Does this thing still work?

So I'm debating with myself about a return to political blogging. I had given up out of frustration, but now I'm feeling a need to speak my mind no matter how pointless. We'll see.

Outrage - There is no other response

I thought I had quit blogging (which may continue), but this has pushed me to the point where I must post. Simply, this is an outrage.
Let's start out with two basic facts:
The Confederate Flag is the symbol of those who fought in favor of slavery.
The Nazi Flag is the symbol of those who engaged in genocide.
So, those people were marching in favor of slavery and genocide. Oh, they'll try to 'soft sell' it as "White Nationalism", or as most of us call it "Racism". But it really is advocating slavery and genocide. And they came with torches and 'open-carry'. Marching in an American city. Really.
Honorably, some folks stood up and said "hey, we oppose slavery and genocide, and we're OK with different folks living around us". And, mostly, they were outraged to see such hatred. Because they are the folks who actually do believe in freedom and American ideals. One patriot was killed by a Nazi madman with a car.
So, according to the head clown and most of the media "both sides are responsible". And it was probably the liberals fault for being so "PC".
Look, either you are for slavery and genocide, or your against slavery and genocide. It really is that simple. There is no "moral equivalence" between the two positions.

My Dr. told me a couple of years ago that I had to stay away from politics due to my cardiac condition. I tried. But sorry, Doc. There are times when you must stand for what you believe is right. Last night, I attended a "No to Hate" rally here, and I'll be attending more as long as I can still stand. Because I'm outraged. "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention".
The simple fact is that we all need to oppose slavery and genocide, or we will see them return to America.

Dear NSA: Nothing to See Here

 

 

One of my very closest friends asked me to post my views on PRISM, the phone records sweep, Edward Snowden, and our modern surveillance state. I should be feeling more outrage, as the Fourth Amendment is now quite obviously dead and gone. Actually, it was killed with the passage of the Patriot Act but we now have official confirmation of the death. "American Freedom" was a grand experiment, but it's no longer practical due to "terrorism", you know. "Civil Liberties" are fine, as long as they remain within the bounds of what is considered "civil", and it's all helping to keep you "safe" from the boogeymen.
Actually, this all should come as no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention. Corporate America figured out long ago that data mining is an effective tool in manipulating the masses in the digital age. The government is now a wholly owned subsidy of Corporate America, which never really respected privacy anyway, so any and all information has now been made accessible (note: Snowden worked for a corporation as a contractor to the government). Nothing to see here, citizen; just keep consuming.
The only thing that is being revealed is that the surveillance is no longer hidden. Anybody with any sense knew that there was no privacy on the internet (duh), but we liked to think that our phone calls, texts, and emails were private. And in reality, almost all of them are really boring. We're not criminals, right? So, 'nothing to hide', right? Well, that "sex chat" with the mistress or the pic of the pubes sent to a lover might be a bit embarrassing...imagine the poor, bored NSA watcher sifting through millions of messages. I'm guessing that the sexy communications are the only thing that keeps them from sleeping on the job. After a few billion messages, I doubt they'd notice a terrorist communique unless it included a crotch shot. Which is why computers are doing the actual monitoring, sifting for "keywords" and such. Good luck with that when it comes to text messages, which are making "words" a thing of the past. And any attempt to make sense of Twitter is doomed to failure.
"Slavery" was ended in America, but over time in the quest for cheap, controllable labor the rich elite developed a subtle system of "wage slavery" to harness the labor of the masses. When you own the media, the market, and the government, you can sell "freedom" to the populace in the form of "consumer choice" at a massive profit. Keep the public poor and uninformed, but afford them enough of the modern version of bread and circuses to keep them pacified.
And Corporate America has already shown that they know how to handle dissent. Remember the "Occupy" movement? Remember how the media portrayed it? "Look at the 'occupy' freaks with their drum circles!" for a 45 second spot, then take the microphone away. Mock, marginalize, and ignore; the 'public' wasn't interested anyway. "American Idol" (or whatever show is popular on TV now; I don't pay attention anymore) will keep everyone distracted from their poverty. A few corporations did cash in by selling "occupy" t-shirts, obviously. Bradley Manning? The main thing the media will tell you about him is that he's gay, and then move on to a story about a missing white woman or a murder trial full of soap opera sexiness. Mock, marginalize, and ignore. While Edward Snowden (and/or Glenn Greenwald) may be prosecuted, it is far more likely that some embarrassing fact from the past will be exposed, and then the media focus will move on to another story. Within a couple of months, very few will remember their names.
Despite all the dystopian fiction ever written, this is our modern dystopia. Anything you say can and will be used by your corporate overlords to sell you the velvet chains that bind you. The one percent have built a system which keeps them virtually invulnerable, and we masses of drones will be kept powerless to change it. The revolution will be mocked, marginalized, and ignored, and the general populace will be too distracted to notice.
Yeah, I should feel outrage. But, and perhaps this is just a symptom of my depression, I only feel a cynical resignation to a reality beyond my control. It's not like I was using that "freedom", anyway.

Explosions

Over the past week the news has been dominated by things blowing up. In Boston, explosions at the Marathon killed three. In Texas a fertilizer plant exploded, killing at least twelve (maybe more). Both are tragedies.
America will react quite differently to the two explosions. One is terrorism, so the government will spend billions in hope of preventing such a thing from happening again. The other is called an "industrial accident", and will most likely have absolutely no impact on the federal budget. Can't be spending money on that evil 'government regulation' that 'kills jobs' when we have a deficit.
As a society, we have odd priorities. Terrorism is hard to predict, and therefore hard to prevent. Whereas the risks involved in producing fertilizer are quite well known. Actually, the regulations already exist. But due to a lack of funding, there's almost no enforcement. The plant in West, Texas, was last inspected in 1985, and violations lead to a fine of $300. No word on if they fixed any of the problems. This explosion could have, and should have, been prevented.
Yeah, public safety funding could be spent a lot more effectively.
Added: Go read  More Texas-Sized Hyprocrisy, Disaster Edition over at Zandar Versus The Stupid . It's worse than I made it sound.

Pranking

I'm a fan of a good April Fool's Day prank, so here's the best one I've read this year:
1: grab some nuts and bolts (preferably large ones).
2: go to an amusement park and ride a roller coaster.
3: as the ride starts, hand the nuts and bolts to the person seated in front of you, saying "hey, these just fell out of your seat!".
4: enjoy their expression for the rest of the ride.
Cruel, but amusing.

Happy Opening Day

(Easter Bunny ran into trouble this year. Thanks, Fearguth.)
'Tis my second favorite holiday - Opening Day of baseball season. Go Giants!
Oh, and Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

When Drugs in Sports Go Too Far

I can only say that the use of 'performance enhancing drugs' in sports must be much more widespread than I had ever suspected. Of course, the term "sports" has expanded beyond my comprehension. For example, we now have drug testing for "competitive ice fishing":

WAUSAU, Wis. — The ice fishermen spent a week on the frozen lake, and on the last day, after emptying perch and bluegill from their buckets and scrubbing bait from their hands, several winners of the World Ice Fishing Championship were ushered into their rooms in the Plaza Hotel.
There, an official from the United States Anti-Doping Agency ordered them to provide urine samples for a surprise test to detect steroids and growth hormones — drugs not normally associated with the quiet solitude of ice fishing. “We do not test for beer, because then everybody would fail,” said Joel McDearmon, chairman of the United States Freshwater Fishing Federation.       
www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/sports/ice-fishermen-not-immune-to-dopings-reach.html?hpw&_r=0
(really; read the whole thing.)

     
I've been ice fishing (once, which is one more time than any sane person really needs) and I assure you that whiskey is by far the drug of choice when engaging in the "sport". While it may not enhance your performance, it will help you accept the fact that you are sitting on ice trying to catch a fish, rather than enjoying the benefit of a civilization that has heat and stores that sell fish. Anyone who "competes" at "ice fishing" as a "sport" is probably on the wrong drugs anyway.

President's Day

Long time readers may know that I usually use President's Day to honor Millard Fillmore (pictured in the post below) for being the only president named "Millard", which is still true. But my sister felt the need to honor William Henry Harrison, our 9th president, who is best known for being the first to die in office about a month after inauguration. With his short tenure, Harrison most likely holds the record for "fewest mistakes while president", which is an honorable record to hold.
So, which President are you honoring today?
(and if anybody says "Nixon" I will kick them in the gonads.)

State of my Union

                                        (In honor of Presidents Day, here's Millard)
Watched the SOTU with my sister (whom I'm currently living with; long story) and she says "with all your political opinions, you should start a blog."
Ah, sis, if you only knew.

So...

According to this calendar I've got, today is officially "International Kite Flying Day."
I bet you didn't celebrate it.
But that's OK. Neither did I.

Still Here (Sort Of)

Sorry about the paucity of posts. Life has been rather weird lately, and changes are happening (which is a very vague thing to say, but true). Since I really don't want to tell the whole story, I will instead give you a story of burning cheese:

This is the cheesiest story you'll read all day. And we mean that literally. That's because 27 metric tons of flaming goat cheese burned inside a Norwegian road tunnel, closing nearly two miles of the road for six days.

The Brunost, a Norwegian delicacy, was being shipped in a truck that caught fire. No one was hurt in the incident, which firefighters were finally able to put out on Monday.

As the website Nordic Nibbler explains, Brunost is technically not a traditional cheese. It is made from the whey of goat's milk and can contain up to 30 percent fat. It is described as having a "slightly salty and surprisingly sweet flavour with a hint of goat about it."

The BBC reported that the truck's driver noticed the cheese had caught fire and was forced to abandon the truck about 300 feet from the tunnel's exit. Toxic fumes emanating from the smoldering, brown cheese kept firefighters at bay for several days before they could attempt to extinguish the flames.

Which is much more amusing than what is my current life...

Scandal Fodder for Wingnuts

Perhaps congress will investigate...

Merry Christmas

Here's a four dollar christmas tree. It's all I can affor. Be merry!

As The Solstice Arrives

If you're reading this, that most likely proves that another apocalypse has failed to occur. I've lost count of how many apocalypses, raptures, and ends of the world I've survived in my lifetime, but after this many I gave up on worrying about them long ago. Heck, climate change is the thing that's most likely to destroy civilization, but that is a slow process without a dramatic end date. So our society will continue to ignore it.
Any way, it's another Winter Solstice (6:12am, EST), which is always something to celebrate. Days will now start getting longer, and that's a good thing.

Happy "Three Dozen Day"

I do like when we have days with interesting numbers, and today is 12/12/12. Since many cool things come in dozens, today is a triple good day.

Happy Repeal Day!

Happy Repeal Day! On Dec. 5th, 1933 prohibition was repealed. So I suggest that we have a drink to celebrate.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody!

I hope you are all well fed, around those who matter most, and enjoying your holiday in the way you choose. I'm about to start cooking a feast, which makes me very happy. Best wishes to you all!

St. Sleazy McCain Out Does Himself

As I noted in my previous post, St. Sleazy McCain has been calling for a congressional investigation on the Benghazi attack. As all the political talk shows will tell you, Sen. McCain is a very serious person. In fact, he's so serious that when the Senate Homeland Security Committee (on which he sits) received a closed door briefing on Benghazi yesterday, he failed to show up.

If there's anyone in Washington who would benefit from a detailed briefing on what actually transpired in Benghazi in September, it's the senator who's throwing fits over what he thinks happened in Benghazi in September.
As luck would have it, the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which McCain is a member of, received a classified, closed-door briefing for nearly two hours yesterday, receiving up-to-date information. What did McCain learn from the briefing? Nothing -- according to the Republican ranking member on the committee, McCain failed to show up.
But what's unclear is why McCain didn't bother to attend the lengthy briefing on a subject he claims to care so deeply about. McCain had time yesterday to appear in front of cameras to talk about Benghazi, but didn't have time to get more information about Benghazi?
Update: According to a CNN report, McCain hosted his press conference demanding more information during the hearing in which he could have received more information.
Second Update: Josh Rogin also reported, "[A]lthough McCain had time to speak on the Senate floor and on television about the lack of information provided to Congress about the attack, he didn't attend the classified briefing."
"If you want answers, a good first step is to show up and ask a question," an administration official told Rogin. "That's what a senator does."
maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/15/15190778-mccain-doesnt-have-time-for-facts-information?lite

Instead, St. Sleazy was holding his own press conference demanding more information. He was too busy grandstanding to actually hear the information he was requesting. Unless he's actually completely senile, this is flat out rank hypocrisy at its worst.
Added: His staff now says it was a "scheduling error." Alrighty, then...

Second Term Scandal Search Starts

Now that Obama has won a second term, it's time for the rethugs to  try to find a scandal, even if they have to make one up. So far, Benghazi and Petraeus are the early entries.
Benghazi may have been a security miscalculation, but I can't see how this adds up to a "scandal". Yes, it was a tragedy. Yes, the consulate wasn't secure enough given how unstable Libya still is. But you cannot conduct diplomacy by insulating behind walls and marines. A risk was taken, and, sadly, we lost four people. But somehow St. Sleazy McCain and Ms. Lindsay Graham want to make this the new Watergate. They're starting by attacking Susan Rice, although I find it odd that they feel the UN Ambassador is somehow responsible. The investigation will be a carnival sideshow, with plenty of grandstanding, but in the end Benghazi is a tragedy, not a scandal.
(BTW: If you really want to find a diplomatic scandal with a woman named "Rice", I suggest you look into the previous administration.)
Then we have the Petraeus/Kelly/Broadwell/Allen soap opera...I'm not quite sure how they'll blame Obama for this, but I'm sure somehow the right wing will. There is sex involved, so the media loves this story. I'll admit, I'm not comfortable with the CIA director having affairs that become public, but that's because I prefer a chief spy who can keep a secret. I'm old fashioned that way. Expect long hearings in the House on this one, but no real scandal.
Remember the Clinton years? Investigate everything, regardless of the facts. What started with a bad real estate deal (the Clintons lost $30,000 on whitewater) led to the travel office, then the Christmas Card list, before they finally found a blow job. It took years, but they finally found a "scandal".
In reality, Obama, like Clinton, is guilty of being President while a member of the Democratic party. And the repubs are going to do their very best to convict him of it.

Winning elections is fun. We should do it more often.