersey accent would become more profound once riled up. Also, if you busted his chops with a good one, his white bushy goatee would sudddenly bristle. The result looked like Allen had an albino porcupine caught in his mouth. It was during one of these arguments Allen had earned some loving nicknames.

And that brings me, in closing, to the title of this post. Two of those nicknames for Allen became very popular. The first was Jersey Devil which Dad or I would pronounce, "Joyzee Davvul". The other one -- THE BIG ONE -- came about when Allen went to the bathroom to soak his dentures after eating dinner. He walked up to Mom (Allen was always affectionate), hugged her around the waist, said, "Thanks for dinner, Mom" and kissed on the cheek. Dad, reading the paper at the time, let one corner droop so he could see this over his reading glasses.

"HANDS OFF MY WIFE, YOU JERSEY DEVIL!" Dad cajoled in his deep, booming voice and it was on!

"Hey! What you say, Dad?!?"

"You heard me. Last person that tried to get fresh with my wife had to get fresh teeth," Dad growled, fleshing his left arm. A former two-time Golden Gloves champ, Dad knew his hooks. So did his victims. He also had "Boxer's Pride" -- that whole bravado about being able to whoop anyone ass, anytime at anyplace.

"My teeth is in the hopper so let's go. I shot bigger and meaner blowhards than you, Old man!"

"I'm going to show you old, you sonofabitch." Dad stood up grinning, put down his paper, got a good look at Allen and starting braying laughter for Allen was clothed in nothing but his pajamas and on his head was one of those skin-tight Tommy Hilfiger skull caps on that you see the hip-hop kids wearing today. Personally, I call them "Noggin Condoms". So, picture if you will a scrawny, 5'7", 122 pound, weathered looking, clone of George Carlin but with a bushy goatee, no teeth, and looking like a fuckin' gang-banger standing there with his dukes up, okay?

Allen put his fists down, "What?!?"

"You look like a goddamned idiot ..." Dad chortled.

"I like this. It's confortable and makes me more of a handsome chick magnent than you'll ever be, you toothless hick from Middlesboro!"

"If your teeth was in, you might be right." Dad said, "But right now, MC Hammer, you look like a Kentucky Jew!"

Immediately, Allen's goatee bristled, knowing he had no comeback and Darlene and I lost it. We were laughing until we cried. Allen could only stand there glaring at my dad with his bombadeer blue eyes, shaking his head. Dad, thinking that Allen was deeply insulted, tried to break the ice by putting his arm around his shoulder and coddling him ("Aww, it's not that bad. It has a nice ring to it, actually. Let's take it on road. 'Sizemore & His Kentucky Jew'! I can play the guitar and sing while you ... just stand there looking like that!") but in reality Allen was torn between hugging him for getting him with a good wisecrack and wanting to knock the hell out of him for it. After about 7 minutes, Allen's goatee smoothed back down. Walking into the kitchen, he said, "Good one, pop. I owe you a beer". Dad got that beer, all right. After it exploded, baptizing him and one of the lap dogs, Allen cried, "One Beer -- shaken, not stirred!"

And with that, I shed a tear and tip my Vodka in farewell to Allen Schnieder.

Brother.
Friend.
Hero.
My Kentucky Jew.

Haloscan (Open Thread)

Blogger's native comment system has been lag-tastic for me lately so it's been killed in favor of Haloscan.

The rest of this thread is all yours!

He's Rick Santorum, Bitch!!

Ever see a Senator shit himself?

"You have judicial tyranny here," Santorum told WABC Radio in New York. "Congress passed a law that said that you had to look at this case. He simply thumbed his nose at Congress."
"What the statute that [Whittemore] was dealing with said was that he shall hold a trial de novo," the Pennsylvania Republican explained. " That means he has to hold a new trial. That's what the statute said."
"What he's saying is, 'I don't have to hold a new trial because I've already determined that her rights have been protected,'" Santorum said. "That's nice for him to say that. But that's not what Congress told him to do," he added. "Judges should obey the law. And this judge - in my mind - simply ignored the law."

Put the fuckin' crack pipe down, Rick, long enough to pick up a dictionary!

trial de novo (noun) : a trial in a higher court in which all the issues of fact or law tried in a lower court ... are reconsidered as if no previous trial had taken place.

Then again, maybe that's exactly what Rick and his Christo-fascist Republican comrades did. They looked it up, noticed the "as if no previous trial has taken place" part and said, "Praise Jebus, that's the ticket because we don't like the rulings of the previous trials, anyway! Yuk! Yuk! Yuk! This'll teach them dirty liberal hippies and their activist judges!"

I know it doesn't matter, but the question begs to be asked: which mad dash came first -- the crack pipe or the dictionary?

Monday, March 21, 2005

Why Does Tristero Hate America?

Well, it happened. On March 21, 2005 12:44 am, the extremists in charge of the US Government showed the world that when they don't like a law or a legally valid court decision - ANY law, ANY court decision, for ANY reason, no matter how carefully adjudicated - they are prepared to rip it up. There is a word for this.
The word is fascism.

Ulp, Tristero just said the F-Word. And he did so without being in a "Free-Speech Zone". Where's the pitchfork shakin' Purtitan outtrage?!? Better hide from those black helicopters. The Son of A Bush and his Freeper Republican Gaurd are coming to take you away, pal. Bad Citizen!

Sick, Wrong, and Demented

DC Inside Scoop has scored the complete GOP Talking Points regarding the Schaivo Bill...

Yeap, sure looks like something from the Rick Santorum School of Sleaze to me!

The President's Precedent

Taking a good look at other web communities that lean to towards the right like Free Republic and NvNews's Political Forum, we see evidence that the Schaivo Bill has cast a divide between Republicans and Conservatives. Conservatives are leaning in favor of the Bill (mostly likely because of their bent towards Christianity) while Republicans aren't too keen on how the bill has taken states rights right out of the equation. In other words, this travesty of a bill has made a perfect wedge issue within the Republican party and Democrats needs to strike while the iron is still hot.

How?

John Avarosis at AmericaBlog summarizes:

Robert, a reader over at DailyKos, recently wrote a comment over there regarding Schiavo that is actually quite brilliant (I can't find the link to his post, but will summarize it below).

If the Republicans believe their "culture of life" requires the federal government to intervene and assure adequate medical care any time an American is at risk of bodily harm, then we can assume this "culture of life" applies to other Americans when they too need critical medical care yet something stands in their way.

John goes on to list examples such as poor people, the homeless, the underemployed, and illegal immigrants who can't afford to pay for their medical help. There's also the elderly who don't have enough money to pay for the kind of expensive medical attention they may need later in life not to mention their perscriptions. How about parents of newborns facing catastrophic illnesses or enduring maladies? And the over 40 Million (and rising) Americans who either can't afford health insurance, currently don't have coverage for some reason as well as those who have health insurance that doesn't cover their specific ailments? In short, the "culture of life" phrase in the Schaivo Bill is vague enough to imply that any American who faces any kind of major illness or threat to their health -- either now or in the future -- can rest assured that the Schaivo Bill will save their life, regardless if they can't afford to pay for the adequate treatment they require!

Afterall, this is the Culture of Life we're talking about, right Mr. DeLay?

And doesn't that imply that any American facing any kind of major illness or health threat period - regardless of ability to pay - is now a direct beneficiary of the Schiavo's Bill? The passing of that bill last night argues that money isn't the issue and that federal help is guaranteed for "The Culture of Life" is more important than dollars anyway.

Simply put, if any gutsy Democrat in Washington DC dares to venture out on the thin end of the wedge, he or she could draft a "Culture of Life Act" that'll put Republicans and Conservatives in one hell of a fucking tizzy with each other because the passing of the Schaivo Bill by those grandstanding Republicans last night has not only has saved Terry Schaivo's life but its approval saved all of our lives.

OK, I sense you're lost so let's put it another way:

THE GOP PASSED UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE LAST NIGHT!!

And George W. Bush signed it at 1:11AM...

If you wanna see these Republican bastards squirm their way out of this one, contact the offices of the Democrats in your state and demand that they saddle up on the wedge because if the Schaivo Bill isn't a "Universal Health Care Bill" by proxy, then the Democrats should call out the Republicans onto the Senate floor and tell us why. Notice I said "senate floor". That implies coverage LIVE on C-SPAN. We're not having this private closed meeting away from those pesky cameras bullshit ...

She's Dead Jim ...

Nope, not Terry Schiavo. Something more sinister has just happened -- the death of Democracy. Thanks to all those hypocrite, "Christian Only On Sunday, Wednesday, Or When It's Politically Convenient" asshole Republicans and - from the other side of the fence - about 45 spineless and degenerate "Republicrats", the late session in DC has resulted in the passing of the "Schiavo Bill" that BusHitler just signed as of 1:11AM. This bill would've been more aptly titled "The Rescuing Of Tom Delay's Ass From The Collective Foot Of America" or "The Diffract Attention From The 2 Year Anniversary Of The Iraq War" because that's exactly what this whole charade was.

The corporate, "for-profit", Republican owned and operated, sensationalist mainstream media has spent this entire Sabbath Day (I know, I know - the Sabbath is technically Saturday but I'm never beneath lobbing cheap digs as long as I have the fuckin' bandwidth) gorging themselves with the plight of Terry Schiavo with the expressed purpose of distracting us from realizing just how badly we're getting fucked by the upper 1%. Keep us from figuring out how Fundamentalist Christianity is turning us into a theocratic "majority rule" Taliban-state.

Now that Dubya has signed and sealed this monstrosity (probably using Rove's official "Jeff Gannon" glue stick), it's on its way thru the heavenly ethers and into the sweaty mits of his brother Jeb so he can add his own dash of cream. Meanwhile, the rest of us are forced to figure out exactly how we're going to manage chizzeling the dried shit-stains off the Constitution these rabid right-wingers used for a roll of Charmin as well as ponder what price those 45 Democratic Party jackoffs that spooged their John Handcock should pay for letting this nightmare happen.

Commenting on this nightmare, AmericaBlog's John Aravosis asks, "But why do you have to be unborn, brain dead or filthy rich for a Republican to want to lift a finger to help you?" I can answer that question easily: it's because all the people outside of those definitions in the eyes of a Republican are nothing more than "mensch", John. We're the "other people" they refer to regarding taxes. We're the second-class citizens that they feel should "know dey playce an' shut dey moufs" or else they'll come and relocate us to their Camp X-Ray plantation. We're the fuckin' peasants to Bush's Queen of England. And as long as so many millions of Americans keep hocking their fucking brains and rolling over for Der Kommisar W each time he or his talk radio bobble-heads instruct them to engage in meaningless activities (e.g. boycotting anything with a French name in it), mensch we are and mensch we'll remain. I've said it many of times and I'll say it again -- nothing scares Republicans worse than timeclocks or getting chased back to their fucking Volvos by a gaggle of inner-city children. What a useless shower of rotten bastards. Their snobbish, elitist, repulsive conduct had gone beyond overboard. In fact, instead of having Dom Pérignon for dinner, I bet all those French/Liberal-hating Bushies now have Dom DeLuise instead and- FUCK! I just mentally pictured Jeff Gannon having Dom DeLuise for dinner!! BAD BAD BAD OL' SY!

Shesus, my mind is a terrible thing to have sometimes.

The question on my mind is where do we go from here now that Democracy is about as fleeting as a good pair of C-cups within John Ashcroft's eye sight? Personally, I think we should seriously consider pulling a Donald Trump on those 45 party-jumping Democrats that helped pass this embarrassment to our forefathers. With great kudos to Smartypants from John's Haloscan, here's the dirty laundry: Baca; Baird; Barrow; Bean; Berry; Bishop (Georgia); Boren; Brady (Pennsylvania); Chandler; Costello; Cramer; Cuellar; Cummings; Davis (Tennesee); Edwards; Engel; Etheridge; Fattah; Ford; Green, Al; Herseth; Higgins; Holden; Jackson (Illinois); Kanjorski; Kildee; Langevin; Lipinski; Lynch; Marshall; Matheson; McIntyre; McNulty; Meek (Florida); Melancon; Michaud; Mollohan; Oberstar; Pomeroy; Ross; Scott (Georgia); Serrano; Skelton; Snyder; Stupak; Tanner; and Wynn.

There's only one word to describe these Democrats: Scheißekopfs!!!

I just remembered - we can't pull a Donald Trump on these goons, anyway.

Diebold machines "deliver" the eviction notices ...

Sunday, March 20, 2005

See Whose Pulling The Strings ...

This past week saw attempts by democratic senators to amend this egregious [bankruptcy] law ... [and] ... All three amendments were defeated ... sound fair to you? Well, not in George W. Bush’s America ... Not even victims of identity theft would be exempt from these new laws. Here, though, is what makes this week’s actions take shape as being pure Bush: Congress refused to close loopholes in this law designed to protect millionaires. Did you get that America? Your Congress is passing a law to hold you accountable for debt, but in the same law have set up “asset protection trusts” for the filthy rich. Another amendment was introduced this week that would have reduced these trusts to $125,000 or less and you guessed it, it was defeated. This is what led NY Senator Chuck Schumer to regret, “now we have a bill that says a family won't be protected if it has $50,000, but it will if it has $5 million." THAT, is life under George W. Bush
...
Jose Padilla is a microcosm of the Bush policies that assault our civil liberties and are close to propelling us into a near police state. In the run-up to the election, Bush created “Free-Speech Zones” which were nothing more than cages for people who dared to protest. Apparently, Bush was unaware that before his administration, this entire country was a “free-speech zone.”

Anthony Wade
You Want Lies With That?
March 10, 2005

------------------------------------------

Covered in sinners and dripping with guilt
Making your money from slime and from filth
Parading your bellies in your ivory towers
Investing our lives in your schemes and your powers

...

The serpent is crawling inside of your ear
He says you must vote for what you want to hear
Don't matter what's wrong as long as you're allright
So pull yourself stupid and rob yourself blind.

Iron Maiden
"Be Quick Or Be Dead"
1992

God Damn The Pusher-Man!

Doug Herman over at Axis Of Logic just whacks one outta the ballpark ...

Perhaps the greatest proof of media censorship is the fact so little powerful dissent or opposing opinion is ever allowed to surface. “Noam Chomsky, who is a brilliant man,” wrote pamphleteer George Humphrey, “produced a movie titled Manufacturing Consent, and in this movie he shows that of the approximately 33,000 newspapers and magazines in our country, over 95% are controlled by eight multinational corporations.” Which explains why you and I will never appear in print in the mainstream media. When I sent my essay, Detective Columbo Asks: Was 911 an Inside Job? to every New York-based publication, I never expected or received a single response. Nor have I ever read of a similar column that broached the subject of 9-11 critically that has ever appeared in the CIA-owned, mainstream media. Denial is a New York state of mind and healthy skepticism went out of fashion when Thoreau died.

Thus, when the Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters of the owned media decry the “liberal media bias,” this too is part of the agenda of disinformation. If you pan a non-existent opposition long enough and make it appear that opposition actually exists, an uninformed citizenry soon begins to believe the claim. Recently Cal Thomas wrote of Bush policy critics: “Count on the big media in America and Europe to look for dark linings within the silver cloud.” Where exactly has this big media been, the bobble-headed dolls of Bush policy, if not on the sidelines for the last two years, practicing patriotic cheers for those chimeras mistaken for silvery clouds?

...

Which brings us to the new breed of pod people passing for independent journalists. Not simply the Maggie Gallaghers of journalism but the true whores of the media. If for nothing else, the Jeff Gannon-Jim Guckert sex scandal should indicate the depth of media prostitution. The only difference between Gannon and those who write for the mainstream media is that Gannon usually got undressed before he sold himself.

Gosh, Doug, that's a little below the belt, eh?!?

Then again, it's probably how Jeff Gannon likes 'em ...

Saturday, March 19, 2005

When Bloggers Become Prophets And Christians Become Hypocrites

Those of you with knowledge of The Bible should know that the Good Book says that prophets are declared true or false if their predictions come true. Recently, John Aravosis at AmericaBlog made a prophetic implication that the Republican Catholic Judge in CA that recently declared the statewide ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional would be lumped together with "liberal activist" Judges by the Religious Right.

So what's the rub? In accords with The Bible, Aravosis has been elevated to true prophet status thanks to Rev. Lou Sheldon and his wonderful wingnuts that comprive his "Traditional Values Coalition". Then even go one step further -- not only is this Judge "activist" but "Republican". To them, no real Republican nor a real Christian would be so open minded (read: misguided) to do such a thing. TVC's website touts that they speak for over 45,000 churches and congregations. What an amazing feat for John. He deserves it.

Unfortunately, there is some bad news for John in all of this as his new found status as Prophet probably won't improve his chances of having a Catholic funeral ahead of dozens of cardinals and bishops that have fondled hundreds of altar boys under the same roof where senior citizen volunteers can be found calling out those sinfull Bingo numbers ...

Friday, March 18, 2005

Three Strikes For Joe!

The liberal Blogosphere is erupting with justified talks on Sen. Joe Lieberman and how he's just a DINO - a "democrat in name only" that either needs to formally jump ship to the Republican party or just plain jump ship period. Ever since the 2000 election, many liberals and Democrats have been taken a closer look at Lieberman and now view him as rather worthless. My opinion is simply what took you guys so long!

Joe Lieberman lost me many years ago -- particularly in the early 1990s when he and Sen. Kohl wasted truckloads of taxpayers' money year after year looking to see if Mortal Kombat creates Satanically inspired child-killers. He and Kohl are under the impression that the ESRB Ratings System on video games is law-abiding to the the extent that if a game is rated "M" for Mature, then it can't be sold or rented to someone under 18. That's not the case and never was. When Washington held hearings on the matter of violent video games, the gaming industry felt that the Government was going to impose regulations and so they themselves drafted a voluntary, self-regulating system of ratings on video games in order to educate parents on the content. Congress approved of this with flying colors. What the ESRB doesn't do (or wasn't intended to do) was to function as a stiff regulatory body where the sale or rental of games to children or teenagers was in violation of a "law" somewhere. In short, the ESRB was instituted to educate parents, not replace them. Nor was it intended to function as the Federal Governments equivilent to a school liason/truant officer. Nevertheless, Kohl & Lieberman continued to waste millions of taxpayer dollars each year looking at video games and portraying them as potential co-conspirators of violent child murders and teenage crimes. The reality is that despite the industries "rampant piracy" excuse and draconian return policies at the retail counter, most stores often buckle to outraged parents who return an inappropriate game for a refund or an exchange. To Senators Kohl & Liebermen, the 1st Amendment doesn't apply to video game developers and since parents are too inconvenienced to become involved in the lives of their children, Government goons such as they feel the need to step in. What a slap in the face to parents and Americans everywhere! If Joe honestly thinks that Sub-Zero or Duke Nukem creates child-killers, then apparently he must also believe that eating Burger King every day for a month straight will turn him into a Whopper. Strike one for Joe ...

Joe Lieberman is also a card-carrying member of L. Brent Bozell III's "Parental Television Council" along with Tipper Gore and Hilary Clinton. Yes, the same dreaded, right-wing, Christian Fundamentalist organization that tried to put a Stone Cold Stunner on Vince McMahon's pro-wrestling entertainment business by illegally using copyrighted footage and logos in their Steve Allen narated video-screeds and by attacking or intimidating the WWF/E's sponsors. McMahon fired back with a chokeslam of a countersuit which he won, forcing the PTC to pay hefty fines and leave him and the wrestling business alone which they did for a while. The PTC went on to attack FX Networks for "The Shield" and when Rupert Murdock gave them the middle finger, the PTC went right back to attacking pro-wrestling.

Strike three doesn't affect Lieberman directly, but when we're dealing with lunatic fringe, Fundamentalist Christian right-wingers, the apples don't fall far from the tree. Birds of a feather indeed flock together and Liberman's alliance with L. Brent Bozell is enough to incriminate him of even more guilt, this time by association. Brent Bozell's father was the infamous speechwriter for Senator Joe McCarthy whose sweeping generalizations completely ruined lives and the country as a whole roughly 3 decades ago and was once arrested for attacking an abortion clinic with a flaming crucifix.

So, in review, he wastes taxpayers money with pork-barreling. He's a card carrying member of Christian terrorist groups. His best friends are wingut Neocon apparatchiks. With such trashy Senators, no wonder we Democrats stink to high heaven! Clearly, 2006 should be our year to take out the trash, starting with Lieberman and Zell Miller. We also should keep an eyeball and a Hefty Cinch Sack ready for Hilary Clinton who currently has a mean-streak in sucking up to the Right and Iowa state residents.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

A Gingerbread Trail Of Dead Soldiers

Earlier tonight, John at AmericaBlog linked to a 10 page article in Vanity Fair by Mike Shnayerson that details the great fleecing of the American Taxpayer in the War In Iraq courtesy of Haliburton's KBR subsidiary that has got me really steamed. Particularly this portion right here:

"My first day at Camp Cedar, I noticed flatbed trucks were bringing brand-new S.U.V.'s, like Toyota Land Cruisers, Hummers, 4Runners—some of the most expensive S.U.V.'s that money can buy. I saw hundreds of them going to Iraq." The S.U.V.'s weren't hauling anything, Warren says. They were just for KBR personnel to ride in from base to base. They had power windows and CD players. "You don't have CD players in a car in wartime," Warren says wonderingly. On such delicate vehicles, desert conditions were brutal. "Within 90 days," he says, "they were completely trashed."

Warren's job was to haul supplies on an almost daily basis from Camp Cedar north to Baghdad to Camp Anaconda—a distance of about 300 very dangerous miles. He realized pretty quickly that the KBR people in charge of loading up the convoys had no experience in trucking. "A majority of the goods we transported were transported the wrong way," Warren explains. "You can't haul paper towels and napkins on a flatbed when it's raining and there's no tarp. We lost millions of dollars of goods that scattered on the roads. Pants, boots, shirts, water ... And we couldn't stop to pick that stuff up. We told KBR time and again, You can't haul this stuff on a flatbed—you need it in a container. But they never did change. And what happens is, when you start losing things that way, you attract Iraqis. We had people following convoys so they could pick up stuff that fell off the truck."

A lot of Iraqis, unfortunately, were more aggressive than that.

And this portion was just from page 7. Go on ahead and read the whole shebang and the next time you hear the "Those Dirty Liberals Hope More Soldiers Die Over There" meme from either Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Mike Savage, or any of these far right rubes from Free Republic, take the above from the article and ram it down their craw. If they poo-poo this as "more Halliburton sour grapes", then you know who REALLY wants an increase of dead soldiers to die and you also know why they want them to die: Just so they can turn around and blame it on the Left! Any defense whatsoever of KBR's little "gingerbread trail" is proof of guilt that the Right are the ones who want Iraqi terrorists to scuttle our convoys, thus killing more of our people.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

The Grand Pity Party

This really burns my ass ...

The White House, the courts, and the Federal Communications Commission all took hits from broadcast journalists Thursday night, who said they were feeling under fire from a manipulative and even malicious government.

Note the absense of the justified attacks from us bloggers...

NBC News President Neal Shapiro set the tone, telling a roomful of top journalists gathered for the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation awards dinner in D.C. that the press is under attack as never before from the executive and judicial branches, which he says are pursuing journalists with "actual malice" just for doing their jobs.

It's time to "sound the alarm," he said. That call was picked up by other speakers and punctuated with applause from the crowd.

Hey, Neil! Exactly how much "NBC Nightly News" Gannon coverage have you overseen lately?!? How many of the 1,500 (and counting) coffins draped with an American flag have you tried to catch within your fisheye lenses?!? The answer is next to nill and now that you, your journalists, and your corporate taskmasters are being slapped around during the day by the government and then taken to the woodshed every single night by us bloggers, you want to turn around and play the victim? We've got the most secretive Administration in history that is working overtime with apparachiks, partisan hacks, blatant propagandists, and "wannabe journalist" man-whores whom walk hand in glove in disinforming the American people while people like you don't do jack shit about it. Perhaps it'll cross your mind someday soon that your refusal to actually do your job is directly purportional not only to the existance of Bloggers but to the massive ammounts of scorn you recieve from them as well. Although I don't speak for DailyKos, Billmon, or John Aravosis, I do speak for myself and -- as far as I'm concerned -- if you and your salaried journalists were doing your job ... MY ASS WOULDN'T BE HERE!!!

"This is what reporters do," Taricani told Shapiro ...

Ahh, yet they neglect the tenacity and the testicular fortitude that 20 or 30 years ago would've brought down such a secretive administration down to its knees -- be it conservative or progressive. If JFK or Nixon were to have barred the media from filming the coffins containing our dead soldiers, if either of them were to have planted fake journalists who may or may not have used his services as a hooker in order to gain scoops or access to classified information, if either of them would've penalized you from asking brutal questions and telling the American people the raw truth, you folks would seen these mightly interesting developments as justification to go ahead and film away, to pick apart the unthinkable idiocy, and continue to ask those pesky fucking questions the elected elite don't want to answer all the while wrapping yourself with the "Freedom Of The Press" protections outlined in our Constitution.

These are the things that reporters DID.

Why aren't they doing them NOW?!?

ABC's Sam Donaldson, master of ceremonies, said he had never seen such "vitriolic animus" toward journalists, save for the waning days of the Nixon administration. Donaldson said he hears commentators from the right and left trying to convince the public that the mainstream press cannot be trusted. It's time to "fire back," he said.

Donaldson said he wasn't advocating suppressing commentary, punctuating the point with: "Let every flower bloom." But he suggested that if some flowers were blooming thanks to a load of manure, that should be pointed out, too. "They should have to answer to those who think they got it wrong."

Excellent, Sammy! Now, if you would be so kind and risk your lucrative salary by giving your corporate taskmasters the middle finger they so rightfully deserve instead of attending these back-slapping sessions among your fellow journalists which strike me as being akin to a support group ("Journalist's Anonymous", anyone?), perhaps there is hope for you and ABC News yet! Alas, I don't think there is hope for you. Afterall, your line above about commentators from both sides of the isle convincing the public that the MSM can't be trusted - although accurate - it also borders on insulting our intelligence. I don't need Michael "Gimme a Number 1, Super Sized, With A Coke" Moore nor do I need Blondie Bin Coulter to convince me of anything because I've got a brain, I can think for myself, and I'm definately capable of reading between the lines and drawing my own conclusions, thank you. Bloggers are proof that the MSM can't be trusted. Aside from PayPal contributions and advertisements, the majority of Bloggers are doing FOR FREE what you and your colleagues aren't doing despite your 6 or 7 figure salary. So, yes - it is indeed time to fight back. You should start by putting your money where your mouth is.

Veteran CBS newsman Ed Bradley took up the charge in his acceptance speech for the Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award (named after the late B&C correspondent).

Bradley talked of the pressure by government and corporations to "control the message," saying journalists must fight those efforts. "There is a price to pay," he said, for representing the people.

*looks at the general Blogosphere*

Gee, Ed! What took your brain so long to give you that idea?!?

For his part, Liberty station group President Jim Keelor, winner of the First Amendment Leadership Award, had a bone to pick with the FCC. He told the audience that at the same time he was notified of the award, he was making the seemingly First Amendment-unfriendly decision not to air Saving Private Ryan on his ABC affiliates. Sixty-six ABC affiliates preempted the Veteran's Day airing of the film, saying that they could not be sure its four-letter words would pass muster with the FCC. It wasn't for the potential fine, said Keelor, adding "We had some spare change." It wasn't the five stations he had up for renewal at the time, he said, adding "though that thought did
cross my mind."

Is that your REASON, Mr. Keelor, or is that your EXCUSE?!?

It was to send a message to the FCC that the indecency crackdown has gone too far. "The FCC is getting more political every day," he said.

Translation: "We've offered our usual cheap bribes but all the Senators are balking ... even that Tom DeLay!"

If the {FCC} crackdown continues, he said, broadcast networks will be second-class citizens.

Broadcast Networks are allready second-class citizens.

They've got their own complacency and apathy to thank for that.

20/20 Hindsight

A few days ago was the second anniversary of the Iraqi invasion. While most dollar-whoring corporate media outlets gave it a brief 30 second mention in their usual "sound-byte" format, journalist Joe Galloway of KnightRidder steps up to the plate and delivers an article that reminds us to ask (and in some cases re-ask) those pesky un-Patriotic questions that, of course, nobody in the Bushtapo will find themselves answering anytime soon.

When then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki reluctantly answered a senator's persistent questioning by suggesting that occupying and pacifying Iraq, an unruly nation the size of California with 25 million citizens, might require a force of "hundreds of thousands," he was mugged by Rumsfeld's minions.
Under Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz hastened to the Hill the next day and told the legislators that Shinseki's estimate was "wildly off the mark," and that Iraq wouldn't be nearly as tough as Afghanistan had been because Iraq didn't have the sort of nasty ethnic divisions one found in Afghanistan.
At that moment, in late February 2003, on the eve of the invasion, the U.S. invasion force of 278,000 American troops began to dwindle as someone tried to prove the job could be done with fewer than Shinseki's 200,000 troops. Call that the Shinseki Threshold.

That, my friends, is apparently the difference between a desired army and the actual physical army Rumsfeld delivered. On one hand, Rummy wanted to conserve troops just to wave his prick while also providing a convenient "Mr. Creosote" approach to Dick Cheney and his Halliburton buddies.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Busy Week Ahead!

I really shouldn't be up at this hour considering I have to be to work in less than 6 hours. Anyway, a busy week at work means not much time for blogging. Updates will be isolated due to time constraints as I want to focus mainly on maintenence and tweaks. I've got a list of links a mile long as well as other cosmetic changes in the works. The key is finding the time to implement them. Fair warning - I'm testing out a few things audio related so you might want to double check your speaker volume on your system just prior to visiting. I don't expect it to blare you out of your computer chair but stranger things have happened and, like the old Styx song from the 1980s, nothing ever goes as planned.

With that said, time for me to slip into a coma ...

G'Night!

Friday, March 04, 2005

When Christian Fundies, Barry Goldwater, And The IRS Clash

For some time now, I've been getting spam from a Reverend Lou Sheldon. How did the Rev find me? Beats me! And I dare not reply to his "remove me" link in order to get rid of his spam because that'll just tell his mailer daemon that my E-Mail address has a pulse resulting in more spam. Every once in a while, however, I do click the links in them, especially when I'm jonesing for a few laughs.

Earlier today was one of those moments.

And I'm not laughing ...

Fundamentalist Christianity has a big beef with a law established in the IRS tax code way back in 1954 that restricts the churchs' influence in government. Specifically, the church could preach any message that they felt like preaching except for one -- they couldn't preach semons or publish screeds that is specifically taylored to endorse or oppose a political campaign without risking stiff fines and/or having their tax exempt status revoked. My history might be foggy, but I believe the last President to purposefully demand the IRS to strictly enforce it was President Carter.

Apparently, Carter was concered that churches were using the pulpit to preach politically charged sermons of spirital ultimatum with the expressed purpose of fleecing parishoners from not only their assurance of their eternal salvation but their votes and money as well. In other words, he thought churches -- predominately those in the South - were telling their congregations, "As Christians, you must contribute and vote for so-and-so or risk burning in Hell" and he wanted to put a stop to it via siccing the IRS on them, mostly likely because the "so-and-so's" these churches had in mind were Republicans. Carter followed through with his threats and the IRS moved in, which then polarized the southern states from Blue to Red and gave birth to Christian Fundamentalist -- the far fringe of the radical Right.

Throughout the 1980s, Barry Goldwater was sensing danger within his own beloved party for he apparently believed Christian Fundamentalist had completely transformed the GOP into something way beyond his vision. In 1981, he declared war with the following:

There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.'

By 1994, Goldwater blasted his own beloved Republican party in - of all places - the L.A. Times by saying:

"A lot of so-called conservatives today don't know what the word means. They think I've turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the religious right. It's not a conservative issue at all."

The volleys kept coming that same year in the form supporting gays in the military and campaigning in Arizona to end job descrimination on the basis of homosexuality, which then turned into federal law. He's quoted as saying, "The big thing is to make this country - along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions - quit discriminating against people just because they're gay. You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that's what brings me into it. You don't have to be straight to be in the military. You just have to shoot straight." His last volley against the Republican party came on his death bed when he reportedly said, "Whatever you do, don't do it in my name. You are not my party."

With all that said, I present this link from the goofy Reverend's SPAM in the hopes that it'll convince you beyond of a shadow of a doubt that if Barry Goldwater was still alive today and seen this, he'd be the first person in line to tear the "Let's Sic The IRS On 'Em" page from Jimmy Carter's playbook for he of all people would know exactly where this would lead -- a theocratic Christian Taliban in America that'll spew more attacks on gays, more attacks on Democratic disenters, more attacks on traditional Goldwater conservatives, more thievery, more rougery, and flat-out terrorism tempered in fake Christian religion and wearing ol Red, White, & Blue as its ultimate deception.

Fundamentalist Christianity ... and your pharmacist!

While reading Americablog , John linked to a very startling article regarding how the far right wing Christian Fundamentalist conservatives are itching to inoculate pharamcists, paramedics, etc, into refusing service towards people that they feel are immoral. In other words, it the classic "Get Thee Away From Me, Sinner!" horseshit that is deceptively packaged under the "Love The Sinner - Hate The Sin" banner. Quoting directly:

The rights of health-care professionals who refuse to provide a drug or medical procedure, based on personal religious objections, ought to be vigorously protected on the federal and state levels. If those suing pharmacists succeed, what will it be next? Will pharmacists be forced to fill prescriptions for assisted suicides? Will doctors be told to provide abortions or go to jail? Where will it end?

The rights of Christian health-care providers who believe in the sanctity of human life deserve to be protected too. This is yet another case where the religious rights of Christians are being threatened today. It's just another example of how liberal activists fight to see everyone's rights are protected -- unless, of course, those individuals happen to be followers of Christ.
Translation?

Pharmicist: "Procardia & Catapress, eh?"
Mom: "Yes ..."
Pharmicist: "Alright, just need some brief personal info..."
Mom: "OK"
Pharmicist: "Age?"
Mom: "64"
Pharmicist: "Recently suffered a heart attack, eh?"
Mom: "Yeah. Worst pain in my life..."
Pharmicist: "It sure is. Smoker or non?"
Mom: "Well, off an on. I'll quit for 4-6 months and then light up for a while, etc."
Pharmicist: "Huh! No wonder you nearly keeled over ..."
Mom: "Excuse me?!?"
Pharmicist: "I afraid I can't serve you."
Mom: "What for?"
Pharmicist: "Smoking harms the temple of the Lord."
Mom: "Who gives a shit?"
Pharmicist: "I'm Baptist. Filling your perscription is against my religious beliefs."
Mom: "I'm an Atheist."
Pharmicist: "That's your problem."

At this point, either one or more the following things will probably happen.

1) My mother has another heart attack or a full blown stroke due to this asshole pharmacist stressing her out.

2) My mother moves to take off her shoe before she's abrubtly carried away and escorted out the store.

3) I'm there ... and just happen to have an S&W .500 revolver on my person (sporting an 18 inch barrel, I might add) which I then wave in a lanquid fashion and say oh so sweetly, "You've got 15 seconds to fill her bottles up before I start filling yours with lead, starting with the one between your ears."

4) I'm there, don't have a .500, but I see a placard full of tiny Bibles in which I grab one, take the Zippo out of my pocket and then say, "Fill 'em up ... or 2 Timothy gets it!"

5) I burst behind the counter, "convince" the pharmicist to translate the chicken scratch on my mothers's perscriptions and then proceed to fill the goddamn bottles myself.

6) I ...

I think I better stop right about there because I don't know what the fuck my reaction would be and I certainly don't need to continue listing potential ones in case some militant from Bush's Ghestapo is reading this. The thought alone of this actually happening to my mother is enough to pump my veins full of piss & vinegar and start bringing on a revolution. The way I figure it is a pharmacist, doctor, etc, who feels THAT strongly about such an issue is definately in the wrong line of work. This country respects a person's right to their own religious beliefs so long as they do not impose those beliefs on others. Tolerance begats tolerance just as intolerance begats ... well, refer back to numbers 1 thru 6.

If your religious beliefs prevent you from being able to do your job properly then you probably don't have the right job. I could respect that pharmacist for saying, "I have a moral objection to providing this service, so it's my decision, based on my religious convictions, to leave the pharmacy business,'' a hell of a lot more than I can respect that same individual refusing to provide service to his customers. For example, my religious beliefs (as well as my conscience) bar me from schystering people out of their money for shilling ridiculous, overpriced, retail products that were assembled in some third-world gulag. As a result, I'm a piss poor motherfucker making $7 an hour at a scrap yard instead of a 5-figure making manager of a Wal-Mart imposing my religious beliefs on all the Democratic and Republican customers who just wanted that Playstation 2 and a spindle of CD-Rs without a sanctimonious sermon attached to it. Luckily for me Christ did say "Blessed are the poor," which is a concept beyond the scope of these ultra-conservative, fake Christian wingnuts ...

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Axworthy Drills Rice & Bush

In the latest episode of former Allied nations now rightfully slapping the taste right out of our collective yaps, former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy hath raised thy gauntlet. Styled as a personal letter to Rice, Axworthy soon starts delivering the literary equivilent to what Jim Ross of the WWE would describe as a "Clothesline From Hell" ...

Dear Condi, I'm glad you've decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbour. It's a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe more. I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile-defence system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results. But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat cautious types who can't quite see laying down billions of dollars in a three-dud poker game.

Emphesis mine.

Enjoy the rest here courtesy of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

The Kudos Round

Bill Rosen of OhTheBill.com has graciously offered to host the audio MP3 I made of the Gannon segment from last Saturday's edition of Fox News Watch. The earlier link on my old Fyremoon domain will expire soon so I appreciate Bill's kindness and you can, too, by helping him on the bandwidth side with a contribution. Thanks again to Fyre for the temporary hosting as well. As for that MP3, you can snag it from Bill here!

Also, thanks to John Avarosis at AmericaBlog and an apology to him and to Crooks & Liars as well for not having my shit together to give us all a video to go with it. I hope to have video capture capabilities back this weekend. Speaking of C&L, they've got a must see video from Hannity & Colmes (submitted by Kos, if I recall correctly) where Blondie Bin Coulter is completely torn to bits by an angry Alan Colmes. I think she was close to pulling a Linda Blair -- pea soup and all! New found respect for Alan here as he was in rare form! Hats off to him for nailing her good.

As for me, the bed beckons ... so the rest of this an open thread for you all. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

A Wee Bit Premature

Lack of WMDs? Check. Massive torture, human rights, and international treaties broken? Check. Large scale voter fraud in two elections? Check. Outing of Valerie Plame? Check. Dictatorialship and intimidation of the media? Check. Jeff Gannon? Well, the jury is still out on that one ... but as long as its being ignored by both the Republican Bush Adminstration and their Republican, business cretin CEOs that helm the networks (liberal media, my right testicle), you might as well prepare yourself to put a checkmark in that collumn, too. What does this all tell you?

It tells me beyond a shadow of a doubt that whomever claimed Bill Clinton was "The Teflon President" needs to be plucked from whatsoever spiderhole they've immigrated to since then, dragged to the nearest town square by their bottom lip, locked up into a cage, and then repeatedly bashed with a steel folding chair by a midget pro-wrestler for being just a wee bit premature in their half-baked pronouncement because nothing -- NOTHING -- seems to be sticking to George W. Bush - AKA The Teflon Shrub - and his corrupt cronies.

Someone said to me recently elsewhere, "Admit it Sy: there is nothing Bush could ever do that would make you happy" and he's stone cold accurately as all hell on that pronouncement. However, he went on to say, "You unreasonably hate the man" which is total bullshit for two reasons. One, I don't unreasonably hate Bush. I've got some pretty damn good reasons for justifying my rage against him. Second, because that isn't the exact question he wanted to ask me in the first place. Nope, he wanted to ask me the same question that all conversatives have been beating liberals over the head with over the past 4-5 years now: "Why do you hate America, Sy?"

Let me count thy ways - a White House lawyer writes a memo that drastically reinterprets our obligations vis-a-vis treatment of detained combatants and says that the prohibitions against torture don't apply to the President's detention and interrogation of said combatants, and months later, we discover simultaneous prisoner abuses on two sides of the globe that have apparently been orchestrated to some extent by military and intelligence organizations? That's not even slightly suspect in their book?

Also, his leaving 3,000 WTC victims and their grieving families hanging like Floridian chads for his dropping of "The Osama Ball" only to turn around and have his cheerladers repeatedly say "September 11th" over and over again at last years RNC (which partially ensured his re-election - Diebold ensured the other part) simply isn't a degree of hate I'd call unreasonable. Nay, it only scratches the surface. The continuing Jeff Gannon debacle is just more icing on the cake because here's an administration that - aside from uttering "September 11th" like a mantra and slapping the asses of Diebold employees for their help - marketed and mined blatant homophobia as a lipservice to the Christian Right as well as a good portion of the masses to vote for him (provided that Diebold machines didn't make one of their usual oopsies when counting their ballot, too!) while planting a male, conservative, homosexual neo-journalist that lobs softball questions during the day and yet turns tricks at night ... and lied about.

Then, his subsequent actions of claiming none of those sites went live yet he showed no shame trying to cash in on the sell of those domains leads me to believe that if there's anyone in the homosexuality community - male or female - who'd go so far as to label Jeff Gannon as a "self-hating fag", it doesn't shame me one bit to say I empathize with their ire due to the hypocracy of it all. I - as a heterosexual and a Christian - feel just as estranged and ticked off as they might feel because of Jeff's meely-mouthed, "If I were a plant, wouldn't they've picked someone other than me" excuse.

BULLSHIT!

Jeff's background - his proverbial skeletons in the closet - is all the more reason for someone in the Bush Administration like Karl Rove to bring him in as a plant because nobody in their right mind would either expect nor suspect a White House full of conservative, Anti-Gay Rights, Republicans to do such a thing and put themselves at such great a risk. Before Gannon's expose, anyone who would've alledged that the Bush Administration is using homosexual neo-journalists to lob softballs at them would be decried as the looniest of all conspiracy theorists on the same level as all those black-helicopter fearing Patriot Movement/Militia nutjobs that plagued this nation throughout the 1990s. I should know - I used to hand out their screeds during my "Christian Fundy" days as a card-carrying member of the "Michigan Militia" (back when I was young and stupid).

But I'll never tire of the "Why do you hate America, Sy" question.

In fact, I counter it with a more apt question: Why is their love for America so blinding that they think that the actions of every official in our government - more specifically those with the telltale "(R)" in their name - are beyond question? These people don't love America - they're obsessed with it! Their obsession is directly purportional to a battered wife that refuses to leave her terrorist prick of a husband because "I wuuuuv him!!!" It's preposterous. Love means you can still point out to someone when they're fucking up without them picking up their ball and threatening to go play in someone else's sandbox through their narcissistic sniffles ... or beating you to death with it while shouting "You America-hater!" over and over again.

I also don't tire of the "How can you be a heterosexual Christian and gay right activist at the same time? By what authority do you have to call yourself Christian because of your actions or conduct?" By the same damned authority Bill Frist calls himself Christian while making a mint from abortions one scape at a time, pal. It's called hypocracy and being human and at least I wear mine right out in the open where people can get a good strong whiff of it instead of vainly trying to hide and cover it up. That in and of itself is the crux of the Jeff Gannon matter. I believe that when all is said and done, people can accept and tolerate hypocrites just as long as they're honest about it. It's the shady "let's sweep it under the rug" type of hypocites like Jeff Gannon (and the silence from the Fundamentalist Christianity regarding him) that drives us all out of our respective gourds because it leaves us thinking exactly how the flying fuck can they live with themselves under such obvious denial.

Under such utter divorce from reality.