You got some impressive points there, Jethro

Watch CBS Videos Online

Related story via CBS

...many black voters saw Wilson's actions as part of the heated rhetoric from conservative activists whose protests, including one on the Capitol grounds Saturday, have included depictions of Obama as Adolf Hitler and the comic-book villain the Joker, according to those attending the meetings. It was one thing to have such remarks at town hall meetings during the summer recess but completely different during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, Clyburn and other black Democrats argued, and Democrats needed to stand up for the nation's first black president.

Clyburn has not publicly called Wilson's remark racist, but he told reporters immediately after the speech that Obama is the only president to have been treated in such a manner.

Some black lawmakers were more direct.

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), who received hate mail from constituents during Congress's August break, said Wilson had just returned from the rowdy town hall forums at which the most heated accusations were leveled at Obama.

"I think he was caught up in a moment. The issue is: Would he have done that if the president were white?" Scott said, adding that few Republicans opposed the "level of rhetoric" against Obama in August. "We've got to realize racism is playing a role here. I'm hopeful that this will be a wake-up call for us to get it off the table."

Democrats emphasized that it was not just members of the Congressional Black Caucus seeking to reprimand Wilson, and that a broad cross section of Democrats supported the measure, including Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). Hoyer had argued publicly that Wilson had to make a formal apology from the well of the House chamber or face some sanction.

But Wilson has refused to offer any apology beyond the private phone call he made Wednesday night to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. In a show of defiance Monday, the lawmaker was the first Republican to speak when the chamber opened for a round of brief speeches. Rather than apologizing, Wilson hailed the "patriots" who attended his August town hall forums and opposed a "government takeover" of the health-care system.

But, isn't racist speech protected by the First Amendment? Yeah, but racist ACTIONS are not, and may well mandate the application of the SECOND in extreme circumstances. You see, armed mobs of stupid people are a not inconceivable problem, thanks to racist rabble-rousers like Wilson.

Just accommodating their pin-headed xenophobia bears a price, as Digby shows with real numbers and stuff by ganking a comment from their blog in toto. The full post ain't much longer, and in service of this cause, one good gank deserves another:

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Comment Of The Day

by digby

From Pseudonymous in NC:

Let's talk about real costs. A 7% payroll tax and $120/month -- that's what gets your average French person his/her healthcare -- copays, prescriptions, the works. No unexpected bills, no sticker-shock, no wrangling with insurers.

I'd pay that. I could afford that. I'm not going to pay for dogshit insurance from a corporate parasite, though.

I would guess that's something a lot of people would agree with --- if anyone would make the argument.
.
digby 9/15/2009 01:00:00 PM Comments (33) | Trackback (0)

Liberals, progressives and smart people have a learned aversion to provoking teh stupid, for we all know what happens next: sudden, mindless violence. But since it is sudden and mindless, it can be provoked to enlighten those witnessing the offense.

Come to think of it, we may be seeing just that. It's one of the biggest monkey wrenches in the Community Activist toolkit. But if I were a member of a group committed to provoking such a circumstance, well, I'd be wearing body armor under this t-shirt and packing me some hi-test pepper spray.



Compelling Points by webcarve
The Stupid, It Burns! Oval Fire by webcarve

Monday T-Shirt Rescue and Linkfest.

I've been doing internet chores all day, one of which was to get started on fixing my Zazzle stores. They've been improved, you see. And you know what that means... a lot of work. So I figured I'd try to get started on turning a pile of designs into some sort of coherent organized form.

And of course, I found some old designs I rather liked. Most of these have been used in blog posts over the last several years, but some haven't, and some are topical again.

I'm interspersing with stories I thought worth a thought, with an eye toward there be some vague relationship...

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On Being Hated In a Nation of Assholes

by: David Sirota

I'll put it bluntly: We are becoming a nation of haters - a nation, really, of assholes, or at least dominated by assholes. And sure, maybe we've always been that way - but what's different is that it's become almost impossible to pretend otherwise. There's no more delusions, no more fantasies. Despising one another and ignoring the substance of issues has become the defining mark of Americanness in the 21st century - and that's a tragedy.

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And that kind of sums up my view of the general mood out there in the blogosphere today, what with tea party louts and screaming health care opponents. It's all rather depressing, and the biggest reason I take time to make shirts is to take the edge off.

Upon a careful consideration of views expressed within the public square.

IMG_1302
Originally uploaded by NineTwelvePhotos

Oh HELL no!

Thank you for leaving no doubt whatsoever about which direction to go in order to reach Civilization from here.

Please, as a matter of principle, I implore you to refuse any form of Government subsidized, sponsored or regulated health care.

Your principled stand will make a lasting statement worthy of your sacrifice!

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It's time to apply astroturf production values to the most important "Progressive" issue.

It boggles my mind that this is even considered a "progressive" cause. I mean, Teddy Roosevelt tried to get this done. It is a no-brainer, taken for granted, basic issue for the rest of the developed world. To this Anti-authoritarian, fiscally conservative Libertarian, my view is, "if not for things like this, what the hell is a government for?"

I run the numbers through my mind and I compare the roughly 4 to 5 percent overhead of various forms of government sponsored and regulated health care to the double-digit overheads of "private enterprise" "solutions", couple that with the rape, pillage and burn tactics that lack of any useful regulation has permitted and I can't see any honest person supporting this Status Quo. Unless their health care depends on supporting it, of course.

This is not about "govenrment intruding into your life." This fight is really about who's government it is, and who does it benifit. Currently, it aint you. It belongs to corporations.

Well, it's time to crotch-kick them back into their proper place.

Here's two designs ready to go, with extensive templates that include your twitter or other social media details. They are telegenic, designed to grab attention and feature your cause. And they are affordable. More so in bulk. I will be making versions of the graphics publicly available if you want to make your own buttons or shirts, but if you want only a couple, this is probably your best option.

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Unethical Sluts : A Blog Post in three Unnatural Acts.

Wanna have a quick look-see to find out what one of the poster-boys for Family Values gets up to on your dime and your eyeball-time?



I have absolutely no problem with legal prostitution. I'm a Libertarian. It's your right to do things that make me think you might be kinda sad and pathetic in spots, but I think it's a relatively responsible way of getting needs met without harm to others, while being willing to admit that my thoughts about you are "My stuff, not your stuff."

But by "harm" I don't just mean the risk of STD's or other personal consequences. I feel you are entitled to enjoy all the karma you generate - positive and negative. By "harm" I mean embarrassing your friends, family, colleagues and sponsors. People you owe for helping you get where you are. People who have every right to expect some discretion on your part, for even if they are not morally deserving, they are arguably contractually entitled.

I'm quite willing to let adults be adults, if they are responsible about it. And it harm none, do as you will. But the first clause is at the front for a reason. One of the most obvious occasions of harm is when stupid is found in "unholy congress" with arrogant.

Air Force Amy is, like hot. And we understand why you might want to have that picture with her and her delightful compatriots. But, hey, dumb-ass, did you not read the release? Did it not occur to you that this kinda makes you look like a total tool? It really doesn't show a great deal of respect for the moral viewpoints of a large swathe of your viewers. It kind of implies that you are pandering to their views in public while partying on their dime in private. Don't you think?

If you feel the desire to do things in private that completely contradict your public stance, the public stance you are being damn will paid to take, maybe you shouldn't pose for brag photos!

Morally speaking, it's no different than a whore who drugs a client and steals his wallet because zie thinks that theft and betrayal is somehow more dignified than providing expected value for promised funds arrived at after an honest negotiation.

When you claim to speak for a broad spectrum of the US Social Conservative movement, and then do stupid things that would embarrass the hell out of a large percentage of that population - well, it makes them feel like they were taken for a ride. Like they were played. Used. Led around by their noses. Fed a line. Conned. Betrayed. I would say that such feelings would be entirely valid.

But Hannity isn't even the best example of such stupidity. It's lurid and funny and awful and I'll admit using the titillation factor to my advantage - but now that I have your attention, I'm going to point out that the boobies are only significant in that they may have contributed to male stupidity. I'm going to use the next idiot to explain why. He makes Hannity look smart. And that's really, really hard.

Republican California Assemblyman Mike Duvall has set a very, very high bar for conspicuous public stupidity - and it's due to the same sort of stupid that caused Hannity to pose for a picture with Hof's stock in trade. Due to his addiction to stupid, he's managed to profoundly piss off his targeted constituency. (And hopefully, to an extent that might actually be morally instructive, as opposed to moralistically. )

He's a not just a state assemblyman. he was - wait for it - a member of the ethics committee and the utilities (energy) oversight committee. Who is taking sexual bribes. From energy lobbyists. In Post-Enron California. It's breathtaking.

His bragging violated the trust of every single person involved with him, licitly and illicitly. He was bragging of how he was cheating on his mistress - one energy lobbyist - with another lobbyist.

So, he was managing to cheat twice - with each. In their roles as lobbyists, and in their roles as mistresses. If you include his wife, it's a trifecta. When you add in the legitimate and illegitimate interests of his clients and constituents, the only appropriate word is "clusterfuck."

An interesting point is made dryly here:

In April--two months after Duvall became vice chairman of the Utilities & Commerce committee--privately owned California utility giant Sempra Energy hired Barsuglia as one of its top lobbyists, according to Secretary of State records. Barsuglia, who has a law degree and once worked as a speechwriter for Governor Pete Wilson, had previously worked at the California Retailers Association (CRA). During 25 months of work at CRA, she reported that she incurred no reportable lobbying expenses.

It's an arch way of implying "she's a whore" without actually saying it, but circumstances tend to validate that observation. But she IS a lobbyist, and frankly, the distinction between lobbyist and whore is primarily a question of style.

I condemn neither trade. I observe that human nature is human nature, and this is yet another example of pretending that human beings are different than they are, or that human needs for power, influence, sex and comfort are inherently sinful. I will assert with conviction they are not.

But the transaction costs can send you straight to hell, in a metaphorical sense. At the very least.

It seems that Orange County has been "blessed" with an "advocate" who gets his jollies, in part, by betraying trust. Who likes dirty sex and dirty deals because "dirty is sexy." That strikes me as unacceptable from any vantage. It's not the sex. It's not even the corruption. It's what those acts reveal about the sort of person he is. Someone who seeks power for the sole purpose of abusing it, while laughing at the people stupid enough to give it to him.

During his political career, Duvall has unabashedly espoused conservative
 principles and is known as a partisan Republican with a knack for theatrics:
 He has noisily driven his Harley-Davidson motorcycle to functions. In 2008, 
Duvall blasted efforts to condone gay marriage. Legislatively, he has 
proposed bills to aid the insurance industry and government contractors 
feeding off the state's massive transportation kitty.
 He has offered a law to alter the First Amendment rights of Americans by
 banning anti-war activists from putting the names of fallen soldiers on 
T-shirts with messages such as "Bush lied" on the front and "They died" on the back; he observed that the dead soldiers fought to protect freedom, and "opportunists" should not be allowed to "exploit" the sacrifices with political messages opposing war.


Such thinking impressed certain constituencies. Earlier this year, the man who never graduated from high school received "100 percent" approval scores 
by the California Republican Assembly, the state's leading conservative outfit, and the Capitol Resource Institute (CRI), a fierce guardian of traditional family values.


"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."

The Orange County News reports elsewhere that Duvall's exploits were "the worst-kept secret in Sacramento," so I leave to you to judge the repute and stature of the very family values groups that were negligent, incompetent and/or complicit in sponsoring this cheap Boss Hogg clone.

Perhaps they picked him because of what they knew him to be, rather than what they thought him to be. It's the less insulting presumption, if you think about it.

As we've seen with the Blessed Sarah, there are people who have a deal of power on the Right, particularly within the Chromefishtian right, who value a fine looking facade with a malleable core over a substantial candidate who might have inconvenient moral objections to achieving the "right" political outcome.

I need an illustration for that. Oh, yes, here it is...

Christ and the Pharisees....In this scene the Pharisees rebuked Christ, saying- "Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath Day"- but Christ reproved them saying "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day"...Matthew 12:1-8 Luke 6:1-5

You may have some familiarity with the rest of the story. It's sort of an object lesson as to what happens to people who's principles transcend appearances. And it appears that in Orange County, ain't no-one willing to take a risk on a representative who might actually be living the values they profess.

Oh, no. They want people who LOOK like they do, but will never, ever, back those who are precisely what they say they are.

That's how you get "family values feminists" like Palin.

And "family friendly" "personalities" like Hannity.

It says something about how much regard these organizations and power-brokers hold "family values" types and to what degree they honor their intelligence and critical thinking skills. Oh, and the principles of your faith. That is to say, no more than I do. Possibly even less. But unlike me, they are also perfectly willing to smile, shake their hands and congratulate them on taking their daughter to the purity ball - only to make lewd jokes at their expense later.

Is it overkill to bring Sara Palin into the mix at this point? Wait, no. Not when Slate.com and Politico.com come to the same conclusion from radically different directions.

Slate observes - quite reasonably - that someone with a degree in Communications should be able to clearly articulate matters of policy and politics. At the very least, they should be able to come up with a clear, concise reason for why they decided to quit their job. Slate goes on to note she's seemingly very angry that people fail to understand her. That implies that she thinks that she's making sense.

Oh. Dear. Me.

This really does not speak well of whoever finally granted her a degree.

Politico - while not actually stating it, no doubt for political reason, presents us with with an article that might as well be titled: "Sara Palin: She Won't Stay Bought."

So, she's incoherent and untrustworthy. Harking back to Hannity's personal investigation of legal prostitution (since we are speaking of politics), I can find several woman on the Bunny Ranch site with better CV's than Palin's - QUITE aside from their physical attributes.

Air Force Amy is the current star [SO not safe for work]- a veteran, a reasonably articulate speaker, and, unlike Palin - she delivers on her promises and contractual obligations. Assuming she writes her own copy, she's better qualified for Palin's degree than Palin is.

Now, it would have been a great thing had Palin actually been what she was represented to be and still thinks she is; a woman of stature and integrity, if there had been even as much behind the facade that is Sara Palin's image as any of the girls at the Bunny Ranch, or indeed, any remotely telegenic woman with comparable paper credentials. Of which there are millions. And millions.

Counting only the politically active, church-going registered Republicans who have held political office - thousands. Rule out those who are obviously unelectable and you'd still have hundreds, so there's no way in hell that Palin could possibly have been anywhere NEAR the top of that pile.

So, do I think that Palin was willing to play the MILF card? Actually, I think that would be a vile presumption, and I don't have to make it. I DO think people making vital decisions were thinking with the wrong head, on many, many levels. But even there, had they actually gone for a person qualified in the field (because that's the only qualifications they were probably thinking of) they could have done FAR better.

No, I think they picked her because she looked good, sounded good and had no moral convictions whatsoever. In other words, I don't think she "slipped through the cracks" and I don't think it was a "vetting failure." She is exactly what the McCain team was looking for. You were simply not supposed to figure it out.

I think she was seen as having succeeded at the abuse of power, while maintaining an wholesome appearance. It appears, though, that she may be so impaired that she doesn't understand that she IS abusing power. You have to understand the concept of responsibility and cause and effect before you can get away with betraying those ideals.

Here I find myself comparing her to particular prostitutes, and I admit, I started to do with no little glee. But then I realized that it's not an unfair or even an unflattering comparison, if you think of the job in terms of doing the job you are paid to do. The careers have many similar requirements for success; communication, social skills and the ability to attract a loyal following. The differences are simply a matter of scale. Moral considerations aside - and clearly, they were.

And so I am, comparing her to a sex worker. And frankly, I know of a number who have better morals and manners than she does.

Hell, I know of a number who's morals, manners and social skills rise above the common run. But you see, those who live on the bottom of society, those who cannot call upon police or powerful friends, those people really have to avoid situations that could get them jammed up. Therefore, they tend to act ethically. Why?

Because if they don't, they tend to end up on slabs.

That sort of example will clarify your values REAL suddenly. Of course, if you want the insight without the high personal investment you might want to read "The Ethical Slut." And yes, the issues it cover are absolutely identical.

As for the people in the social media who will object to this post and who already have leapt to the defense of each of the people and all of the acts discussed above, there is only one appropriate response.

Maddow & Henke: Cronkite's heir highlights next Buckley?

I had pretty much given up on finding a sane conservative perspective for my blogroll. Hell, I'd pretty much given up on the idea of calling myself what I am, an ethical anti-authoritarian, centrist pragmatist who's policy stance is always in favor of enhancing the practical freedoms and opportunities of the individual or that is to say, an actual Libertarian.

I have strong principles, but to paraphrase Issac Asimov, I try never to let my morality get in the way of doing the right thing. Indeed, I've considerably revised my moral views over the years based on the frequency of collisions between Morality and Reality.

One of the greatest problems of the Right (at this point in history) is a smugly moralistic worldview that tends to sharply restrict their ability to even notice, much less recognize situations in which there might be some complexity involved.

I've battled clinical depression my entire life, and I'm here to tell you (remarkably enough) that that degree of black and white thinking I've come to recognize as symptomatic is no virtue. It makes it quite impossible to make rational, reasonable or even sane decisions. When the medication takes effect and that mental state lifts - it can be embarrassing to look back at what one thought, said and did. Suddenly the color returns and one's life may well be seen as an offensive composition. It rather depends on who's been handing you the crayons, you see.


Now, that's a picture that speaks 10,000 words - and not one of them is worth listening to. And yet - and this is a non-partisan failing - we do. We give these people oxygen, when the only appropriate response is shunning. It's certainly tempting to point, laugh and mock - and I've done more than my share of it. It has it's place, should someone who's viewpoints are generally within the boundries of "arguable" and "sane" commit a correctable lapse. But when we get in the range of Glenn Beck Stupid, the only appropriate response is to stop listening and supporting such speech. Pointedly. En Masse.

That's not "censorship," it's self-preservation. That degree of paranoid stupidity can be contagious. To refer to Papa Heinlein, it's like strong drink; it can cause you to shoot at tax-collectors - and miss.

Refreshingly enough, this is what Jon Henke is saying as a public Conservative, on Rachel Maddow's show. Maddow is a proud left-progressive. I rather think she'd vote NDP up here.

So, two people with philosophies that are about as distinct from each other as can be imagined, having a civil, intelligent and informative conversation.

Entirely refreshing. And it led me to read more of Henke. One bit seemed worth sharing immediately, as an exemplar.

Jon Henke writes at The Next Right.

Megan McArdle has previously postulated Jane's Law.

Jane's Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.

I think it's a good generalization about very broad political dynamics. Thinking about that this weekend, I came up with the following psychological spectrum. People tend towards the left side of the spectrum when it comes to allies; towards the right side of the spectrum when it comes to opponents.

Cognitive biases are a natural human tendency and none of us (including me) are immune to them. It is useful to be aware of the problem.

Two things I like about this. First, he is unashamed of being seen using intellectual tools in public, and second, he's capable of writing short. The second impresses me in particular, I am envious, and I shall be including him in my missing Conservative blogroll.

You may have noticed a complete absence of any links to Conservative sources. The reason for that is, I've been disappointed by the public voices of the Right. If I rely on them for information, references, facts or insights, I run the stark risk of being publicly embarrassed for having said something absurd, untrue, or both. So, over the years, I've dropped them, one by one.

You might wonder why that risk doesn't occur from the Left. It does, of course - but it's possible to avoid, because while there are sites you have to be careful of, there are plenty of sites that present the raw facts first and draw their conclusions from there. And sadly, there's very little need for the left to misrepresent the positions, policies, character or criminality of much of the Right. The plain truth is damnation enough.

It's depressing, but currently, there is far more concern on the Left for the mechanics of getting things Right. And those who are not, or who prefer to hear what they want rather than what is - I treat them exactly the same as I treat their counterparts on the Right. I ignore them.

We are extremely fortunate that the wingnuttery of the Right has not been met with equal fanaticism on the left - for if that had been the case, the United States might well be the midst of a literal, armed civil war.

But as of this moment, the sane people of the left are the ones articulating the issues, and for want of an alternate, also serving (rather badly) in Opposition to themselves.

Sadly, what sane people who remain on the Right are very, very lonely. They must be encouraged, for without the voices of traditional, prudent, sane conservatism, we are impoverished of an extremely valuable perspective on life and politics.

Bleeding Heart Libertarian by webcarve

Dear Morans: What Would Edmund Burke Do (To You)?

Robert Creamer writes in Huffpo about a political backlash against the Republicans for the "Death Panels" lie intended to make people fearful of health care reform.

His last two paragraphs sum up the debt they incur by this starkly, and I'm sure he's correct about the political dimension.

In their attempt to enflame the powerful emotions surrounding the deaths of loved ones by spreading intentional lies, the Republicans have stooped to a new low. The Terry Schiavo case should have taught the Republicans that some emotions are too precious to be exploited for partisan political advantage. Apparently it did not.

But when Americans begin to discover just how far the Republicans have been willing to go to stop health insurance reform, they may receive a new lesson. Republicans will learn that combining those powerful emotions with deceit can create an explosive mixture that they will find impossible to forget.

Correct - but only superficially so. However shrewdly he sees this situation, he sees it through the lens of politics, purely as a political opportunity created by an "emotional reaction."

And for that (and only to the extent that it is true, of course,) he deserves reproof. For it should be clear that there is a larger, ethical dimension that is, or should be obvious to everyone.

We ignore those larger considerations at our peril, for that leads directly to evil flourishing due to the unwillingness of good men to do what they know to be right.


The reason that both the Terry Schaivo case backfired and the current Death Panels lie will have a shocking backlash is that they are evil deeds done by evil men for evil reasons and the political justifications made in favor of doing such things are simply more lies by evil, conscious and willful liars.

To quote my shirt which quotes Edmund Burke, "All that is required for evil to flourish is that good men (and women) do nothing."

It is no accident that I quote Burke, who is correctly credited and blamed for his part in founding a long and storied tradition of philosophical Conservatism amongst the English-Speaking peoples. And yet an overview of his words and his causes reveals complexity, intellectual rigor and above all, a deep and abiding regard for doing the Right thing.



Burke was observing the injustice of law being wielded by commercial interests against the interests of the common man, and he would say no less caustic things regarding corporate theft and the misuse of political office in defense of thieves.




Burke might well be alarmed at the idea of any sort of public health insurance scheme - but I doubt that he'd balk at the idea of some sharp regulatory checks on unrestrained greed, or the application of Justice to those to those who's criminality while in service to the state brought it's honor into disrepute.

As a Whig, he of course approached Right Action in the Whig way. But for the most part, it seems, he did not place the cart before the horse. It's a tribute to the lasting import and continuing influence of Edmund Burke that the Modern Whig Party has been established.

I absolutely endorse that effort, an effort among good men and women to do something. They have realized that the GOP has become a creature of evil, a thing to be discarded and supplanted by a party that does not merely stand against this or that, but which stands staunchly for the things that are worth conserving and are worth achieving.

It is as yet still possible to do something good by political means - and as Iraq Vets, many of the founders have a FAR clearer appreciation of "Politics By Other Means" then have slide-jacking funnymentalist eliminationist peckerheads that have made their exodus from the party a moral imperative.



When someone lies to my face for the third time, in order to induce me to go along with some transparently stupid or evil deed, I stop listening. Indeed, I have no trouble whatsoever using whatever reasonable and necessary force is required in order to remove them from my front porch.

Indeed, I see waiting for the third strike to be an exercise in most Christian charity. But "Three Times is Enemy Action" is a rule of thumb that has served me well. It requires a little forbearance, but with that comes a reasonable certainty of conviction.

But clearly, I'm in a distinct minority, even should I count the current members of the Modern Whigs, It saddens me that one explanation may be my lifelong unwillingness to "go along to get along."

Perhaps if more people were more concerned about right actions and right outcomes, and a little less tolerant of those who think that there is no social problem that cannot be solved by sticking someone else with the expense or the cleanup, a civilization might arise between the borders of Canada and Mexico.

I'm not sure if this sort of situation is what Menckin had in mind when he uttered his widely-cited observation, that "Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the Jolly Roger, and start slitting throats."

What I am sure of is this; that when that temptation starts to become a creeping suspicion of an impending moral obligation... it's definitely time for good men and women to do something besides complain. Perhaps you should run for office.

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How "Moonbats" Do Apoplexy. (It's SOO Cute!)

A truly FINE rant found on Democratic Underground via a Twitter recommend.

It starts off like this:

Fuck you. No, I'm not joking. I'm sick of this bullshit.

I'm sick of the way you've corrupted the public discourse. The way you've made it acceptable to hurl any insult you like at public officials. The way you blame us for the current atmosphere of hatred by accusing us of starting it with hating Bush. Like Bush didn't come on the heels of eight years of your tireless efforts to destroy Clinton by any means necessary, like Bush didn't give us good reason to complain. A couple of posters on a website compared Bush to Hitler and you've used it as free license to compare Obama to Hitler 24/7 and I'm sick of your hypocrisy, where it's acceptable to say shit about Obama that you would have had an apopletic fit (and did) if anythign remotely similar had been said about your guys. Keith Olbermann calls Cheney a fascist when he was actually using fascist tactics and you think that gives you the freedom to call Obama a fascist, socialist, Marxist constantly for no reason at all. Fuck you and your bullshit false equivelancy.

And then there's this part in the lower middle that I wish I'd written ...

I'm sick of you praising pure evil. You're letting Dick Cheney be the standard-bearer for Republicanism. Dick Cheney, a man so nakedly evil that even his friends call him "Darth"; a man so callous that Lex Luthor would recoil in terror; a man who probably has dismembered hitchhikers in those man-sized safes and kills plants by his mere proximity. Fuck you.

And then it concludes with this:

Fuck you, you scumridden shitehawks, you make me sick. Just fuck off and die.

EDIT: To remove my brief descent into sexist language. Apologies to anyone who saw it.

Prophet 451, you are so KYUUUUTE!!!!!!!!

Bullshit Baffles Brains? Maybe not forever.

The bullshit is so deep out there that hip waders aren't enough. You need a dry suit and a self-contained air supply. Let's show what toxic waste is doing to people...





It's not often that you see Bill Moyers get upset. Heck, it's not often that you see Bill make an unconditional statement. Bill is just sick to death of the bullshit.




Canadians are getting fed up with their health care system being demonized. The bullshit fear-mongering annoys us. It makes us cranky enough to make definitive statements. This is how a Canadian says "You are so full of shit."

It's done politely - and it burns all the worse for that. But, sweet John A. McDonald, how attached to your ignorance must you be to believe so many stupid things simultaneously, oh Right Wing Umurikins?

And lest you state that it's none of our business - you morons are flushing the hemispheric economy down the toilet. Health Care Reform is critical to rebuilding a robust middle class with a flourishing diversity of small businesses, which, by the by, is one of the reasons Canada is not actually circling the drain right now. It's not the result of "socialism" - not alone. It's at least as much due to some hard nosed Conservatism, of the "grounded in fiscal reality" variety of conservatism and not of the "there's a homo nigger commie with a tube of flouride toothpaste under my bed" variety.

Hell, over at MSNBC, John Harwood just doesn't care any more. As far as he's concerned, there's just no word for stupid better than "stupid."


H/t The Joshuablog for all these videos. (Follow him on Twitter - he collects such nuggets quite reliably)

I really understand the impatience.

Is it too much to ask of you nutbars to come up with an INFORMED opinion?

Ron Paul has done so. William F. Buckley did. Pat Buchanan does. Whatever I or you may think of their opinions is immaterial - their positions are arguable, and each of them is well known and justly famed for being willing and able to assert them. Not one of them has to "cut the mike" of anyone in disagreement. They can mix it up. They can bring it.

They are based in reality, fact and reason; they don't resort to the argument from authority, they are - legitimate - authorities in their realms.

But your average wing-nut would be hard pressed to explain in their own words how and why Noam Chomsky and Ron Paul differ on, say, campaign finance reform, much less come to an informed decision as to which was the more persuasive argument.

And that makes said wing-nut's opinion bullshit. It's crap, and you should ignore it, for truly, they have pulled it out of their ass.

I treat that handful of bullshit in exactly the same way I would treat an offering of crap pulled out of a toddler's diaper, for the exact same reasons. It's unhealthy and the only sane response is to commit an act of sanitation upon them. I will certainly not celebrate it as an artistic expression. It's poo. And it doesn't belong on my walls.

When I see a public-policy debate - ANY public policy debate - and everyone on the one side is being fairly sensible, while everyone on the other side is flinging poo and flaming straw men, then the odds are very good that even if I can't follow the argument on it's merits, the sensible-sounding side is more likely correct than the one losing it's water into it's shoes.

Pick your social media outlet of choice, and you will see exactly that sort of consensus developing on a wide range of issues, from health care to drug policy to prison reform to foreign policy, all against the backdrop of shrill whining about how "unfair" it is to be "dug down" for calling Obama a "Socialistic Fascist."

You see, when you say that, you reveal a complete ignorance of socialism, fascism and Obama's on-record policy statements and legislative history. It's not that you are being dug down for criticizing Obama. You are being dugg down for being fucknuts. You are uttering nonsense with such total conviction that ignoring you is only sensible thing to do.

It's impossible to usefully argue with someone who believes that a provably false idea is just as good as a provably true idea if enough other stupid people agree. Wishful thinking - and that's the kindest way to put it - is no basis on which to run a country. Or deploy armies. Or make really important economic decisions.

It's really not that difficult to inform yourself, to develop an expertise about an issue that matters to you, and then develop an intelligent position from any reasonable political perspective. Therefore, an intolerance of stupidity and conspicuous impatience with aggressive, loutish behavior is - well, I'd commend it more were it not so long overdue.

For myself, here's a discussion over on digg that I think illustrates the point. It's about the "radical" proposition that we should just legalize all "illicit" drugs, and then regulate them, according to our models for alcohol and legal drugs.

Quickly skim and evaluate both sides. One side makes quite sound-seeming arguments that you can fact check - and the other side makes accusations, appeals to authority and moralistic predictions that, if they were actually true, would have come true with the repeal of Prohibition.

And, far more in line to the general thrust of what I write, these comments often reveal a chilling indifference to the impact of policy on individuals; they show a heartless, mean-spirited and cruel mindest. Truthout just ran a rather good piece on that very point.

A right-wing spin machine, influenced by haters like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter, endlessly spews out a toxic rhetoric in which: all Muslims are defined as jihadists; the homeless are not victims of misfortune but lazy; blacks are not terrorized by a racist criminal justice system, but the main architects of a culture of criminality; the epidemic of obesity has nothing to do with corporations, big agriculture and advertisers selling junk food, but rather the result of "big" government giving people food stamps; the public sphere is largely for white people, which is being threatened by immigrants and people of color, and so it goes. Glenn Beck, the alleged voice of the common man, appearing on the "Fox & Friends" morning show, calls President Obama a "racist" and then accuses him of "having a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." [2] Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh unapologetically states that James Early Ray, the confessed killer of Martin Luther King Jr., should be given a posthumous Medal of Honor, [3] while his counterpart in right-wing hate, talk radio host Michael Savage, states on his show, "You know, when I see a woman walking around with a burqa, I see a Nazi. That's what I see - how do you like that? - a hateful Nazi who would like to cut your throat and kill your children." [4] He also claims that Obama is "surrounded by terrorists" and is "raping America." This is a variation of a crude theme established by Ann Coulter, who refers to Bill Clinton as a "very good rapist." [5] Even worse, Obama is a "neo-Marxist fascist dictator in the making," who plans to "force children into a paramilitary domestic army." [6] And this is just a small sampling of the kind of hate talk that permeates right-wing media. This could be dismissed as loony right-wing political theater if it were not for the low levels of civic literacy displayed by so many Americans who choose to believe and invest in this type of hate talk. [7] On the contrary, while it may be idiocy, it reveals a powerful set of political, economic and educational forces at work in miseducating the American public while at the same time extending the culture of cruelty. One central task of any viable form of politics is to analyze the culture of cruelty and its overt and covert dimensions of violence, often parading as entertainment.
Underlying the culture of cruelty that reached its apogee during the Bush administration, was the legalization of state violence, such that human suffering was now sanctioned by the law, which no longer served as a summons to justice. But if a legal culture emerged that made violence and human suffering socially acceptable, popular culture rendered such violence pleasurable by commodifying, aestheticizing and spectacularizing it. Rather than being unspoken and unseen, violence in American life had become both visible in its pervasiveness and normalized as a central feature of dominant and popular culture. Americans had grown accustomed to luxuriating in a warm bath of cinematic blood, as young people and adults alike were seduced with commercial and military video games such as "Grand Theft Auto" and "America's Army," [8] the television series "24" and its ongoing Bacchanalian fête of torture, the crude violence on display in World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship, and an endless series of vigilante films such as "The Brave One" (2007) and "Death Sentence" (2007), in which the rule of law is suspended by the viscerally satisfying images of men and women seeking revenge as laudable killing machines - a nod to the permanent state of emergency and war in the United States. Symptomatically, there is the mindless glorification and aestheticization of brutal violence in the most celebrated Hollywood films, including many of Quentin Tarantino's films, especially the recent "Death Proof" (2007), "Kill Bill" 1 & 2 (2003, 2004), and "Inglorious Bastards" (2009). With the release of Tarantino's 2009 bloody war film, in fact, the press reported that Dianne Kruger, the co-star of "Inglorious Bastards," claimed that she "loved being tortured by Brad Pitt [though] she was frustrated she didn't get an opportunity to get frisky with her co-star, but admits being beaten by Pitt was a satisfying experience." [9] This is more than the aestheticization of violence, it is the normalization and glorification of torture itself.

Personally, while I applaud Truthout's treatment of the issue, I don't see this as a new phenomenon. I see it as simply becoming more and more obvious. It used to be that the sadism was cloaked a bit more, a rationalization or two presented for the viewpoint - but the Authoritarian brutality celebrated in Hawaii 5-0, Kojack or the Dirty Harry movies was aimed for the very same, visceral target; the idea that all of the "moral failures" of society could be resolved with the right amount of pain applied to the right target.

The difference is that these days, the need to justify the urge seems to have worn threadbare. Hurting people and reveling in the suffering of others has become normalized, and not without a lot of help from supposed Christians who really ought to know better. In this transcript of an interview with Max Blumanthol, author of the newly-released Republican Gomorrah, lays much of our current sociopolitical problems with torture, violence and outright depravity at the feet of James Dobson, of Focus on the Family.

Where did Dobson’s fortune come from? How did he erect this empire? It came mainly from one book, which I quote from extensively in my book, Republican Gomorrah­Dare to Discipline, which is essentially a manual for corporal punishment, for beating your child. In this book, he says pain is a marvelous purifier that a child should be­that pain goes a long way with a child, that pain should be dispensed sufficiently enough to make a child cry, but then the child will crumple to your breast, and you should welcome the child with warm, open arms. This is a recipe for sadomasochism. And sadomasochism, as I discovered in­ [lost chunk in rush transcript]

JUAN GONZALEZ: And he saw himself originally as the antithesis to Benjamin­Dr. Benjamin Spock.

MAX BLUMENTHAL: Dr. Benjamin Spock, who tells you to basically pick your child up and cradle it. And, you know, I mean, I was­you know, for whatever it’s worth, I was raised along those guidelines. When your child’s crying, you pick up the child.

By creating a belt-wielding army of millions, Dobson created the next generation of Republican shock troops, who are more radical than before. And sadomasochism­I know this sounds a little strange­is what defines the essential character, you know, that­this is what­at least what I’ve discovered­of the Republican follower of today. They’re sadistic in that they want to lash out at deviants, at people who are weaker than them, homosexuals, immigrants, foreigners, socialists. At the same time, they’re masochistic. They are followers of a higher cause, of a strong leader, a magic helper like Dobson or George W. Bush or the macho Jesus archetype that they worship. And this is what defines this movement.

So many of the people that Dobson has been able to get close to and work with in the Republican Congress and in American culture have been viciously abused as children. And he understood that by advocating violence against children, deliberate violence, he was creating this sensibility, which would produce a radical generation of political followers.

Tom DeLay, for example, who Dobson converted from Hot Tub Tommy, a dallying, philandering, no-name legislator in Texas, you know, who lived in a house that was nicknamed “Macho Manor,” Dobson converted him into this hardcore­you know, into “The Hammer,” the man who whipped the Republican Congress into shape and turned it into one of the most radical congresses in history.

Ted Bundy, who I write about extensively in my book, Republican Gomorrah, who is the most notorious serial killer in American history, Dobson helped convert Ted Bundy on death row into a born-again Christian and then got the final interview before Ted Bundy was executed and sold tapes of this interview to raise a million dollars for his political empire and to generate national renown.

Unrestrained sadomasochistic lust does not translate into sane public policy. It doesn't create a workable society. Those who take delight in the suffering of others and who see punishment of the weak this as part of the definition of a powerful State are made incapable of making rational, ethical decisions either on their own behalf or as rational participants in a democratic society, if for no other reason than this - in order to create the pain to revel in, you must become indifferent to the absolute cascade of bad outcomes that will surely pile up to the point where society shatters. For there is no earthly reason to expect that people will generally put up with such crap.

They WILL resist, they will retaliate, and there can no reasonable expectation that they will be as stupid about going about resisting authority as Conservatives have been in justifying it's cruel excesses.

The right wing answer to this, of course, is to call for a theocratic state. There are words for that sort of thing... but frankly, "Stupid" is more succinct.

Erotic writer "Bridget Keeney" outed as South Carolina Republican.

Here at Graphictruth, any day that I have the journalistic duty to link to outright pornography is a good day.

When the reason I must do it is that the author of said hardcore fapfesting textviles is a right wing, social conservative who presumes to tell other people what their publicly educated children must and must not learn while home-schooling her own, it is not just a good day, it's a frigging good day. Via Fitsnews: (H/T The Progressive Puppy)

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford may be an amateur Romeo, but it looks like he’s got nothing on his appointment to the S.C. State Board of Education.

Kristin Maguire, an Upstate evangelical and one of South Carolina’s most respected social conservatives, has been one of the governor’s closest education policy advisors for years. She’s also Sanford’s appointment to the S.C. Board of Education, which last year elected her its Chairwoman.

What else is she?

The prolific author of hardcore erotic fiction on the Internet, according to documents provided to the governor’s office earlier this summer and later obtained by FITS.

Maguire, a professed Christian who home-schools her four children, declined to comment for our story but did not deny that she had previously frequented websites that feature such X-rated material. Maguire believes that a former friend is leaking the information to the media in an effort to ruin her political career.

Fitsnews states a number of other allegations about Maguire's personal behavior, and if true, it might provide some insight into Governor Mark Sanford's ... well, let us call it "Leadership Culture." Indeed, one might wonder if as much a product of such a culture as an instigator.

I'm not writing this in order to publicly humiliate another right-wing sexual hypocrite. I honestly don't like humiliating people, even when it directly serves my point.

But I don't think she IS a hypocrite. I think her politics, her choice of career and possibly even the apparent hypocrisy of being on the board of education while at the same time choosing to home school her children arises directly out of her own sexuality. Moreover, I don't think it's difficult to discern it from her own pornographic musings, which is what makes it newsworthy. "It goes to motive, your Honor."

Lauren's Masturbatory Musings by bridgetkeeney © 04/18/03

...

He reached up to loosen his tie as he walked to his desk. Sitting in the middle of the blotter on his desk was his 'Man of the Year' statue with an envelope leaning against it. He picked up the envelope and sat in his chair. He recognized the bold 'P' on the front as Lauren's writing. While he withdrew the two folded pieces of paper, his eyes rested on the statue, pleased that Lauren had reminded him of their passionate times together.

This past week had reminded him how important she was to him. Years of marriage and busy careers had seen them drift into a complacency in their relationship. If anyone had asked him two weeks ago how his marriage was, he would have replied 'good'.

After Lauren came to his office bringing dinner and dressed to kill last Tuesday, he would have said 'great'. He would never be able to look at his award again without getting a hardon, picturing her frigging her clit while fucking herself with it deeply.

Let us pause and meditate on this. She used his "man of the year" statue as a sex toy. And bragged about it. To him.

Only in fiction does that end well, with garlands of flowers and cakewalks through the streets of Baghdad and all of it "Bareback" - you know, sans condoms and/or body armor. You see, not so much a hopelessly mixed metaphor as illustration of a psycosexual spectrum disorder.

I'm starting to think that all the outrage over Monica Lewinski and Bill Clinton and oral sex and cigar moistening was not so much outrage as complete failure to commit intelligible pornographic speech.

It's not the man she has a relationship with, it's a symbol of a man's success and power in the corporate world. Oddly, he's flattered, but wank-story characters are always flattered at the attention, for cardboard ordinarily gets little love. But the author permits herself no greater depth - as she projects herself into her fiction - than her faceless, but famously-endowed sex partner.

"I love to have my meat in your cunt, Lauren," you said as you thrust deeper into me. "Do you like when I fuck your cunt, Lauren?"

"I love when you fuck me, Paul. There is nothing better than your hard cock in my desperate cunt." "Whose cunt is it, Lauren?"

"It's your cunt, Paul."

Her cunt belongs to him. And "him" is just a symbol for Male Power Incarnate. Do I HAVE to draw theological parallels here, or can we say, in the words of digg, that "obvious observations are obvious?"

It's hard to even think where to begin to conceptualize the thrust and depth of this fuckup. I can understand why it's tempting to not think about it.

Indeed, Mommy insists that you WILL not think about it. And she will get on the Board of Education so nobody else can, either, despite the fact that this is a prime example of what happens to people who do not think about the root causes of their actions and who refuse to admit responsibility for the outcomes.

Let me quote my wife, in the moments in which I or someone else manages to unconsciously reveal Total Catastrophic Thought Failure.

"Oh, HONEY!"

She manages to covey the recognition that one has committed a cognitive act not at all unlike a sudden failure of toilet training, but without any sense of attempting to shame the puppy.

There is deep sympathy for how very humiliating the situation must be for the poor creature - and she will go get a towel. Further, should the puppy be blessed with thumbs - as Kerstin is - she will hand the towel to the puppy, with the expectation that it do something more productive that attempting to pretend that it did not happen. Sadly, Kirstin has tried to pretend it didn't happen - by deleting every instance of her writing but two - thereby proving that she had access to the author's account.

That's not an actual cover-up, it's even worse than a failed cover up. There was an allegation these writings were yours, but it was all gossip and conjecture - UNTIL they were deleted. Now it's not just gossip and conjecture, it's a fact in evidence.

But I do understand why you tried.

Because your porn says far more about you than you would like everyone knowing. This is true of everyone who writes porn, myself included. Actually, it's true of anyone who writes anything about anything that is deeply, emotionally and viscerally meaninful. It is immensly personal and revealing.

Our only choice (other than not writing at all, as would have been prudent) is to reveal ourselves consciously and by choice, rather than simply letting the unconscious direct access to the fingers.

The only difference between thee and me, dear girl, is that I don't publish stuff I cannot afford to admit having written. Long ago, it seems now, I had to confront the distinction between the porn I liked and wanted to make and what I would have liked to believe about myself if I could pretend that someone else wrote, drew and enjoyed the porn I created and consumed. At some point, I actually considered what that said about me, and then I spent some quality time with me working on those aspects that I really could not live with.

As a direct result of that gobsmack, I have spent a great deal of time considering the role of porn in our society and the social ends it all to often serves. But I've never before seen such a literal, direct and vivid illustration in the public domain as this and I don't think it's overly hyperbolic to call it a "Gift from God."

At some point, you see, Kristin got the idea that her role was ... well, exactly what she described. She was a vessel for the seed of powerful men. The yin to the yang of Power. And the opposite of Power, well, that must be powerlessness. Sexuality and social ethos, all tangled together.

But, wait, that's not actually the PROBLEM. That happens to us all, to some degree. People who say their sexuality and their politics and their world views are entirely separate are lying to themselves. And, ideally, all these things should inform and empower one another.

Nor is this worldview her fault. If, as I suspect, she was raised from birth to never EVER think about what such urges mean (other than to think of them as Sinful Temptations,) she could hardly contemplate how they biased her life path. You see, we always live in ways that allow us to meet our needs, and we do what we have to do in order to get there.

But it should be no surprise though, that unthinking behavior leads to thoughtless actions that lead in turn to all KINDS of unforeseen outcomes.

Nope, the problem, Kirstin, is that you were thinking with your crotch. That's what happens when your crotch says something and you pretend not to hear it. It does the best it can, under the circumstances. You see, our survival needs, the things that really matter to us, our own selves, our very personal self image, our well being, well, those are tied very directly to our sexuality. When something makes you instantly hard or wet - aside from being hot, it's fucking important. Pay attention - and then meet that need as intelligently and as effectively as possible.

Why? Because if you pretend it didn't happen, you will meet that need thoughtlessly, impulsivly and without much regard to the harm it does to other people. That will piss them off and they will hurt you back. And if you STILL won't think about that, well, then your stupid hindbrain starts to think that the hurting and hurting back is all part of the fun.

So it's important to understand what your pussy is saying. Your flatcat really gets off on being penetrated by the symbols of power.

Why do I say that? Well, I didn't. YOU did, dear. You see, in erotic, or really, ANY literature, the "hook" for a story is important. And the hook for this clearly establishes an erotic attachment to power. Not people, hell, not even penises. The first sex act mentioned, the one that triggers this little erotic reverie is a sex act with the symbol of a male's power - which you then react to by worshiping with your reproductive orifice.

I note something else, which I have noted in other Right Wing Porn - said worship is not real if there is any barrier between vessel and seed. To what end does opposition to condoms and sexual education arise from sexual, and not religious preference?

Now, I could write a book on the symbolism in these two stories. I could advance or criticise particular expressions of it, I could explain the essential ethics needed to live with kinks such as you have, but NONE of that has any point when are acting with no conscious understanding of what it is that makes you wet to your knees, and I expect that you don't. There's some serious dissociation happening here, and my gut tells me that the very flaming obviousness of the symbolism involved is not so much in aid of masturbation as a desperate attempt by your subconscious to gain your attention.

Seriously. Honey. Have you actually READ what you wrote?

Do you still have copies of the other files? If you do, I think you need to go back and re-read them, and discuss them with someone you genuinely trust.

You have arranged your entire life to get reamed by powerful SYMBOLS of male power, probably in competition with other Stalwarts of Family Values such as yourself. And at the end of the day, the bearer of the prize for the state championship of dick-sizing, the top dog in the state - runs off to fucking ARGENTINA, rather than partake of the local, desperate, aching, self-defined "cunts" such as yourself.

Why? Well, in reading his own words, I was struck by how important it was to him that she treated him with whatever degree of sincerity was required to achieve her ends, as an actual person. Respect. Not for his position, or his power, but for him.

Governor Sanford got to the top office in his state, having done whatever it took to gain power in that state and within his party. This is the public pool he played in. He won the game - he looked around, and saw the array of prizes. His just and due reward, according to this value set that you, honey, so viscerally and clearly express.

And he ran away screaming, burning every bridge behind him. Apparently, he did not wish to be the train that pulled into your station or an item of Continental Cuisine.

Now that I think about it, I think better of him for doing it. There is much to be said against how he bailed, it was hurtful, sad and messy, but still, a more honest and honorable thing than it seems at first. Think of it as an example of something that could have been done better.

And please understand, I'm not criticizing your professed values or your brand of politics. This is not due to what you have to say about education, or homeschooling or health care reform. I can't, for we both know that those things are merely means to an end. Camouflage. Hunting blinds. It has the same, identical semantic content as Larry Craig tapping his foot in the bathroom stall.

It's a means to an end. Gaining power to use on people for the sake of personal, psycosexual satisfaction.

If your deepest need is to be fucked with a pillar of the community, that's what you have to do to get yourself around such a cold, hard and unforgiving tool. Meanwhile, said pillar of the community bearing person is doing exactly the same thing, to get all that perky Soccer-MILF action.

And none of that has anything to do with politics, left, right or center. Politics is about the responsible use of power in furtherance of common, rational, ethical, goals, goals that can be expressed and explained in actual words, justified with real numbers, defined in predictable outcomes. That understanding of what the process is and what it's actually for has become somewhat rare on the Right.

I'm not saying that the Republican Party of South Carolina is nothing more than a self-referential circle-jerk. I don't have to. We are at the point where reasonable people should be demanding outright documentation that it is NOT that. But that will not happen so long as "Not Thinking About It" is damn near a plank in the republican platform.

My question is, WHY is it so important to not think about it? Why were you so carefully taught to never examine your own most basic, most visceral motivations? I mean, girl, you WROTE that porn! For what it is, it's not badly written. There's some craft there, and whatever else might be said about it, I think we can understand that in your words, we have a glimpse of the authentic you.

Want to know what I honestly think of the you it shows?

Oh, honey. We have some work to do. But there's something worth working with. Let us consider the arc of your career. There's much that can be criticized - but considering the self-imposed cognitive handicaps, not bad. Honestly, not bad at all.

Now, here's your towel. And, honey... I think you need to let your kids go to school. They need a wider variety of reality checks than are currently available.

Oh, and that "former friend" that leaked this information in order to "sabotage your political career?" You owe them a huge debt moral and ethical debt you owe for them pulling you out of that pool before it drowned you and you should call them up and thank them. Sincerely.

And given the sort of person they may well be, it will just totally fuck with their heads.

Consider the sort of people you've been calling "friend," in order to get to where you were - hell, consider the sorta guy that you defined as the default target of your aching maw of need.

Now that circumstances have made "not thinking about it" literally impossible - I hope and, indeed, expect you will be thinking about mindfully meeting the needs your sexuality imposes upon you in an ethical way, in accordance with Biblical principles.

I assure you, it's possible. Actually, it's a lot easier. The "not thinking about it" makes avoiding causal and painful pitfalls rather difficult.

"Paul set down the letter and swallowed hard. His rigid cock throbbed against his thigh. He picked up his phone and buzzed his secretary. "Rachel, cancel all my appointments for the rest of the week. An urgent family issue has come up."

That's the last paragraph of "Lauren's Masturbatory Musings."

The irony, it burns....

PS: More of her work can be found here, on a web archive of Literotica.com of a time in the past before the files were deleted. I'm sure more PDF files are being made as I type. H/t to porn obsessed internet geeks via Fitsnews.

Erotic Truth: Gotopless.org - a new Raelan Revelation

Here's a rights and ethics blog post that I can't put here because it needs pictures of boobies to ... um... support my point.

So to speak.

Erotic Truth: Gotopless.org - a new Raelan Revelation

GoTopless We are a US organization, claiming that women have the same constitutional right to be bare chested in public places as men.

Maitreya, Rael, spiritual leader and founder of goTopless.org states: "as long as men can be topless, constitutionally women should have the same right, or men should also be forced to wear something hiding their chest."

I must give credit where credit is due; the Raelians have done something worth doing, and are taking heat for doing it. From where? Well, it's not from where you might expect... it's from Terribly Serious Nudists, who grump about how the Raeliens are causing people to take this issue less seriously than it should be taken.

Well, frankly, naked people who wish to be Taken Seriously should put some clothes on.

NSFW, for newsworthy boobs, breasts and nipples. There, that should ensure a freakin' stampede!

It Takes A Moran To Raise Awareness...

The Funniest Signs From Town Hall Protests (PICS)

Some times a picture is worth a thousand derisive words.







I do believe the White House to assure these people that "the pubic option" is off the table.

And remember folks; that ain't just stupid, it's GLEN BECK stupid!

Unwarrented Assumptions: Checklist of Neurotypical Privilege:

Red I'm with Neurotypical T-Shirt by webcarve Browse more Neurotypical T-Shirts

Asperger Square 8: Checklist of Neurotypical Privilege: New Draft

Ordinarily I'd say something, or quote an excerpt but in this case, just go have a look. It's all of a piece, and developing.