The devil and Mr. Jones

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

-Bob Dylan-

I have to admit I don't know either and I suspect the market analysts of the same confusion. My morning perusal of the news includes a glance at Bloomberg.com and the leading headlines today were:

• Citigroup has $5.1 Billion loss, cuts 9000 more jobs.
• Stocks in US rally on Citigroup.

It might make a skeptic think that perhaps these stories overlook something or that nobody really knows what the hell is going on but need to say something in order to get a paycheck. Or maybe it's the same old prophylactic optimism by which they've been trying to ward off disaster with a smile, a shuffle and a little shuck and jive.

Perhaps the same thing applies to the political gigglefest. Are voters really going to change their minds at the possibility that Obama gave Clinton the finger - are they even going to believe it? But they have to say, to print, to televise something and childish nonsense is far easier to sell and more distracting than any serious discussion; particularly a serious discussion about a truly unworthy Republican.

Cogitamus asks us the trenchant but rhetorical question of how the media would treat either Democrat if they had had checkered careers like McCain. Frankly I think the entire Media-as-propagandists truth is laid bare here.

You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks

Something is indeed going on, but all you're going to hear is that everything is all right: we don't need to change anything.

Tancredo's hostage

When Tom Tancredo defends his statement that the best way to deter nuclear terrorism by al Qaeda against the US is to threaten to murder milllions of people in a place where al Qaeda is not, he's gone beyond ordinary Republican stupidity; the Bible worshipping madman is posing a threat to the people of the United States. He's handing a world that already hates us for our invasion of a non-threatening Muslim country one more reason to describe us as the quintessence of evil, and of course it doesn't make any difference that the State Department correctly identifies him as crazy. The damage is already done. We can denounce him, but the people who are spreading his sentiments around the world aren't going to mention the denunciation. The damage is done.

By holding Mecca Hostage to prevent someone from Afghanistan or Waziristan using a nuclear weapon that they do not have is, like all hostage situations involving the innocent, worthy of the utmost contempt. Perhaps we would go further toward preventing a nuclear strike in the US by displaying Tom Tancredo's head on a pike?

Tell God to reserve some busses

Well at least they're honest. Kansas Senator Brownback's "prayer coordinator" Lonnie Berger is invoking the power of prayer to change the mind of the invisible creator of the universe so that "Christians" as he defines the term, will come out and vote on August 11th in the straw poll for Republican candidates. Apparently it's contemptible for Democratic politicians to adjust their opinions according to poll results, but it's OK for that wishy-washy Yahweh to consider what Lonnie and his Corn Fed Christians want done while making his inscrutable plans for our vast and unfathomable universe.

If God forgets, or if God doesn't hear from them, then the "Christians" may not get what they want, because he then won't have "supernaturally activated" them as Berger asks and "when Christians stay home, the enemy wins." I guess I'm the enemy. I feel so proud to be listed among the other enemies like Tom Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, Tom Paine and Ben Franklin. No wonder they wanted us to keep and bear arms.

Lonnie also wants Kansans to "Pray that God would use this poll to weed out those candidates that would push our country away from the Lord." I really don't know if God is enough of a flip flopper to respond to such demands or that he's uncertain enough to need political advice from a raving lunatic like Berger. I don't know if praying for the logistics needed to organize a fleet of buses for the pilgrimage to Ames will be as effective as dealing directly with the bus company, but it's all up to God and his willingness to treat demented morons as a superior breed. I suspect he won't and in fact I'm sure he never has and never will do that or anything else, but what do you expect from me - I'm the enemy.

God and Country

There's supposed to be a difference between them, but to the religiously demented, who will swoon over a rust stain on a wall or a piece of burnt toast, any image containing intersecting lines is proof not only of an omnipresent deity, but one who is his own father and born of a teenage mother through the agency of a bird.

Try this at home. Shine a bright light through a bedsheet and you'll see that because the sheet is made of millions of threads at right angles to each other, you will see the bright light as a cross. It's not magic. Photographers use a fine screen to make bright lights look like stars in night shots all the time. It doesn't mean that God is in the headlights or sitting on a lamp post and if you think it does, that means you've been made stupid by religion. I promise that you will see the same cross pattern in a French flag or a Pirate flag or a soiled sheet from the Mustang Ranch. It means that God is present to the same extent that a stalagmite in some cave represents the virility of Vishnu. What this piece of cloth does not mean and what the person who sent it to me does mean, is that the United States of America is intended to be a religious colony with laws derived from legend, which values its citizens by their degree of departure from reason and is ruled not by the citizens, but by the viceroys of a mythological triumvirate invented by 4th century Roman pagans.

So when I got this piece of religious drivel in my e-mail this morning, I elected to follow its advice to non-believers. "If you don't believe God is watching over us, then delete it." I did, but not before posting it here.

Sinclair Lewis, the Nobel prize winning author wrote: "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." It's arrived.

Must be the heat

Well this proves it. George W. Bush is totally insane. If he were just a garden variety liar he would make up better stories than what he spewed at today's press conference.

The people planting roadside bombs in Iraq "are the same ones who attacked us on Sept. 11." says Commander Guy. "The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq are the ones who attacked us on Sept. 11." Of course they're not really the same; those guys are probably still dead. We of course bomb innocent people constantly, but that's collateral damage and that's different. Dead Iraqis are automatically al Qaeda.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden," Bush said. "We need to take al Qaeda in Iraq seriously just like we need to take al Qaeda anywhere in the world seriously."

Good, it's about time you did. You've been telling us Osama doesn't matter and it was all about regime change. He's not In Iraq, by the way, nor in the US, but the Bush plan to get him still requires that he read your e-mail and listen to your phone calls.

"No question al Qaeda is dangerous ... that's why we need terrorist surveillance programs,"

No question it's a good plan though, after all 6 years of it have produce no results and that makes it a winner since as long as Osama exists; as long as any two bit religious loony with a book of matches "pledges allegiance" to him, we can keep telling you they're everywhere. and if they're everywhere, we can keep standing in the middle of some Baghdad street waiting to get blown to hell while insisting that it's getting better all the time. See? We needed to destroy that country and open its borders to Jihadists because al Qaeda is there. Makes sense.

Impeach the bastard.

The Liberal Media

Four years ago, in a galaxy far, far too close for comfort. . .

"I will bet you the best dinner in the gaslight district of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week"

• Bill O'Reilly 1/29/03

What about your tongue on toast - medium rare?

"There is a certain amount of pop-psychology in America that the Shia can't get along with the Sunni. . . There's almost no evidence for that at all."

• Bill Kristol 4/1/03

At least none that you can see with your head up Bush's ass, Billy.

"Over the next couple of weeks when we find the Chemical weapons this guy was amassing. . . the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years."

• Dick Morris 4/9/03

Yeah, let me know when I can start, Dick.

"The war was the hard part. . . and it gets easier, I mean, setting up a Democracy is hard, but not as hard as winning a war."

• Fred Barnes 4/10/03

Yep, any day now, Fred.

"The three week swing through Iraq has utterly shattered skeptic's complaints."

• Tony Snow 4/13/03

Credibility always was your strong suit.

"The only people who think this wasn't a victory are the upper West Side Liberals and a few people here in Washington"

• Charles Krauthammer 4/19/03

Is that straight jacket too tight, Chuckie?

"Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger. . . the women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. . we're not like the Brits"

• Chris Matthews 5/1/03

no, it's more like we're from the Planet of the Apes.

"We had controversial wars that divided the country. This war united the country and brought the military back"

• Howard Fineman 5/7/03

Just which country are we talking about here Howie?.

"American forces are being love-bombed by Baghdadis on a daily basis. . .Everywhere they go, Americans are being cheered and thanked profusely"

• Mona Charen 5/9/03

Say, is that a bomb in that guy's pocket or is he just happy to see me?

"There is a lot of work left to do but all the naysayers have been humiliated so far. . . The final word on this is hooray"

• Morton Kondrake 4/12/03

How would you like those words served Morty? Deep-fried or maybe just shoved up your ass?

"It's amazing that more than two weeks into the liberation of Iraq. . . the Anti-War crowd is still spinning a doomsday scenario."

• Brendan Miniter 4/8/03

Still spinning And isn't that amazing, as the guy at Ronco used to say? Good thing we've got people like you to tell it like it is.

Do I really have to add anything to this? How long did it take for us to forget that Bush insisted that going to war without a concrete timetable for exit was unforgivable and how soon did he and we start blaming "Liberals" for the same sentiment? Fool me twice and shame on me - fool me forever and I'm a conservative.

Mice and men

Of course Bush's reasons for having invaded Iraq have changed seamlessly from well before the first bomb was dropped, but so have his stated goals and his definition of "Victory." If he has any skill as a president, it's his ability to do this kind of thing without any fast eye blink or twitch that might signal his bluff. As to his self definition though, his technique is a little bit rougher, having moved from uniter-not-divider to warpresident to decider and now, with a childish little smirk that would have earned him an Oscar if he were playing poor retarded Lennie in Of Mice and Men telling us only he gets to take care of the rabbits -- he's the Commander Guy.

Sometimes I'm just speechless.

Puff the magic Dragon

Is it a coating of non-stick Teflon that keeps things from sticking to Rollicking Rush Limbaugh, or is it just ordinary slime he's covered with? Perhaps, if he bothers to explain himself at all, he will tell us that public figures like Barak Obama are fair game for race baiting while college girls are not, but I'm waiting to see the kind of reaction we got to Imus' comment. I'm waiting in fact to hear any update on the story that appeared in Crooks and Liars last Friday much less the racist barb he tossed at the Illinois Senator last January. It may be a long wait.

Rush playing "Barak the magic Negro" to the tune of the silly Peter Paul and Mary song from the 60's on his radio show is only the latest in a career of ugliness, pettyness, maliciousness and malignant bullying that should have ended years ago. Whether it's blatant racism or whether it's calling an adolescent girl a dog on nationwide TV, there have been too many incidents egregious enough to have him fired and black listed -- and yet here he is, smelly phallic cigar in his fat mouth, stinking up the pristine Florida air and the public airwaves.

It's time the media stops hiding behind a disclaimer and fires the bastard.

Cross posted at The Reaction

Liberals to the left of us -- Liberals to the right. . .

Is it possible to find enough nasty things to say about Rush Limbaugh? I don't have the vocabulary or the time fully to describe a man of such privilege that he can go relatively unpunished for drug charges that would have sent another man to prison, whose friends in high places (no pun intended) make sure that he can lie and vituperate and rave against the politics of our founding fathers and the philosophy behind our nation without let or restraint or consequence. But let me try.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a political liberal is a man in favor of democratic reform and opposed to privilege. According to Rush, such a man is the radix malorum, the source of all our woes, while a man opposed to democracy and in favor of special privilege or plutocracy would of necessity be, like Rush, the answer to all that ails us, including apparently: paranoid schizophrenia.

Rush's April 19th attempt to show that the massively demented Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-hui, was in the grip of liberal fervor rather than an illness would be a new low for any other man, but in Limbaugh's vocabulary there is no word for bottom.

"This guy had to be a liberal. You start railing against the rich and all this other -- this guy's a liberal. He was turned into a liberal somewhere along the line. So it's a liberal that committed this act."

Anyone who call Liberals gun-grabbers while calling Cho Seung-hui a liberal is a fabulist on the order of Hitler. Anyone who can lump everyone from Jesus Christ to John Wilkes Booth into a category and make that category seem vile; anyone who can invent a language that makes such subhuman reasoning possible should be more understanding of mental illness, but as I said earlier, such people shy away from recognizing the existence of insanity because they are afraid of the obvious and unavoidable comparison. Worse than mental illness, in terms of culpability for one's actions, is the mission of Rush Limbaugh: to lie for money, to disrupt Democracy and American principles for money, to promote special privileges for plutocrats for his own gain, to shout down reasoned discourse by sheer volume and amplitude of lies, misstatements, half truths, distortions and hysterical departures from objective reality.

But it's neither a Conservative nor a Liberal, a communist or a democrat or a libertarian or Bolshevik or royalist or an anarchist who spoke those words -- it was Rush Limbaugh and it is Rush Limbaugh's every continued breath and heartbeat that confirms that there is no justice in this world unless we fight for it.

Funny man

Ariana Huffington notes that when Bush announced he wasn't going to be funny at the White House Correspondent's dinner the other night, he didn't explain why he's so often snickered, pranced and giggled like a cardboard monkey on a string while US troops were being killed and mutilated in Iraq. Who knows who advised him to act serious for once, but Bush is a funny man; he's even funnier when he tries to be serious and can't really seem to help himself.

"The Attorney General went up and gave a very candid assessment, and answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job,"

said America's court jester as quoted in a Raw Story article today. Whether this "heckuva job, Gonzo" was genuine idiocy on the President's part or whether it will result in Gonzalez's voluntary resignation some time this week, remains to be seen, but I'm putting my chips on stupid and letting it ride.

Dead story walking

I still subscribe to a Sunday paper, but my morning ritual usually includes making the rounds of internet news sources like Raw Story in order to get a few of the news items buried by the Mainstream Media under the VA Tech shooting and the antics of Mr. Baldwin. Of course the Virginia story is still stumbling around like an escapee from Night of the Living Dead and even Raw Story is going on and on about ludicrous and irrelevant details trying to keep the zombie walking.

Today's lurid contribution to the whole fulsome issue is titled VA Tech Killer bought Ammo on eBay. Astounded by this because I know eBay doesn't list live ammunition or firearms - even antique ones, I clicked on the headline to find that the actual article reads "ammo clips." That's the kind of come-on you expect, and get, at the National Enquirer.

It may seem a small difference to some people, but what he bought were empty magazines and as the article pointed out, you can get those anywhere. Interesting enough, in light of the fuss others have made about the end of the ban on magazines that held more than 10 rounds, the ones Cho bought were legal under the defunct ban.

He had a good eBay "feedback" rating, we're told and has been buying and selling there - like hundreds of millions do - for three years. None of this nonsense has any bearing on the motivation or execution of the crime nor will it enable any further degree of understanding of schizophrenia or Virginia or Federal gun laws. To people who only read headlines, it will seem like an indictment of eBay.

" Computer forensics have played a major role in the investigation into why Cho carried out the massacre that killed 32 people and himself."

We are told - as if questioning the usual suspects and looking at records will produce any understanding of mental illness such as schizophrenia or the illogical, irrational and terrified state that characterizes it, nor will any of this further progress toward the goal of diagnosing and isolating dangerously ill people who by law are forbidden to own firearms.