i didn’t even know

I’ve been following a story about Kos and some of the other major bloggers, and the gist of it is that Advertise Liberally, the ad network started by, though not run by, Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos.com, is used as a kind of payola to orchestrate what bloggers say on the liberal side of the blogosphere. Its total horseshit, of course, just another attempt to smear the world’s largest political website, but you’ll be hearing it more and more.

The funny part is that the story basically says “liberal weblogs are an echo chamber”. The juijitsu necessary to call liberal blogs an “echo chamber” is stunning. The echo chamber analogy is basically what the entire right-wing media machine is based on, and it’s been tremendously successful. Read Blinded by the Right: the Conscience of an Ex-Conservative by David Brock (founder of Media Matters, which Bill O’Reilly calls a “left-wing smear site”, as ringing an endorsement as you’re likely to get). Brock also penned The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. There’s numerous other publications as well.

The common right-wing attack, prevalent in attacks on abortion rights, privacy rights, science education, and anything else they want to knock down is to take their own position and put it on the other side. If they’re against clean air and water, they claim the other side is against it. While it is plainly utterly stupid on its face, it forces people to correct them and waste time not advancing their position. Maybe juijitsu is wrong. It’s more of a brutal cudgel.

fucking awesome

Ernie Fletcher is the Gov. of KY (guess his party affiliation). He pre-pardoned some fools in his party for an incipient scandal, which was odd since that’s illegal, and now he’s getting attention for having the muckraking site Bluegrassreport.org blocked on state computers, in addition to a handful of other political sites.
Apparently this does NOT meet state constitutional standards, but the proprietor of BGR doesn’t seem TOO interested in filing suit yet.
The KY Gov (that’s just funny lookin’) followed a developing condition of pols who hate bloggers. MO Gov Matt Blunt also hustled a blogger out of the state capitol building, where he was attending a bill signing, for some bullshit reason.

Dude, seriously, read the article from the post below. We’re in the middle of a slip into fascism, and I’m not kidding. It’s not a secret conspiracy either. Glenn Greenwald has pertinent discussion constantly.

Read, look hard, please, it’s really happening.

just in case

Just in case you’re ever wondering why I lose my mind at every infringement on Constitutional liberties that the Bush junta inflicts on our citizenty, read this. Read it all the way through. Find the similarities and argue about it.

I don’t think you can. I think the goal of the current crop of fools in charge is obvious and terrifying. If I die in a weird plane crash, well, I’d have ended up a lot more important than I am now.

another word

Main Entry: la·cu·na
Pronunciation: l&-‘kü-n&, -‘kyü-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural la·cu·nae /-‘kyü-(“)nE, -‘kü-“nI/; or la·cu·nas /-‘kü-n&z, -‘kyü-/
Etymology: Latin, pool, pit, gap — more at LAGOON
1 : a blank space or a missing part : GAP
2 : a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure
– la·cu·nar /-‘kü-n&r, -‘kyü-/ also la·cu·nate /l&-‘kü-n&t, -‘kyü-, -“nAt; ‘la-ky&-“nAt/ adjective

This is a pretty useful word in these days, as the shrillest of shrill seem unable, through some defect, to see the result of their foolish war-dreams, their support for a power-mad, incompetent puppet president, their willingness to send a lobbyist to fill the seat of a congressman tainted by…lobbyists…, the desire to hitch every woman’s womb to the mechanism of the state, and to define large chunks of our populace as evil for what hole they choose to fuck…the shrill can’t seem to see somehow that they have lead us to the cusp of disaster. They believe they are bravely steering the ship, one hand on tiller one on hip, chest thrust forward in manly certitude, and can’t see the jagged stones and sucking vortexes that lay just ahead.

I used to think that enough protestation would convince even those on the right, since, in years past, it had done just that. Even Reagan raised taxes when he realized his “trickle-down” economics were only trickling one stinky thing onto those at the bottom. But this version of the Lunatic Winger has no compunctions. They see past failures of their policies not as repudiation of their silly fantasies, which have never worked in governing, but as a lack of willpower to follow through. Of course a lot of the main architects know the true goal, a subversion of government powers to the richest of the rich, the largest corporations, but the rest are useful idiots trained through long hours to believe the utterly vapid lies they then repeat.

Cons love to win, regardless of wether or not they actually win. The appearance of it can be enough for them.

I like to survive, and grow. I like my family and friends to be safe. I want to help others who are not family and friends be safe and happy.

Cons want to take everything they can and turn inwards to gaze at their loot like some pasty white Smaug. Maybe it’s time to roust this dragon, and see what its made of?

anne coulter is a giant quivering tumor


That Anne Coulter has any pulpit from which to spew her hate and bile at all makes me doubtful of my countrymen’s humanity. This shrill hypocritical ogre deserves nothing by disdain, yet she is fetishized by the very people who’s life she mocks with her false words.

and of course, the cons just say “my word! she’s not a real conservative!

You know, she is a real conservative, she’s a real one in the sense that she is how conservatism, if there ever was such a thing, is practiced today. some old dead politician said something along the lines of “Conservatism is less a political ideology than a mental condition”, and I still agree. None of these fools has shown themselves able to govern, none have shown an ability to look past the end of their own self-interest. they’re reprehensible, and they’re WINNING.

So we’re fools or liars, you and me. We’re fools in that we refuse to fight, or are too dumb to articulate our points, or too blinded by outrage at the horrors perpetrated by the howling scum on the right, or liars unable to come to grips with our own failings. many correct-thinking people have pointed out this basic problem with the left in the US, but not enough people listen.

Word of the Day: Calumny

Calumny

cal·um·ny

Pronunciation: ‘ka-l&m-nE also ‘kal-y&m-

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural -nies

Etymology: Middle French & Latin; Middle French calomnie, from Latin calumnia, from calvi to deceive; perhaps akin to Old English hOlian to slander, Greek kElein to beguile

1 : a misrepresentation intended to blacken another’s reputation
2 : the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations maliciously calculated to damage another’s reputation
– ca·lum·ni·ous /k&-‘l&m-nE-&s/ adjective
– ca·lum·ni·ous·ly adverb

That’s what the NRCC is doing to Francine Busby. I voted for her twice today, once in the runoff for the rest of Duke the Bribe’s term and once for the Dem primary. Thanks to a last-minute flub I don’t know what will happen…she was neck and neck until she said some stuff about illegals that let the rightwing crap machine go apeshit. Of course it means not what they’re claiming, but who cares? They’ll say whatever they want about whoever. Jerkoffs.

Anyways, we’ll find out tonight. Hopefully CA50th voters still have a few living braincells and will vote for a new start, not more of the same.

everyone else

did a post…well, charles and desi did…about hanging out at i-don’t-know-how-to-spell-her-name’s house, and painting on her walls, and the no-water thing, and the fumes, and charles’ headache, and margaritas, and keri demanding ass-sex, and no one mentioned the flailing about on the lawn?

also, i think that deganet sp?) is not likely to get her security deposit back

Long one. might want to skip.

Recently the New York Times and other guardians of our press freedoms have taken the time to tackle a problem that really affects us all and must be scrutinized under the unforgiving light of the truth: Do the Clintons still fuck?

I don’t know if you can tell, but that’s a wee lil’ bit o’ sarcasm there. The press obsession with the Clenis and “Frigid Hillary” makes me want to jump and scream for someone’s head on a plate like some tiny pot-bellied monarch. To me there is only one plausible reason for it, and it’s not ratings, because I doubt people care. That reason’s gotta be that it’s coming from the top. The editors and owners are telling the staff: “We want more stories about how often Bill and Hill hang out together. Do something about which direction Bill’s penis points. Gotta have my penis-direction-article baby.”

The recent nomination of the CEO of Goldman-Sachs, one of the most secretive corporations in the country, made me think about corporate malfeseance a little more than usual. Maybe we’ve forgotten, or been inured to, the level of slime that coated every media outlet during Clinton’s presidency. The sorry state of the press back then was matched only by the sorry state of its audience. Do you remember 24/7 “Bimbogate”? Every liar, cheat, scumbag and con artist who a) was from Arkansas (not a great sign) and 2) could peddle a slightly believable story about Clinton’s weenis. The talking heads of the press were spending their days considering with all their gravitas whether or not someone had a cigar in someone else’s vagina. It was sickening. It was a massive betrayal of the public trust by the press and the GOP Congress that directed it, primarily Tom DeLay. It was also a massive barrage in the war against democracy being waged to this day by the Mogul Class.

The fusion of corporate and government power is called fascism. Our nation, right now, this second, is in a life-or-death battle with fascism. Look at the massive expansion of presidential powers….Bush is claiming he can exercise all wartime powers on citizens on U.S. soil with the only qualifier being that he deems them dangers to national security. Read that again, because it’s fuckin’ scary: Bush can treat you like a terrorist captured in a war zone, with no oversight, no accountability and no recourse. Even if you’re an American citizen. This is not a conspiracy theory either, it’s the Bush administration’s own defense for illegal wiretapping. Bush was illegally ordering wiretapping by the NSA as he signed the law he was violating. That’s big-time hypocrisy. So their defense? Nothing Bush does is illegal because Bush is doing it. QED.

Makes your head spin a little don’t it? But wait! Look at the stories being reported on a daily basis….look at the FRONT PAGE of that old liberal harlot, the New York Times. What was on there? Thousands of screaming column-inches about violating civil liberties, high-minded rhetoric defending the sacred citizen’s right to stand and remake their government if it ceases to do their work?

No.

Hillary’s panties. This, apparently, needed examination.

So some creep at the Times did a stupid retread story reinforcing the media’s already strong bias against Hillary, making their own narrative sound truer to them while the miss the feeling of the public. Who cares? Well, every word uttered about Clinton is a word you cannot direct at Frist, Hastert, Bush, Cheney, and the other fascists. Every time someone says “wow, that Clinton sure is a scumbag!” the attention paid to the guy who’s been out of freaking office for almost 6 years keeps us from pointing out that telcos are trying to steal the free and open internet. Every time someone wonders about wether Hillary’s a lesbian or not misses a chance to discuss our world’s repairable worsening climate. That’s what. The press is interested in a broad sense in simply distracting you. Keeping you staring at the tube and not looking for real answers. Rupert Murdoch doesn’t want you questioning his influence, CNN and Fox (News Corporation) and ABC and NBC and CBS and all of them, they don’t want you looking into their practices. Neither does Halliburton or Baker Botts or uh Enron (oops) or Westar or any of a long and growing list of shysters, crooks and bribery-freaks. The media is just another corporation, with better communications skills. You’re looking at a corporate broadcast when you watch network TV, aor cable TV, or satellite TV. And to corp wants one thing: money.

Money is all that matters to a corp, and power is all that matters to a Republican, and most Democrats, and most third and fourth and whatever party. Money begets power, and power begets money. The Corp and the Pol are perfect for each other, and breed frequently, and when they do we get people like Jack Abramhoff, who you may have heard a tiny bit about. Notice how he dropped out of the news cycle pretty fast? Jack, in a basic sense, served as a matchmaker for horny wealthy Corps looking to hook up with ambitions, athletic Pols. Sometimes they call people like Jack “lobbyists”. I call him a scumbag who should rot in prison. He is at the moment in prison, which is nice. But back to the point: there exists a whole class of people who make it their life’s work getting other scumbags in office, and train them to do what their clients want once they get them there. And it’s killing democracy. Not figuratively, literally.

The opaque nature of any corp makes it a piss-poor vehicle for democracy and a great seedbed for fascism. The corporate model is the fascist model…top-down, highly secretive, catering to a certain class (Upper class or shareholders) and exploiting the rest for everything they can get, including their customers (or citizens, to carry the metaphor yet further. Jeez it’s gettin heavy).

The nature of most pols makes them very receptive to heaps of cash they will use to further their power. They want power, and use money to get it. The corps want money, and use power to get it.

Lordy I could go on. The only thing I really wanted to say is watch your ass. The government, our government, is working in lockstep with corps to create a lasting fascist state built around maximizing profits for corporations and personally enriching a gradually-less-representative permanent governing class. If we’re not careful, it will never come to blows….we’ll be quietly taken away without raising a whimper. Think I’m crazy? Fine. But stop waiting around to find out. Check it out. Look into the facts of what the Bush admin is doing, what the Congress has done, and what corps are quietly and not-so-quietly helping out. Check out Arnold in the months before California’s energy crisis, before he’s even governator, meeting with Kenny Lay and other energy bigwigs in a secret powwow. That one’s nice.

http://gregpalast.com/
http://buzzflash.com/
http://c2ore.com/archives/?itemid=1220
http://dailykos.com/