A World Quite Mad

...she's worth 12 million dollars. To top that off, she makes two million dollars a year. And I thought congressional members made an absurd amount of money. That totally pales in comparison to the $174k a year that they make, even with the 26 weeks of vacation. Ridiculous.

These media jackals keep saying that they don't know what these people are protesting. Yeah, they can't say because it would take more than the two second sound byte to do so. The list is fuck-off long as to just how jacked up this system of ours is. I believe it can be fixed though. There was a ton of greed and avarice in the 1920s and our grandparents paid for it with the Great Depression, and it took a while, but things turned around and were even better than before. I just hope that Obama grows a pair and rivals FDR when historians look back on this era.

Since reading the news about the Occupy Wall Street protests I noticed a few common themes in the comments from tea-bagger types. I'd like to take this time to refute the corporate shills' tea-baggers' ideas (which are absolute nonsense).

Teabagger: Aren't these protesters just a bunch of whiney rich kids with nothing better to do?

Me: Um, no. If they were rich they'd be on a yacht off the coast of Monaco thinking about all the ways they can get out of paying any taxes on their capital gains.

Teabagger: The government would have an easier time of it if they just didn't have to pay everyone their "entitlements" like Social Security.

Me: Last time I checked, Social Security is not an entitlement. The government has been taking money out of my check since I was sixteen years old. When I retire, they give it back plus interest. Maybe the teabaggers should take a simple course in economics before they decide to lecture about it.

Teabagger: These kids took student loans out of their own choice and therefore it's their problem.

Me: No, it's really society's problem. When millions of Americans desire an education and cannot afford it and therefore must go into debt to get it, something is terribly wrong with the system. Australians and Europeans get free higher education if they do well in school, and are not saddled with debt the second they get out. We have twenty-something year olds in debt before they even get started in a career path, and then add to that the massive unemployment and the fact that possibly 50% of recent college graduates are either unemployed or working in jobs that do not require a degree, and we (yes we!) have a huge problem on our hands.

To add to that, we waste human capital (not that that matters to the Corporate elite, although it should). Just because you're born into poverty doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a chance at things. Isn't that what the so-called American Dream was all about? If someone is intelligent, they should be given an education free of charge. The teabaggers are a cabal left over from feudalism, wishing to see us return to a time when (corporate) lords protected people (serfs) from the ravishes of the world in exchange for absolute bondage to them. They stand for something that is the very anti-thesis of a free and democratic society.

What is wrong with these teabaggers and those who share such ideology? I'd start with the fact that besides the psychological problems and ignorance they obviously have (signs held up at their "parties" about government staying out of Medicare say it all), they also have no empathy. Why else would you boo a veteran of our armed forces? Or cheer because someone without insurance dies? Or absolve yourself of all interest in your fellow Americans.

Obama was quoted as saying that's not who "we" are. I want to know who these asshats are. Is it just ignorance? Is it that they can't think for themselves so they just parrot whatever they've been spoon-fed by Faux News? Whatever it is, it's refreshing to see that there are still intelligent people left in this country.

"Because if this is gonna be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we've got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition -- and then admit that we just don't want to do it." --Stephen Colbert

From Crooks and Liars:



Watching Glenn Beck is like watching a real life version of Orwell's 1984 in action.

War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
Corporations are your friend.

Hey Beck! The 13th century called, they want you back. Because that's what this boils down to. They don't want the plebes to have information, just like the medieval Church didn't want the peasants to be literate, because then they might get ideas in their head. And when they say they want broadband access for everyone, that doesn't necessarily mean in their homes. It means that you can go to a library or some other publicly funded place and access the internet. I think that's an important thing.

The only thing that disturbs me is that people believe everything Beck says. As much as he mentions him, I wonder if Beck has ever read anything by Karl Marx. I wonder if he can define "socialism" or "fascism" or "Marxism" beyond just saying that the Obama administration is "all of those things."

“You have a freedom of speech or the government. You can’t really have both,” said Beck.

Really? I could have sworn that the piece of paper that G. Dubya Bush wiped his ass with, also known as our Constitution said that *we the People* are the government. And herein lies the danger. The right-wing wackos scream about how terrible the government is, but we're all supposed to be the government. We're supposed to decide what happens, by electing officials who carry out our wishes. The Constitution, that piece of paper that so many religious fundies want to throw out and replace with the Bible, is supposed to protect our rights. And yet we have Conservatives screaming we need a revolution, we need to overthrow a duly elected government, yadda yadda yadda. There is nothing wrong with our Constitution. It has served this country well (for the most part) for over two hundred years. I do believe that there is a word for that. It's called treachery. And, as Jack Sparrow said in Pirates of the Caribbean, "The deepest circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." But on a more serious note, these people have apparently never read the Declaration of Independence (or anything else of value for that matter):

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

Maybe what it boils down to is that Beck is so paranoid, he's afraid of himself.

Think Progress has more.

What was that a few months back, when the Justice Department caught hell for warning about right wing wackos? What was that? Oh yeah, looks like they were correct in their reasoning, obviously, as anyone with half a brain would realize. I wonder who was pissed about that assessment? Could it be the right-wing wackos who seem to always be ranting at the top of their lungs? Quite a few people owe Janet Napolitano an apology.

Alleged gunman charged in museum shooting

By BRETT ZONGKER and CALVIN WOODWARD

Security Guard Dies After DC Museum Shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An 88-year-old white supremacist has been charged with murder for killing the security guard who had opened the door to let him into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum, officials said Thursday...

In his car, officers found a notebook with a handwritten note saying, "You want my weapons - this is how you'll get them. The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews," according to a court affidavit...

This guy, James von Brunn, who murdered the guard, he was also ranting online about how Obama wasn't born here, following the usual right-wing diatribe bullshit. You know, just like what Faux News was saying. Same shit. I know where he gets his news from.

By the way, Stephen T. Johns and the other guards who stopped this ignorant, poor excuse for a human being, are heroes. If it hadn't been for them, countless other innocent people would have died.

Oh, and James von Brunn isn't alone. Just look at the white supremacist forums if you dare. I came across one by accident in a Google search of his name. They're lauding him as a hero. I don't know how such sorry excuses for life can sleep at night. They obviously have no empathy and no conscience. That's the mark of a serial killer, the mark of a despot. People who would kill other human beings and not feel any remorse whatsoever, I don't even have any words for that sorta crap.

Not surprising that the anchor at Faux News didn't insist she answer the question. Indeed, I'm surprised they even asked it. The appropriate answer would have been "I'm an idiot."

This girl just doesn't know when to stop. She just keeps digging herself deeper into her own hell. Now she's given an interview to Faux News. I'm sure she's enjoying this popularity, although she says she is dumbstruck by all the publicity. If that's the truth, she's even dumber than I thought, and I already knew she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box.

"I'm grateful for the outpouring of support from the great majority of Americans who know in our hearts that Americans should treat others with respect, even when we disagree -- especially when we disagree about important moral issues like marriage."

Respect? Respect is denying other people rights? Is this really the platform of Miss California. Why have they not stripped her of her crown? This isn't a "moral" issue you stupid, ignorant piece of chattel. It's a civil and legal issue. If you want it to be about "moral" things alone, then the government better cease to recognize any marriage at all. Oh, but it gets better.

"You probably know by now I believe very strongly that a marriage is between a man and a woman. This vision of marriage is not hateful, it's not discriminatory. It's good."

Apparently, dim-bulb here needs a dictionary for Christmas. To help her define the term "discriminatory". It is discrimination when you allow civil and legal rights to married couples of the opposite sex, but not to those of the same sex. Like power of attorney. The right to visit their significant other if they're dying in the hospital. If you're not married, and your partner is dying, his or her family can refuse you entry to his or her hospital room because you are not related or married and have no legal right to see them. I can't even begin to imagine how absolutely devastating that is. And if you are to die, your partner cannot carry out your final wishes, because they have no legal right to do so. And this doesn't even get into issues of health insurance, tax exemptions, and other things that have to do with government and not religion.

"I do not want to raise my own children in a world where this traditional view of marriage is considered hateful or discriminatory."

Dude, I really don't want your dumb, unthinking self having children. Please, use protection.

"VAN SUSTEREN: Are you taking heat for this? Because there certainly was a lot of controversy when you answered the question at the pageant, and then Perez Hilton blogged about it, and it sort of got everything all revved up.

PREJEAN: Am I taking any heat for this?

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes, any additional heat for hooking up with the National Organization for Marriage.

I mean, are people giving you a hard time, or supporting you? In the last few hours, what's it been like?

PREJEAN: I haven't had any negative feedback. I've had only positive feedback."

Case in point. She can't even interpret the question. She is a liar or just plain stupid as well. You haven't had any negative feedback? Are you living in a bubble, you ignorant, unthinking prick. Or are you just a liar?

"VAN SUSTEREN: What is your thought on civil unions?

PREJEAN: My thought on civil unions? You know what, Greta? I don't have the answers to everything. I'm not running for political office. I don't have the answers to everything, you know, in the world out there."

I bet she doesn't even know what a civil union is. Fucking idiot.

PREJEAN: Well, I'm not a politician, so I can't give you an answer to that.

Thank god, because we have enough stupid politicians as it is.

VAN SUSTEREN: How did you get involved with them? They watched the pageant and watched the controversy, and they called you?

PREJEAN: Oh, this is a huge issue right now.

And they actually got in contact with me, and just said we thank you for standing up for what you believe, and, you know, traditional marriage. We see that you, we could tell that you wanted to win Miss USA so bad that night, and you took a stand. And, you know, you aren't afraid to stand up for what you believe in. We respect you for that.

So that's kind of how they reached me.

Come on, we're not fucking stupid. They paid you off. I wonder how much money they waived in her face to get her to risk losing her crown as Miss California, because surely she had to know the risks. Unless she's even more dumb than I thought.

Revoke her fucking crown California! I can't believe for a second they want someone like this representing them and their state. What a loser.

In an article from the UK that I stole from The Well-Armed Lamb, it seems that the Obama Administration is taking some pages out of Bush's book. They want to overturn a 1986 ruling (Michigan vs. Jackson) that people have the right to legal counsel before being questioned by the police, and that the police are supposed to inform them of this, and not question them if they want a lawyer. It's designed to protect the mentally ill, the poor, the uneducated, and the young, who may not know that because of the sixth amendment they have a right to a lawyer before being questioned.

If they have any sense, they'll backtrack off this real quick. However, it doesn't do them any favors. If you ever doubted for a moment that this Corporatocracy was run by two parties you have another thing coming. These politicians, on both sides are nothing but lying sacks of shit, plotting on how best they can usurp total control of us all. In the end, that is what both parties want, and they're willing to work together behind closed doors to see it happen. Of course they have to put up the fake fight, it's like a WWE match, so fake you can't even stand it, in public, in front of the cameras, so that we can all see how "different" they are.

And what was that I was saying yesterday about the Swine Flu being used to cover something up... as important as this is, it isn't in any of the American News (yet?), not even on supposedly liberal MSNBC or even on Faux News. Funny that. I would think Faux News would be all over this as much as they hate Obama all. The British report it and it doesn't even affect them. Absolutely fucking amazing.

Hey, that kinda rhymes! I have to put my two cents in on this. Hannity knows nothing. Waterboarding has always been considered torture, as far back as the middle ages where the Inquisition used it because it didn't draw blood. He has no idea. I'm all for this. If I had the money, I'd give money to charity for each second he lasts. I'm wagering he wouldn't last more than a minute.

Thanks to the Progressive Puppy.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I finally got around to watching the rest of that Daily Show episode that I posted the first part of on Friday night. I'm glad I did, because the part right after is hysterical. These people are fucking nuts. Yes, we have yet another teabagging pun.

At any rate, I learned a lot from watching this. I learned that "overnight" and "going on for a long time" are not mutually exclusive. Why, I had no idea! Who knew?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Tea Party Tyranny
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

I got nothing. I nearly choked to death at the end of this. It's absolutely hysterical!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Nationwide Tax Protests
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Yeah. I don't even know where to begin...

at 2:00 minutes.





I suppose I'll start with, so this is what happened to Rusty Shackleford! LOLz

WTF is that guy smoking? A communist plot? For fifty years?

Ah, I see, he's been watching Faux News. That explains a lot. But not all. Somebody needs his medication...

Brainwashing unit? Digital television is brainwashing? Wow. I can't believe the crowd didn't boo him out of there. Oh, but that would require they weren't all crazy too.

Quick! Somebody call the IRS on this lawbreaking, asshole bastard who isn't paying his taxes. I had to dish out $400 because I obey the law, whether I agree with it or not. Everyone else pays their taxes. I don't know why this idiot thinks he's above the law. Must have been taking a page out of G. Dubya Bush's book.

Yes, don't educate your children. Education is the most horrible thing ever, because then your children might think for themselves and might realize what a bunch of bullshit their parents are throwing around.

As for the woman who screamed "burn the books," it makes me realize that Nazism is alive and well right here in the United States. Oh, they may not call themselves Nazis. But the ideology is the same. So, does this mean that I've resorted to Godwin's Law? You better believe it, because in this case, it's appropriate. People screaming about burning books and about scary black presidents who are communists in hiding. This is the exact same rhetoric the Nazi party spewed.