Vote No on Prop. 8 'cus Samuel Jackson said so.

Would you argue with Samuel Jackson? Remember, his nickname is Jules. And he's tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

Jules: I want you to go in that bag, and find my wallet.
Pumpkin: Which one is it?
Jules: It's the one that says Bad Motherfucker
Jules: Wanna know what I'm buyin' Ringo?
Pumpkin: What?
Jules: Your life. I'm givin' you that money so I don't hafta kill your ass. You read the Bible?
Pumpkin: Not regularly.
Jules: There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you. I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

Halloween Puts Me In The Mood For Pranks

watch out from public toliets - Watch the top videos of the week here

Of course this is not a Halloween prank, but it is pretty funny.

Djinn's Halloween Treat--Iggy Pop Live on Dinah Shore

Uh, I mean live on the Dinah Shore show. With David Bowie! And with Halloween reference! Really, what daytime TV was like in 1977. At least once.



And as an extra special Halloween treat: Iggy, live on UK TV singing Lust for Life, proving his own lust for life in a pair of pants that aren't only see-through, but unzipped. So DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ACQUAINTED WITH IGGY'S, uh lust for life. Plus, youtube will probably figure out very quickly that this is up; watch it while you can.



****WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING, NOT TOTALLY PG *******

Halloween Fun

This cartoon is from 1929 (I think) and is good Halloween fare. Enjoy!
(The goofy skeleton dance begins around 2:30; don't miss it.)

This Lion Has Two Daddies

Christian, the Lion, lived a well adjusted heterosexual life after being raised by two daddies in a loving household.

Perhaps we should reserve our disapproval for households that expose children and animals to excessive anger, cruelty, violence and hatred. They pose the real threat to marriage and society.

Just Quibbling

With both candidates opposing the use of torture, our country will soon be able to stop thinking about the substance of this question. Perhaps then we will be able to turn our attention to other vital matters......like grammar!
And yeah, the question really should be "Whom Would Jesus Waterboard?"
(Likely answer: Grammarians!)

This Monkey Is All Set For Halloween

Or is Greenspan dressed as a monkey? We may never know.

A personal statement on Prop 8 by Djinn

My family is Mormon. I grew up Mormon. A huge portion of the people I love are Mormon. I am horrified that the Mormon Church has decided to spend so much time, energy, and members' money on trying to pass California's Proposition 8, which would invalidate marriages between same sex couples. Why Mormons have decided to make this such an issue I find deeply confusing, because Evangelicals, who agree with the Mormon position that Gays are bad bad bad, still won't like them, while the Mormon brand has now become associated with homophobia and bigotry. Who are Mormon missionaries going to teach?

At the same time, as this article , this article, this article, and this website show, just because someone is Mormon does not mean they hold the same position as the Church at large. Knowing that someone is Mormon does not also impart the knowledge that they have difficulty with gay people.

The Mormon church has a website, which gives reasons that they feel that people should be against allowing same-sex couples to be wed. Unfortunately, it turns out that most of these reasons are, to put it harshly, lies. Below is a paper, signed by rather a large number of law professors, showing why.

No on Prop. 8 lawyers statement on marriage - Upload a Document to Scribd

We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government...

-Doctrine & Covenants, 134:4

That's The Spirit

Did Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) try his hand at making a pumpkin man?

Health of the Mother, what a silly concept.

This Time Everyone Will Be Watching

Diebold’s electronic voting machines were used for a 2004 California vote on medical marijuana. The vote results were close enough that the results were challenged. Instead of turning the voting machines over for independent audit, county official sent all the machines back to Diebold. While at Diebold, 96% of the records were mysteriously deleted. In September of 2007 a judge voided the results and ordered a new vote. The judge also ordered the county officials to reimburse those that filed suit.
According to Gregory Luke, one of the attorneys involved,

"Local election officials have been trying to reassure the public that their own oversight will protect the integrity of the ballot.

"Now we see that not only are the machines vulnerable, but some election officials cannot be counted on to protect the vote."

Deja Vu All Over Again

Click the link for a fun short on Voting Machines

Why (please Gods of Hubris forgive me) Obama will win.

I work with a lovely gentleman who has a friend who works for a polling agency. My friend told me the following story:

Pollster: Who are you voting for?

Female: (Yelling) Honey, who are we voting for?

Male not on phone: "We're voting for the n****r."

Female on phone: "We're voting for the n****r."

If people who feel quite happy to use such words in daily discourse are voting for Obama, it's going to be a landslide. Remember, you heard it here first.

Choose Your Halloween Costumes Wisely

This costume has the distinct disadvantage of being a permanent tattoo. It is too bare for chilly trick-or-treating. And people are likely to say, "gross," instead of running away screaming. Notice how much more effective at producing abject terror a simple banana costume is instead.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

A Very Brief Rebuttal of Hasslehoff

For those of you flummoxed by the Hasslehoff Recursion, take comfort in this brief response: (Caution, for some reason, when you click on the play arrow, it sometimes skips the intended clip and shows other options. Simply click on the replay symbol in the upper left corner.)

crazy flip book


We are ultimately all composed of bar codes as this plainly shows. We are not mere fractal "junk"! The very idea!

West Virginia official explains how voting machines

never let you vote for Obama. OOOPS!



IF you listen to the video, the official explains that the Obama votes don't always go to a Republican, rather they sometimes go to other candidates. Don't you feel comforted by this?

Demonstrations Planned In The Event Of Contested Election Results

With any luck they'll be something like this.

Halloween Puts Me In The Mood For Pranks

watch out from public toliets - Watch the top videos of the week here

Of course this is not a Halloween prank, but it is pretty funny.

Obama, Japan sings praises of Obama, Barack.

Obama is beautiful world.

Halloween Sculptures

On Halloween, don't forget the possibilities other foods present.

One of my favorite creations years ago was a small acorn squash jackolantern; it's pointy chin and dark corrugated face were really impish. Time to go to the store and get some fun materials.

Stages Of Grief

From Jason Linkins at the huffingtonpost

Today, the key line of John McCain's rebooted stump speech is directed at his rival, Barack Obama, and it goes a little something like, "We have him right where we want him." That was the plan, all along, you see! Be down double digits in the polls, possessed of the necessity of campaigning in West Virginia, and in need of tempering your supporters' passions because they have suddenly veered wildly in the direction of psychosis. I love it when a plan comes together, even if that plan is only indicative of the fact that McCain's moved to the "denial" stage of grief. Brace yourself, because anger and depression are still to come!

This was from 2 weeks ago. I guess he's in that anger phase now, but it still seems like denial. Angry denial.

At this rate acceptance will take a long time; I'm betting there will be challenges to the election results.

True American Heroes

More tarnish for the quickly degrading Heroic McCain Brand:

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

The daughter, who wanted her name withheld fearing retribution from her employer, confirmed the story to us. "It was like at least 40 people," the daughter said. "People thought the script was nasty and they didn't wanna read it."

A second worker at the call center confirmed the episode, saying that "at least 30" workers had walked out after refusing to read the script.
"We were asked to read something saying [Obama and Democrats] were against protecting children from danger," this worker said. "I wouldn't do it. A lot of people left. They thought it was disgusting."

This worker, too, confirmed sacrificing pay to walk out, saying her supervisor told her: "If you don't wanna phone it you can just go home for the day."

Perhaps McCain's closest advisers can't tell him when he has gone too far, but maybe he'll get the message after all.

Greenspan learns, years later that Ayn Rand was just leading him on

So that's why she just let him get the coffee.

"Campaign 8 stop these Lies and stop the exploitation of our children"

h

As a bit of background, some parents arranged for some students to meet to their well-loved teacher after her wedding to her same-sex partner on the courthouse steps after the wedding.


The yes on Prop 8 people now have pictures of the children at the wedding up on commercials, without permission of the parents, who are horrified, or the owner of the tape, the San Francisco Chronicle, I believe. The point of the commercial seems to be that passage of prop 8 may require your loverly son or daughter may be forced to be exposed to such horrors themselves.

Yet again I've got the vapors. Children weren't required to go, the event wasn't even arranged by the school, the problem seems to be that some parents (probably quite a few related to me) find it horrifying for their children to find out that people of the same sex can (for at least awhile) in California, get married. Furthermore, the school was a chartered arts school, the kind created to allow the parents more leeway in the sorts of education their children will be getting. So, I'm guessing here that this school was known to be gay friendly, so a gay teacher would not be a shock to the students or the parents.


All you nervous parents, take your kids out of the public schools and enroll them in strict Chrisitian ones... now that forbid the eating of shellfish, the mixing of linen and cotton, the enforcement of a widow to sleep with her brother-in-law, (levirate marriage) and so forth. Oh, oh, oh, and the killing of unruly sons. Everyone will be happier. Well, maybe not the sons, but it's too late for them

***all rules from the BIble.
Post updated to note that parents, not the school, arranged the outing. Thank you Patrick, from the comments.

How to spot a terrorist

Q: Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist, under this definition, governor?

PALIN: (Sigh). There’s no question that Bill Ayers via his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our U.S. Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There’s no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that uh, it would be unacceptable. I don’t know if you’re going to use the word terrorist there.


Do the following "Ayers worked with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in shaping the city's school reform program,[30] and was one of three co-authors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant proposal that in 1995 won $49.2 million over five years for public school reform.[31] In 1997 Chicago awarded him its Citizen of the Year award for his work on the project.[32] Since 1999 he has served on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty, philanthropic foundation established as the Woods Charitable Fund in 1941.[33] According to Ayers, his radical past occasionally affects him, as when, by his account, he was asked not to attend a progressive educators' conference in the fall of 2006 on the basis that the organizers did not want to risk an association with his past.[34]" as an adult, repent for your past, get branded a terrorist.

Blow up buildings, some with actual full grown women in them: "I don't now if you're going to use the word terrorist there.'

Housekeeping Tips Part 7: Surprise Someone You Love On Halloween With A Fanciful Feast

For more fun bento box ideas check out this site, and enjoy.

Many of pictures have some details about the ingredients. For example, the earrings on the woman at a spa are made from that cheese you spray out of a can. No explanation was given regarding the purple paste in back of the frapuccino. Any guesses? Hummus with food coloring?

Jesus, straight as an arrow?

To set the stage, Jesus is at the Garden of Gethsemane with his apostles Peter, James, and John, the apostles asleep. Roman soldiers led by Judas (suddenly former apostle) come and take Jesus away after that famous kiss. All of Jesus' apostles flee. Then there are these two verses:

Mark 14:51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
Mark 14:52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

What is going on? Naked boy, apostles asleep? The only one to try to save him from the guards? Hmmmm........... Hmmmmmmm............. How often did Jesus preach against Homosexuality? Let's see. That would be ZERO.

Is Sarah Palin secretly a Democrat?

She's wearing donkeys--a Democratic scarf. This certainly explains quite a bit. Way to go. Sarah, speaking personally, I'm glad you've put that $150,000.00 that the RNC has given you for clothing to such good use.

Of course, the alternate explanation is that she is too stupid to know that the Elephant is the symbol of the GOP. Naaah.

Thank you Newsweek, for the catch and the image.

Look at these numbers--early voters not only favor Obama, they FAVOR Obama

Zogby gives Obama a 21-point lead nationwide among people who have already voted, and SurveyUSA and Civitas peg his advantage among early voters in North Carolina at around 20 and 30 points, respectively.

From FiveThirtyEight.com

Looking For That Perfect Halloween Costume?

This one takes some skill to use effectively, but WOW!

Housekeeping tips #6 Poaching a Salmon in your dishwasher.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO COOK A WHOLE FISH!

1 Place fish packets on the top rack.

2 Add dirty dishes and lemon-scented soap. This optional step is not recommended for novices. However, as long as the salmon's tightly sealed in its aluminum foil packet, it won't absorb any soapy taste or smell.

3 Set dishwasher to the "normal" cycle. Modern dishwashers have "economy" and "cool dry" settings, which are undesirable since they conserve heat. However, on the other end of the spectrum, the "pots and pans" setting tends to overcook the fish.

4 Run salmon through the entire wash-and-dry cycle -- approximately 50 minutes for most models.

5 When cycle's complete, take salmon out, discard foil, place one fillet on each plate and spoon a generous serving of dill sauce on top.

Stolen, in its entirety, from BoingBoing (you don't think I'm that creative, do you?) who, in turn stole it from the book Surreal Gourmet.

OK, I realize the Salmon (from here) at the top of the post is not cooking, but he could be riding his bike to the kitchen!

Ready on Day One, My Friends

Palin's language skills are rubbing off on McCain. Or maybe he's just showing his age, but recently he has been bungling lines like crazy.

"I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about western Pennsylvania lately," McCain said, as folks booed.

"You know," he continued, "I couldn't agree with them more."

(Resounding silence)

"I couldn't disagree with you, I couldn't agree with you more than the fact that western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic, most God loving, most patriotic part of America," McCain said. "And this is a great part of the country. My friends I couldn't agr-- I could not disagree with those critics more, this is a great part of America."

To be fair, remembering a complicated statement------you know, with two negatives, couldn't and disagree-----is hard, especially when it's not something you actually believe.

Bollywood Tuesday!

Can you find the air sitar section? How about the air tambla?

Here's another, because one video of equisitely coreographed east asians doing vaguely techno moves accompanied on traditional indian instruments with bonus smoke machine! is never enough.
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Math can be fun -- Prepare to lose your mind.

The Hasslehoff Recursion -- warning; may cause circuits in your mind to fuse together momentarily; but I think it is soooo worth it. I'm going to watch it again. Right now. But I can stop whenever I want. Really. For the more delicate amongst you, I warn you my come down with Hasselhoff syndrome--uncontrolled crying, excrtable taste in music, talking to random cars, a strange prediliction for big hair....

I sing the praises of EmilyS at Feministmormonhousewives for this delight.

Also, from those same magical beings, a heartfelt love song from Russia for Sarah Palin:

Misses Palin I want to fly into your airspace, Misses Palin I want to rear my little head.

A subject I feel strongly on

I got a bit, uh well, read for yourself. This is from Feministmormonhousewives.org. I figure if my daughter apricot blossom is in a group called New York Jews for Obama (being neither from New York or Jewish) I can be a feminist Mormon Housewife. OK, comments, First: an unsuspecting commentor

Proposition 8 isn’t about rights at all. No one has a legal right to marriage. Repeat: NO ONE has a legal right to marriage. Marriage has always been a privilege extended to couples by rulers or governments. That is why would-be brides and grooms must apply for a license and meet certain requirements set by individual states.

And what is a society’s interest in marriage? Traditionally, the state’s most compelling interest has been in the next generation. That is why we do not permit a brother and sister to marry — no matter how much they may love one another and no matter how much they may insist on equal rights.

The state does have a compelling interest in preserving traditional marriage. We all should. Yes on Prop 8.

Comment by Unsuspecting Commentator — October 21, 2008 @ 3:18 pm

Then me:

No, Unsuspecting commentator, society’s interest in marriage is transferring property properly from one generation to the next. It’s contractual. We don’t let brothers and sisters marry (unless we’re Egyptian, or I believe Mayan royalty) ’cause it’s ucky. That incest taboo and all. Ahhh, the English common law.

Besides, your argument is beyond bogus and into mendacious because the government does not pose any fertility requirement on couples and explicitly allows couples who cannot have children (say, those involving women beyond menopause) to marry. So there. Stop lying. Or stop listening to whomever it is that is lying to you.

Feel free to vote yes on prop. 8 but have the guts to admit it’s because you hate homosexuals. Otherwise, vote no.

OK, it's my first conspiracy, cut me some slack

A video shot as a travelogue when Sarah Palin was supposedly 7 months pregnant,but had not yet announced (read, didn't know she was supposed to look pregnant yet.) I've been 7 months pregnant and I don't show much, but, man, I so did not look like that. For one thing, when a woman is pregnant, her joints loosen, giving her a waddle. Don't see it. For another thing, the various hormones shooting through your body, ah, increase your, ah, rack size. For comparison, see shots of Bristol below. For the final mention, women who are 7 mo. pregnant tend to have more than a bit of a belly. Hmmm. Trig was born a month later and weighed 6 pounds (not to mention amniotic fluid and placenta weight.) Where is he? Where are those medical records? Tubal ligation?

Why I'm scared

The speaker at the end of this very brief clip is Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois's 10th congressional district, and, yes, he advocates, clearly and loudly, I can barely say it, killing Obama. What have we come to as a country? Please please please please please let this not be a tragedy.


I heard on the radio yesterday, two self-avowed racists saying that they would vote for Obama because he was so painfully and obviously competent. That's what I want in America; Honest racists willing to change their mind when presented with the facts. They're not racists at all. Mark Kirk, you don't get off so easily.

Courtney at her prettiest, on the inside and outside.

MTV saw fit to delete "Drown Soda" from their unplugged session. All you feminist literary theorists, this, should you be curious, is what transgressive looks and sounds like. Listen to it quick, before someone figures it's available. First song is "Softer, softest," --Pee girl gets the belt-- warms you up for the climax; just listen.

My family in protest to being forced to listen to this clip twice, uh maybe a few more time, is now listening to Bach in protest; at least it's Glenn Gould's version. He was a badass, right?

A valuable lesson on how not to judge

Step 1: Proclaim loudly that you are not judging.
Step 2: Judge.
Step 3: (refrain) Proclaim loudly that you have, not, in fact, judged.

Here, let's obvserve a master:

Sarah Palin on Gay Marriage:

I am, in my own, state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that’s where we would go because I don’t support gay marriage. I’m not going to be out there judging individuals, sitting in a seat of judgment telling what they can and can’t do, should and should not do, but I certainly can express my own opinion here and take actions that I believe would be best for traditional marriage and that’s casting my votes and speaking up for traditional marriage that, that instrument that it’s the foundation of our society is that strong family and that’s based on that traditional definition of marriage, so I do support that.

My deepest regrets (to my dear reader(s) and Italians alike) to being forced to wade through that spaghetti prose.
Plus a shout-out to Banksy for the adorable policemen, whom, I'm sure, speak the Queen's Engish, unlike she who shall not be named.

Sarah Palin refuses to release medical records: The return of the conspiracy theory

The New York times reports that Sarah Palin, a 44 year old woman, seemingly the best of health, has refused to release her medical records. Why would this be? Is she dying of Cancer? I somehow doubt it; or would it show that she did not actually have Trig, last April, 2008? It would be irresponsible to not speculate. Of course, even more fatal, would be the admission that she had an abortion. Show us your records! Show. Show. Show. Show. Why should we vote for someone that may not be healthy enough to actually serve as VP? Show. Show. Show.

Updated; she hasn't even released a one page letter from her doctor saying that she is healthy; what gives? Is there something really the matter? Or are rules for the little folks with D's next to their names on those important doc's like voter registrations. But sure, even supporters would like to know if she'll be around for the whole term.


Also in this report is the information that John McCain quite possibly had a stage III melanoma 8 years ago rather than the stage II that we've been told. This reduces his chances to surviving his term to around 1/3. Nice.

The Pic of the Palin family is from September, 2008. Bristol is due to give birth in December. Think the baby will be late?

Brave little money stands up to Republicans

Guest blogger GeeBee, starring Monkey!


Not only did this Monkey sneak into a McCain rally - he's wearing an OBAMA sticker! You rock little Monkey! That fat guy isn't the smartest human...


Cross-posted on somesense and nonsense.

Viewer poll: What is this woman talking about?

Choose Halloween Costumes Wisely

This costume has the distinct disadvantage of being a permanent tattoo. It is too bare for chilly trick-or-treating. And people are likely to say, "gross," instead of running away screaming. Notice how much more effective at producing abject terror a simple banana costume is instead.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Not Even Pretending Not To Be Racist

Another racist jab at Obama in another official GOP circular:

The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps -- instead of dollar bills like other presidents.

They thoughtfully provided this image as well!

Betty Boop Takes A Whack At That Highest And Hardest Of Glass Ceilings

And she winks at the voters. (t=45)



Enjoy this cartoon from 1936.

Unavoidable Comparisons With Debate

The first few seconds are garbled, so don't give up-----and let it buffer to keep the flow.
I hope you enjoy the artistry of Mummenschanz.

It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This!

I just couldn't resist.

This was NOT photo-shopped. If he can spaz out this much over which direction to turn to shake the moderator's hand, do we want him anywhere near that red phone?

Right Caption, Wrong Image

When confronted about tolerating hateful lies about Obama at Republican rallies, McCain made a big show of telling one woman that Obama was a decent family man. That was when people were watching.

But behind the scenes and not on TV cameras (YET?) this is how McCain's campaign conducts itself. This postcard is from the Virginia McCain campaign.

Talk about dishonorable! There is nothing McCain won't stoop to.

Image from Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish

Sarah Palin (OK, I have a problem) schadenfreude edition.

Point 1. A new, most certainly negative report on Sarah Palin's attempt to fire her brother-in-law is coming out soon. Sarah Palin, thinking she was oh-so-very clever, decided to investigate her own involvement in the Troopergate investigation. Not bad. However, it looks like an actual prosecutor was hired, and things may not be looking so good for our dear Palinatrix. Newsweek (!) the mainstream media! has the scoop, a portion quoted below.

Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin's 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel's report could be released soon after. "We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board," said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin "has nothing to hide," it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Point 2. Old-fashioned Alaska corruption with all the usual old-fashioned Alaskan subjects. Sarah Palin and her husband Todd, somehow ended up with a million dollar house that Todd and a couple of buddies were have supposed to have built from scratch in a few months. However.... looks like friends of Ted Stevens (R-about to be indicted for having housing improvements built for him) may have had a hand....
Read the whole story here from the plaid lemur. Love lemurs with style.

Point 3. Almost too ugly to mention, but mention I must. McCain and Palin are making racism acceptable again. Shouts of "Kill Him," "Palling around with Terrorists," etc. Take a look at this pic. Cannot describe.



Here's McCain and Palin's core constituency. Be Warned. Ugly.


Point 5. Liar, liar, yet again. I had no idea how easy it is to change the perception of massive numbers of people by simply stating the exact opposite. Sarah Palin says:

Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that. Todd did what anyone would have done given this state trooper’s very, very troubling behavior and his dangerous threats against our family. Todd did what I think any Alaskan would do.

The report says the exact opposite:

“For the reasons explained in section IV of the report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.11(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

Thank you, Mudflats (a wonderful Alaskan website), for the quotes.

Point 6. And now, for a bit of levity, what would the White House look like with our dear dear Saracudda in office? Check it out here--palinaspresident.com. Be sure to click everywhere.

ps. The image is Mothra, a scary scary moth. It flies directly to the light, and spends a long time as a larvae. Make your own connections.

NO EXCUSE!

This image came from the official Republican website of Sacramento County, Ca.

This image is not the work of some random extremist that the party can claim they have no control over.

This image makes clear that the attempt to smear Obama as a terrorist, a Muslim, an Arab, and a foreigner is coming from the Republican leadership.

This is not an isolated incident. The head of McCain's campaign in Virginia trained his volunteers to compare Obama to Osama when going door to door. This sort of hateful nonsense has caught the imagination of some followers who have made posters that feature the caption, "Obama Bin Lyin'".

If the conservative movement had an actual plan or message other than hate, wouldn't they be talking about that instead?

Yet another punk rock Saturday, (or is it, uh, zzzzzz)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's Tuesday, but, hey, keep up, as I obviously can't. Astonishing NICO song. LISTEN. Those damn Germans (or perhaps Nico was more properly titled "that damn model with the cheekbones). This song (as if I didn't need extra help) breaks my heart.

Hi! It's Djinn!

I haven't had regular internet access for almost a week. In spite of my desire to post something about the brilliance of Warren Buffet investing (DUH!) in Goldman Sachs, because Henry Paulson is the former chairman and will use the full power of the US treasury to keep the stock price up ("Using Exogamous Events In Your Favor") I chickened out and posted some life-changing Mozart. It's even easy to listen to. LISTEN PEOPLE. REALLY. I ONLY USE CAPS WHEN NECESSARY. Mitsko's touch is nothing short of life-changing, and it's only slightly longer than ten minutes.

Stages of Grief

From Jason Linkins at the huffingtonpost

Today, the key line of John McCain's rebooted stump speech is directed at his rival, Barack Obama, and it goes a little something like, "We have him right where we want him." That was the plan, all along, you see! Be down double digits in the polls, possessed of the necessity of campaigning in West Virginia, and in need of tempering your supporters' passions because they have suddenly veered wildly in the direction of psychosis. I love it when a plan comes together, even if that plan is only indicative of the fact that McCain's moved to the "denial" stage of grief. Brace yourself, because anger and depression are still to come!

This was from 10 days ago. I guess he's in that anger phase now, but it still seems like denial. Angry denial.

Is Djinn Spiralling Out Of Control In Her Obsession With Palin?

No!

A good number of those palicentric posts were submitted by Kerfuffler, a new-to-the-blogosphere friend of Djinn's from way back. I, Kerfuffler, do hereby apologize for the obsessive (incessant?) posting on this most painful of topics, but I really needed to practice from one day to the next posting things just to get a hang of linking, embedding, and what not.( And Palin kept supplying so much material!) You see, I am my family's resident techno-phobe. Until quite recently, merely sending an e-mail was a source of jaw-clenching tension for me. So, yay me!

I have posted other items as well. (Fruitfly foolishness, Western Spaghetti, inflatable street art, those evolving-painting videos and a bunch of other stuff.) I started on Sept. 30th. I guess Djinn and I have similar styles and interests, so many of you did not notice. I did not mean to be an impostor! In any event, I'm pleased to make your virtual acquaintance.

By the way, the image above is a FANTASTIC OPTICAL ILLUSION, but to get the full effect, you need to enlarge the image, and I might add, the bigger, the better! (Just hit Ctrl+ a few times and let the dizzying swirling begin.) Djinn, I know you like optical illusions, but you just might want to avoid this one!

Geebee's Best Bud Supports Obama-------Oh Gee, That's Not What This Is About!

Filing into a Palin rally, these republicans failed to confront their fellow attendee for his off-the-chart racist display. In fact, they seemed to enjoy it. Later, when the monkey-bearing idiot noticed he was still being taped, he surreptitiously slid the Obama sticker off his toy, and then gave the stuffed animal to a child in the audience.

Yum!

Check out the special mystery ingredients.
Any guesses what they used for the boiling water?



Mmmmm, Spagheeettiiii.... - video powered by Metacafe

Fun Street Art

I sure never got wind of this till just now. Is this old news to everyone else?
There are no subways where I live, so I naturally I miss out on a lot.

John Cleese, Poet

Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity

Time For Something Beautiful

Try these on full screen. Enjoy!

Palin's Pals

Talk about consorting with people who "see America differently" and who, to this day, continue to conspire against the United States of America!

Ayers plotted in the 1960's, then changed his ways, and has been a respectable professor for decades. It didn't occur to Obama to ask him if he had ever consorted with terrorists. How many people ask that when they meet new people?

I'm just amazed that the Republican base isn't bothered by this. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Mitsuko Uchida and Schoenberg

I was going to post something accesible and sweet, but I couldn't help myself. One of my all time favorite Youtube clips. Warning, it's 12 tone. But such 12 tones. Besides, Mitsuko looks like some stylized Edo period woodblock, and who knew Schoenberg had such warmth?



Just under six minutes of Arnold Schoenberg, Concert No. 42.

Why are Economists allergic to Data?

We are in a financial crisis. Sigh. What to do? Well, as the presocratics discovered, and as Francis Bacon rediscovered, there's this thing called "Evidence." I want you all to spell it, then say it, then spell it again. The "Great Depression" (soon to be retitled Great Depression I, as opposed to our current Great Depression 2) had one economy that recovered faster than all the others. Which one? Sweden. The Swedish plan is well known. The US banks are near collapse, even with the infusion of 700,000,000,000 (how many zeros?) of your and my dollars. We (by which I mean Paulson) just is handing the money over, as far as I can tell, still without any sort of oversight. Do you remember any regulation being passed in the last week or two? This is soft-- stupid-- socialism. Really a form of capitalist theft.

How to do it right? In Sweden, they didn't mess around back in the '30's. They actually nationalized the banks, shook them upside down, figured out exactly what assets they had, cleaned them up, and then reprivatized. It worked.

Why can't we do that? The executives at AIG wouldn't get their manicures? How can we be such idiots? We're just buying tremendously overpriced assets. You and me, babe. To, as far as I can see, no particular good, except we'll make Warren Buffett even richer. His purchase of a zillion dollars of Goldman Sachs was essentially a bet on the stupidity of the American Congress. You see, Goldman can now sell its worthless mortgage-backed securities for a profit (from the previous valuation.) Buffett makes out like, well, Warren Buffett.

Perhaps this is just sour grapes. How come I'm not too big to fail? Where's may multi-billion bailout? Waaaaa!!!!

Mmmmmm, Mmmmmm...............Sweet! Troopergate Witness Flips Like A Pancake

An important witness in Palin's troopergate scandal changed her testimony. Initially she had denied that Sarah and Todd Palin had pressured her to deny a claim for her ex-brother-in-law, Wooten. But faced with perjury charges, Murlene Wilkes now acknowledges the Palins' involvement.

Interestingly, Wilkes held a big contract with the state of Alaska for Worker's compensation. Her bid for this contract was not the lowest received by the State, and Wilkes was under the impression that to keep this contract, she needed to deny Wooten's claim. Wooten's claim was suddenly denied.

Branchflower, the independent investigator, is due to release his report on Oct 10th. The McCain campaign has been doing its best to derail this investigation; last week 3 witnesses ignored their subpoenas, and seven more are expected to this week.

So this is cooperativeness and transparency Palin style. Fortunately, I think we can all see right through their obstructionist tactics-----as long as we're watching.

A Tax Expert And Legal Scholar Examines Palin's Taxes

Bryan T. Camp, a professor of Law, has analyzed the Palins' tax returns for 2006 and 2007. Here he points out five issues:

(1) The Palins did not report as income some $17,000 that Governor Palin’s employer (the State of Alaska) paid her as an “allowance” for her travel. Can they do that? Yes, most likely.

(2) The Palins did not report as income some $43,000 that the State of Alaska paid the Governor as an “allowance” for her husband and children’s travel. Can they do that? No, most likely not.

(3) The Palins deducted $9,000 on their 2007 return, claiming it was a loss from Mr. Palin’s snow machine racing activity. Can they do that? Most likely not, but more info could make the deduction o.k.

If any of the above issues goes against the Palins they then risk getting hit with the section 6662 penalty for “negligence or disregard of rules or regulations.”

(4) Can the Palins avoid the section 6662 negligence penalty by claiming that they reasonably relied either (a) on the W-2’s sent to them by their employer, which did not reflect either the $17,000 or the $43,000, or (b) on their tax return preparer H&R Block, or (c) on Mr. Olsen’s opinion letter dated September 30, 2008? The three reliance defenses are unlikely to succeed, but more info may make the (b) defense a good one.

For the following point, understand that Mr. Olsen is the Palins' tax lawyer.

(5) Does Mr. Olsen have any exposure to sanctions by the IRS because of his letter? I believe Mr. Olsen’s letter probably violates 31 C.F.R. section 10.35. If so, he would be exposed to possible sanctions from the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility.

Just click on the link to read more. Bryan Camp has written a very engaging and accessible paper. He concludes:

In sum, Mr. Olsen’s letter may be a brilliant political ploy. But it is a sorry excuse for a legal opinion on the tax consequences of the travel allowance problems in the Palin’s returns.

I guess the Palins really are anti-tax.

A Mortgage Meltdown Discussion For People Who Would Rather Laugh Than Cry

A great spoof of pompous interviews.

How Facism enters the US--hint, it's wearing lipstick.

Don't you think attack helicopters look so much more, ah, unthreatening, when tricked out in pink bows? Don't you think the same is true of lipstick wearing pitbulls?

From the WaPo

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

"Sit down, boy." "Kill him!" Is this the new face of America? I hide may head in shame.

In response, I propose "Goose Steppers for Sarah," using as our patron saint, John Cleese; whom I suspect is not a supporter.

Or, alternatively, "Fascist Barbie" --complete with bonus nickname "Klaus." Can't you just see her all tricked out in those adorable and tight-fitting German army costumes, with the ever-so sexy black leather jackboots, and that staple of Alaskan fashion accessories, guns!


No such outfit would be complete without the standard-issue German Army "Gott Mit Uns" belt buckle. How could any one among us disagree with such a sincerely held sentiment? Photoshoppers, anyone?

OK, I'm all upset, any soothing music suggestions?

Scurillous rumors: two can put on the high heels.

Sooo, Sarah says that Obama's palling around with terrorists, huh? I see Sarah Palin's accusation and raise her a troubled son.

According to the National Enquirer and The New Republic, Track Palin (Sarah's oldest) vadalized school buses and is (or has been) an oxycontin addict.

From Margo Howard, quoted in The New Republic.

It would have far more factual validity for Obama, or a surrogate, to publicize the fact that Track, the kid who joined the Army, did so because a judge told him it was that or jail due to his dealing drugs.

Besides, Sarah started it (I can call her Sarah, 'cause she's all folksy, yebetcha) by using her kids as political props at every possible occasion.

Lots of additional speculation here.

From the New York Times, some exculpatory info: though notice that Levi Johnston has now dropped out of High School and hockey.

In the end, hockey did not work for Levi Johnston. His grades slipped, he left school and he quit playing altogether.

The dream for Track Palin unraveled, too, starting when he separated his shoulder in Michigan. By March 2007, he was back with his family and that spring graduated from Wasilla High School. He had shoulder surgery, and the Avalanche offered him a playing slot, said the team’s general manager, Jamie Smith.

But that summer, Mr. Smith said, Track Palin called him and said that his shoulder was not better and that he was going to enlist in the Army instead.

Here's Ancorage TV on the subject:

Guess Sarah Palin can see Afghanistan from Alaska, too.

SAN FRANCISCO - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin called Afghanistan “our neighboring country” on Sunday in a speech that could revive questions over her tendency to stumble into linguistic knots. [Djinn here, or her tendency to not have a frickin' clue about geography]

Three days after a mostly gaffe-free debate performance, the Alaska governor fumbled during a speech in which she praised U.S. soldiers for “fighting terrorism and protecting us and our democratic values”.

“They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan,” she told several hundred supporters at a fundraising event in San Francisco.

From Reuters by way of Atrios.

Huh?

A Palin supporter explains:

I like Sarah because she portrays herself as a real person. That’s what kind of politicians we need. So she’s not quick with answers…which the press seems to be jumping on. So what. She’s managing a state that one has to be physically & mentally aware–to live in. That’s smart.
I haven’t heard alot of complaints from Alaska about
political blunders by their politicians. Coming from Alaska to the mainland of the U.S. is enough to make most anyone slow their speech down and look surprised.
The U.S. rates pretty high on the BEST PLACE TO LIVE chart. Let’s listen to her.

I'm afraid I can't add anything to that.

Track to Seek New 'Connections' in Afghanistan?

Palin has been making a lot of noise recently accusing Obama of 'palling around' with terrorists.

Margo Howard points out:

It would have far more factual validity for Obama, or a surrogate, to publicize the fact that Track, the kid who joined the Army, did so because a judge told him it was that or jail due to his dealing drugs. I have a strong hunch, however, the Obama people would never get into that.

I know that Obama has called on his supporters to leave the children of candidates out of the fray. But the way Palin uses her son's enlistment (on Sept. 11th, no less) as a political prop should make it a reasonable story to cover.

Can Jodie Holland Stay Here All Night?

About half of a brand new song, but such a song. Reminds me of Hole's version of "He hit me and it felt like a kiss." Listen if you dare....

Obama, even more wonderful than you thought.

Here's a story from Norway; 23 years ago, Obama, without much money himself at the time, paid $103.00 in overweight charges for a woman travelling to Norway--she had no one to contact and was trying to decide which of her possessions to leave. She has now stepped forward.

From the Norwegian paper VG, by way of Leisha's Random Thoughts.

Mary lacked money to fly home to Norway – he saved her love

ÅSGÅRDSTRAND (VG): Mary was a newlywed and ready to move to Norway, but was stopped at the airport because she didn’t have enough money for the trip. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.

Mary Menth Andersen was 31 years old at the time and had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life in Åsgårdstrand in Vestfold with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988.
At the airport in Miami things were hectic as usual, with long lines at the check-in counters. When it was finally Mary’s turn and she had placed her luggage on the baggage line, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.
-You’ll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway, the man behind the counter said.
Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.
-I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions, says Mary.

Although she explained the situation to the man behind the counter, he showed no signs of mercy.
-I started to cry, tears were pouring down my face and I had no idea what to do. Then I heard a gentle and friendly voice behind me saying, That’s OK, I’ll pay for her.
Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.
-He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?
Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.
-He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.
She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

The piece of paper said ‘Barack Obama’ and his address in Kansas, which is the state where his mother comes from. Mary carried the slip of paper around in her wallet for years, before it was thrown out.
-He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling.
She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.
In the spring of 2006 Mary’s parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.
In a letter to Mary’s parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped ‘United States Senate, Washington DC’, Barack Obama writes**:
‘I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help back then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States senator’.
The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

Palin falls on face in Heartland, hope for US rises.

From the Iowa Independent

With weird winks and homespunisms, Palin worked in several “you betchas” and “darn rights” and even a “shout out” to family in an effort to appeal to just folks.

As a small-town Iowan I didn’t find it genuine at all. She actually talked down to us, figuring that references to hockey moms and the hackneyed phrase “Joe Six Pack” and her self-application of the word “maverick” would hold more sway than a discussion of the issues. Details do matter — something the last two weeks and the current two wars have shown Americans.

On energy policy, one of the more important issues in Iowa, Palin could not explain GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s repeated votes against wind power, ethanol, and the renewable energy that have been so vital to the economy around here. She didn’t even give it the old college try.

Instead, as her party’s chief cheerleader, Palin corrected Biden on the — err… — cheer. It’s not “drill, drill, drill” but “drill, baby, drill,” Palin noted gleefully.

What? You want an explanation for the picture? Oil spills coat birds in oil. When you, drill baby drill, you will produce the occasional oil spill. If you are a lucky penguin rescued from an oil spill, someone might put a sweater on you to keep you warm while you recover from your oil bath. I realize there are no penguins in Alaska, but they are representative of all the harmed wildlife, just 'cause they're so darn cute.


Thanks, CultureKitchen