Politics: Incitement to Violence

ICHC FTLOL

The Foofaraw-Of-The-Day (hereinafter FoTD) was that some motherfucking idiot butthole surfer decided to create a poll asking whether his fellow FaceBookers thought that President Obama deserved assassination.

For those who don't use FaceBook, lots and lots of third-party developers write little apps that you can use to do silly stuff on FB, like create stupid polls that actually go to your FB account and pull all kinds of data about you and your friends and then sell it to people who want to pay money to find out what kind of people use FB and how dumb they are and also how likely to pay money for the dumb things these people want to sell them.

So there's this third-party app that lets you create polls. And most of the polls are really silly, harmless stuff like "What flavour of ice-cream are you?" and "Do you wear frilly panties?" and shit like that.

Well, this bright soul (not) decides to create this fucking poll about whether the President should be assassinated, and the choices it gives you are (Yes), (Maybe), (If he cuts my healthcare), and (No).

Some 700 or so other idiots found this poll and decided to take it. Well, actually, the first person to take it probably sent it to five other friends, who sent it to 25 other friends, and it snowballed. To the credit of most of the idiots who took it, the answer was NO by a staggering margin. And the total number of responses was very small in terms of the total number of users on FB. And, the Internets responded by reporting the dumb motherfucker to the Secret Service.

To FB's credit, they immediately suspended polls when this was brought to their attention. They then had a little talk with the app developer, asking him to fix his code so that no one could ever do such a revoltingly swinish thing again. Which he is, I believe, doing as we squeak. They also had their little session with the Secret Service and, no doubt, have turned over captured IP addresses and the like.

Welp. It won't be too long before the Men In Black have a little conversation with the feckin' eejit who wrote that feckin' poll, will it, now?



Good luck, you scum-sucking swine. You're going to need all of it that you can get. Not that we think you should be allowed much of anything, with the exception of bread, water, and shelter from the elements in a jail cell for some years, but hey. You get your day in court while the prosecutor tries to prove you guilty.

Maybe this will stop the likes of Annhole Coulter, Glen Blech, and Flush Rimbowl from making their unacceptable and unwarranted cracks about poisoning Supreme Court Justices, or the Speaker of the House, or shooting at the Speaker or the President.

Listen up, Fuckwits, one and all: US Code TITLE 18 PART I CHAPTER 115 § 2385:

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.

So before you form into astroturfer organizations carrying placards advocating the violent overthrow of the government, please note that it is a fucking CRIME as defined by law. There are penalties for this kind of hate speech. You can't run around flapping your ugly gobs about killing people without consequences.

Do you understand, you cone-headed dimwits? The Free Speech amendment to the Constitution gives you the right PEACEABLY to assemble. Read it, idiots:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

If you're not assembling PEACEABLY, without guns or hate speech or threats or incitements to crime, well, there are consequences for that kind of behaviour. You have to take responsibility for your bullshit, assholes. Better start sending money to the ACLU now, motherfuckers, because they're the only ones that will bail your oversized useless lardy asses out of the hoosegow.

Moreover, these heah threats you're making against your freely and fairly elected President? That shit is laid out in the same fucking code, you worthless buttfucks. Read it and meep: TITLE 18 PART I CHAPTER 41 § 871.

Threats against President and successors to the Presidency

(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) The terms “President-elect” and “Vice President-elect” as used in this section shall mean such persons as are the apparent successful candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained from the results of the general elections held to determine the electors of President and Vice President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 1 and 2. The phrase “other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President” as used in this section shall mean the person next in the order of succession to act as President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 19 and 20.

OK, assholes? Didja get that? Do you understand the words of more than one syllable here? The next time one of you motherfuckers starts making that cocksucking pout of the lips and spouting off about the tree of liberty being watered with the blood of tyrants? Y'awl better be prepared to see some Men In Black coming through the front door, the back door, or both.

What part of PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE do you pointy-headed assholes not get? "Peaceably to assemble" does not mean "bring your fucking Uzis and AK-47s to the town hall and terrify little children and old ladies," do you get that yet?



Because by all you fucking hold holy, you brainless walking excrement, if you harm one hair on the head of our lawfully elected President, our Vice-President, or our Speaker of the House, be prepared for some real patriots to kick the holy fucking shit out of your cheetos-laden ass.

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Health Care: What YOU Can Do

If you've been following the Health Care Reform fight, then you know that the Senate Finance Committee met today to vote on Max Baucus' bill.

Well, five Blue Running Dogs joined the Republicans to vote against the public option authored by Senator Rockefeller (D-W.Va). This, despite the fact that two out of every three of their constituents (or more) FAVOUR a Public Option. And despite the fact that the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) has already published a report stating that Rockefeller's version of the public option would save the government between $50 billion and $150 billion over a ten-year period.

Needless to say, ALL the Republicans voted against the Public Option. So down it went in flames.

The time has come to fight back, people. Get off your duffs. A commenter at HuffPo left the following information on who to contact, and how:

BAUCUS: Phone: (202) 224-2651 Fax: (202) 224-9412
LINCOLN: Phone: (202) 224-4843 Fax: (202) 228-1371
CONRAD: Phone: (202) 224-2043 Fax: (202) 224-7776
NELSON: Phone: (202) 224-5274 Fax: (202) 228-2183
CARPER: Phone: (202) 224-2441 Fax: (202) 228-2190

If you are a constituent of any of these primo assholes, then it is your DUTY to call or fax them and demand to know why they have rejected Rockefeller's money-saving public option. They're now debating Chuck Schumer's version of the public option, a much weaker, watered-down version which won't save the country as much, if anything.

Any constituents of Charles Grassley out there? If you believe you deserve as good health care as he gets thanks to your taxes, call or fax him too, and ask him why he made this statement:

"Government is not a competitor. Government is a predator."

— Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).

Does he really mean it? Has he given up HIS taxpayer-financed health care? Who is his private health care insurer? Why does he not switch over to private health care? If they're good enough for us, they should be good enough for him.

ICHC FTLOL

Give them all an earful, peeps. They deserve it. They've earned it.

Note: This blog does not advocate violence against anyone. However, we reserve the right to mercilessly mock our so-called elected representatives.

Additional note: Although it would be great if the people's representatives could be spayed or neutered, it is, unfortunately, too late, as most of them have already flung their obviously unworthy genes into the pool.

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Entertainment: Humour

ICHC FT LOL

It's needed.

While wingnuttia is exploding in faux outrage over ACORN "scandals," you know, all mad because people are actually helping tenants to organize and poor homeowners to renegotiate their bank loans and evictions and stuff; and the neocons are screaming about starting YET ANOTHER FUCKING WAR FOR CRISAKE in Iran, conveniently ignoring the fact that General Stanley McChrystal wants half a million fucking troops for fucking Afghanistan, that we don't fucking have; and conveniently ignoring the fact that that big, fat, lardassed war criminal Dick "They Call Me That For A Reason" Cheney is wandering around free, as is Shrubya McWarCriminal; we pause to mop our fevered brow and offer you — bad jokes. They're really bad.

Hey, we need the entertainment.

After an Air Jamaica flight reached its cruising altitude, the captain announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain; welcome to Flight 025, non-stop from Kingston to Miami. The weather ahead is good, so we should have a smooth, uneventful flight. So sit back, relax and...OH, MY GOD!"

Silence followed.

Some moments later the captain came back on the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry if I scared you. While I was talking to you, a flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my trousers!"

One Jamaican passenger yelled, "You BUMBO Rassclaat eediot!.... you should see de BACK of my trousers!!!!!"

I'm sorry, some Jamaicans will probly find the language offensive, but I just LOLed.



This one's for the geeks among us:

Two missionaries are looking down into a jungle clearing at hundreds of natives gathered around a stone likeness of a huge zero.

They strain to hear what the natives are chanting, and finally make it out: "Nulll, nulll, nulll...".

"My God!" one says quietly to the other. "Is nothing sacred?"

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Science: The Hubble and Redshift

Is this cool or what?



Measuring the redshift allows astronomers to figure out how fast these entire galaxies are rushing away from us.

The Big Bang — it's not just commonsense. It's the LAW!!

OK, that was gravity, but in these dark times we need to focus on science to draw us out of the bleak Armageddonish view of the future being promulgated by rightwingnuttia. Carl Sagan was right. "Billions and billions of stars ..." Just waiting for us to explore them all.

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Politics: War Atrocities

Goya, War

Because, as you know, this blog is dedicated to peace, to the end of war and its atrocities, to the hope of a brighter tomorrow when we will no longer throw our children — and everyone else's — into the gaping maw of Moloch.

The combat soldier, as an absolutely deprived person, responds to direct situational exigencies. [...] Deadening fear intermingles with acts of bravery. [...]

If enemy prisoners are taken, they may be subjected to atrocities in the rage of the battle or its immediate aftermath. The soldier's distaste of endangering civilians may be overcome by his fear that [the enemy], of any age or sex, can be responsible for his own death (Ed: Or the death of those of his comrades whom he has been trained to think of as his best and only friends.) Where the opportunity arises, looting often occurs. War souvenirs are frequently collected either to be kept personally or later sold to rear-echelon servicemen. (Italics added. Editorial note from ThePoliticalCat.)

— Charles C. Moskos, as cited inMalaya and Singapore During The Japanese Occupation

The "absolutely deprived person" status that is inflicted on servicemen as part of their basic training has the effect of deadening them to all that is human and humane. Apparently, such deadening no longer has the desired effect, for even these poor, pitiful humans retain some vestige of conscience and feeling. They come back from their war crimes with PTSD, and inflict upon their loved ones, neighbours, families, and society in general, the cost of rehabilitating them and dealing with their costly and painful suffering.

Thus, our armies now seek robots, "unmanned drones," that do not, and cannot, suffer any twinge of conscience about killing the innocent, the unarmed, the civilians who are so unfortunate as to live in a zone of war.

It is stated as a matter of fact in many of the memoirs written by PoWs in the Pacific Theater during WW II that their Korean and Taiwanese guards were often more brutal and inhumane than even the Japanese soldiers, who committed unparalleled war crimes in their imperialist expansion into Southeast Asia. Upon reading at greater length of the treatment meted out to these unfortunate "Imperial subjects" of Korea and Taiwan, it becomes clear that the dehumanization process to which these unfortunate "subjects" were subjected could only be remedied or stalled by inflicting upon their helpless prisoners torments that were at least as unpleasant as those that they themselves suffered.

Thus the cycle continues. Each person one rung up on the ladder of abuse directs their kicks and blows to those one rung below. Those at the very bottom of that ladder have no one upon whom to vent their frustrations and rage, and so turn them inward and punish each other and themselves, as they have been taught and shown to do.

Picasso, Guernica

When will humanity emerge from these dark ages? When will we evolve beyond the need of war? It must come soon, or we will surely destroy ourselves and all we hold dear. Iran announced the existence of a hidden uranium-refining facility, and everywhere, the neocons have crawled out of the woodwork demanding an immediate attack upon that unfortunate nation. Why? Because the government of the State of Israel, a bunch of neocon hacks and hawks to the last man, are "afraid" of the possibility that Iran might soon have nuclear weapons. Earliest estimates of this happening range from one to five years. Not that facts should get in the way of hysteria, of course.

Israel possesses an arsenal of nuclear weapons, but will neither confirm nor deny that it does so. Israel is not a signatory to the NNPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty). Iran is. Iran has notified the IAEA, as required by its membership in the IAEA, of its "secret" facility. Iran has also agreed to permit IAEA inspectors to assess its nuclear sites. Israel, not being a signatory to this, most important treaty, refuses to release any information whatsoever about what its doing with nuclear power. Israel is a hawkish state, constantly engaging in acts of hostility against its neighbours, supported by the U.S. to the tune of $10 million in taxpayer money PER DAY. In addition to obscene yearly quantities of military aid. Just this year, despite our own horrendous economic situation, we gave Israel nearly $3 billion in military aid.

The interests of the Israeli people are not being represented by their government, which prefers to use its own civilians as an excuse for further armament rather than negotiate peaceful solutions with its neighbours. Children of Abraham, of Hagar and Sarah, the time has come to beat your swords into plowshares. If you do not, then you will all be obliterated when the Third World War begins, because there are too many people who want it to begin on your doorstep. It is not a war that anyone will survive.

As Tom Lehrer sang, "We'll all go together when we go." Rather than contemplate the death of every living being on this planet, let us work together to a just solution. It can be done, if we all insist on it. Those Christian Dominionists who want Armageddon and The Rapture, do you think that teacher who said "Love thy neighbour as thyself; there is no greater commandment than [this]" would care for your efforts to create Armageddon?

Crossposted over at The Peace Tree

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Caturday! Belated, Dammit

It was too hot to do much of anything yesterday except lie about in misery, reading a labour history of Malaya and Singapore between 1933 and 1941. So we fucked up.

We bring you a belated Caturday post in apology.

ICHC for teh LOL!

And on the seventh day Ceiling Cat rested. And has been resting ever since.



The tomatoes are abundant, the Naked Ladies are still blooming (determined little buggers that they are), and the sweet alyssum is delighting the bees with its honey-scented flowers. Fleabane is spreading throughout the garden, with its sweet, pink-rayed yellow faces, and the big blue lily turf has finally, hesitantly, set a few flower spikes. Pissing in the garden is a tradition at La Casa de Los Gatos, and the kitties sure do help out as much as they can. A cave has been constructed under one of the lavenders, just big enough to fit the Fat Bandicoot's fat tush. Those (black and) white kitties gotta stay out of the sun, yaknow. Or risk skin cancers.

That's right. If you have a white, or mostly white, kitteh, be sure to keep them out of the sun. Or put SPF lotion on them. I don't think teh kittehs really go for the whole hats-n-shades, long-sleeved shirts look.

An owl has taken up residence in a nearby redwood tree. The hoots can be disconcerting in the still, hot nights, but I'm hoping the native rodent population will be suitably fearful of trespassing on what's left of the (scorched, dry, sunbaked) garden.

It's never been this hot in the decades that I've lived up here in the fog belt. Two days a year, we'd get up to, oh, 90F. Last night the thermometer was definitely in the 90s, but it's been that way off and on throughout the year. What will winter be like this year?

James Inhofe should only spontaneously combust for all the lies he keeps flogging about global warming. Oklahoma, where the fuck did you find such an unqualified all-time ignoramus and loser? Isn't there anyone in the state with more than one working brain cell?

The only positive thing to say about this heat is, it sure does put one in the mood for rubbin' nubbins. So if you have a nubbin that needs rubbin', do like these guys:

Picture courtesy of T.L. Holland, via teh InnerToobs

OK, maybe just the ones in the left panel. Those guys on the right have way too many sharp teeth goin' there.

And remember, if you can't be with the one you love — love the one you're with! And if you ain't with anyone, goddammit, get out there and start looking. If everybody was fucking a lot more, we'd be too tired to fight as much.

Oh, yeah, and here's your song:

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Health Care: Who's the Real Victim, Here?

Well, Will Farrell wants YOU to know the TRUTH about the public option:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Mr. Ferrell, you da man!

Laugh your ass off, peeps. It's one of the few moments of Teh Funny in this long and bitter fight.

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Caturday!

ICHC

The garden calls!

The Shasta daisies shriveled up and went south thanks to the exceptionally long spell of hot, dry weather we've had. It's fire season now, and in a month's time, hot dry Santa Ana winds will be blowing. The garden's mostly weeded but the last week's two days of wet weather has caused annoying weed sproutage, and we must repair to its recondite depths to pull those suckers out before THEY get dry and provide kindling to the oily eucalypts on neighbouring slopes. The idiot neighbour has planted their lower garden with Spanish broom. Or is it Scotch broom? Right next to an extensive wooden fence.



The big bougainvillea has lost most of its vivid magenta flowers. The small one has put forth a couple of hopeful-looking buds, though we suspect they won't last long in the heat. The naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna with their perfumey scent) are nearly done blooming, their pure pink trumpets beginning to dry and droop a little. Big blue lily turf (Liriope muscarii) didn't flower this year, and hasn't spread very far either.

The yellow cosmos made a good showing. And magenta-flowering ice plant is creeping back (must be eliminated!) The California lilac (Ceanothus, which isn't a lilac at all but a supposedly-fragrant native) has gotten very woody and leggy in spots and must be pruned hard, though getting down to that part of the hill is as much as a human life is worth. Very tricky, and interspersed with thorny climbing roses and nettles. The bloody deer did not bother to prune my fucking roses for me this year because the lousy buggers have been too busy eating the fucking tomatoes, wouldn't you know? Venison carpaccio is how they're ending up, the little fuckers.



No gaillardia blossoms, although the echium and the buddleia were profuse, for a change. But the buddleia is deadwood, mostly, now, and the echium's long floret-laden spikes are brown with seed to set. Luckily, the plumbago lining the hill is lifting sky-blue heads to the sun, and red-and-yellow lantana and lavender continues to feed the bees and visiting birds. And, of course, the Brazilian princess flower, Tibouchina urvillea, has a few buds left. Oh, and white oleander is flowering all over the hill. Needs a hard cutting back, or it'll get too spready and leggy and collapse all over itself. Rather as we've been known to do around the seventh glass of alcoholic beverage.

Fuck it! It's Caturday, the sun is shining, there's a terrific pasta sauce with homemade tomatoes awaiting our hungry maws, and we're off to the garden, felines in tow. Let's hope Madu has left no new dead and partly disassembled rats on our favourite resting spots. It's hard enough to weed the garden with feet splayed and one hand clinging to the nearest rock or branch, without having to worry about avoiding rat guts as well.

Ai neva duz dis. Ai eetz dem all up.

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The Police State

Cheye Calvo and Trinity Tomsic

Update. Cheye Calvo, mayor of Berwyn Heights, writes a piece in the WahPoo (Washington Post, in case you hadn't guessed) about the ordeal he suffered at the hands of the police of Prince George's County, as we blogged before.

We're glad to see that Mayor Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, have filed suit against these apparatchiks of the fascist state. These are the people the ReapUglyCans want us to submit to. They're pro-police, pro-authority, pro-the strong, long arm of governmental control — at least until it comes to them. They, themselves, are, of course, beyond the reach of the law. Or think they should be. Schmucks.

In case you were comatose at the time and failed to see anything about the case, the Prince George's County sheriff's office, in the course of a War on Drugs police sting, delivered a package of marijuana (the noble weed, for crisake! Aren't there shitloads of meth freaks they should be concentrating on? Fuckwits.) to the Tomsic-Calvo household, then used that incident for a "no-knock" breaking down of the Tomsic-Calvo home's front door, and held the inhabitants at gunpoint (including Tomsic's elderly mother) for several hours.

Oh, and they shot the couple's two friendly black Labs, one just a puppy. Shot them dead and left them lying in pools of their own blood while they held Mayor Calvo and his mother-in-law at gunpoint.

The poor little pupsters

They did all this without bothering to coordinate with the Berwyn Heights police. What a bunch of fucking eejits. Naturally, when it came out that a middle- to upper-middle class WHITE family had been held at gunpoint and had their pets murdered before their eyes, the outrage over the incident went international, and the Sheriff's office got the butt-fucking it deserved.

Of course, they do this every day in this country to people of colour. Even college professors.

At least Calvo and Tomsic will get their day in court. Hopefully, they'll succeed in bringing about the death of this "no-knock warrant" shit, as blatant a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution as ever there was. Does anyone think the Founding Fathers would have approved of this?

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Music

over at the sisterblog. After years of searching, I find Amazing Blondel online. Don't like it? Don't whine to me about it. Three pieces from Side 1 of Fantasia Lindum.

Yes, I do realize the cover art up there is from the Evensong album, not Fantasia Lindum. Tough.

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Politics: From The Department of

Holy mother of god, you can't make this shit up.

No matter how hard you try.



Wingnuttia in all its rancid, um, glory? Gloryholeyness? Holy quacking duckshit, people. Not a single one of these benighted dipshits has the first fucking clue what they're talking about. Not one. Just listening to them makes our brain hurt. Fascism=Socialism=Communism? Do they have the first fucking clue that millions of progressives, liberals, and socialists came together to defeat the fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II? That millions of people died to rid this world of fascism? That the fascists hunted down and murdered progressive Socialists and labour organizers and ... most frightening of all ... just about anybody who looked and talked like this bunch of morons?

In the Third Reich, every single one of these hapless fools would have been sterilized on eugenic grounds. Their collective IQ is probably lower than the number of teeth they possess.

Please. Listen to them for as long as you can. It'll make you hurl. Jayzus is King. Fuck you, manureheads. Jayzus may be your fucking king, but this country has a constitution that says NO FUCKING KINGS ANY MORE! No how, no way. And church is SEPARATE from State. So fuck you and your Jayzus. Take your caterwauling to your fucking insane brethren and cistern. Shrieking Shiva! The Marching Morons, by gum.

PS: Is it just me or are they a bunch of old, fat, white, out-of-shape turds who are probably benefiting from the very same "gubmint-run" programs that they're protesting? Yaknow, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, VA, disability benefits, workers' comp, unemployment benefits, and the like? And what a diverse group!

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Health Care: This Is Your Song!

Yeah!!! We're Number 37!



Longtime friend, commenter, and fellow-blogger Brian sent me this. Catchy tune, huh? Pity we can't play this at all the town halls!

Enjoy!

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Health Care: The Man Is On FIAH!

Your President Needs YOU

To fight for health care!

Listening to our President addressing Minnesotans in a health care town hall. It's all good, people, it's all fantastic. He's laying it out for the people and they are going WILD! He just announced that the same people in Congress who are yawping about how Medicare will be killed, chilled, spilled, spat on, shat on, are the same people who have been trying to kill Medicare for years.

President Obama reiterated that he was willing to listen to anyone who had workable ideas for health care, regardless of their political affiliation. But, in a new move, he also stated,

"I will not waste time with people who think it's just good politics to kill health care. [...] I'm not going to let people misrepresent what's in my plan. I will not accept the status quo. Not this time. Not now."

He talked about how members of Congress have been fucking around regarding this legislation. He also said that there was agreement about 80 per cent of health care reform. The remaining 20 per cent needs to be nailed down, but he did say we are closer than we have ever been to achieving health care reform.

"This is the hard part. This is when the special interests, the insurance companies, the people who think this is a good way to bring Obama down -- this is when they spread wild rumours."

He talked about "pundits" in Washington who have said, "Maybe you're trying to do too much too soon." Let me guess: those pundits would HAVE health care, yes? He called out those who depict his push for health care reform as "socialism" by pointing out that when FDR introduced Social Security, his enemies called it "socialism" too. He pointed out that senior citizens helped pass Social Security and Medicare, and detailed FDR's struggles with change.



In closing, he said something that I've always strongly felt: Change doesn't come from the top down, it comes from the bottom up. He called on the people of Minneapolis, and of Minnesota, to help him. The crowd greeted him with shouts, cheers, roars, chants, and multiple standing ovations.

Can I just say how sorry I feel for the Secret Service dudes who have to keep him safe? The people love him, everybody wants to touch him or photograph him or shake his hand. And there's something very genuine about Mr. Obama. He seems to really like people, like physical contact with people.

One didn't get that feeling with either of the Bushes. The elder Bush was clearly a patrician New Englander with a genuine physical discomfort around people. He didn't seem to have any empathy with those who didn't belong in his "class." The younger Bush had a completely inappropriate set of behaviours that was downright creepy. He grabbed the Chinese Premier by the sleeve to drag him offstage (the look on Hu's face was priceless. If he'd had the Patented Laser Glare, Georgie would've been fried to a crisp).

Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

He tried to give a decidedly unwelcome back rub to the German Prime Minister that resulted in a public show of horror on her part. Anyone who's ever been groped by some creepy uncle or child molester will empathize with Ms. Merkel's reaction. He manhandled female athletes in a well-publicized shot.

President Obama comes across very very different. He's openly affectionate to his wife and children. He's reserved and cool in public, yet he seems to like the people he interacts with, genuinely like them. He seems genuinely appreciative of their ideas and opinions, he seems to care about their travails.

ICHC

So he's asking us to step up now and fight for our health care. Are you going to do your bit? All fired up? Ready to go?

It's the fight of our lifetime, people. Unchecked, healthcare costs have long since outstripped wage increases (wages have been stagnant for quite a while); the American consumer has made reductions in spending to deal with the facts of stagnant wages, unsustainable debt, an economy struggling out of recession, financial sector malfeasance, and tightened credit — and those reductions seem to be becoming part of the norm. In other words, don't expect the American consumer to increase spending when this recession is over. In an economy that is largely fueled by the hitherto-profligate spending habits of the American consumer, this is not the best sign. But it is a sign of the times. A sign of the changes that need to be made for a sustainable planet, a sustainable globally interactive economy.

If health care costs (currently between 15 and 20 per cent of GDP) are not contained, they will soon amount to an unsustainable burden on the economy. Very soon. It makes sound fiscal sense to move towards cost containment AND broadly inclusive health care. We pay double what Canadians do for less care. And in an era of global connectivity and climate change, we are at greater risk than ever of epidemics. So do your bit, peeps. For yourself, your friends, your family, your nation, and your world.

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Caturday! It go boom!

iz that litning i herd? it go boom!

(c) 2009 K. Smokey Cormier

We are having a thunderstorm here in the Oakland Bay Area. Very exciting! But the cats don't like it.

Have a great Caturday, everyone!!

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A Moment of Silence

We all know what day it is.

President Barack Obama has challenged us to turn this day into a positive memorial to those who died by making it a day of service.

So mote it be.

We're off to do our bit for the neighbourhood and fire prevention. Have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend, all.

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Health Care: What YOU Can Do

ICHC FTW!

Fight the good fight. That's right. The fight is on, people. The President gave Congress plenty of time to write a decent bill. He even gave them guidelines for what he would accept.

They've been fucking around for too long. Bernie Sanders put forth a good bill, but will it get considered when House and Senate attempt reconciliation to create the final bill? Meanwhile, Max "Blue Running Dog" Baucus of the Senate Finance Committee has put forth a "bill" written by — not Maxie himself, but by one Liz Fowler, former VP for Public Policy and External Affairs at WellPoint, a health insurance company which is the largest member of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. WellPoint has aggressively lobbied against health reform, especially a public option. WellPoint has also recently come under fire for pressuring its employees to lobby against health care reform, claiming reform would cause “…tens of millions of Americans to lose their private coverage and end up in a government-run plan.”

Well, here's what Matt Taibbi has to say about this whole health care reform scam. While La Casa de Los Gatos doesn't always agree with Taibbi, we think he's brilliant and his take on these events is a point of view well worth reading.

For those of a more religious bent, or surrounded by those of a more religious bent, with whom you're trying to argue yet, here are some excellent points from a Christian blogger who advances an irrefutable argument.

Although we've always held that religion makes you crayzee, this lady is a clear exception to the rule. It's possible to be religious without losing your critical faculties, reasoning powers, logic, and rational thought. Thank you, Lisa!

In the meantime, please note that the yammerati on TV and in the press are yawping on endlessly about The Lewin Group's studies that show bla de bla bla bla. Well, folks, the Lewin Group are a fucking bunch of shills. They're nothing but a subsidiary of health insurance giant UnitedHealth. How convenient, eh? They do the "research" and feed it to Congress and the people, and nobody bothers to disclose the fact that they're actually part of one of the groups that stands to profit from failure to reform the broken healthcare system. Next time you hear someone yawping "But the Lewin Group says ...," please interrupt them with, "But the Lewin Group is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth." Or whatever you feel is appropriately scathing in the circumstances.

We don't even need to discuss the Baucus bill, or, more correctly, the WellPoint bill. It's bad, it's wrong, it's going to cost taxpayers more for less and penalize people who want health care and small business while giving billions of our money away to corporate greedbags. Firedoglake has all the dirt and details. The MSM, or corporate media, if you prefer, is giving Ms. Fowler a virtual tongue-bath for her "dedication to health care reform," without hardly mentioning her years spent raking in the bucks as a corporate VP for one of the worst greedbags in the health "insurance" business. Fuck 'em.

Here is a scorecard, created by HealthCareNow, which rates single-payer versus public option. We want single payer, we need single payer. Baucus/Fowler's bill won't even give us public option. Instead, it will force us to buy expensive insurance, with a penalty of nearly $4,000 for those who don't/won't/can't afford it. Businesses who refuse to buy health insurance coverage for their employees will get fined a whole whopping $400. Which of these entities can better afford the larger sum, a business, or an individual?

So we need to tell Baucus to roll up his bill and stick it where the sun don't shine. He's getting public health care, why won't he share it with us? Notice that neither he nor Fowler are rushing to get off their publicly-funded health care and rush to the loving arms of WellPoint? Baucus has taken nearly $4 million from the health care industry. Gee, where do you suppose his loyalties lie?

Over at HuffPo where the debate is raging strong, I found several comments that inspired me. I'd like to share them with you:

Commenter CtTransplant:

Never ever ever give up!!! Folks, do not forget the marches on September 13th!!!
If not now, when? If not us, who?

Kennedy was one of our greatest champions of health care reform. He carried the torch for a long time...and now it is up to us to continue to carry it!

Our elected officials in Congress receive health care mostly paid for by us tax payers, yet many are trying to make it impossible for us to purchase an affordable plan of our own :

While many of us are struggling to afford medical insurance/medical bills.
While Congress people try to stop healthcare reform.
While Congress people accept large contributions from lobbyists to prevent health care reform.

Please sign these petitions - and by all means, spread the word! Thank you!

http://www.petitiononline.com/PubOp676/petition.html
http://www.democrats.com/honor-ted-kennedy?cid=ZGVtczQ0MTA5OGRlbXM=
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4922/content.jsp?content_KEY=2763&tag=hk1_typ-e1

Absolutely. Sign the damn petitions. Maybe it won't mean doodly-squat. And maybe it will. If enough voices shout out loud, our cowardly pathetic weaseling politicians will no longer be able to say, "We didn't know you felt that way." Maybe the bastards will at least be forced to buy a little lube for the next public screwing they have planned.

Commenter IzzyCA:

We are organizing marches and rallies all over the country to support health care reform and the public option on Sunday, September 13.

Want to join our marches/rallies?
Facebook: March for Healthcare group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118144661546#/group.php?gid=118144661546
Wiki: http://healthcaremarch.pbworks.com/FrontPage#view=page
Website: http://www.march4healthcare.com/

That's SUNDAY, people. It's a day off from work. Take that day to go out onto the streets and show our politicians that we're not fooled by their dodging and ducking. The media has been slow to cover the REAL news. They like to take videos and photos of angry screaming loons at town halls because that sells airtime, or column inches.

Well, fuck that shit. If enough bodies turn out on the streets, some senior editor is going to say, "For fuck's sake go out there and find out why the cops are out and traffic is blocked and bring me back a goddamned story and some damn good pitchers or your ass is grass."

So, c'mon, y'awl. That's something you can do WITH your kids, for free. Take them out to a health care rally. That way, if we lose this fucking fight, you can at least say, hey kids, remember when? I did my bit. But we won't lose, if enough of us fight back.

For those going to DC, details are here.

The bill in the house that contains the provisions we want and need is Conyers' HR-676. In the Senate, it's Bernie Sanders S.703. In the event, it sure as hell is not going to be the Baucus/Fowler bill. DO NOT WANT!



To find out where the closest health care rally is, go here. Create an account, or if you already have one, log in. Scroll down the right side of the page and click Find an Event, and you'll be directed to an event being held closest to the zip code that you entered when you created your account.

And remember, if health care is not reformed and soon, it's going to end up breaking the slowly-recovering economy. We pay more than double what our Canadian neighbours do, for less health care. If people tell you, "Well, Canadians come here for their health care all the time," point out to them that the number of Canadians who come here for their health care is way way less than even one per cent of their population; most Canadians are very happy with their health care; and lots of Americans go over there for health care, too.

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Entertainment: Because You Need It

We're going to be talking about serious stuff in a minute or ten. In the interim, enjoy Sandy-LA's contribution to your greater amusement. What would we do without YouTube?



County by county, state by state. Let's work for success. The Rethugs have no plan, no ideas, no leaders, no nothing but lobbyist money and corruption and a hope that President Obama will fail, causing us endless misery. Because at this point, he is our President and he has plans to fix some of the biggest problems facing this country, facing you and me, and if he fails, America fails, and most of us suffer (not the Republicans who will keep getting their welfare handouts from the health insurance companies and other thugs, liars, cheats, and goons, who want to squeeze every last drop of blood from our bodies, but the rest of us? Not so good). We don't want to suffer another day.

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Meta: Announcement

ICHC

Please note the "Share" button under every post. You can now share the fervid rants of this site with all your friends and soon-to-be-enemies. Thanks to friend and fellow-blogger Maru for helping me with this!

More changes will come as soon as the Feline Master Race at La Casa de Los Gatos permits.

In the meanwhile, please keep this weekend free to rally for health care. This fight isn't over yet, and we will post at length on the health care reform issues as they now stand. We'll go down fighting, dammit!

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Politics: Republican "Fambly Values"

Today's dose of Republican Fambly Values is brought to you by California Assemblymember Michael Duvall of Orange County. Duvall, who earned himself a 100 per cent rating for Repuglican Fambly Values, aka hatin' on teh ghey, was caught on tape talking about fucking two married female lobbyists. Apparently, the sex also involved spankings. Apparently, he has a habit of discussing his sexual adventures with other people in that deeply disturbing and creepy way that pervs usually have.



Apparently, the Assembly has no "zero tolerance" policy in place for such creepy perviness. In the commercial workplace if you corner your colleagues and start talking about scoring hot booty points the previous evening, you can be fired immediately for actions "contributing to a hostile workplace environment." But not in our Legislative bodies, where these slimy old hypocrites sit to pass the laws that regulate our lives.

Incidentally, both the fuckees were lobbying for industries that are regulated by the fucker. Ain't that sweet? Orange County, y'all need to get rid of this asshole. If it hasn't dawned on you by now that he sure as fuck ain't representing your interests, man, do y'awl need the trademarked Golden Bat o'Clue whumped upside your heads!



The OC Weekly has named the lobbyist Duvall is porking. FTA:

"Their relationship is the worst-kept secret in Sacramento," a capitol staffer recently told me. "He's old and fat. She's hot, blonde and about 20
 years younger. He could have never gotten a woman like that before he got
 this job.'"

[...]

"Assemblyman Duvall has been a consistent trooper for the conservative causes," CRI president Karen England announced in March. "For the last two years, he has voted time and time again to protect and preserve family values in California. We are grateful for his support of California
 families.'"

Acknowledging the CRI award, Duvall observed in a press release that as long as he is in office, he would work to protect "California families" from "constant assault in Sacramento."

Somebody should tell that to the families of the TWO women he is cheating on his wife with. Oh, yeah, and what about his two kids and wife? Apparently, he's content to "constantly assault" family values, he just doesn't want the rest of Sac'to joining in. Or something.

Is anybody surprised that this schmuck is an outspoken supporter of Prop 8? Or that he's voted against "Domestic Violence Protection," whatever that is?

Oh, and guess what? The creepy old perv sits on the Ethics Committee. Time to get him off that one, fersure. Also the Utilities and Commerce Committee, where he gets to decide on things that affect all our lives.

If you're disgusted by the gross, vulgar, unbelievably stupid and hypocritical "Fambly Values" displayed by this idiot, feel free to check out his Democratic opponent, John MacMurray. You can donate to his campaign here.

Update: Duvall has resigned. Naturally, he has not apologized or expressed any regret for being a scum-sucking scumbag. Let's hope the wife and both mistresses confront him and ensure that he spends the rest of his life panhandling on the streets of Yorba Linda. Yes, he's from there. Nixon is spinning in his grave.

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Women's Rights: Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Well, well, well. It appears that the Sudanese courts have weaseled out of facing up to courageous feminist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein. Ms. al-Hussein was arrested some time ago at a cafe in the city of Khartoum for offending against laws regulating women's clothing. She was wearing loose trousers and a tunic, with a scarf covering her hair. Pretty indecent, huh?

Some ten other women who were arrested with her accepted their sentence of a whipping. Not Ms. al-Hussein. She resigned her position at the UN, thereby forfeiting any political protection she might otherwise be able to claim, and openly stated she would rather take 40,000 lashes than the 40 to which she might have been sentenced if the courts could show her from where their authority to punish women for this supposed crime was derived. She claims that the Qur'an does not sanction the dress she wore, that her clothing was within the bounds of what constitutes modest dress, and that the law, as it is written, is vague and overbroad, constituting discrimination against women who can be arrested and punished under it at the discretion of those paid to enforce such law.

She printed invitations to the foreign and local press to attend her trial and promised that, if sentenced to a whipping, she would send out invitations to that event as well.

Sudan's syariah courts have responded by fining her instead of delivering the promised whipping. Although they have not, of course, responded to her challenge to show wherefrom their authority to whip women such as herself was derived.

Ms. al-Hussein has said that she will not pay the 500-pound ($200) fine, preferring to go to jail for a month instead.

What a woman! Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, you are an inspiration! Women of Sudan, take heart. As long as you have people like Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein among you, you can fight those beardy old mullahs who spend too much time minding other people's business and not enough minding their own. And you can win! Women of America, it's time to let the home-grown Talebangelists know that you won't accept their restrictions on your rights!

And just remember, folks: Religion makes you FUCKING CRAZY~!

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Workers' Rights: Happy Labour Day

The U.S. is the only nation in the world that celebrates Labour Day on a day other than May 1st, which is International Labour Day. There's reasons for that, even if they are pathetic, wimpy reasons. But enough with the quibble.

Today is Labour Day in this fair nation, and let us all take the time to remember that it was the strong hands of working men and women that gave us the blessings we take for granted today. Let us honour those workers, both voluntary and involuntary (although, let's face it, unless you're doing something you really love, all work is involuntary. We work so that we will not starve.), who built the roads, the bridges, the hospitals and schools, who taught our children and nursed our sick and cared for our aged and our poor. Who grew our crops and picked them and trucked them to market so we could enjoy the bounty of the land. Who designed and built and assembled the cars we drove. Who fixed our machines and worked on our railroads.

Remember the slaves of African descent who were forced to give the fruits of their labour to others, who profited greatly from them. Remember the Chinese railroad workers, brought here in their thousands to provide cheap labour while surviving somehow in substandard housing, the victims of hatred. Remember the Japanese truck gardeners and market gardeners, imprisoned in concentration camps and robbed of the fruits of their labour and everything they owned. Remember the Indians who came as farmers and agricultural labourers and were vilified for their ethnicity and religion, prohibited from bringing their wives and families and victims of the same Exclusion Act that was used to discriminate against the Chinese. Remember the Irish, sold into indentured servitude which outlasted their own lifetimes in many cases. Remember those of every ethnicity and colour, the workers who came from all over the world seeking freedom and a better life for themselves or their children.



Without the labour of millions of hard-working people, we would not have the abundance of riches that we enjoy today. Therefore, as we enjoy this public holiday, let us remember those who made today a day off from work for millions of labouring men and women. And let us honour those who suffered in the long struggle for the right of working people everywhere to be treated as human beings, and not chattel.

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Belated Caturday post

ICHC

Sorry, Caturday celebrants. The health care fight has all the inhabitants of La Casa de Los Gatos involved to the extent of forgetting our duties!

A slow week at mi casa. The heat has been terrible. So terrible, the resident gatos y gata have been lying around like lumps instead of providing the usual daily entertainment in the form of charming antics.

With the sole exception of the doggie. We now have proof that Zingiber is implicated in the bedside positioning of toys. We pulled out their toy crate from under the dinner wagon recently, and some feline liberated four or five woolly white mice (with little bells and red wool tails) and strewed them all over the living room floor. And some other feline brought the stuffed toy doggie (about the size of a small cat) upstairs.

We knew that Gustav used to bring the terrycloth bunny to bed with him, but he appears to have lost interest in it now and prefers to dokhol (a nice Bengali word roughly translated as dominating or appropriating, or otherwise taking possession of) Gojira's pillow.

But the stuffed doggie is too big for Gustav to carry, what with his wonky back end. It's only very slightly smaller than him, in fact. It would be quite the struggle.

So we threw the wretched thing downstairs. Whereupon, who should we spy that very evening, struggling his fat lumpen way upstairs, doggie firmly clamped in his enormous jaws, trying to meowl past its bulk as it dangled, threatening to trip him with every step, but — Zingiber himself. When next we looked, the doggie was carefully tucked into bed, with Zingiber next to it.

For each of the past seven days, the same drama has ensued. We wake to find the unwelcome doggie sharing the bed; fling it downstairs in a fit of pique with some hard words addressed to the sleeping and terminally indifferent Lump; we return to the bedroom at bedtime. And up comes Zingiber making that stifled meowing sound that cats usually use to announce the capture of prey to other cats. Sort of a MRRRooowwwrrr. And back goes the doggie into the bed at some point in the night when the tired hoominz are off guard, or asleep and unable to prevent such mayhem.

To his credit, Bandicoot eyes the dog and his stupid brother with some disfavour, and can often be heard muttering to himself under his breath as he exits the bed for less disrupted sleeping spots. He himself prefers the small woolly mice with their little bells. Fortunately, he likes to sleep so we don't get woken by ringing mouse-bells in the wee hours.

Tonight the doggie is resting peacefully downstairs. Let's see if Zingiber has worked the need for a doggie sleeping partner out of his system, or if we'll have to eject the wretched thing from our bed in the morning again.

Have you ever noticed that a single cat, however small, can easily dokhol a whole bed so that any humans sharing it are squashed into the corners?

Gojira and Zingiber with lasers set to macerate

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World: Afghanistan

Welp, it looks like more and more Dems are coming around to Senator Russ Feingold's point of view on Afghanistan. And none too soon, given the recent news of rowdy fratboy misbehaviour by U.S. citizens in this deeply conservative Islamic nation.

What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan, anyway? It's a pointless war. The idea was to go in, get bin Laden and whoever else is in charge in al-Qaeda, and get the fuck out. But now, General Stanley McChrystal, top American commander in Afghanistan, is asking for more U.S. troops. And NATO is purportedly planning to increase its commitment to Afghanistan, according to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of NATO. "As long as it takes," says Rasmussen. As long as WHAT takes, sir? What are you hoping to accomplish?

Afghanistan is a pathetically poor nation, historically torn by fighting. Everyone seems to want a piece of that poverty-stricken land, beginning with Sikandar (Alexander the Great to you Greco-Romanists), and moving through Britain and Russia to the United States, and now an alliance of Western powers fronted by NATO. So far, no one's had much luck winning a war there. The British gave up after multiple defeats. The defeat of the Russians occurred within our own lifetimes. And now the US/NATO Coalition of Teh Stupid is getting ground to dust.

Clausewitz has this, among other things, to say about war:

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

Given that Clausewitz is somewhat of an authority on war, it would behoove both NATO and the US to remember that. And what are the politics of Afghanistan?

Historically, Afghanistan has been a land of warring tribes, fierce and intransigent, deeply committed to a harsh version of the Muslim faith it adopted circa 650 AD. United for a little over a century into a kingdom comprising multiple dynasties and tribal alliances, these tribes have long resisted any semblance of comity, being more likely to invest their energies in settling grievances with each other by whatever means and having long since grown adept at manipulating foreigners against each other for their own survival and vengeance.

Thus, the question restates itself: What are the political aims of the U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan? Uniting the country? That seems laughable. There is no "country of Afghanistan," only a series of tribes that have fought each other for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years and will continue to fight each other long after the latest in a series of invaders has been crushed into exhaustion by the hostile climate, terrain, and natives.

Alleviating the lot of the natives? Well, war is the worst possible way to go about that. We appear to be killing lots of innocent, and possibly also not-so-innocent, civilians. In the event, a country torn by war, poverty, corruption, crime, and suffering does not allow democracy to take root in its bitter soil. Democracy requires the active participation of informed people. The people of Afghanistan are too busy fleeing bombs, being killed and maimed, and attempting to stay alive to spend time gathering information. And our presence there, far from alleviating their lot, is killing them.



It doesn't help to have the examples of other failed wars in Asia: Japan's war in China, and the U.S. involvement in Korea, and VietNam. To quote Bernard Viscount Montgomery,

[...] Rule 2 of war [...] is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.
In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962 (Hansard, Col. 227)

And subsequently, upon the involvement of the U.S. in the VietNam conflict:

The US has broken the second rule of war. That is, don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland of Asia. [...]

As is always the case, corruption is rife in a land torn by war. No one seems to care about what the Afghanis themselves think about the Taliban, or the puppet dictator, Hamid Karzai, that we have foisted on them.

What exactly are we hoping to achieve in Afghanistan? Because if our aim is to ensure that natural gas flows from the rich fields around the Caspian Sea to ports where it can be transhipped to countries hungry for this rich natural resource, then perhaps we ought to be less hypocritical about it and either sterilize the entire nation of its inhabitants, or just buy it outright and pay the Afghanis to settle elsewhere.

Inhumane, you say? Of course it's inhumane. But how humane is it to prop up a corrupt, American-owned dictator who watches and pockets our riches anyway even as little girls and boys have their arms and legs blown off?

This is a problem that requires a political, not a military solution. So far, 21,000 troops have been sent there to fight and kill and be killed.

Photo by Julie Jacobson, AP

No more. Let's bring them home, people. Supporting the troops means not using them in the Gee, Dumb? Yeah! war of convenience. The Afghanis don't want us there. They want us to give them the training to become adept at defending themselves and then get the fuck out. What the fuck are we waiting for?

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Health Care: What YOU Can Do

If you haven't done it yet.

ICHC

Eve Gittelson, who blogs as NYCEve over at Daily Kos, needs YOU to sign this goddamned petition. Pass it on, fer the luv o'Mike, and make sure you, and all your friends, neighbours, and cow-orkers sign it!

People, we need to get out there in front of the GOP on this issue. We NEED health care reform with a strong public option, and we need it NOW. Don't let these shite-talkers fool you. The Pharm industry, the health care insurance industry, and the medical lobbyists would not be pouring $1.4 MILLION per day to fight against health care if they didn't think we had a real chance to win.

What? Nobody pours money down the drain. These people are in it for the money. Our money. Yours and mine. They're already drafting plans to raise health care costs, and employers are responding by increasing the amount YOU will pay for your health care. Can you afford to pay more? Do you want to pay more? Real wages have been stagnant for a long time, and they're not going up any time soon.

The same government-run health care that has benefited all those hypocritical Congresscritters who want to deny you what they're getting (for far less than you're paying) has done a fine job of taking care of Federal employees for decades. Why shouldn't you have the same thing your elected representatives have? Do you see any of them dropping their government-run health plan because it's not good enough? Not a single anti-healthcare reform Congresscritter has come out against their own insurance plan or offered to put their money where their mouths are by dropping the coverage in favour of private health care, which they keep telling us is so great. If it's so damn good, you guys, you go first. Drop your government-run health care and get some of that fine private insurance. Go on! Show us the way, you assholes!

Mike Enzi? Mr. "Health care with a public option will never pass"? Drop your government-run health care NOW or explain to us why you won't vote to give us the same thing that you're enjoying, because we're paying for your health insurance, motherfucker.

Jon Kyl? John McCain? Any Republicans out there willing to walk the walk? Or are y'all just good at flapping your gums?

*crickets*

OK, peeps. Facebook friend POE alerted me to these cool tools for fighting the healthcare fight. Sign Firedoglake's petition, and go do some health care reform organization while we still can, and before the damn health insurers suck every last drop of blood right out of our bodies!

Oh, yeah, and don't give me that "I haz helf insurans" line. Yeah, you got it now. But for how long?

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