Dissident Voice : Media Shit Storms and Heartland Reality

Dissident Voice : Media Shit Storms and Heartland Reality:

"Let’s get to the nub of this thing here: Obama, Hillary and McCain are farting through silk while playing out their roles in our theatrical state’s false drama called presidential elections, while smug and media sanctioned pundits snark from the edge of the proscenium arc of politics, each hoping to draw enough attention to have his or her own proscenium in that national cathedral of the American consciousness — television.

Before too long this earth shaking “incident” will be drowned out by the accumulating noise of the election year. Then even the election’s hoopla will all be wiped away when Oprah Winfrey, in one of her ever grander spectacles of televised largess, gives away the city of Detroit to the sixth grade author of the most heart rending essay on black poverty."

McCain is a dick

dickipedia

McCain ran for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election, but was defeated by another dick, George W. Bush. In the 2008 presidential cycle, McCain was joined in the race by a lazy dick, a Mormon dick, a evangelical dick, a libertarian former gynecologist dick and a dick named Giuliani. After the Mormon dick dropped out in February of 2008, McCain became the presumptive nominee.

Far from actually being a "maverick," the one word that would accurately describe his time in public life is: "asshole." That McCain was able to successfully make himself be thought of as a "maverick" says as much about the press as it does about McCain. That is, one cannot understand how McCain did this without also understanding the delicate psychology of the Washington D. C. press corps.

Most Washington journalists have a deeply internalized sense of self-loathing. They see themselves as cowardly, flaccid, ineffectual, impotent wimps. In this, they're not entirely wrong. They have always secretly admired the asshole jocks who used to push them around in high school. The journalists would console themselves with the soothing affirmation that the assholes were not as smart as they were. They were right, of course, but still, deep down the journalists secretly admired the assholes.

Along comes John McCain -- an asshole, but an asshole who is nice to them, an asshole who comes to back of the plane and jokes around with them and doesn't make them feel unmanly. Why, sometimes, it seemed as if McCain really liked them. A few years of this, and suddenly McCain's not a temperamental, dangerously unstable asshole, he's a "maverick."

But the self-esteem issues of the weakling press notwithstanding, McCain is, in fact, an asshole. An asshole who wants to be the President of the United States. As an asshole senator, he the sort of guy who says things like:

• "Only an asshole would put a budget together like this!" (to New Mexico Republican Pete Dominici)

• "I'm calling you a fucking jerk!" (to Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley)

• "Fuck you. I know more about this than anybody in the room." (To Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn)

This is why Senator Dominici said in 2000 that "I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger." It is presumed by this he meant the nuclear trigger.

McCain is also the sort of guy who would tell the following joke:

Q: Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?

A: Her father is Janet Reno.

This is the sort of humor assholes find funny. When he told the joke, Chelsea Clinton was seventeen years old. Some say when you open an attack like this on the looks of someone who did not ask to be thrust into the public eye, you invite similar attacks in your own direction.

Accordingly, this is a photo of McCain's freakish-looking over-plastic-surgery'd wife Cindy:

Scroll down for the freak show

(click on the link above or imagine john mcain hisself in a wig) frogamundo

In speaking about whether he had ever witnessed McCain's notorious temper problem, former Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum said, "I don't know anybody in the Senate who hasn't. Everybody has their McCain story."

And if America elects this temperamental, dangerously unstable, angry old asshole, America will have its own McCain story too.

Prepare Yourselves for a Settlement: Who is John Brown... Just in case you were wondering...

Prepare Yourselves for a Settlement: Who is John Brown... Just in case you were wondering...:


" I don't believe Barack Obama can make the unicorns and leprechauns pitch in together to create the Giant Rainbow of Ultimate Joy. I do, however, think that he is willing to entertain serious discussions in serious ways, something Hillary Clinton will never do. I don't hate John McCain. I don't really like him, either. I think he is the last 8-track tape in America's stereophonic history."

Political Radar: Bill Clinton Retells Hillary's 1996 Bosnia Story

Political Radar: Bill Clinton Retells Hillary's 1996 Bosnia Story:

"And I still say... the current race for POTUS reminds me of the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers. The only difference is, the Marx Brothers were brilliant, even the Three Stooges were funny compared to Hillary, Obama and McCain. No matter how you look at it, the US will be screwed for at least 4 years. I'm so glad I'm not American."

Recent blog response to an abc article

We Are Wide Awake.org - Eye Witness Reporting on Israel Palestine

We Are Wide Awake.org - Eye Witness Reporting on Israel Palestine:

"'We're on a mission from God.'
Jake Blues/John Belushi

'Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils.'
George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796"

10 things every adult should know

Sometimes it's hard to come up with a full-length, balls-to-the-wall rant, but a lot of "too long for Twitter, too short for a whole post" ideas float in and out of my head all the time. Here's 10 things every adult really ought to know, but a lot of people are apparently just too fucking stupid to figure out:

1. Having sex can cause pregnancy. This one seems too obvious to mention, but judging from the number of accidental children in the world, I thought it bore repeating. Nothing is 100% effective against pregnancy except abstinence, or the removal of your ovaries or testicles. (Incidentally, abortion is still legal in the US and most of Europe, just in case.)
2. If you cover your face with piercing jewelry, you may not be able to find a job. This also goes for doing weird things to your hair, and getting tattoos in conspicuous places. And for fuck's sake, don't give me any bullshit about "freedom of expression", you little dumbass. You go right ahead and express yourself all you want, but body modification is not a constitutionally protected belief system. They can't not hire you for being a Jew, but they certainly can not hire you for looking like a fucking freak. (caveat: I have both piercings and tattoos … nothing against tattoos, piercings or fucking freaks. Just don't whine about it when you're treated like one.)


No I did not write this but I've thought about these things at various points in my 50 years of travails... I mean travels.

BTW the fuckin' army is testing some ball busting super cannon up here and every time it goes off my whole house shakes, I'm at least 5 miles from the range. I just hope the jokers crack one of my windows so I can throw a fit. GOD BLESS AMERICA LAND THAT I LOVE....
EL FROGAMUNDO OR LE FROGAMUNDO depending on how French I feel

New study shows US lawmakers have as much as $196 million invested in defense companies - International Herald Tribune

New study shows US lawmakers have as much as $196 million invested in defense companies - International Herald Tribune: "WASHINGTON: Members of the U.S.Congress have as much as $196 million (€126.2 million) collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the start of the Iraq war, according to a new study by a nonpartisan research group."

Surprise, mother fuckin' surprise.
el frog

How the U.S. Just Got Schooled by a 'Rag-Tag' Neighborhood Army in Iraq | War on Iraq | AlterNet

How the U.S. Just Got Schooled by a 'Rag-Tag' Neighborhood Army in Iraq | War on Iraq | AlterNet:

"If you want to know how not to think about Iraq, just start with anything ever said or imagined by Cheney or Bush. Our Commander in Chief declared a week ago when the Iraqi Army first marched into Basra, 'I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq.' When the Iraqi Army fled a few days later, he suddenly got very quiet. But anybody could see how deluded the poor fucker is just by all the nonsense he managed to cram into that 15-word sentence. I mean, 'the history of a free Iraq'?"

Cheney says...bush says... does anyone really have to say anything more?

El frogamundo

Company 'gives away' Southwest to Mexico

Company 'gives away' Southwest to Mexico: "Navarro said one could argue 'that while Mexico lost the war in 1848, it will probably win it in the 21st century, in terms of the numbers,' 'But that is not a reality based on what Mexico does, it's based on what this country does,' he insisted.

In a 1995 speech to Chicano activists, Navarro said demographic trends are leading to 'a transfer of power' to the ethnic Mexican community in the Southwest. He notes that most studies show that within the next 20 to 30 years Latinos will comprise more than 50 percent of the population of California. This fact, and other cultural and social developments, are opening the door for 'self-determination' and even 'the idea of an Aztlan,' he said in his speech."

Right on, I can't wait to visit Atzlan, the land that I love.
El Frogamundo

Factor military duty into criticism -- National Government, The White House, Lyndon Baines Johnson -- chicagotribune.com

Factor military duty into criticism -- National Government, The White House, Lyndon Baines Johnson -- chicagotribune.com:

"While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.

Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?"

I don't even have to hear what the Rev said in his sermons to know that what he said is probably absolutely spot on. How can a black man in america not want god to damn it? Frankly I am rather disappointed in the big "O" for not standing up for his pastor more strongly...but then again in whitey land you gotta do what you gotta do to be a viable candidate.

-Le frogamundo

Web of Debt - Today We're All Irish: Debt Serfdom Comes to America

Web of Debt - Today We're All Irish: Debt Serfdom Comes to America:

"In the American South (mainly New Orleans), the Irish lived in swamp land infested with disease. Here, Irish men were looked upon as actually lower than slaves. As one historian put it, if a plantation owner lost a slave, he lost an investment; if he lost a laborer, he could always get another. Because the Irish workers were plentiful and expendable, they were often sent in to do dangerous jobs for which the slave-owners were reluctant to send their valuable slaves.2"

Just The End Of Your Way Of Life?

Just The End Of Your Way Of Life?:

"The US is losing power and influence in the world, and it only has 5% of the world's population and they're all bankrupt. I like to think of it like a continuum from the US coming out on top after WWII to a banana republic run by El Presidente. That's what I call them now, whoever he or she is, El Presidente because that's what they are. A corporate spokesman who is put there, bought and paid for by Acme corp."

Everyones Entitled to My Own Opinion - WCLT News, Newark Ohio

Everyones Entitled to My Own Opinion - WCLT News, Newark Ohio:

"McCain’s most horrendous loss occurred in 1967 on the USS Forrestal. Well, not horrendous for him. The starter motor switch on the A4E Skyhawk allowed fuel to pool in the engine. When the aircraft was “wet-started,” an impressive flame would shoot from the tail. It was one of the ways young hot-shots got their jollies. Investigators and survivors took the position that McCain deliberately wet-started to harass the F4 pilot directly behind him. The cook off launched an M34 Zuni rocket that tore through the Skyhawk’s fuel tank, released a thousand pound bomb, and ignited a fire that killed the pilot plus 167 men. Before the tally of dead and dying was complete, the son and grandson of admirals had been transferred to the USS Oriskany."

Hey an article by a real conservative who actually has a brain. He ends the article like this...


Are you a genuine social conservative? Do you believe in our wonderful Constitution? Are you opposed the Iraq War and its precursor strategies that have killed hundreds of thousands of innocents? Are you fiscally responsible? Do you truly understand the principles of republicanism? Do you believe in marital fidelity? Are you a supporter of free speech? I submit that if your answer to any of these questions is yes, you cannot vote for John McCain and retain your integrity. The lesser of 2 or 3 evils is still evil. In this case, not by a measurable amount.

Wow!

Dissident Voice : One Bush Left Behind

Dissident Voice : One Bush Left Behind: "Here’s your question, class:

In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.

Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece.

Mr. Bush said, “In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams. And a decent education is their only hope of achieving them.”

So how much educational dreaming will $20 buy?"

Western Civilization Has No Morality

In reply to a reporter's question "What do you think of Western Civilization?", he said "I think it would be a good idea!"

Mohandas Gandhi

Western Civilization Has No Morality:

"Unable to impose its will on countries it has invaded with conventional arms, the West's military leaders are now prepared to force compliance with the moral world's will by threatening to nuke those who resist. You see, since the West has the monopoly on morality, truth, and justice, those in the outside world are obviously evil, wicked and brutal."

Pictures of the bobcat|Lynx rufus facts

Pictures of the bobcat|Lynx rufus facts: "A bobcat group is called a 'clowder, clutter, pounce, kindle (young), embarrassment (young),'."

Just a bit of info from skippin' around on sheanc's blog


"I just stumbled into an embarrassment of Bobcats"

Joe Bageant: Coffee, Consciousness and Revolution

Joe Bageant: Coffee, Consciousness and Revolution:

"Of course corporations and the state understand that you win by not going along with the program, but by exploiting those who do. Thus, wherever there is unquestioned obedience to mass behavior, there is power for the state over individual freedom and profits to be made by the few who understand the value of public obedience. Consequently, the natural cooperative social nature of ordinary people guarantees that there will always be despots, authoritarian states and the few exploiting the many."

Confession Of An American Thought Criminal

Confession Of An American Thought Criminal:

"Much to the chagrin of those of you who remain enslaved by the intellectual chains of your indoctrination or who are dedicated reactionaries, I have as much right to remain in the United States as you do. And I'm not going anywhere voluntarily. So save your emails offering me passage on a slow boat to Russia. One thing we can probably agree upon though is the sanctity of the Second Amendment. My .38 caliber and 12 gauge are ready. Just in case I need to exercise my right to defend family, hearth and home."

A Queer Mess

A Queer Mess:

"This is why Rowling said Dumbledore is gay. Because this country, and this world, is full of Michael Savagery. Because it is full of people who would very gladly shovel up all gay people and burn them in ovens, or who like to think that they would, and practically declare it on commercial airwaves in the land that God shed His Grace On. To call up an old phrase used by men feigning homosexuality,Oh, you savage, Michael! Crown they good with brotherhood, baby. "

Joe Bageant: To the Princes of Gringolia

Joe Bageant: To the Princes of Gringolia: "If happiness and moral rightness were to be found within the self, then as the most self-centered people on earth, we would be the happiest and most enlightened. And if 'American style individualism' were the hallmark of freedom, there would be no Department of Homeland Security, no government satellites scanning every single email we send and we would be free to visit Cuba."

And so I return to blogging, the mundane, the sublime and anything between that catches my eye. This essay by Joe approaches the sublime. Anyone in oosa ( usa )that thinks we don't have a class system is "...blinded by the light." as bruce would say. "