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?