tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51405065316799565152024-03-13T20:34:10.984-06:00The Well-Armed Lamb:The Bleat Goes On!"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb disputing the outcome."
--(<i>Attributed to</i>) Benjamin FranklinWoody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.comBlogger1505125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-71835651197248018792017-05-12T05:51:00.000-06:002017-12-31T12:12:19.773-07:00Coup-Coup-a-Shoup!<img br="" src="http://media.salon.com/2017/05/trump-coup.jpg" /><span style="font-size: large;">The USofA has been in the throes of a gradual, inexorable, irresistible, slow-moving <i>coup d'eta</i>t since the election of FDR initiated the New Deal and freaked the plutocrats completely OUT! Within months, the banksters, along with Ford and the Bund boys were fomenting armed rebellion. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes called the "<i>Business coup</i>," sometimes the "<i>American Legion Coup</i>," alleged plotters included Prescott Bush, Charles A Lindbergh and Henry Ford, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot/">it was revealed</a> by Smedley Butler, in 1933 and thereafter receded into the clouds of World War </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The coup then went into remission for "the duration," but only temporarily, from 1939-45. It re-emerged from WW II richer from the profits of the war and emboldened by the "Communist threat," and eager to get on with it. The deed to the place was signed in 1947, as the National Security Act went into effect, establishing the National Security State, the CIA and the Cold War.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In the 50s, the public side was led by the Hunt brothers and the Birchers, many of whom were the most wealthy, and most secretive, persons in the country (along with Woodrow Wilson's proteges, Dulleses, behind the scenes). Joe McCarthy was the poster-boy. Eisenhower scoffed at 'em, but Ike was a General, not an aristocratic/plutocratic coup plotter. He was over his head, out of his depth. He knew from armies, not from money.<br />The JFK assassination was the first, bold, public statement. I think it was probably organized by Allen Dulles, in revenge for being ousted from the head of the CIA. GHWBush, who was a "Company" man, was in Dallas, that day, too. It was a clear warning to any who might even appear to veer from the fierce orthodoxy of corpoRat plutocracy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">They've been gradually cleaning up the details and loose ends ever since. They took over the media via monopolization ("media consolidation" they called it) starting in the mid-70s. Clinton reified it by signing the Communications Act of 1996. <i>Coups always assure themselves of control of the media from the very first.</i> <br />The beginning of the end came in 2000, when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor tossed in the swing-vote which seated El Chimperor over Gore, and it culminated with El Douche's specious, but still, nevertheless, irreversible installation last November.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">No matter what happens subsequently, 'the Coup' has succeeded brilliantly and it won't be reversed or erased in the lifetimes of anyone alive today. IF EVER.</span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">And the next time somebody starts in about how "incrementalism" never works, point proudly to the devolution of the US political system, 1933-2016.</span><br />
</i>Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-32000288283777991192015-04-21T10:42:00.001-06:002015-04-21T10:42:53.845-06:00The Bleat, # 10: Cloudy in the West? Is it lookin' like rain...<img alt="The Ghosts of Obama’s Victims: How Liberals’ Attacks on Cornel West Expose Their Political Bankruptcy" src="http://bennorton.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cornel-west-speaking.jpg" /><br />
<br />
One of the icons of the "left/civil rights/peace" movement for the past 25 or 30 years, Cornel West has given up on Prez. Lowbar.<br />
Yer cynical ol' perfesser just wonders what Cornel West actually, realistically could have expected.<br />
PrezLowbar was NEVER, and was NEVER gonna be, the "angry Black man" who bearded the white racists in their den. He's not suited for the job, either by experience, personality, or inclination.<br />
Did Cornel actually BELIEVE that the Owners/Oligarchs would entrust the management of THEIR investments to someone who was in the slightest bit inclined to upset their apple-cart?<br />
Really?<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dHZ2iVlTwvg" width="520"></iframe><br />
I was acquainted with the fiery, passionate Dr. West back in the day, 25 years ago...<br />
Imho: Cornel West made a crucial mistake in interpretation.<br />
He thought the country had elected a "black" man to actually DO something, when the election was more a 'symbolic' gesture--as the immediate reactions of the Right amply demonstrated.<br />
West thought Prez Lowbar would--and, vitally, should and COULD--engage forthrightly, in public, those issues that made his election so notable.<br />
West's apparently been traumatized by this "failure of conscience and courage" by The Prez to use his position to abet the improvement in conditions in ALL Murka's 'disadvantaged' communities.<br />
Unfortunately, in terms of that bothersome 'real politik,' there probably was nothing The Prez could have done to aid the needy without further undermining his already tenuous place and leadership among the "majority."<br />
Had he actively pursued, say, programs to reduce income inequality, PrezLowbar would have been accused by the REAL race-pimps at FauxNooz, like O'Reilly and Hannity, of serving only "his people" (the "darkies"--though 60% of the nation's "poor" are white)...which criticism would have stuck, not because it's true, but because the rhetorical leverage of the Right would have planted it firmly and irreversibly in the public discourse.<br />
For Obama and the Obots, this presidency has been about the "Legacy" of the First Black President.<br />
It NEVER included ANY place for the "angry, black man" for whom Cornel West hoped, and by whose absence he has been so bitterly disappointed.<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-36292313346087048562015-04-02T16:10:00.001-06:002017-12-31T12:13:27.001-07:00The Bleat, #9: Beckish Fuckery<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="7nuic-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$7nuic" style="background-color: white; direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="7nuic-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$7nuic.0:$7nuic-0-0" style="line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #141823;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AG9FoFCcu9Y" width="500"></iframe>
As you can plainly see, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-modern-day-nazis-are-leading-inquisition-will-become-christian-holocaust">Glenn Beck is back</a> proclaiming and predictingthe impending the Gay Jihad against Christians. Beck is one of the foremost </span></span><span style="color: #141823; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys around.</span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="7nuic-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$7nuic" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="7nuic-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$7nuic.0:$7nuic-0-0"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems to me, the wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys feel about atheists, infidels, non-believers, skeptics and the like just about the same way many/most of those same, aforementioned wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys feel about brown, black, red, non-white people. </span></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="fo1tg-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$fo1tg" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="fo1tg-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$fo1tg.0:$fo1tg-0-0"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That is, the wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys <b><i>fear, greatly,</i></b> that members of BOTH groups would visit upon them the same treatment that historically, those wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys delivered unto those whom they despised--atheists and brown people--when wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys TOTALLY ran the world, given the chance..</span></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="612s3-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$612s3" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="612s3-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$612s3.0:$612s3-0-0"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Their grip is slipping, a little. Not much. It's still a stranglehold, increasingly desperate. </span></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="612s3-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$612s3" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="612s3-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$612s3.0:$612s3-0-0"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the chance IS coming</span></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="c641b-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$c641b" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="c641b-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$c641b.0:$c641b-0-0"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And when you look at how much bad shit the wackloon/Cristoid/RWNJ flying monkeys are responsible for, when they TOTALLY ran the world, you begin to understand the extent of their trepidation about the future, and their resolve to postpone or forestall it.</span></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="dmiqf-0-0" data-reactid=".ep.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$dmiqf" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; font-family: 'helvetica neue', helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<br /></div>
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-72570727885215820192015-04-02T10:28:00.002-06:002015-04-02T16:10:48.806-06:00The Bleat, # 8: Pizza Fuckery!<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="7a3dk-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$7a3dk" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="7a3dk-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$7a3dk.0:$7a3dk-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" />
If I know your "faith," and I haven't asked you about it, then cully, you've said too much.</span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="aoupq-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$aoupq" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="aoupq-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$aoupq.0:$aoupq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">There is only ONE reason why folks publicly announce their religious affiliations: To seek, and get "special" treatment, favors, exceptions, dispensations, because of their "faith."</span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="che6s-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$che6s" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="che6s-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$che6s.0:$che6s-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">In light of the Indiana, Arkansas, and Georgia anti-glbt laws which rely on alleged biblical prohibitions from an imaginary, "super" being for their justification and rationale, and given that there is only ONE reason to announce one's faith, in public--to be granted certain advantages, considerations, dispensations NOT available to OTHER citizens--my deal is still out there:</span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="5ol9s-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$5ol9s" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="5ol9s-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$5ol9s.0:$5ol9s-0-0" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I<i><b> and my non-believing/atheist/skeptical friends will promise never again to publicly speak criticism, or (well-deserved) mockery of folks who place their faith in imaginary beings, "miracles," and other religious "wooo," if--but ONLY if--the god-blighted bible babblers and their smarmy ilk will forevermore refrain from invoking such codswallop to justify special treatment, or consideration, in the public sphere because of it..</b></i></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="75ur4-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$75ur4" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="75ur4-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$75ur4.0:$75ur4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$75ur4.0:$75ur4-0-0.0" /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="euls-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$euls" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="euls-0-0" data-reactid=".1g1.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$euls.0:$euls-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Waddaya say, Cristoids?</span></div>
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-66114578668372020132015-03-26T15:47:00.002-06:002015-04-02T11:03:45.482-06:00The Bleat, #7: Apologetic Fuckery<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="e4j4m-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$e4j4m" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="e4j4m-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$e4j4m.0:$e4j4m-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/us-news/video/2015/mar/25/oklahoma-student-meets-civil-rights-leaders-video" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
<span data-offset-key="e4j4m-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$e4j4m.0:$e4j4m-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="e4j4m-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$e4j4m.0:$e4j4m-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Frats and sororities have always been enclaves of privilege. It wasn't so obvious when going to college/university itself was not so democratic. It's become all the MORE so since WW II, when so many of the great unwashed have started attending their colleges and universities.</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="e4j4m-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$e4j4m.0:$e4j4m-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="bj52l-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$bj52l" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="bj52l-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$bj52l.0:$bj52l-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">There is a kind of genteel, de facto racism that pervades 'higher' class whites inna South, a kind of off-handedness about it, a sense that it's a 'pro-forma' exercise; not like the bone-deep serious hate of the yokels and proles.</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="bj52l-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$bj52l.0:$bj52l-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="f8otq-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$f8otq" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="f8otq-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$f8otq.0:$f8otq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The cheese-wit in the accompanying video is a 'legacy' of that system.
So don't think for an instant that t</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">his little shit-stain's not "sorry" for the song.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="9k3fe-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$9k3fe" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="9k3fe-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$9k3fe.0:$9k3fe-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The skeevy, whining dick-wipe is sorry he got caught.</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="9k3fe-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$9k3fe.0:$9k3fe-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="2h9c-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$2h9c" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="2h9c-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$2h9c.0:$2h9c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">THAT it's prolly gonna cost him.</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="2h9c-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$2h9c.0:$2h9c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="9827e-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$9827e" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="9827e-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$9827e.0:$9827e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">He's sorry for THAT. You fucking BETCHA he's sorry for THAT!</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="9827e-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$9827e.0:$9827e-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="cnid3-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$cnid3" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="cnid3-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$cnid3.0:$cnid3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Not for singing the fucking ditty, which he'd sung with pride a thousand times before, with his 'house' mates and (all-white) frat 'brothers' who STILL sing it (when they think no one's listening)...</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="cnid3-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$cnid3.0:$cnid3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="au5s8-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$au5s8" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="au5s8-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$au5s8.0:$au5s8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Let the skeevy little fukkker rot in his own poisonous, bilious racism...</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="au5s8-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$au5s8.0:$au5s8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="64r13-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$64r13" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="64r13-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$64r13.0:$64r13-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">The racial-slur-filled ditty that this cumstain was recorded chanting enthusiastically on the bus filled with his fraternity brothers, who whistled and applauded, is in it way the epitome and embodiment of racism. </span><br />
<span data-offset-key="64r13-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$64r13.0:$64r13-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span data-offset-key="64r13-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$64r13.0:$64r13-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">First, it repeats the most reprehensible racial epithet with asswholish glee and enthusiasm, while proclaiming the intention to prevent anyone to whom the epithet could apply from ever joining the singer, on the bus, or ANY SAE bus, going anywhere.
</span><br />
<span data-offset-key="64r13-0-0" data-reactid=".aa.1:4.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.$64r13.0:$64r13-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Fuckery in the service of raw, racial exclusion; racism in thumb-nail. Case closed.</span></div>
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-21800195306256022862015-03-25T13:45:00.000-06:002015-03-25T13:45:06.789-06:00The Bleat Goes On, #6: Religious Fuckery<img alt="James Inhofe - Credit: Gage Skidmore/flickr" src="http://www.metroweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Inhofe-6874178605_06e1392a01_z.jpg" /><br />
Since the GOPhux 'restoration' in Congress, there has been a spate of nasty, mean-spirited attempts both in Congress and in the States to roll back recent gains by GLBT citizens and Gay Rights generally. A case in point is the troglodyte Senator from Okiestan, Jim Inhofe (whose family, he declared some time ago, was and had always been entirely free of either divorce or faggotry):<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced ten amendments Tuesday to the Senate Budget Resolution for fiscal year 2016, including one that takes direct aim at marriage equality. According to Inhofe’s office, Amendment 381 seeks to prevent the federal government from “discriminating against individuals, businesses, or organizations based on their sincerely held religious beliefs regarding abortion or marriage.” In essence, Inhofe’s proposed amendment would endorse the idea that organizations, businesses and individuals have the right to discriminate against same-sex couples due to their personally held religious beliefs. (</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 23px;">https://www.metroweekly.com/2015/03/inhofe-amendment-brings-religious-liberty-debate-to-the-senate/)</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
Yer ol' perfesser answered the query "Why do they keep on with this nonsense?" this way:
<br /><br />They're ginning up sentiment among festering Fundies and the fervent legions of god-blighted bible babblers for a Constitutional Convention.
The Righturds hold majorities in 31 of the 34 States necessary to demand a ConCon. There is BIG money--private, dark, dirty money--being spent at the state level to garner the rest.
Which is itself, terrifying. <br />
<br />
What's even MORE terrifying izzat the notion of a ConCon will be sold to the proles and drones of the LEFT as the way to remedy Hobby Lobby, Citizens United, etc. The naive queefs will swallow it whole, only to be "betrayed" on the end.<br />
<br />
That's cuz: Once there's a ConCon convened, EVERYTHING is in the table. Nothing is sacred.<br />
<br />
This has to be a terrifying prospect in an era when the electronic plebiscite is a real possibility. It has been shown in research that around 50% of the citizens in the USofA would NOT approve all 10 of the amendments in the Bill of Rights, and/or the 13 and 14th Amendments, now.<br />
<br />
There seems to me to be no way to hold a ConCon that would not be overtaken, overwhelmed, overmatched by the interests and resources of the CorpoRat State, and that would not, hence, become a ritual installation of the CorpoRat State--probably with some kind of 'National religion,' <i>AND CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION AND MARRIAGE</i> to keep the wackturd, RWNJ/Cristoids happy...<br />
<br />
Convening a ConCon would be a fucking BONANZA for the CorpoRatz, Oligarchs and Plutocratz, as well as the Dominionists...<br /><br />There is no way to prevent it.<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-5375874638441380862015-03-12T14:18:00.002-06:002015-03-12T14:28:00.674-06:00The Bleat, #5: Politics IS "Dirty Tricks"<center>
<img alt="Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) says Democrats should have known about the anti-abortion language in the bill. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)" src="http://i1.huffpost.com/gen/2705504/images/n-CORNYN-large.jpg" /></center>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Apparently some Wascawy Wepubwican Wabbit "covertly" inserted anti-abortion language into a Senate bill supposed only and innocently to address human trafficking*. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />And Yer Ol' Perfesser, along with a considerable percent of the leftish commentariat, is SHOCKED, as you might imagine. SHOCKED. Claude Rains has nothing on ME!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Is NOTHING sacred?</i></b> (Clutches pearls, struggles to untwist undergarments; fails)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
Please? Someone? Anyone?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Would SOMEONE explain to me why the Obots and or the DIMS had expected the GOPhux would suddenly start to "play fair" on anything? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Ancient Maxim: Expect the worst, and seldom be disappointed...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Ror at LEAST the last 40 years, their covert and defining goal was NEVER to govern.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Their goal HAS BEEN to make the merest idea of government as detestable as they can make it.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />They WANT to alienate you from your popular sovereignty, from even these faint, archaic vestiges of your representative democracy.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />That's the WHOLE FUCKING POINT.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />It's been in the open since the Raygoons in the 80s.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />Remember the "Nine Words": "I'm from the Govt and I'm here to help."</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />That was the start, 30 years ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Their goal isn't to govern. It's NEVER been to govern.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">It's to show that 'democratic government' cannot succeed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">It's to alienate the people from the only agency that can protect them from power of concentrated Capital.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">It's to disable and delegitimize the institutions, instruments and precedents that have kept the Ravishers in check at all over the last 150 years.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">The good news is, they're almost finished.<br /><br /><span style="line-height: 12.8640003204346px;">Just one more step:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline;"><span style="line-height: 12.8640003204346px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">They want the people to become so sick of it all that they can sell 'em all, right and left, on a Constitutional Convention, which, of course, the Oligarchs, Plutocrats, and Aristos will own, lock, stock and barrel, and will control and direct and programme, just like any OTHER political convention wherein the outcome is already known. (Agan, pro wrasslin comes to mind...)</span><br /><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline;"><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Then: Enter "The Corporate State," with no persky civil rights, no inefficient environmental protections, no expensive workers' rights, and --to placate the armed wing of the cult--</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">no abortion,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"> no gay marriage, and an official state religion. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline;"><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Are you ready?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline;"><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />Better be; cuz they are...</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">* http://bluenationreview.com/even-human-trafficking-bill-isnt-safe-gops-dirty-tricks/</span></span>Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-56760220749637619962015-03-10T06:49:00.000-06:002015-03-10T07:10:51.301-06:00The Bleat, #4: Uses of Power<img alt="GOP" src="http://thedailybanter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/GOP-600x338.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b><i>Woody's</i></b> been hearing lotso folks (civics-deprived, I'd judge) wonder what gives the Senatorial GOPhux the 'right' to intrude in the Iranian negotiations, to shove their oar in there to try to fuck up the pending arrangements.<br />
<br />
It's an ancient principle in law, going back to Hamurabi, probably. to wit:<br />
<br />
<i>When one has power, one CAN do anything that no one can STOP one from doing: That which is not specifically prohibited is permitted.</i><br />
<br />
It's always been this way. It has always been possible to usurp the power of the people.<br />
<br />
It's just that until now, nobody had the political cover to do it.<br />
<br />
There were gentleman's agreements--handshakes among equals-- that prevented such overreaching.<br />
<br />
Now, with the "First Black president" in office, that cover --the embedded and inextricable racism of the USer people-- has thoughtfully been provided.<br />
<br />
The GOPhux clearly believe that there is no sufficient, countervailing political force to oppose them.<br />
And there is none.<br />
<br />
There are no laws forbidding what they are doing, which is mainly fully and selfishly availing themselves of everything their heir power supplies them. GOPhux've been demonstrating that, successfully, at every opportunity, since 1981.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
So here's the dilemma: Prez Lowbar--a black, as you recall-- is NOT gonna send in the US marshals to arrest the hierarchy of the White People's party. Nagahapun. He won't/can't for so many reasons it would exhaust the rest of the day explaining them, so take my word for it...The Dims in Congress don't have the majorities they need to be able to show even a simulacrum of a spine and resist the GOPhux. The Dims just don't have the status for it.<br />
<br />
Also, of course, the Judiciary is split 5-4 for the CorpoRatz, Dominionists, and Big Money Despite their shameless fawning, the Oligarchs STILL regard the Dims with contempt, and support the GOPhux efforts to use racism to camouflage their true agenda: the final elimination of popular sovereignty and democratic self-government...<br />
<br />
Their NEXT step, after capturing the legislatures of just THREE more states, is a constitutional convention to inscribe that agenda into law: mebbe as early as sometime in 2017.<br /><br />The GOPhux couldn't pull this off unless Prez Lowbar was the weakest president in recent history. But he is, so they can...And will continue to do so...until somebody stops 'em; but nobody's gonna do that...Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-4767568915958398222015-02-23T15:40:00.001-07:002015-02-23T18:13:06.754-07:00The Bleat Goes In, # 3: Some Semiotics<img alt="QUEEN ELSA" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2631722/thumbs/n-QUEEN-ELSA-large570.jpg" />
<br />
<i>Criminally Cold?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">The early, influential French semiotics guy, Roland Barthes, made something of a career of apprehending fleeting cultural phenomena and interrogating them to attempt to reveal the deeper systems of signification they both convey and constitute. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">That the police in the metropolis of Harlan, Kentucky, had issued an arrest warrant for Elsa, the cartoon character from the Disney hit <i>Frozen,</i> in connection with the unprecedented, freezing, snowy winter weather in the region is such a phenomenon, I think. Barthes might have been intrigued. In his vocabulary, the arrest warran</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">t is a symbol of the present wish to dispel winter, but of a deeper awareness and denial of complicity in the complaint..</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />First, probably, he'd have noted the ubiquity of Disney imagery in the landscape of our general popular imagination, it's given-ness, and perhaps speculated upon the corpoRat colonization of the mind's collective eye. Eco, too, has commented on the implications of such immersion; he called it "Disneyfication" in <i>Travels in Hyper--Reality.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />And then he might have turned to the 'joke': the deliberately comic conceit that 'the weather' might be capable of being arrested. it being a subtle allusion to the charge that is is ONLY weather that is changing, and the extension of the false equivalence, frequently indulged in by the deniers, that climate and weather are the same. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Which, our deceased semiotician might have postulated, could be seen as a trivialization of the severity of the changes that impending, and apparently faster approaching catastrophic climate change than had previously been indicated, would certainly include. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />He might then have digressed: We never tire of naming the elements; to name them, we think, is to exert some control. We call the wind Mariah; now the cold is called Elsa. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><br />And then he might have concluded by suggesting that--if not the--at least some of the real culprits for the recent climactic plagues to befall the region--Harlan County, KY--could be traced directly to the coal that provided the livelihoods (and identities) to so many of those whom the cold now so sore afflicted.<br /><br />I know some folks'd say that reminds 'em a little of Karma...We can chat about it when i see ya at the beach. Paz, hippies.</span></span>Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-53706900690902050222015-02-16T07:32:00.003-07:002015-02-16T07:36:05.051-07:00The Bleat Goes On, #2: The Dis-Education President<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LxULOkvxYIg" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">On the whole, yer ol perfesser detests the current incumbent SLIGHTLY less than his predecessor, on a number of grounds. There is ample reason for fierce criticism of ThePrez.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">But, if there is one thing for which I shall bear Prez. Shamwow F. Lowbar an eternal and undying enmity, it will be his treatment of the nation's schools and students. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">It is also that area, schooling, in which he most clearly betrays his servile,corpoRat bona fides.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Obama may have had generous intentio</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">ns, but he if so, they were still-born when he installed and has KEPT that flaming, cortpRat douchebag, Arne Duncan, as SecEd...<br />Duncan has been the leader of the swarming hordes of corpoRats, privatizers, real estate tycoon, testing grifters high techers, and other smarmy opportunists looking to extract as much of the public treasure as they can from the country's public schools, to get it while the getting is good.<br />Under the Lowbarry/Duncan regime, it's gotten better and better.,..<br />Duncan, a corpoRat lawyer with only distant relations to the nitty gritty of schooling, has been a leader of the pack of jackals snapping at teachers' heels, accusing and abusing them for the systematic---and systematically engineered--failures within the institution. Teachers can no more be blamed for their students' successes or failures, measured by occasional tests, no matter the stakes, than can dentists be blamed for their patients' personal hygene between visits..<br />For 30 years, schools and teachers (unions) have been targets of legislative and corpoRat efforts to provide the impetus for the wholesale privatization of schooling, and Lowbar and his ass-hole hoops-playing buddy have opened the door and unlocked the safe.<br />Teachers are NOT responsible for the conditions that produce bad educational outcomes, when the single variable most correlated with school success is the child's residential Zip code. But, by his silence towards Duncan's calumnies, the cowardly President encourages the kinds of arrant nonsense spouted by the 'reformers.' </span></span>Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-52756267304126243222015-02-03T09:08:00.004-07:002015-02-03T14:11:58.433-07:00The Last Stand of the Po' White Trash: "FUCK NO!" To A Con Con<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<img src="http://i0.wp.com/www.alan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/abc_sarah_bristol_palin_ll_121008_wblog.jpg?resize=478%2C269" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Sarah Palin and her slattern/round-heeled, drunk daughter, Bristol, are in the forefront of a movement to call a Constitutional Convention to reverse 'liberal' successes in race relations, etc, and roll back Government regulation.<br />
And it's what yer ol' perfesser's scared the shit outta by, if you get my meaning. It is really scary, because it is VERY possible they might succeed.<br />
No, really!<br />
Forget that the she-bear and her twunt daughter are involved. That's just window dressing, to bring in the yokels, proles, and drones. There is a very REAL danger that the Righturds can garner enough support in State legislatures to force a ConCon.<br />
Which would be the worst KIND of a disaster from the perspective of a democratic citizenry.<br />
<a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alan.com%2F2015%2F02%2F02%2Fsarah-and-bristol-palin-want-to-rewrite-the-constitution%2F&h=NAQF9F6io&enc=AZOFKQe2fkdi9m1gKr6xWGHLnlRKJSVT2KCYEQMOXcXrUXLDkSEMDcTsSIa2W3ZZT3S0rmF97q_m7Kz6_FCzSKxY1526-GRPInvJkIh3La-uIjA35CX8eog7KSKrh4DJGP0Jal980phOk7xitvQllkHAhdf0eiQGHkR0u9AWq0br7A&s=1" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.alan.com/…/sarah-and-bristol-palin-want-to-rewr…/</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">Don't dismiss this just because Caribou Barbie and her teen twunt are at the point. They're very attractive to a certain segment of the populace. </span><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">What you have to remember is that the essential feature of this appeal is the embedded, racial message.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
This is the :Last Stand" of White People--people who's first source of identity is their whiteness.<br />
They are going to try to use their (declining, but still substantial) status as the racial majority to preserve their fading privileges by rewriting the Constitution to if not expressly favor their interests, at least to prevent their 'enemies' from using it to project MORE threats to 'em.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">See: It's not a "crazy" strategy. </span>The States can demand a constitutional convention if 3/4 agree. <span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"> They need 38 States to convene a ConCon. </span><span style="line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">They have 30, with at least three more teetering toward the Darkness. </span><br />
This is exactly why the Kochs and the rest are spending so much money in the states on 'local' elections. Wackloon/cristoid/fundie/teahadists (i.e., the GOPhux) now are in the majority in a MAJORITY (at least 30) States' legislatures. They could take NM; they almost did, last time. Time and Citizens United are on their side. It's even MORE insidious on the state level than in Federal elections, and it's easier to corrupt the locals.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; margin-top: 6px;">
You might think a convention to rewrite the Constitution would be a good idea. And I would wonder at your sanity. Who does anyone imagine would direct the institution, organization, management, and outcome of such an undertaking if NOT the very oligarchs who have worked and spent mightily for the past 60 years to accomplish what they now enjoy?</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; display: inline; margin-top: 6px;">
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">
I cannot think of a single way to have a ConCon and prevent it from becoming the ratification of the Corporate State.</div>
<div style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;">
They need only capture EIGHT more states.</div>
<a href="http://www.statescape.com/.../partysplits/partysplits.aspx" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.statescape.com/.../partysplits/partysplits.aspx</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 15.4559993743896px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="395" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-CHrH6sCdVI" width="520"></iframe></span></span></div>
</div>
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-63814271136374619182014-11-17T10:34:00.001-07:002014-11-17T10:34:39.301-07:00Fuck "God/gods."<img src="http://memestorage.com/_nw/35/32830886.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Yer ol' perfesser's gottsa warnya: <a href="http://www.mikehuckabee.com/2014/11/atheists-at-it-again">Fuckabee's got the vapors</a> again about "nasty" atheists.<br />
<br />
But this god-blighted bible-babbler's ire is just as specious as his logic.<br />
<br />
"Non-believers" such as I don't give a rotten, runny shit about your silly little god-delusions. No "god" ever did anything real.<br />
<br />
What we atheists and others of a free-thinking disposition object to is the claim by/of "Believers" that their "Beliefs" are somehow endowed with <i>PARTICULAR</i> authority and are therefore <i>ESPECIALLY</i> deserving of particular attention in the public sphere. They base this claim on the basis of alleged, unprovable, specious, spurious relation TO such invisible, made-up "beings."<br />
<br />
Theism-inspired 'beliefs' hold <i>LESS</i> water in the public sphere than those derived from science <i>BECAUSE</i>, by definition, 'faith-based' policies have no evidence to support their claims, other than their opinions, which have no substance at ALL in the 'real' world.<br />
<br />
For the record: I <i><b>FIRMLY</b></i> believe <i>ALL</i> and <i>ANY</i> references to <i>ANY</i> and<i> ALL</i> 'deities' should be removed from <i>ANY</i> and <i>ALL</i> public observances of a civic nature. This would include the 'Pledge,' any sworn oaths, the currency, etc...<br />
<br />
<i><b>BUT I SWEAR</b></i>: On my honor, I swear that from this day forth I shall never again speak another derogatory sentiment about God, the Church, the Bible, Preachers, Sin, Heaven, Hell, Angels, Satan or ANY of the rest of that happy horseshit...<br />
<br />
On the sole proviso that I never have to HEAR or listen to another word about that crap.<br />
<br />
Keep it home or in church. I don't care what you do there. Eat your babies for all of me.<br />
<br />
Just don't bring it to the PUBLIC FORA as though it were somehow cosmically, or socially, or politically privileged, meaningful or significant.<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-75180663437238969672014-11-15T08:32:00.000-07:002014-11-15T08:57:15.113-07:00The GOPhux/Righturds LOVE them some LowBarry!<center>
<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BYq8J7ICYAEfoD2.jpg:large" /></center>
<br />
<br />
Woody thinks you might get the impression from the Nooz, feeds, and the Netz that the GOP "hates" PrezLowbar. You MIGHT have noticed that NONE of what the GOPhux did since 2010 (see illustration) made a shittin' bit of difference in the elections? Hate him? Nothing could be further from the truth. They LOVE him! Prez. Shamwow F. Lowbar's the best thing to happen to the GOPhux since LBJ signed the Civil Right Act. Was there even ONE GOPhukkker defeated incumbent who was NOT beaten by ANOTHER, even bat-shit CRAZIER, GOPhux opponent?<br />
<br />
Certainly there are no small number of GOPhux individuals/Saltine Americans who "hate" him, as you'd expect. Racism is one of the perpetual blights on GOPhux politix.<br />
<br />
But the Party, as a whole, as an entity, love him, for the simple reason that he provides absolutely PERFECT cover for their REAL purpose, their long-term agenda, of undoing and eliminating popular sovereignty/democratic self-rule...<br />
<br />
As the designated Party of the owners, oligarchs, elites, and aristos, the GOPhux are in fact dedicated to ending "democracy." LowBarry gives 'em the pretext and the target, and they can STILL deny their true intents.<br />
<br />
It's gotten too expensive to maintain the pretense of 'democracy.'.<br />
<br />
Everything the GOPhukkks have done since 2009 (well, since 1968, really; since 2009 they've just fast-tracked) has been bent to THAT end.<br />
<br />
PrezLowbar gives them a way to disguise their efforts, because the GOPhux' constituents will forgive them almost ANYTHING as long as it makes that uppity NEGRO look bad, up to AND INCLUDING if that is the destruction of the whole idea of a "democratic polis."<br />
<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-59934173076236620092014-11-11T08:11:00.001-07:002014-11-11T08:11:08.770-07:00A Face to Make an Orc Puke!<img alt="ted-cruz" src="http://src2.politicususa.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ted-cruz.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If for no other reason than to further highlight the nightmarish aspects of this fucker's desires and demeanors, this needs to be repeated... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yer ol' perfesser sternly admonishes you: These people--the Cruzes, the Gohmerts, the Inhofes, the Rubios, et al--are NOT as stupid as they sound (that should be obvious: NO ONE could be that stupid and still drive a car).
They all know exactly what they are saying, every word. It's all part of the script of the National Kabuki Theatre on the Potomac. Every word, gesture, and event is blocked and scheduled like a theatrical premier.. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is more, they KNOW they are spewing arrant bullshit. And they do it HAPPILY, with no regard for the chaos and confusion they spread... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But since there is no forum--and probably no vocabulary, either, given the constraints of "civility,"--for directly calling them on their professional bullshit, they keep ON saying spewing it for the "folks back home," wherever 'home' is, and the craven, lap-dog/courtier/CorpoRat press "reports" it, faithfully and accurately. Because, of course, that is their JOB, as ensured by the great corporate gobble-up of the media in the 80s and 90s--remember media consolidation? Ratified by CLENIS Clinton's Comm Act of '96. Not going back! Coup plotters ALWAYS take over the media, first. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It would be useful if there were some way to confront them on such matters.
Maybe an actual adversarial press?
That was the kind of press that was deemed worthy of Constitutional protection by the founders, such that its preservation is enshrined in our founding document. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But you won't see another one of those anytime soon...not in the USofA, ever again, probably.</span>Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-18164125663504810562014-11-10T06:22:00.001-07:002014-11-10T06:23:32.610-07:00Up-Date at BERNIE'S!<img src="https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10710722_726242134097460_1842121555014382159_n.png?oh=6d272a409dcefef27b3cdecf58035077&oe=54D3D5C3" /><br />
<br />
A Rhetorical Question?<br />
Woody'll answer Bernie's (rhetorical) question with some rhetorical facts:<br />
<b><i>Because</i></b>, with money and/or power, <i>there is no such thing as "enough."</i><br />
The wealthy have the means to ensure that their will to acquire more is in no way impeded by the likes of US (proles, like you and me). If you had a lot of money, it would be working FINE for you and you'd be delighted about it.<br />
People say, <i>well, go ahead, let 'em screw shit up more. They'll be screwed at NEXT election time.</i><br />
Ummmmm, <b>DERP</b>!<br />
What part of "We Just Had A Big-ass Election That The Fucktards WON, Overwhelmingly!" don't they understand?<br />
They--the bosses, oligarchs, owners, elites, et al--ARE NOT, WERE NOT and DID NOT GET <i>SCREWED</i>. Maybe you noticed?<br />
If they were gonna be "screwed," if the screwing of the totalitarian clones were gonna happen, they would have been 'screwed' by an outraged electoirate for their activities in the last 2, 4, and 6 years.<br />
Wouldn't they? Attacks on women, infrastructure, safety nets, health care. SOME of that woulda/-SHOULDA-- stuck, innit?<br />
But, they're NOT 'screwed.' They're fucking <i>UNTOUCHED</i>!<br />
If anything, they're <i>STRONGER</i> for it.<br />
<b><i>So, let's get SOMETHING straight, folks</i></b>:<br />
The GOPhux can do ANYTHING, say anything, attack anything, destroy anything, AS LONG AS they sell it to the country as "<i>fucking with the Negro</i>": Making the NEGRO look bad, undermining the NEGRO's authority, wreaking havoc with the NEGRO's policies. ANYTHING is permissible if PrezLowbar can be made responsible.<br />
They are NOT gonna be screwed by or for ANYTHING they do that they can lay at the feet of "fucking the uppity Nigra."<br />
That's an electoral free pass, one that they'll cash in on for the next 15-20 years.Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-26232854715619458962014-11-05T13:08:00.004-07:002014-11-05T13:16:20.312-07:00What's Next? Beer and Circuses <img src="http://d2omw6a1nm6pnh.cloudfront.net/images/obama-2014-10things.jpg" /><br />
<br />
In yer ol' perfesser's oft-stated, yet still humble opinion, it was already too late when Prez Lowbar didn't push back against the (minority) GOPhux' framing and issues in 2009 in his first six months in office.<br />
He gave ground WAAAAAY too readily, too easily, on Gitmo, public option, tax breaks, too much.<br />
It is WAAAAAY tooo late for him to push back now.<br />
<br />
He's weak. That's all there is to it. His own party fled from him (and lost, whether by doing so or not is moot)...<br />
<br />
The GOPhux smell blood, and are just gonna send shovelsful of bills to him--nasty, mean-spirited, damaging, injurious, disabling bills--daring him to veto them. <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/obama-mcconnell-boehner-tea-party">One pundit put it this way</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Republican lawmakers will be eager to pass bills, but their efforts won't be aimed at forging compromises with the president. Their legislation will likely target Obamacare and slash spending for social programs. They can be expected to fiercely block presidential appointments, especially judges. They might try to enact restrictions on abortion, and they will certainly seek to gut environmental regulations and climate change policies. Oh yes, and they will push tax cuts for the well-to-do. Such an agenda will be predicated on more confrontation and obstruction."</blockquote>
<br />
Oh, and they're gonna impeach him, too. Did I mention that?<br />
<br />
The only out is if the Dims in the Senate become as obstructionist as the GOPhux have been. Unfortunately, as I've stressed elsewhere, they do not have the 'status' to do it, being the "junior" (inferior) partners in the firm.<br />
Besides, the Dims in the Senate don't have the cohesiveness, the party-line loyalty, of the GOPhux. A lot of Dims in the Senate STILL gotta/gonna be wary of being too close to "that damn Negro"...They'll break ranks, as the behavior of so many candidates this year showed.<br />
<br />
So that's out.<br />
<br />
Iow: He's fucked. As are we all...<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-10538791646634984322014-11-05T06:08:00.002-07:002014-11-05T16:41:21.854-07:00Thump-Quack: It's Over<img alt="President Obama" src="http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/main_node_view_image/obama_cbc_rtr.img__1.jpg" /><br />
<br />
You see the problem, doncha?<br />
Katerina VanDen Huevel, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/188153/democrats-lost-big-tonight-why-obama-should-double-down">at the Nation</a>, thinks that Prez Shamow. F. Lowbar NOW has to double down.<br />
That's what she said: "Double Down!"<br />
And THAT'S the problem.<br />
He's not a "doublin' down" kinda guy. He's hardly a BETTING kinda guy, unless it's blowing up brown people on the other side of the world (then he's okay widdit, betting it's far enough away not to pose any immediate problem at home).<br />
He NEEDS to be willing--even EAGER--to start to wield the VETO-PEN.<br />
But he's not.<br />
That's cuz PrezLowbar, who starts ALL sensitive negotiations by giving away his strongest points--<i>remember "health insurance?</i>"--is gonna feel called upon to '<u>deal responsibly</u>" with these skeevy, reeking, racist motherfuckers in the GOPhux' Congress. Rather than mount a last-ditch defense of the remains of the FDR/LBJ 'great society,' he'll cave. It won't look like it, at first, but that will be the net effect.<br />
Oh, he'll have the most logical and rational reasons for caving, but count on it: He'll collapse like a pup-tent in a tornado.<br />
The ONLY hope for "liberal/progressive" policies is that PrezLowbar show some spine and wield a sharp and aggressive VETO pen. But he has NOT shown he's eager--ore even much willing--to risk his "reputation" as a conciliator, to save those programs or defend those policies. The "Legacy" of America's First Black president will require him to 'compromise' (really, to give away the progressive store)--but he wouldn't have been installed if that was NOT something he could/would do.<br />
ThePrez's only vetoed two bills in almost six years, the least of ANY President pretty much ever. Gerry Ford, whose tenure was the shortest since Garfield, issued more vetoes (66) than any Chief Exec since Ike (66, including "pocket vetoes"). No one should plausibly expect Prez Shamwow to better, or even to approach, it.<br />
And LowBarry's a gutless conciliator who is afraid of being labeled an "angry Black man," which he would be if he stood up for liberal/progressive principles. So he won't...The LEGACY is all important, now, and that does NOT include a chapter on LowBarry standing up to the GOPhux. The "legacy" does NOT include an "Angry Black Man" standing up to the racist Whites.<br />
SO: We, dear friends, are truly and grossly FUCKED!<br />
<br />
<i>And let me add how MUCH I hope I am wrong, and that ThePrez will find some inner resources to defend the principles the people they thought he was already a defender of when they elected him....</i><br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-24170340222249669272014-11-03T08:11:00.002-07:002014-11-03T08:11:24.790-07:00TO Vote, or NOT To Vote?<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aIMgfBZrrZ8" width="560"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Knowing this will not find anything like unanimous approval, still:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Yer ol' perfesser'z outlined this before, but on 'election eve,' it is even more important: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For an "ethical person' confronted with choices for action which include ONLY different levels of vileness and evil, there is, <i>arguendo</i>, an ethical duty to support the choice that portends the LEAST harm to the GREATEST number. This is the "MiniMax" position familiar rto game therorists and advocated by America's best renowned ethicist, (the late) John Rawls, in his landmark treatise: "<u>A Theory of Justice</u>."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If we cannot prevent evil (and we cannot), we have the responsibility to diminish it to the extent possible for the greatest number of people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I could see boycotting the vote <i>only</i> on the proviso that that were unambiguously understood to be an act of protest and resistance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But since already (approximately) 50% or more of the electorate will probably abstain for their own reasons, my (and YOUR) abstention would not create any greater effect than voting would; so I shall cast my ballot--tomorrow, in person... It impresses NO ONE to march into the polling place and declare: "Fuck you! I'm not VOTING!~"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://wapo.st/1tzaIgM">John Oliver's correct</a>, too, in stressing that the closer to 'your' home the person lives for whom you will vote, the more important it is that you cast your vote, because the smaller the pool of voters, the more likely a vote is to have an impact.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That is just me, prolly; YMMV.</span><br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-5901487989448790212014-09-29T16:56:00.003-06:002014-09-29T16:57:33.300-06:00Not MY First Choice<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10698715_10152681100358118_3023466856445575483_n.png?oh=e2965c11138c73d019ff688e15aee271&oe=54C02A3F&__gda__=1421568978_4320a54cefe36786114cdbe540f51460" /><br />
<br />
It is natural for desperate folks to look backwards to deceased executives for models and/or inspirations of democratic behavior. In yer ol' perfesser'z judgment, hagiographizing not withstanding, Truman's not one to emulate.<br />
<br />
Harry pretended to be a friend of the workingman. An he did initiate the great work of integrating USer military forces, which arguably led withing a decade to the Black civil rights movement.<br />
<br />
But HST also BEGAN the chore--which Raygoon and the Raygunsels completed to thoroughly 30 years later--of rolling back, undermining, dismantling and eventually all-but eliminating the gains USer labor had made in the previous 30 years. He <i>vetoed</i> the Taft-Hartley Act, which eviscerated Union activities, and then <b><i>enforced</i></b> it 12 times in the next four years after his veto was--<i>as he knew from the start it would be</i>--overturned.<br />
<br />
HST also unleashed the National Security State, via the National Security Act of 1947. <br />
<br />
It effectively truncated the authority of the Constitution to EXCLUDE "security" and established MOST of the most troublesome institutions in the toils of which we now try to salvage a bare modicum of privacy in our own lives."<br />
<br />
It was these facts which Eisenhower's eulogy in his farewell address, the "militaryu-industrial complex" speech mourned and bemoaned.
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-1628759872459287072014-08-07T15:34:00.001-06:002014-09-29T16:58:37.779-06:00Test-R-Us, Inc.<img src="https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10403366_10150574359454945_5747889009934057058_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Testing has driven the curriculum ever since the Raygoons came to power. It has only grown in impact and influence since then.<br />
<br />
"Accountability," it was called, back then. It was already a disputatious topic, even then (early-mid 80s, when I was in Grad School, working on a PhD in Ed). The first book on it that I read was this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Accountability-American-education-Don-Martin/dp/0916622010/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407446617&sr=1-6&keywords=Accountability+in+American+Education">Accountability in American education: A critique</a> (January 1, 1976), by Martin, Overholt and Urban.</blockquote>
Though nearly 40 years old, it could be well revived, inasmuch as it answers almost ALL of the red herrings, straw men and other fallacies which the proponents extol still today.<br />
<br />
So-called 'accountability' was "demanded" by "reformers" who piled it atop the mythology that teachers have/had soft jobs, short hours, and "3-months-vacation a year!"<br />
<br />
And the growing realization, even then, that there was a whole fcking PILE of money to be plundered.<br />
<br />
Oh, and union busting.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Which is the Murkin way. And the Raygoons were on it like stink on shit: Bill Bennett, Chester "Chukker" Finn, Lamar Alexander, Chris Whittle, E.D. Hirsch, all the usual grifters, all rode that wave. Remember "A Nation At Risk?"<br />
<br />
Testing today has become an end in itself. Tests today mainly exist to provide psychomeretricians with fresh data with which to construct newer, more revealing tests. The only interest that Bill Gates has in education at all is to corner the market in educational software and to own the licenses to all the IT curricular applications.<br />
<br />
But the "accountabalists" STILL want teachers' performances assessed and judged by how well their students perform on essentially meaningless instruments designed mainly to elicit information to write more tests.<br />
<br />
<i>We're not "poor," we're temproarily embarrassed millionaires</i>, as Steinbeck put it.<br />
<br />
And this attitude is the product of the longest, continuous, uninterrupted stimulus-response experiment in history. We live in a gigantic Skinner-box--and the myriad others which we mistake for 'individuality'--the walls of which are comprised of the flickering blue screens with which we surround ourselves, and from which we are never far.<br />
<br />
<i>Divisa et impera.</i><br />
<br />
The Ipod, and it's ilk, has very nearly completed the task, creating the millions and billions of "niche" markets which are the definitions of our shopping desires: The apotheosis of atomization--which is the mist, as dispersed and divided one CAN be.Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-9704462280399871422014-08-05T09:57:00.003-06:002014-08-05T09:57:44.916-06:00Mutually Assured Dishonesty<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t1.0-9/10583885_295215450660337_2522766329024332848_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t1.0-9/10583885_295215450660337_2522766329024332848_n.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Yer ol Perfesser's gotten really weary of this meme:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The "deficit" is only reduced two ways:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">1) Increase revenues.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">2) Decrease expenditures.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Clinton raised some taxes, but he also cut services; he had a regime change in Yugoslavia to finance. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Lowbar hasn't raised taxes (GOPhux obstructionism)...and the wars just keep adding up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Ergo, to reduce the 'deficit,' they HAD to reduce expenditures.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Clinton nominally raised taxes, but slick accountants (Arthur Anderson, anyone) and tax attorneys had work-arounds in place before the ink was dry. Services were cut, though rhetorically disguised in several ways, like 'ending welfare as we know it.'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Lowbar went full-on austerity, freezing gummint salaries and hiring, cutting programs, reducing services.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For whom?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I'll give ya a hint: It WASN'T the military, the banks, the corporats, or wealthy white people.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t1.0-9/10583885_295215450660337_2522766329024332848_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-41036459003237237422014-08-01T06:30:00.002-06:002014-08-01T06:44:32.266-06:00Correlation =/= Causation, Revisited: Education & "Success"<img src="http://www.quickanded.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2010-graduation-hire-me-590x260.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Yer ol' perfesser (amply supplied with degrees (three and a half of 'em), all of which were paid for by the State, one way or another, what with the GI Bill, scholarships and assistantships) hopes everybody already knows that correlation does not imply causation?<br />
<br />
Right?<br />
<br />
Yes, the 'level' of one's formal <a href="http://imtcblog.com/career/is-college-really-worth-it/">education is to some (greater or lesser) extent correlated with income</a>: a "higher level" of (formal) education is often part of the resume of wealthier, more 'successful' people.<br />
<br />
But industry, gummint, and the Owners have constructed a mythology and an 'industry' (for-profit "colleges") around that correlation and have marketed it as if the relation were <b><i>causal</i></b>, when it is NOT.<br />
Getting a "degree" will NOT <b><i>lead</i></b> to financial/economic/career "success."<br />
<br />
It <i>NEVER DID</i>.<br />
<br />
<i>The myth constructs/portrays the phenomenon exactly bass-ackwards</i>.<br />
<br />
The relation upon which the myth is premised goes back to a period when only those who were of the 'upper-middle class' and 'higher' were ABLE (or permitted) to attend institutions of higher learning. The wealthy GOT degrees, but the degrees did not confer wealth or even the opportunity to gather it. Rather, a degree was often the signature of inherited status and the wealth that that implied.<br />
<br />
But, to gin up revenues (and, not incidentally, to supply 'industry' with another tool by which to discriminate in hiring without appearing to do so), they owners and the institutions began to portray it the OTHER way, and so it has become, in the mythology of getting ahead.<br /><br />Meanwhile, as the costs of 'higher education' escalate at rates far in excess of the rates of other, recently commodified social 'goods,' those aspiring to improve their chances in the rigged "game of Life" have been convinced that it is worth it, somehow, to mortgage their futures and voluntarily indenture themselves--and their families--with loans they 1) cannot hope to repay and 2) cannot escape through bankruptcy, the revenues of which enrich shysters and grifters in an "industry" created from the fabrics of hope and despair.<br />
<br />
<br />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-38739470673259717242014-07-23T16:45:00.000-06:002014-07-24T08:41:21.412-06:00The Bleat Resumes: Bloody Palestine<img src="http://www.pcperuano.com/wp-content/themes/Yen/timthumb.php?src=http://www.pcperuano.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/intifada.jpg&w=580&zc=1" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Yer ol' Perfesser, though NOT an expert on Arab/Israeli relations, would make this obvious assertion: "Israel" <i>qua</i> 'state,' will not EVER tolerate a fully sovereign Palestinian State, on the West Bank, or Gaza, or ANYWHERE.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">It simply CANNOT.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">This </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">seems incredibly obvious to yer ol' Perfesser, for reasons tied to Real-Politik, odious as it is:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 20px;">1) Palestinian statehood would mean all those Palestinian whom the Israelis have wronged--if not since 1947, then at least since 1990--would immediately have a legal forum in which to seek justice. As "stateless" people, they have no such status, now. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 20px;">2) Palestinian statehood would mean the Israelis would have to actually negotiate in good faith on matters like water rights, territory, and shyared resources, including the oil/nat-gas reserves which are among the things that Israel hopes to secure by making Gaza uninhabitable.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 20px;">3) Palestinian statehood would mean the Israeli "settlers" would be constrained by international law from occupying new settlements, destroying Arab orchards, confiscating property, etc. Settlements might have to be abandoned or restored to the original Arab owners.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4) Palestinian statehood would carry with it the 'Right of Return." All the hundreds of thousands of Arabs displaced since 1947 would theoretically have the right to return to their 'homeland,' on and by the same logic which permits Jews that right; and if THAT weren't enough to put the chgingies to any deal....</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 20px;">5)Palestinian statehood would mean the Palestinians would be entitled to have a military for "defensive" purposes: army, navy & air force, with bases, armories, and weapons all INSIDE Israel.. </span></blockquote>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">For those and a score of other reasons, Israel, <i>qua </i>State, CANNOT and WILL NOT accept or tolerate an autonomous, sovereign, Palestinian state, and why the "two-state solution" will forever remain part of the "peace process," since it is impossible and therefore guarantees the peace process will never end, and nothing will upset the current arrangements.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/10559849_10204435422869506_9119996217083786591_n.jpg" /></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-6749438478712112812014-06-09T15:31:00.003-06:002014-06-09T15:31:56.231-06:00The Bleat Returns: Nuff Said...<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/10341973_1428382967431754_5070977310743775355_n.jpg" />Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5140506531679956515.post-30821373100673852422014-06-07T17:57:00.001-06:002014-06-07T17:57:16.244-06:00The Bleat Returns: Don't Look Back!<img src="http://www.cagle.com/working/100127/stein.jpg" /><br />
Woody'd like to reiterate:<br />
There are, I believe, probably at least four "good"--sensible, practical, and legal--reasons why the Busheviks won't ever face prosecution for their crimes. In no particular order:<br />
---No Precedent. Precedent matters in such things as laws and prosecutions. Never in the history of the country has a successor regime tried to punish the executives of the prior regime. That's one of the reasons that power passes so seamlessly, so peacefully. Our "continuity" has largely depended on the tacit agreement that we "Don't Look Back."<br />
---The Defense--"National Security"--would be irrebuttable to any jury. The answer to any question: Why? Because: Terrorists! Protecting the American people! Mooslims! UmmmmBooogerty!!!<br />
---The Jury. The Busheviks still enjoy the support of about 30% of the populace. So, chances are that three or four members of any jury selected would be (at least, silent) Busheviks themselves and would not convict even on damning evidence.<br />
---The Future. If Prez Lowbar WERE to have the temerity to bring the Chimpertor/Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and Rice to 'justice,' he would not be five steps outside the WhiteHouse, in Jan, 2017, before the slammer'd be closing on his black ass.<br />
There may be others, though I haven't thought of any more. However, I am not a Lawyer; but those are enough, I think.<br />
There does still seem a very real possibility, however, that even NOT trying to bring the Bushevik war criminals to court probably won't help Prez. LowBar, after he's no longer in Office. I think it's entirely possible that, especially when/if theGOPhukkks take the WhiteHouse in '16, the Teahadists will try to lynch him, figuratively at least.Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com1