"Makin' Things Up"

One can only hope that Sarah Palin will now either vanish into momhood, go to prison, or get a talkshow on Fox Noise. Either way I will rarely have to listen to the vapid, blithering idiot whereas if she runs for national office I'll be forced to pay attention to her. Next to her George W. Bush sounds like an intellectual. I'm not sure how anyone can stand up before an audience and just make word-like noises like she does and not be ashamed. Then again, shame is a virtue rarely seen amongst Republicans.

Krakatoa Reawakens

In 1883 Krakatoa exploded with the force of 13 Little Boy atomic bombs. Over 36,000 people were killed. The new crater, Anak, is now about half the height it was in 1883 and there is the potential it will reach or exceed that size before exploding again. Telegraph

The C Street Prayer Group

These people need to be shut down and their influence on our government negated. They are horrible hypocrites with no moral values other than their own self interest, cloaked in their twisted interpretation of The Bible, an interpretation that allows them to do whatever they want without any shame.

Four out of Five Americans Know Earth Revolves Around Sun

Four out of Five Americans Know Earth Revolves Around Sun
Probing a more universal measure of knowledge, Gallup also asked the following basic science question, which has been used to indicate the level of public knowledge in two European countries in recent years: "As far as you know, does the earth revolve around the sun or does the sun revolve around the earth?" In the new poll, about four out of five Americans (79%) correctly respond that the earth revolves around the sun, while 18% say it is the other way around. These results are comparable to those found in Germany when a similar question was asked there in 1996; in response to that poll, 74% of Germans gave the correct answer, while 16% thought the sun revolved around the earth, and 10% said they didn't know. When the question was asked in Great Britain that same year, 67% answered correctly, 19% answered incorrectly, and 14% didn't know. more

It makes me very sad that modern humans don't know the correct answer to this question just as a matter of course. It surprises me greatly that Brits and Krauts are similarly (or more) ignorant than we. I would guess the difference between them and us is they would be embarrassed about being wrong whereas we Americans would argue that we don't need to know that stuff.

The Onion Purchased by China

Onion Headlines this week:

The Following Are Examples Of American Weakness

Politics

• Weakling President Asks Imaginary Man In Sky To Bless Nation
  54 minutes ago

  WASHINGTON—In a display of weakness unbecoming a head of state, President Barack Obama concluded remarks to the nation Tuesday by asking a......more»

• Infographic »

  The Following Are Examples Of American Weakness
  10 minutes ago

  ...more»

Local

• Collapsed Mine Used As Excuse To Stall Coal Extraction
  4 minutes ago

  CASSVILLE, WV—Although rescue workers have cleared a path wide enough for coal to be extracted through, and miners trapped inside are not so......more»

• Community Calendar »

  July 23, 9 p.m.

  St. Rose of Lima's annual potluck dinner will take place in the church basement on Sunday at 5 p.m. Attendees with last names beginning with A-M are asked to bring a fish-based main dish, while those with last names beginning with N-Z are asked to bring a fish-based dessert or appetizer.

Entertainment

• Paul Reiser, Benevolent Possessor Of Many American Hearts, Looking To Direct
  2 hours ago

  HOLLYWOOD, CA—Paul Reiser, situation comedy megastar, celebrity legend, and beloved creator of laughter, brought much joy to his tens of......more»

• TV Listings »

  House Committee On Foreign Affairs

  C-SPAN

  11 a.m. EDT/10 a.m. CDT

  Distracted by the tones of their own loud voices, reckless American imperialists natter away arrogantly while their once-mighty nation decays beneath their noses.

• Horoscopes »

  

  Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

  Nature, time, and patience are the three great physicians. Still, it might be time to consult Dr. Feldman about the grapefruit-sized growth hanging from the side of your throat.

Science & Technology

• Nation Exhibits Strange Preoccupation With Manner In Which Food Is Processed
  26 minutes ago

  NEW YORK—For reasons too difficult to comprehend, the unnecessarily fretful and anxious nation of United States continues its odd obsession......more»

Chaplin in Tehran

It is sad that we should still be fighting the same fight so many years later.

article
via

Vanity Fair Edits Palin Resignation Speech

Man Cooks Chicken

Christopher Walken cooks a chicken.

via Harper's

Round Wheel Rolls

Quote of the Week

"They have a good heart," Hampton said of the men. (He did not address the question of how the men survive while sharing a crucial bodily organ.)

From: "Hampton: Religious Buddies Drove Ensign To FedEx To Mail Letter To Cindy"
By Zachary Roth - July 10, 2009, 11:58AM

I think the group referenced in this piece, "The Family," is well worth looking into. These are people who believe freedom of religion and separation of church and state is not only unconstitutional but unamerican as well. And they preach this bizarre fundamentalist view of the world where the rich and powerful are rich and powerful because they have been chosen by God, and they need to do everything they can to make sure they remain rich and powerful because they had been chosen by God. See Mark Sanford comparing himself to King David as another example of their twisted thinking.

I am an atheist, in case you didn't know. I am an atheist surrounded by true believers of one type or another, but far too many of the low rent version of the Family. I'm surrounded by the type of people that think it's OK to kill a man because he does something that is legal that they don't agree with. For instance, Dr. Tiller. Or JFK. Or Jimi Hendrix. Or John Lennon. People that will mass around military funerals with GOD HATES FAGS signs, loudly and hatefully informing everyone not with them that they are GOING TO HELL. The Southern Baptist Seminary is located here, a sprawling campus of hate and hypocrisy. A local landmark is the disturbingly huge Six Flags Over Jesus (or Southeast Christian Church) which yearly puts on a really mindboggling production of the Rapture. An entire hollywood stunt school specializing in flying people for stage moved to Kentucky for this thing.

It was much worse in West Kentucky, around Murray, where I lived from the age of nine until I left for college. The level of open, bared teeth white hot hatred from the "Christians" to everyone who wasn't with them went to the extremes. I can remember hearing of one church that split and how one church said that everyone but the members of that church were going straight to hell, but especially the members of this other break-away church who would be sent to the bottom-most pits of hell... and vice versa.

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These church members are mostly nice people but they're screwing up the world. In our military we have the most right wing extremist zealots filling entire posts in Muslim countries. The Air Force Academy is apparently overwhelmed by the kind of people for whom their religious beliefs supercede their dedication to the Constitution or the nation. Meaning they are beholden to their preacher. These are the kind of men that would paint "Jesus Killed Muhammed" on their vehicle, in Farsi! and then drive through the streets of a city, shooting anyone that shot at them. Seems oddly identical to the kind of bastards that would drive through a black town in Mississippi yelling, "Here nigger nigger" and then shooting any black person that dared to step to their door. It's the same people.

This is one of many reasons Obama should get rid of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy in the military. It will help to drive out those that consider their commitment to their religion more important than their commitment to their country. I've heard it argued we would lose up to 15% of our military if we got rid of DADT. I say good riddance to bad garbage. I'll bet we lost a similar percentage when we allowed blacks full equality in the military. That just destroyed the military, didn't it?

These people are legion and they all call themselves "Christian." Another change Obama must make to the military is the way chaplains are recruited. A Reagan-era (shudder) rule change made it possible for the evangelicals to take the posts once held by other Protestant sects by percentage. It's not right and it's not American. It is anti-American, and if there is such a thing, it is the Anti-Christ.

The Family is the perfect example of why I think the entire evangelical Christian movement is the Anti-Christ. For one thing the lines in the Bible about the anti-Christ seem to me to refer to it as a collection of many as opposed to a One, like Jesus. Secondly, the values of the Christian right movement are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. You are supposed to give to those less fortunate to yourself, regardless of who those people are. These people, especially the Family, believe that God gave you stuff so you should fuck over people less fortunate than yourself because if they weren't such worthless trash they would be rich as well. To share is evil. It is against God! And thus they are about as anti-Christ as you can get.

The Line-up

If there were ever a group of men that should all be in prison for the rest of their lives, here they are. Even the best of them, Colin Powell, is guilty of taking us into a war by lying to us.

Notation

via

Police Violence Against Middle Aged Ladies

It is distressing to me that this story has gotten so little coverage in the major media. In case you haven't heard, here's a synopsis:

San Diego - Friday, June 26 - A middle aged lesbian couple in a nice neighborhood was holding a fundraiser for Francine Busby, a Democrat seeking state office. A short speech was made around 8pm using a small P.A. All the while a neighbor was shouting obscenities, especially anti-gay slurs. It would appear that the neighbor then called in a noise complaint. This was around 9pm and the noise ordinance doesn't come into effect until 10pm. Nonetheless the sheriff's department sent a deputy. This wasn't a rock concert, it was a small gathering (the cop says 50 people, the fundraisers say no more than 30) of mostly middle aged ladies. When one of the owners, 60 year old Shari Barman, questioned why the deputy needed her age since he had her name and address he proceeded to twist her arm behind her back and throw her to the ground. When the other partygoers protested and Barman's partner begged the deputy to be careful with Barman's arm as she'd just had shoulder surgery the deputy freaked out and pepper sprayed everyone within range in the face. He called in back-up which came in the form of six more cars, a helicopter, a fire truck, and a canine team!

“It was a private, quiet party,” Busby said. “I can't reiterate enough that there was never any noise.” ...

The American Civil Liberties Union also has weighed in, releasing a statement yesterday calling for the sheriff to release more information about “what appears to be a significant abuse of power by a peace officer who intruded into a person's home and reacted with unwarranted force to an unsubstantiated complaint alleging a minor infraction.” more

There is a lot of speculation that this was caused by steroid abuse. Whatever. This deputy is typical cop: vindictive, stupid, angry, mean, spiteful, dangerous and worst of all, armed. This is not an isolated incident. Cops are fucking insane in this country and we have to find some way to turn it around. There is a prison guard mentality that is endemic in law enforcement and the cliched "I am the law" approach is now standard but we continue to increase the number of crimes and we recruit the kind of knuckle dragging bullies that will beat anyone that argues with them. You show me one good cop and I'll show you at least one piece of shit that would be jailed if he didn't tend to fuck with the poor and helpless.

These wealthy San Diego ladies will probably get justice in the end, but its because they can afford it. We have two justice systems in this country, the one that favors the rich and the one that jails the poor. And lord help you if you're poor and black! They say there is no honor amongst thieves, but there is far less honor amongst cops.

Frankensenator

Congratulations to Al Franken for overcoming the endemic right wing corruption in our electoral system by managing to barely win his Senate seat. The decision was finalized by the Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday. A tip of the hat to his opponent Norm Coleman for not continuing in the federal courts for the next five years. He was a bit of a dick for carrying it this far but he is a Republican, after all. Why couldn't he be more like a Democrat and cave in after a few weeks? Oh that's right, Republicans don't mind stealing elections.

For some reason Rush Limbaugh and the entire Rupert Murdoch Nazi propaganda empire are absolutely apoplectic over Al Franken becoming the 100th Senator. Maybe Rush is so upset because of a wonderful little book Franken wrote in the 90's:

By the way, Rush Limbaugh is still a big fat idiot and a liar and a bully and, to quote Keith Olbermann, he continues to be a great big bag of jack ass.

And it is quite possible that Fox Noise and the rest of the reality challenged universe of Rupert Murdoch owned media outlets (often confused with news reporting organizations) is shaking white with anger against Franken because of this other little book he wrote that basically condemns everyone being paid by Rupert Murdoch and everyone in the Republican party:

Both of these books are highly recommended by me, the smartest person in the room. You will laugh a lot (unless you're one of the above-mentioned Murdoch employees or the kind of drooling idiot that believes what Rush Limbaugh says) when you're not apoplectic with rage that there is no way to imprison people for careers built on lying.

Volcano Video

Rambling

A few hours ago Sarah Palin announced she was resigning as Governor of Alaska. Since then it appears the mass media has decided to adopt the word "rambling" to describe her speech. Might I offer some other words? How about:

Babbling, whining. petulant, adolescent, confusing, paranoid, and/or incredibly long.

She is such a Republican, just spouting shit off the top of her head as if it were absolute fact. She has decided that her husband wasn't a member of a secessionist party so by god he wasn't... despite the fact that he was an active member of said party for seven years. Drilling for oil is a good thing because of her religious beliefs. Blather blather blather. But facts don't matter to Republicans. She mentions near the end of the first half (gods help us this speech went on longer than Governor Sanford's seemingly endless original apology for fucking around on his wife) that she and her oddly named husband are spending nearly a million dollars fighting lawsuits of some kind and that the other people "don't have to pay a dime." Since when can you go to court for free? Anyway, here is her speech in two halves. I listened and have been reaffirmed in my joy that this stupid bitch isn't the Vice President right now. If you can watch this whole thing... I'm sorry. It was excruciating to watch this stupid woman vomit nonsense for twenty minutes.

The Roots of Break Dancing - RUN DMC