Artifact Endangerment Alert

UPDATE: The above casket seems to have a one-piece top. In the picture below we see the more typical split top. So, maybe this isn't Till's.

Given how important this very 'box' is to American history, the following just devastates me.

Authorities discover original casket of Emmett Till
Posted: 11:41 AM ET
(CNN) — Authorities discovered Emmett Till’s original casket in a dilapidated garage at a historic cemetery where four people are accused of digging up graves and reselling them, police said Friday.

“There was wildlife living inside of it,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said of the casket, which he said was found in the corner of a garage filled with lawn care equipment and other “piles of things” at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

“We very quickly came to the conclusion it was the original casket that Emmett Till was buried in,” Dart said.

Till, 14, was killed in August 1955 in Mississippi after he reportedly whistled at a white woman.

His body was exhumed in 2005 as part of a renewed probe into his death. The Chicago Tribune reported that he was reburied in a different casket.

Four people face felony charges after authorities discovered that hundreds of graves were dug up and allegedly resold at the cemetery. Groundskeepers told investigators that Till’s grave was not among them, Dart said earlier this week.

On August 28, 1955 Roy Bryant and his half brother, J.W. Milam, began looking for Emmett Till. They found him at his uncle's cabin. Entering the cabin with flashlights and Colt 45 pistols, they kidnapped Emmett. To teach him lesson, they drove him to a weathered shed on a plantation in neighboring Sunflower County, where they beat and then shot him. Three days later, Emmett’s corpse was pulled from the depths of the Tallahatchie River. It was weighted down by a seventy-five pound cotton gin fan, which was tied around Till’s neck with barbed wire, his right eye hanging midway to his cheek, his nose flattened, and a bullet hole through his head.

Till's mother made the decision to have an open casket funeral. She wanted the world to know what had happened to her son. Fifty-thousand people attended the funeral of Emmett Till.

NY Times, 8/28/05

[T]he photographs of Emmett taken at his open-coffin viewing ... were first published nationally in Jet magazine and shunned by mainstream news organizations but have since become iconic, textbook images of the Jim Crow era. In "Eyes on the Prize," the PBS documentary on civil rights, Charles Diggs, a former congressman from Detroit, called the Jet photographs "probably one of the greatest media products in the last 40 or 50 years, because that picture stimulated a lot of anger on the part of blacks all over the country."

Very Very Very Black Pot, Meet Kettle

Specter Challenges Sestak's Party Credentials

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) called likely primary rival Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) "a flagrant hypocrite in challenging my being a real Democrat" and accused his rival of registering as a Democrat "just in time to run for Congress," CNN reports.

Said Specter: "His lame excuse for avoiding party affiliation, because he was in the service, is undercut by his documented disinterest in the political process."Steve Benen notes "the fascinating aspect to this is that Arlen Specter is questioning someone else's party loyalty. Given the circumstances, that takes some real chutzpah."

Someday, probably soon, Joe Sestak, will need money for his Senatorial Primary challenge to Ancient Arlen. Joe is the real deal. Follow him here.

The Velvet Axe Falls

The Deplorable Peggy Noonan hatchets Sara Poledancer, upper eastside style:

Mrs. Palin has now stepped down, but she continues to poll high among some members of the Republican base, some of whom have taken to telling themselves Palin myths.

"I love her because she's so working-class." She is not working class, never was, and even she, avid claimer of advantage that she is, never claimed to be and just lets others say it. Her father was a teacher and school track coach, her mother the school secretary.

"The elites hate her." The elites made her. It was the elites of the party, the McCain campaign and the conservative media that picked her and pushed her. The base barely knew who she was. ... She is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon.

"She makes the Republican Party look inclusive." She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated.

Mrs. Palin's supporters have been ordering her to spend the next two years reflecting and pondering. But she is a ponder-free zone.

"The media did her in." Her lack of any appropriate modesty did her in. Actually, it's arguable that membership in the self-esteem generation harmed her. For 30 years the self-esteem movement told the young they're perfect in every way. It's yielding something new in history: an entire generation with no proper sense of inadequacy.

Just One More time With This Idea

Sarah is a Pole Dancer. The guy who picked her to be 'one heartbeat away from the Presidency' is the true traitor. As we have said for years.

Matt Steinglass

McCain is a guy of rather mediocre intellect, little curiosity, and very poor and impulsive decision-making skills. He’s vain and headstrong, and he easily turns opposition over matters of policy or politics into personal vendettas. He became a political commodity in 1973 because he embodied the right-wing working-class value of patriotism under duress at a moment when patriotism and the white working class felt under attack for their complicity in a disastrous foreign war. And he was seized upon by a desperate Republican Party in political free-fall; in the thick of Watergate, the Nixon administration launched him as a political celebrity. He then parlayed that notoriety into a political career a few years down the road. He certainly has a substantial amount of charm and an instinct for playing the press, and he’s hardly the dumbest guy in the Senate. But he is not a responsible or serious person. And to a great degree, when he met Sarah Palin, he probably felt he was looking at a younger version of himself. Which is to say that the “rot” in the GOP, the eagerness to substitute celebrity and resentful pseudo-patriotic gibberish for real political discussion, goes back a lot longer than 8 years.

John McCain: Tail First. Country Last.

Some Deep Shit Here Man

TPM:

The Deeper Questions

There's a lot of salacious back and forth today about the Ensign scandal. But beneath the tabloid headlines there's a critical question that needs to be asked:

Which is more emasculating?

Getting paid a hundred grand by the guy who screwed your wife?

Or being a fifty-something United States senator and still needing mom and dad to cut the check to pay off your mistress and her husband?

Finally, The Truth Is Being Spoken

More than anything else, they want to bang her. A stiff dick has no political conscience:

Steve Chapman (note: Right Wing Nut)

Palin is not alone in using her looks to enchant the Republican faithful. Carrie Prejean went from being a runner-up for Miss USA to a conservative heroine because she came out against gay marriage in her pageant interview -- but also because she wears a bikini well. Ann Coulter would be just another rabid pit bull if not for the long hair and short skirts. Harriet Miers' problem was that she couldn't overcome her deficiencies with sex appeal. When people remain ardent fans of Palin no matter how badly she performs, it's reasonable to wonder what they are thinking. But thinking has nothing to do with it.

How many of YOU know who this person is?:

Rahm Emanuel, Evil Genius

Taking down both Israel

Netanyahu appears to be suffering from confusion and paranoia. He is convinced that the media are after him, that his aides are leaking information against him and that the American administration wants him out of office. Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to communication normally with the White House. To appreciate the depth of his paranoia, it is enough to hear how he refers to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Obama's senior aides: as "self-hating Jews."

"He thought that his speech at Bar-Ilan would become mandatory reading at schools in the United States, and when he realized that Obama gave no such order, he went back to being frustrated," one of his associates said.

At a recent meeting with with Netanyahu, ostensibly about the understandings with the U.S. on the settlements, former prime minister Ehud Olmert was shocked to see the prime minister focusing mainly on the media. "Is this what he called me in for?" a source close to Olmert quoted him as saying.

and Sarah Palin

one of the most interesting aspects of the [Time Magazine] story is how vehemently the Palin camp blames Barack Obama.

From the story:

For Palin, however, these aren't isolated incidents. She believes they grow from the same root, which is too big and too formidable to ignore. "A lot of this comes from Washington, D.C. The trail is pretty direct and pretty obvious to us," says Meg Stapleton, a close Palin adviser in Alaska. Awaiting a flight back to Anchorage from distant Dillingham, Stapleton adds that the anti-Palin offensive seems lifted straight from The Thumpin', which describes the political strategies of Rahm Emanuel, who is now the White House chief of staff. "It's the Sarah Palin playbook. It's how they operate," Stapleton says.

Palin and her Alaska circle find evidence for their suspicions about the White House in the person of Pete Rouse, who lived in Juneau for a time before he became chief of staff to a young U.S. Senator named Barack Obama. Rouse, they note, is a friend of former Alaska state senator Kim Elton, who pushed the first ethics investigation of Palin, examining her controversial firing of the state's public-safety commissioner. Both Rouse and Elton have joined the Obama Administration. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs scoffed at the theory. "The charge is ridiculous," he said. "Obviously there is no effort ... From my vantage point, a lot of the criticism she is getting from others seems to be generated from self-inflicted wounds.

"I just hope to God Rahm Emanuel isn't using taxpayer money to come after Alaska." That's the way they think about it: that these Alaskans filing ethics complaints have been hoodwinked by Obama operatives into wasting the Alaskan government's time and resources.

Not Just Any Cemetery

Chicago Tribune

The scene at Burr Oak Cemetery
An unknown number of graves have been dug up in the historic cemetery over the last several years and the bodies dumped in the rear of the burial ground so the graves could be resold by the cemetery management. Blues music legend Willie Dixon and civil rights figure Emmett Till are among those buried in the suburban Chicago cemetery.

Goddam Elites

Democrats are the party of The Brainypants

Most Scientists Support Democrats

A new Pew Research report on American attitudes toward science finds that 55% of scientists identify as Democrats, while 32% identify as independents and just 6% say they are Republicans. When the leanings of independents are considered, fully 81% identify as Democrats or lean to the Democratic Party, compared with 12% who either identify as Republicans or lean toward the GOP.

No Wonder Hillary Lost

Coulter: "[P]robably a large majority of the hatred for Palin" comes from jealous liberal women in NY

How Many Times Have We All Said This?

No Truth To The Rumor That Marion Barry Will Be Running For IL Governor

One More Thing

The One White Glove?

The first sign of madness.

So Sue Me

You do not get to be called King Of Pop if you made up the title by yourself and for yourself.

And being King of 'Pop' (not 'Soul', Not R&B, Not 'Rock' Not, god help us, 'Cool') is FUCKING CHEEEEEEEZZZZZEEE.

And, hanging with Liza, Liz and 10 year olds? Hopelessly Uncool.

Dying like Elvis? Tedious.

Bringing Vegas Values to the Dance Floor? Unforgivable.

What did he do again?

For The Record

RE: Palin Popularity

RE: Real America

RE: Political Myths

Courtesy Dave Wiegel

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” roiled, as most political shows will today, with discussions of Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-Alaska) resignation. And as with most discussion of Palin, it featured well-paid New York or Washington-based pundits explaining why the second member of a Republican ticket that lost Indiana, Ohio and Virginia represented “real America.”

“Which vice presidential candidate was taken off the campaign trail and which one was out there drawing thousands of people?” asked Joe Scarborough. Of course, then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) was not “taken off the trail,” and as TWI’s Laura McGann has reported, Palin’s crowds were always overrated. Scarborough’s quasi-co-host Mika Brzezinski followed this up by saying Palin represented “real Americans,” and that some people in “urban America” didn’t get it.

This is fascinating.

In 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) lost the presidency with 48.3 percent of the vote, and no one seriously suggested that they represented “real Americans” or anything else. As Ben Smith reported after the election, at least 79 percent of Americans now live in urban areas; the people with whose opinion Brzezinski is so concerned represent a demographic and political fringe. Famously, the county in North Carolina that Sarah Palin pegged as an outpost of “real America” went for Barack Obama over John McCain, by 18 points.

(a story I have told countless times in the last eight months -GT12)

By every metric, Palin is one of the less popular Republican politicians on the national stage: her ticket even carried less of the vote in Alaska (59.4 percent) than the
Bush/Cheney ticket carred in 2004 (61.1 percent). And yet mainstream pundits insists that she represents more of the country than the people who won the 2008 election. It’s quite extraordinary.

Weak Tea

More Tea Bag Parties on July 4!

Just not too many more. And certainly lots of not as much on th e attendance front

Once We Were The Coin Of The Realm

Thanks Andrew!

Spintria; AE 21, c. 22-37 AD, 3.80g. Buttrey, Spintriae, Num. Chron. 1973, Scene 7. Obv: A man with erect penis reclining r. on his front on a couch, supporting his upper body on his l. elbow and looking back l. at another man who is making love to him; this second man holds the first man's thigh with his r. hand, and the first man holds the second man's arm above the elbow with his r. hand; a footstool and drapery are seen under the couch, and additional drapery hangs in l. background. Rx: Numeral XII within circle of dots and laurel wreath. Ex M&M 79, 1994, 639; ex Sternberg 21, 1988, 532. On less well preserved specimens the figure reclining on the couch could be thought to be a woman, but his sexual organ on our coin proves that he is in fact a man. Our obverse is from a different die than the specimen illustrated by Buttrey, pl. 3, 7. According to Buttrey, p. 60, another specimen like ours combining this scene with the number XII on reverse is in the BM. This is one of the few coins in the Spintria series that shows homosexual intercourse. It is a great rarity of historical significance. Some corrosion on the reverse edge, otherwise EF. A remarkable coin.

The Core Of The Base

Because this is never far from their thinking, I have never considered the Republican Party worth the time of any human.

Let’s check the Wonkette tips …. Ah, here’s one right there at the top of the Inbox. As usual. Because this is what Republicans do: “Racist ‘humor,’ the Internet, and political ambitions don’t mix. Audra Shay, vice chairman of the Young Republicans and the leading candidate to be elected its chairman on Saturday, is now the latest in a growing list of GOP officials learning this lesson the hard way ….”

Shay is just some 38-year-old “Young Republican” gal in Louisiana who was recently endorsed by Bobby “The Exorcist” Jindal to chair that fine youth organization for the under-40 GOP crowd. A fresh face, etc.! And she got one of those Facebook pages, so she could interact with her friends, the Young Republicans. In response to one such comment by a friend — about how You Know Who is a commie Muslin coon illegal alien — Shay typed an honest, simple reply:

You tell em Eric! lol

And later, after Audra sort of half-assed apologized, after getting caught, Eric came back to offer this assessment of, uhm, America?

GT12 thanks Wonkette for putting this all together.

The Down-Side

David Frum makes a sad-but-true point

Palin’s self-immolation today may yet do the Republican party more harm than good. Had Palin sought and won the Republican nomination in 2012, she would almost certainly have proceeded to a Goldwater-style debacle – and dragged Republican senators, governors and representatives down with her. That would have been a miserable result. And yet it also would have been a clarifying one. Republicans would have got Palin and Palinism out of their systems in a sharp and painful lesson that would have opened the way to the kind of reconstruction that has occurred in, say, the United Kingdom.

We in Illinois know what can happen if you only have one viable party ... Rod Blagovich.

Even Dems benefit from oppositon that can't be dismissed as lunacy.

Somewhere, In A Universe Far Far Away ...

"Second, we don’t know what she will do in the private sector. Will she write a thoughtful book? Become a syndicated columnist whose ideas make her a “must read” for everyone? Will she found an important new think tank? An important journal? Spearhead an effort to help the unemployed? Decide to launch a business? Or maybe she will start a new political party?"

- Jim Prevor, Weekly Standard

Why My Friends Think We Need Lots Of Gun Laws

One can see their point ...

The Mean Girl That Brought The Mean Girl Down

Apparently Palin was incensed by the accusations of this blogger, who responds today:

The governor’s massive overreaction -on the Fourth of July no less- should make any reasonable person wonder what’s wrong with her. The Lady protests way too much. Eventually we’ll all find out why she really walked off the job. Sarah Palin is a coward and a bully. What kind of politician attacks an ordinary American on the Fourth of July for speaking her mind? What’s wrong with her? The First Amendment was designed to protect people like me from the likes of people like her. Our American Revolution got rid of kings. And queens, too. Am I jacked-up? You betcha.

Sarah Palin, if you have a problem with me, then sue me. Shannyn Moore will not be muzzled!

Anderson Tries

Even Some People On Fox can't Go There

Because We Were Busy

Family entertainment comes before GT12 updates .... even when Sarah Palin out weirds anything we've ever seen before,

When this happens we must turn to Wonkette

Some of us have been on vacation since Wednesday, at the delightful Beach, but how could we miss Sarah Palin’s latest cosmic sack o’ lies and demons and terror? Watch her “I’m going to resign because governing a state is hard when you have absolutely no interest in governing a state” speech, it is packed with funnies. We are sobbing. There are evil monsters screeching in the background. And Piper’s feet itch!

Happy 4th

GT12 is hosting family this weekend so we do want to wish you a Happy Revolution Day.

Why Mark Is In Trouble

Look, I'm willing to let this guy be, IF ads like this disappear from Republican Campaigns

Burning Witches: 21st Century Style

Ye Must Die To Live:

Not Just Great Clothes!

Where We're Going

Well, maybe not you, but Mr Dan and I:

The King of Pop is to be a butter statue

Sent from Express News
DES MOINES, Iowa - It's the King of Pop - in butter.

Iowa State Fair organizers announced Tuesday that they will have a statue of Michael Jackson made of butter. The sculpture will be on display along with the annual butter cow, a popular attraction at the event.
The Associated Press

Quote Of The Day

Andrew assesses the new Vanity Fair Article on The Wasilla Wonder. The ex-McCain fan observes

One should remember, I suppose, that in Washington even those who seem able to put principle before partisanship are all liars and hypocrites in the end. Chief among these goons is John McCain, a man whose reputation should never, ever recover from this act of wanton irresponsibility and cynicism.

(BTW: This is the screenshot of the actual Fox News Website's coverage of Franken's win)

Why Roland Hasn't Won Statewide In 20+ Years

Jesus Christ on a Feather boa, even Republicans in this state know not to say this ANYWHERE.

So, of course, Mr Trailblazer says it to the Gays.

Burris: Marriage for "perpetuation of the species"

Steve Miller Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Senator Roland Burris was at Chicago's
Gay Pride Parade yesterday, declaring his support for civil unions but saying marriage is for "perpetuation of the species."WBBM's Steve Miller reports Gay activists say it may have been the first time a sitting U-S senator has attended a Gay Pride Parade in Chicago.Men and women in T-shirts reading "Fight for Marriage Equality" stood near Senator Burris, but the senator says he's not ready to embrace gay marriage."My concept of marriage is a male and a female for the perpetuation of the species, for children to be born and identify the bloodline and the heritage.

Paging Ms Madigan, Paging Ms Madigan.

Finally Defending The Bible From the Christians

Who else?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mark Sanford Consults the Old Testament
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Homophobia Of The Most Desperate Type

Using our Sherrif's support in and of the Gay Community as an attack upon Gays

Americans For Truth enters the YouTube era

Tom Dart, Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, shows his support for the homosexual agenda by fielding a float and marching in the 2009 Chicago Gay Pride Parade (June 28, 2009). Ten minutes later in the parade, a radical leftist homosexual organization holds up a banner that reads, “Gay Pride Means Fight Cops.” Note that the faces of the young men holding up the cop-hating banner are covered with Intifada-like headdresses. (We will update this video with some slight adjustments.)

… This footage was shot by Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, as we make our belated entrance into the world of YouTube. As is typical, the 2009 Chicago “Pride” parade featured participants violating the Chicago Public Morals Law, e.g., a presumed transsexual “female” baring his/her breasts riding atop a float block after block on Halsted St (much like I witnessed at the 2007 Chicago “Pride” march). Keep in mind that there were many children at the parade — and this year children from Chicago’s Nettelhorst Elementary School actually participated in the homosexual parade at the request of their parents.

Also, this footage of Sheriff Dart’s float was shot directly in front of a 24/7 homosexual bathhouse called “Steamworks,” (at 3246 Halsted in Boystown, Chicago), where men go for anonymous, deviant sex with other men. Perhaps Dart should focus less on “gay pride” and more on enforcing decency laws — and closing down Chicago perversion centers like Steamworks that facilitate the spread STDs by enabling reckless homosexual promiscuity. Call Sheriff Dart at 312-603-6444, or e-mail: sheriff@cookcountysheriff.org. Thanks for taking action. — Peter LaBarbera, http://www.americansfortruth.com/

Just so's you know, Peter Labarbera is one twisted monkey. This is one lady who doth protest way tooooooooo much.

What Other Reason Could There Be?

Political Wire:

The Republican Barney Frank?

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal calls Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) a "Republican Barney Frank" -- presumably for his more moderate economic policies.

Someone Needs To Read The Bible

Let's start with John 3:16

Rule #4 ( >>> )Rules All Rules.

Speechless:


Westboro God Hates The World Music Video - Watch more Funny Videos

29

GT12 attended our 29th Gay Pride Parade yesterday. Looking at the twitter, we can see that our feverish sending of twitpics seems to have been for naught so we'll post them now.

Nothing much to say. It was Chicago so every politician and every merchant/bank/utility company/ in the tri-state area had a float in the parade. Yes, that means even Roland Burris was there. (a past-parade where I first saw a southside state senator with a seemingly Black-Nationalist name... and you know who we're talking about). Rahm was always there in the past.

The day was notable for the first face to face meeting of GT12 and Unwired. At our advanced age we are not so sure of the etiquette at at such a meet-up but we think that old fashioned gentlemanly bearing carried us through.

The parade kicked off with a Delegation from a neighborhood Middle school.

Gay Cops

The governor

The Traditional Dykes On Bikes are looking more trendy these days.

Cowboys!

A Little South Side Straight Support

What a Parade Sound system should Look Like

Gay Day!

Today we'll be twittering from the Pride parade. Hopefully some fun twit-pics will be showing up to your immediate right on this page.

Analysis: Climate bill may spur energy revolution

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Congress has taken its first step toward an energy revolution, with the prospect of profound change for every household, business, industry and farm in the decades ahead.

It was late Friday when the House passed legislation that would, for the first time, require limits on pollution blamed for global warming - mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Now the Senate has the chance to change the way Americans produce and use energy.
By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer

Elvis Redux

A 20 year Demerol Habit

Do Not Fuck With The Internet

It will fuck you back 100 times over.

Kicking Where Kicking Is Due

Dan Froomkin has been booted by The Washington Post. His good-bye addresses those journos who tried to help our country, and two (in this clip) who didn't. And I thank him for that (emphasis mine):

How did the media cover [The Bush Years]? Not well. Reading pretty much everything that was written about Bush on a daily basis, as I did, one could certainly see the major themes emerging. But by and large, mainstream-media journalism missed the real Bush story for way too long. The handful of people who did exceptional investigative reporting during this era really deserve our gratitude: People such as Ron Suskind, Seymour Hersh, Jane Mayer, Murray Waas, Michael Massing, Mark Danner, Barton Gellman and Jo Becker, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau (better late than never), Dana Priest, Walter Pincus, Charlie Savage and Philippe Sands; there was also some fine investigative blogging over at Talking Points Memo and by Marcy Wheeler. Notably not on this list: The likes of Bob Woodward and Tim Russert. Hopefully, the next time the nation faces a grave national security crisis, we will listen to the people who were right, not the people who were wrong, and heed those who reported the truth, not those who served as stenographers to liars.

Hero

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Stonewalling
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

Stll Alive

Better Drugs and a Purer Soul.

This is a game changing moment from the Stones MSG 40 Licks show in 2002.

Watch This or don't ever speak to me again.

Great Read

Bill Wyman, (no not the bass player) is one of the great unsung Rock Writers.

His Take on MJ is in Salon ... (and his last line sure mirrors my last line below).

In the obituaries, writers will savor Jackson's talents, which were unquestioned; his ambition, which was otherworldly and a thing of awe; and his heyday, which lasted really just a few years, and encompassed perhaps two and a half albums. Others will reflect on the tragedies visited upon him and those he visited on others.

I think it's fair to classify Kurt Cobain's death as one brought on by medical problems, specifically the roiling interaction of depression and addiction. Jackson's death is in this sense more purely a suicide, just as Elvis Presley's was some three decades ago. Like Presley, Jackson at some point stepped through a door, closed it, and turned the key. What went on behind the door we'll never know.

Great minds.

Michael J.

I am struggling to reignite the feelings that Michael Jackson lit in me '82-83. My brain reminds me that I was a dance club rat at that time, that the height of ecstasy on a Saturday night at The Paradise always came at the end of the intrumental break on the extended remix of 'Wanna Be Startin Something' when confetti and white foam stars and pink foam hearts flew into the air, shot from air cannons located above the floor. I remember it, but it seems almost impossible that such a strange, creep-infested man could once have had such an effect on me.

What I remember more strongly is standing in line at Walgreens around the time of the Victory tour. As I waited I realized that there were 10 different Jackson-related products within my reach at the checkout line. 8 of them were targetted to a demographic 20 years my junior. And that was the day the music died.

Might I suggest that you track down Warren Zevon's 'Porcelain Monkey' for an alternative take on the expiration of long-dead genius. Elvis (sadly) lived on...

Thank God

Some Brilliance mixed with style, humor and looks:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Reza Aslan
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Say this Over & Over Again

Words for your Republican and weak-kneed Democrat friends and correspondents from St. Barney of Frank

We have a very odd economic philosophy in Washington: It's called weaponized Keynesianism. It is the view that the government does not create jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains workers, but when it builds airplanes that are never going to be used in combat, that is of course economic salvation."

Why Twitter Is Gr8

LA Times rounds up some of the hits this afternoon:

Funny Mark Sanford tweets fill Twittersphere

Thousands of tweets were sent via Twitter in the wake of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's admission that he spent this weekend in Argentina where he cheated on his wife. Here are a small sample of funny lines delivered by the Twittersphere where this morning's press conference is by far the most popular thing to tweet about:

pourmecoffee: "I don't think it's good that a main takeaway of Sanford's press conference is how really awesome his mistress is."

Bagyants: "Sanford turned down one stimulus, accepted another. Flip flopper!

TeresaKopec: So instead of walking the trail, he was chasing some tail."

akubhai: "Ensign and Sanford both admit affairs. Any other GOP want to confess?"

pandagon: "The next Republican to have an affair will have to outdo Sanford. I predict a tryst ON THE MOON."

GregMitch: "One day after Obama's "gotcha" press conf we got Sanford's "gaucho" press conf."

JayRodriguez: "Oh my God - The Gov. Sanford story was SOOOOOOOO much better than I thought it'd be. I was expecting a pain killer addiction, tops."

michaeljhix: "Revelations of Sanford's South American love fling brings new meaning to S.C. first lady's comment this week: "He does this sometimes."

javaonline: "Do you understand the fuss now? Lol This is a very disappointing week first jon and kate now gov sanford :(

"Spinelli666: "At least Sanford proves that not all #gop members hate all foreigners"More tweets after the jump...

waitwait: "Anyone else feel let down when Sanford finally used the pronoun "she" to describe affair partner? me: *raises hand*"

maxsparber: "None of us are in a position to judge Sanford until we too have had sex with a woman in Argentina. Now who is up for a road trip?"

alanpdx: "The reason the #gop is so upset with #sanford is that he outsourced his hookers to a South American country."

David_in_Austin: "Sanford outsourcing affair. What a slap to the face of American homewreckers"

flywithelphaba: "Ah-ha! Not surprised at missing SC gov's escapades. Note to Sanford: South America is NOT a good place to hide! Remember Mengele?"

johnmoe: "I was most surprised when Sanford apologized for calling his son Lamont a "dummy" all those years."

bridoc: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAAAA HA!!! But its teh gayz that will ruin marriage! #sanford"

Chris On Warpath

Less than an hour after someone had to explain to Mika what a Pearl Necklace is, this occurred (which has nothing to do with any type of adornment)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Why Mark Would Go To Argentina

A question answered in this clip

Jackass

can you believe this guy?

John McCain, asked yesterday whether "there's any doubt what side President Obama is on" in Iran, replied, "I know what side I'm on. I'm on the side of the people. I'm not on Ahmadinejad's side or Mousavi. I'm on the side of the Iranian people and I'm on the right side of history."

My goal: I just want people to realize that John McCain was never a legitimate public servant. He was a fraud in the service, a fraud in retirement, a fraud in AZ, a fraud in the Senate, a fraud as a Patriot.

He didn't change.

Nothing New Here

To put it as simply as possible, McCain--and his cohorts--are trying to score political points against the President in the midst of an international crisis. It is the sort of behavior that Republicans routinely call "unpatriotic" when Democrats are doing it. I would never question John McCain's patriotism, no matter how misguided his sense of the country's best interests sometimes seems. His behavior has nothing to do with love of country; it has everything to do with love of self," - Joe Klein.

The Only Report that Matters

Just Talkin'

via andrew:

Quote For The Day

"OK, let me see if I've got this right. Since Barack Obama has taken the presidential oath of office we have witnessed:

a) Hezbollah lose a shoo-in election in Lebanon,

b) Pakistan begin serious efforts to control the Taliban and al Qaeda elements inside its borders,

c) Netanyahu of Israel mumble support about a two state solution and rethink settlements and,

d) A major awakening of the Iranian citizenry against the heavy-handedness of the mullahs.

What hasn't changed?

The simple-minded thuggery of the Right when it comes to foreign policy (and Grover Norquist, someone should gently remind him that it's 2009, not 1989). They have long preferred a modified Teddy Roosevelt approach. Speak loudly and wail away with the biggest stick you can find. I don't know if all this is the results of one speech in Cairo by the President but if it is I hope he gives a second, and soon," - Carl Owen, Politico

Now, Where Were We?

Oh yes. People For The American Way have a project we need you all to take a look at.

Stolen from Queers United , via follower Mark

DOMA stands for the Defense of Marriage Act which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex unions. President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to overturn DOMA. In light of the increasing pressure the administration has felt over the recent Department of Justices defense of this antiquated legislation, the time is now to let Obama know we demand he keep his campaign promises to the LGBT community to repeal DOMA.

The Dump Doma campaign is urging us to pressure the house speaker Nancy Pelosi, majority leader Harry Reid and the rest of congress to act quickly to send the bill to the president for him to sign.Please fill out the action alert at dumpdoma.org and tell your friends!

Play Date!

The neighbor-boy came by for a visit yesterday

Why We Fight - Today's Pt 2

From the great great Greg Sargent

Obama Administration Set To Hold Powwow With Big Gay Groups

The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy over the administration’s defense in court of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Tracy Russo, a spokesperson for Justice, confirmed the meeting to me, after I posted below that top gay rights lawyers were miffed that administration lawyers had rebuffed their requests to meet and discuss ongoing litigation involving DOMA.

At the meeting — which hasn’t been announced and is expected to include leading gay rights groups like GLAD and Lambda Legal — both sides are expected to hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the meeting will achieve in a long term sense what gay rights lawyers told me they were and are looking for — an ongoing, less-confrontational interaction with the administration in the context of specific cases. It’s also an open question whether the meeting will resolve broader tensions in what has been an unexpectedly rocky relationship.

Nonetheless, this is likely to be greeted as a step forward by gay activists who have been raising questions about the administration’s commitment to their cause.

So ...
Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund is leading the fight against DADT.

Go There. Send E-mails. Give Money. Find People to harrass.

Find Your Congressman Here.
Find Your Senator Here.
Write the White House Here.
Twitterers can also use @whitehouse.

And Write write write write.

Nothing Says 'Illinois Politics' More Than This

Burris Escapes Perjury Charge

Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) "will not be charged with perjury for statements he made before an Illinois House impeachment committee because there isn't enough evidence to support the charge," the AP reports.

The prosecutor said that while some of Burris' statements were vague, they wouldn't support a perjury charge.

Said Burris: "This matter has now been fully investigated; I cooperated at every phase of the process, and as I have said from the beginning, I have never engaged in any pay-to-play, never perjured myself, and came to this seat in an honest and legal way. Today's announcement confirms all that."

Liberal Meets Conservative

as it were:

Why We Fight

Because to get a little advance everyday requires a little push everyday.

Today's good sign, courtesy The Wall Street Journal:

White House Looks to Include Same-Sex Unions in Census Count

WASHINGTON -- The White House said Thursday it was seeking ways to include same-sex marriages, unions and partnerships in 2010 Census data, the second time in a week the administration has signaled a policy change of interest to the gay community.

The administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine changes needed in tabulation software to allow for same-sex marriage data to be released early in 2011 with other detailed demographic information from the decennial count. The bureau historically hasn't released same-sex marriage data.

The gay community strongly supported President Barack Obama during the 2008 election. But some gay activists say they have been frustrated by what they see as his slow approach to rolling back discriminatory policies.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said "the administration continues to make progress on the president's longstanding commitment to promoting equality for [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Americans."

Write Your Congressman

Folks. We Need Constant Pressure On The President and Congress to repeal DADT and DOMA.

And we need that pressure now, so that Gay People's rights, rights our President promised to be 'a fierce advocate' for are not pushed back in the closet even after our financial meltdown and health insurance crisis are 'solved'

AND WE NEED YOU STRAIGHTS NOW MORE THAN EVER. Your voice shows Washington that our concerns are everybody's.

So ...

Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund is leading the fight against DADT.

Go There. Send E-mails. Give Money. Find People to harrass.

Find Your Congressman Here.

Find Your Senator Here.

Write the White House Here.

Twitterers can also use @whitehouse.

And Write write write write.

For Mr Ginger Baker

Bo's Official Portrait

Cheers!

Last Night at GT12 Central we fete'd the incomparable Mr JK and his impending nuptials to cutting edge artist Ms TA.

We just want the world to know that the GT12 Loves JK & TA and wish them all the luck in the world.

Now, Drink Up! (Even if you don't have as fabulous a bottle of bourbon as the one pictured above ... GT12 stunningly impressed by the spirit knowledge of Mr P from the software world)

More on Aravosis

Via Twitter:

Twitter (10:48 pm): anamariecox: .@kerryeleveld @jaketapper @markknoller @joanwalsh Pls read before pushing Aravosis's DOMA brf memes: http://tr.im/oSc2 (via @chrisgeidner)

But ...

Anybody who thought that Obama was going to undo 8 (or 2000) years of anti-gay laws in 149 days is too irrational to listen to.

And they didn't listen to him very closely during the campaign.

Recent mis-steps are very disquieting but not necessarily anything more than the end product of not paying enough fucking attention. Or they are a sign of bad faith. I don't know.

I do know that I stopped reading Jon Aravosis three years ago and I'm not going to start anew anow.

That said:

Find Your Congressman Here.
Find Your Senator Here.
Write the White House Here.
Twitterers can also use @whitehouse.

Look Here

Unwired contacts me today, worried that I've gone (he would say remained) all soft on the Pres's recent awful actions re: Gay Rights, especially DOMA.

It's complicated, I'm very busy.

Check this link and then let the Pres and your reps know AGAIN what you think.

Because I did. Again.

Our reps need to know that action on this bill is important to their constituents.
Find Your Congressman Here.
Find Your Senator Here.
Write the White House Here.
Twitterers can also use @whitehouse.

JUST DO IT!!!!
NOW!!!!
THX.

The Most Important Posting Ever About Sara Palin

Because it so clearly puts forth the argument that she should never be covered again.

This is why god created Wonkette:

Perhaps only once in a generation can a trashy politician stretch ambition and shamelessness into this large a surface, a playing field, on which to act like an idiot.

... obviously Letterman was making a joke about Bristol Palin, the girl who famously got “knocked up” last year, and not about 14-year-old Willow, who did not. Sarah Palin understood this, guaranteed, and then chose to launch a desperate publicity stunt about how an OLD MAN wanted to RAPE the 14-YEAR-OLD daughter WILLOW. Surely Willow loved seeing her name plastered all over teevee and the Internet like this. Thanks Mom! Go Mom, 2012!

First, Do No Harm

If you're going to torture, and then defend the torture, you need to at very least, NOT torture someone who knows nothing.

CIA told Zubaydah they mistook him for a high-level al Qaeda operative.
According to new transcripts from of a 2007 Combatant Status Review Tribunal held at Guantanamo Bay, detainee Abu Zubaydah said that his CIA captors told him after he was subjected to torture that “they had mistakenly thought he was the No. 3 man in the organization’s hierarchy and a partner of Osama bin Laden.” “They told me, ‘Sorry, we discover that you are not Number 3, not a partner, not even a fighter,’” Zubaydah said. Zubaydah, who was subjected to waterboarding 83 times in one month, also said that he nearly died in prison:

Abu Zubaida, a nom de guerre for Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, told the 2007 panel of military officers at the detention facility in Cuba that “doctors told me that I nearly died four times” and that he endured “months of suffering and torture” on the false premise that he was an al-Qaeda leader.

Despite President Bush’s rhetoric, Zubaydah’s torture “foiled no plots,” a point that one of his interrogators confirmed during a congressional hearing last May. The portion of the 2007 Combatant Review Status hearing transcript in which Majid Khan — an alleged associate of Khalid Sheik Mohammad — discussed his treatment at CIA black sites was “blacked out for eight consecutive pages.”

OK, What's Wrong Here

Pat Buchanan thinking, not reacting from 'I-Hate-Brown-People-But-Love-Brownshirts'core of his being

"When your adversary is making a fool of himself, get out of the way. That is a rule of politics Lyndon Johnson once put into the most pungent of terms. U.S. fulminations will change nothing in Tehran. But they would enable the regime to divert attention to U.S. meddling in Iran’s affairs and portray the candidate robbed in this election, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, as a poodle of the Americans...

The dilemma for America is that the theocracy defines itself and grounds its claim to leadership through its unyielding resistance to the Great Satan—the United States—and to Israel. Nevertheless, Obama, with his outstretched hand, his message to Iran on its national day, his admission that the United States had a hand in the 1953 coup in Tehran, his assurances that we recognize Iran’s right to nuclear power, succeeded. He stripped the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad of their clinching argument—that America is out to destroy Iran and they are indispensable to Iran’s defense," - Patrick Buchanan.

Still Hating the Troops

ThinkProgress:

House Republicans prepared to do the ‘immoral thing’ and vote against war supplemental.

The Hill reports that the House Republicans “are preparing to vote en bloc” against President Obama’s war funding bill, representing a striking 180-degree turn:

For years, Republicans portrayed the bills funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as matters of national security and accused Democrats who voted against them of voting against the troops. In 2005, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) went so far as to say sending troops into battle and not paying for it would be an “immoral thing to do.” And just last year, more House Republicans voted for the war supplemental bill than did Democrats, who opposed the legislation because it did little to wind down the military effort in Iraq. But Republicans say this year is different.

It's Only Racism When Non-Racists See It

Why, Oh Why did we fight that war in the 1860's?

Wonkette:

now we’re learning about some super-funny racist emails sent out by a Tennessee GOP legislative staffer for Republican state senator Diane Black. Let’s meet the charming Sherri Goforth, who sent the image above to god knows how many people because, ha, a Negro in the White House?

Nashville Is Talking reports:
When I asked her if she understood the controversial nature of the photo, Goforth would only say she felt very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list. When I gave her a second chance to address the controversial nature of the email, she again repeated that she only felt bad about sending it to the wrong list of people.

“I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button,” Goforth told NIT. “I’m very sick about it, and it’s one of those things I can’t change or take back.”

Iran - Twitpics

Steady Stream of pics from the streets here.