Shit! My Fault! (Not Really!) I Did Not Know She Was Trying to be Funny!

Ok.  I had hoped to get to the new year with out feeling so compelled to mention silly person Ann Althouse  again.  But this post is not only about her.  It is a re iteration of one of my favorite themes.

Try being funny at your own risk, bitches! And if you fuck it up, it's your fault, not the audience.

Now for the set up.  Althouse generally does this totally fucked up shit all the time, where at one level she plays devil's advocate, and sorta seems to advocate fucked up ness, by virtue of not then and harshly condemning such fucked up ness.  She will post quotes and links about issue  X, Y, or A, and not comment.  Or she will comment, and it's supposed to, I am guessing maybe, be tongue in cheek.  And apparently sometimes  she thinks she is being funny, and says shit that she thinks is funny and people lo and behold, don't get the fucking joke.  And according to her, sorta, it's yours  it's our fault for not getting the joke.

Case in point.  She (again with the fucked up ness in not being clear about what she actually thinks about the issue) posted some quote and link (go here  if you must) about  whether or not that racist piece of shit Ron Paul is a racist.  And her  own commentary, in the comment thread after  was . . . . let me just post that as a quote:

"Let's be fair. I think he made a lot of money on those newsletters. That's a completely separate motivation for publishing that stuff. Do you think everyone who publishes porn loves exaggerated, promiscuous sex?"

 Now to me, that in of itself is much fucked up.  Doesn't matter if he was cynically publishing racist homophobic shit to make money.  According to my rule, which is the same rule they told us runs the world, when we were in grade school, that all that shit goes on your permanent record?  Well using that kind of rule, if you run around pretending to be a racist and homophobe just to make money, you are showing yourself to the public as a racist and a homophobe.  That's the part that goes in your permanent record.  And ya can't blame people for judging you and harshly, if you run around acting all racist and homophobic.  I mean really?  As if it is everyone else's job to do the impossible and be able to figure out your fucked up motivations and fucked up inner self?  People can only judge based on what they see.  And if they see you acting like a racist homophobe, that as they say is that!

I went long there, but that's really my take on the whole  Did He Mean It, question.  I say it doesn't fucking matter.  Moving on  though, someone later takes her to task for seeming to defend Paul by talking about the alternative motivation for his racist seeming  behaviour.  Her reply to that?

"Sorry if my humor is too dry for you."

Now we get away from the racism shit and back to comedy theory.  I have said it before.  I will say it here again.  Try to be funny at your own fucking risk.  It is NEVER the fault of the audience for not getting your fucking lame assed  attempts at humor.  It is 100% the responsibility of the humorist/comedian/joke teller.  Professionals know this.  Fucking amateurs oftentimes  don't.  And I know.  Trying to be funny is something a lot of people do.  And I am not saying there should be some sort of law that says, only trained professionals should be allowed to attempt this.  But if someone is so reckless that they attempt to be funny in public, and don't pull it off?  It's their failure, not the audience.

And while I am at it.  There's a difference between a novel and a play.  And there is a difference between telling a joke (trying to be funny) in person or for tape/vid/film  and doing that in text only.  Text only is actually harder.  Why?  Because all the human communication parts are missing.  There's no physicality, no tone of voice, no facial messaging, and usually timing is off as well.

Now I have to admit that back when people still emailed jokes to me, I would often hack them  to make them read better as a joke, because  usually they were badly formatted.  And that all goes to my next point, and that is that it is one kind of recklessness to try to be funny in public, but trying to do it in text only communications?  That's really fucking hard to do.  Particularly when someone really does not get the core idea of comedy.  It's less about what the joke teller thinks is funny.  It's more about whether or not the joke teller successfully figures out what will be funny to the audience, and successfully  entertains the audience.

But again.  Unlike Althouse, who has her undergraduate degree in a narrow visual arts field,  I have mine in Theatre.  I did not exactly take a class in comedy theory.  But I did a little acting, and I know, it's the performers job to sell that shit.  It is not the audience's job to buy it. 

Edit to add:

I could have let it slide.  But ya know?  My argument is inferred in there when I talk about comedy theory, and permanent records.  But now that I have thought about it, I do not want to let it go.  Her fucked up remark about pornographers?  How fucked up is her thinking there?  I mean, really!  It doesn't fucking matter if a pornographer loves their work.  All that matters,  and all that is going on their permanent record is that they actually produced and marketed smut.  So that whole analogy was very much fucked up.

And in that vein, I will add the following image.  Sorta sums up my feelings, here.

Call Me Lazy Today.

Well I had a lost 1/2 half of the day.  Saw the ABT Nutcracker at BAM and did not get into political agitation mode yet.  Even if I have done the usual blog and news circuit.  Sorta not all that much going on.  Same stupid shit, only less so, on account of people getting ready for New Year's.  And Iowa.

Unoriginal thought occured to me.  Does the Iowa straw poll actually mean as much as a bucket full of spit?

Ok.  Lemme  post some eye catching stuff.

Why this?  Why not.  The star, and some other cast members of Broadway's new musical, Lysistrata Jones.  An updated, comedic and musical retelling of the classic Greek Play.  Ain't she cute?


And if I don't post again till after the year turns, Happy New Year.  Bring it.  I am ready to bury the corpse of 2011 in a shallow grave, and not look back as I keep on trucking.

Another White Blonde Right Wing Chick, With Her Head So Far Up Her Ass . . . .

And as opposed to Professor Althouse, it's bony.  Trust me.  I know.  I have seen it up close and personal, one time at one of the news stands in Grand Central Terminal.  She must have just got off the Acela.  I was just getting out of the subway, I think, and there she was;  Ann Coulter.  I bent down to pick up a newspaper and there it was.  In my face.  Her bony ass.

But that is not the point of this post.  Her  bizarre almost admission of blatant racism is.

I just mostly read  (ok.  Not every bloody word of it,) her new piece where she makes the case that:

Massive legal and illegal immigration has already so changed the California electorate that no Republican can be elected statewide anymore.

And ends with:

 even Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, two bright, attractive, successful female business executives  --- one pro-life and one pro-choice — can’t win a statewide election in California spending millions of their own dollars in the middle of the 2010 Republican sweep, it’s buenas noches, muchachos.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/28/only-one-candidate-is-right-on-the-two-most-important-issues/#ixzz1hwD0RjyO

Firstly, I long for the day it is impossible for any republican to get elected anywhere.  So I don't get her complaint.  Naturally.  But she's being about as obvious as Pat Buchanan with the racism, there. 

Now yesterday I took Ann Althouse to task for being a champion of the cause of oppressed white folk.  Again, what the fuck?  I repeat.  What the fuck?  Let me first say what I think they both have in common, then I will point out the minor difference.  Both I am sure would never say out loud in pubic they are racists.  Both would deny that.  But the difference is, I am sure that not too deep down inside, Coulter knows she's a racist, doesn't give a fuck, but for that fact there are rules that must be followed.  And yes, I am damn sure she pines for the day a proper white woman could call blacks  niggers  and Hispanics  spics or what ever, and not have to worry about offending (anyone that matters.)

Althouse is in a different category.  She really doesn't get it, how tone deaf and color blind, and all and all fucking clueless she is about such matters.  And by such matters I mean anything having to do with invidious discrimination against oppressed racial and ethnic minorities in America.  Again.  What the fuck.  If one's sensibility gets triggers by bigotry and bias against white people in the USA, one has their head up their ass.  That day might come.  That day will come, perhaps by the end of this century, when them  scary  (to Ann Coulter) Mexicans take over, not only in numbers  but controlling society, to a great if not most part.  But that day is not quite here yet.

Oddly enough Althouse teaches Constitutional Law.  I shudder to think about how she teaches  14th Amendment, Equal Protection, and Civil Rights, anti discrimination cases and law. 

I guess I am done here.  I just found it odd that Coulter went that far.  With out the target being P. Obama  himself, that is.  Let's check.  According to the 2010 Census, the American Hispanic population is  31.8 million.  And she went and peed in all their Cornflakes.  Nice going, you bony assed bigot.


Edit to add:


What the fuck!  I mean  WHAT  the FUCK?

I will link this shit as it is that good an example of white blonde head up the ass-ness:

Althouse re Holder and The Deliberate Attack on the African American Democratic (usually) Vote.

Here are the head up assy remarks:

  The straightforward civil-rights battles have been won. Those that are left are questionable.

And specifically  re voter id laws, and the context is those that have specifically been passed, recently  to combat, officially, the non existent problem of voter fraud, and the actual problem of the GOP with darker skinned people for the overwhelming most part voting Democratic :

 Ridiculous! They're completely defensible.

First, that first bit.  What the ever loving fuck?  Who fucking feels  justified in making such a blanket statement, that ignores  the actual facts in the USA  here at the end of 2011 but for flat out racists, those  too sympathetic to flat out racists, or at minimum, those with their heads way the fuck up their own asses?  Not a rhetorical question, there.

Re the other bit?  Now  if this were a matter of ordinary scrutiny, ya.  But it's a constitutional claim, and the patently obvious motives of the legislators  can be show to be intending to discriminate against a racial/ethnic block.  The bullshit, does it pass the giggle test alleged purpose is not the end of it.  And it really should be quite easy to show that this is all about a deliberate plan to disenfranchise  black and brown votes.  That happen to swing Democratic, on account of SHIT JUST LIST THIS!

Now I know I am not a well read blog but allow me the use of the convention  (shit, I am talking to the walls here, usually anyway, but what the fuck . . . .)  I know it does not serve as compelling on all points  evidence of a loosy goosey plot to disenfranchise black and brown votes, but just read fucking Coulter's fucking  anti Mexicans  article, which (indirectly) I link to, above.  What the fuck?  How fucking far up your own fucking ass does one's head need to be not to fucking see this shit for what it is?

Let's Pick on Tebow Some More!

It's almost the end of the year and I have only a little time to come up with any more new coinages, bon mots, good slams, this year. Here's one that came to me while reading the attached article.

The best (facetious) was of describing Tim Tebow's public displays of faith would be:

FAITH PORN!
...
Now we all understand that the word porn was originally intended to describe graphic depictions of sex. But over the years, it has been used as a modifier for other excessively graphic images and imagery: gun porn, food porn, guitar porn. Ect. And when my mind got to thinking about it, yep. Even if Tebow's job on paper is athlete, he is also in the business of TV. So what he does on TV can count as graphic, if he does it in a graphic way. That's my case, and I standing by it!

I am NOT Going to Mention Her Name.

Nor will I link the stupid, idiotic post she posted today.  But I read it, in well not disbelief, but rather a sense of the realization that some people have their white blonde heads so far up their asses, they can lick their throats from the inside.  And I did not stop there good people.  I noticed she has her own tag for "bigotry."  I clicked on that, and checked out the other posts so tagged.  And even if all of them were not so white blonde head up assy, many were.  Particularly the one about Bristol Palin. 

But fuckit.  I need to get to the point here, and that is as follows.  There is something way the fuck, totally fucked up about someone who's idea of pernicious bigotry that must be fought and defeated is anti southern ism, or anti hillbilly ism, or anti snowbilly ism.

Way the fuck, fucked up.  Which is why I say white blonde head up assyness.

Insane Ordinary Republican of the Year.

She Need Intensive Professional Help.

Ok.  Now I know for something of a fact that some Herb Cain fans went all verklempt when the perverted, philandering dog of pathological liar suspended his campaign.  One in particular I know of, is quite mad, quite out of his mind.  He was going to get my "Insane, Most Needs Professional Mental Health Treatment,  Ordinary Republican" Award for 2011.  Then I saw this vid.  Part of me just wants to think this is bullshit.  The other part of me thinks this is real, no so much because of the way the woman acts, cries, but the way the other woman off cam really seems to be sincerely reacting to her.  Never the less.  This year's award is a Tie between the crazy dood I mentioned, and this chick. 

Now I am only a lawyer who worked on a Risperdal case.  So no one should take me seriously if I say this lady might need some, or some med from the same class.  But lady definitely needs some treatment if she busts out in tears upon reading that Granpa Paul is a big old meanie when it comes to siding with Israel.  I mean really.  Crazy and stupid, because the one thing you can say about Granpa Paul is that he's like a broken record.  Been playing the same song, not only for not only years and years, but decades and decades.

(Oh.  The first version of the vid I saw was just the chick.  Version I linked to here has the set up by Cenk Uygur.  And he says one of my favorite lines!  "There's No Crying in Politics!"  Excellent!)

Krugman is Correct. But Too Narrow in Focus.

The Xmas truce is almost upon us.  I still have a little wrapping left to do but I am as ready for this damned thing as I likely ever will be, this year.  Anyway, I just read this oped from Krugman.  And as usual, his analysis is spot on.  However, he misses the forest for the trees, in a manner of speaking.

He aims his arrows at Mittens, for being a flat out liar.  That's true.  Mittens is a serial liar.  However. Um. Actually They All Lie Like Rugs.

There is this great line in the piece:

Over all, Mr. Obama’s positions on economic policy resemble those that moderate Republicans used to espouse. Yet Mr. Romney portrays the president as the second coming of Fidel Castro and seems confident that he will pay no price for making stuff up.

          Welcome to post-truth politics.


Or  as Steven Colbert would say, truthiness politics.  I'll get back to that, but when I read that, I thought, hmm.  The level of rhetoric Mittens is spewing is not really any different than that lying assed bullshit thrown about during the 2008 election.  Nothing new going on here, people.  In fact, I was put in mind of a conversation I had with an ex friend, who unsurprisingly (as should become clear in the next couple few sentences) turned out to be an evil liar.  This was before the 2008 election, and of course she's a delusional wing nut.  She said to me that Obama was a socialist, and she could prove it.  My reply to that was to ask her, if she thought I was a socialist.  She said no.  And then I told her, that Obama charts to the right of me on the political spectrum.  If I recall correctly, she never threw that insane, bat fucking delusional nonsense my way again.   However I am pretty sure that no matter the facts, she still believed, and likely still believes, on some fucked up level, that Obama is a socialist.

How does that work?  My guess, and I have said it time and again here, is that there is some weird way that wingnuts can suspend operation of cognitive dissonance.  A sane and healthy mind would have trouble maintaining the lie in their heads, that Obama is a socialist.  But for a wingnut, all that matters is the hate.  Doesn't matter what the definition of the word is.  It's an insult.  It's an accusation.  It's a vehicle for the delivery of some twisted, deep, dark animus that is primordial or some sort of sub sub level of lizard brain function.

Back to Mittens.  Mittens is just playing that game.  It doesn't matter that Obama and Mittens are in the same neighborhood, on the economic philosophy scale, relatively speaking.  Details don't really mean shit here.  What really matters for GOP politics is cultivate the hate.  Nurse the hate.  Exploit the hate.

And on that note, happy holidays.  Oh.  One further matter.  I said this over on my FB page a couple days ago.  Let me try to find it:

Wouldn't it be great if all the GOP Congress critters, and other right wing political hacks, and all the minions, for that matter, who who support them ALL got Scrooged this year?

And to be specific, not only Scrooged, but that the after effect sticks with them for life. Being filled with the spirit of generosity and good will towards others, helping the needy, and all that, but more importantly no longer believing it's ok to act like dicks.

 

I officially declare the Holiday Truce.  See ya later!

Friday Sorta Quickies. I am Not Really Up to Speed Yet.

But here goes!

I could go on about the continuing drama over at the Althouse blog.  But the actual details are rather tedious.  Instead I will talk about  meeeeeeee, and how it's all about meeeeee!  Not, it's not.  But I have the distinct feeling, or near about, like happened around the time Congress was voting to authorize the misadventure in Iraq.  I had sent my congress critter an email against such an insane and costly disaster.  And when he delivered his quite fine floor speech, I sorta resembled some of the words.  But let's be honest.  I was not, had not used some obscure words and odd phrasing that could be considered that original.

Likewise, I am just enjoying the fact that there has been a purge over there, following my taking  them to task for keeping racist and abusive and disgusting ugly shit from some of the minions there, up on the blog, way too long.  I already wrote how I was so amused that her husband, now co admin  of the blog, is utilizing my phrase, 'free speech ain't free'  (and thanks to among others, Stanley Fish for that idea.)  I will try to avoid using an insulting term here, but I will quote the husband, here, with what he posted here, on 4/20/11:

"Free speech is not an ideology or a gospel. It's a value."

I sorta wanna  congratulate him for growing the fuck up and realizing that Free Speech is not really a value, when the speech is so fucking annoying that one wants to bury it.  Or in his case, recently, delete, delete, delete.  So Mr. Meade.  Welcome to the He Man, We Stomp on Shitty Speech We Don't Like, Because We Can,  club.   Doesn't matter if one is stomping someone else's speech based on viewpoint, or so-called  "bad faith."  (This is the fucking Internet. Bad faith is the default.  Oh, but I remember the cowboy days of ten, more years ago.  Don't get me started.  The Net used to be a digital version of Deadwood!)  Please pardon my digression.  All you need do to qualify for membership in the club is wield dat dere delete button.  We won't hold you to task, too much, for vague posting policies  at your blog.  Like the pirates say in that Disney Franchise,"We be consider'n dem tabe merely guidelines, ya know."

Enough of that shit.  Even if I have been rubbernecking the toy-train wreck, there really is not much entertainment to be had, there.  But IIRC correctly  I did predict something scandalous happening to them.  But honestly  I mean more than a childish Internet spat turned into  digital toy-train wreck.

Moving on to another blogger.  The douchehnozzle I sometimes call  some wingnut professor?  Dood has a very fucked up habit, for a lawyer.  He expends a lot of energy on his blog defending (wingnuts) people for free.  What the fuck up with that?  It's been more entertaining than usual with the primary season, and it turning nasty.  Boy don't know how to sit back, kick his feet up, and enjoy the show, of the wannabes tearing into each other  (and the pundits doing their collateral attacks.)  So he has taken to attacking the wannabes for attacking each other (and the pundits for engaging in the sinister crime of actively being a pundit.)

Here's an example of that whiny, silly shit:  Whine!  Personally, I thought Mittens came across more "animated" than usual, and he did a journeyman's job of humanizing himself.  Even the note of discomfort in his posture  (I am going from memory of watching it as broadcast,) to my mind helped.  Helped so much that I don't really want to hear any more about his lack of authenticity from any the fuck one.  He's a stiff, starchy white guy.  Authentically so!  So get over it!

Back to the wingnut professor.  Granted, I don't bother to go to wingnut outposts on the net to argue with wingnut dick-noses anymore. But I do post my arguments  here.  And I repeat myself, in tone and message, if not exactly verbatim:

Don't you fucking know what the fuck this is?  It's a fucking primary, asshole.  That is what the wannabes  need to do.  Rip into each other, in order to win the titled of top fucking dog.  Then they are free to try to rip on the other party's top dog.  That, asshole,  is the fucking game!

So the fact that Mitten's took a (rather mild, actually) shot at Unka Newt while on Letterman is not cause for criticism.  It's cause for compliment.  Not only did he push back at an opponent, like people in a fucking primary are supposed to do, he did it as a laugh line, on a nationally broadcast highly rated TV show.  Fucking good for him!

Under the best of circumstances, here in America, even if you had a stellar field, it is still a contest between the wannabes, first.  That is the game.  Fuck that 11th commandment  stupid bullshit.  Oh.  And just to make a nice general slam against right wingers, that fucking 11th commandment bullshit about not speaking  ill of other GOPers?  Again, that is evidence that that party is fucking delusional.

Ok. Anything else to get into this morning?

Oh!  Ya!  The Glorious News!  Fucking Boehner and the Grinches in the House caved on the payroll tax. Now personally I don't give a shit about the issue.  Really.  Well specific to the tax cut, I am all  Meh about it.  But, and I confess to being a once and maybe future professional liberal political hack, I love the game play, and the tactical victory.  I doubt this is the indicator of things to come, but the GOP led Congress is at an all time low with approval ratings, and still the GOP leadership there is way the fuck too willing to vote against the will of the people.  I hope they continue to impose such self inflicted wounds on themselves.  Or call it Judo, where the fighter uses his opponent's energy against him?  Either way, if the Dems win, I am a happy camper.

Oh.  And if I don't get back here before  the 25th, merry  happy what the fuck ever you call it.  Even if you are a wingnut!

Haven't Done Quickies in a While. Let's Go: Reports of It's Demise Were Premature.

I was looking over on that damn message board I used to waste time at, arguing with GOPers and such nots.  And in a thread started by some asshole I know to be a deep and unrepentant racist, some other sorta racist  guy started in with that, the word racist means nothing  now, shit.

My thought?  Not yet.  You fucking racists haven't achieved total victory on that front, yet.  But I know you are not going to stop trying, and in merely  repeating the meme, you are trying.  Fucking racist.

How's that for a start?

Now on to the hotbed (pun not intended) of white wing nut racism, the U. Texas College Republicans.  I would be lying if I said I was horrified that the replacement for the previous evil president of that club is spewing racist nonsense  (and doubled down on it.)  I expect that sort of shit from those people.  So as far as I concerned, the line fits:  not a new low, but merely  a new medium. 

Ron Paul freaked out when called out on his old racist newsletter.  Now Grandpa Simpson.  Listen up.  It's hard to get reasonable people to take your word you are not a racist, when you let racist people spew racist shit in a newsletter published under your name . . . . .  time and fucking time and more fucking times, again and again.  But go ahead if you must.  Throw a tantrum when called out on the shitty shit that is in your permanent record.  Just like Herb Cain.  See how far whining like a bratty child gets ya?

Oh and speaking of Herb Cain, how's the litigation that will prove you never were the dog you were accused of being, going?  Ya.  I bet he's using the same crack (no pun intended) investigative team used by OJ to find the real killers, and Trump to dig into P. Obama's  birth certificate.  And I will take yet another shot at his supporters.  I mean really?  You fell for that shit?  How fucking stupid are you? 

There's that commercial for an insurance company where the woman finds out her prior plan was such a bad decision. She then wonders about all the other bad decisions she might have made in her life?  Ya. That to my mind sums up the typical Cain supporter.  Never mind the ones who played the race card for him.  I mean really.  There's merely stupid.  And then there is evil stupid.  And anyone who ran around playing the race card for Herb Cain is so evil stupid they really need to reevaluate not only every decision of their lives, they need to consult a competent mental health professional  and find out what exactly is their damage, so they can get the appropriate treatment.  But note. 

Some of those people likely are just sociopaths.  There's no real cure or med for that.  But if it's merely a tumor or some shit like that, we can cut the bad out, and leave the good.  Oh.  And if it's merely schizophrenia or some related organic dysfunction?  The new generation of anti psychotic meds are very powerful and do a much better job than the previous gen. (I know this because I have temp worked  directly and indirectly for NJ Pharma  companies.)

Ok.  I went long there,  but the worst part of the whole  Cain minstrel show was not so much the minstrel on stage, but the racist whites who shamelessly got off on that shit.  Anyway . . .

Getting back to evil white right wing racist politicians  taking shots at the Obama  family, that congress critter talking about Michelle's behind?  What sorta bad Meth were you smoking, dood?  Well it's unfair to make it about Hillbilly Crack, when it's likely the other kind of bad drug:  fuck face must listen to too much of that other fuck face, Rush Limbaugh.  He's set the all time historical record for big market pundit who dares go there.

Not that wives looks are totally off limits.  But you out yourself as yourself, if you go there to start, and even worse when it's obviously off the mark.  And the outing is outing one's self as just a hater.

BTW.  Ya wanna  see some actual big asses, go own down to your next local Tea Bagger rally. 

(Shit I am going there myself, but at least not directly at any particular person.  That's the safer way to go.  But still, any number of whiny assed tea baggers  would give me shit for that.  If they could keep up with me.  Those little power scooters they get from their socialist government run medical program that they use to move their fat asses around can't keep up with me and my long legs!)

Ok.  I will stop there.  Please!  Please get me to New Year's!

Fast Forward to New Year's. Please!

Even if I finally got my de minimus Xmas decorations up, and my first Xmas cards in the mail, I still am way the hell not feeling the season, this year.  I just want to speed it up to New Year's  so can say I survived another shit year.  Well it was not all shit.   I had a lot of good times.  Kept close with old friends, made some new ones, and did not fucking die.  So  what if I did not get the bank account up to fat and happy levels?  Well, that is my main complaint actually.  All other irritants in my life would be totally insignificant, provided I had enough money to keep that shit out of sight and out of mind.

And that reminds me.  Yes  children.  The rich are different.  They don't have to really deal with shit or people they rather not.  Money is good for that.  Unless one chooses to slum, or other wise consents to having to breathe the same air and share the same places as the plebes and proles.

And I went on a tangent there.  And what I really intended to do was post this pic.   After cleaning up my over the top remarks  about the mockingly anti-creche creche erected in Madison, in the previous post,  this mocking  "motivational" pic in my archives  came to mind.  Now mind me.  I am not anti religion.  I am anti alleged christians (and similarly disturbed people of other faiths,) whining about how the few of us here in America who really do not respect religion, refuse to actually really respect the shit they happen  to believe in.  How dare we!  I'll tell you how.  Religion is supposed to be a matter of personal conscience, in a free society.  That means no matter how much your faith tells you to spread the good word, and all that evangelising shit, you do not have a right to have a public,  government financed pulpit for your religion.  As soon as the assholes  get that straight, the more civil a society we will have.  Ok.  I went long there.  Something about this  year really has me  all full of piss and vinegar.  I tell ya!

Personally, I don't really give a shit whether or not they have a traditional creche set up at my town hall.  But when some one objects, saying the display is outside the fair rules set by law under the US  Const.?  I will of course accept the right of others  to fight it.  In Court.  But fight it fair. Fight it honestly.  And don't fucking whine about an attack on christians or christianity.  Truth be told, none of that shit should be on government property.  That what your own homes and houses  of worship are for.  Let your freak flag fly.  Have at it, and enjoy yourself  giddy.  He haw!  But not on public, taxpayer owned or operated lands and sites, when you get called on it.  People have been getting over with that shit for years.  That doesn't mean  it is right, or legal.  It just means that the majority bias has been winning the fight in that place, for too damn long, and it is finally being challenged. 

I will be paraphrasing from a US Circuit Court opinion, but first the set up.  The ruling was against some christianist bigot who sued Augusta State University, after it expelled her from its school-counseling program. She was one of those whack a doodles who thinks you can counsel the gay out of people.  That ran not only against the curriculum, but the ethical standards of the field.     

What she argued, in court, was that the school:

"Had violated   her rights to free speech and the free exercise of her Christian faith when it told her that, in order to stay in the program, she would have to change her beliefs about homosexuality—that it is immoral, unnatural, and a “lifestyle choice” that can be reversed through “conversion therapy.”"

She rightly got her ass handed to her, at the trial court.  And the Circuit Court agreed saying she was,"Looking for preferential, not equal, treatment.”

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/appeals-court-rejects-christian-students-bid-for-reversal-of-her-expulsion/39257

This is EXACTLY what I am talking about.  All over the country for years and years, christianity has enjoyed preferential treatment.  And that sort of treatment  basically pisses all over the First Amendment.  Actually.

I am almost done.  Here's my last point:  this passive-aggressive christianist  bigotry has got to go.  Well I think so, at least.  Obviously it can make me crazy, just thinking about it. 

It's Just The Internet, People! Get Over Your Insane Selves, and Get Treatment. And Some Meds!!!

Ok.  I haven't even referenced by allusion, Althouse, for a few days, never mind mention by name.  But there has been some freaky deaky shit going down there, and well, collateral to her blog.  Short of it is  (and mind you I made my own critical remarks here, a couple weeks ago so about it,) the scandal involves a new  . . . standards for deletion of the shit the minions post, policy over there.  Allegedly, according to management over there, they are getting rid of the "clutter."  So I really can't compliment them on a job well, done for the right reasons.  It's all sort of arbitrary and capricious.  The new commenting policy.  And that's fair, in so far as long as one is being honest about being arbitrary and capricious. 

For example.  I have said,  here, that my right to tell people to shut the fuck up matters more to me than their claimed right of free speech.  Fuck 'em.  My blog.  It's all about meeeeeeee!  So no matter what I do  (and let's be honest, I don't get many comments here) I am being consistent with my non existent policy.  However, and I am just saying out loud, if one were to say they have a real policy and not stick to it.  Or if one uses  some fucked  up like a street corner ho junkie, meaningless words to define their policy, like "good faith,"  one is begging to be pilloried as a bullshit person.

I'll stop there but to say, there is now some fucked up feud between some old commenters  from the blog, and the couple who run the blog.  And . . .  between the whole fucking lot of them  there is a lot of dysfunction going on, and plenty of work for therapists and clinicians, for years and years.  JMO.  And I say that as someone who has been sucked up in Internet drama.  I am ashamed of it.  And even if at the time I know it was fucked up stupid childish nonsense, I got sucked in, and  and regrettably, I went there.  Again, embarrassment.  Not so much for what I specifically said or did, mind you, but for not saying  fuck this stupid shit, I am not getting in that deep. 

Again. People!  It's only the fucking Internet, people.  Get over it!

Edit to add:
(And I confess, I came back and edited my edit.  I did not need to be so much of a flame thrower here.   I have really been so NOT into the season this year, and fucking sick of the fuckers  who spew and spurt about the war on christianity, bullshit.  Sorry.  There I go again.  Sorry.  Ok.  I have been so not into the season I am definitely testy.  And cuss mouthed.  Anyway . . .)

Thing was about this 'atheist creche' that was put up in Madison.  Althouse commented about it, and likewise her minons  in the comments section ran on about that shit, totally missing the obvious.    The "display" was not an affirmative argument for atheism.  It was patently, obviously  a mockery of not only religion, but of religious "displays." But seriously,  people.  If you waste your time  trying to deconstruct  full on mockery, you really missed the fucking point.
Some people just fail to get the obvious.  On account of having their heads so far up their asses they can lick the insides of their their own throats.

Reasons I Hate the Convserva-christians. Them Who Whine and Tell Whopping Lies About the War on Xmas.

Ya  hate is a strong word. I'll pull that punch in a bit and say in stead, I hate the stupid, dishonest shit they think and say.   How's that?  Granted,  look at the fucking pie chart.  I can't say you will see the same thing I do, but I see evidence than for the most part, when conserva christians are whining about being persecuted, what really is going in there is some twisted passive-aggressive bigotry.  Get over your fucking selves.  Lighten the fuck up.  You  (all so called  self describing christians, that is,) are 66% of the population.  See that tiny sliver of other?  That  is not merely  agnostics and atheists.  That percentage is tiny. Actually. 

Wanna  know who's the oppressed spiritual matters minority in the USA?  It's the unbelievers.  You believers run the fucking place. 

Worst Fucking Republican of the Year.

It's so hard to say.  So many insane, evil, lying Republicans.  I have not bothered to go back over and find out for sure who got the most posts by me this year, but for wretchedness above and beyond the rest of the field, I gotta  give the title to Herb Cain.

Yes, I am disgusted with the way Herb pandered to some of the most base and vile stereotypes.  He fucking sang at a fucking press conference, for crying out loud!  He made Stepinfechit look as regal as James Earl Jones, as the king in that Eddie Murphy movie, "Coming to America."  He out minstreled  (what's his name) Al Jolson singing."Mammy."   

But that is not the worst of it  -- granted I have not seen a (allegedly legit, meaning not counting Rent Too Damn High, man,)  black politician more shaming to the black community since Keyes.  And Herb was so much worse.  At least Keyes was just some crazy negro.  Herb is a crazy negro, who's a pathological liar, and got some serious problems with the wimmen folk.  But the worst of the worst was Cain's own black on black racism.  Saying  the 90-95 or more % of black folk who vote were "brainwashed," was flatly, plainly racist.  Take the words out of a white racist's mouth and make them come out of a black mouth, and it's still racist.  Likewise, that shit about the plantation.  Negro please!  And then there was the shit about Muslims.  And the shit about how racism really wasn't holding any black folk back, until . . . . he felt justified in recycling the (ludicrous, then as it was this year)  whiny crank about how having one's own sordid record of mistreating women made public =  a high tech lynching.

I'll stop there about him.  Particularly.  I have talked enough about him the past few months, and I hope he enjoys his spot on shit heap of shit head, dick nose failed GOPers.  But I do want to make a few remarks  about his supporters.  Could you have been more fucking stupid?  I mean really!  I have used the analogy coming from the joke with Snow White sitting on Pinocchio's  face saying,"Lie to me," before.  But ya know?  That won't work here.  At least Snow White was deliberately trying to get fucked.  But Cain supporters?  Well I think the best analogy is what allegedly happened in the car when he tried to get the blonde to suck him off in exchange for a favor.  But in this case, his supporters were willing to go down on that pizza man's sausage.

Oh.  This is fucking hilarious.  To me at least.  Now this one fucking idiot on this message board I used to waste my time at?  He (racist fuck wad to my mind, but still  . . . this is part of the pathology of the Cain Train.  Many Southern Racists supported him, before any really had to vote for him, as if he were Unka Remus hissself!, anyway)  he was soooo heartbroken when Cain pulled out  (pun intended) that he broke down on the board like  a little girl. 

That's not proof that all Cain supporters are emotionally disturbed.  I know that fuck wad is.   Again, it is because of crazy, wing nut,  tea bagger fuckers like that,  that I have all but given up message boards.  More's the point, I have given up on most GOPers.

Yes.  I have said it before and I will say it again.  I have no patience left for these fucking fools.  If that were not the case before The Cain Train, it certainly would be the case now. 

Oh.  And that other racist piece of garbage, Ron Paul, the angry libertarian version of Grandpa Simpson, very well might win in Iowa.  Well it could be worse.  It could be Newt.  But that's 2012's bag of shit.  We are still trying to tidy up from 2011.

Agnostic's Affirmation.

Ok. I confess. I get crabby this time of year, and wrote a "Note" (on my FB page) about how some people do things this time of year that divides people way more than bring them together (*cough* conserva-christians *cough*.) But I decided to heed my own advice in my deleted note, and try to lighten up. But still. I likely have said similar things before and I am going to reaffirm my agnosticism. And . . . I will post the Wiki Article that explains that, and the specific kind of agnostic I most resemble. Just letting ya'll know where I am coming from. And for the record. I really don't mind all that christian Christmas stuff. What gets on my nerve is the whole culture war/war on Christmas/stop picking on us by not submitting to our will, shit. Anyway, here is where I am coming from, for the most part:

Strong agnosticism (also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism") The view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities, and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Tebow Wow Wow.

Ok.  Ya fucking wing nut Tebow christianist fanatics.  If we are supposed to assume he's some fucking divine agent when Denver wins, what does it mean when Denver gets the shit kicked outta them?  Does that mean Tebow has lost the favor of His Creator?  Does that mean he has impure thoughts  about some female he is not married to yet?  Does that mean, only, that The Lord God had something better to do that day?  Or does it mean what Occam's Razor directs;  that if there is a god  (and for this point, just assume that for the sake of argument) he usually got better things to do than help the lame assed Broncos win football games?

Test

The fine folk who let me blog here for free have done some upgrades.  The old dashboard is pretty much  history.  This might work out.  For a few months I have not been able to post/update from IE.  So here goes nuttn'.

Christopher Hitchens Has Passed.

Let me get my thoughts out, here. Sometimes annoying. Often fearless. Capable of brilliance, actually getting there, more than once. Could be a little out of control. Has a lot of marks in his permanent record. Always interesting, and I have to say, one of the few generalist intellectuals of the age. RIP Christopher.
Go Here.

I'll go a little further here.  I totally disagreed with him on the Iraq War.  But I almost totally agree with him on the god/religion stuff.  I call myself an extreme agnostic instead of atheist  (or as he called himself, antitheist,) mainly  as I don't want to be doctrinaire about it.  Even if I have not read the books, I have seen many clips of his debates about atheism.  He was a lion!  And he could be mean.  But it was great entertainment if you got to watch it.  I distinctly remember one appearance with Andrew Sullivan.  I don't remember the put down, but it put every TV and movie put down to shame.  Ya.  Not the best thing to remember him for.  But it was a talent.  

Most people only manage the first part of the label, sarcastic wit.  He was a true wit.  Them be rare creatures.  I am confident in saying he will be missed.  

I'm not at a loss for words, but

I think I am not up for typing or composing. So here we go. Have an instant post.

Should I Still Try to Avoid Direct Mention?

Ok. I will merely us as an example of blind irony.

A certain blogger posts a link to an article where the owner of the business claims that the OWS protests killed his business, after posting an article disclosing (the well known rat fuck trick) the trick of using a false correlation for dishonest proof of causation.

May I say that the point in the trick post was as old news as how to make fire?

Anyway, that business. Now I can't swear the owner if full of shit. Or mostly full of shit. Or only partially full of shit. But I know that part of town fairly well. And when I saw the addy of the biz, 40 Wall, my thought was immediately that the place was South and East of Zucotti Park. And I checked on the map, and it is further East than the NYSE Bldg. So do I think the continued presence of barricades could have impacted his biz? Ya sure. And it has been weeks since I was last working there, downtown. I really don't know how the protest have clogged Wall Street, day after day. That is my admission that I could see that there could actually be a great deal of causation there. But I can't help but think the article about this story does not tell the whole story.

I will leave my speculations there. I can't say more on this to follow, but I would like to hear more details. As well, review the biz's books!

Definitely Not Smarter Than a Third Grader.

Christian Bigot Eric Bolling SHOCKED, SHOCKED to discover that atheists DO NOT believe Jesus is Lord. Throws atheist off his show for expressing atheist thoughts.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/eric-bolling-boots-atheist-guest-off-show-for-denigrating-the-name-of-jesus-christ/

And sorry. Can't get the link feature to work now as the dashboard is all messed up here. So many buttons missing. And this is yet another, first on FB then posted here, things. With follow up.

Now I don't expect christian (or other religious) bigots to get it, that they are totally offensive people for dragging their religions out in the street, and erecting shrines to it on public property. I know they really don't care if they offend me, and that would only be a little bit; for me it's a matter of constitutional law and being a tacky bully. And they certainly do not care about the people they really manage to oppress like religious minorities, who may be deeply passionate about their beliefs, who naturally see the shrines to some other religion as vastly degrading their faiths. So let's try another argument.

You love your faith and religion all that much? Well don't be casting pearls before swine. Don't put your money in a pile on the front law, if you actually want to keep it. In other words, be greedy about your faith. Lock it up. Keep it safe. Be a miser with it. Treat it like the most precious thing you have in life, and safe guard it with will all the security you can afford.

Not that I am going to steal anyone's faith away from them. I have no use for that shit. But I really wish religious people were more like Scrooge McDuck with their precious religion, than like obnoxious missionaries who will not shut the fuck up about their beliefs. Isn't the right to believe what ever you like enough for you people? Isn't the fact that no one can force you to fight or switch, convert or be deported or killed enough? Isn't the freedom of your own conscience regarding religion enough of a liberty that you would rather die in torture and agony than engage in anything remotely like religious coercion yourself?

Well not all religious peeps don't get that shit. But too many don't. Believe what you want to believe, people. Just keep that shit to yourselves.

Second Best Line of Last Week, The Year Even.

It's an empty gesture. Like e-cards, or a formal apology after an anti Semitic rant."

-- Dave, to Alex. "Happy Endings."

Yes. Empty gestures fucking suck. And the more the insincere bastards repeat them, the more it feels like one is having their face ground into hot smelly horseshit.

Ya. That's the voice of experience talking there.

Particularly with e-cards. If that's the best you can do, don't even pretend to be my friend. Just fuck off.

Best Line of the Week. Maybe Year.

"Everything is what it is and not another thing." -- Alan Wolfe.

Learn about his book here.

Now of course I am going to turn and spin this/that into some slam against wing nuts. I am what I am. I have an agenda. I am a hack (capable of actual near perfect objectivity when I flick the necessary switch in my head.) But seems to me the right wing/wing nuts are more likely to fuck up, deliberately, metaphors and use of adjectives, and language as a matter of pride and practice. Turns out that piece of shit, Newton Leroy, the current front runner for the GOP Wannabe Race is particularly guilty of making that shit a conscious part of the GOP Rat Fucking manual of dirty tricks. Did you ever hear about him and Frank Luntz, and the demagogue list?

Read about that nasty shit here.

When I say the GOP is the deliberately bullshit party I am not talking out my ass. There are billing records and a paper trail that proves it.

I Hope I Haven't Posted This Here, Yet.

I'm not in a wordy mood today. Though. Lucky you.

The Sad, Tragic Truth Behind the Wing Nut Love Affair With (This Week's Newt.)

Ok. I usually reserve my broadsides for the GOP pols and pundits, and other alleged leaders of the legion of doom that is the Right Wing. But every now and then, I take a swipe at the rank and file. Because . . . with out them, the so called leaders would have nothing to lead. In modern warfare, bombing the population that fields and supports the enemy army is fair game. So here goes.

Now ...of all people, it was David Brooks, who recently came up with the brilliant (but not original) answer to the question, why does the rank and file of the GOP/Right Wing have such love for seemingly insane people? (Like Nixon, Bob Dole was more than a little loopy, McCain's not too stable, Palin, Bachmann, Perry, Cain, Santorum, and the one who was focus of Brook's article, Newton Leroy.)

Here is the punchline/answer: "Most (right wingers) just want somebody who can articulate their hatreds, and Gingrich is demagogically happy to play the role."

(Brooks had it as "most people." But sorry Dave, that's the Wing Nut way, not the general way.)

Now I confess that I originally posted this on my FB wall, and now I have a bit more to add. And I am going to pull in at least my current embarrassment of a Governor, Chris Christe, as in exhibit. Oddly enough (go watch some Ann Coulter vids from the past year and see/hear for yourself) Christie gets this weird love from wing nuts, because not only is he a verbal bully, but he looks the part, being all huge and obese and dangerous looking. Granted, the person in the world he endangers most is himself. Talk about a triple coronary waiting to happen. But wing nuts just go for that shit in a way that liberals don't.

And I have to say, yes, not much of a confession. But I do prefer P. Obama giving a little push back to his detractors. But I would not support someone who's usual demeanor was being pugnacious. That's not only a turn off for me, but it's usually the sign of at least some lower level emotional/personality disorder. People like that are not effective leaders or statesmen. Even if they can get their way sometimes by being a bully. That's going for the slim chance of short term gains over the rational and adult way, seeking long term security and prosperity. Fuck that, and anyone who supports that kind of government. Well . . . sometimes I think we need some more actual ass kicking. But I mean literally. That or at least to have the right people retired from the game. Or embarrassed out of it. I do have some cunning and devious plans. But that still is not dependent on supporting being a public bully.

What did Teddy Roosevelt say? Speak softly and carry a big stick. That makes more sense to me than being a fat mouth, bullying douchebag. I can't say no one likes fat mouth, bullying douchebags. As what I am saying here throughout this whole post is that way the fuck too many wing nuts not only like fat mouth, bullying douchebags, but are willing to vote them into office. Fucking idiots. But more's the point, dangerous idiots.

You Are Out Of Your Fucking Mind!

I am still trying to not directly mention a certain blogger. But there was some drama going down on her site that leads me to re state and repeat the following. And I might not be directly quoting myself, but I have said the following in sum, here and in other places.

You fucking stupid crazy people. It's only the Internet! If you really take this shit that seriously you need to get away from the computer and get some psych treatment!

Now I must admit. I have been sucked into Internet drama. In my case it was a message board that I was happily trolling, and my then-dear friend insisted on tormenting me about. And then she joined the board. And then she really fucked me over so completely, horribly badly I still think of her as purely evil. Point is that pointless stupid drama was all against my will. We had more than enough ordinary drama going on already. We fucking did not fucking need a supporting cast of fucked up insane message board racist republicans involved in our relationship. It might not have been literally the last fucking thing we needed in our relationship, but it definitely was on the short list.

What I mean to say is I said no I don't want this. That was because I did not want my personal life contaminated by stupid Internet shit. I mean, I did not say it exactly that way, but the idea was there was what really mattered to me in life, and then there was stupid Internet shit. And I did not want any overlap. I knew that overlap was bad. And I was so fucking right about that.

But again. Point is. There is real life. Then there is the fucking stupid Internet. And if you can't tell where one ends and the other begins, then you are totally fucked up in the head, an need help. Seriously.

And to make the point the other way, last night I was at a great party at NYC's University Club. It was for my college regional Alumni Association. After that, I hit Sardi's and caught some live benefit Xmas show there. That's the real world, kids. And the real world fucking kicks the Internet in the balls, four times in a row, and makes it whine like a dying varmint!

But I confess. I have a hate - hate relationship with the Internet. I mean I hate it. But sometimes I really really hate it.

Not Making Predictions Here. Just Speculating Out Loud.

Follow me. Some of the GOP insiders are going batshit over the prospect of Newt as nominee. I have heard dire predictions, he'll kill the party. Bla bla. Yadda, yadda.

And now we have the converging perfect storm coming with the Trump Debate. So far only Newtie is in. Now could this be the thing that reduces the GOP to level of respectability reserved for junkies after they shit themselves?

We will see.

Can We Still Take Shots at Herbie Cain?

Of course we can!

I did not see the vid, as the link was not functioning but Steven Colbert regretted Cain's exit. "He touched so many people."

My latest crack, as published over on WARN (one of the sites I link to, here):

"'Memba when that book came out about Sarah Palin and said she and her sister went black, but went back? Well? Looks like the GOP done caught up with the Heath sisters. "

Once it came to mind I could not resist. There's another sexual punchline waiting to be made. But I can resist that. For now.

Let's Skip Politics, for Now. At the Least.

“You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”
― C.S. Lewis

Interesting sentiment there. I can agree with it even as I am an arch agnostic. And C.S. Lewis was definitely Catholic/christian. I like the inverse of the usual view. That the soul is this separate part from the self. As an adult, I have had trouble with the whole separate soul bit. It's one of those things that makes for a certain kind of comfortable "spiritual" thought that is too appealing to those seeking spiritual comfort. And that to my mind has the ring of total bullshit.

That is sort of why I reject most of the attributes, and beliefs associated with, particularly, monotheism, and so called christianity. Above and beyond the whole, total lack of empirical evidence to actually support the existence of a god, personal or otherwise? I think too many of the parts people believe and like seem to be what one might expect of comfortable "spiritual" beliefs, if they had been purposefully created to be so comfortable. That's the bullshit factor.

But this way of saying it? Of defining the soul? I can dig it.

I Am Going To Do Some Virtual Sleight of Hand

I need to take a vacation from mentioning, at least directly, a certain blogger. But I saw something posted by this silly person that got me to thinking about a few, let's call them rare but sorta reliable truisms.

Mostly, one should be careful when painting with a broad brush. Sometimes the math and/or otherwise real world data will back you up. Usually it doesn't. In the law of evidence there is this doctrine/rule about so called judicial notice. That allows the court to take basic facts about the known world, or at the smaller scale, what everyone in town knows about the town, for granted, and just move on. The further away from that level of certainty one's statement of alleged reality gets, the more likely someone is saying something speculative, false, and likely embarrassing, when held up to scrutiny.

And in addition to that, I will risk falling under governance of my first observation by saying that when someone starts a statement with words to the effect,"In my experience . . . ," and the following point is not really really empirical, and by that I mean, supported by personal observation after repetitious doing or observing of specific tasks or phenomena? What ever follows will have a large degree of flat out bullshit, if not is mostly bullshit. People live life. People have opinions about things that they actually experience with some good degree of specific observation. And as well they can have opinions that are based for the most part on nothing more than their own biases and prejudices. So that's something that needs to be remembered, I would say.

And lastly, when it comes to broad brush statements about qualitative judgments, expect the judgment to be mostly bullshit. People believe all sorts of shit about the world around them, and their grasp of it. Every now and then (think of the broken face-dial clock being right twice a day) their broad brush bullshit might have some merit. But less than the broken clock, that is not inevitable.

Oh. And the specific remark that led to this commentary:

In my experience — and I'm old, so it's long — people who make a noticeable exhibition of their smartness are not the most intelligent people. They're not the dumbest people. But the smartest people are strategic about displaying intelligence. That's how they outsmart you.

Firstly my counter argument to that is, how smart can someone be if they are relying on one of the oldest bluff, bullshit cliches known to the species? For example if I ever encounter someone pulling some variant of the,"I's justa sim pull 'cuntry law-ya," routine, my radar will immediately go up. That's such a cliche and a well known flim flam, con man, drifter line that who ever uses might well be quoting Iago, in sum from the play, "Othello," but thusly:

Sirah I aim to lead you tenderly by the nose, as asses are. Forsooth!

Now everyone might not be as "on notice" as I am with that "aw shucks" shit. But I know I am not alone in thinking that way. But beyond that point on that "opinion," I am sure a lot of people believe that bullshit. And I can not say for sure that there is no possible way that could be even minimally more the case than not. But the absence of any proof of it, makes it a rather idiotic statement. Unless we are going to count Road Runner cartoons as proof. But hey. Bugs Bunny is way the fuck smarter than his rivals. That's the whole theme that's in play in (well most at least) the 'toons. Wise cracking, joke throwing, smart ass but smart rabbit outwits dummy. So the whole 'toons as proof thing gets us nowhere, at least.

Herbie's Gone! Now Let's Move On!

Apologies to Curtis Mayfield, but I had to riff off of that ghetto fabulous chart, "Freddie's Dead."

Cain has gone down the drain, kiddies. And he went out in not so much a bang, but a much too long, way too narcissistic, pathological, sociopathic winding speech. It was evocative of Skulls Palin, Arctic Cyborg Unit's swan song (before becoming a sell out professional media ho.) Main difference is Cornbread Cain is more articulate, even if equally vapid and self loving, and victim status embracing.

That's all I got now. That should be enough.

More of a Clarification Than Correction. I was Quoting Stanley Fish

When I said free speech isn't free, months ago, here. But now that the idea is in play based on seeing the very same guy I basically fought against before now defending that idea that free speech has limits, quoting that line, I thought it was a good idea to repost some of Prof. Fish.

I say repost as even if I did some digging around my archives, I do not remember what chunk or bit I published before. Might have been this interview. Might have been directly from his book. In any case, here goes.

Q : You have written that free speech is a conceptual impossibility as the condition of speech being free in the first place is unrealizable. Why is this so?

A : The condition of speech being free is not only unrealizable, it is also undesirable. It would be a condition in which speech was offered for no reason whatsoever. Once speech is offered for a reason it is necessarily, if only silently, negating all of the other reasons for which one might have spoken. Therefore the only condition in which free speech would be realizable is if the speech didn't mean anything. Free speech is speech that doesn't mean anything.

Once meaning, assertion, predication get into the act the condition of freedom has already been lost and, as I would say, well lost because you want speech to mean something; you don't want to live in a world where people's utterances are weightless -- neither commit to anything, nor illuminate or challenge you in any way. The impossibility of free speech is one of the happy facts of our condition and not a fact to be lamented. There's no such thing as free speech and it's a good thing too.

From Here.

This quoted chunk is from the near end of the interview. I recommend anyone not too familiar with Prof. Fish's theories to read it all. And it is not all that long. Rather short. Really.

Friday Quickies

After beating up on silly person Ann Althouse for a couple days (metaphorically speaking,) I will compliment her, for taking sides (something she avoids doing often, and such avoidance to my mind is at least a "cheat.") The issue is some draconian Time Place Manner + costs restrictions on protests at the Wisc. State House. Kudos to her for calling Walker out on what she described as,"Plainly unreasonable."

Even her silly husband gets a gold star. Correction. Half a gold star. I could accuse him of stealing from me when he argues,"Free speech isn't free." I think I had a fight with him here on this very board trying to convince him of that. I guess that shit finally sunk in. I know. I am being too kind. Like any "good" wing nut he reached for any argument that served the moment, no matter ideological consistency. But still I compliment him on finally getting the connection between speech and money. Speech often if not usually has a cost to it. Again, kudos for that. But don't pretend your megalomaniacal, wanna be despot object du man crush - Gov. Walker is NOT taking steps to crack down on criticism of his own punk ass. Well you can try to pretend that. But I won't. I am here to remind you of the fact. Go Here for that shit.

One last remark in this vein. From one of the Minions there:

"The Governor looks better when he stands up to the mob than when he tries to prevent or silence it. That ought to be obvious."

My reply to that (here not there, I don't post there, yecchh.)

Didja miss the part about Walker being a megalomaniacal, wanna be despot?

Moving on. Cain is still circling the drain. He's all but done. But his sociopathic brain is not processing that (obvious to nearly all others) fact. At this point I will say the following. Call me mean, but I want him to drag this out as long as ugly as possible and utterly self destruct in a way that will eclipse even Rod Blagovitch. Go Herbie Go. You can go your own way. On an elevator straight to hell!

Michelle Bachmann? Who? Some folk still think there is a chance for her to get her mojo back in doing well if not winning Iowa. Remains to be seen.

Resurgent Newt. Proves to me that the GOP base is full of a bunch of amoral, hypocritical idiots. And they must be stopped! But realistically if not seriously. Mittens needs to show his A Game now. He's been ice skating so far. And he has shown his ability to be nasty vicious against P. Obama. But using surrogates as attack dogs now is not enough. Mittens, you got to at least spend some of your own money on some ads to damage Newt. Some people use the analogy of a land battle. The proper one is sea battles from the 18th and 19th century. I am not going to get any further here, but you need to drill your gun crews, and know what kind of shot to load for what desired effect, for your passes and exchanges. You likely don't want to go for solid shot at the waterline. Not to start. Not yet. Get my meaning?

Oh. I have rambled long. So I will just repeat the most important thing I have said here:

Proves to me that the GOP base is full of a bunch of amoral, hypocritical idiots. And they must be stopped!

How Can I link Ranting Racist English Lady, With Ann Althouse?

By an admitted cheap shot. Or more. Firstly, this is what free and unfettered free speech get you. Unapologetic hate spew. Well and even as repulsive I find the woman, I still cringe at her being arrested for her shocking (not really) vulgar performance. But hey. That's the UK. They take that shit more seriously than we do. Shit. Even than I would.

But I am not in favor of that kind of shit. I will not promote it. Shit. I will not even link it. All I will do is present the title of the vid here. You are free to punch that into a search engine of your own choice, or go directly to youtube for it:

My Tram Experience.

I'm torn about the cheap shot I have loaded up in my head, ready to be typed by my snarky musician's fingers. On the one hand, I see it as objectively a cheap shot. On the other hand, based on the shit I have seen Althouse allow on her blog, I think she might actually post that shit, and hide behind the cowardice of the cult of free speech. Ok. That is not exactly the cheap shot I could have gone with. Instead, it's something of a speculation. One person's idea of a "neutral" post is another's idea of promoting hate, in the failing to condemn it, sense of these things.

More's the point though. If she does find this vid, and post it or the link to it, I am god damned sure it will get at least 10 racist (encouraging/enabling) comments before the tally for all reaches 100. Maybe even as many as 10 in a total of 50. But some of her racist minions will want to marry her. Likely. Well, some of the racists there are fems. None that I know of are lesbians. So maybe the will just wanna be BFFs with her?

And for the record, sorta, the reason I was late to this party myself, was, among other things, I was monitoring hate speech on Althouse's site yesterday. The international hate scene was forgotten, yesterday.