The Nuclear Trick

Today is Wednesday, 31 October 2012.

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Were one to wish to exterminate most, perhaps all, life on the planet, no more than 250 thermonuclear bombs would be required.  The United States Empire currently has at least 5,100 tactical, strategic, and not-currently-deployed nuclear warheads.  (Additional untold thousands are technically “retired”, and can be redeployed, upgraded, or dismantled.)

This means the USE has the capability to exterminate all life on this planet more than 20 times, which seems a tad redundant.

The ultimate in genocide at a cost of at least $9 trillion ($9,000,000,000,000) in 2012 dollars.  I say “at least”, because $9 trillion is the amount recoverable from public sources.  Given the bias (particularly since the beginning of the Cold War) for concealing much Federal military spending under innocuous appropriations titles, the actual total amount is certainly higher, and perhaps much higher.

The quality of life would certainly be much higher if almost all these funds had been spent on, for example, attempts to eradicate Alzheimer’s, cancers, malnutrition, and poverty.  This was not the decision of our “betters” and masters.

Given that the ilk of Romney and Ryan believe that it is the natural order of things that the few should impoverish the many, and that therefore the only valid function of society and government is to achieve this aim, one must conclude that the election of these anti-Christian pirates would only make matters worse, not better.

Blow Me, Michael, As It Were

Today remains Tuesday, 30 October 2012.

In an interview yesterday, Michael Brown said:  "Here's my concern.  People in the northeast are already beginning to blow it [Hurricane Sandy] off.... [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg has shut down the subway...[launched] evacuations.... I don't object...they should be doing all of that. But in the meantime, various news commentators...[and others] in New York are shrugging their shoulders, saying, 'What's this all about?' It's premature [when] the brunt of the storm won't happen until later this afternoon.  My guess is, he wants to get ahead of it -- he doesn't want anybody to accuse him of not being on top of it or not paying attention or playing politics in the middle of it.  He probably figured Sunday was a good day to do a press conference.  He probably could have had a little more impact doing it today [Monday]."

Brown is best known for his "swift" reaction to Hurricane Katrina, when he was FEMA director under W. Bush.

The Wrecking Crew

Today is Tuesday, 30 October 2012.

Robert Goulet died on this date in 2007.

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Everyone knows that Barack Obama is not only a Secret Muslim, but also a Secret Socialist, who has spent his entire term weakening and tearing down the American economy.

Numbers don’t lie. 

During the past 43.5 months, this is the damage done:

Dow Industrials           +61%

Dow Transports           +60%

Dow Utilities                +28%

S&P 500                     +68%

Nasdaq Composite       +105%

Russell 2000               +80

Compare these dismal numbers with that of the five Presidents before him, in performance of the S&P 500 during the first 43.5 months of their terms:

Obama                      +68%

W. Bush                     -17%

Clinton                       +51%

G.H.W. Bush               +45%

Reagan                      +23%

Carter                        +20%

It’s as plain as the nose on your face.

Major stocks which have suffered particularly are American Express, Home Depot, and Disney, each up more than 140%.

Inconceivable!

What does this say about prospects for the American financial markets and economy if Obama is re-elected?

Pathetic.

Mitt to Victims:  Drop Dead

Today is Monday, 29 October 2012. 

This date in 1929 was Black Tuesday, when the stocks of the Dow lost an additional 12%.

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In one of the Republican primary debates, Mitt Romney said:  "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that's even better [my italics]. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?"

Moderator John King:  "Including disaster relief, though?"

Mitt:  "We cannot -- we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids.  It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all."

In other words, Mitt believes everything is better when individual citizens make profits off the misfortunes and sufferings of others.  It’s perfectly acceptable to load people down with debt, so long as someone in the private sector makes money off their debt burden.   

As Mitt’s false Jesus said, “Don’t give them loaves and fishes:  sell them loaves and fishes.  We must not encourage a culture of dependency”.

It’s Mitt who is “simply immoral”, viewing almost all of humanity as sheep to be sheared and then slaughtered for the benefit of the few.  Human beings are absolutely nothing but another opportunity to put someone else’s cash in his pocket.

Mitt is neither Mormon nor Christian:  his only god is himself.

Everyone Into the Cesspool!

Today is Sunday, 28 October 2012.

On this date in 1929, "Black Monday", the Great Crash continued on Wall Street, as the stocks of the Dow lost a record 13%.
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"Stealthily advancing, the globalists and socialists at the United Nations, and in the United States itself, are trying to dilute our national sovereignty, undermine our democratic values, and mandate massive transfers of our wealth and technology to third world countries.  They want to create a "global governance" where binding and critical decisions are made by the UN and international commissions, instead of by our elected officials."

You'll be forgiven, gentle reader, if, upon reading the preceding, you fear that you've fallen down a rabbit hole, and been transported to a John Birch Society rally in 1963, or that someone has slipped some very bad acid into your eggnog.  Instead, it's an excerpt from publicity materials for Here Come the Black Helicopters! by Dick Morris and Eileen McCann, a new screed inexplicably bearing the imprint of once-respected HarperCollins. (Morris was a mainstream "political consultant" until 1996, when his appetite for prostitutes was bared.)

Dick:  Why not just scream "Kikes!  Kikes!  Kikes!" and be done with it?  Do you really so badly need the cash to support your hooker habit?  Will you wallow in absolutely any sewer in your constant lust for attention?

Should prove #1-with-a-bullet among White People's Tea Partie types.

Bailing Out Main Street

 

Today is Friday, 26 October 2012.

On this date in 1977, the last known naturally-occurring case of smallpox was discovered in Somalia.  The CDC and WHO recognize today as the anniversary of the disease’s eradication.  It is the result of the most effective vaccination program in history.  Unfortunately, one must assume that a significant number of nations, including the United States Empire, retain smallpox as part of their biological weapons stockpiles.

Andrei Bely (pen name of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev), author of the great novel Petersburg, was born on this date in 1880.

The Museum of the Bourgeois extends best wishes to Hillary Rodham Clinton, born on this date in 1947.  May insecure sexist males everywhere dither and cower.

Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs) was born on this date in 1963.

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Among the more pernicious lies of our times is that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, through the financial stimuli meant to avert the Second Great Depression almost caused by the irresponsible and greedy policies of the Repub Partei, are guilty of bailing out Wall Street at the expense of Main Street.

I think not.  Wall Street and Main Street are intimately and inextricably bound up in the continuum of the actual beneficiary of the bailout:  United States Empire capitalism.  Had the great USE financial institutions been allowed to collapse into bankruptcy, sinking financial markets world-wide, the result would have been catastrophic to almost all Americans.   (The much-vaunted “creative destruction” (schoepferische Zerstoerung) is usually simply destruction and devastation, pure and simple.)

The bedrock principle of American capitalism is not wealth trickling down, but wealth being sucked up.  Thus, it should come as no surprise that the only way to save the system was to staunch the bleeding at the top.

Your author believes that, in fact, Obama didn’t propose a large enough stimulus package, a position also held by Nobelist Paul Krugman, among many others.  Of course, the Repubs in Congress (ideologues, hypocrites, the ignorant, and the nervous willies) blather on about The National Debt (“Oh!  the horror!”), and probably would have blocked any larger stimulus.  The truth is that all successful nation-states must incur appropriate state debt properly to function.  Certainly, it can get out of control, as in, for example, the state defaults/bankruptcies of Philip II of Spain (1557, 1560, 1575, 1596), but the USE is far from that situation.

Without strict regulation, capitalism eats its own.

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On a related note:  read “Tax Policy Center in Spotlight for Its Romney Study” by Anne Lowrey, in 24 October The New York Times.  The study noted that Romney couldn’t fulfill all the promises in his tax ”plan”, and that, fundamentally, it would raise taxes for everyone but the rich, who would wallow in cuts.

Even a tax expert at the hard-right American Enterprise Institute, the staunch defender of unregulated predatory capitalism, agreed.  “I like tax reform.  I want to broaden the base. It’s something I’ve devoted my life to. And I would welcome Governor Romney and the Republicans’ strong push, but the plan doesn’t work out. It’s not mathematically possible.”  Thus spake a True Believer.

Mitt Klux Klan

Today is Thursday, 25 October 2012.

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was born on this date in 1881.

On this date in 1983, the Reagan regime invaded and conquered Grenada, for reasons still not fully revealed.  The public face put on the war was that “order” was being restored and American medical students protected after the democratically-elected leftist government of Maurice Bishop was overthrown (and Bishop assassinated) in a right-wing military coup.  This is puzzling, since the Reagan regime in particular (and con-servatives in general) have time and again joyfully embraced right-wing military dictatorships.

Vincent Price died on this date in 1993.

 

Until 1978, Mormonism held that Blacks were an inferior species, and denied the lay priesthood held by nearly all “white” Mormon males aged twelve years and up.

This doctrinal tenet was introduced by Joseph Smith, the inventor of Mormonism, based on his translation and interpretation of an ancient Egyptian papyrus.  The doctrine revolved around an image of an allegedly “Black” figure standing over a “white” figure laying on a table, with the former about to plunge a knife into the latter.  Smith translated the text, which he said was in the “Reformed Hieroglyphic” language, as part of his Book of Abraham.

Smith identified the “Black” figure as Ham, cursed of God, and the”white” figure as Abraham.  Because of this supposed attempted murder, Backs were to be denied the lay priesthood.

Actual scholars later determined that the papyrus was part of a funerary text concerning embalming.  The “Black” figure was an embalmer, and the”white” figure a corpse.  No trace of the alleged “Reformed Hieroglyphic” language has ever been found.

Not until 1978 was did the top Mormon leadership reverse the policy of discrimination.  Some attribute the decision to a positive response to the Civil Rights Movement, and a (tacit) recognition of error.  Others attribute the decision to a marketing consideration,  it being difficult to recruit members who are told:  You’re racially sub-human, but we want you to join and surrender to us cash in the amount of 10% of your annual income anyway.

Mitt claims to be a true, faith-filled, and obedient Mormon.  If so, then until 1978, when he was 31, he blindly believed in a doctrine which taught the racial inferiority of Blacks.  At 31, Mitt had long since passed the age when he should have known that the doctrine of his “Church” was false and evil on its face.  Instead, by his own words, we must believe that he was a “white” supremacist racist, holding values indistinguishable from those of the Ku Klux Klan.

What other moral filth would Mitt accept, believe in, and act upon, were he ordered to do so by the hierarchy of his “Church”?

Barefoot and Pregnant

Today is Wednesday, 24 October 2012.

In 1929, this was "Black Thursday", when stocks on the New York Stock Exchange fell 11% at the opening bell, in unusually heavy trading.  The event would soon come to be seen as the beginning of the Great Depression.

Today is United Nations Day, marking the date in 1945 when the United Nations Charter took effect.
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"The only exception I have to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother, said Richard Mourdock, the Tea Party-Republican state treasurer of Indiana, and candidate for U.S. Senate.  "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God.  I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Having belatedly realized that he'd let the cat out of the bag as to where his female-hating false ideology had taken him, Mourdock tried to cover his tracks.

"God creates life, and that was my point,"  Mourdock said in a statement.   "God does not want rape, and by no means what I suggesting that He does.  Rape is a horrible thing,and for anyone to twist my words is absurd and sick."  (In plain English:  poor me, I'm the real victim here.)

However, obviously, he meant what he originally said.Had there been no rape, there could have been no conception.  Rape was a sine qua non of the conception.

After all, you bitches chose to be the conduit through which Sin originally entered the world, when you couldn't resist the apple (and then got all girly-weepy with the original example of buyer's remorse).  Your comeuppance?  "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband [you know You Want It], and he shall rule over you [i.e., there's no such thing as "spousal rape"]

This false ideology holds that the purpose of women is labour, and only labour.  First, in work for the economic benefit of the husband (or, if unmarried, the closest living male relative).  Second, in pushing out babies.

A spokes-shill for Mitt said:  "Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views".  However, and most significantly, Mitt has not withdrawn his endorsement of Mourdock.  Hardly surprising, since Mitt's religious false ideology also consigns women to the status of not-quite-as-human-as-males.

"Barefoot and pregnant" is the watchword of such pervert oppressors.

Sis!  Boom!  BAH!

Today is Tuesday, 23 October 2012.

Medical science knows full well that sharp blows causing the brain to bounce about within the skull can produce permanent, sometimes severe brain damage, particularly when the victim is younger and the brain is not fully developed.  That fact introduces a level of horror to the alleged First Amendment case unfolding in Kountze, Texas, home of the high school football Lions.

Seems that Lions cheerleaders have traditionally held paper banners through which the team bursts at the start of game.  Controversy developed, and a lawsuit ensued, when the school superintendent prohibited banners bearing New Testament verses, such as "Thanks be to God, which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ".

Banner supporters argue that cheerleaders make banners on their own time and at their own expense, and thus their free speech and religious freedom rights are being violated.

Would banner supporters then endorse equal opportunities on the sidelines for members of the First Church of Satan, with the message,"Victory through our Lord Satan"?  Or for members of the Church of Adult-Child Love, advertising, "Victory through pedophilia"?

I think not.

Being endorsed by the school, as evidenced by cheerleader involvements in various regulated school activities, means that, under the law, they aren't citizens engaged in independently doing-their-own-thing via private speech, but are engaged in government-sponsored speech.

And do banner supporters truly and viciously believe that Jesus promotes brain damage in young persons for entertainment purposes?  Why then not "Christian" gladiatorial games?

A Sewer On a Hill

Today is Monday, 22 October 2012.

On this date in 1962, President John F. Kennedy, in a televised live address, revealed the presence of Soviet ICBMs in Cuba, announced quarantine of that island, and drove the world to the brink of nuclear war.
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American exceptionalism.  A concept beloved of Republican Presidential candidates, and others of wayward judgement.

The fantasy that there is a certain divine something about the United States Empire (USE) that sets it apart and superior to every other tribe, nation, or
empire in history.

If one could speak to generations of enslaved USE Blacks, one doubts that they would have discern anything exceptional regarding the mass theft, mass rape, mass pedophilia, and mass murder they experienced, compared to any other empire.  Same for women.  Same for Native Americans.  And so on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

American exceptionalism is nothing more than, in the delightful British phrase, willie-waving: "We're number One!"

Compare an early example, "a city set on a hill", from the Sermon on the Mount, and recycled in a 1630 sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity", penned by the English Puritan John Winthrop, and repeated by him to the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ("Pilgrims") as their ship sailed to the "New World.

The Pilgrims were a Puritan faction that fancied that they alone were God's Elect, divinely charged with sole responsibility to rule the planet.  The British laughed them out of town, as did the Dutch in turn.  The Pilgrims then determined to become colonists, exterminate those Native Americans who refused to submit, and establish their theocratic kingdom.  After nearly perishing in their early days, and being rescued by their "inferiors", they triumphed and then, in predictable fashion, unleashed their destructive appetite and energies on one another in the Salem Witch Trials.

More David Koresh than Jesus Christ.

What the Pilgrims wrought was not a city upon a hill, a shining example, but a sewer.  Followed by the attempted Hitler-style genocide of Native Americans, the attempt to keep women reduced to crotches, slavery, homophobia, etc.

Certainly, a measure of good did issue from the USE, but in spite of its ideology, not because of it.  And the price paid for it was usually in the coin of the sufferings of others.

Putting paid to the wicked myth of "American exceptionalism".  Romney-Ryan, please take note.

President George McGovern

Today is Sunday, 21 October 2012.

It is with the greatest regret and sorrow that the Museum of the Bourgeois marks the early-morning passing of George McGovern, and extends condolences to his family, friends, supporters, and admirers.

McGovern was the legitimate 38th President, the 1972 election having been stolen through multiple felonies and treasons orchestrated by Richard Nixon and the Grand Old Partei.

1972 was an iteration of a Repub tradition dating to the theft of the 1876 ("Centennial") election by Rutherford B. Hayes (thereafter known as "Rutherfraud") from Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden.  The custom continues in our time, the 2000 election having been hijacked by W. Bush and his criminal cronies.

In return for crucial assistance, Hayes ended Reconstruction, returning dominance of the former "Confederate" states to "white" rapist and pedophile slavers.  This inaugurated the historical epoch your author has christened the "Second Slavery", or segregation.  It lasted until the civil rights acts of 1964-5, which ushered in the "Third Slavery", or discrimination, which continues to this day.

While now best known for his attempts to end the genocidal United States Empire war against the peoples of Indochina, President McGovern was also active in the causes of civil rights, anti-poverty, and the eradication of global malnutrition and hunger.

The Museum of the Bourgeois recommends the re-election of President Barack Obama as a fitting memorial.

Billy Graham Hates Jews...

Today is Saturday, 20 October 2012.

Billy Graham, the "Christian" evangelist, recently met with non-Christian Mitt Romney.  Graham subsequently published a full-page advertisement in prominent newspapers, essentially endorsing Mitt.

"As I approach my 94th birthday, I realize this election could be my last.  I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.  I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman.  Vote for biblical principles this November 6, and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God."

In a 1972 taped Oval Office conversation with anti-Semite Richard Nixon, Graham reveled in his own sewer anti-Semitism.

GRAHAM:  "This stranglehold [of the Jews over the American media] has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain".

NIXON:  "You believe that?"

GRAHAM:  "Yes, sir".

NIXON:  "Oh, boy.  So do I.  I can't ever say that but I believe it."

GRAHAM:  "No, but if you get elected a second time, then we might be able to do something.  And they're the ones putting out the pornographic stuff."

Later in the conversation:

GRAHAM:  "I don't mean all the Jews, but a lot of the Jews are great friends of mine.  They swarm around me and are friendly to me.  Because they know I am friendly to Israel and so forth.  They don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country."

(When this conversation was later published, Graham claimed conveniently to have forgotten it.)

Billy Graham hates Jews, Jesus Christ was a Jew, therefore...

Completion of the exercise is left to the student.

Graham has been a life-long master at parlaying secret anti-Semitism into wealth, privilege, and influence.  Must make Mitt proud to have him on the bandwagon.

Sometimes, Shoot the Messenger

Today is Thursday, 17 October 2012.

On this date in 1945, Juan Peron and Evita are married.
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Early this morning, the financial printer for Google Inc (NASDAQ:  GOOG) prematurely released the company's third-quarter earnings report.  The result was a 9% drop in its stock price, before trading was temporarily halted.

The proximate reason for the decline was the dismay automatically expressed by stock analysts that Google had not met their consensus earnings estimates (analysts - $10.65 per share; actual - $9.03 per share).

In a different context, analysts similarly puff up their chests, harrumph, and take the Administration to the woodshed when actual job growth, total employment, and unemployment claims filed differ from analyst estimates.

Leapin' lizards!  Responsibility and blame lie, not with reality, but with the demonstrated inadequacy of the various methods of analysis.

Sometimes, it's appropriate to blame, and shoot, the messenger.

Presidential Debate 2

Today is Wednesday, 17 October 2012.

Georg Buchner was born on this date in 1813.  Many regard his Woyzeck as the first truly modern drama.  It was also the first literary work in German to employ working class members as the main characters.

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Day.  (Smirk and Snicker Day in the Romney and Ryan families.)
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Herewith, a few observations on last night's Presidential debate.

"And brought us whole binders full of - of women."

One hopes Mitt meant loose-leaf notebook binders, not handcuffs and leg irons.  Given that Mitt fervently embraces a religion in which  women are relegated, by the god of this particular planet, to an inferior, not-quite-so-human-as-males status, I wonder.  Presuming that the "binders" in question were loose-leafs, would Mitt really have preferred handcuffs and leg irons?

Mitt believes that individual employers should dictate the extent of access to coverage that female employees may have in matters of female-specific health care issues.  By Mitt's principle, employers may choose to exclude contraception and abortion, so why not breast and uterine cancer?

Hardly surprising, Mitt is consistently a male chauvinist whose political positions are driven by the morally-obscene values of his cult.  Many would consider this a form of sexual deviance and perversion.

Another obscenity is the political hay manufactured by Mitt and Repugnicans over the American deaths in Benghazi.

America is, Mitt, as you wish it to be, an empire.  Empires are always at war.  Empires always eat their own, as well as those they conquer, exploit, and murder.  Again, Mitt's hypocrisy and lying.

Mitt is now a rabid proponent of coal as a major American energy source.

However, as Massachusetts governor in 2003, he said of the Salem Harbor coal-fired power plant near Boston:  "That plant kills people...I will not create jobs that kill people."  In a press release at the same time, Mitt said:  "If the choice is between dirty power plants or protecting the health of the people of Massachusetts, there is no choice in my mind.  I will always come down on the side of public health".

Vote Mitt-Ryan for continuously increasing oppression.

His Lips Are Moving

Today is Tuesday, 16 October 2012.

On this date in 1962, the “Cuban” Missile Crisis began, as President John F. Kennedy was shown the U-2 photographs which confirmed the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

This is column number 1,401.

I made my stage debut in 1960 at the age of 8 in 2^nd grade, winning the lead in the all—school play over 6^th graders, playing the Native American (still “Indian” in those ancient days) lad who invented moccasins.  To this day, I retain my love of all the theatrical and public speaking arts, with the single exception of formal debate, to which I have two objections.

First, chance decided which side of a proposition one argued, and I objected to arguing a position I opposed.  Second, victory went not necessarily to the side which was in the just and right, but often the side willing to stoop to sophistry, the evil art of making the worse appear the better.

It is as a sophist that Romney “won” the first Presidential debate.  He was so frisky I speculated that he was on meth, and lied through his teeth with gay (as it were) abandon.  E.g., if elected, he will make portability of health insurance after leaving a job the law.  Well, it’s already the law.

Romney refuses to detail his taxation plans (which obviously will favour “makers, not takers”).  He plans for a ruinous increase in the already-bloated war budget, for which even the military hasn’t asked.

As they said of Nixon:  “How do you know when he’s lying?  His lips are moving”.

Mitt’s lips are moving.

Romney to the Rack?

Today is Monday, 15 October 2012.
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One must pay some sort of twisted tribute to the Repugnican Party:  what other major party would have the rancid guts necessary to run an animal abuser for President?

I refer, of course, to the disgusting incident when Mitt locked the family dog into a luggage carrier atop the family car, refused to stop to enable the family dog to relieve itself, and the family pooch was forced to urinate and defecate on himself.

This from a male who promotes himself as the great savior of American families.

I can't help but think of Romney's cold-blooded cruelty when I consider his contempt for the "47%" of the American population he fantasizes would never vote for anyone but Obama, since, in Beltway Insider P. Ryan's phrase, they're "takers, not makers".

Romney's actions and ideas reveal that, in his sordid heart of hearts, he lusts after condemning the 47% to the luggage rack of American society.  "Let them eat crap".

We already know that, in prep school, Romney was a gang leader who led other sadists in a vicious assault on a student with longer hair (a sure sign of homosexuality!  not one of our family!), throwing him to the ground and hacking off his locks.  (A felony assault and hate crime, not an "innocent prank".)

It's therefore proper to ask:  as a child, did Romney douse cats with lighter fluid and set them afire?  Or did he simply hire a "taker" to do it for him?

The Unlawful Concert

Today remains Sunday, 14 October 2012.
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On this date in 1968, 27 prisoners at the Presidio stockade in San Francisco staged a sit-down protest, singing "We Shall Overcome".  They were protesting their brutal mistreatment in particular (one prisoner had been assassinated by a guard on 11 October for walking away from a work detail) and the Vietnam War in general.

The Presidio 27 were charged with mutiny, which carried the death penalty, and initially sentenced to terms of 14 to 16 years at hard labour.  On appeal, the charges were reduced to willful disobedience of a superior officer, and sentences drastically reduced.

The best source is The Unlawful Concert by Fred Gardner (Viking Press, 1970).

To belabour a point I often make, almost none of those civilians who advocated the Vietnam War (or the Afghanistan or Iraq wars) saw fit to put their money where their mouth was (a quintessentially American expression!) and enlist, demanding combat service.

A Poem for You

Today is Sunday, 14 October 2012.

On this date in 1894, e.e. cummings was born.
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HH extends his deepest thanks to his dear Friend, the Contessa, who recently reminded him of one of his favourite poems by cummings.

"if there are any heavens my mother will"

if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have
one.  It will not be a pansy heaven nor
a fragile lilies-of-the-valley heaven but
it will be a heaven of blackred roses

my father will be(deep like a rose
tall like a rose)

standing near my

(swaying over her
silent)
with eyes which are really petals and see

nothing with the face of a poet really which
is a flower and not a face with
hands which whisper
This is my beloved my

                               (suddenly in sunlight
he will bow,

& the whole garden will bow)
 

 

Be Christian, Buy Christian?

Today is Saturday, 13 October 2012.

Lenny Bruce was born on this date in 1924.
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I find the term "Christian business" baffling at best, and consciously mendacious at worst.  (These are businesses allegedly conducted in accord with "Christian principles", and which frequently advertise the hell out of the "fact".  Cf. the ubiquitous "fish" brand.)

However, nowhere in the New Testament do I find any mention of Jesus baptizing Chariots Inc. or Coliseum LLC (let alone the Roman Empire, a predecessor to the United States Empire).  Nor do I find any indication of Jesus charging for the miraculous loaves and fishes, nor for raising the dead, nor for healing lepers. 

I also find no instance where Jesus promised financial prosperity in exchange for "love gifts" sent to JC Mega-Ministries, Box 3, Temple Mount Station, Jerusalem.

Indeed, in Acts 2.34-35 (RSV) we are told:  "And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need."  In Acts 4.32 (RSV):  "Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common."  In Acts 4.34-35 (RSV):  "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need. "

In the technical term, the first believers, including many who had known Jesus intimately, practiced "primitive communism".  

In other words, a "Christian business" is merely an ordinary business owned and operated by a Christian, along non-Christian capitalist principles.

O Brave New World!

Today is Friday, 12 October 2012.

On this date, Christopher Columbus "discovered" what millions of inhabitants had always known was there, and launched the genocidal process of turning the "New World" into the Old World.

In 1901, the Executive Mansion is dubbed "The White House" by President Theodore Roosevelt, noted racist and imperialist gangster.
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Wouldn't it be super to create an actual pistol, or even an assault rifle like the one used in the Aurora, Colorado massacre, from the comfort and privacy of your desktop?  Without annoying background checks, permits, or despotic police state interference?  And churn 'em out like hotcakes?

The future is now, aspiring Columbiners.

Check it out:  a recent article in The New York Times, by Nick Bilton:  "Disruptions:  With a 3-D Printer, Building a Gun With the Push of a Button".

But wait:  there's more!

Coming soon to a ground zero near you:  the print-out atomic bomb.

Sleep tight tonight.

Chickenhawks

Today is 11 October 2012.

The Romney-Ryan ticket advocates continued bloated war-related spending.

Did either of them volunteer for the military service in which they profess to believe?  Of course not.

In a perversion of Isaiah 6:8, they said, "Here I am.  Send them."

Or, in the words of fellow service-refuser Dick Cheney, they "...had other priorities...than military service."

Would it have killed, as it were, Romney to delay his service in the missionary position in France to enlist and demand to be sent to fight in Indochina?  Hardly.  Would it have killed, as it were, Ryan had he postponed a sojourn in the family business to enlist?  Unlikely.

For them, it would seem, military service is for suckers.

The Pig Is In the Poke 3

Today remains 10 October 2012.

Search me what happened.  Herewith:

"The devil's in the details; the angel is in the policy, which is creating more jobs.

Whatever that means.

Snit's subtext:  I was born to wealth and privilege, so you subjects shut up and obey.

And the Pig Is In the Poke 2

Today remains 10 October 2012.

I don't know why ending of this column was cut off, but here it is:

In a recent appearance on 60 Minutes, Mitt said:  “The devil’s in the details; the angel is in the policy, which is creating more jobs.”

Whatever that means.

Snit’s subtext:  I was born to wealth and privilege, so you subjects shut up and obey.

And the Pig Is In the Poke

Today is 10 October 2012.

It’s the birthday (76!) of Mr. Patrick Ward, a great chemistry teacher, and a greater human being and friend.

Happy birthday, old buddy!

It is also the birthday, in 1884, of Eleanor Roosevelt.  (The Museum cat, Eleanor Roosevelt Cat, was born in 1998.)

Mitt “Snit” Romney continues to refuse to come clean about his specific tax plans should he, by some unnatural disaster, be elected.

In a recent interview on CNN, he said:

"Well, I'm not going to lay out a piece of legislation here, because I intend to work together with Republicans and Democrats in Congress, but there are a number of ways one could approach this. One would be to have a total cap number. It could be $25,000, $50,000. And people could put whatever deduction in that total cap they'd like. Or, instead, you could take the posture that Bowles-Simpson did, which is going after specific deductions and limiting them in various ways. There are a number of ways we can accomplish the principles which I have: lowering rates for middle-income people, making sure high-income people don't pay a smaller share, and simplifying the code and then encouraging growth."

In a recent appearance on 60 Minutes, Mitt said:  “The devil’s in the details; the angel is in the policy, which is creating more jobs.”

Whatever that means.

Snit’s subtext:  I was born to wealth and privilege, so you subjects shut up and obey.

Return of the Prodigal

Today is 9 October 2012.

On this date in 1967, Che Guevara, captive of the Bolivian army, was assassinated on CIA orders.

More details later, but...  My long absence was caused by an illness which left the doctors predicting my demise no later than the Fourth of July. I resolved that dying at age 60 was existentially boring, plus I do enjoy proving authority figures wrong, so I refused the exit.  I am now medically judged hale and hearty, and am even more svelte than in years.

So let's reboot.

Antonin Scalia, currently hijacking a position as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, considers himself a constitutional “textualist”.

"The death penalty? Give me a break. It's easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state," Scalia said recently at the American Enterprise Institute.

How about slavery, Mr. Textualist?

The Foundering Fathers were 1,000% in favour of slavery.  The hallmarks of slavery, in whatever society it appears, include mass theft, mass murder, mass rape, and mass pedophilia.

Does Scalia personally practice pedophilia, or does he “merely” defend to the death the “right” of others to rape children?