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.

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.

Some Quickies.

I'm just going to briefly mention the Scott Walker phone prank. Nope, it's not looking like this will end his term as Gov. of WI very soon. But it shows us his true colors, and intents. Lying-assed weasel.

Thought came to me (not original, I googled) that the right to collective bargaining has a double First Amendment angle. Firstly consider freedom of speech either broadly or specifically political, in the sense that public employee unions are engaging in politics, all the time, even if it is not electoral partisan politics. (I worked for AFSCME as a lawyer for two years. This I know to be true.) Government takes away collective bargaining rights, and government is basically censoring the union. (Not a great argument, but hey, it's a start.) And there's the freedom of association argument. Whether or not the union in theory can take the state to court if the bill passes, is something I can't say. I like the idea of it. Beyond that, what I am thinking, meantime, is recast the issue. It's Scott Walker trampling on the constitutional rights of citizens of the state. Ya. I like that for a talking point.

Moving on, how about this grasping at straws racism charge against what is it? Three people during one of the protest days in Madison?

That poor black tea bagger. I mean really!

He was only failing to obey police instructions by failing to stay on the Right Winger side of the fence. (Deliberate confrontation for the purpose of getting juicy footage, me thinks.) Now the allegedly racist remarks. Use of "son." Hey, I saw the tape myself. The guy using the word seemed to be using it in keeping with current colloquial, street English. And let's be clear. Son is not the same as "boy." I would have had to flag the play if he said boy. No foul. After that there is the person who said something like get back on you side of the fence. That was clearly a literal statement. No foul. The lady (not even, allegedly now it is said, part of the protest) who asked him if he had children? That was directly tied in with the conversation about teachers. Again, the point was literal and politically on point. No foul. And calling him uneducated? Shit. What do I call right wingers here? Bat shit crazy, ignorant lying-assed weasels. Again, no foul.

It never fails to amuse me, how wrong the right is when it comes to race issues. They grasp at straws, and then wonder why we call them ignorant, and clueless about these things.

Oh. And Black tea bagger man actually says MLK was a republican? Little shit really is ignorant if not uneducated.

Ok. That's enough for now.

No! It's Not Taxpayer Money. Ya Morons!

I have seen this idiotic argument from the anti-unionites, and their sympathizers. I think I saw it on Ann Althouse's site last week. And just now I saw it on instapundit, quoting from some agitprop written by one Michael Barone -- some cretin on the payroll of AEI and part of the Fox News hacks bull pen. (I refuse to link either pages, on principle.)

The argument goes like this. Since every dime made by a public sector union employee is from the taxpayers, the members' dues, which end up down stream as contributions to democratic candidates causes the taxpayers to fund Democratic politicians/parties that they might not want. And that makes it all a scam, a conflict of interest, and a fraud.

How idiotic can people be?

The second the employee's pay is moved from the credit column to the debit column at the office that does that business, the money is no longer the state's, or the taxpayers'. So is this more of a matter of people being that totally ignorant, or is this just another example of right wing crazy shit, bullshit? Could be both. But the argument is not logical, or true.

This is one of the most main of main reason I despise right wingers. They say shit like that, totally lie and bullshit, and then wonder why reality based people call them lying-assed weasels? I mean really!

I feel no need to try to be fair or nice to people who make up shit, to bolster their bullshit, agitprop demagoguery. I'll stop there, on this topic at least.

Pardon My Lack of Civility . . .

I'm still detoxing from the wacky world of web forums. Not that there really is any use in trying to converse with hard core republicans. Hell. There's not even much to gain from flaming them. But it was a pressure release for me. I mean, merely saying here that the GOP is evil might be true, but there's less fun in that then explaining why they are evil to one or more of them. Yes. I have whipped out the actual dictionary meaning, and even the famous Hannah Arendt,"Banality of evil," observation/quote. And still their lame defense is they personally haven't committed acts of mass murder or are not serial killers, so how can they be evil?

And that leads right into why it's of little to no practical use to debate with those delusional idiots. If someone is so messed up in the head that they will routinely and frequently substitute their desired meanings for words, instead of the real meaning of those words, it is pointless to try. The words might be English, but they are speaking a different language. It's one where every word means what they want it to mean, when they want it to mean what they want it to mean.

So why did I do it for so many years? It was only a small amount of fun to do so, but it sorta satisfied some darker need. I can't blame my pirate ancestors, but I do like giving hell, time to time. But as it is, the last board I was posting on has all but banned me. I am not stricken of the list. I just can't post in any of the contentious threads. I had been in the gulag -- my own little place to rant, that others could come into and get a taste of my hell giving. However management has pulled the plug on even that.

In the board's owner's mind, calling the GOP evil was hate speech. This is after I had the definition discussion with her twice in a month. Anyway. I should not miss it, but it was something of an outlet for venting. And venting into the void (with out even a seeming virtual audience,) is just not the same thing. And now I need to do something more constructive with that excess emotional energy. Hey. There's that rally I am going to (plan to) Saturday. Yea for that!

"Has Anyone Paid You Money to Tell Jokes? No?"

"Then take that as a clue."

By now, and particularly based on recent posts, ya'll should know I think that the right wing, idiotic, crazy shit, immature understanding of free speech is nothing but bullshit. With out checking if Ann Althouse is whining about this guy's basically being fired for a really nasty-bad joke, I will report on it, here and now.

Asshole fired for truly ugly joke about Lara Logan.


Just for the record, and in case you haven't heard yet, CBS Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan was brutally assaulted during the "celebrating" following the victory of the protesters in Egypt, there in Tahrir Square. And it was reported as being a sexual assault. And ass hole man basically lost his part time gig at NYU on account of the ugly joke about her, he twitted. (Ok, the proper usage might be twittered, but here, twitted seems a better fit.)

I, as a general matter, believe in accountability. I believe that one should own one's own shit. And if one posts some really ugly shitty joke on their twitter page, and offends people, they have to own that. If they lose respect, friends, and even gigs, based on the stupid shit they say, that is a perfect example of the world working as it should. Remember. Folk are free to say any ugly, stupid assed shit they wanna. And the rest of us are free to take offense and otherwise judge the asshole in question, and harshly, if that's our feeling at the moment.

I repeat: that is the world working as it should.

But regarding deliberate jokes, and not even dealing with the right wing, libertarian, childish view of "free speech," I am definitely a hard ass. That's based on my past life career in show biz. Now I never did stand up, but I did do some emcee work back in college. So I get to say I did get paid to tell jokes (among a lot of duties I had for that one gig.) And what I said there in the title and the first line of this post is the set up and punchline of a real life joke-remark I told to a friend of mine, back when we were in law school. He had a rare, if not odd sense of humor, and his jokes kept blowing up in his face. Instead of telling him flat out, stop that shit, I couched that message in vocational terms.

But if I am not being sensitive to people's feelings I tell them flat out. Go ahead. Ignore my advice. But firstly, you ain't that funny. But no matter what you think, no one else has to like you attempts at humor. Expect them to reject you. It's their right. Leave the joke telling to the professionals. And you are no where near that level.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not literally saying that the only people who can tell jokes are professionals. There are many gifted joke tellers out there. My ex, from years ago? She had a way with delivering some ordinary joke that made it even funnier. But she never wrote her own material. And that is were people tend to fuck it up. It really is not the telling the joke part that causes people to lose respect, and friends, and gigs. It's the really lame if not ugly jokes their warped little brains make up, that usually are the cause of the fuck up. And that leads to people judging them harshly, not so much for the delivery, but for the warped joke and the warped mind that thought that ugly shit was so funny.

Slow News Day, Edition. Birthers, Normalizing the Insane, GOP Racists, and Ann Althouse.

I am not even going to link it, but Ms. Althouse is proving she is as least the 'mess' part of my description of her as a hot mess, by a post regarding birthers . . . as not being as crazy as troofers. Let me explain a bit more. Some poll recently released is saying a bare majority of GOPers are birthers. (I call the phenomenon of this absurdity,"Normalizing the Insane." To borrow and warp the commercial slogan, this isn't your father's GOP. It's the crazy shit version of the GOP.)

Now her lead in, her post title is,"Birthers aren't like Truthers," and to an albeit, tiny degree, I agree. But her argument is so shallow, vapid, ill informed, and ill supported that in the end, she is so mostly wrong she's just plain wrong, even when accidentally right. First, the accidentally right part.

Ya, there is a big difference (and perhaps some minor ones) between birthers and troofers, but the similarity is that both approach their fantasy conclusions from what ever bias they had, before the issue in interest became an issue of the day. I would say that troofers are 'don't trust the government generally,' folk. That's their gig.

However, there are at least two lines of bias behind the birthers. Firstly, in the GOP there is a lot of hate for anyone who resembles the label "liberal." So P. Obama has that going against him (remember how bat fucking crazy the loony Right Wing went when Clinton was elected?) But above and beyond that, is the racism factor. And accuse me of doing a high wire act without a net, but honestly. Has the birth certificate issue ever come up, before it was a black man? I wish that were enough, but I think I need to flesh out my (informed, actually) speculation. Here in 2011 America has evolved as (meaning only) far that most white GOPers get this much; being called a racist is bad, and one can not longer disparage a "nigger" merely for being a "nigger," anymore, save in the company of admitted racists. (I am not saying most GOPers only get that much. Too many only get that much. Or, too few get more than that.) So where does that not yet eliminated racism go? It goes into proxy complaints. It goes into such criticisms as disparaging "multi culturalism," and/or "urban people," and/or strange foreign religions, and anti-immigrant sentiment (some shit never changes,) and it goes into the birther's crazy arguments.

You can not directly say you are unhappy that the POTUS is a black man. But (if you are that self delusional or generally delusional not to know you really are not fooling the rest of us) you can take ass-holey shots at his foreign name, and whine that he wasn't born in the USA.

Now as far at Althouse goes, she seems to have missed even considering any of that. She instead argues that the birthers have one issue and one question. Excuse me? Talk about assumes facts not in evidence. This is the very same kind of self serving, shallow, borderline magical thinking that makes people believe and say stupid shit like celebrities die in threes. (Dummy! They don't die in threes. You are counting in threes!)If you narrow down the entire universe of motivation and causes of the birther's insanity to one cause, you are editing things to suit your argument. That's not only intellectually lazy, and intellectually dishonest, it's pure bullshit.

After that, Ms. Althouse goes truly off the deep end, by quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 37. For you non lawyers out there, it's one of the rules regarding discovery of evidence. Her citation of that is likely more unhinged than either what the birthers believe, or even trying to defend the birthers, as a general matter. The reason it is unhinged is as follows:

Court's have jurisdiction over matters as granted under the US and various state constitutions and laws. And they are honor bound to follow precedent and applicable rules. Doubting birthers are totally without restraint. To make an analogy between a court of law and the birthers . . . to equate the two is to raise the rules of a simple and silly child's playground game to the holding of a per curiam (by the court, as an institution, speaking in one unified voice) decision of the US Supreme Court. (Gawd, I so fucking hate idiotic, far off analogies.)

But sure. People can decide for themselves what is good evidence and what isn't. But when people depart reason and rationality and substitute crazy shit instead? Well we should call that crazy shit. I have gone long, here, but again, this is a mere example of the deevolution of the GOP or if one prefers, the Conservative Movement. The more crazy shit they accept, the crazier they seem. It might not be the paranoid flavor of crazy, so much. Ms. Althouse makes a sorta marginally, yet likely less than half accurate point there (cause let's be real. Racism is the product of irrational thoughts and beliefs, often including paranoia.)But it is crazy shit, and it is an offense not only to reality and reason to define down normal in that way, but like all bullshit, it is dangerous to all of us and all of society.

Said simply, if every point of view is sorta equal, all sorta valid, than all are equally meaningless.

Get it?

* Note: I found the graphix after finishing the composition. Now I am not going to say that the mere fact the majority of GOP birthers are from the south = proof of racism. But I am not in the least fucking bit surprised by those metrics.

Althouse Watch (this might become a semi recurring thing.)

Today's silly shit from Wisconsin's most famous blogger. She's bitching and moaning about a how a tenured law professor at Widener U. might get stripped of his tenure and fired, for (among other right wingy ass holey things) repeatedly using the Dean by name in hypos where she gets shot.


Talk about bullshit.

But I need to go to sidebar, here. The best gig I had was as a staff attorney for AFSCME. But I was not just a union lawyer. I was an employment lawyer. I would routinely tell my peeps to treat each and every email they sent through the state's servers as if they were being read by their bosses.

Seems like the asshole in question needed to hear and follow some similar advice, specifically assume your boss will hear about you making violent jokes about them in the workplace, eventually. I can not imagine any scenario where I would say it was ok for a worker to even joke about any sort of violence happening to their bosses. Same goes for co-workers. Tenure will only protect an asshole's ass, so far. And that is how it should be, people. There needs to be standards, and if someone can not tell the difference between engaging in "free academic speech," and breaching standard work place conduct limits respecting respecting co-workers and bosses, that asshole should not be in academia.

If you wanna have no fucking limits on what the fuck you say, say it on a fucking blog. And that doesn't mean you will never get judged (I am sure my lousy spelling, sloppy editing, and careless posting will bite me in the ass, eventually.) But tenure does not equal license to be a flaming ass.

More is the point. Tenure does not negate ordinary workplace law, rational judgment, and human decency.

Oh. And if I was not clear (and if you did not follow the link,) the asshole in question is a conservative. What the fuck is wrong with these conservatives who think that "free speech" as an idea negates being judged for one's deliberately violent, carelessly violent, or just plain stupid shit and/or bullshit? Where the fuck is it written that anyone gets a pass from being weighed, measured, and found lacking?