Literacy Begins At Home

And My Highly Developed Sense of Irony?

What It Said / What It Meant

Well, There It Is

Friday Comedy

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Those Right Wingers Just Do Not Approve Of Interruptions At Public Meetings!

Sigh

Criteria for discussing governmental issues with me: 90% (really it's 100% but I'm trying to account for the odd ADHD friend)



'cause if you can't, then we get this:

Once Again Into The Breach Boys and Girls

It Ain't Over. But ya gotta help.

Family Values

Fighting Words Matter

Or "Where do crazy people get their ideas"

This is Chris at his best.

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

Sounds Familiar To Her

Right wing assassin kills 2, blames it on twinkies, dodges death penalty http://twurl.nl/gq0hsz

Sound Familiar?

Vanity Fair (on William Manchester's 'The Death of The President')

[Manchester] discovered deep political enmities that had simmered at the time of the assassination, not just against the Kennedys but among the Democrats as well. Indeed, that’s what had compelled Kennedy’s trip to Dallas in the first place: John B. Connally, the conservative Democratic governor, was at war with the more liberal Democratic senator Ralph W. Yarborough. Even a formidable Texas politician like Vice President Johnson couldn’t put out the oil fire the two men had ignited. Kennedy didn’t want to lose the state in the upcoming ‘64 election, so he’d agreed to go to Dallas in an attempt to heal the rift.

Manchester also discovered that Dallas “had become the Mecca for medicine-show evangelists … the Minutemen, the John Birch and Patrick Henry Societies, and the headquarters of [ultra-conservative oil billionaire] H. L. Hunt and his activities.”

“In that third year of the Kennedy presidency,” Manchester wrote, “a kind of fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed, ‘Impeach Earl Warren.’ Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas.…Radical Right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy’s name was booed in classrooms; corporate junior executives were required to attend radical seminars.” A retired major general ran the American flag upside down, deriding it as “the Democrat flag.” A wanted poster with J.F.K.’s face on it was circulated, announcing “this man is Wanted” for—among other things—“turning the sovereignty of the US over to the Communist controlled United Nations” and appointing “anti-Christians … aliens and known Communists” to federal offices. And a full-page advertisement had appeared the day of the assassination in The Dallas Morning News accusing Kennedy of making a secret deal with the Communist Party; when it was shown to the president, he was appalled. He turned to Jacqueline, who was visibly upset, and said, “Oh, you know, we’re heading into nut country today.”

Looking at you Glenn Beck

<< Ezekiel 23:20 >>

Said Just The Right Way Too

Somethings I have left unsaid because, well, what new is there to say about, for example, Rush Limbaugh?

But today we'll take Andrew's words as a sign that Rush requires review:

Limbaugh will enjoy the scorn. But he's a disgusting opportunist and racist. And his acceptability - indeed total dominance - on the right is one reason decent people will steer clear of the GOP for the foreseeable future. There is no nuance or doubt here. This is a man who wants a race war. Until the GOP throws him out, they deserve oblivion. He's a racist through and through, and if no one on the right stands up to this, they are complicit

Said Just The Right Way

TPM:

Tea partiers complain that the DC subway system wasn't prepared for last weekend's rally and that some protesters were forced to rely on free market solutions (i.e., taxis) to get to the demonstration

Max Blumenthal Visits The Teabaggers

Because Its The Right Thing To Do

In honor of the Beatles Re-mixes we give you this landmark video. I saw these premier. Did You?

Reason #1 To Keep Waking Up

From Rolling Stone

Rolling Stones Reissuing “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!”

With Big Bonuses

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Ya-Ya’s!, ABKCO will release a remastered deluxe and super-deluxe edition of the live album, a three-disc/one-DVD box set complete with five unreleased songs from the MSG shows and a DVD featuring the Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out film directed by the Maysles Brothers — the documentary team behind the Stones’ classic Gimme Shelter. In the film, the Stones hang out with Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead, mess around during the Ya-Ya’s cover shoot, perform the five unreleased songs and much more.

Additionally, one disc in the set will be dedicated to the sets from the MSG shows’ two opening acts, B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner. The set will also include a replica poster and a 56-page booklet featuring photos, essays, Lester Bangs’ original Rolling Stone review of the album and much more (read Bangs’ full review here). The “super-deluxe” version of the box set will also house a three picture disc vinyl version of Ya-Ya’s, complete with etched cover images and the Stones’ signatures, as well as an enlarged version of the replica poster and 56-page booklet.

From the MSG '69 Shows





... you have to wait a few seconds before the visuals kick in on this one

Pictures Of Lily

End Of Summer Views

Teach Your Children

Stupid is as Stupid is raised.

These pictures captures perfectly the complete freedom from historical knowledge that is the Hallmark, no, the Rallying Point, of the administration's opponents.

Where I come from, you have to have to know something before you graduate.

A Memorable Show, I'm Sure

TMI?

Gawker:

Levi Johnston Is Actually Going to Strip Down for Playgirl

After reading on Gawker that Levi was game for posing nude, the guy who puts together Playgirl's photoshoots, Daniel Nardicio, emailed Johnston's manager Tank Jones about having his client pose nude for their website. (The print version of the magazine closed earlier this year). Tank referred the matter to Levi's lawyer Rex Butler (how many handlers does one Alaskan babydaddy need?) who emailed back: "There are people out there that want to see such a shoot of Levi and we are ready to do it if the proposal is right." The only hitch, Levi's not willing to do a nude shoot, only pose in his skivvies.

And since a nearly nude Levi is better than no nude Levi at all, Playgirl's down and there's an agreement in place to do the shoot. They're in final negotiations to get the thing together right now.

Funny thing is that Playgirl's biggest get in years doesn't have a clue about who reads the male flesh mag. As he and Tank joke in the Vanity Fair video, Levi says, "I'm assuming it's where a dude poses for women."

Have We Learned This Yet?

As we reflect on the Post-9/11 world:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.

Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.

Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.

In fact, violence merely increases hate....Returning violence for violence multiples violence,adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Yes We Are

"Every year on this day, we are all New Yorkers."--




President Obama, in an op-ed for the New York Daily News.

Wonkette Approved

After reviewing a bunch of dreadful PWT-aesthetic 9/11 tribute vids, Wonkette suggests that there really is a good one....

Americans Observing 9/11 By Trying Not To Masturbate

To Barack, From Ted

Mostly we've been too disgusted to post but this needs to be read.

Full Disclosure: we miss Ted.

Kennedy's Letter

President Obama ended his speech tonight talking about the legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy and his lifelong fight for health care. It was a very powerful way to end the speech.

Dear Mr. President,

I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me - and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.

On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.

You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country.

When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.

There will be struggles - there always have been - and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat - that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.

And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family's health will never again depend on the amount of a family's wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will - yes, we will - fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.

In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America's behalf inspires the entire world.

So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become.

At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.

And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.

With deep respect and abiding affection,

Ted

I Was Wrong

I really thought that the whole Al Franken-as-a-senator was a bad idea.

Instead, what I see here is, well, Al beng able to do what no other politician seems able to do: simpley have a real discussion with his constituents about Health Care Reform.

Al Franken 2016

Back In The Day, This Would Be Grounds For Detention

Speaking as an ex-Psychologist, This is crazy talk. This is how Paranoid Schizophrenics think.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Sweet-n-Creamy

Wonkette:

OH WHAT SO NOW WE CAN ALL MARRY PINTS OF ICE CREAM?? In celebration of Vermont’s starting to issue same-sex marriage licenses, radical snacktime propagandists Ben & Goebbels will be calling Chubby Hubby, one of their lesser flavors, by the similar name of “Hubby Hubby.” The ice cream will only be gay for September and then it will go back to its wife and kids. [Times Online]

I'm Gonna Live Forever

Mail On-Line:

Being bad is good for you: Playing blaring rock music and skipping the housework can actually boost your health

We've been told not to get angry - because it raises blood pressure. While fizzy drinks do nothing but rot your teeth and make you fat. But new research has shown that many of our bad habits may also be good for us. Here, VICTORIA LAMBERT presents the Good Health guide to when and why our bad habits can be positively virtuous...

According to researchers at Manchester University, music fans are stimulating part of the inner ear known as the sacculus, which responds to the beat in music. This gives the brain pleasure and makes us feel good - during the music and afterwards.

The sacculus, which is not thought to have any hearing function in humans, appears to be sensitive only to very loud volumes, above 90 decibels.

Neil Todd, an expert in the scientific study of music, explains that the sacculus seems to be part of a primitive hearing mechanism that has slowly been lost as humans have evolved.

He said it has a connection to the part of the brain responsible for drives such as hunger, sex and hedonistic responses.

When these desires are satisfied, the brain is stimulated into releasing feelgood hormones that make us calm, happy and responsive. So to trigger a dose of happy hormones on a Monday morning, you should, in theory, choose Black Sabbath over chamber music.

AND...

People who get up early and busy themselves all day long are heading for an early grave, says public health expert Professor Peter Axt. He believes lazing about is the key to a long life and an antidote to professional stress, provided people are otherwise healthy.

He suggests: 'Waste half your free time. People who would rather take a midday nap instead of playing squash have a better chance of living into old age.' Research shows that people who run long distances into their 50s are using up energy they need for other purposes such as cell renewal and fighting disease, he adds.

As examples of his thesis, he has pointed to the increased longevity of zoo animals - for instance lions in the Serengeti live only eight years, but can live to the age of 20 in a zoo; Arctic polar bears last 20 years in the wild, but 40 in captivity. Human examples are priests, nuns and monks, who tend to live quieter lives.

Can't Be Said Enough

Top 10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal

1.Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2.Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in North America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans

This Is Us This Week

Dickless

Proto-Birther

Pat doesn't have time to worry about birth certificates, he's got a holocaust to deny.

TPM

According to Buchanan, Hitler's invasion of Poland -- which led to Britain's declaration of war on Germany, and the start of World War II -- was motivated merely by Germany's desire to regain the city of Danzig, which had been given to Poland in the Versailles Treaty. Had Poland simply negotiated with Hitler, war could have been averted. In fact, Hitler wasn't bent on world, or even European, domination. He would have been happy with just Danzig, Austria, and the Sudetenland, you see. Hitler "wanted to end the war in 1940, almost two years before the trains began to roll to the camps." It was only thanks to the aggression of Britain, Russia, and the U.S. that the conflict was expanded. So, goes the implication, any deaths that occurred after 1940 -- including the 6 million that comprised the Holocaust -- are on the Allies' heads.

In fact, the column is just a bite-size version of an argument Buchanan made last year in book form. (Really, it's a chance to tout the book.)

Other comments here and here

And MSNBC still keeps this guy on as a respectable politcal analyst.

Really, Project Runway and top Chef at night, West Wing re-runs in the AM.

Who needs MSNBC?