Cultured Cat

Glenn Greenwald is a God

2010-12-28T16:19:00.000-05:00

This exchange between Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald and some CNN hacks is illusory of how lame Main Stream Media has become. They don't even know that they're supposed to give at least a plausible image of journalistic competence, and Greenwald calls them on it.

"I'm Ann Coulter; Call Me"

2010-09-11T13:33:00.002-04:00

What'up my NI?????

2010-08-16T10:49:00.005-04:00

In 2010, I'm still stunned when I hear white people say, in effect, "Well, they say it to each other, why can't I say it?"

Now, we know Dr. Laura is an old battle-ax, so let's move on from her bullshittery....m'kay.

The gay community figured out how to take a word once used to hurt you, "Queer", flip it, and make it an empowering word "within" their community. "Nigga" is just such an amelioration of "nigger.

People who want to pretend that there is no difference in the two words, "nigga" and "nigger", and say that neither should ever be used are people who really don't know what they talking about...seriously - they don't friggin' understand. They've got it twisted.

Plus, everything hinges on intent, no matter who is speaking.

Actually, I wold rather have 'a bitch's" thoughts on this, Angry Black Bitch's thoughts, that is. And she, in her own inimitable style, reminds us all to CHECK ourselves and our preconceptions.

Quoteth A Bitch:

"There’s been an outbreak of people making absolute statements about black people. You name it and there’s some asshole making a statement about how all black people do it or believe it or want it or say it.

I’ve often wondered if these believers in a black monolith think black folk get a complimentary weekly newsletter telling us how to be black when we sign up for our Race Card.

Shit.

Dear people who make absolute statements about black people,

Some of us don’t go to church…some of us do.

Some of us can’t dance…some of us think we can dance…and some of us can dance.

Black comes in every gender…and when you talk about how black people feel about same-sex marriage you should know that some black people are also lgbt people.

There are black people in other countries…and black people speak lots of languages.

We did not elect Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson as our official spokesperson. But some black people dig their shit…some of us don’t.

Some black people play hockey…some of us are HUGE hockey fans (go Blues!!).

Some black people use hash tags while getting their tweet on…lots of black people could give a shit about hash tags on Twitter.

Some black people find the name of my blog offensive...some don't.

And, while some black people use the n-word, lots of us don’t.

Are you getting the theme?

Yeah, well...fuck it.

This black person is tired of your bullshit."

Poor Betty

2010-08-12T16:02:00.002-04:00

Will she ever find the right church?

We Won!!!

2010-08-04T17:17:00.000-04:00

The constitution won today. America haters will lose the battle they want to fight over the 14th Amendment, too.

A Little Number I Call....

2010-07-31T15:36:00.000-04:00

....Just Another Loser on FaceBook

Sitting there at home
On one lonely Sunday morning
I didn't have a friend
To tell my troubles to.

I turned on my computer
And in a moment I had found.
A whole new world created just for me and just for you...

(Chorus)
Now I'm just another loser on FaceBook
I finally found a place that I can call my very own.
I'm just another loser on FaceBook.
I finally found a place that I call home.

Well Mary's got herself a real bad toothache.
And Suzy's got a run in her brand new pantyhose.
Jimmy went to get himself a milkshake.
What in the hell am I doin' here?
Well goodness only knows.

(Repeat Chorus)

I "like" Project Runway and Hardball.
I "like" Bobby Knight and Texas Hold'em Poker, too.
I "like" Photography and Al Franken.
I "unliked" your mother
And I never did like you.

(Repeat Chorus)

Just a loser
And a user...
Maybe now I'll be a YouTuber,

I finally found a place that I call home.

- Jimmy Wilder

This is serious shit, people!

WOW - This From A Fox News Pundit

2010-07-15T23:56:00.001-04:00

Dick of the Day: Rep. John Boehner

2010-06-23T13:00:00.003-04:00

From Dikipedia: Wiki of dicks.

"John Andrew Boehner (born November 17, 1949) is an American Republican politician, United States Representative from Ohio, tanorexia sufferer, House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi nemesis, and a dick.
In May 2009, weekly tracking polls indicated that Boehner remained the most unpopular politician in the United States, though it is unclear if this statistic factored in his favorability among elderly conservative women or the staff of Jamaica Me Tan in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Boehner spent most of his political career railing against corruption and scandal in Washington, though—ironically—it was a series of Washington scandals that directly resulted in the few professional successes Boehner's had, including his Congressional seat and House Majority leadership.
Undoubtedly eliciting countless giggles in high school Civics classrooms nationwide, the Congressman's surname is correctly pronounced "BAY-ner." Though—fittingly—its phonetic pronunciation is a colloquial term for an erection of the male reproductive organ.'

Image from Dikipedia - where else?

The Lunacy That Is Elisabeth Hasselbeck

2010-06-16T11:00:00.005-04:00

Get her, Jesse!

Get her, Kathy!

Be sure to read the wiki page on Lissy at Dickipedia, the Wiki of Dicks

When BP Spills Coffee

2010-06-10T17:48:00.000-04:00

I THINK I HURT MYSELF LAST NIGHT, BUT ITS OK BECAUSE I HAD A GOOD TIME.

2010-06-05T16:44:00.000-04:00

It's A Beautiful Day For Motor Car Racing

2010-05-30T10:00:00.002-04:00

That moment, when the green flag is given to the drivers, is amazing. The best place in the world to be is in the stands in the first turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when that green flag is waved and those machines come blazing by you like nuclear powered hornets. It is a pure, ethanol powered thrill!

Beyond Petroleum

2010-05-27T14:15:00.000-04:00

Image via Bill in Exile (nsfw).

The Blob Scared The Crap Out Of Me When I Was A Kid...

2010-05-18T10:10:00.002-04:00

...but what scares me more is what effect the oil spill in the gulf will have on the region for decades to come.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

2010-05-09T10:03:00.002-04:00

You and Dad have been wonderful.

Hollyhocks remind my mother of her mother - Sarah Eliza White Henson, my grandmother. They are pervasive in my neighborhood.

IT'S BEEN A MINUTE SINCE MY LAST POST, BUT I'M GLAD TO LEAVE THE LAST POST UP FOR A WHILE, TO KEEP REMINDING THE WORLD.

2010-05-09T09:58:00.001-04:00

Drill Baby Drill = Spill Baby Spill

2010-04-29T12:44:00.001-04:00

President Obama, we who helped get you elected demand that you reverse your craven cave-in to BIG OIL's desire to turn America's already stressed coast lines into one giant oil slick!

Lest We Forget

Teabaggers: The Disconnect

2010-04-20T12:14:00.002-04:00

I have myriad issues with Andrew Sullivan, but when anyone makes an observation so on point, as Sullivan did recently regarding the Tea Partiers (they'll always be Teabaggers to me), I will pass it on.
______________

"Most of the rational tea-partiers accept that the GOP has been as bad - if not worse - than the Democrats on spending, borrowing and the size and scope of government in recent years. They repressed this anger during the Bush years out of partisan loyalty. Now, they're taking it all out on the newbie. It's both fair and also unfair.

"It's fair because Obama is a liberal who believes government can and should help the poor and disadvantaged and has proven it by providing access to insurance for the working poor. But it's unfair because Obama's fiscal and governing record is massively distorted by the impact of the bank meltdown, the steep revenue-killing recession, and the stimulus. Until its last months, the Bush administration could claim no such excuses for its awful debt-management. The big Bush jumps in discretionary spending, the big leap in entitlements under the unfunded Medicare D program, the long nation-building wars put off-budget, and the huge claims for executive power dominant in the first term: all these are far more damning to my mind than Obama's pragmatism in grappling with an economic collapse or even the healthcare reform, which at least formally claims to reduce the deficit and pay for itself (unlike Bush's Medicare-D). Even the protests at the manner in which the health reform was passed are disingenuous. The Medicare-D process - involving holding the vote open for hours and brutal arm-twisting on the floor of the House - was far, far more cynical and brutal.

"And this is why, despite my own deep suspicion of big government, I remain unmoved by the tea-partiers. Their partisanship and cultural hostility to Obama are far more intense, it seems to me, than their genuine proposals to reduce spending and taxation. And this is largely because they have no genuine proposals to reduce spending and taxation. They seem very protective of Medicare and Social Security - and their older age bracket underlines this. They also seem primed for maximal neo-imperial reach, backing the nation-building efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, favoring war against Iran, etc. Only Ron Paul, peace be upon him, extends his big government critique to the military-industrial-ideological complex.

"So they are truly not serious in policy terms, and it behooves the small government right to grapple with this honestly. They both support lower taxation and yet bemoan the fact that so many Americans do not pay any income tax. They want to cut spending on trivial matters while enabling the entitlement and defense behemoths to go on gobbling up Americans' wealth. And that lack of seriousness is complemented by a near-fanatical cultural alienation from the modern world."

If You Think HCR Brought The Whackos Out Of The Wordwork...

2010-04-17T22:42:00.004-04:00

...just wait until immigration reform gets underway. The craziness has, in fact, already begun.

Per AP:

"LOS ANGELES— A white supremacist group rallied against illegal immigration in downtown Los Angeles Saturday as hundreds of counter-protesters gathered to shout them down in a tense standoff that included several arrests, thrown rocks and police in riot gear.

Police officers stood between the white supremacists and counter-demonstrators on the south lawn of Los Angeles' City Hall, where about 50 members of the National Socialist Movement waved American flags and swastika banners for about an hour.

Five people, all of them counter-protesters, were arrested for throwing items, police said.

The white supremacists, many of them wearing flack helmets and black military fatigue uniforms, shouted "Sieg Heil" before each of their speakers took the podium to taunt counter-protesters with racial, anti-Semitic and misogynistic epithets.

"We will meet you head on," one of the white supremacists, whose name could not be made out over the fuzzy public address system, warned the crowd from behind several phalanxes of police in riot gear.

Members of the Detroit-based group said they picked the location for their rally because of Los Angeles' large immigrant population. They accused some of the immigrants of stealing jobs and committing crimes.

Group members also said they were reacting to the recent number of street marches across the country encouraging legislators to enact reform that includes amnesty for some illegal immigrants.

National Socialist Movement regional director Jeffrey Russell Hall announced that the group would begin backing political candidates who agreed with their anti-immigrant message.

But much of the white supremacists' words were drowned out by such chants as "Hey hey, ho ho, Nazi scum have got to go" from the larger crowd of about 500 counter-protesters who held signs that read "Nazis: Get Out of Los Angeles" and "Racists Are Ignorant."

Fox News: If You Listen Long Enough....

2010-04-15T21:08:00.001-04:00

...your brain will eventually implode.

I Think Christian Bale Speaks For All Of Us

2010-04-14T13:50:00.002-04:00

Hat tip to Kenneth in the 212.

New Direction

2010-04-12T17:23:00.002-04:00

Same simpleton.

I felt it was time to rename this blog in order to bring in line with some other projects I am working on. Social media has proliferated the business world, and everybody eventually "becomes" what they produce on-line. It is a fact.

But, reality is not nearly as ominous as that sounds. I wanted this blog's name to be more about what I want going forward. This required my shedding that which encumbered such progress, a cumbersome name and connotation. Cultured Cat speaks to form and function, especially from a content perspective going forward.

And, I like cats.

Dudes I Dig: Baseball is Here!!!

2010-04-06T23:28:00.004-04:00

To start the season off, last year's NL Cy Young Award winner, San Francisco Giants pitcher: Tim Lincecum

It's About The Show, Baby

2010-04-03T17:36:00.004-04:00

A Rock n' Roll show, when done right, makes you forget the price of the ticket.

I love Stevie's Kabuki at the interlude. Even the growl morphs, to become the melodic machine gun that it is.

No Foolin'

2010-04-01T17:37:00.002-04:00

One of the bloggers I read, and occasionally impress by winning his Lil' Bastard Comix caption contest, CB over at Mangina Monologues, pulled an April Fool's prank on his readers today. He got us pretty good, suggesting he was giving up his blog. The best pranks on April 1st are the ones that play on people forgetting the date. CB's prank met that criteria. I have an anouncement, too. But, I'm not foolin'. I'm re-branding.

If a blog is a reflection of the blogger, then it's time to take this blog in a new direction. When I named this thing a year and a half ago, I went with the first thing that came to mind. Frankly, I think I was too literal. It's not that I've been lazy lately, it's that I have been directionless. That, along with many status-quos of late, is changing.

So, this cat shall do what all cats do this time of year.

Shed.

In the mean time, here's some Foolin' Around music:

Anyone Who Was Pissed At Sinead O'Connor....

2010-03-31T17:54:00.003-04:00

...for her memorable expression of disgust with her church and its leader owes her a deep apology. I'm not Catholic, but I think they should kick Pope Ratzipants out and make her the new pope.

I always liked Sinead and her muisic. This is one of my favorites:

The Lamb's Book of Life

What Does A 2nd Rate Beauty Queen Do To Get By?

2010-03-28T11:25:00.004-04:00

Basic Cable

Yes, Caribou Barbie is to be the next tour guide to Hell, I mean, Alaska. Discovery Channel is about to shell out $1.2 million per episode for this shit stain to show us "her" Alaska. I'd say that's money well spent if, and only if, the first episode allows Sarahcuda to wander into the woods, only to be "found" by a pack of hungry, well armed timber wolves.

"We've come for you, Palin."

What We Already Knew: W Is Such An Ass

2010-03-24T17:15:00.002-04:00

At the 14 sec. mark, W shakes a Haitian's hand, then wipes his hand on Bubba's shirt sleave.

They Did It!

2010-03-21T23:34:00.004-04:00

It's not the best bill; it may not even be a very good bill, but this nation has finally passed comprehensive healthcare reform.

****UPDATE******

Somewhere, Sarah Palin just had a hemorrhoid burst.

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words

2010-03-19T19:53:00.002-04:00

This, in essence, is centrist politics.

GIT IT GURRRL!!!

2010-03-17T03:40:00.004-04:00

Has anyone noticed how fucking stupid this looks?

MSM Is Finally Paying Attention To The Texas Textbook Disgrace

2010-03-14T14:02:00.004-04:00

The dirty little secret about the Texas Board of Education's influence on text book publishers is finally getting national attention. Radical evangelicals on that board have declared America's public schools an ideological battle ground and they are determined to indoctrinate students nationwide with their twisted, revisionist views of America. They are fighting for a theocracy and they are using the public schools, which they hate, as a weapon.

Per ThinkProgress.org:

The Texas Board of Education has been meeting this week to revise its social studies curriculum. During the past three days, “the board’s far-right faction wielded their power to shape lessons on the civil rights movement, the U.S. free enterprise system and hundreds of other topics”:

– To avoid exposing students to “transvestites, transsexuals and who knows what else,” the Board struck the curriculum’s reference to “sex and gender as social constructs.”

– The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

– The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”

– The Board struck the word “democratic” from the description of the U.S. government, instead terming it a “constitutional republic.”

As the nation’s second-largest textbook market, Texas has enormous leverage over publishers, who often “craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers.” Indeed, as The Washington Monthly has reported, “when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas rarely stays in Texas.”
___________

This is an informative report from ABC News

In Tough Times, Everybody Needs A Fairy

2010-03-09T15:18:00.003-05:00

Blasts From The Past

2010-03-04T01:47:00.000-05:00

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

On Objectivism - Consider The Source

2010-03-02T19:22:00.006-05:00

The phenomenon of the Tea Party movement that came to rise last fall during the ignition of the national debate over health care reform gave a new breath of life to a tired, worn-out ideology, Objectivism, espoused primarily by people with paranoid, antisocial personality disorders. Of the many signs that Tea Baggers liked to wave around was one that said, "Where is John Galt?"

John Galt is the protagonist in the novel Atlas Shrugged, written by Ayn Rand, who founded the ideology of Objectivism. I use the word "ideology" because to call Objectivism a "philosophy" implies it contains some basis in wisdom, which it does not. I'm not going to get into a lengthy description of Objectivism (Randianism), but I will give a definition. Essentially, Objectivists believe in the morality of selfishness and that every action should be based on rational self interest. The feelings of others are inconsequential. Altruism and collectivism are moral evils. Essentially, every man for himself is the basis of Rand's ideology.

Naturally, Objectivism appeals to a whole assortment of groups that hate this democratic republic because of the existence of the coercive property and income taxes Americans collectively agree to pay in order to provide for things like public education, common defense, and the promotion of general welfare in the form of Social Security and Medicare.

They resent it.

Tough.

It has something to do with exceptionalism. They think they are exceptional. Most of them are not. Rand based John Galt on the nihilistic Übermensch, literally Superman or Overman. The same thing the notion of Aryan Supremacy was based on.

There's a shocker.

In a recent piece for Alternet.org, Mark Ames has written a remarkable piece that sheds light on the persona of Ms. Rand. In it,
Ames presents evidence that offers proof of what many suspected all along. Objectivism is insane and its founder, Ayn Rand, was a sociopath.

"There's something deeply unsettling about living in a country where millions of people froth at the mouth at the idea of giving health care to the tens of millions of Americans who don't have it, or who take pleasure at the thought of privatizing and slashing bedrock social programs like Social Security or Medicare. It might not be so hard to stomach if other Western countries also had a large, vocal chunk of the population that thought like this, but the U.S. is seemingly the only place where right-wing elites can openly share their distaste for the working poor. Where do they find their philosophical justification for this kind of attitude?

"It turns out, you can trace much of this thinking back to Ayn Rand, a popular cult-philosopher who exerts a huge influence over much of the right-wing and libertarian crowd, but whose influence is only starting to spread out of the U.S.

"One reason most countries don't find the time to embrace Ayn Rand's thinking is that she is a textbook sociopath. In her notebooks Ayn Rand worshiped a notorious serial murderer-dismemberer, and used this killer as an early model for the type of "ideal man" she promoted in her more famous books. These ideas were later picked up on and put into play by major right-wing figures of the past half decade, including the key architects of America's most recent economic catastrophe -- former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan and SEC Commissioner Chris Cox -- along with other notable right-wing Republicans such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rush Limbaugh and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

"The best way to get to the bottom of Ayn Rand's beliefs is to take a look at how she developed the superhero of her novel, Atlas Shrugged, John Galt. Back in the late 1920s, as Ayn Rand was working out her philosophy, she became enthralled by a real-life American serial killer, William Edward Hickman, whose gruesome, sadistic dismemberment of 12-year-old girl named Marion Parker in 1927 shocked the nation. Rand filled her early notebooks with worshipful praise of Hickman. According to biographer Jennifer Burns, author of Goddess of the Market, Rand was so smitten with Hickman that she modeled her first literary creation -- Danny Renahan, the protagonist of her unfinished first novel, The Little Street -- on him.

"What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"

Ames goes on to describe Hickman and his crimes in detail. They are worth reading to get the full impact of the absurdity of Rand's worship of him and what he represented.

Ames continues, "This is the "amazing picture" Ayn Rand -- guru to the Republican/Tea Party right-wing -- admired when she wrote in her notebook that Hickman represented "the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should."

And what did Rand think of democracy?

"Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom." - Ayn Rand

In closing, Ames makes his most salient point:

"Whenever you hear politicians or Tea Partiers dividing up the world between "producers" and "collectivism," just know that those ideas and words more likely than not are derived from the deranged mind of a serial-killer groupie. When you hear them saying, "Go John Galt," hide your daughters and tell them not to talk to any strangers -- or Tea Party Republicans. And when you see them taking their razor blades to the last remaining programs protecting the middle class from total abject destitution -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and bragging about how they are slashing these programs for "moral" reasons, just remember Ayn's morality and who inspired her.

"Too many critics of Ayn Rand -- until recently I was one of them -- would rather dismiss her books and ideas as laughable, childish, and hackneyed. But she can't be dismissed because Rand is the name that keeps bubbling up from the Tea Party crowd and the elite conservative circuit in Washington as the Big Inspiration. The only way to protect ourselves from this thinking is the way you protect yourself from serial killers: smoke the Rand followers out, make them answer for following the crazed ideology of a serial-killer-groupie, and run them the hell out of town and out of our hemisphere."

Lead, Follow, Or Get Out Of The Way

2010-02-24T01:52:00.007-05:00

You know what I see written, a lot, by right-wingers?

"Well, you guys just think you know everything."

Now, what kind of inferiority complex causes people to criticize wanting to operate form a point of reason? I don't hear my side claiming to know everything; however, I do hear us saying, "Let's operate from what we do know."

President Obama, you can be civilized to the opposition while still understanding that their point of view has been repudiated by the people, who have chosen your way. The onus is on you, then, to lead them. If the people seem shaky in their support, it is because they do not perceive that your are leading, and they will look to someone else, likely your opponent.

So here y'a go, and don't say I never gave you anything:

How YOU Doin', Apolo Ohno?

2010-02-20T02:45:00.003-05:00

Make No Mistake - This Is What Modern Conservatism Looks And Sounds Like

2010-02-19T19:24:00.004-05:00

Saw this on Towleroad.com

My Chin Is Still On The Floor

2010-02-17T23:20:00.002-05:00

Shaun "The Flying Tomato" White won the gold medal tonight with two of the most incredible snowboarding runs the world has ever seen. He didn't even need his second run; his first run got it done. Then he came back with an astonishing performance people will talk about for a long time. It was such a pleasure to watch him.

The American team has ben pretty awesome so far in these Vancouver Olympic games.

If Dick Cheney Wants To Remain In The Public Spotlight...

2010-02-14T14:05:00.003-05:00

...we should oblige him by putting him on trial, in public, for war crimes and treason.

At least Vice President Joe Biden is willing to take his predecessor to task for his disingenuous misinformation and general assholery. Numerous bloggers are writing about the public dressing down Biden handed to Cheney today regarding the former VP's attacks on the Obama administration's managing of the war against al Qaeda. Thankfully, Joe's comments were lucid and coherent.

Our Joe

__________
From the AP:

Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday belittled Dick Cheney's criticism of the Obama administration's commitment to fighting terrorism as either "misinformed or he is misinforming" and said the Iraq war wasn't worth it because of "the horrible price" paid.

The former vice president fired back gently at his successor, saying, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by my friend Joe Biden." Cheney also said that he disagreed with decisions by Bush officials to place shoe bomber Richard Reid on trial in civilian court and to release terrorism suspects from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The public back-and-forth between current and former administrations played out across the Sunday talks like a pingpong match: Biden's NBC appearance taped Saturday night from the Olympics in Canada, allowing Cheney to respond on ABC's "This Week," before Biden answered later on CBS' "Face the Nation."

In getting in the last word, Biden said: "Thank God the last administration didn't listen to him in the end" on how to handle terrorism suspects.

The vice president insisted again that the ongoing debate on the best way to bring terrorist suspects to justice ignored that the Obama administration was acting on the precedents set by the Bush administration. Cheney was vice president under Bush for eight years.

"His fight seems to be with the last administration. We did exactly the same thing," Biden said, and he accused Cheney of not listening to what's going on around him and of trying to rewrite history.

Cheney has been a leading Republican critic of the Obama administration's handling of national security, contending that President Barack Obama is "trying to pretend" that the U.S. is not at war with terrorists. The result, Cheney says, is that Americans are less safe.

Biden said that under Obama's direction, the U.S. has been more successful at killing al-Qaida leaders and their followers than it was during the years George W. Bush and Cheney were in the White House.

"We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates," said Biden. "They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?"

Cheney, Biden said, "either is misinformed or he is misinforming. But the facts are that his assertions are not accurate."

By RONALD POWERS - Associated Press Writer
______________

Republican Hypocrisy At Its Most Blatant

2010-02-10T02:56:00.006-05:00

Rachel Maddow lets them have it as she exposes those Republicans who voted 'No' for the stimulus package, then went back to their home districts extolling the virtues of all that 'gubbmit' money. It's a must watch.

They have no shame.

Perry v. Schwarzenegger: Gay Judge

2010-02-07T14:28:00.003-05:00

Well well, this is an interesting tidbit from the San Francisco Chronicle:

The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay.

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise - or advertise - his orientation.
They also don't believe it will influence how he rules on the case he's now hearing - whether Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure approved by state voters to ban same-sex marriage, unconstitutionally discriminates against gays and lesbians.

"There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view," said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.
As evidence, she cites the judge's conservative - albeit libertarian - reputation, and says, "There wasn't anyone who thought (overturning Prop. 8) was a cakewalk given his sexual orientation."
State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who has sponsored two bills to authorize same-sex marriage that were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that as far as he's concerned, Walker's background is a nonissue. "It seems curious to me," he said, that when the state Supreme Court heard a challenge to Prop. 8, the justices' sexual orientation "was never discussed."

Leno added, "I have great respect for Judge Walker, professionally and personally."

Walker has declined to talk about anything involving the Prop. 8 case outside court, and he wouldn't comment to us when we asked about his orientation and whether it was relevant to the lawsuit.
Many San Francisco gays still hold Walker in contempt for a case he took when he was a private attorney, when he represented the U.S. Olympic Committee in a successful bid to keep San Francisco's Gay Olympics from infringing on its name.

"Life is full of irony," the judge replied when we reminded him about that episode.

And did he have any concerns about being characterized as gay?

"No comment."

Shortly after our conversation, we heard from a federal judge who counts himself as a friend and confidant of Walker's. He said he had spoken with Walker and was concerned that "people will come to the conclusion that (Walker) wants to conceal his sexuality."

"He has a private life and he doesn't conceal it, but doesn't think it is relevant to his decisions in any case, and he doesn't bring it to bear in any decisions," said the judge, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the Prop. 8 trial.

"Is it newsworthy?" he said of Walker's orientation, and laughed. "Yes."

He said it was hard to ignore the irony that "in the beginning, when (Walker) sought to be a judge, a major obstacle he had to overcome was the perception that he was anti-gay."
In short, the friend said, Walker's background is relevant in the same way people would want to know that a judge hearing a discrimination case involving Latinos was Latino or a Jewish judge was ruling in a case involving the Anti-Defamation League.

Walker, by the way, didn't seek out the Prop. 8 case - it was assigned to him at random.

If the judge decides that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional, supporters of the measure are sure to take it to the federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. Kendell expects that if that happens, the measure's proponents will make an issue of the judge's sexual orientation - at least in the public arena.

Not so, said Andy Pugno, general counsel for the group that sponsored the Prop. 8 campaign.

"We are not going to say anything about that," Pugno said.

He was quick to assert, however, that Prop. 8 backers haven't gotten a fair shake from Walker in court. He cited both the judge's order for the campaign to turn over thousands of pages of internal memos to the other side and Walker's decision to allow the trial to be broadcast - both of which were overturned by higher courts.

"In many ways, the sponsors of Prop. 8 have been put at significant disadvantage throughout the case," Pugno said. "Regardless of the reason for it."

Article written by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross

Chris Matthews Is A Racist Asshole: "I Forgot He Was Black"

2010-01-27T23:26:00.003-05:00

I've Been Harping About This For Years...

2010-01-26T20:30:00.004-05:00

...so thanks Glenn Greenwald for spelling out. His piece is a must read.

From Salon.com, here is part of it:

The sanctity of military spending

Administration officials announced last night that the President, in tomorrow's State of the Union address, will propose a multi-year freeze on certain domestic discretionary spending programs. This is an "initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit," officials told The New York Times.

But the freeze is more notable for what it excludes than what it includes. For now, it does not include the largest domestic spending programs: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. And all "security-related programs" are also exempted from the freeze, which means it does not apply to military spending, the intelligence budget, the Surveillance State, or foreign military aid. As always, the notion of decreasing the deficit and national debt through reductions in military spending is one of the most absolute Washington taboos. What possible rationale is there for that?

The facts about America's bloated, excessive, always-increasing military spending are now well-known. The U.S. spends almost as much on military spending as the entire rest of the world combined, and spends roughly six times more than the second-largest spender, China. Even as the U.S. sunk under increasingly crippling levels of debt over the last decade, defense spending rose steadily, sometimes precipitously. That explosion occurred even as overall military spending in the rest of the world decreased, thus expanding the already-vast gap between our expenditures and the world's. As one "defense" spending watchdog group put it: "The US military budget was almost 29 times as large as the combined spending of the six 'rogue' states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) who spent $14.65 billion." To get a sense for how thoroughly military spending dominates our national budget, consider this chart showing where Americans' tax revenue goes:

__________

President Eisenhower counseled us that "this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience ... In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process."

I am always amazed when conservatives grouse about welfare programs. Defense contractors are the biggest welfare whores who shamelessly gorge themselves on as much tax dollars as they can. You know that poor mother in the ghetto having baby after baby on the public dime? She's got nothing on IBM, Boeing, and of course, Halliburton.

Top Bastard Once Again

2010-01-21T12:54:00.004-05:00

I won the Mangina Monologues 'Lil Bastard Comix' caption contest again with this one. I felt a tinge of guilt about it, which makes winning so much more fun.

Prop 8 Trial: Revealing Documents Are Revealing

2010-01-20T20:23:00.004-05:00

From Towleroad.com:

A document from the Church of Latter Day Saints to the Proposition 8 campaign was revealed at the trial today, and contained this instructive:

With respect to Prop. 8 campaign, key talking points will come from campaign, but cautious, strategic, not to take the lead so as to provide plausible deniability or respectable distance so as not to show that church is directly involved.

Julia Rosen, blogging for the Courage Campaign notes: "Get that? The LDS Church intentionally worked to hide behind the scenes to disguise their involvement in the public realm. The LDS Church is well aware that the general public does not have the most favorable opinion of them. Attention on their involvement could have hurt their cause, namely passing Prop 8."

Rosen called the afternoon "explosive" as the attorneys battled over what documents could be revealed as evidence of the coordinated efforts between Prop 8 campaign and Catholic, LDS, and Evangelical churches.

It elicited this statement from Judge Walker: "Not to make light of this, but the reason people want to produce documents is that they are revealing."

I Belong To No Organized Political Party....

2010-01-20T13:06:00.001-05:00

....I am a Democrat. That paraphrase of the famous Will Rogers saying seems to have particular meaning today seeing the results of yesterday's special election in Massachusetts to fill the late Ted Kennedy's senate seat. Poor Teddy is rolling in his grave due to the fact that a Republican, Scott Brown, is the new senator. The Democrats put up a weak candidate and got their asses handed to them. They were careless. They assumed they really didn't need to take this race seriously. A byproduct of this loss is the loss of a fllibuster-proof super majority in the Senate. Healthcare reform legislation, such as it is, is in danger.

I have to place the blame at the feet of the President. Mr. Obama should immediately fire his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, and purge the White House of all remnants of the centrist DLC (Democratic Leadership Council). Enough of the bipartisanship. Enough of the closed-door, back room deal making and triangulation.

We progressives must demand that the Democratic party change its course.

Go to the link below and add your name to the petition demanding the Democratic Party become the strong, progressive force we need in this country.

BOLDPROGRESSIVES.ORG

Perry v. Schwarzenegger Update

2010-01-15T16:51:00.003-05:00

I'm going to repost this piece from The American Prospect because it is a very good recap:

Prop. 8 Trial Roundup.

This week, plaintiffs in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial began presenting their case before Northern California District Judge Vaughn Walker. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has barred cameras from the courtroom, so most of the information available is coming from reporters or those liveblogging the proceedings. While the trial is not being broadcast, it is still being taped; the defense has sought to have these tapes destroyed, but the judge has refused to.

After opening statements (Ted Olson's is available here), the plaintiffs proceeded to presenting their testimony. Some highlights:

The first day of the trial included emotional testimony from the plaintiffs – a same-sex female couple and a same-sex male couple -- about their relationships and how being barred from marrying has affected them. Strangely, the defense chose to cross-examine the men but not the women.
The deposition of Prop. 8 sponsor Bill Tam set off a flurry of commentary on the blogosphere. Under questioning, Tam claimed legalizing sex with minors is part of the gay agenda. Also entered into evidence was a letter Tam wrote warning that if Prop. 8 did not pass, the states would fall "one-by-one" into the hands of the devil. It also contained a line that's already become infamous:

"Every child, when growing up, would fantasize marrying someone of the same sex. More children would become homosexuals. Even if our children is [sic] safe, our grandchildren may not. What about our children's grandchildren?"

Nancy Cott, a Harvard professor, testified about the history of marriage in the United States, pointing out that marriage law has often been used to make value distinctions between members of different races. She also testified that the right to marry is a fundamental right; those who cannot marry are essentially not free. On cross examination, David Thompson tried to paint Cott as a radical academic, citing academic work she had completed decades ago and questioning her extensively on polygamy.

Yale professor George Chauncey testified about the history of discrimination against gay people and portrayed the tactics of the "Yes on 8" campaign, which used the slogan "Protect Our Children," as a continuation of Anita Bryant's campaign to quash anti-discrimination ordinances in the '70s.

Ilan Meyer, associate professor of clinical sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, testified about the psychological stress caused by discrimination on gay and lesbian individuals.

Therese Stewart, counsel for San Francisco, and Edmund Egan, the chief Economist for the City and County of San Francisco testified about the economic impact of Proposition 8 on the city. They said it costs the city money by conferring the perception of second-class citizenship on gay couples, leading to hate crimes and making it absorb health-care costs not covered by employers. Egan also noted that married couples have more disposable income that could benefit the economy.
So far there haven't been many surprises in the case, but the plaintiffs expect to wrap up by next Wednesday, after which we should hear from witnesses for the defense. Given the defense's previous trouble in coming up with ways allowing gay marriage would harm the institution, it should be interesting to hear what, given the time, they've come up with.

--Gabriel Arana

I'm A Fan of Grooveshark....

2010-01-12T13:10:00.005-05:00

....and a bit addicted.

From Business Week:

Grooveshark.com

Sam Tarantino and Josh Greenberg took a leave of absence from the University of Florida to start Grooveshark, a music sharing network designed to deliver a portion of download sales to the copyright holder, as well as to the person who uploaded it to the network. Tarantino likens it to a "secondary market" in which users can stream or purchase songs that others share on the network.

The pair started the business in March 2006 and launched a public beta version in September 2007. They've signed deals with more than 600 record labels that have allowed their music to be sold through the network. Grooveshark has 75,000 users, a number Tarantino says is now growing by 1,500 a day.

Tarantino says Grooveshark now has 23 full-time employees and backing from an angel investor and a venture firm, though he won't say how much has been invested. Describing Grooveshark as "pre-revenue," Tarantino expects the site to be profitable within 6 to 12 months from music-download sales and advertising. "We're looking at this thing to scale pretty quickly,"

***

I found out about Grooveshark through Ashton Kutcher as I follow him on Twitter. Hat tip to Ashton. I'm amazed by the selection of music and artists, particularly Americana/alt-country artists. I've been having a great time making playlists.

Dan Savage at IU:NSFW

2010-01-11T16:31:00.002-05:00

Prop 8 Challenge Begins Today

2010-01-11T14:06:00.008-05:00

Attorneys David Boies and Theodore Olson brought the case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, to challenge California's hostile anti-marriage equality measure, Proposition 8, months ago, and their day in court begins today. Theodore "Ted" Olson is best known as the former Solicitor General in George W. Bush's first term. His late wife, Barbara Olson, a political pundit, died aboard hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 as it crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. David Boies was Olson's adversary in Bush v. Gore.

It's interesting how an issue like same-sex marriage can create strange bedfellows. Perhaps the conservative Olson is the kind of conservative who understands reality. If marriage is good for couples, then it is good for couples to marry, even same-sex ones. A good conservative would want gay couples to aspire to marriage, which means aspiring to commitment, stability, faithfulness, etc., all good conservative values.

Society benefits from families, all kinds of families. If a state says it's OK for same-sex couples to adopt, and become parents, then it seems rational that those same states would want those parents to be married. I think that is a conservative value and one with which I agree. I will be watching this trial and commenting on whatever news is significant.

A Great Start.

2010-01-01T14:12:00.004-05:00

With a flute full of Freixenet Cordon Negro, I rang the New Year in at my best friend's wonderful home in lovely, liberal Bloomington, Indiana. We four good friends, avid cooks all, managed to prepare the most splendid meal through our concerted efforts. Perfectly grilled Beef filets, pan seared and oven roasted pork tenderloin medallions, and scallops, pan seared and oven basted in white wine and herbed butter, were the proteins. They were all perfectly prepared, the scallops, sublime. Rounding out the plate: oven-roasted Brussels sprouts with black pepper bacon, and a divine, multi-layered sweet potato and mushroom concoction that provided a sophisticated take on the versatile spud. Delightful moans of ecstasy floated about the beautifully apportioned dining table as we partook of our glorious dinner.

Dessert was no let down, either. Dan's dense, chocolate rum cake with chocolate ganache icing was state-fair, blue ribbon quality.

Last night's blue moon, and a partial lunar eclipse, bore portents for moon-watchers. My pagan friend in Arizona advised us to perform a ritual whereby we focused on taking inventory and eliminating things we want to spiritually, emotionally get rid of and let go. So we each wrote these down on paper and burned them at midnight, then we got our tits out and yelled like drunken highlanders. May our pagan ancestors be pleased.

I hope everyone's farewell to 2009 was as spirit lifting as mine.

Merry Christmas & Good Job Santa

2009-12-25T13:04:00.001-05:00

I Love SketchySantas.com

2009-12-24T01:20:00.005-05:00

Now This Is Sexy

2009-12-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Jake Gyllenhaal.

Don't Let The Cacophonous Cavalcade Of Crazies...

2009-12-18T18:44:00.004-05:00

...drown out the music of the season.

I Knew Al Franken Was Going To Be Great.....

2009-12-17T15:33:00.002-05:00

....but now the senator from Minnesota is just showing off. Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) gets pwnd by Big Al on the subject of Sen. Thune's misrepresentation of when benefits in the new healthcare bill actually begin.

First read on billinexile.com

In Remembrance: Oral Roberts

2009-12-15T18:53:00.002-05:00

Got Another Letter Printed

2009-12-12T15:04:00.010-05:00

It's fun to wake up on a Saturday morning (afternoon?), pour a cup of joe, set down to read the morning paper and see your name in bold black on the Letters to the Editor page. I have had this experience going on a dozen times now, and it never gets old.
In my letter, I responded to another letter written by the President and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, a right-wing, conservative, "the market will solve everything" think tank in league with other such think tanks like the neocon infested American Enterprise Institute.

Here is the initial letter:

Socialized medicine takes cheap way, restricts access

Fran Quigley recently argued that "(health) care is cheaper and more widely available via government-run health care in countries like Japan and Great Britain" ("Don't fear socialized medicine," Nov. 30). But care is only cheaper in countries with socialized medicine because their governments restrict access to it. As a result, patients needlessly suffer.
Great Britain, for instance, routinely denies its citizens lifesaving treatments in order to save money. In early 2008, British authorities refused to approve abatacept, an arthritis drug sold in the United States, even though it's one of the only drugs clinically proven to improve severe rheumatoid arthritis. Britain's health-care cost-control agency magnanimously decided that "abatacept could not be considered a cost effective use of (National Health Service) resources."

Many Britons are prevented from accessing even the most basic health services. In fact, more than a million who need care are currently waiting for hospital admission.

Sally C. Pipes
President & CEO, Pacific Research Institute

Here is my printed response:

Drug distortions hazardous to health-care debate

Upon reading the Dec. 9 letter, "Socialized medicine takes cheap way, restricts access," by Sally C. Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, I suspected I was getting only one side of the story about Great Britain's National Heath Service and its refusal to approve the drug abatacept for treatment of late stage rheumatoid arthritis due to cost. My suspicions were correct. The letter writer did not reveal that the NHS approved the anti-inflammatory drug rituximab for the same treatment because it produced similar clinical results at about half the cost. When given the facts, most observers would conclude that the NHS applied market principles to its decision. This kind of distortion is typical when socialized medicine is characterized by those who oppose reform.

Most of the industrial nations of the world have some form of universal health care. Anti-reform critics of programs like the NHS rely on isolated instances and distortions to portray those programs as failures. In reality, populations that are served by publicly funded, universal health-care programs are overwhelmingly supportive of them and would not choose to revert to a system as flawed and unfair as is what we endure in the United States.

James A. Wilder
Indianapolis

You can join in on the debate in the online comments at Indystar.com.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091212/OPINION01/912120325/1031/Drug-distortions-hazardous-to-health-care-debate

Saw A Fun Band Tonight: The Holy Ghost Tent Revivial

2009-12-10T23:44:00.002-05:00

The banjo player is the front man and he's adorable.

Kris Kringle: Who Is This Fat Man?

2009-12-07T14:01:00.003-05:00

My best friend brought a Christmas CD over to listen to and he directed me to play a song called, "One Too Many Christmases." It was about a chick who was breaking up with her dead-beat boyfriend and tossing him out on his butt. At the end of the song she referred to him as "Kris Kringle" and my friend thought it was funny that the singer (Krista Detor) had called the louse out by saying his name.

I just looked at him, my eyes glazed over in disbelief. "You think the boyfriend is really named Kris Kringle?" He just looked at me as if to say, "Well, yeah."

Then I asked him if he knew that Kris Kringle was another name for Santa Claus. To this he answered, "Really?" Now, sometime he plays this game where he pretends to be ignorant, and he gets a kick out it when I jump to correct his ignorance; but in this case, he wasn't playing. He really hadn't heard Santa Clause referred to as Kris Kringle before.

(From Santa's Warehouse.com.au)

"Santa Clause is sometimes referred to as Kriss Kringle, a name most likely derived from Christ Kindl (Christ-child). The German name of the Christ Child is Christkind, commonly used in its diminutive form Christkindel. The Dutch-German protestant reform movement brought in the idea that the Christchild should be the standard bearer for Christmas. Traditionally an image used for his messenger was a young child with a golden crown who holds a tiny "Tree of Light", and brings the gifts of the Christ Child.

The transformation from Christkindl to Kris Kringle did not take many generations, especially with intermarriage between the Pennsylvania Dutch and the English settlers in the America. So despite the intentions of the Protestant reform movement, the original meaning of the word faded. Once thought to be the Christchild's chief helper, the image of Kris Kringle has over time reverted to an image of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus).

The name Kris Kringle is still strangely popular as the Santa Claus of some Pennsylvania Dutch web Pages today. He carries a tiny Christmas tree and enters the house through a window left open. When he has left the presents, he rings a bell allowinq the household to know of his departure. Thus "Kris Kringle" a name deriving from the German Christ Kindel is another name for Santa Clause.

The use of the name was magnified and publicised by the American movie, "Miracle on 34th Street", a story of a man named Kris Kringle who gets a job playing Santa Claus at Macy's department store in New York City and again in the 1970 animated film "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" of a legend where the orphaned baby, Kris, adopted by the "Kringle" toymaker family, grows up to distribute toys to the underprivleged.

So, whilst "Santa Clause" is more popular and recognisable the world over, to some people Kriss Kringle or Kris Kringle (an anglacised version of the german words for Christ Child) has become used as another synonym for Santa Clause."

All I Have To Say Is.....I'm A Phil Mickelson Fan.

2009-12-05T16:02:00.003-05:00

The Slow Jam

Rev. Jimmy Jones says, "Don't Y'all Go Spoilin' Christmas With This Jesus Stuff!"

2009-12-04T19:13:00.012-05:00

We've arrived at that special time of year that we all look forward to, the time when some christians, and we all know the ones, practically drown out the Harking of the Herald Angles and disturb anything resembling Peace On Earth with their constant bitching and general raising of Hell. We all know the kind of christian that gets appalled at the fact the Christmas has become so worldly and materialistic, all while she's standing in the crowded checkout line at TJ Maxx, getting ready to put too much on her credit card in order buy a bunch of crap nobody wants, to give as gifts. And, upon realizing that the Christmas music played in the store just isn't Jesussey enough, she smugly condescends to the salesperson about what a shame it is that those liberals keep trying to make people forget that, "Jesus is the reason for the Season."

Seems the word 'holiday' just isn't 'holy' enough. I saw where someone was bitching about places called 'Holiday Tree" lots instead of "Christmas Tree' lots, and yeah, I guess there is enough snarky PC sentiment in the use of 'holiday' instead of 'Christmas' to issue a deserved eye roll. But, come on. America refers to this time of year as "The Holidays," which is a derivative of the older 'Holy Days.' The origin of the Christmas Tree is till up for debate.

Per Wikipedia:
"While the Christmas tree's pagan roots are generally accepted, there still are various legends of Christian origins for the tradition. Such legends often relate to Saint Boniface. Such as: Boniface, in the process of converting local pagans, cuts down Thor's Oak, a hallowed tree for the locals, and claims a fir tree growing in the Oak's roots to be a new symbol Jesus Christ for the converted locals. Francis Weisler argued that Christmas trees are “completely Christian in origin" and that "the Yule tree had no direct pagan connotation..."

So, when someone buys a Christmas Tree, it really is a holitree in that it is holy by more than one standard. By this time there is so much back and forth between what is Christian and what is pagan with regard to the symbols we use, I always just throw them into the whole mish mash of that which is called Christmas. And, when Jews buy Christmas trees, that is a purely secular act.

It's too bad all the holier-than-thou folks feel the need to be so predictably annoying about the whole thing and we would all appreciate if they would dispense with the nonsense. For example, here's a list provided by the evangelical American Family Association of companies that aren't doing a very good job ensuring that CHRIST is emphasized in their treatment of the holidays.

"If a company has items associated with Christmas, but did not use the word "Christmas," then the company is considered as censoring "Christmas." - AFA

Companies against "Christmas"
updated 11-10-09

Advance Auto Parts
Aldi
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Braum's Ice Cream
CVS Pharmacy
Dick's Sporting Goods
Gap Stores
Harris Teeter Stores
H.E.B. Stores
Home Shopping Network
Kroger
Limited Brands
McDonald's
Nordstrom
Office Depot
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
Publix
Radio Shack
Staples
SUPERVALU
Victoria's Secret

What is it exactly that Kroger isn't doing to sufficiently give props to the Baby Jesus? Maybe they need a nativity scene in the meat department to signify that leg of lamb is on sale for $7.99 per pound. Is Victoria's Secret supposed to play "O Holy Night" and "Away in a Manger" on a loop while women buy their bloomers?

Happy Thanksgiving To All & Happy Birthday Tina Turner

2009-11-26T16:12:00.003-05:00

H.B.I.C. is 70 today!

Dudes I Dig

2009-11-20T16:52:00.003-05:00

What's not to love where James Franco is concerned?

Gravel Gertie Is At It Again

2009-11-20T02:53:00.005-05:00

I guess this disingenuous harridan has conveniently forgotten the Southern Strategy. Hell, there were very few deep-south Republicans around to vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The southern, racist Dixiecrats jumped ship, becoming Republicans, and I must say, as a Democrat, we're glad to be rid of them.

Here's the breakdown on the vote back in '64, per Wikipedia:

The original House version:
Southern Democrats: 7-87 (7%-93%)
Southern Republicans: 0-10 (0%-100%)
Northern Democrats: 145-9 (94%-6%)
Northern Republicans: 138-24 (85%-15%)

The Senate version:
Southern Democrats: 1-20 (5%-95%) (only Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas voted in favor)
Southern Republicans: 0-1 (0%-100%) (this was Senator John Tower of Texas)
Northern Democrats: 45-1 (98%-2%) (only Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia opposed the measure)
Northern Republicans: 27-5 (84%-16%) (Senators Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Bourke Hickenlooper of Iowa, Edwin L. Mechem of New Mexico, Milward L. Simpson of Wyoming, and Norris H. Cotton of New Hampshire opposed the measure)

Upon Reading Maureen Dowd's Most Recent...

2009-11-18T03:22:00.003-05:00

...take on Sarah Palin, I had to make this comment:

"You hit on this theme, Maureen, that I always find irksome with conservatives like Palin who think they have the market cornered on what it means to be a 'real American.' That somehow, real America was left back in 1959 and if we could only get our values lined up with that era again, everything would be alright. To hear her talk, there is only one American experience that can be honored as authentically American to the exclusion of other experiences. The majority of the population of the US lives in cities, 'real American' cities that are diverse and often progressive. She seems very leery, threatened even, of anything is not coming from her very parochial experience. That speaks to a rather one dimensional personality that is not equipped to lead a nation."

A Reaction to Reactionism

2009-11-17T14:58:00.006-05:00

I'm never fazed when some of my fellow Americans display their penchant for knee-jerk reactionism. Throw in nativism and xenophobia, and you essentially have described the Republican party of 2009. So it's no surprise that the right has reacted to President Obama's customary bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito as treasonous. Emperor Akihito celebrates 20 years on the Chrysanthemum Throne this year.

Of course, when George W. Bush played kissy-face with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, whose regime is one of the largest funders of world-wide radical islam, not a peep was heard from the reactionary right; and, he certainly didn't face charges of treason from those nattering nabobs of negativism.

And of course, W wasn't bowing to Pope Ratzi. He was admiring Ratzi's fabulous Prada slippers.

Oh, and here's President Nixon, one of the greatest foreign policy US presidents, not bowing to Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito, on American soil.

And here's President Eisenhower looking for change in the hand Charles De Gaulle, but absolutely not bowing.

Is there a nation on the face of the earth that is not aware that the United States of America is the most powerful nation that has ever existed? Even those who see us as their enemy know our strength. Showing respect to our friends, and observing their customs, is not a sign of weakness.

What A Win!!!! Colts Are 9-0!

2009-11-15T23:45:00.005-05:00

Curses, Foiled Again. Blast you, Peyton Manning!

Sorry Tom. Sorry Guys. My Bad.

It Just Keeps Getting Better

2009-11-14T18:01:00.005-05:00

From Radar.com as reported on Slog:

Stripped of her crown, Prejean sued the Miss California USA pageant but reportedly settled after the sex tape surfaced. She called the sex tape the biggest mistake of her life.
Now a RadarOnline.com investigation has uncovered that there are SEVEN more “biggest mistakes” of her life — all of them solo performances, just like the one sex tape that the religious beauty queen has admitted to. And there are 30 photos of Carrie, most topless, some showing everything, and most taken by Carrie using her reflection in a mirror.

On one tape Carrie is wearing just a flowing white blouse as she touches her own body in an alluring manner. Carrie can be heard moaning on a few of the tapes.

_____________________________

From beauty queen to porn star, Carrie Prejean shows us that American is still the land of opportunity.

Oh...and her book tour has been canceled.

Let's Talk About Free Speech

2009-11-11T23:33:00.005-05:00

There is a huge misconception about our first amendment right to free speech. For the most part, we all get that yelling 'FIRE!" in a crowded theatre for the purposes of inciting a riot is illegal. That's not free speech. Speech that maliciously maligns, libels, or defames is a civil crime that can cost you lots of money and it's not free speech either. Beyond these instances, Americans can run their mouths all they like. But, not without consequences.

Consequences? If you're free to say stuff, why should there be consequences? Because, other people have freedom of speech too. And if they disagree with the stuff you say, their free to say so.

Gosh...Freedom is so complicated.

I've always thought about it like this, you are free to swing your fist; but, that freedom ends at the tip of my nose.

Carrie Prejean believes her free speech rights have been abridged because of the public backlash she has received after stating her opposition to same-sex marriage and aligning herself with the radical conservative movement. She believes it is unfair that people, who also have freedom speech, disagree with her and call her a hypocrite. Of course, no one made her pose for half naked pictures and no one made her make a sex tape, as a minor, of her diddling herself to send to her then boyfriend which, technically, means she traded in kiddie porn. People are completely free to disparage her based on the image she put out there, which, as it turns out, is not quite as wholesome as she would have us believe. To hear her talk, she was punished just because she exercised her freedom of speech. If by punished she means having the things she says challenged by other people, who are free to do so in the marketplace of ideas, then tie the bitch to a post and bring me a whip (figuratively speaking, of course).

Another victim of oppression that has emerged in recent days is a fellow in Boston who got fired from Brookstone for freely expressing to his boss, a lesbian about to marry -gasp- another lesbian, that, as a christian, he was very uncomfortable and that she should take her lesboness somewhere else.

This goes back to that swingin' yer fist thingy.

When you are an employee, and there is an HR policy that says what you can and can not do or say with regard to your fellow employees, and you agreed to that policy when you took the job, don't be surprised when your employer fires your ass when you fail to follow the policy.

Our first amendment rights address how the powers of the state are restricted with regard to our liberty. You can't be picked up off of the street and thrown in jail by the state for standing on the street corner and calling the president a bum. At the same time, someone else may be across the street, on the other corner, calling you a bum for saying what you're saying. They, too, are free to do so. That doesn't make you a victim.

Chickenhawk Tancredo PWND by Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos

2009-11-08T17:55:00.003-05:00

Saw this on Operation Yellow Elephant

Carrie Prejean: From Right-wing Golden Girl to Tacky, Hypocritical Twat

2009-11-05T14:38:00.009-05:00

It was during the Miss USA pageant that Miss California, the golden-haired Carrie Prejean, became a national figure. Upon her response, when asked about her feelings about same-sex marriage (by really gay celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton), the right had found its wholesome, fresh-faced beauty queen. Miss Prejean stated that she felt marriage was something meant for the opposite sex - men should only marry women, and visa versa, women should only marry men. It is likely that Prejean's answer cost her the Miss USA title, though we will never know, or care. But, she told the 'marriage is sacred' crowd what they wanted to hear and they immediately kissed the 'holier than thou' ground she walked on.

The National Organization for Marriage founder, Maggie Gallagher, became Miss. Prejean's advocate and enlisted her in her self-righteous crusade to save traditional marriage. Ever the opportunist, Prejean signed on. The directors of the Miss California pageant, owned by Donald Trump, said, "Hold on a minute, Carrie. You have duties that your title obliges you to fullfill." Pageant directors maintained Carrie was in violation of her contract for, among other things, aligning herself with a political organization, namely NOM., and missing scheduled appearances. After a series of back and forth bickering, Carrie Prejean was stripped of her Miss California crown.

NOM, and Greater Wingnuttia, had their martyr. Miss Prejean fit the image of the good, godly christian woman who was torn down by the vile homosexual agenda. But that image, it appears, is a veneer as thin as cheap fingernail polish.

My eyebrows perked when the Miss California Pageant countersued Carrie Prejean for the cost of the fake boobies it had bought her after she had filed a $1 million suit against the pageant for libel and religious discrimination. Which brings us to a recent meeting between the two sides, at which Miss California USA's lawyers dropped a bomb wrapped in brown paper.

__________
From TMZ:

We have more info on Carrie Prejean's abrupt about-face during the settlement negotiations with Miss California USA lawyers -- when they showed her the X-Rated version of Home Alone ... starring Carrie herself. When the video started playing, Carrie's first reaction was "that's disgusting" ... and Carrie denied it was her. Then, the camera angle changed ... and panned up to her face. She was caught red-handed ... so to speak. Carrie was rendered speechless and immediately began talking with her lawyer. We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to drop her $1 million dollar demand.

___________

It's a great day when a hypocrite gets her comeuppance. That Carrie Prejean will 'go down' as a humiliated laughing stock is justice served cold, and just what she deserves.

She could parley this into a bright future as a 'solo' artist by setting up a pay-per-view channel over at X-Tube.

Just a thought, Carrie.

Way to Go, Maine

2009-11-05T00:18:00.002-05:00

Some Awesome Witches For Halloween

2009-10-31T02:41:00.006-04:00

The Wicked Witch of the West

Jadis, The White Witch

The Scarlet Witch

Rhiannon, The Welsh Witch

Maleficient

Michelle Bachman, The Witch of Minnesota, a really bad witch.

On The Continuing Irrelevance Of Ann Coulter

2009-10-24T16:21:00.003-04:00

The Rude Pundit has an entertaining piece on what it is like to read anything by Ann Coulter these days. Here's the best part:

"But it's pathetic, really, truly, in a "Look at the rabbits, Lenny" kind of way, how now, with Ted Kennedy dead and the Chappaquiddick arrows gone, Coulter's quiver of reference points is getting emptier and emptier. All she's really got left is passive aggressive Bill Clinton sex remarks. Reading her columns these days, now that she's been out-batshitted by Glenn Beck and out-babed by Sarah Palin, is not unlike listening to a toothless meth addicted woman at a bar tell you how hot she used to be and won't you please let her suck your dick for a dollar."

Oh Ann, don't go changin'.

Some Things Never Change

2009-10-21T16:35:00.006-04:00

While visiting with an aunt, my dad's sister, over this last weekend at my parents' house, something happened that has been on my mind ever since. My aunt is from small-town, rural Indiana, where my dad is from, a place that used to be supported by well paying, unionized factories that have long since disappeared. In their absence, the economic fortunes of the area's inhabitants have suffered and unemployment in the county is near the highest in the state.

We were watching an NFL game, and at half-time, a report aired on Rush Limbaugh's failed attempt at becoming part owner of the St. Louis Rams. Rev. Al Sharpton played a roll in quashing Rush's dream by coming out publicly against it, based on the racist utterings Rush has belched forth on numerous occasions. The moment Rev. Al's picture appeared on TV, the tone of the conversation in the room turned south, like about 1954 Alabama-type south. You can pretty much guess the sort of epithets aimed at Rev. Al.

Now, I was the only liberal in the room, and greatly outnumbered, so I decided to focus on my beer and the game. It was a no-win for me as I've found out in the past while arguing politics with these folks, my dad and his sister. They are republicans. Oh, my dad, a UAW member, will say he is independent, but he been voting republican since he could pull a lever in a voting booth, and that is not likely to change. My mom, also a union member, holds her cards a little closer to her chest, so I can't say for sure about her voting booth habits.

At any rate, after the usual examples of white grievances, like affirmative action and politically correct speech when referring to black people get their airing in the conversation, which was becoming quite animated, as it often does with my dad's side of the family, my aunt said, "...and to top it all off, we've got a nigger for a president." It was at that moment it occurred to me that I was seeing a gestalt of GOP success in working-class, middle America.

What makes a person walk into a voting booth and, time after time, vote against his or her own best interests? Fear and loathing, that's what. The GOP discovered it 40 years ago during the Nixon administration. Capitalizing on the concerns of white, working-class people and outright racist southerners, the GOP knew it could parlay middle class America's fear and loathing of black people, who were doing a little better economically, competing for jobs in factories, and threatening white people's hegemonic sense of themselves, into political victories.

That strategy gave us Ronald Reagan, aka the Great White Hope. Reagan immediately went about busting unions and dismantling the manufacturing sector in the name of his supply-side economic policies, which were pure nonsense. It was under Ronald Reagan that Wall Street began its usurpation of America's political system. It should be no surprise, 25 years later, that we are where we are economically.

And yet, Saint Ronnie is still a hero to many people, including the people I was watching a football game with, the people who can't get past the fact that we have a black man as president. I wonder if my aunt, and those like her, will ever understand, when they wonder what happened to the ghost towns they live in and where all those good jobs went, that they played a role in their own fate. They were sold a bill of ideological goods that were, in fact, snake oil, though they'll never admit it.

Some things never change.

I Could Go For A Burger

2009-10-15T14:58:00.003-04:00

Thanks to David Dust, where I saw this first.

President Barack H. Obama: Nobel Laureate

2009-10-09T15:00:00.004-04:00

And with regard to the uproar that is surely occurring out there in Greater Wingnuttia, Ima let Miss Whitney speak for me.

Ladies and gentlemen, Whitney Houston

Can I Get It On Velvet?

2009-10-06T17:34:00.002-04:00

Fundy arteest, Jon McNaughton, has produced a new Morman interactive game for the World Wide Intertubes called One Nation UNder God.

Go here to experience the divine truth.

Why Stop At ACORN?

2009-09-28T20:38:00.003-04:00

Thanks to others, like Christopher di Spirito at From the Left, for reminding us that there is a plethora of profligate defrauders of the US government out there in need of being brought down. ACORN is small change compared to the Blackwaters of the world.

2009-09-25T12:56:00.001-04:00

Health Care Reform? We don't need no stinkin' health care reform:

1. Although efforts have been made to reform the health care industry since 1912, we should not be too hasty and rush into enacting change.

2. The federal government has no business interfering in people's health care decisions, unless a woman is trying to terminate a pregnancy, go on contraception or the patient’s last name is Schiavo.

3. The government is incapable of running anything efficiently, and if allowed to offer a health care option, will run health care so efficiently that it will put private insurers out of business.

4. We are a Christian nation and we don’t believe in helping the least among us. Some people just don’t deserve health care. Getting sick is God's punishment for doing something wrong.

5. The current system, with 47,000,000 uninsured, a million medical bankruptcies annually, and 18,000 deaths annually due to lack of insurance, is working just fine. In fact, we have the best health care system in the world!

6. Even though many older couples are forced to divorce in order to avoid catastrophic financial losses due to medical expenses, it’s the homosexuals who are destroying families.

7. A conversation with your doctor about end-of-life issues is an opportunity for your doctor to convince you to kill yourself.

8. We can afford to spend more on our military than all other nations combined, but we can’t afford universal health care.

9. Single-payer, government-run health care is good enough for our men and women in uniform, for whom nothing is too good, but single-payer, government-run health care will offer substandard care to the rest of us. Besides, to offer the same healthcare to the general public that our armed forces and their families already get would be socialism.

10. Pooling our resources to provide roads, schools, clean water, military, police, and fire protection for each other is not socialism. Pooling our resources to provide each other health care is socialism.

11. Socialism is bad. Very bad. Bad! Did I mention it's bad?

12. Health care is an issue best handled by individual states; like slavery was.

13. We can afford to subsidize Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan, all of whom have universal health care, but we can’t afford it ourselves.

14. Money and corporate profits are more important than people's health. Sure, reforming the insurance companies would save thousands of lives, but shareholders’ portfolios might be damaged.

15. Freeing people from holding on to their dead-end jobs for the insurance and allowing them to become entrepreneurs would bankrupt our country and devastate our markets, which depend upon entrepreneurial innovation.

16. Someone like physicist Stephen Hawking would have been allowed to die under the British health care system. Oh, he’s British? And he's alive? Never mind.

17. We already have universal health care: it’s called the Emergency Room. Uninsured people can go there for all their health needs (checkups, cancer pre-screening, chemotherapy, etc.), and it only costs the taxpayers a few thousand dollars per visit.

18. The Obama health care initiative is part of the liberal-communist-Nazi-socialist-Islamofascist-gay-atheist-zombie-transsexual-cannibal-feminist- sociopath-evolutionist agenda to take away your freedom! If this plan is passed, abortions will be mandatory, and Negroes (many of them born in some other country and only posing as citizens to get elected to office) will murder your Grandma with her pillow!

Just Because They're Hot

2009-09-21T22:18:00.000-04:00

A Tale Of Two Joes

2009-09-16T16:31:00.006-04:00

Something that occurred to me during this whole episode of Rep. Joe Wilson and his asshattery was expounded upon in a piece by Juan Cole, president of Global Americana Institute. (The Global Americana Institute, per its site, "translates important books by great Americans and about America into Arabic, and subsidizes their publication so that they can be bought inexpensively.")

Thanks to Cognitive Dissident, where I first saw the piece discussed.

_______________

A Tale of Two Joe Wilsons, a Tale of Two Americas

This is the story of two Joe Wilsons, and two Americas. Both challenged a president, the most powerful man in the free world. One is a liar and the other is a courageous truth-teller. One enjoys impunity for his falsehood and epochal rudeness, bespeaking an America ruled with civility and tolerance. The other was subjected to a ruthless campaign of smears, and the career of his wife was ruined, bespeaking an America controlled by heartless men bent on achieving their nefarious ends by running roughshod over others.

On September 9, 2009, a man named Joe Wilson, a congressman from South Carolina, yelled "You lie!" at the president as he was defending his universal health coverage proposals from nutty rightwing smears.

Joe Wilson, whom the Health Industry lobby has given $244,196 in campaign contributions, was of course himself lying when he implied that President Obama's plan will cover illegal immigrants. It will not.

President Obama graciously accepted Wilson's subsequent apology, even though no modern president has been yelled at that way by a minor rural politician.

On July 6, 2003 another Joe Wilson called a president a liar, in an opinion essay for the New York Times. This Joe Wilson had bravely stared down Saddam Hussein in fall, 1990 as acting ambassador in Baghdad and been commended for his courage by George H. W. Bush.

George W. Bush had falsely alleged in his State of the Union Speech that Iraq had recently bought yellowcake uranium from the West African country of Niger. The allegation was based on a clumsily forged document that had been discounted by the CIA and was proven false within 24 hours when finally shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Wilson's complaint that the assertion had been false and that he had shown it false before the war was deeply embarrassing to the Bush administration. It responded by smearing Wilson and then attempting to out his wife, Valerie Plame, as an undercover CIA operative working against Iran's nuclear program. Plame's career was destroyed and all her known agents and contacts around the world were burned; some of them may have quietly been killed (we have no way of knowing). Ultimately, the truth of the anti-Wilson, anti-Plame campaign came out and Richard Bruce Cheney's chief of staff was found guilty of an attempted cover-up. Cheney had ordered the outing of Plame; it happened via another route, but Cheney was conniving at it. Cheney is a traitor and should be rotting in jail.

Note that the first Joe Wilson was dead wrong, but that the Obama administration responded in a gentlemanly way to his charge.

The Bush-Cheney administration, in contrast, attempted to besmirch the reputation and the life of a dedicated lifetime civil servant because he spoke the truth to the president.

The story of the two Joe Wilsons and how they were treated is the story of two visions of America. The Bush-Cheney vision is a nightmarish landscape of blighted lives and cruel indifference to basic human decency. The Obama vision is just the Golden Rule, with which the people who vote for the evil Joe Wilson typically profess acquaintance.

The evil Joe Wilson (R-SC) is the remnant of Cheneyism in this new America, painfully being born from the rubble made by the old. He needn't remain in office, defiling the halls of the Congress of the United States of America. He has an opponent in the next election, Rob Miller, an Iraq War veteran. An honorable man. Here is his campaign site.

We only need the one kind of Joe Wilson, the one who shouts "truth" to lies; not the one who shouts "lies" to the truth.

Workers Of The World - Recognize!

2009-09-15T22:27:00.003-04:00

From CharlotteObserver.com:

Activist who inspired 'Norma Rae' dies

Crystal Lee Jordan Sutton, a former textile worker and inspiration for the character of Norma Rae in the 1979 film about the fight for unionization in Southern textile mills, has died.

Sutton, who lived in Burlington, had been battling a brain tumor for more than two years. She was 68.

She got involved in the labor movement in textiles just as North Carolina's stature as a manufacturing giant was about to decline. Unionization of a small part of the industry's work force was only one factor; overseas competition and the relocation of U.S.-owned mills to Mexico and Asia, where labor is cheaper, claimed hundreds of thousands of jobs. Within a decade of her arrest for agitating inside the mill where she worked, so little manufacturing was left that Sutton had to explain to people why workers were once teased as "lintheads."

She remained a symbol of the struggle to improve working conditions and wages for mill workers long after the industry itself had been completely transformed. As North Carolina hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs during the past three decades, Sutton continued to tell the story of how she helped organize workers at a J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids and what it cost her to be a part of the fight.

She also advocated for women's rights, racial equality, help for the poor and, after doctors found a malignant tumor on her brain, equal access to medical treatment.

Syd Alexander, a Chapel Hill attorney who represented Sutton for years and remained friends with her, said she was true to her values.

"She found a mission and a goal and she stayed with it," Alexander said. "She was not an articulate, polished speaker, but she was absolutely unabashed about telling her story and what she believed in. And she was such a natural, because the story was true."

The middle child of millworkers, Sutton was 17 when she first went to work in a mill in the late 1950s. She was folding towels for $2.65 an hour at the Rosemary Plant in Roanoke Rapids in 1973 when a union organizer named Eli Zifkovitch came to town, fresh from the coal fields of West Virginia.

Zifkovitch's passion for the workers' plight energized Sutton; she eventually began to encourage co-workers to learn what a union could do for them.

In May 1973, Sutton was fired. She grabbed a piece of cardboard, wrote the word "UNION" on it, climbed onto a cutting table in the noisy production room and held the sign aloft. As she turned slowly around, workers turned off their clattering machines, bringing work to a stop, if only for a few minutes, until police arrested her.

The scene is a memorable one in the move "Norma Rae," in which Sally Field plays a thinly disguised version of Sutton.

Sutton never wanted that movie made. She had already sold the rights to her story to a documentary film maker and refused to allow Hollywood to use her name.

When the movie became a success -- Sally Field won an Oscar for the part -- Alexander says Sutton realized she could use the film to further the cause. Eventually, she became a regular speaker for the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union.

J.P. Stevens, once one of the largest textile makers in the world, did not negotiate a contract with the union in Roanoke Rapids until 1980.

The Rosemary plant itself closed in 2003, laying off its last 320 workers. Since 1977, North Carolina has lost more than 250,000 textile manufacturing jobs.

Nancy Cassill, department head of Textile and Apparel Technology Management at N.C. State University's College of Textiles, said that although North Carolina is no longer a world leader in making fabrics, it is on the cutting edge in designing, developing and providing raw materials for a range of high-tech textiles.

And, Cassill said, "The industry is strongly committed to human rights and compliance and workplace issues."

Kept up the fight

After moving to Burlington, Sutton continued to be an advocate, speaking for workers at a local hotel and a phone company.

In 2007, after she became ill, Sutton donated her papers to Alamance Community College, where she got training to be a certified nursing assistant. She liked the school because it welcomes people of modest means.

Earlier this year, when it appeared the Alamance County School system might have to cut teachers because of budget problems, Sutton told her neighbor and friend, Carrie Price, they might have to launch a protest.

"She said, 'You can push me in my wheelchair, and we'll go to Raleigh.'" Price recalled. "That's the type of person she was. She wanted people to be treated fairly."

Sutton is survived by her husband of 30 years, Lewis Preston Sutton Jr.; two daughters, three sons, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

These Are Always Fun

2009-09-14T23:23:00.003-04:00

Max Blumenthal is one of my heros.

If I knew Obama was for 'forced drugging', as the sign indicates at the .19 mark, I would have supported him in the primary.

The Greed of Eli Lilly & Co.

2009-09-09T12:21:00.004-04:00

This is a story from Bloomberg News about the revelations coming out of discovery from a South Carolina lawsuit against
ELi Lilly & Co. which has been accused of marketing its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for things other than what it was approved for by the FDA. Earlier this year, Lilly agreed to pay out $1.4 billion in order to settle criminal and civil investigations into their off-label marketing scam.
________________________

Lilly Paid Doctors to Prescribe Zyprexa, Notes Show
By Margaret Cronin Fisk and Jef Feeley

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co. paid doctors in South Carolina for participating in a speakers’ program in exchange for prescribing the antipsychotic Zyprexa, and used golf bets to get more patients on the drug, according to notes by sales representatives.

During a golf game, one doctor agreed to start new patients on Zyprexa for each time a sales representative parred, or put the ball in a hole within a predetermined number of strokes, according to the notes.

“I got four pars out of nine holes,” Lilly salesman Vince Sullivan said in a February 2002 note. “I said I wanted my four new patients.”

The notes were made public for the first time in a court hearing today in South Carolina in the state’s lawsuit against Lilly over Zyprexa marketing practices. State officials contend Indianapolis-based Lilly marketed the drug for unapproved uses. A trial is set to begin Sept. 14.
South Carolina wants to recoup $200 million it contends it wrongfully spent on Zyprexa prescriptions as a result of Lilly’s push to get doctors to use the medicine, approved only for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, for other ailments. The state also contends the drugmaker withheld information about Zyprexa’s side effects, such as weight gain.

“Call notes are jottings written by sales reps and most reps make hundreds of notes monthly. They are not literal recitations of interactions with physicians,” Marni Lemons, a Lilly spokeswoman, said in telephone interview.

‘Out Of Context’

Lemons said the state’s lawyers took the notes “out of context” and “not one physician employed by the state of South Carolina has testified Lilly promoted off-label to them.”
The notes became public at a hearing in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Lilly’s motion to have the state’s case thrown out prior to trial.
The state also is seeking a $5,000 fine for each Zyprexa prescription dating back to 1997, according to court filings. That could result in billions of dollars in fines, South Carolina’s lawyers say.
Lilly resolved a marketing investigation over Zyprexa in January with the U.S. Justice Department, promising to pay $1.42 billion, including about $362 million to more than 30 states. South Carolina opted not to join that settlement.

Alaska Settlement

The only trial of a state’s lawsuit ended in March 2008 with an out-of-court settlement in which Lilly agreed to pay Alaska $15 million.

Zyprexa, part of a class of medications called atypical antipsychotics, has been linked to excessive weight gain and diabetes. The lawsuits also claim Lilly failed to properly warn of Zyprexa’s side effects.
Lilly officials have denied the drugmaker withheld information about Zyprexa’s side effects or improperly marketed the drug in South Carolina.
Lawyers for the state pointed to a sales note from Sullivan in which he tells another salesman to tie a doctor’s Zyprexa prescriptions to participation in a speakers’ program.
The company paid doctors and psychiatrists to address physician gatherings about the benefits of the antipsychotic. “If his numbers go up, maybe he can talk,” Sullivan said in the August 2001 note.

‘So Much Money’

A year later, Sullivan noted in sales records that he was pressing a doctor to write more Zyprexa prescriptions “because we’re paying him so much money” to participate in the speakers’ program, according to a call note made public today.
Lilly also offered other inducements to doctors who prescribed Zyprexa, such as deep-sea fishing trips and Palm- Pilot devices, said John Simmons, a Columbia, South Carolina- based lawyer representing the state.
The sales notes show that many of those prescriptions were for unapproved, or so-called off-label, uses, Simmons told Judge Roger Couch.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates what drugs can be used to treat specific ailments. Drugmakers can only promote their medicines for FDA-specified illnesses.
Faced with the loss of patent protection for its Prozac antidepressant, Lilly officials pushed salespeople to market Zyprexa for a host of ailments, including depression, agitation and anger, Simmons said. The FDA hadn’t approved the drug for any of those uses, he added.

‘Diamond’

Company officials said in a memo that they were “betting the farm on Zyprexa” to replace Prozac, Simmons said.
In internal memos, Lilly officials used the word “diamond” as a code for talking about their Zyprexa off-label marketing campaign, he said.

He cited notes from visits with doctors in 2000 and 2001 where sales reps reported talking about older patients being treated with Zyprexa for agitation and declining mental acuity. Simmons noted the drugmaker already pleaded guilty to a criminal charge over its off-label promotion of Zyprexa for use with elderly patients.
In that plea, Lilly officials acknowledge that the company illegally pushed the drug’s off-label use by older patients from Sept. 1, 1999, to March 31, 2001.
The company also pushed primary-care physicians to use the antipsychotic medication on children, Simmons said. One of the notes indicated salespeople said the drug is ‘for kids whose parents have to shove the pills down their throat every day.”

‘In His Tea’

Another note shows that one doctor told Lilly he was prescribing Zyprexa for a 13-year-old, whose mother “puts it in his tea.”

Besides illegally marketing its drug, South Carolina officials contend Lilly violated the state’s unfair trade practices law by mishandling Zyprexa and unjustly enriched itself at the state’s expense.
Lilly’s lawyers have countered in court filings that the company didn’t engage in fraud in its handling of Zyprexa or misrepresent the drug’s strengths and weaknesses.
They contend South Carolina officials have no evidence of illegal marketing within the state, either from private doctors or those working with state agencies.

“At least 12 state officials, including state physicians who prescribe Zyprexa, testified that they were not misled by Lilly,” the lawyers said in the filings.
The state can’t produce a single South Carolina doctor who’ll testify they’ve received “communications from Lilly regarding off-label promotion of Zyprexa,” according to the filings.

The South Carolina case is State of South Carolina v. Eli Lilly & Co., 2007-CP-42-1855, Common Pleas Court for South Carolina’s Seventh Judicial Circuit (Spartanburg).

Dudes I Dig

2009-09-03T20:28:00.002-04:00

I just watched the 2003 Oscar nominated Swedish movie EVIL starring a very hot Andreas Wilson.

Good Job Dan

2009-09-02T18:30:00.000-04:00

NO NO NO

2009-08-29T00:04:00.001-04:00

Hell-to-the-No

Is It Possible That The Democrats Are....

2009-08-25T01:55:00.002-04:00

....getting their act together on this healthcare reform process? I'll take any good news I can get right now.

NY Times:

In the last week, Democrats have begun to talk openly of using a procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a health bill in the Senate with a simple majority, assuming no Republican support. To do that, under Senate rules, they would probably need to show that the public plan changed federal spending or revenues and that the effects were not “merely incidental” to the changes in health policy.

Democrats believe they could clear this hurdle by demonstrating that the public plan would save money or cost money.

“If a public plan is shown to have a cost to the government that affects outlays or revenues, it could be included in a health care bill using reconciliation procedures,” said Martin P. Paone, a former Senate aide who has been consulted by Senate Democrats.

Republicans object to both the idea of a new government plan and the use of expedited procedures to push it through the Senate on a simple majority vote.
________________

I hope senate democrats get their ducks in a row and do what they were elected to do.

A Great Lady

2009-08-18T19:32:00.003-04:00

In the midst of the frustracting, cynical political times we are living in comes an uplifting moment provided by Bea Arthur.

From JoeMyGod:

NYC Homeless Shelter For LGBT Youth To Name Residence For Bea Arthur

The Ali Forney Center, NYC's homeless shelter for LGBT youth, is naming one of their residences for the late Bea Arthur. Via press release:

*************
The Ali Forney Center (AFC), the nation's largest organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth, will formally announce it's plan to name a residence for LGBT youth in honor of Bea Arthur at her memorial service on September 14th at the Majestic Theater in New York City. The Ali Forney Center is working with a group of Bea's close friends and colleagues to plan the memorial service. "Bea Arthur was tremendously kind and generous to the Ali Forney Center" says Carl Siciliano, AFC Founder and Executive Director. "The caring and concern that Bea expressed for our kids meant the world to us, and we are thrilled to be able to give honor to her memory in this way".

In November of 2005, Bea flew to New York City from her home in Los Angeles in order to give a special benefit performance of her one-woman show. The performance raised over $40,000 for the Ali Forney Center. In an interview for Next Magazine Bea explained her decision to offer her support "I'm very, very involved in charities involving youth and the plight of foster children. But these kids at the Ali Forney Center are literally dumped by their families because of the fact that they are lesbian, gay, or transgender - this organization really is saving lives." Bea continued to offer her support, both as a donor and as an advocate. In one of her very last interviews, published in the New York Blade in May 2008, Bea spoke with pride of having done the benefit for AFC, and indicated that she would do anything to help gay kids disowned by their parents.
***************

That's the kind of story we all need to hear.

My favorite Maude moment.

Winston Churchill's Legacy: Socialism

2009-08-14T14:53:00.003-04:00

A pillar modern conservatism who seemingly, through sheer force of will, saw Great Britain through the tribulations of WWII and the defeat of fascism, Winston Churchill remains a monumental figure. A piece by Salon.com contributor, Joe Conason, reminds us that Churchill was the guiding force behind the creation of the National Heath System (NHS), Britain's highly popular and successfull universal healthcare program, which has been much maligned by America's right-wing propagandists.

From a 1944 speech, Churchill stated:

"The discoveries of healing science must be the inheritance of all. That is clear. Disease must be attacked, whether it occurs in the poorest or the richest man or woman simply on the ground that it is the enemy; and it must be attacked just in the same way as the fire brigade will give its full assistance to the humblest cottage as readily as to the most important mansion. Our policy is to create a national health service in order to ensure that everybody in the country, irrespective of means, age, sex, or occupation, shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available."

Conason points out that even Margaret Thatcher, who one said something to the effect that "there is no such thing as society - only individuals," dared not entertain the idea of dismantling the NHS.
He also recounts this recent idiocy:

"Lately, the subject of the NHS erupted into the American debate over health care when Investors Business Daily, a hard-line right-wing financial publication based in New York, suggested in an editorial that a statist system like Britain’s would have left Stephen Hawking, the Nobel physicist and popular author, to die of Lou Gehrig’s disease, which has afflicted him since he was 21 years old. That ignorant screed prompted Hawking -- who has of course lived in Britain all his life -- to declare that the NHS had saved his life. Furious Britons of all political parties leaped forward to defend their medical system, mocking the dumb American right-wingers and overwhelming Twitter with messages hashmarked “I love the NHS.”

President Obama, who once supported single-payer but walked away from it, has not been the fierce advocate progressives had hoped he would be. It is vitally important that the healthcare reform that comes out of congress includes a strong public option.

Dudes I Dig

2009-08-11T00:32:00.002-04:00

I'm tired of politics for the moment. I need eye candy. Hugh Dancy is perfect.

I Have Two Suggestions.....

2009-08-07T01:41:00.008-04:00

concerning how to handle these GOP-paid goons that are hijacking town-hall meetings conducted by Democratic members of congress in order to create fear and spread insurance company propaganda.

Send in:

Some pissed off union boys

and Dykes on Bikes

Just be sure there is a lot of Miller Lite on hand.
'Nuff Said!

Cheese And Crackers, It's My 1 Year Anniversary!

2009-08-02T18:22:00.004-04:00

I've just put a meat loaf in the oven, poured a refreshing glass of 2007 Bear's Lair California chardonnay, observed that the Cubs are up a run in the sixth against the Marlins as I nosh on some hummus, cheese, and crackers. That is a decent way to celebrate my one year anniversary as a member of the blogosphere, I suppose. In the time since I started this blog we, as a nation, elected a black man president. That's a pretty remarkable feat, regardless of how we feel about the job he has done so far. He still has my support, but I encourage him to dispense with the bipartisanship and move forward with a progressive agenda in a more forceful way.

I appreciate those that have read my posts and provided comments. I've learned a lot from the bloggers I read and support, and I hope y'all have received something of value here, even if it's only a good biscuit-n-gravy recipe.

And the Cubs are still ahead at the stretch!

Captions Please

2009-08-01T17:37:00.002-04:00

Banned In 'Bama

2009-07-31T13:41:00.003-04:00

I love the art-nouveau movement. I love wine. I also love it when stupidity it turned upon itself, to the profit of the aggrieved, as in the case of the vintner who makes Cycles Gladiator wine.

From the AP:

Alabama's ban on a wine that features a nude nymph on the label became a business opportunity for a California vintner who is preparing a marketing campaign to capitalize on being "Banned in Bama."

The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recently told stores and restaurants to quit serving Cycles Gladiator wine because of the label. Board attorney Bob Martin said the stylized, art-nouveau rendition of a nude female with a flying bicycle violated Alabama rules against displaying "a person posed in an immoral or sensuous manner."

Bill Leigon, president of Hahn Family Wines in Soledad, Calif., said Thursday that visits to the company's Web site have increased tenfold since news of the ban broke late last week, and callers from across the country have been asking where they can buy the wine.

Because of the interest, he's developing store displays that say "Banned in Bama" and "Taste What They Can't Have in Alabama."

Hahn said he will never miss the 500 cases sold annually in Alabama. "There is going to be a significant increase in our sales," he predicted.

-I can drink to that.

The Best Thing About Growing Old......

2009-07-31T00:50:00.003-04:00

....is being able to be crazy with no repercussions. I give you - Joan Rivers.

As An Avid Admirer Of All Things Arthurian....

2009-07-26T20:10:00.003-04:00

...I find NBC's Merlin fun to watch. I've always liked movies and TV shows set in medieval or classical times. Perhaps they appeal to some past-life of mine. Now, I'm not one to go running around renaissance fairs, YET. I've always surrounded myself with that jewel toned color palate that one expects of a Shakespearean play or some retelling of the Grail Legend. And then there's that Stevie Nicks thing. In the case of this show, it certainly doesn't hurt that the guys portraying Merlin and Arthur are sure easy on the eyes.