"I ain't afraid of no ghosts."
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween from the Nocturnals
The one Halloween party I'm sorry I missed.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
George Carlin explained the 1% to the 99% in 3'15" long before any American cities were Occupied.
"...You have no choice. You have owners. They own you...."
"... The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care ..."
"...because the owners of this country know the truth. It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."Please watch the whole 3'15" of this video, because so much of George Carlin's linguistic beauty comes from the timing and cadences, but this speech would get a standing ovation at any Occupy gathering taking place across America tonight. It's too bad George isn't among us to enjoy this moment when the 99% are recognizing their voices. They would have recognized his.
"Real" Rick Perry versus BLR Rick Perry
Which makes less sense, the "Real" Rick Perry in New Hampshire on Friday night?
Or the Rick Perry as improved by Bad Lip Reading back in September?
I think it's a toss up, but he might want to consider hiring some of the BLR people as speechwriters and debate consultants.
Or the Rick Perry as improved by Bad Lip Reading back in September?
I think it's a toss up, but he might want to consider hiring some of the BLR people as speechwriters and debate consultants.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Wedge Issue Update: Reaffirming A National Motto That Divides Us.
When I wrote 10 days ago "Which Wedge Will Win the 2012 GOP Primary?" I never thought that the wedges would start showing up so early in the race. I mentioned "Birtherism" as my Wedge 1 as a joke, because I never thought any of the 2012 candidates would bring it up. So, of course, in last Sunday's Parade magazine with Rick Perry on the cover, the Texas Governor did exactly that, with a wink, but brought up Barack Obama's birth certificate nonetheless, knowing full well which constituency he was speaking to.
But Wedge number 3 on my list, "In God We Trust", has also reared its divisive head. This UPI article today, "GOP to Pass Bill to Affirm 'In God We Trust'" gives some details about the effort, led by Virginia Representative Randy Forbes (R) to reaffirm IGWT as the national motto and "supporting and encouraging the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools and other government institutions." The vote should take place this coming Tuesday, taking precedence over mere jobs bills. The following video tells a little more about Congressional Prayer Caucus leader Randy Forbes and the GOP effort to strengthen this sad relic of the McCarthy years.
Our longtime unofficial motto mentioned in the video above, E pluribus unum (Out of the many, one) was put on the seal of the United States by Act of Congress in 1782, but it was never made the official "National Motto" so that left the door open to declare another, less inclusive, official motto in the McCarthy era.
IGWT was first put on a few coins in another divisive period, the Civil War, but the era of 1950s intolerance saw "god" rammed down America's throat officially with the words "under god" added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, the phrase IGWT ordered on all coins and currency in the mid fifties, and IGWT finally made The National Motto in the US Code in 1956. The new official motto -- forced through Congress in the time of the second Red Scare -- is not even as old as I am, so I'll go with E pluribus unum, which has served the nation well since the 18th century, rather than the recent one that excludes a significant percentage of our population that no longer trusts in old myths.
But causing conflict and excluding people who are unlike him is exactly what Randy Forbes is doing, isn't it?
But Wedge number 3 on my list, "In God We Trust", has also reared its divisive head. This UPI article today, "GOP to Pass Bill to Affirm 'In God We Trust'" gives some details about the effort, led by Virginia Representative Randy Forbes (R) to reaffirm IGWT as the national motto and "supporting and encouraging the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools and other government institutions." The vote should take place this coming Tuesday, taking precedence over mere jobs bills. The following video tells a little more about Congressional Prayer Caucus leader Randy Forbes and the GOP effort to strengthen this sad relic of the McCarthy years.
Our longtime unofficial motto mentioned in the video above, E pluribus unum (Out of the many, one) was put on the seal of the United States by Act of Congress in 1782, but it was never made the official "National Motto" so that left the door open to declare another, less inclusive, official motto in the McCarthy era.
IGWT was first put on a few coins in another divisive period, the Civil War, but the era of 1950s intolerance saw "god" rammed down America's throat officially with the words "under god" added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, the phrase IGWT ordered on all coins and currency in the mid fifties, and IGWT finally made The National Motto in the US Code in 1956. The new official motto -- forced through Congress in the time of the second Red Scare -- is not even as old as I am, so I'll go with E pluribus unum, which has served the nation well since the 18th century, rather than the recent one that excludes a significant percentage of our population that no longer trusts in old myths.
But causing conflict and excluding people who are unlike him is exactly what Randy Forbes is doing, isn't it?
Friday, October 28, 2011
"Frack, Baby, Frack!"
You can read the article that accompanied this graphic by clicking here: "Anti-Drilling Hysteria: Spreading fear to halt progress".
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Rick Santorum gets his five inches of fame on TBL dot org.
Rick Santorum isn't actually in this Santorum video, but we just couldn't believe that Herman Cain is being damned for three minutes - and losing the vote of America's fetuses - just because Piers Morgan forced him to admit an obvious truth about how criminal it would be to have a government that would make the victim of a sexual crime carry a rapist's embryo.
When he finally calls it quits in his current role in the travelling clown circus, at least Santorum will always be famous for his one lasting contribution to the English language.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Fox News does my thinking for me.
It's easy to be an internet activist when all you need to do is hit the Tweet button on every Fox News article, including this one about the Occupy movement being a product of one of Fox's bêtes noires, ACORN, the group of community organizers that right-wing activists already succeeded in destroying in late 2010.
It's easy for both the left and the right to stay in our own little ghettos on the internet and on Twitter, but sometimes it's important to cross the line and look at what lies are being repeated loudly and often by the other side. This is how absurdities like the birth certificate questions about Obama and the Swift Boat lies about John Kerry seem to spring out of nowhere fully formed.
It's easy for both the left and the right to stay in our own little ghettos on the internet and on Twitter, but sometimes it's important to cross the line and look at what lies are being repeated loudly and often by the other side. This is how absurdities like the birth certificate questions about Obama and the Swift Boat lies about John Kerry seem to spring out of nowhere fully formed.
Restraint.
I personally don't know how these Occupy Oakland participants are able to NOT retaliate against this police violence by finding and throwing the heaviest thing they can find.
They need to be praised for their restraint last night, but if there is an escalation, we all need to remember who it was that started the violence.
Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq War veteran injured (and whose rescuers were attacked) by police in the above video is in the hospital in critical condition. He was never shot or injured in two years in Iraq -- he needed to come home for that. Send Scott your best thoughts, and support #OccupyOakland, because they are not giving up.
They need to be praised for their restraint last night, but if there is an escalation, we all need to remember who it was that started the violence.
Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq War veteran injured (and whose rescuers were attacked) by police in the above video is in the hospital in critical condition. He was never shot or injured in two years in Iraq -- he needed to come home for that. Send Scott your best thoughts, and support #OccupyOakland, because they are not giving up.
Fox News network discovers the source of the #Occupy Movement
My doctor has warned me that neither my heart nor stomach would survive more than a minute of the actual Fox News Channel, but I couldn't help surfing past their website right now. And what did I find? It seems that they have exclusively discovered the source of power behind the Occupy movement. Of couse it's that omnipotent boogeyman, ACORN (I think I'll dress up as an Acorn for Halloween and go to a Republican town -- BOO!). Though it could have just as easily been George Soros. Or Jeremiah Wright. Or the Easter Bunny.
The network that helped to engineer the 'spontaneous' Tea Party demonstrations in 2009 (see this MMFA summary of Fox's involvement if you need a reminder) understandably can't understand the making of a truly leaderless movement without corporate support (they find themselves unable to type the word 'leaderless' without quotation marks). But it's just as absurd to think that a small group of community organizers could build a movement in a month that has support from 43% of the American people (or 69% in Fox's own poll of October 7).
The network that helped to engineer the 'spontaneous' Tea Party demonstrations in 2009 (see this MMFA summary of Fox's involvement if you need a reminder) understandably can't understand the making of a truly leaderless movement without corporate support (they find themselves unable to type the word 'leaderless' without quotation marks). But it's just as absurd to think that a small group of community organizers could build a movement in a month that has support from 43% of the American people (or 69% in Fox's own poll of October 7).
The Soundtrack of #Occupy (from 1980)
Seeing tear-gas clouds in Oakland last night put the voice of Joe Strummer in my head.
Some, like Rick Perry and his ilk in the quote we offered yesterday, would have you believe that your liberal idealism is a youthful folly you will grow out of.
It doesn't have to be that way. We can take our youthful idealism and adapt it to the world of the Vietnam War, or No Nukes demonstrations (Clampdown was from the era of Three Mile Island and is mentioned at the end of the song), or our criminal invasion of Iraq, or against the excesses of rapacious capitalism. Just as long as you're not working for the clampdown.
"They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
When we're working for the clampdown
We will teach our twisted speech
To the young believers
We will train our blue-eyed men
To be young believers"
--The Clash, "Clampdown"
Some, like Rick Perry and his ilk in the quote we offered yesterday, would have you believe that your liberal idealism is a youthful folly you will grow out of.
"But, you grow up and you calm down and
You're working for the clampdown
You start wearing the blue and brown and
You're working for the clampdown
So you got someone to boss around
It makes you feel big now
You drift until you brutalize
You made your first kill now"
It doesn't have to be that way. We can take our youthful idealism and adapt it to the world of the Vietnam War, or No Nukes demonstrations (Clampdown was from the era of Three Mile Island and is mentioned at the end of the song), or our criminal invasion of Iraq, or against the excesses of rapacious capitalism. Just as long as you're not working for the clampdown.
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