Cry Baby

Alberto Gonzales feels he is a victim of the War on Terror. I wonder did they hold him incommunicado for seven years in a chain link cage. I wonder if they sexually humiliated him or ridiculed the most revered tenets of his religion. I wonder if they tortured him with simulated drowning. I guess not.

This is a free country. Apparently nobody wants to give Alberto a job that he feels is appropriate to his status. What a guy.

Tristan De Cunha

I was reading about the most remote human settlement in the World. It is an archipelago in the roaring forties of the South Atlantic, halfway between South Africa and South America. It has fewer than 300 residents, all descended from fifteen original inhabitants. They speak a bastardized English patois and have little education.

Seems like an OK place. A little stormy. Cool weather, not frigid. They have some goats and can grow hardy root vegetables. Plenty of fish and tasty crustaceans. They probably have cheese from the goats. The closest people are on the island of Saint Helena, not exactly a metropolis and that's hundreds of miles away. No airport. The only access is by ship and there is no suitable harbor or anchorage. They don't get much traffic.

It might be nice to live there for awhile. They don't allow immigration but I'm a registered nurse and my wife is a school teacher. They probably don't have many of those. It's not like we're going to settle down and raise a family, little late for that.

TV Should Be Free

I understand Viacom and Time Warner Cable are in a battle over reimbursement for Viacom Cable TV programing.

I don't understand why I should have to pay for cable TV. It's full of commericial advertisements and the content is insipid. I Watch the Daily Show sometimes and Celebrity Rehab recently and I understand these shows are on Viacom provided channels. I wouldn't miss them that much.

Mostly I watch Cable news. I think I would be just about as satisfied if all I had was radio.

Party On, Garth!

The Bush administration is backing out the door, throwing money behind them. When you add up the wars, homeland security, wasted disaster relief and the myriad of economic stimulus, bailouts and TARP, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't add up to eight or ten trillion dollars. Every penny of that money is off the books. This means it's not money you paid in taxes, it's money you will owe in taxes in the future.

Paris Hilton could have done a better job of running the government the last eight years and we all would probably be dressed a lot nicer and have had more sex, for less money.

Does anyone think that any of the off the books money, that has been spent, did any good for anyone except corrupt contractors, brain dead government employees and greedy capitalists? Come on, fess up! This is a big time blog. Sometimes I get as many as twenty hits a day.

I just want to hear from one person that they don't think it's all been a waste.

Highlight of 2008

So, what do you think the most important story of 2008 is?

The success of the surge in Iraq and Bush's glorious victory over World wide terrorism?

The Pope's benevolent forgiveness of Galileo after only 400 years, for insisting the earth is round and circles the Sun? Even though all good Christians know it's not true.

The election of America's first foreign born, Islamic terrorist, commie, mudperson President, Barack Obama?

My pick is the World's continuing economic meltdown. It seems like a no brainer to me, although I read on cathlete.net that homosexuals are brainwashing our children in school, killed Terri Schiavo, force young girls into having abortions with dirty serrated grapefruit spoons and want to roast Sarah Palin's mongoloid baby in a pit at a Hawaiian luau, then eat his flesh, that seems pretty serious too.

What am I missing? Leave comments.

God's Work

Some may choose to be offended by the increasingly shrill and repugnant themes running through the rhetoric coming out of the spokespeople of the American Right. Blatant racism. Sexism. Homophobia. Religious fanaticism. Jingoistic militarism. Callous contempt for the poor. Conspicuous consumption of limited resources by the favored few. All of these and more are causes championed falsely by them, in the name of American conservatism.

As long as they are out there selling this bill of fare they will find little mainstream support. They are not just shooting themselves in the foot, they are cutting themselves off at the neck. I, for one, do not wish for greater moderation on the part of the Right but an even more extreme, repulsive and hateful toxic spew. This will ensure that they languish impotently for a good, long time.

I believe that any full time job should bring with it a standard of living by which the worker can expect with frugality, to fully support him or her self with modest sufficiency. I believe all should be able to live freely and openly, according to their own beliefs, as long as they don't interfere with the rights of others striving to do the same. I believe in the availability of educational opportunity to all who are willing and able to benefit from it. I believe that affordable and economical basic health care should be available to all and they shouldn't have to bankrupt themselves to get it, for themselves or their loved ones. I'm not sure this makes me a socialist but if it does, call me one. There are worse things to be.

Keep the hate coming, Right Wingers, you're doing God's work.

Bush Derangement, Then and Now

The far Right Wing are an increasingly insular, isolated and disgruntled group composed mostly of racist bigots and religious fanatics. One of their most closely held beliefs is that there is a Bush Derangement Syndrome and nobody ever gave poor GW a chance to shine. That's bullshit. When he was elected the first time he enjoyed wide support. After his election he had very high popularity among most Americans. He fucked up. He has been the worst President ever. He has caused deep cultural divides to open among the population. He has squandered our influence and power pursuing multiple unilateral foreign wars of aggression against countries which pose us no threat. He has dismantled many of our most cherished traditions of personal freedom. He is ever eager to shift blame away from himself, accepting responsibility only for his ever decreasing successes. He has been a divider, not a uniter both at home and abroad.

Barack Obama is now in the same position as Bush was eight years ago only now we face much graver conditions and challenges. Time will tell whether he is any more up to the task than Bush. The idea that failure or success of our nation is somehow preordained is stupid but much what can be expected of the Right.

Bush and his xenophobic minions flatter themselves that history will smile on them and that Bush will be judged as a great man, ahead of his time and not a pathetic clutcher always behind the curve. He styles himself as a new Harry Truman. I don't think anything could be farther from the truth. When Truman left office, he had nothing to hide. He went home to Missouri and his small town friends, some of whom he served with in the trenches of World War I. He walked the streets every day, with no fear or apprehension, among them. He made no claim to greatness and couldn't care less what people thought of him. When he and Bess had people over for dinner, they were more likely to be humble neighbors than captains of industry or foreign dignitaries. I don't think that their post Presidential careers are going to be similar. I don't think people's opinions of Bush are likely to change.

I could be wrong.

Nuclear War in South Asia?

I'm wondering if there will be war soon between Pakistan and India.

India feels that Pakistan has not done all they can to bring those responsible for the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai to justice. They cannot let this incident go unresolved.

Pakistan feels they are being held responsible for the attack in error. They fear Indian military incursion.

It doesn't matter if any of these things are true. Both sides bear deep enmity for the other. They have a history of armed conflict. Rhetoric and troop presence along the borders are escalating. All it needs is an incident to set things off.

The US doesn't have the moral authority to intervene. We started two of the stupidest wars in our history in retaliation for just such an incident. We do not have the military strength to intervene because we are now utilizing most of our military resources to fight those wars.

Boeing, Boeing

Have you seen Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner? It is very cool. It uses a lot of Mylar and carbon fiber laminated with epoxy to create a large, long haul airliner that has more in common with the experimental planes of the Rutan brothers than the 707 that revolutionized air travel in the late 50s.

If it is successful, it will be the biggest step forward for commercial aviation since metal, monocoque monoplanes replaced wood framed, fabric covered biplanes with wire strut stressors. The problem is that nothing like it has ever been built before that will be subjected to the heavy loads and extreme, extended stress and strain of commercial airline use.

All the computer simulations in the World can't tell you what's really going to happen when these birds start to pile up the miles. First, they need extensive real world testing and evaluation. Thy need a few years at least of freight hauling use before being put into even relatively short haul passenger service. Boeing has taken hundreds of orders for these planes on the basis of claims of huge increases in energy efficiency and has promised delivery of a reliable, safe, all the bugs worked out product with delivery pending now. They have staked their reputation and future revenue that they can deliver.

I don't think it's going to happen. Not for at least a few more years and some additional engineering work. I think they have made a mistake. Don't buy their stock. Don't fly in this plane.

Medical Conscience Rule

This is a joke. Every health care agency or facility has written policies and procedures to which they agree to adhere. Each health care agency or facility is licensed and inspected regularly to validate that license. If they are found to not be in compliance with their own policy and procedures, they will be made to rectify the situation or be shut down. Individual employees have no say in what duties they will perform. Refusal to perform a procedure or dispense a prescription duly ordered will find the employee out on their ass. If the facility can't legally fire an employee for cause, an alternate cause will be found. Believe me, if you want to fire a person, a reason can always be found. An employee's situation can also always be made uncomfortable enough to make them quit. I've done it myself and had it done to me, both. The other aspect of this is that the health care community, while large, is small enough so that facilities and professionals informally network and communicate. Personnel information that may be considered confidential or undocumented, is freely traded by savvy administrators. An employee with a predilection for trouble of any sort will find job offers few and far between, no matter how much their specialty is in demand. An employee will think twice before demurring from established norms.

This medical conscience rule is put in place by callous politicians as a sop to their knuckle dragging, right wing retard base. Whether it is quickly reversed or allowed to stand for several months, it will have no effect.

We Need a Little Solidarity in the Golden State.

I see that the National Organization for Women is supporting the judicial review of Prop 8 by the Supreme Court in California, along with the State Attorney General, Jerry Brown and Governor Schwarzenegger. It's good to know the girls understand the concept of solidarity, although it's hard to see how very many of them could be hung up on straight marriage. Having the Republican Governor along for the ride won't hurt. Somebody needs to figure out how to get this concept across to the African American and Hispanic communities. It's not like nobody ever denied them any of their civil rights. I include President Obama in with the African American community. It's great to reach out to your opponents but one of the most sacred trusts of our form of government is to protect the rights of oppressed minorities. Maybe he's suffering from a little Jewitis and thinks his people are the only ones who have experienced real injustice.

What Does Patrick Fitzgerald Really Want?

It seems to me as if all this excitement about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich being corrupt is nothing Patrick Fitzgerald hasn't known for months. In as much as he is a successful politician in Illinois, he probably is corrupt. Most politicians everywhere are corrupt. We see that over and over, year in, year out.

Fitzgerald seems more than a little compromised as well. He was the guy that kept dragging his feet in the Valerie Plame investigation. In the end, the only one he prosecuted, for relatively minor charges was poor Scooter Libby, even though everyone knew he was just carrying water for the Vice President and that Karl Rove certainly had more culpability.

It's unlikely that Fitzgerald has any real evidence against Blagojevich. He'll never go to trial. All this does is give Chicago and its many shady political denizens a black eye and by association Barack Obama, at a very opportune time for the Republicans. I smell a set up.

Republicans invented the sale of influence. Credit Mobilier, Teapot Dome, if there is dirty political money around, the Republicans are bound to be nearby, bent over with their pants down around their ankles. Selling a Senate seat happens every day. If it didn't, Libby Dole would never have been a Senator, or Hillary Clinton and no Kennedy would ever have been on the roll at all.

Dignitas Personae: If Jesus is the Only Condom You Need, Does That Mean He is a Scumbag?

The Catholic Church has introduced a new instruction to the faithful on reproductive rights and technology, the first since 1987. Not much new here. In addition to previously stated dogma, new prohibitions are added against any kind of in vitro fertilization or examination of embryos for any kind of genetic flaw. Also prohibited is any kind of genetic manipulation of embryos, naturally created and implanted or not.

Bottom line is, you get to have unprotected heterosexual sex, within the bonds of Holy Matrimony and whatever issue ensues is yours to keep. That's it. End of story.

I for one applaud this new instruction. This will speed up the schism that already exists within the Catholic Church World wide, concerning reproductive practices and rights. The percentage of Catholics within the age of childbearing, in the developed World, who currently adhere to these strictures is statistically insignificant. This new instruction will help to drive home the realization among them, that the Church exists outside of the reality in which they live their real, everyday lives. Those serious about participating in organized Christianity will have to find or found new churches in which to practice it.

Among those who have the ability, means and opportunity to pursue higher education and professional attainment, marriage, if engaged in at all, is commonly postponed until after the third decade of life. To expect these individuals, who will become the leaders of society in their fields of endeavor to abstain from sex, until they are halfway through their productive span of life, is nearly surreal.

To expect society to shoulder the expense and burden of support for those severely disabled by genetic or congenital defect, for which early prenatal testing is available, is irresponsible.

To deny the value of scientific embryonic research, is indicative of the kind of militant ignorance for which the Catholic Church has been justly famous, since before the excommunication and imprisonment of Galileo.

This instruction makes it impossible for any government, anywhere in the World, to incorporate canon law into civil code and that is exactly the way it should be. People have a right to adhere to whatever reproductive practices they like. Societal enforcement of Roman Catholic reproductive strictures are as wrong as the one child policy of the ChiComs.

Other Christian denominations, no matter how fundamentally conservative or clothed in arcane mummery, have the ability to adapt to the inevitable changes in human society. The Catholic Church is proving, once again, that it does not.

The Catholic Church is not dead but it is dying. So be it.

Rick Prays For Barry

Barack Obama wants to reach out to fundamentalist Christian voters during his inauguration. It wouldn't do any good to have a lesbian Episcopal bishop give the invocation at his inauguration. It wouldn't broaden his appeal to have a clergyman of the African American Christian tradition deliver a prayer. A Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Jewish holyman would not help him and it would be unwise not to have an invocation at all.

For the last 60 or so years, Billy Graham has been the unofficial vicar of the White House. Billy is a pompous, hypocritical ass. He drinks, fornicates, is a racist bigot and abused his wife and children throughout his overly long life. He lived high off the meager donations of millions who could ill afford the expense of supporting him. He's old and sick now. Soon he will be in Hell, where he belongs.

Rick Warren is a good choice to be the public face of evangelical Christianity in the Obama administration. There are many clergy and Christian leaders in this country who more authentically represent real Christian values. Men and women of high moral standards, compassion, true to the real inclusive ideals of Christ. The fundamentalists and evangelicals would not like or accept them. Rick is a fine choice.

Equal Treatment Under The Law

Here's something I don't understand about Bernie Madoff. He was not exposed by the authorities. He admitted guilt, more or less out of the blue, when he ran out of money. Where was the oversight? This guy had 20 billion of other peoples money under investment. Who was examining his balance sheets and verifying the investments he was supposedly making?

He is currently walking around free. Living in a Manhattan penthouse, out on bail, represented by the best lawyers money can buy, all being paid for by money he stole from widows and orphans. If this guy had an Italian or Hispanic surname, everything he owned would have been confiscated under the RICO laws and he would be locked down in solitary, eating baloney sandwiches and drinking jailhouse coffee.

Fifty billion stolen is more money than any gangster has ever been accused of. Where is the equal treatment under the law that this country is supposed to be all about?

What Do They Want?

Have you seen the cover of the Christmas Edition of Mexico's Playboy Magazine? There is a picture of a beautiful young woman wrapped in a shawl, very evocative of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It's not pornographic or anything like that. It does have an undeniable heterosexual appeal. Is that a bad thing? I thought the Catholic Church was all about heterosexuality. As far as I know, Mary was a straight lady. The museums of Europe are full of depictions of her over the last several hundred years, showing a lot more tit than what's on the cover of this magazine. Maybe I'm not clear on the concept.

The Church hierarchy is choosing to take offense. What do they want on the cover? Andy Dick in drag?

Another Casualty of War

Muntadar al- Zaidi, the young Iraqi journalist that threw his shoes at George Bush is a brave man. Stupid but brave. The rest of the World already knows that the Iraqis don't like Bush. The rest of the World already knows that George Bush is a dim witted, little crap weasel.

I'm sure Muntadar knew what he was doing when he threw his shoes and called Bush a dog. It will probably cost him his life. He already reportedly has a broken arm and ruptured spleen. He'll probably be dead in a day or two. Just as well. It will save him a much more painful death involving slow starvation, drinking water full of coliform bacteria and frequent anal rape.

Just another of hundreds of thousands of young Iraqis dead because of George Bush. Pointless. Needless. Inexcusable. While George frolics on the South lawn with his yapping, shaggy son, Barney. Imbecilically heedless of the evil he has done.

Great Minds

The Fed is going to lower rates by half to .5% later this morning. What good will this do? It will not encourage banks to lend. It will not encourage consumers to borrow. It is inflationary and enough inflationary measures have already been taken. Too many, in my opinion.

Bernanke is out of his depth. Paulson was never a bright man and is clearly now broken by his job, aged beyond his years and looks vacantly, mouth agape, at the camera when making public appearances. Soon he will be drooling. Bush makes a nice appearance though. If they dressed him up in a little pinafore and curly mop wig, he'd be just like Shirley Temple. A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.

Obama is going to be stuck with the counter productive actions these guys have already taken and will have to work with a Democratic Congress that wants to fund huge social programs. If I had any confidence I would get my share, I might be a little happier. I don't think that's going to happen.

Bummer. Fucked in the ass again.

A Man Of Constant Carol

On the First Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Second Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Third Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, seven Sonars Sounding, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a strip mine in a National Park.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, eight Lines a Tapping, seven Sonars Sounding, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, nine Banks Defaulting, eight Lines a Tapping, Seven Sonars Sounding, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, ten Dungeons Dripping, nine Banks Defaulting, eight Lines a Tapping, seven Sonars Sounding, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, eleven Teens Abstaining, ten Dungeons Dripping, nine Banks Defaulting, eight Lines a Tapping, seven Sonars Sounding, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

On the Twelfth day of Christmas the Preznit gave to me, twelve Toxic Runoffs, eleven Teens Abstaining, ten Dungeons Dripping, nine Banks Defaulting, eight Lines a Tapping, seven Sonars Sounding, six Off Shore Leases, five W-M-D, four Falling Chads, three Arab Wars, two more Cath'lic judges and a Strip Mine in a National Park.

Burnin' Down the Church

The Hivehead's Church up in Wasilla burned down Friday night. They say it's arson. It's a story covered heavily by Fox News and Wingnut blogs like Powerline and NRO. While they make no accusations, the Salmon Slut herself speculates it was politically motivated and targeted against her.

What's going to happen is the local law will find that the Church was accidentally burned down by members of the Church youth group, while smoking crack in the basement, after punch and cookies upstairs. The only connection to the Governess will be that one or more of her own sticky faced brood will have been gathered 'round the pipe. The glossolalian halfwits of Wasilla will be too embarrassed to admit that their own differently abled progeny incinerated their tabernacle in pursuit of narcotic oblivion. The matter will be handled privately.

You're never going to hear about it again after today.

Auto Bailout Failing

The Republicans in Congress don't want to bail out the Big Three Auto Companies unless they can break the UAW at the same time.

I don't have that big of a problem with that. I have belonged to 2 unions in my life. The Teamsters and the SEIU. Both followed the model of professional union organizers running the union and handling collective bargaining and the workers having minimal input. Interested workers rising in the union ranks are quickly co opted. These unions were both corrupt and inefficient.

My wife has been a member of a union all of her professional life. It is a different model, where all of the union officials and collective bargainers are working union members. It seems like a better model. Not so corrupt. It has some of the same problems though. In the end labor becomes so costly that the industry can no longer compete and the consumer can no longer afford the product.

Let the Big Three fail and the UAW with them. Maybe none of them is worth saving. Can you really say you'd rather have a Chevy Malibu than a Toyota Camry? Especially when the Malibu costs a good deal more.

Pass Me That Gin Son

More than any other American President, George W Bush's political career depended on the support of the fundamentalist Christian community. While never specific about his beliefs, he always gave the impression that he was one of them. He has waited until the last days of his political career to say otherwise. He now states that he does not believe that what is written in the Bible is literally true but that, "you can learn a lot by reading it". What does that mean? You can learn a lot by reading an old stack of Field and Stream magazines. He's not even saying he believes in God or what kind of God he believes in. Jimmy Carter never kept anybody in the dark about that.

As a liberal with strong ties to the idea of a secular society, I'm in no way offended by Bush's revelation of religious ambiguity. It makes me feel that while he was still a bad President, he was more of a manipulative phony than someone who was motivated by a sincere belief in the desire to establish a "Christian" nation. I wonder how fundamentalist Christians feel? I know many who supported Bush, even though they were against many of his actions. Many do not think that the wars in the Middle East are a good thing. Many are acutely concerned about the conservation of wild spaces, natural resources and controlling emissions of green house gases. Many see a need for health care, especially among the very young, old and disabled. Many believe that anyone who works a full time job deserves the means to live a life style that does not involve twenty guys bunking in an old garage in some one's backyard.

What do you think about George Bush's religion? Surprised? Shocked? Nobodies business but his? Pass me that gin, son?

How will you feel about him in a couple of months when Laura leaves him and his daughter Barbara comes out of the closet? Will you be sorry for him or glad for the girls, who are free at last?

That's you folks

There was this guy named Bernard Madoff. Very smart guy. Spent his life in the World of investments and finance. He made a lot of money. For himself. For other people.

One of the problems guys like this have is they have been successful for so long, they can't believe when things start to go wrong for them and then keep going wrong. This guy had billions invested for other people. He was returning 8-10%, even over the last couple of years. I gotta tell ya. Anybody that could do that pretty much had to be reading God's mail.

I'm sure when he started to declare profits that weren't there it was with the best of intentions. He felt he could recoup the losses he had suffered and make a comeback. It might even have been something he had done before and it probably worked that time. I don't believe Bernard started out to steal anybodies money. I don't think that he has a boatload of ill gotten gains stashed in Swiss vaults.

The problem is that 50 billion dollars is gone. I don't think he was managing any more than 20 billion. They let these hedge fund guys leverage pretty heavily. So it's the banks that lent him the money that will take the biggest bath.

That's you folks.

I think there are a lot more bad boys like Bernard still out there, wondering what to do and when it will all fall apart.

Bush on National Security

President Bush, speaking to the Corps of Cadets at West Point, emphasized that the US must stay on the offensive against al Qaeda. These are wise words but what has this jackass ever done to go on the offensive against al Qaeda?

He has not pursued al Qaeda itself. He has not pursued it's leaders, political or tactical. He has not pusued those organizations or individuals that fund al Qaeda. The reason is that many of these individuals and organizations are his friends and supporters. He has strong personal, family and political ties to the Wahhabi community in the Gulf States. All al Qaeda activity originates in the Wahhabi community within the oil rich Gulf States. Bush's whole War on Terror is a web of lies and misdirection.

Bush is a traitor and coward with no appetite for conflict with the terrorist threat that we face. His whole Presidency proves this. He has done more damage to our national security than any President in our history. He has not kept us safe. He has not engaged our enemies. He has not been truthful with the American people.

FOCA

The great fear among the Catholic Cardinals and Bishops, conservative clergy and fundo fascist televangelists in this country, is that after the next Congress convenes the Freedom of Choice Act will be passed and President Obama will sign it into law.

There is no good reason why this shouldn't happen. Democrats needn't fear that anyone will be alienated by this action and cease to vote for them. The country is already polarized on this issue and abortion is the litmus test by which voters on the right judge all political candidates. The right has already done everything it can to demonize those on the pro choice side of the issue. Even so, people who don't believe in abortion and this is the majority of Americans, believe it is a personal choice, not an act to be punished by punitive laws.

The damage is done. Everybody has already chosen sides. I say, pass the son of a bitch. Then listen to the pigs squeal.

I Love Celebrity Rehab

I don't think Drew Pinsky is much of a psychiatrist. He is a great showman though. He gets washed up Hollywood and media types with totally fucked up lives, to check into his rehab facility in Pasadena and tapes them interacting during a three week detox and therapeutic intervention.

Everybody that watches it can come away feeling good about themselves. If you are not a complete loser, you are guaranteed to feel superior to these poor devils. If you are hitting bottom, with absolutely no prospects, you can identify with the inmates and at least feel comradeship with somebody that wasn't always a complete loser. The action is superior. It's like Three Stooges shorts, only the damage they do to each other and themselves is appallingly real.

There is the added attraction that everybody can hate the completely insightless and ineffective Dr Drew and his cretinous staff of therapists, all of whom are themselves only one bad night away from a loveless marriage to the crack pipe.

If you don't watch this show, you should. It will brighten up your affect. It's on VH-1, all the time.

They Don't Have The Fuckin' Balls.

A lot of people hope that the Supreme Court will rule on whether or not Barry O qualifies under the Constitution to serve as President of the United States. I wouldn't mind it myself if they tried to tell the majority of the American people that the man they elected to be President couldn't serve. That would be great theater.

It's not going to happen. The fundo halfwits are always whining about the liberal courts. The fact is that seven out of the nine Supreme Court justices were appointed by the last four Republican Presidents. It isn't that they aren't conservative. They have the same problem as most conservative American men. They are all cowardly panzies with tiny little, vestigial testicles. Ruthie Bader wipes the floor with them and makes them beg for more.They aren't going to take up the case of Obama's qualifications to be President, any more than they are going to challenge the validity of Rowe vs Wade.

They don't have the fuckin' balls. They don't now. They never will.

Caroline Kennedy

Everybody seems to think that Caroline Kennedy would make a great next Senator for the State of New York. I don't think so.

I don't think so for the same reason that GW Bush was the worst President ever. She has no experience with real people or real life. She has been sheltered from the earliest age. She has everything a person could want. Anything she wants, she gets. She is no doubt a great deal smarter than George Bush. She doesn't seem to have the psychological damage or substance abuse problems that he has. She would no doubt be much better suited to high office than he is. At the end of the day though, they are the same. No real experience, empathy or knowledge of what it is like to be an American, make your way in life, earn a living, relate to people as who you really are. The Senator from the State of New York is going to be different than the one from South Carolina or North Dakota but not that different.

A lot of New Yorkers revere the Kennedys. They might be proud to elect Caroline to the Senate. They would not be well served.

It Was Always about Sex and the Subjugation of Women

In late 19th century America, the cultural dialogue was about whether women should have the vote and independent legal status. The ability to own property and manage their finances independent of their fathers or husbands.

After that, it was whether women should be able to function in society outside of the family. Going unaccompanied in the public forum. Being independently employed. Marriage to a partner of her own choosing. Participating in higher education.

It wasn't until the 1920s that reproductive rights became an issue. Condoms had been introduced to American society by the military in World War I, because of the high rates of venereal disease among troops frequenting prostitutes. Birth control devices, for their own sake, were not legal in any form in this country until 1936 and then only for married women, with a doctors prescription. It would be decades yet before birth control would be freely available to all. Margaret Sanger and her physican husband were outlaws.

Fundamentalist Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in America, most particularly, have actively opposed every single effort by women to get out from under the subjugation imposed upon them by society, from the discretionary beating of women within the family to the active role of women in the Church hierarchy. The Church is inflexible but not stupid. They never admit defeat but they do move on.

In the 1950s, after divorce had become a common fixture of American Family life, it was a battleground the church fought upon. In the 1960's, when huge Catholic families became an anomaly instead of the rule, they vigorously opposed birth control. In the 1970s, as Catholic families stopped sending their young boys off to catechism, parochial schools, and into service as alter boys, in recognition of a growing culture of homosexual pedophilia in the priesthood, the church refused to admit there was a problem and railed instead against permissive parenting.

By the 1980s, the church was too busy maintaining its image of times past to notice that young Catholic families, having developed cultural and sexual lives independent of the church were reclaiming the local churches and schools for themselves, walling the priests off in their rectories and allowing them out only for ceremonial purposes. Parents were present in the schoolyards and classrooms at all times, to protect their young and began to dictate curriculum and school rules. Church activities and charities were planned, scheduled and administered according to the direction of the laity. Nobody consulted the priests. Not for leadership, spiritual or otherwise. Not for personal counselling or lifestyle advice. It was then that children of the previous generation came out and began to tell their stories of abuse. As the legal and moral judgements against the Church began to pile up, the clergy was driven further out of any meaningful contribution to mainstream life in America. Nuns under the age of eighty have almost completely disappeared from the American scene as women distance themselves from a Church that finds no value in them. Priests are far fewer and rarely share the values of the communities they serve, as families encourage their brightest sons to find secular vocations.

While they haven't changed their official stance on anything, the Church doesn't talk much about premarital sex, divorce, or birth control anymore. They are decreasingly active against abortion, the law of the land now for thirty five years. They are focusing on euthanasia and gay marriage. These are not issues many of the laity expend much energy on, especially those engaged in increasingly long, active, heterosexual lives.

The Church will soon have to come up with something better than this. They might want to think about how the clergy can re enter the daily lives of the Catholic community in a meaningful way, rather than sit alone in their rectories.

The illicit Amish organic food co-op trade

You gotta read this to get a feel for what the Bush administration feels is the proper use of deadly force.

Mow them Amish food traffickers down!

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Oil is cheap right now. If you listen to a lot of the Business news pundits, it's going to get a lot cheaper. In a few months, the Arabs may pay you to take oil off their hands. We hear about over production and demand destruction.

Don't kid yourself. When oil was at its all time high just a little over 4 months ago, production had been ratcheted up by oil producers and huge quantities were still being bought up and held out of the consumption pipeline for purposes of speculation. As the price of oil has collapsed, all that oil came on the market. There was nobody to buy all the increased production and speculative holdings. The result has been a tremendous oil glut. This does not mean that the World is using a lot less oil. The World might indeed be using a little less oil right now but World wide depression or not, oil production is in a long term decreasing trend and oil consumption remains in a long term increasing trend. The current glut of oil will be worked through. When doesn't matter. It will happen. It may seem like they are giving it away for a while. Enjoy it while it lasts.

$200 dollar a barrel oil will happen and sooner than you think.

One Down

I lost a tooth today, too rotten and brittle to be saved. Cheerfully chiseled out of my jaw by a woman of mixed Hispanic and Asian heritage, easily young enough to be my daughter.

When we are young, we lose our first set of teeth. We are proud when this happens, for it is part of a coming adulthood. It is not so deranging as the storm of puberty. When we begin to lose our second set, it is also the signal of a coming transition. It may be a joyous one to others but I do not regard it so.

The bleeding, blinding headache, swelling and raw throbbing in my jaw are tolerable because they demonstrate that I'm not dead yet and may live to endure the loss of many more of my bodily constituents before they finally flame into cinders, what mindlessly little of me will be left.

Marquis De Bernanke

I'm not sure I have this totally correct. If others have more insight into what is proposed, please chime in and enlighten those of us in the dark.

Normally, when introducing money into the system, the Federal Reserve Bank tries to maintain some balance. They may sell bonds to those entities that have acquired money. They then have that money to reintroduce into the system or retire. They pay interest on the bonds they have sold. They may allow the entities that hold the bonds to lend money against them as collateral, possibly many times over. They may give banks money in return for indebtedness and then let the banks use this money to make loans, not once but many times. This kind of leveraging of Federal Reserve funds, provides the system with liquidity and leaves the Fed with some control over how much money is entering the system and for how long and for what purposes.

What Bernanke is planning to do now is to purchase, at market value, US Treasury bonds already issued and outstanding within the World financial community. This would have the effect of introducing large amounts of liquidity into the system. It would maintain confidence in US Treasury bonds, insofar as there was any question that they were not easily convertible to cash. It might also decrease the availability of safe haven, government insured, investment vehicles. It is printing money, pure and simple. Then using that money to retire government debt. This would be inflationary and undermining of the value of the dollar, in the extreme.

This may be exactly what he wants. If you have been a saver rather than a spender, you will be sadly disappointed with these actions. This is what they do in Zimbabwe.

The Dilemma Of Democratic India

At the time of the partition of India, in 1947, even though large numbers of people were uprooted from their homes, India and Pakistan each had about 15% minority populations of Hindus and Muslims, respectively. Both countries promised secular democracy. Both countries promised to respect the rights of minorities.

India at least still offers a secular democracy on paper. It still has a large Muslim minority, more than 150 million. The largest population of Muslims outside of Indonesia. Muslims in India may not get all the breaks. A lot of people in India don't get many breaks.

Pakistan has less than 2% Hindus in their population, at this point. Not that many of Pakistan's Hindus emigrated out. I wonder where they went? If you're not a Muslim in Pakistan, you don't really have any civil rights. You can't vote. If somebody kills you and rapes your wife and daughter, nobody will prosecute them. Hell, if you are Muslim and you kill your own wife and daughter, nobody will prosecute you. Pakistan has been in an undeclared border war with India for most of the last 60 years. Only India's restraint has kept it from becoming the World's first Thermo Nuclear War.

The United States has always been very friendly with Pakistan. We give them aide. We sell them weapons. We cosign international agreements.

We have never been friendly with India. We don't consider them friends at all. We would be very unhappy if India went to war with Pakistan.

Does not Pakistan pose exactly the type of Islamic terrorist threat to India that the cringing dog Bush claimed that Iraq and Afghanistan posed to us? In India's case, it's even true.

PONZI

Months ago I warned that with the advent of hard times we could be assured of seeing a resurgence of pyramid schemes. As usual I was half assed wrong and half assed right.

There have not been large numbers of people coming out of the woodwork to scam their fellows. Instead the biggest Ponzi scheme in American history is taking place. The perpetrators are the biggest corporations in America. They have enrolled every tax paying American as their victim, using a corrupt and debauched Congressional and Executive branch of the Federal government.

There is no way for even the wiliest victim to protect him or her self. The take will reach the hundreds of trillions and leave us all ruined.