Cognitive Dissonance? Oops...

Got myself in a lot of trouble dropping that phrase into a comment thread about OWS the other day. Apparently, 'cognitive dissonance' is an annoying term to a wingnut because they have to Google it to find out what it means before denouncing it as a "trendy leftwing buzzword". Hmm... so that's how it works these days? We don't argue substance, we don't discuss the actual issues, we just denounce words? George Orwell's 1984 needs a re-write.

Let's see more of this crap in action...

So USA Today has a story about young entrepreneurs who've opted to start businesses instead of trying to get employed in today's non-hiring economy. Good for them, I said. But with one caveat:

It's great that more young people are starting up businesses, but the implication of the story - that this is what 'smart people' should be doing rather than trying to get jobs - is offensive and stupid. Working people are one half of the capitalist equation: they are the real wealth creators who make entrepreneurs wealthy by producing and buying the stuff they make.

I thought it was a reasonable point to make but... no. See, them RW folks now believe "no-one owes anyone a job" and that starting your own business is the only way to go. Wow. We've reached a point where the rather modest expectation that you can graduate from college and get yourself a job is now viewed as an "entitlement" with all the negative implications the word now carries for the RW?

You might think my argument might be pretty sound:

1) Businesses need employees to make stuff
2) Businesses need customers to buy the stuff
3) Employees and customers are the same damn people

But no. In our crazy Ayn Rand/Ron Paul world of high-fallutin', small-minded nonsense, businesses are supposed to somehow thrive without 'greedy employees' and without a market. I'm still waiting for a conservative to explain how their capitalist equivalent of the immaculate conception works... though I'll probably be waiting a long time.

Prescient (Today's Word of The Day)

Back in 1952, Earl Warren, three-time Republican Governor of California, warned of a ‘a withering right wing’.

Way before the Tea Party was even a wicked gleam in a Koch brother's eye, way before the implementation of the Southern Strategy by the Republican Party, Warren was troubled by wingnut subversion of traditional conservatism. When asked to explain he said:

"You know the people who believe that anything that is done for them represents social progress but if it’s done for anybody else it represents socialism."

If he hadn't bought the farm in 1974, I'm sure Warren would be feeling pretty vindicated round about now. This 26-word summation (almost a proto-tweet) explains the whole gamut of wingnut philosophy: f*ck everyone else. From the 50s tighty-righties thru 'baggers yelling "Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare" to all those icky little initiatives being advanced by Boehner's GOP to disadvantage just about every group but the fat, white and stupid voting block, conservative selfishness just keeps on trucking.

Everything the wingnuts represent - anti-intellectualism, anti-pragmatism, anti-pluralism, anti-populism, a feudal mindset that values the interests of the rich over the common good - it's all there, summed up in Warren's prescient words.

US Says Sorry For Giving Guatemala The Clap

Says Fox:

The U.S. government apologized Friday for "unethical" and "reprehensible" research conducted in Guatemala more than 60 years ago, after a professor documented how U.S. scientists intentionally infected people in the country with sexually transmitted diseases.

Thought I'd take a walk on the wild side and trawl Fox News' comments section for the most obnoxious response to that story. Enjoy:

"I knew it would be a womyn's studies "professor" who would want to bring this old hash up; these vaginas are good for three things: bashing men; bashing the united states; and bashing western civilization."

It's weird how women piss off so many conserva-goons like that commenter and how almost any situation can be interpreted as a 'battle of the sexes' episode. Damn, can't a guy go round spreading syphilis and ghonnorea without the "vaginas" getting all bent out of shape about it?

Activist Judges

Wingnuts are wont to start screaming "activist judge" every time a court ruling runs contrary to their agenda. But you can go against common sense, legal precedent and the Constitution as much as you want as long as the direction in which you stray is toward the right:

Despite a slew of independent investigations exonerating ACORN of misdeeds, on Friday, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned federal court Judge Nina Gershon's decision that cutting off ACORN's funding punished ACORN without a trial. Gershon had ordered the United States government to restore ACORN's funds.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals is made up of two Republicans and a right wing Democrat Daddy Bush once wanted to nominate for the Supreme Court. Absolutely no judicial activism here...

Bad News For 'Baggers

According to researchers at the Pew Research Center, interracial marriages are at an all time high and a full 85% of 18-29-year-olds are cool with that. You can almost smell the fear-based anger wafting from the right...

More Arizona...

"The Mexican Government has just issued a Travel Advisory recommending Mexicans not to travel to Arizona on business or pleasure."

Thus Tweets Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the US.

More than 65,000 Mexican residents visit Arizona every day and spend more than $7.35 million daily in Arizona's stores, restaurants, hotels and other businesses.

But don't worry, Arizona tighty righties, you can just blame Obama for all that budget shortfall and all those closing businesses. Somehow.

Shooting Fish In a Barrel (continued)

Matt Drudge is a slick piece of sh*t who's made a fortune cutting and pasting news article links of dubious veracity to 'vindicate' the tighty-righty POV.

But up until now, I've refrained from criticizing him on the grounds that there are way too many other people in America urgently in need of being called c*nts. I have to prioritize. So many c*nts, so little time...

But Drudge has now made himself a worthy cause by criticizing "Obama's" new $100 bill on the grounds that it "looks European". Yet another sign of the Obama administration's incipient Euro-pansy socialism? Not exactly. The $100 bill comes to us courtesy of George W. Bush c. 2007.

Matt Drudge: I take it back. You are not a slick piece of sh*t. You are a dumb piece of sh*t.

(Ah, those Re-Palin-cans: they hate everything European. Apart from the skin color.)

Island Disappears; Still No Evidence of Global Warming...

An island in the bay of Bengal that's been subject to dispute between India and Bangladesh for more than 30 years has now vanished. Seems global warming has solved the problem... New Moore Island is now underwater.

Oh I know what you're thinking. Global warming? Pah! Don't try to blame Al Gore's 'discredited' theory for this. Global warming is not real...

Of course not. There's no evidence at all (e.g., islands disappearing under the sea). Let's hear the 'competing theory'. Is it gravity in reverse? Maybe someone just forgot to shut off their hose... One no-nonsense commenter at The Independent says it like it ain't:

"It is the land that has sunk not rising sea that have caused this. You need to do your research before printing this sort of thing."

As usual, I try not too be too concerned about global warming. I prefer not to worry about possible disasters looming in the future... It's the same reason I still smoke cigarettes I guess. But where do all these anti-global-warming loudmouths get their preternatural confidence from? Who can say global warming is nothing to worry about, business as usual, without even harboring a shadow of doubt or wanting to do anything just to be on the safe side?

When entire islands start disappearing under the rising sea, many might take that as a clue. But I guess the anti folks'll still be calling hoax whatever happens.

Exposing Harry Reid: Toxic Waste From Your Boob Tube

Floyd Brown, the a**hole behind the Willie Horton TV ads in 1988, has a new attack ad aimed at Herry Reid. The tagline: "Both the slave-bosses and the union-bosses want Harry Reid re-elected."

Jeezuz. I guess this crap really works if sleazebags like Brown grow fat and rich off it. So how do you stop it? How can you stop a money making machine in America, land of the penny chasing whore, where lucre has become God?

I was much impressed by StopBeck.com - the site that encourages visitors to email Glenn Beck's sponsors and ask them to quit. So far, they've killed off all but a dozen or so of Beck's advertisers by persuading them that their profits could be outweighed by their losses if consumers started boycotting them.

Can't we go one step further? It would seem like a good idea to start threatening boycotts against networks that air these dickish attack ads and the companies that advertise on said networks. It's been a long time since the media was obliged to uncritically broadcast all shades of political opinion without prejudice. As corporations protected under the First Amendment, they're now fully able to pick and choose whose opinions they broadcast.

So how about scaring them, via consumer pressure, into being a little more picky about what they pump thru the boob tube at the behest of political advertisers? Shouldn't our 'right' to live in a world less polluted and distorted by lies be more sacrosanct than the liar's right to lie in the first place? Just a thought.

Let's Pray For The Death of Chairman Limp-Baugh

Rush Limp-Baugh is technically human inasmuch as he walks upright and has the requisite number of ears and eyes. Apart from that, this piece of dog excrement clinging stubbornly to the cosmic shoe of our mass experience bears no relation to anything human.

Two examples:

1. When Limp-Baugh heard of a woman forced to wear her dead sister's dentures because she couldn't afford to get her own fitted, was he disgusted? Nope. He called it "Sob Story of The Day" and made a crack about Democrat's being into recycling.

2. When a Limp-Baugh listener told him he couldn't afford the requisite $6,000 to get his broken wrist fixed, he said "Well, you shouldn't have broken your wrist."

It's one thing to take the conservative philosophy that healthcare is a privilege not a right and that it should only be available to those who can afford it. That just makes you a c*nt. But to go the extra mile and mock those in need who've been screwed over by the iniquitous system you champion? There are no more words.

'R' Word v. 'N' Word

Yesterday, Limp-baugh made a big deal of Obama's healthcare prop by forcing it into some kind of weird, racial/racist context.

In a trademark rant full of allusions to 'civil rights' (they're bad in Limp-baugh world) and 'reparations', he sought to dissuade any of his flock who might still think more healthcare is a good thing. A good thing? Oh no... expanded health coverage is really a sinister 'Mandingo' revenge plot on the white race according Limp-baugh.

But that was not all. Earlier he'd picked on Obama slipping up on the word 'ask' during a speech. To Limp-baugh, this was not a slip of the tongue, but evidence of Obama putting on the ebonics (or impersonating Joe Pesci) by pronouncing 'ask' as 'ax' on purpose. See? Obama's dangerously not us... he's black!

Man, how do we as a society still tolerate this hateful, infantile sh*t? Aside from being evil, it's just plain embarrassing. And what's more, you can't even call racists like Limp-baugh on their racism without them getting all fake-offended by the "outrageous" accusation.

Nothing riles a racist more than being called a racist. It's almost as if they're pissed people get to use the 'R' word when they're not allowed to use the 'N' word. No fair!

Personally, I'd be all for them using the 'N' word. First, we could save a bunch of time not listening to them yammer about Obama being a Socialist/Communist/Radical Muslim/Nazi/Kenyan or any other substitutive slur that springs to mind. Second, they might actually get a few of the much-deserved ass-kickings they're due for saying what they can only currently imply.

News From Wingnutland

Rick Santorum finds a way to control his chronic masturbation habit. Probably.

"I promise you, I will stop at nothing when it comes to defending our freedom and our values... That's the real reason why - after talking it over with my wife Karen and our kids - I am considering putting my name in for the 2012 presidential race."
- Rick "Man-on-dog" Santorum

It never fails to amaze how vast our capacity for being f*cked is in this country. While roughly one-in-six of us goes without medical insurance, those who do have it are currently being stuck with giant rate hikes by the major 'providers'.

Then we have a government that not so much drops the ball on reform efforts but hands the ball straight to the corporations so they can stick a fork in it.

And all this is suffered meekly and without complaint.

Then, as if to add a punchline to a tired and depressing joke, along comes Santorum 2012. WTF? President Rick Santorum... Teabaggers... Sarah palin... America's a sinking ship and we're cheering guys who want to drill more holes in the boat to let the water out.

Holy Racism, Batman!

Psychologists at the University of Southern California have looked at 55 studies over the last 45 years involving more than 20,000 people (mostly Christians) and found a strong correlation between religious beliefs and racism.

"The studies show there’s significantly less racism among people who don’t have strong religious beliefs, while "highly devout" religious communities exhibit more prejudice against people of other races."

Surprised? Doubt it.

Religious fundies have always been the ultimate 'we're right, everybody else is wrong' clubs. This wouldn't be so bad if their ideas of right and wrong applied only to other people's beliefs and opinions. But they also apply right and wrong to race, sexual orientation and social class so people end up being discriminated against for things they have no choice about.

This is an important reason why so many people object to conservative Christians and wingnut pols teaming up to tamper with the delicate balance of Church v. State. It's one thing to have a racist pol seeking to influence minds - voters can choose to ignore them. But it's a different deal when those pols are parroting the megachurch pastors and presenting their nasty prejudices as the word of God with which you can't argue. Or vote against.

I know we're fast losing track of fact-based reality in America thanks to the antics of our Limp-baughs, Palins, Becks, etc. But we need to talk about this stuff. How can the GOP present itself as a democratic, secular political party in a country where the separation of Church and State is law when they're openly discriminating against various constituencies on behalf of their religious base?

And how can the Teabaggers and paleoconservatives argue that race has nothing to do with "taking our country back" when, as this study suggests, their 'spiritual wing' is pushing white supremacism from the pulpit?

Mooselini Debuts On Fox

Roll up! roll up! The wingnut circus is in town... Bill O'Reilly debuts Palin on Fox!

So Bill wheels out the old "why do liberals fear and hate you so much?" clown car. "I have no idea," shrugs Palin full of bewilderment more fake than a bucket of water full of confetti.

Speaking for the entire Palin-hating majority, allow me to clear up the confusion. The reason she is universally loathed outside of the Roger Ailes big top is very simple. Even an O'Reilly viewer could grasp it if only they could be magically transported back to being seven years old sitting on their parent's knee:

"You see, Billy, not everybody's nice. There are some people who pretend to be nice so people like them, but they're not. You'll run into these people as you go through life. They might pretend to be good, but all they do is lie and cheat to get their way. So be careful out there son."

I guess the kind of folks who fall for Palin's act never got that primer.

Thank God. Or Rather Not.

Granted, McCain was nearly old enough to have conferred with him in person, but it seems unlikely he selected Palin as part of "God's plan".

In an interview with "60 Minutes," McCain aide Steve Schmidt described Sarah Palin as "very calm - nonplussed" after McCain met with her to offer her the veep ticket.

Schmidt said he asked Palin about her serenity in the face of becoming "one of the most famous people in the world." He quoted her as saying, "It's God's plan."

God's plan? Aside from serial killers trying to cop insanity pleas and evangelical Jesus fascists, who drags God in as their own personal sponsor? Oh, that's right... Republicans.

Strange that God is so non-committal on issues like civil rights, universal healthcare and poverty. But invading Iraq? Check. Michele Bachmann running as Minnesota's 6th District Rep? Check. Ronald Reagan for president? Check.

Does God need a 'come to Jesus' talk?

Look Who's Talking

John Cornyn: living proof that everything's bigger in Texas. Including our idiots.

You know an argument is well and truly stupid when John Cornyn's in its corner holding a towel. The Texas Senator is arguing that Harry Reid's use of the archaic phrase 'negro dialect' is more racist than Trent Lott's remarks praising ex-Klan Democrat Robert Byrd back in 2002. OK, let's compare. Trent Lott famously said:

"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either."

Clearly Lott was extolling the virtues of the early 60s Klan-friendly, Dixiecrat status quo and bemoaning the fact that the 'rest of the country' didn't vote for it. Yet somehow, he'd have you believe there was nothing racist about that. (This could make sense if you've recently experienced serious head trauma or your intelligence quotient rates in the low 70s but otherwise not so much.)

Harry Reid, on the other hand, was endorsing a black man to run for president and not promoting a system of institutionalized racism that would have prevented Obama from voting let alone running for office. In Byrd and Lott's world, Obama could have found himself hanging from a tree for looking at a white man funny in the street. In Reid's world, he gets to be president. But Reid is the racist?

So would Cornyn also call The United Negro College Fund racist because it has that awkward word in its name? I wonder if helping more black folks go to college is as racist as helping them run for president?

Then there's The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League founded by that arch white supremacist Marcus Garvey. There's the Negro League Baseball Players Association whose racist agenda is to "honor and celebrate the significant contribution of Negro Leagues players to baseball and American history" Then there's the The National Council of Negro Women which is presumably both racist and sexist.

Maybe someone in the Senate could break out a flipchart and explain some of this stuff to Cornyn?

So Just What Do You Have To Do To Get Fired From Congress?

Hey Sue Myrick: roll up your flag, shut your stupid mouth and f*ck off.

Republican übernut Sue Myrick (R-NC) has discovered YouTube as an outlet for her anti-Muslim propaganda. No biggie, maybe, as YouTube has more nuts per-server byte than bulimic squirrel sh*t. But Myrick goes further:

"There is a lot of radicalization on the Internet today; there is radicalization in the mosques; there are people who have been indoctrinated into the same line of thinking that are now in positions in our government."

So just how far off the deep end do you need to go as an elected representative before you get the whole 'it's just not working out speech' and are asked to leave?

If, say, you worked for a private corporation and started rambling that your board had been infiltrated by al Qaeda in front of a stockholder meeting, it would be pretty safe to bet you'd be unemployed by lunchtime.

So how come Myrick and all those other anti-government goons get to keep their seats when they're so hellbent on trashing the institution they were elected to?

A Big Fat So What?

Says Greg Sargent at The Plum Line:

"Some interesting new numbers buried in the new Gallup poll suggest that the fear and loathing Obama inspires in Republicans is bordering on the historic.

The numbers show that Republicans are significantly less optimistic about America’s future right now than they were during the presidency of Jimmy Carter — a figure as hated by Republicans as just about anyone."

First: No-one with half a brain and a shred of dignity left intact would admit to being a 'Republican' anymore. 'Republican' is now shorthand for uninformed sociopath. So the fact that Obama doesn't score a big fat zero must be hugely encouraging for the Dems.

Second: Who gives a flying f*ck what these retards "think" anyway? Why do the pollsters insist on calling them every five minutes to check if they still hate the president?

Save The World, Stop Getting Along!

Neofash dweeb Eric Bolling, guest-hosting for Glenn Beck, said something yesterday that's almost stunning when you think about it:

"Political correctness, can't we all just get along? It gets people killed, does it not?"

'Getting along' gets us 'killed'? I'd never thought about it before. Thank you Eric Bolling for straightening my thinking and showing me how I can make the world a better place.

Effective immediately, I will start yelling abuse at my next door neighbor - maybe burn down his stupid house - instead of politely saying "hi" like some dumb, politically correct automaton. Who knows when the friendly bastard was planning to kill me while I slept as we carried on this dangerous charade of 'getting along'?

In the Mid-east, I'll pray those Jews and Muslims keep not 'getting along' as they do so well... how many people might get killed out there if they ever stopped? I shudder to think.

And what about Rwanda? What about Bosnia? What about Iraq..? Just wonder at all the lives that must have been saved in those oases of tranquility thanks to their inhabitants' aversion to 'just getting along'. Thank God for the curative power of not 'getting along'.

Maybe what we really need is a new, Fox News-endorsed Jesus. Maybe he'd buzz down from Heaven in an F16 and admonish all us faggy peaceniks for getting along. "Sure," says Fox Jesus, "I'll turn the other cheek. So y'all can kiss my white ass!"

Orly Taitz' Call To Arms

From Orly Taitz' public mental breakdown blog:

"Seeing targeted destruction of our economy, our security, dissipation of American jobs, massive corruption in the Government, Congress Department of Justice and Judiciary, it might be time to start rallies and protests using our second amendment right to bear arms and organize in militias."

First, I'd be surprised if Taitz and her fruitbat army could organize their way out of a paper bag. Second, jammy-wearing, mom's-basement-dwelling bitches, bring it on.