Friday, September 25, 2009
War On Terror, R.I.P.
Aside from the snark of the last post, this story which we referenced earlier has an array of impacts actually, which we hope to get to, soon.0 comments
But, first and foremost, we can now clearly say that the "War On Terror" as a concept can officially be declared dead and buried. This currently is, always has been and will continue to be, a large-scale police matter—as the Bill Clinton era specialists always contended. It was the neo-con global crazies under George W. Bush/Dick Cheney, and the media conglomerates who love them, who decided to turn this into the Crusades. And got a whole lot of people killed in the process.
The Bushies and the GOP also muddied the discussion sufficiently to use their phoney "War" to create a universal atmosphere of fear in order to hide their pushing through their elitist, corporate agenda to steal all the money, all in plain sight: "Hey, look over there! Is that a terrorist??"
There is no way/has never been a way to stop a terrorist act, unless you happen to get lucky and stumble across a particular scenario that leads you to the individual. That's just luck and solid police work.
Other than that, we have too big a land mass, too many people and a long enough history of demanding open access to all this country provides that we will always be an easy target for an individual who is crazy enough to want to commit murder or mayhem—whether that individual is a U.S. citizen crazy or a foreign national crazy. You can't stop crazy, you can only hope to slow it down. Or, hope that it gives itself away in time to thwart it. And then pray for a whole lot of luck.
The whole idea of "terror" is that you lose your safety zone, that you have no idea where harm may come from. To put you on edge, so you fear everything and everyone and begin to act erratically. There is no "face" to that foe, so there is no "campaign" that can be waged successfully, as in a real war.
These guys are no different than all the murderers currently sitting in prisons across this nation—only with a demonically wackier sense of scope and size. They're individuals who have a taste for blood and a deluded sense of umbrage.
What's really the difference between Yousef Ramzi or Timothy McVey and James Earl Ray or Charlie Manson or Son of Sam?
Scope, nothing more.
And what, really, is the difference between all those men and George Bush and Dick Cheney?
Scale, nothing more.
posted by Gotham 1:32 PM
It's Rudy!
They Keep Going After Rudy!
0 commentsWell, hell, if that's all they want...
Maybe we should just hand Rudy over and let them have the putz, hell, WE don't want him. They can HAVE him.
Dallas Morning News: Man to be arraigned in Dallas skyscraper bombing plot
Heady police work and a staggering degree of luck saved the day in Dallas, if this report is true at all. If true, we can truly be relieved and grateful.
But I loved seeing the real nitty-gritty of this event, buried at the bottom of this story:ABOUT FOUNTAIN PLACE
Address: 1445 Ross Ave.
Height: 60 stories
Construction: 1984-86
Architect: I.M. Pei & Partners
Major tenants:
•Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
•Bracewell & Giuliani – On March 31, 2005, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined the firm as a name partner.
•U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•Fidelity National Title Insurance Co.
•Tenet Healthcare announced in August that it planned to relocate to Fountain Place.
Looking at that list, it seems like either this guy was pissed about a home foreclosure, or he was after Rudy.
Hmmmm, let's see...
The first WTC bombing was in 1993 when Rudy was running for Mayor; the second attack in 2001 brought down Rudy's brand new Emergency Command Center/bachelor pad, which he stupidly put inside a major target; they missed him the last time (see these infamous pictures of Rudy hauling ass away from the tower to save himself, dragging along the Police and Fire Commissioners whose jobs dictated that they be back at the towers coordinating the mission, not riding shotgun with their patron, the Mayor); upon leaving City Hall, Rudy hires out as a security/terrorism maven/consultant/expert, since no one knows how to run away from a fight like Rudy.
Well..., yeah, I guess that must be it.
Say: Let's just give them Rudy and be done with this whole terrorism thing.
posted by Gotham 12:45 PM
WTF?
0 comments
This story in The Daily News is just nuts!
Can the general underlying anger across the land play out in any stupider way?
10 Cherry trees downed: Vandals at root of growing problem around Queens
My lawd...
posted by Gotham 11:07 AM
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
When TV's Child Stars Go Wrong...
...They go Christian.2 comments
Crooks and Liars: Evangelist Kirk Cameron Plans To Distribute Darwin's Origin Of The Species With Creationist Introduction
I like the idea of printing a run of 50,000 Bibles with a 50-page introduction alerting people to the incredibly happy horseshit inside the rest of the book and handing them out freely right outside of Regent and Liberty Universities.
This woman does a perfectly good job of pointing out the flaws in Cameron's philosophical Growing Pains:
That about sums it up. Well done, miss.
posted by Gotham 4:55 PM
Neh-Ver Miiiiiind!
Just as we were thinking, "...uh..., can't get fooled again!" here comes more of the same crap—Terro-style.0 comments
Media hypes terror plot, despite the fact no one is charged with terror
Oops.
Looks like the Bush-era holdovers in Eric Holder's Justice Department are fully focused on Business-As-Usual.
Either that, or we're left assuming that folks in a Barack Obama administration are simply the same useless schnooks the George W. Bush boys were.
It's sad that we no longer can believe ANYTHING our government tells us. The loons on the Right are correct about that. It's just that their focus is a tad off the mark. But, they're closer to the truth, it seems, than they know.
Yesterday, it appeared that Holder's troops were doing the right thing—actually bringing a case before a judge instead of shipping some poor moroon off to a Black prison in Poland and touting it on FOX. That's good, we think; progress.
Ummm, but in this ABORTED TERROR PLOT case ("BE AFRAID, BUT WE SAVED YOU—THIS TIME..."), the charges filed were not for terrorism. Or terrorist acts or conspiracies. They were for lying. To an agent. Something we can assume every agent's teenage child does on an ongoing basis.
Oh.
Or perhaps the perp accidentally stepped on the agent's donut. The star's slowly dimming here...
It's looking increasingly as if this is simply a planted story to help law folks look good on a slow news day. Complete with innuendo and blind, unattributed sourcing. Which is always a great mix for Banner Headlines!
As the man once said, "Ya got nothin', copper, nothin'!"
It's true. The Feds appear to have nothing on these guys aside from photo ops of "strong law enforcement in action!"
BOR-ING! That's SOOOO Bushie. So police state.
If this is a real case, we'll assume that real charges will be filed against real suspects in a real court, leading to a real trial in front of a real jury, leading to a real conviction or acquittal.
American people memo to Law Enforcement: Please stay out of the headlines. Your job is to go about your business quietly, without grabbing TV face time. At least, please stay out of the headlines until you've got something. Until you can indict someone on serious terror-related charges, at a minimum. Actually having enough evidence to build a case that's strong enough to get a conviction for a change would be admirable. That way you'll again look like heroes and not like the usual glory-grabbing, incompetent fools.
And the Rule of Law that you swore to uphold would be maintained.
posted by Gotham 12:35 PM
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
What America Looks Like
Whether this is real or bogus, it's nice to see a case brought through legitimate channels.0 comments
Feds seek people in terror investigation
If this were the Bushies, they'd miss these guys altogether, find another bunch of big-talking guys in a bar and sweep the blowhards off the street into indefinite detention with great fanfare. And never try them, so the world couldn't see that there was no case, ever.
Here, in our legal system, this case will work itself out properly we hope, with the presumption of innocence for these men. If they are, in fact, guilty of anything, it will be the job of the prosecution to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.
You know, just like in "America."
So, to all the Tea Bag loons and all the Republicrats, this is MY America. This is the America I want back.
posted by Gotham 3:11 PM
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The New GOP
Back in the day, say..., 2007 or so, Republicans merely cheated on their wives and lovers, then made them stand next to them during the ensuing scandal's initial press conferences.0 comments
McClatchy: Prominent Kentucky GOP pol charged with murder in ex-fiancee's death
Now, they just kill them.
posted by Gotham 10:57 AM
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wow! Who Knew???
Stunning. By reading this article, I just found out there are actually a couple of Republicans still left in Congress. Wow! I thought they were extinct. I'm stunned to find a few still exist. The poor babies, what do they do all day?0 comments
GOP Sen. Snowe urged Obama to take ‘public option off the table’
Say, we could start a Republican nostalgia craze! Hey, kids, remember when Republicans had any say in anything, and had some power, and ran things? Yeah! Then, we can all take oxycontin and cheat on our wives.
posted by Gotham 12:39 AM
GOP: An Ancient Symbol...
...Meaning, "Make shit up."0 comments
ABC fights back against Tea Party protest size falsehoods
posted by Gotham 12:31 AM
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Fascism: Do It For The Children!
0 commentsNot-So-Great Britain continues to party like it's 1984!
Raw Story: UK readies largest ‘anti -pedophile’ database on Earth
Drag the word "child" or "children" into the conversation, and you can literally get away with the murder of the entire system of laws that great nations have thrived under for centuries.
Because, as Adolf Hitler proved in Germany, when people are afraid enough they will lose their humanity, and can easily be turned into blinded, murderous animals, who can then be easily manipulated to do the bidding of whomever feeds and stokes their fears.
It's bad enough that every Brit is now on camera almost every waking hour once they leave their home. Today, the bleak world of Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil is coming to pass. One giant Db with all of your particulars, open for any interested party to look at. Job? Housing? Life? Death? Taxes? Credit? It will all be based on your info (maybe correct; maybe not correct, who cares?) in those files.
Rot's a ruck, Charlie, as they say...
posted by Gotham 1:27 PM
Friday, August 21, 2009
This Is A 'How,' Not 'What' Poll..
OK, we return to our self-described role as Context Maven. A little 'Focus' music, maestro...7 comments
Cook Report: Dems Have Lost Control Of The Debate | TPMDC
All day, week-end, week and month, you'll be hearing, "The Dems are gonna get skunked in 2010; the Dems have lost control."
All of this is true, for the time being. What you''re not gonna hear anywhere, alas, is why.
The MSM will portray this as the plan was too big; the White House overreached; they bit off more than the American people could handle. The American people were just not ready for Barack Obama, and what he wanted to achieve.
Bullshit, in fact, is the word you're groping for there.
Context: these falling numbers are due to the American people's astonishment at the paucity of cojones on the part of the Democratic leadership and Mr. Obama.
We wanted CHANGE, in CAPITAL LETTERS.
Non-GOP fringe America is angry at Obama and the Dems right now. But not for doing too much. Rather, we're furious at them for not doing enough!!
The numbers for the Republican voters have not changed since November, nor will they ever change. There is no groundswell for rampaging hordes of mindless rabble taking us back to the 17th Century.
This clearly is the Left and the Middle who elected these guys screaming as one, "WTF????!?!?!?!?!"
Both the Left and the Middle wanted to cast the disgust of the Shrub Bush years from their mouths. Govern us again properly, we pleaded. But alas, if anything, we've become even more Beltway-bound. If that were even possible.
Maybe Obama did, but we didn't want bipartisanship. We wanted to kick some very well deserved corrupt, un-American booty. We wanted action. We got dither. We wanted leadership, since even fourth graders knew early on, Congressional Republicans had neither the votes nor the inclination to press forward. We all knew they'd kick up a ruckus and that'd be about it.
But we had the votes to say to the GOP, "you want in, we'll take you along, but if not, well, we'll see you all in four years."
We watched as you put together a Cabinet and staff of advisers who were all House- & Senate-savvy, most likely to wage the tough battles and arm-twisting that was going to be needed to pass the agenda America wanted.
But on the morning of your term, you took great pains to insist that the GOP were all well meaning Americans who had the interests of the nation at heart, and would bargain in good faith all down the line in order to get the best bills for the American people.
Every American knew that was a load of crap.
And, Mr. President, respectfully sir, they've been pissing on your shoes ever since.
The poll numbers you are seeing now are the direct result of the disaffection of many on the Left and in the Middle thinking, Hey! These aren't the guys I worked to elect!! And they're not getting it done!! Who the hell cares what the GOP thinks?!?!?
THAT is the background you see playing out in these poll numbers. Not the swill FOX and by extension CNN and NBC and all the rest will be spewing tonight and this weekend.
This is a LEFT/MIDDLE poll. The 30% on the Right still hates his Black guts, simply put. This will never change. So, if Obama was at 65% and is now down to 50+%, this means he still doesn't have the Right, he has softened in but still has the Middle, and has lost about half of the Left.
Now, all due respect to Charlie Cook and his famous political Report, all Obama needs to turn these numbers around is to finally pass the Healthcare Reform Bill WITH the Public Option, and his numbers among the Left and within the Middle shoot back up through the roof.
If Obama and Rahm (wasn't he supposed to be the roughest, toughest SOB to ever work in the West Wing???) the Milquetoast can get it together to salvage their self-esteem long enough to pass this bill all will be well.
If not, the Left and the Middle will start looking about for a new Democrat to fight the good fight.
posted by Gotham 7:57 PM
NYU = EVIL
0 commentsNYU Destroys Again
Renowned Corporati farm New York University clearly works under the negotiating theory of, "Oops!"
They'll tell you anything you want to hear during negotiations, just to wrap up talks. Then, once the settlement is being implemented, they simply rely on a subtle, well placed elbow against the Ming vase, "Oops!" to re-establish what they wanted all along, and to destroy what you worked so hard to preserve in your talks.
This time, it's the beloved Provincetown Playhouse of Eugene O'Neill fame. "Sure, folks, we'll save it. At the very least, we'll save the façade for you. NO problem. Oops, we broke the façade, damn. Gotta tear it all down now."
This extends to the lesson they deliver to their well heeled student body: "Give 'em whatever they want; get them to shut up. We'll just break whatever it is later."
"Oops! Sorry we broke your building/town/country/company."
So, never negotiate with someone out of NYU. Just go for the kill. It's what they've been trained to do. Either up front—or, preferably, on the back end.
posted by Gotham 7:01 PM
Where's Mike's 8-Point Plan Now?
0 commentsIf, like most NYers who haven't been paying close attention to the NYC mayoralty race—since there's only one "oh-so-announced" announced candidate running, you may have missed the flurry of campaign ads that Mayor Mike Wallet, NYC's richest man, ran last Spring.
He loudly trumpeted: "I have an 8-point plan to create jobs in New York City!!"
OK. Kinda wondered where some of those points were during his eight (8) years already spent in office, but we'll walk with him for a moment on this one.
But, then we see this:
New York City jobless rate hits 9.6%—a 12-yr. high
Hmmmm, hasn't been this high since the end of Rudy's first term.
And we realize ol' Mayor Mike hasn't said anything about job creation in a very long time. Hmmm. Probably, because he can't.
I assume this is due to Bloomberg News simply not being able to accommodate any more staff.
Mike's going to simply have to buy sections of New Jersey in order to find new places for NYers to work.
posted by Gotham 6:03 PM
Democrats to Hoyer:
"We'll Have To See" About Re-election
0 comments
Hoyer Counters Pelosi: "We'll Have To See" About A Public Option | TPMDC
Steny Hoyer, if you can come home with a solid Healthcare Reform bill with a Public Option in your overnight bag, fine. We're here with open arms.
If not, don't bother coming home, we won't be here.
Best wishes,
Your fellow Democrats
posted by Gotham 5:17 PM
Bang! You're foreclosed!
0 commentsJesus!
The GOP chairman of Boise County, Idaho, Charles McAffee, who is also a tea-party activist and a member of the Idaho GOP Central Committee, pulled a loaded .357 Magnum on some guy while moonlighting on behalf of Wells Fargo bank. This cowboy must think he's guarding the strongbox on the Wells Fargo stagecoach.
Let's repeat that:
The GOP chairman of Boise County, Idaho, Charles McAffee, who is also a tea-party activist and a member of the Idaho GOP Central Committee, pulled a loaded .357 Magnum on some guy while moonlighting on behalf of Wells Fargo BANK.
Homeowner, 51, falls behind some on his mortgage. Looks out, sees a guy, McAffee, 33, clicking pics of his house. As you or I would, he asks McAffee just what the hell he's doing. McAffee blows him off. Homeowner gets angry; they get into an argument. McAffee pulls out a concealed .357 Magnum, points it at the homeowner. Homeowner thinks he's about to die.
GOP County Chair McAffee is reported to have thought that pulling a loaded monster killer weapon on this schmuck would "de-escalate the conflict."
Your modern Republican Party at work.
These people are going to start "de-escalating" folks to the morgue the way they are going. Then, they'll blame the victims for needing killing.
I've looked down the barrel of a handgun and, trust me, you will never focus in your life the way you do in those precious moments. It does get your attention.
This has officially gotten scary. At this rate, someone is going to get killed unless the police and FBI step in. A small army of mentally unbalanced loons on the right are now armed to the teeth and ready to defend "their America" from a whole array of psychosis-induced enemies.
This is the single greatest threat we face to the security of the United States of America. Armed insurrection by a few thousand armed crazies will turn the U.S. into an updated Night of the Living Dead, where no one is safe.
This cadre of maniacs has, at the least, the tacit approval of our corporate leaders—local and national.
So, the banking industry and your friendly neighborhood Republican Party have now joined forces to invite you to "Make. My. Day!"
posted by Gotham 3:04 PM
Thursday, August 20, 2009
"You Can Fool Some Of The People...
0 comments
...All of the time."
This should now—and forevermore—be known as The Favre Rule.
NY Times: Brett Favre’s Arm Takes Sales for Vikings FartherThe Vikings sold more than 3,200 season tickets in the first 24 hours after news broke Tuesday that Brett Favre was going to Minnesota.
I rest my case.
posted by Gotham 4:15 PM
It's THEM!
0 comments
These are the very people who will have the biggest say in your not getting decent, affordable healthcare any time soon.
There's three of them. No, not the Republicans in the Gang of Six. There's three people in this town that Mike Enzi represents. A typical Wyoming town. If you drive to Wyoming, try to find a person. Go ahead. Find a living, breathing human being. Damned hard to do. Just how did all those horses and cows gain statehood?
Mike Enzi (R-WY) represents less people than any other Senator, maybe eight people and a few horses in all of Wyoming, but he gets to be a major player in the Gang of Six on the Senate Finance Committee that's in the process of drowning your chance at viable health coverage in the tub.
Hell, we've got as many people in our apartment as these folks have in their whole TOWN!
I don't know who they're burying in this photo, but you can rest assured that whoever it was, was 57% of Enzi's vote total last election.
So much for representative government.
Are we seeing something like, "Representation without Population!"
posted by Gotham 3:51 PM
"...In Case Something Went Wrong"
Something like this.0 comments
In this tightly knit, scary little world of Dick Cheney and his minions, public exposure is much more to be feared than any covert loss to one of their precious multitudes of enemies.
So, Cheney and the CIA lost their illegal assassination program. OK, they say, we'll lay low, then we'll go back-channel and get a black op company to do it. We'll put it in the contract that they take the fall if it fucks up.
See? Thinkin', always thinkin'.
posted by Gotham 1:27 PM
Meyerson Goes Behind The Red Curtain
Nicely done op-ed piece by Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post today.0 commentsRepublican ideology has shrunk alongside its geography and demographics. Where once its view of the role of government ran the gamut from Rockefeller activism to Goldwater libertarianism, today the party largely adheres to the religiosity and the anti-statism of the white South. (In its ideological uniformity, today's GOP looks—O, the irony—more like a classic European party than an American one.)
In short, the Republican Party with which Democrats could make deals no longer exists. The GOP is too narrow; the gap between the parties, too wide. Our politics are not those of the mid-20th century, when bipartisanship was fairly common. If anything, they're more like those of the mid-19th century, before the Civil War, when North and South combined only to make a house divided against itself—a conflict resolved not by compromise, but, as Lincoln predicted, by a nation then half-slave and half-free becoming "all one thing or all the other."
Lincoln's prophecy still holds. Our current conflicts may be resolved only as the South becomes traditionally less Southern and more diverse—home to more Northern transplants and immigrants. That process was already at work in the 2008 elections, when [Barack] Obama carried Virginia, North Carolina and Florida on the strength of those demographic shifts. As that process continues—perhaps only as it continues—the course of reform in America may run more smoothly.
This White European screaming does, in fact, look ever more like the death throes of a dying culture, yowling as it succumbs to the tar pits.
If these White Europeans are to survive as the politically dominant segment of the population and the drivers of the culture, their mission is difficult and complex indeed: Just however do you turn a melting pot stew into a clear broth?
posted by Gotham 12:30 PM
Grassley Makes Believe He Works For A Living
0 comments
That Grampa Chuck Grassley, he's such a kidder. I love it at Thanksgiving, when he pulls black bags of corporate cash from behind the ears of all the young kids in the room.
WAPO: Grassley Urges Scaling Back on Health-Care Reform Plan, Citing Town Hall Anger
That, of course, would be the Anger expressed by all those Red-Tie corporate types who are afraid of not getting a bonus this year, and all those truly wretched people they've duped and ginned up to scream and yell about something they have absolutely no clue about.
The hard-knuckle ancestors of these Red-Tie types used to get this rabble drunker than skunks before carting them to the polls, or stuffed cash in their pockets while telling them which lever to pull. Chuck may just be old enough to remember those days...
Maybe..., Grampa Chuck should be the first granny those "Death Panels" pull the plug on.
posted by Gotham 12:01 PM
Dealing With The Dining Room Tables
Just in case you missed Barney Frank's riposte from the other night...1 comments
Ranking right up there with "Ask not what your country can do for you..." (JFK) and "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" (FDR):"It is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated." (Rep. Barney Frank—MA)
Thank you, Congressman Frank.
However, dear reader, I urge you to go back and look at the clip again.
Take a good look at the young woman at the mic. She's not your standard poor crone, broke, terrified, beaten by events, whipped into a frenzy by the lies of the Corporati. This woman gives every appearance of BEING the Corporati. Part of The Beltway Mob.
This version of the clip cuts off her long preamble as she sets up calmly and wisely (she assumes) her thesis that Obama = Hitler, and you of course could never support that, right? She's seems intelligent, level-headed and educated. She gives every appearance of being decidedly (upper?) middle-class. She looks for all the world exactly like every recent hire by UnitedHealthCare, Cigna, Pfizer, Blue Cross or any of the army of corporations hired by them as PR firms, lobbying outfits or influence peddlers—i.e., firms that shill (lie) for their clients for a hefty fee to influence legislators like Barney Frank to give their clients perks or better standing in upcoming bills at the expense of you, the taxpayer/consumer.
You easily can picture this young woman in a conference room with her note pad, right? So can I. Looks a bit like Ashley Judd. Very sharp visage. A go-getter; on her way up. She may have been sorting out airline and hotel reservations for her boss for the company golf outing/retreat just before heading up to Massachusetts, don't you think?
Yes, for all the world, she looks like a shill.
And yes, Congressman Frank was correct to not engage further with this young woman—since she gives every indication of being paid to stand there and combat whatever Frank says, in order to gain extra camera time and to disrupt Frank's meeting. For as long as she possibly can. Nothing personal; just business.
The Dining Room Tables will never listen, Frank is correct about that. The professional Dining Room Tables are paid to not listen. So, it's better not to waste time talking to them. Their aim is not to win, but to make you look bad. So, don't bother.
Simply pass your bill and the amateur Dining Room Tables will wind up enjoying the fruits of whatever it is you pass—as long as it's a good bill.
Then, the Professional Tables will simply be forced back to their golf games.
posted by Gotham 9:25 AM
The Healthcare Corporati Eat Their Own
Wow. Who knew those Red-Tie corporate-operative types from the corporate towers of NYC & The Beltway Mob in DC could find so many t-shirts and plaid shirts to wear to these town hall-type meetings?0 comments
Stunning, really. They must have scoured every 99-Cent Store on the East Coast. Plus, I assume they've simply wiped out L.L. Bean and Eddie Bauer.
Today's quiz: Find The Montana Resident In This Video! (Aside from Max Baucus, of course.)
Poor Max. After carrying their water on this for so long, THIS is how they repay him? By making him look like David Letterman with a really bad guest? If he's this inarticulate, and fumbles so as he speaks, however DID he get elected Senator? (Just askin'...)"... agitators, whose sole goal was to intimidate, disrupt and not let any meaningful conversation go on."
Well said, Senator.
It'd like near to turn you into a Democrat!
posted by Gotham 8:55 AM
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Corrupting With The Stars!
0 comments
This is classic Tom DeLay. I know, every Tom DeLay is classic Tom DeLay, but this really is classic Tom DeLay.
Corporatist Supreme DeLay, who created the K Street system of lobbying, then elevated it to an integral part of DC governance, had a friend. A friend on Dancing With The Stars—country music star, Sara Evans.
Back in 2006, months after he'd resigned from Congress, DeLay sent out an e-mail to his supporter list, calling on them to vote in that current season of Dancing for country singer Sara Evans, who is a vocal supporter of the Republican Party, and whose husband was a GOP fundraiser and had been an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. DeLay framed this cause as part of the culture war—targeting that nasty liberal contestant Jerry Springer ...
OK. So far we have Tom DeLay being Tom DeLay.
Here's the part I love:Evans ended up quitting the show due to a messy divorce, citing frequent adultery by her husband. (GN emphasis)Well, THAT should win ya a GOP primary, boy. Especially in Texas. This all goes to show that you don't have to have a government job already to be a Republican Who Fucks Around. It's really quite simple. You can become a RWFA just by being friends with Republicans who have/had government jobs. Or just by trying to get a government job. Or by being married to someone who's trying to get a government job.
Of course, the GOP NEVER DISCRIMINATES! A RWFA can be a male Republican or a female Republican. There's no rules governing RWFAs. The only minimum standard applied is that you agree to be cheesy beyond human endurance, and be willing to make a complete, utter joke of yourself in public media while you're grasping for a sliver of that GOP political domination and an insider's cut of all that cold, hard, lobbying cash that's sloshing about in DC and out in the "Homeland." In the GOP's Big Tent, Republican women are certainly entitled to debase themselves in equal measure to anyone in the male contingent.
posted by Gotham 12:39 AM
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Mayor Updates His Intentions
Term limits, schmerm limits. That was just a piffle. It's so yesterday.0 comments
Mayor Wallet's Freudian slip is showing once again.
The Supreme Owner of All Things Five-Borough-ish let slip in a WOR Radio interview with John Gambling that this year's mayoralty race is really intended to be an election for Mayor-for-Life.
New York, New York, it's a helluva town. And Mike Bloomberg lets us live here! How very kind of him.
Ahhh, the joys of noblesse oblige!"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48 Bible KJV
Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of Mike wasting all that money simply on a campaign he most likely would win anyway, he simply started spending it on the people of NYC, whom he claims to care so much about?
Mike is the richest man in NYC—a difficult mantle to achieve, no doubt. We plebeians can attest to that. We can also assume that it must be a bear to maintain. Mike's single, with no family. If he started a crusade on a 24/7 schedule to spend ALL of his money, he'd be hard-pressed to do so in his lifetime.
So, Mike may want to think in terms of Bill Gates, who's currently trying to shed all that extra cash he and his wife have that's clogging up the garage and basement.
We suggest to you, Mike, that instead of simply allowing those of us of the serf classes to remain on your property here as urban sharecroppers, toiling away for your greater glory and wealth, you take a real shot at buffing up your name in the history books and start spreading that cash out over the citizenry in any of a dizzying array of creative means—through major public projects, by hiring all of Brooklyn at Bloomberg News, by paying for a new school system, or, hell, just go for it—direct cash payments to every citizen. I mean, you're buying City Hall anyway, why not just go ahead and do it directly?
The rites of the class you worked so hard to enter demand it.
posted by Gotham 12:56 PM
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Well, The Going's Gotten Crazy, So...
... The crazies are now getting going!0 comments
Fascism is afoot in the land.
The lunatic authoritarian White Right now looms as the greatest law and order threat to the security of the United States.
Anti-Health Care Reform Protester Encourages Physical Violence, Use Of Firearms
You now face a greater threat from some self-styled "g.i. joe" nut in your town then you do from al Qaeda. Al Qaeda doesn't have the means necessarily to cross the ocean. But this nut is already here, armed to the teeth and braying at the moon.
The basis of their tenet: If the strength of their idea isn't enough to sway you, then they'll just have to shoot you.
That's what they mean when you hear them sob, "This isn't MY AMERICA!"
During Vietnam, these are the folks who espoused the concept of "Kill for Peace" with no sense of irony.
posted by Gotham 6:57 PM
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Madoff Reserve
From Raw Story:0 comments
Eliot Spitzer: Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, an inside job’
More and more, the political hit on Eliot Spitzer smells more and more.
posted by Gotham 4:17 AM
Support The Troops, My Ass
Just heartbreaking.0 comments
George W. Bush went along when his cabinet trumped up their phony little war in Iraq.
Then we put our military population into the craziness of "battle of the bulge" type madness and stress for years on end, and drove them absolutely dog-barking mad. Many became totally homicidal, ruined human beings.
Now we unceremoniously dump them back on the streets and tell 'em, "Tough shit, kid. Good luck, see ya!"
What Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, commander of Fort Carson in Colorado said, according to AP:"When we see a problem, we try to identify it and really learn what we can do about it. That is what we are trying to do here. There is a culture and a stigma that needs to change."
What Maj. Gen. Graham meant:"Wow, we fucked these kids up really bad...and it's gone public. Crap! Now, we gotta come up with a way to dig ourselves outta this mess!"
Good luck, general. It will probably take larger minds than yours.
What a nightmare.
posted by Gotham 4:03 AM
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I Think We Had The Yips.
0 comments
"I think I had the yips." — Mike Pelfrey, May 17
I think this article just about sums up the kind of year it's been for our fabulous, furry Amazins so far.
So, since we'll be watching a fourth place team the rest of this year (and maybe next), here's my advice to Fred Wilpon and his boy on how to putter around the yard to make their family business better for us, the paying fan.
Fred, it's time to Metsticize the Mets. It's been a very interesting experiment, watching you try to twist them into some sort of Fantasy Brooklyn Dodgers team, but no, they really are the New York Mets, with their own history and legacy, stars and moments. So, it's time to lose the Wilpon White ersatz Dodger uniforms and give the fans back the original blue pinstripe Mets home unis, and drag out the Mets image that you've seemed to have stored in the utility closet ever since you bought out Nelson Doubleday's share. Go ahead, sprinkle some Mets Dust around the park. It could only help.
Two, yes, you've got a very nice stadium toy — although most of us won't be going to it, especially to watch minor league ballgames at bigger league prices. No, the bulk of your fanbase is now a TV base, just like the NFL.
Well..., I have to tell ya honestly, Mr. Wilpon, from the couch you've got yourself something totally unremarkable.
Folks used to complain about all those circular, multi-purpose stadia — of which Shea Stadium was among the first — calling them "cookie cutter." They had a point, but I was always amazed how much you could individualize a basic round, concrete bowl. Now, with the rush to build all of these "legacy" fields around the majors, baseball owners have inadvertantly done the exact same thing people blamed the old parks for. Using the same architects who designed and built the bulk of these new parks for your new field was a very bad idea. Your new park is chock full of already-used ideas from these other new fields.
With the exceptions of Camden Yards and the ballpark in Houston (whatever it's called this week), which were among the first, and that new Yankee park thing uptown, on TV these parks are just as cookie cutter as the old bowls were. With the bowls, there were always some unique visual feature of Shea, Dodger Stadium, old Busch, Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans' Field, etc. which told you immediately where you were. With all these new "old" parks, it's become obvious a fan needs to be in the stadium itself to discern what makes it unique. On TV, I can no longer tell your new field apart from ones in St. Louis, Colorado, San Francisco, Arlington or Philadelphia, or a raft of other fields which have the same general color scheme, same brick and bridgework design.
You will argue that, I'm certain. But sit and watch the film. Sit and watch 50 MLB games strictly from camera angles and you'll see the Arena Football-ness of what we've been left with. The unique features the architects tout are all above the tight camera angles needed of the play on the field. So, on TV, all these stadia look to be the same arena-esque playing field. I would guess no more than 30%-40% of the action takes the camera high enough to show you a McCovey Cove, your touted rightfield overhang or any other spiffy feature of a new park. It's increadibly boring. Boring, as in dull, as in "Who's got the remote?"
You can now change this. One downside to your new park is that it has no personality. It simply looks like any other in this new line of stadia product. Nothing there screams "Mets" when you view basic TV camera angles the way Shea always did. Whether the old, original behind-the-plate angle which showed the Queens skyline over those green walls, or the distinctive Mets Blue walls and screening and runway behind the plate from the centerfield cameras. Or the panarama cameras which showed the bullpens then either the Queens skyline or the 7 train tracks. On TV, every angle screamed "Mets, this is OUR yard."
On TV, the new field looks as person-less as the wrestling matches in old Sunnyside Arena, which was always dark, so you couldn't see it, or god-forbid, that ugly, cavernous concrete warehouse the Rays play in in Tampa.
So, forget fixing the team on the field, it doesn't really look possible this year. You can do something different with it for next year, and we'll start over.
But, right now, today, you can protect your investment by finding ways to keep us from switching the dial towards some other Must-see TV this summer. Do this by, first, scouring and studying every TV angle in your new park, and gussying up and Meticizing what the camera is looking at in every shot. Every shot should have a Mets identity, a Mets statement. Then, this will slowly become the Mets' home field, not just another cookie-cutter fad. THAT we would watch, as FANatics do, no matter what was on the field. This is Brand protection, pure and simple.
Oh, but if you COULD do anything about that boring rag-tag army you send out there every night over the next 2 1/2 mos., that would be nice. Thanks!
posted by Gotham 11:54 AM
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sniveling Wankers On Parade
I love right-wing blogs.2 comments
Is there such a thing as "Bleeding heart neo-cons"?
So over the top. Oh, such outrage, such heartache! Such, "Somebody DO SOMETHING!!!" Such, "Who will rid me of these meddlesome Liberals?!?!"
Of course, they never seem to get around to getting their hands dirty doing anything themselves. Even if they live without a pot to piss in, wankers live in Nobility-land, and know Serfs will handle the unfortunate parts.
Here's a glorious case in point.
This wanker in LA writes that he's suffered (oh, how he has suffered!) from having Liberal parents (oh! The shame! The heartache!), and that's what has led to his current emasculation (which is OK on the right as long as it's clearly the fault of Liberals):I never met a real soldier. My family didn’t know much about the military. We fancied ourselves more artistic and sophisticated than that. As a boy, I lived in terror of the draft, afraid of my 18th birthday, when I would have to register with the Selective Service (or they’d come and get me). And all I ever heard at home was how the Vietnam War was maiming and disfiguring our beautiful young men — all for nothing.
Oh, the wankitude — it burns!
Now, however can you grow up big and strong like John Wayne and go kill those evil gooks and rip their entrails out like a hero when your parents insist on refusing to roll over and be sheep and accept the party line all through your childhood? How, ummmm..., well, just how... icky!?!!
Of course, we never underestimate a wingnut's zeal for both rolling in the ashes of — yep, you guessed it — 9/11 and spewing forth oh, such florid columns and blog posts.On 9/11, real war roared back with a vengeance — right in our own backyard.
Umm, no amigo, you were 3,000 miles away. This was in OUR patio.This was no channel-changer shot through a telephoto lens; this was horror, up close and personal (until the networks stopped showing the blood and falling bodies, and opted for a more “objective” bird’s eye view).
So sorry we interrupted your blood lust. But, I'd just as soon not have fellow NYers be a video game for you and your ilk. BTW, what WAS your point total that day? Hope you ran the board!That’s when we finally saw soldiers again — as real men and women — firefighters and police officers and military personnel all working together, the best of human nature on spontaneous display, surprising and selfless. That’s when we witnessed the triumph of the flag again, without embarrassment or excuses, hoisted up as a beacon in the midst of apocalyptic chaos and sorrow.
That’s when ordinary Americans, like me, who never knew real war or much suffering, began to understand what was truly at stake.
"And so we took straight to our couches!!"
OK, now buckle up, here comes the teary part:That’s when, for many of us, “soldier” took on a new meaning. Soldiers were no longer just toys or the pathetic pawns of a ruthless war machine; they were fellow citizens of integrity and courage, brave individuals from diverse backgrounds, willing to go places most Americans would never dream of going — often because their consciences told them to.
These were men and women who cared enough to risk everything for others, and to stand proudly for an ideal.
That, of course, would cover about half of this current volunteer Armed Forces. The remainder were there simply to get some money to cover school or because the Bush Recovery from the 1st Bush Recession (2001-2003) had passed his/her town by, so that the military was the best job they could find. These folks were just in the wrong army at the wrong time. Some others simply liked to fire big, loud guns and would later join the private mercenary armies of Blackwater, Inc. or CACI for ten times what they made in the U.S. Army.
This next is the part I adore. Now, having rhapsodized over his romanticized wingnut view of the military and the U.S.'s role in the world, he's tickled there's someone else to do the dirty work and pay any prices to be paid. Now our hero doesn't have to get his thoroughly emasculated hands dirty. Lucky him!I never knew any soldiers. I never had to. I was always safely ensconced at home, free to live my life and pursue whatever interests I wanted. The closest I came to knowing a soldier was an NYPD cop, a friend who lost his wife in the World Trade Center attack. Despite the constant stress of his job, the long hours and bad weather and petty violence he saw on his beat — and the agony of his loss — I never once heard him say an unkind or demeaning word about anyone, of any race, or any religion.
On the contrary, I heard him say, quite matter of factly, that if he died on the job, it would be worth it, if it prevented more misery from happening. He was willing to give up his own life as part of his job. How many of us would ever consider, could ever fathom, such a commitment?
That’s a hero. That’s a soldier. And it’s no fairy tale — it comes from having a mind, a heart, and a spine.
God bless the men and women who share those attributes, and move forward everyday, knowing it could be their last. We are so grateful you really do exist.
"[Snif, snif] So that I don't have to do squat. Ahhhhh... Hey what time is American Idol on?"
This is why this whiny moron gets up my nose. All he does is fawn. Never once, in any graph of this screed does he mention actually DOING anything to support, help, comfort, fight the bureaucracy of the VA for, encourage others to give blood for, or somehow find a way to share in the sacrifice of the men and women who, for whatever reasons, are willing to risk their lives for him and others.
While this lad was angsting over Valet Parking on 9/11/2001, NYers were volunteering in record numbers, bringing whatever aid they could imagine to those doing the heavy lifting for the city and its citizenry. I hate to piss on this lad's pretty Pearl Harbor pipe dream, but it was a video game for him. This was OUR TOWN! We fought together to save, and to help those saving, our fellow NYers.
These were our boy-/girlfriends, brothers and sisters, friends, sons and daughters, spouses, neighbors, moms and dads, and colleagues who died. Wiped out because folks like this lad were too stupid or too lazy to follow the difficult lesson of his parents and question authority. Has this lad ever filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see his parents' COINTELPRO file? Or does he even know if it cost his parents anything in their lives? I seriously doubt it. Does he have any idea what it is actually like to have to comfort someone who spoke to a loved one or friend only a few hours before, and is now wandering about, stunned and frantic, clutching a picture of them, looking for ANY information as to their whereabouts, and you have to look them in the eye and help them find the courage to keep going — when you know in your heart that their loved one is gone because you've already been to every hospital in the area trying to help, and they are all practically empty — so you know everyone in the towers either got out in time and walked away, or died there. And it's not just that one person, but there's an army of thousands of NYers behind them with the same question and picture, aimlessly wandering the streets of the city hoping that SOMEONE will recognize their picture and give them some news — which doesn't exist.
This lad has only known one soldier. And that one was a cop. What a lazy, self-serving ass.
My advice to you, my comfy L.A. friend: Grow a spine, get off your ass and go do something — for someone other than your whiny, tragic little self. Anything would be a help. You want John Wayne to be your friend? Then, fine, call your Congressman and fight to improve conditions at your local VA Hospital — which is probably a pit. Wayne might like that. He might be your friend if you did that. Volunteer to read to a Marine who's now blind, or doesn't have arms to turn a page. Perhaps you might monitor your government to verify that they are doing positive things in your name, and not getting you in trouble with millions of people all over the world, who may later feel the urge to turn around and smack YOU in the face in retaliation for things you never even knew about.
Until then, please stop wanking in public.
It's so fey.
posted by Gotham 12:49 PM
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Rupert: D'oh!
Classic.0 comments
Rupert Murdoch figured he could respond to this whole (for him) unfortunate, ungainly cartoon flap by easily marginalizing Al Sharpton—by continuing to portray Sharpton as a crackpot gadfly to the New York Post's white readers—as Murdoch's properties have done since the 1970s.
But with the entrance of NAACP head Julian Bond, one of the classiest and most powerful leaders within the African-American community, and a man who has earned one of the purest reputations across the breadth of America itself, this just brought the game to a whole new—and to Rupert's interests—dangerous level.
Time to jump in and take over, Rupert.
So the Chairman and mondo honcho of all things NewsCorp-ish, put his powerful foot down, tossed the Post editors' weaselly non-apology apology out the window, pushed his staff aside and proved to his worldwide minions that he, Rupert, was the big cheese when it comes to delivering the Classic, Hall of Fame-level Non-Apology Apology.
Murdoch Apologizes for Chimp Cartoon
Kinda. But not so much.
He starts off well:“As the chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.
Last week we made a mistake," he wrote in a statement printed on Page 2 of the Post. "We ran a cartoon that offended many people."
Well played, Rupert. Very direct, yes. Very strong stuff.
But can he restrain himself? Can he maintain that dignified high level over a full editorial????
We hold our breath. Can he do it?
Umm. No."Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted."
D'oh!
You were soooo close, Rupert! You just can't do it, can you?
Man.
Only IF you were one of those readers who felt offended, or even insulted, we apologize. If this didn't offend or insult you, or if it even got you all kinda wet to go out and shoot down the next stimulus-writing monkey you could find, then, Hey! no prob', we're cool with that.
Rupert still hasn't learned the power of economy, because he kept going, pushing that shovel ever downward."I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you—without a doubt—that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such."
"It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such."
NO, Rupert. This is no simple dialog. Whether it was MEANT to be racist or not is moot. It WAS racist! This is no interpretive piffle.
What America needed to hear from you was:
"Wow. We screwed up. This had no place in our paper. I/We're sorry this happened. Heads will roll."
No reading of this can leave one with any interpretation other than that this editorial is designed to blunt and end the entire affair before Bond can follow through with his threatened NewsCorp properties boycott.
Too late, Rupert. This is simply too weak an effort. Obviously, a deliberately weak effort.
So, Gotham Notes tosses its support behind Mr. Bond and Mr. Sharpton.
Call us when you have a better apology, Rupert. A real one. And when heads have actually rolled.BOYCOTT FOX, the New York Post and all NewsCorp properties until Rupert Murdoch
takes the full and proper action of disciplining his staff which is warranted in light
of the Post's despicable Page Six cartoon picturing the Post's racist attitude
toward African Americans in general, and Barack Obama in particular.
Sign up to add your voice with the NAACP here.
posted by Gotham 3:08 PM
