Monday, December 30, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Resolutions and Wishes for 2014.

As we come to the close of another year, it's once again time to take stock of our accomplishments, and look towards the future with optimism and hope for the coming year.  With that end in view, here's my annual list of resolutions that we should all try to follow (though we'll probably break most of them within ten twitter posts or so).

Duck Dynasty: Who Are The Real Winners? We Are (LGBT folks, of course).

Pretty much as expected (to me, at least), A&E decided to lift the token suspension of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, and the show will begin taping it's new season with the whole clan of fake-ass rednecks intact.  In their statement, A&E (who sold out the "Arts" part of their name long ago) had this to say.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Dear Duck Dynasty Family, Please Take These Shows With You. Thanks, America.

First, an update.  After A&E suspended DD patriarch Phil Robertson for racist homophobic comments made in an interview with GQ Magazine (and when was the last time anyone read GQ anyway?) social media was ablaze with rightie outrage and the idiot claim that Robertson's "free speech is endangered".  Of course, those of us who do not spend our days and nights having Fox News feed talking points directly into our synapses realize that A&E's move, whether you agree with it or not, was not done on some moral or ideological grounds.  Like the firing of Martin Bashir last month by MSNBC, this was merely a business decision.  Now this may be lost on folks whose business acumen extends about as far as the price of their next meth-hit, but not every reaction to something you say is a free-speech issue.  Be that as it may, here's the latest from our beleaguered gang of rednecks.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

News Flash, Righties. Free-Speech Doesn't Just Apply To YOU!

This week in a GQ Magazine interview Phil Robertson, patriarch of the so-called "Duck Dynasty" family (a case study in what happens when rednecks are allowed to spawn), decided to use the opportunity to espouse his views on, among other things, Homosexuality.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Where Do Turkeys Go When They're Pardoned? You'd Be Surprised.

So we come to another Thanksgiving holiday, and another President gives another "pardon" to another turkey.  (BTW, check out the daughters' reaction to the President's "Hunger Games" joke at mark 1:35.)


Obamacare Poll You'll Probably NEVER See

Here are some Obamacare poll numbers you won't hear about from mainstream media.
According to the [CNN/ORC poll] released on Wednesday, four in 10 say they support the law, with 58% opposed. Those figures are little changed from a CNN poll a month ago, just two weeks into the rough start up of HealthCare.gov and mostly before the controversy over insurance policy cancellations due primarily to the new health law.But 41% say they oppose the law because they think it's too liberal, with 14% saying the measure doesn't go far enough. That means that 54% either support Obamacare, or say it's not liberal enough.

Let's Declare a Truce in the "War on Christmas" This Year

Yes, folks.  It's that time of year again.  The time where we break out the decorations, spend ourselves into near bankruptcy, and when the extremist amongst us continue their never-ending "War on Christmas".  This is the fake culture war ginned up by FOX News every year, and exists solely in the minds of Bible-thumpers who get their Jesus-panties in a bunch when their favorite retail store puts up a sign that says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", and Atheists who get like Damien from "The Omen" and go into conniption fits whenever they see a Nativity display.  Sadly, those of us who would love to just get through the holidays in relative peace usually wind up in the midst of stupid nonsensical family arguments over when Jesus was born, whether Christmas is really a religious or secular holiday, and whether or not America was founded as a Christian nation.  (Newsflash, people: IT WASN'T.)  We, the vast majority of reasonably sane people in America, would like to respectfully ask that we not do this thing this year.  Just once, let's give the "War on Christmas" meme a rest.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Obamacare Sign-Up Old-School

Remember way back in the day when there were only three major networks on TV (four if you count PBS)?  Remember Saturday morning cartoons (do they even exist anymore)?  Remember when news programs devoted the majority of their time to reporting actual NEWS?  Remember late night movies, before cable when the only time you could catch a movie on TV was on the local channels after the 11:00pm news?  I remember all those TV ads where you could order stuff like the Mr. Microphone (Hey, good lookin'!  I'll be back to pick you up later.), the Super Slicer (It slices!  It dices!  It juliennes fries!), or the "Hey Love" compilation of R&B music that you could get in vinyl, cassette, or 8-track tape (Naw, naw, my brotha.  You got to get your own.).  This was all before the internet was a reality in most homes and you had to either send a check or money order to the address shown on the TV, or pick up the phone and call the 1-800 number they give you.  Sure it took 6 to 8 weeks to get your order, but once you got it, boy were you proud of yourself.  You saw something on TV you wanted, took the initiative and ordered it, and once you got it you immediately threw it in a corner where it's been collecting dust ever since.  Back when I was living at home I remember my mom ordered one of those "Bloomin' Onion Makers" in my house.  You know, the thing where you can make those Bloomin' Onions like they sell at Outback Steak House?  To date not only does this device have yet to produce so much as one bloomin' onion, I defy anyone in the family to tell me where it is.  But I digress.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

GOP Shutdown: NOW can we have TERM LIMITS?!

The partial government shutdown is about to enter its third week.  To top it off, we're only days from defaulting on our bonds for the first time in this country's history.  And yes, it's the Republicans' fault.  Not because they're a bunch of slimy racist old bastards (they are, but that's beside the point), but because they're afraid of a group of even slimier and more racist old bastards...the Tea Party.  Mainstream Republicans see what's happening to their party in the polls and, like President Obama, they want this thing to end, but they also want to keep their jobs.  And because the Tea Party has apparently pledged to be against ANYTHING that Obama wants, any Republican who even hints at compromising faces a primary challenge from the Tea Party.  All because the top priority for politicians in the House and the Senate -- for BOTH parties -- isn't doing the job, but keeping it.

Ya think we can start talking about term limits now?

Friday, October 11, 2013

Republicans vs. Obamacare: Now What?

I've been working in IT in some form for just over 20 years.  Starting as a PC tech (which back then meant installing Word Perfect from 5 1/4" floppy disks), and working up to what I do now (programming and systems administration).  If there's one thing that I've learned is that users do not like it when you take things away from them.  Whether it's a software application, or their old monochrome monitor, even if you replace it with something better, they react as if you're taking away one of their children.  Once people start using something, and get used to using it, good luck trying to get it out of their hot little hands.

Our country is in the midst of a government shutdown.  Spurred by their Tea Party caucus, the shutdown started off as the latest volley in the Republican Party's futile effort to repeal, replace, de-fund, delay, whatever, the Affordable Care Act, or as I proudly call it...OBAMACARE, but has now become one long tragedy, or sitcom depending on whose side you're on.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Never Forget...

Today we take a moment to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 (or as I like to call it, Dick Cheney's favorite holiday).  On this day we should remember the victims, the policemen, the firemen, and other first responders who lost their lives on that day, as well as send our prayers and hopes to their families.  We should never forget them, nor should we ever forget the tragedy of this terrorist attack on American soil.  However. among the choruses of "God Bless America" and chants of "USA, USA" coming from the right, there are some other things we should never forget about 9/11.  Things that people like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, their apologists on the right, and their media patsies would like for you to forget.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

RNC's Hillary Protest - Don't Call It A Boycott.

This past Friday the Republican National Committee, under the leadership of Reince Preibus, voted to "boycott" NBC and CNN because of their respective plans to air programs featuring Hillary Clinton.  Their plan is to not air any of the 2016 GOP Primary debates on those networks.  Looking at this, a few things come to mind right off.  First, a "boycott" is actually supposed to cause some level of monetary damage to the person or entity being boycotted.  It's pretty hard to see how this hurts these two networks, since advertisers don't really pay much for ad space on debates.  NBC, being an entertainment network, stands to make more money on reruns of The Voice than from political debates.  Second, there really is supposed to be a goal involved in a boycott.  The idea is to force the target of your boycott into some kind of concession.  Does the RNC really think they're going to force NBC and CNN to drop their respective Hillary plans?  No.  They don't.  That's because this isn't really a boycott.  This is an attempt to hide the crazy.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

My Advice To Anthony Weiner: Just Do It

Anthony Weiner's dream of becoming mayor of New York is quickly becoming a nightmare because of new revelations of inappropriate on-line relationships.  It turns out that he was still sending out pics of his "Weiner" even after his disgraceful exit from the House of Representatives when these allegations first surfaced.  The really sad thing is that this is how Weiner will ultimately go out...over pictures.  No sex.  Just...pictures.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Dear White People: No! You Can Not Use The N-Word

Racists in America are always looking for new and exciting ways to excuse their racism, especially against African Americans, even before the Zimmerman verdict.  Since then, they've clutched at  just about any straw they can to explain away their racist support of Zimmerman, who actively profiled, stalked, and confronted Trayvon Martin, then gunned him down when the young man decided to fight back.  It's only Wednesday as I write this and we've already heard Martin's marijuana use, youthful run-ins with the law, provocative poses on Facebook, etc., used as justification for calling him a thug, a troublemaker, and claiming that he deserved to die (yes, some have said this).  Additionally, these same racist constantly go out of their way to state the fact that Zimmerman is half Hispanic, which is pretty much the same as saying, "Some of my best friends are Black."  Of course the fact that if Trayvon was White they'd be accusing him of being an anchor baby and demanding his deportation goes totally without saying.  A somewhat more recent phenomena involves the use of the N-word.  Racists have taken to the idea that because they hear it in Rap music and in Black conversation (and movies) that it's ok for them to use it.  "Because, after all, racism doesn't really exist anymore, so we can be as racist as we wanna be."

Monday, July 15, 2013

If You Are __________ in America... (A Rant)

The acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin is another chapter in the sad story of what how rights are "distributed" in this country.  In essence, if you are not a straight White male with a lot of money, YOU HAVE NONE!  (Warning: This is a RANT!)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

George Zimmerman's "Kitty-Cat" Defense

For those of you who need catching up (where the Hell have you been?) George Zimmerman is the guy who shot and killed 17 year old Trayvon Martin in Florida.  Trayvon was unarmed and Zimmerman claims that the shooting was in self-defense.  The trial has been going on for the past two weeks, and like most people I've been following it quite closely.  The thing that strikes me as odd, and what I believe should be quite embarrassing to Mr. Zimmerman, is the kind of defense his lawyers are offering up.  Think about this for a sec.  Trayvon Martin was 17 years old.  Zimmerman is 28 and outweighed him by about 100 lbs. (though Martin was quite a bit taller).  Still the defense contends that Zimmerman saw this child as a threat, so much so that he felt he needed a gun in order to defend himself.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

God Bless America. No, Really. I Mean It.

I originally posted this in my other blog, "The World According To Me" back in June of 2010.  Given the events of the past week, and the climate that still exists today, I figure it'd be a good repost for the upcoming holiday.

Understandably around this time of year I’m always overcome by this amazing feeling of pride for my country. I’m not talking Right-Wing Nutjob, teabagger, FOX News kind of patriotism, but the kind of patriotism that transcends party, ideology, religion, race, and all of the other things that would otherwise divide us. So every year I try to think of all of the reasons that I love this country, despite its flaws. While paring them down to a list that won’t take until next year to read was rather difficult, I think what I came up with is pretty comprehensive. Of course this is my list. You can agree, or disagree, or find reasons of your own. Here goes.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Ten Signs Your Spouse's "Reparative Therapy" Didn't Take.

Between the end of the Defense of Marriage Act, the resumption of same-sex marriage in California, and the folding of Exodus International, people whose spouses have gone through the thoroughly debunked "reparative therapy" in a futile attempt to cure themselves of "the Gay" might be thinking how glad they are that they got in just under the wire.  However, these folks may want to take close watch of the person they're sharing their beds with.  As a guide, I offer these symptoms of "the Gay" that may indicate that your significant other may not be the "ex-Gay" that you think they are.  To be fair I'm going to provide two lists.  One for men, and one for women.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Who’s To Blame for NSA Spying? Look In The Mirror.

Let me start this off by saying that I have real problems with the US Government tapping into my phone conversations, looking into my e-mails, surveying my web history, generally spying on me period.  I’ve had this problem since they started doing it during the Bush administration.  That being said, I’m frankly surprised at the shock and awe displayed by the media and privacy advocates at “revelations” of the NSA’s surveillance program.  Why is everyone acting as if this is something new?  Why is everyone acting as though they had no idea that this surveillance has been going on?  Why are Tea-Partiers like Rand Paul trying to turn this into another “Obama scandal” (since all those other scandals have been working so well for them)?  And most of all, why are we all acting as though we’re NOT responsible for it?

Friday, May 31, 2013

MSNBC’s Ratings Problem? THEY'RE BORING!

As you may have heard by now (or at least can tell by the multiple squirting orgasms over at FOX News) MSNBC’s prime time ratings have done a cliff-dive over the past two months.  Now of course the right-wing is crowing that it means the demise of liberalism (despite majority approval of same-sex marriage, immigration reform, and gun control), that the country is turning away from Obama (never mind his high approval numbers), or that the White House “scandals” are taking their toll (only so far as people just aren’t paying attention to them).  This is because the right-wing believes the rest of the country hates Obama as much as they do.  They also believe everyone needs an echo chamber of talking points fed directly into their synapses in order to feel good about themselves.  Liberals have also weighed in with theories that are equally ridiculous, citing some imagined rightward shift by the network because of comments from some of it’s more high-profile pundits like Chris Matthews.  I tend to dismiss this idea as well since to date I have yet to hear Matthews (or anyone else on the network) call Obama a Socialist, Communist, Kenyan, Nazi who’s hell-bent on destroying America.  Besides which, I’ve always felt that constructive criticism of this president, and legitimate questions about his policies, are a good thing.

When you put aside all of the hand-wringing analysis, blame-gaming, finger-pointing, and general over thinking, the reason for MSNBC’s recent ratings slide can be summed up in just two words.  CHRIS HAYES.  Now before you all click off the page and un-follow me on Twitter, I’m not bashing poor Lambchop.  I happen to like him.  He’s smart, delivers intelligent dialogue, and is not prone to hyperbole or histrionics (although he does posses a kind of wide-eyed idealism that I find annoying).  The problem is not Hayes specifically, but his show “All In”.  Quite frankly…IT’S FECKING BORING!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Spare the Rod, Give the Kid a Gun

Last week we heard the story of a 5 year old Kentucky boy accidentally killing his baby sister with a rifle that his parents bought him for his birthday.  Just yesterday the story came out about a 13 year old boy in Florida accidentally shooting his 6 year old sister playing Hide-and-Seek.  All of this comes on the heels of the Senate's failure to pass a Background Check bill, and emboldened efforts by the NRA to arm every man, woman, child, cat, dog, and goldfish with an AK-47.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Opening The Closet...for Homophobes

In case you've been literally living in a closet over the past 7 hours, you've no doubt heard by now that the world of American male professional team sports has had its Gay cherry finally broken with the coming out of NBA player Jason Collins of the Washington Wizards.

In an op-ed for Sports Illustrated's website (to appear in the May 6th print edition), Collins pens a first-person account of his journey of self-discovery.  An account which begins with the simple declaration, "I'm a 34 year old NBA center.  I'm Black.  And I'm Gay."

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Boston Bombing: Aren't You Glad It Wasn't YOU?

Watch this (best to start at 6:24)...



At 6:24 in this video the uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers, suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon, pleads with his nephews to turn themselves in.  He expresses that they have shamed not only their family, but all Chechneyans, and he asks for them to beg forgiveness from the Bostonians they've harmed.  Earlier in the video the uncle gave a strident testament of his love of America and everything this country has done for his family.  I believe his sincerity, and I empathize with the situation he is in.  I also find it interesting that he felt he needed to put himself out there like this, particularly given the risk from some of the less evolved among us.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Ok, Righties, Let's Talk About Kermit Gosnell

Lately I've noticed Pro-Life groups up and down the conservative social and broadcast media lamenting on the lack of mainstream coverage about this guy Kermit Gosnell.  Of course, if you live in Philadelphia (like me), you've probably noticed no such lack as it has been covered to death in our local media ever since his crimes came to life (see here), and will likely be covered to death once he goes to trial.  But the pro-lifers (and their tin-foil hat colleagues) have already begun their cries of "liberal media cover-up" and believe that the story has been purposely burried.  My question to these folks is this.  Are you really sure you want to have this conversation?  Yes?  Ok, then lets have it.

Bullets vs. Ballots - Some Food for Thought

As you've probably read by now, the Manchin-Toomey amendment on background checks was defeated in the Senate by fillibuster.  The vote was 54-46 for the amendment, but because you need 60 votes to break a fillibuster the amendment never made it to the floor of the Senate.  Four Democrats - Max Bacus (MT), Mark Pryor (AR), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), and Mark Begich (AK) - joined 41 Republicans (with Harry Reid (NV) switching to "No" on procedural grounds) in defeating the measure, which isn't likely to get another vote in the forseeable future. 

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Talking About Boston

In preface to this post, I'd like to send my thoughts and prayers to the people of Boston, and my condolences and best wishes to the victims of the bombings which killed 3 and injured over 170. May God bless you and keep you in His everlasting grace during this trying time. We are, all of us, with you.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Dear Teabaggers: It's Not FOX News, It's YOU!

Today as I went through my ritual morning perusal of news stories, this one from the Daily Beast caught my eye...Why Tea Partiers are Boycotting Fox News.

After I cleaned up my spit-take, I read the article, and noted with some level of astonishment that the Tea-Party -- the very Tea-Party that Fox News has spent the better part of 4 years shilling for, the very Tea-Party that they've deified much as the Israelites deified the Golden Calf -- now see Fox News as too liberal.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Last Letter

I ripped the following from a blog post on Truthdig called "The Last Letter".  It's a letter from Tomas Young, a dying Iraq War veteran, to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.  Now I realize that I could have easily just posted a link on Twitter (and the link to the original article will appear at the bottom of this post).  But it's just that this letter moved me so much that I felt that merely posting a link would somehow cheapen its impact.  This letter needs to be cut and pasted to every blog, Facebook page, comment section, or anywhere else that takes more than 140 characters.  In essence, this letter needs to go viral so that Right-Wing neo-cons who carry their fetishism for war as a badge can see just what it does to the people we task with fighting our battles.  On this, the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, this letter should sear itself into our minds and our conciousness, and that of our children and grandchildren, so that we NEVER again allow ourselves to be goaded into supporting a war that did not need to happen.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Icky Icky Butt Sex Causes AIDS (or, Oh The STUPID! IT BURNS US!)

You know, it takes a lot for me to get up the inclination to write one of these blog posts.  For one thing, there has to be something going on that I find worth taking the time to write about, then there's research, and of course getting up the energy to put finger to keyboard and put my rant out to the cyber-verse (and I freely admit that most of these postings are simply me ranting my own personal observations, and should be taken as such).  Often it's weeks or months before something inspires me enough to comment.  Then there's this little gem below that almost mandates an immediate response.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Rand Paul, Sit Yo Ass Down!

I'm going to dispense with the preamble and get straight to the point.  If you had absolutely nothing to say when George Bush was hacking away at our civil-liberties for 8 years, you don't get to have an opinion on Barack Obama's drone strike policy.  You just don't.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Revenge of the (Nerds) Liberals

You know in High School there are three classes of students. The Nerds, the Cool Kids, and the groupies in between who divide themselves between the two.  Most of the groupies gravitate towards the Cool Kids. After all, they're the beautiful people, the jocks, the popular ones. These are the kids who always get invited to the best parties, belong to the best cliques, know all the best clubs, etc. But something tends to happen around the time these students become High School seniors. By this time most of them have heard the "your ass is getting out of this house when you turn 18" speech from their parents, and they figure it may be a good idea to bring their grades up to a point where they can get into some college with a dorm. This is when you see the groupies gravitate away from the Cool Kids and towards the Nerds, mostly out of desperation, because these are the people who get all of the good grades, study hard, and know the answers to all of the tests. And because they're usually not petty, vengeful, and vindictive, they're more than willing to do tutoring work (though some have been known to charge a nominal fee). Pretty soon these former jock groupies, now nerd groupies, find that nerd-dom is a rather neat place to be, not to mention practical when it comes to college evaluations. So what happens when the Nerds become more popular than the Cool Kids, and eventually start to outnumber them? The Nerds become the Cool Kids.

If only the Republicans in Washington would learn that lesson.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Master Debating

This past weekend I reached a Twitter milestone of 3,000 followers (Yay me!).  Now I'm not so delusional to think that all 3,000 of these followers care what I think, or are even actual people.  And quite a few of them are just Right-Wingers looking to...well...whatever, I don't know.  Obviously they've never read my bio (which I'm told is rather clever).

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Red Dawn for the Gun Nuts

Remember the move “Red Dawn”? Not the crap-tastic waste of film they put out last November, but the original 1984 version. It starred Patrick Swayze and a young Charlie Sheen as leaders of a group of teens who fight off invading Soviet forces. The movie is pretty much a wet-dream for conservative hawks and right wing conspiracy theorists (Glenn Beck probably stores it with his porn collection). It’s just the kind of fantasy scenario that gun-nuts are absolutely obsessed with, the fantasy of fighting an invading army, or a tyrannical government, against impossible odds and emerging victorious. Well, strictly speaking, the kids in the movie weren’t very triumphant, and realistically speaking, neither would the gun nuts in a similar situation.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Dear Liberals: Please Step Back From the "Cliff"

Late New Year's Day congress passed a deal to avert the so-called "fiscal-cliff" that has had everyone crapping their pants with angst for the past month.  As these "deals" often go, no one got everything that they wanted.  Republicans were forced to raise taxes on rich folks, committing a cardinal sin against their great Gods of Limbaugh and Norquist, while President Obama was forced to settle for less in taxes than he originally wanted.  Needless to say, the Magic-Pony Progressives among us immediately took to Twitter, Facebook, airwaves, and blogs to claim that Obama "caved" once again to Republicans, with most of them starting their rantings before even reading the actual deal.