Current Events

Either/Or #5

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  • Post category:Memes

From belicove.com:

  1. Favorite Color or Favorite Number?
    Color.
  2. Shower in the Morning or Shower in the Evening?
    Morning
  3. The Grand Canyon or The Great Pyramids of Egypt?
    Pyramids
  4. White Pages or Yellow Pages?
    White. People are more interesting than businesses.
  5. Doll House of Tree House?
    Tree house.
  6. When you were 13 years old or when you were 23 years old?
    23. I was hot back then.
  7. French Toast or Bacon & Eggs?
    Bacon & Eggs
  8. Don Knotts or Don Cheadle?
    Cheadle. Not of a fan of slapstick.
  9. Your Mother’s Cooking or Your Own?
    Mom’s.
  10. Long Sleeves or Short Sleeves?
    short.
Continue ReadingEither/Or #5

Here, here! Well-spoken, Bruce!

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  • Post category:Politics

From a discussion being held by The Poor Man Institute with a wingnut:

The loyalty “owed” a President, or any government official, or any policy of the same, by a private citizen, is this much loyalty: zero. Let me say that again: the loyalty I, or you, or anyone “owes” to someone in the government, or to some course of action they favor, is none whatsoever. To think otherwise, Teddy Roosevelt might comment, is “unpatriotic and servile”. Now, this is not to say you can’t give your loyalty to the President or his policies – it’s a free country, and you can do any non-treasonous thing you want with your loyalty – but that’s your decision, and nobody has to live with it but you (and all the people who suffer from the consequences of your stupid choice of loyalties, of course.) Personally, I think the President is a horrible fucking stupid cunt and his policies are for shit. Your results may vary. But if someone tells me that I “owe” it to the President or his crap policy to act like I don’t think that, well, that person can get in the big long line with WPE and the rest of folks who really desperately need to go fuck themselves.
But Democracy gets even worse. The President and the President’s policies owe me loyalty. The President and his policies are supposed to be working for the good of the country and her people. That’s how the loyalty flows. The President is required to act for my (ok, “our”) benefit; if he does not, the betrayal is his, and the sorts of things which you’d like to call “disloyalty” become duty. Does Gore’s speaking out against torture “undermine” the country? That’s a tricky position to hold if you oppose torture. Does it “undermine” the policy? I wish. No, it does this: it reminds the world that however fucked up our government is, it isn’t us, it doesn’t speak for us, and it can never, ever make us quiet down. And I do say God Bless America.

Continue ReadingHere, here! Well-spoken, Bruce!

I am the Very Model of a Modern Unitarian

I am the Very Model of a Modern Unitarian
by Christopher Gist Raible
Sung to ” I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from ” Pirates of Penzance”.
I am the very model of a modern Unitarian,
Far broader than a Catholic, Hindu, Jew or Presbyterian.
I know the world’s religions and can trace their roots historical
From Moses up to Channing, all in order categorical.
I’m very well acquainted, too, with theories theological,
On existential questions I am always wholly logical,
About most any problem I am teeming with a lot of views,
I’m full of fine ideas that should fill our church’s empty pews.

Continue ReadingI am the Very Model of a Modern Unitarian

A Johari Window of my very own..

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  • Post category:What Am I?

Hat tip to Dustbury, who posted about this….
A Johari Window is where you get to talk about how great I am. Yeah, that’s it. Heh. Actually, you can read the real definition here at Wikipedia It’s a personality tool, and there’s an online version, that you can help me with, if you want.
Anyway, here’s mine… it would be super-cool if you entered five or six attributes you think describe me. Then you can view the results, if you like.
If, you’d rather, here’s the flip side — the Nohari window, where you get to point out my flaws. Yeah, I knew that would be more fun for you. Here’s what you don’t like about me.

Continue ReadingA Johari Window of my very own..

“Marriage Contract” of Iowa Man

Via Smoking Gun: Check out what this guy Travis Frey from Iowa wrote up for his wife as a “marriage contract.” He’s under arrest currently for kidnapping his wife and holding her hostage in their home. I have to admit, I’ve never read anything like this. And I hope never to again.

FEBRUARY 17–This country, as you know, is filled with the deranged. And then there’s Travis Frey, a 33-year-old Iowa man who is facing charges that he tried to kidnap his own wife (not to mention a separate child pornography rap).

Frey, prosecutors contend, apparently is a rather demanding guy. In fact, he actually drew up a bizarre four-page marriage document–a ‘Contract of Wifely Expectations’–that sought to establish guidelines for his spouse in terms of hygiene, clothing, and sexual activities.

In return for fulfilling certain requirements, Frey (pictured left) offered ‘Good Behavior Days,’ or GBDs. Each GBD, Frey wrote, could be redeemed by his wife to ‘get out of doing the things’ he requested daily. A copy of the proposed contract, which Frey’s wife never signed and later provided to cops, can be found at left.

While we normally point out the highlights of most documents, there are so many in this demented, and very graphic, contract, we really can’t do it justice. So set aside ten minutes–and prepare to be repulsed.

Continue Reading“Marriage Contract” of Iowa Man

The Myth of Big Government Liberals

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Atrios has a dead-on post about the myth of “Big Goverment Liberals.”

I don’t know any “big government liberals” in the sense that Andy means. I don’t know anybody who gets a stiffy at the thought of raising taxes and increasing government spending as a share of GDP just for the hell of it. Liberals I know tend to think there are things government should do and we should, roughly, figure out how to pay for those things, though we’re not entirely allergic to deficit spending. When taxes have to go up to cover interest and debt repayment costs no liberals I know are going to go “YAY! HIGHER TAXES! WOO HOOO!”
For a long time the Left was tarred as idealistic utopians, addicted to ways of doing things no matter what the consequences. I have no real opinion on whether that criticism was ever true, but in any case it’s something which has been embraced wholesale by the Right. They have a small government fetish, and that fetish is linked almost entirely to the top marginal federal income tax rate. Liberals have no such corresponding fetish for “big government” even if they tend to be fans of some government programs conservatives like to demonize as being “big government liberalism.” No one’s going to enjoy sweeping up after Bush’s fiscal train wreck.

Continue ReadingThe Myth of Big Government Liberals

Quad Cities Censorship

This is an interesting article in the Quad City Times, about a book called “The Misfits” that was banned at the elementary school level in the Quad Cities.

“I knew I had all of those signs of being gay, and I couldn’t make sense of it,” said Howe, who wrote “The Misfits,” a book about four kids and their battle with name-calling. “When I figured out it was actually something that described who I was, I was terrified of being that. It was considered an illness, morally reprehensible.”
“The Misfits” launched a firestorm in the Quad-Cities when the Pleasant Valley School Board decided to restrict its use at the elementary-school level, where teachers are not allowed to read it aloud to students. The book has a gay character, Joe, who is the main character in Howe’s sequel, “Totally Joe.”
“The Misfits” also launched a national initiative called “No Name Calling Week.” The organizers of Howe’s visit are asking area schools to have their own version of No Name Calling Week from Feb. 20-24.

Ironic that they book is about not mistreating people, including gay people, but it’s being censored, although the article does talk about programs at some of the Quad City schools to prevent bullying.
It’s interesting to me because I have a couple relatives who are employed in the school system in the Quad Cities. I wonder what they think.

Continue ReadingQuad Cities Censorship

1,325 images – More Abu Graib photos, exclusively on Salon.com

Salon.com does the Australian media one better, by obtaining a huge cache of pictures and secret goverment documents on the Abu Graib scandal. They explain why they are publishing the information and then go on to show you all the new pictures Warning: don’t look at these at work, or after you’ve just eaten. What our government is doing in your name will cause you to lose your lunch.

The DVD containing the material includes a June 6, 2004, CID investigation report written by Special Agent James E. Seigmund. That report includes the following summary of the material included: “A review of all the computer media submitted to this office revealed a total of 1,325 images of suspected detainee abuse, 93 video files of suspected detainee abuse, 660 images of adult pornography, 546 images of suspected dead Iraqi detainees, 29 images of soldiers in simulated sexual acts, 20 images of a soldier with a Swastika drawn between his eyes, 37 images of Military Working dogs being used in abuse of detainees and 125 images of questionable acts.”

Continue Reading1,325 images – More Abu Graib photos, exclusively on Salon.com

Dick Cheney Shoots Me

And then Dick Cheney shot me, too! That bastard!!!

Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter
‘Steph was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good’
Sunday, February 12, 2006; Posted: 9:01 p.m. EST (02:01 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend Wabbit hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
Steph Mineart, a millionaire Website Designer from Indianapolis, was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.
The accident occurred Saturday at a ranch in south Texas where the vice president and several companions were hunting Wabbit. It was not reported publicly by the vice president’s office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on its Web site Sunday.
Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Mineart and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of Wabbit.
Mineart shot a Wabbit and went to retrieve it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.
Mineart “came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn’t signal them or indicate to them or announce herself,” Armstrong said.
“The vice president didn’t see her,” she continued. “The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a Wabbit and was following it and shot. And by God, Steph was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good.”
Mineart has been a private practice Website Designer in Indianapolis since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics. she’s been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named her to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

And just like it would happen in real life, I gave them a really old picture of myself, too.

Continue ReadingDick Cheney Shoots Me