DeRosaWorld

Do The 'Fathers' Have To Attend These Forced Ultrasounds, Too?

Ass-munch.

Just Sayin'

Sermon on the Plain.  Gospel of  Luke: Chapter Six (It's a good one)

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for the kingdom of God is yours. (oh, no he didunt!)


Blessed are you who are now hungry,

for you will be satisfied. (McDonald's / GMOs)


Blessed are you who are now weeping,

for you will laugh. (Home foreclosures)


Blessed are you when people hate you,

and when they exclude and insult you,

and denounce your name as evil

on account of the Son of Man. (Gay marriage, pro-choice)


Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.


But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation. (Mitt Romney, Bush Family, Banksters)


But woe to you who are filled now,

for you will be hungry. (umm... America?)


Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will grieve and weep. (FOX News)


Woe to you when all speak well of you,

for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way."  (Republicans)

A Fruity, Yet Ripe Combination of Concentration Camp and Boy Butt...

And who says the Catholic Church hates women?

"For a man of god, the Holy Father certainly has expensive tastes. Being the Vicar of Christ, he has access to the countless wealth of the church and certainly has the authority to spend it on what he wills. A custom cologne designed just for his own self though may be taking things a bit too far.

However that is exactly what the Bishop of Rome has ordained. The task has been assigned to celebrity perfume-maker Silvana Casoli which will make Pope Benedict XVI the only person on the planet to have his own fragrance. The scent shall never be duplicated again.

Casoli refused to comment on the details of her perfume (and refused to even give the name of the scent). The only thing that was picked up was that the scent was inspired by the pope's love of "nature" and used a blend of fragrances from lime-wood, verbena and grass.

The 85 year old Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic church which with over a billion members is the worlds largest Christian church. The net worth of the Church could be said to be invaluable given the art and historical treasures that are stored within it.

Pope Benedict is said to love his material treasures given that he pays close attention to detail in his papal clothing. The current Pope has also re-introduced a number of items to his attire such as a fur-lined deep red cape. He is said to have wore Prada shoes and Gucci sunglasses shortly after being elected Pope (since denied by his entourage)."

A Friend Has Died: Eleanor Hamerow: 1920 - 2011

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
      -- Henry Adams

men·tor:  [men-tawr, -ter], noun
1. a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
2.an influential senior sponsor or supporter.

A friend of mine died this past week. She was 91 years old. She was a teacher, a filmmaker, a chemist and pharmacist, a dancer, a communist and atheist, a lousy cook and one hell of a person. They don’t make them like that in New York City anymore.

I met Eleanor Hamerow when I attended NYU’s Graduate Film Program back in the 1980s. She was my teacher and we were terrified of her gruff New York accent and attitude which was only a veneer for a caring and intelligent woman.

The heyday of the NYU Program was slipping fast, mostly due to the enormous popularity of film schools across the country. NYU was becoming a money-making corporate entity and some of the old timers like Ellie seemed to be in the way of a new image the school wanted to portray. Her last years at the school were a constant political battle for students and the art of film.

She hung in there as long as she could showing Orson Welles and John Ford movies and La Belle et la Bête and teaching film editing.  She was a film editor and documentary filmmaker of some renowned.

(CBS News (She was fired for including President Eisenhower's "beware the military, industrial complex" speech in their televised documentary of his life.), Martha Graham: An American Original in Performance,  A Dancer’s World, An American Family...)

Film Editing was her second profession after her early years as a chemist.  Teaching was her Third Act.

She got a small auditorium named after her at NYU...but when she finally retired, the soul went out of the school along with all the increasingly antiquated film equipment, like hand-cranked sound synchronizers, moviolas and film splicing blocks...and the old projectors that chewed up old French new wave or Italian neo-realist film prints...

After I finished school, Ellie gave me a job working for her to help me pay off my student loans and I was able to work on her last documentary...appropriately about a teacher.

Somehow...and it is probably worth a novel in itself, I travelled to Moscow with her in 1989 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the VGIK Film School started by Eisenstein in 1919.  One brief story I’ll share is we went in search of the Moscow Arts Theater...home of ‘The Method’ and Stanislavsky...the mythical directing and acting philosophy that breathed life into Marlon Brando, James Dean, Lazlo Benedict, and Elia Kazan...and the NYU Gradate Film Program under Ellie Hamerow.

We found the old theater in the early afternoon and walked into the empty lobby. The doors were open, but the place seemed deserted.  A man in a dark suit handed Ellie a rose and escorted us into the theater...on the stage was a casket with a large photo next to it of one of the actors from the theater troupe. They assumed Ellie had come to pay respects...she looked born and bred...her boots, her head popping out the top of a heavily-scarfed, long black coat...all 5' 1" of her...so we joined the line of mourners.

We had a young interpreter from the school with us and he found the administrator of the theater and told him that Martin Scorsese (me) and a famous American film producer (Ellie) were here. So he came to see us and though we didn’t fool him, we scored some tickets to the theater the next night, and Ihe gave me a poster for the 100th anniversary of The Seagull.  

The next night, we got to see a play that was banned since the 1930s by Stalin himself. Ellie was in heaven. There we were sitting in the front row at the Moscow Arts Theater watching a play in Russian. Our translator was there, kind of filling us in on what was being said and of course there was Ellie's running commentary as though the performance was taking place back at NYU in one of her classes...

Again, a story for another time...but Ellie had written a speech for the VGIK Film School celebration in which she was going to scold the Russians for Stalin and ruining the promise of communism...

After Ellie retired and the years started piling up, some of her contemporary friends began to get ill or even pass away. I would get a phone call from her telling me that Mimi or Ruby couldn't make the performance tonight at Lincoln Center and would I like to go...I saw my first Shostakovich with her and my first Tudor ballet...and my first opera...(a four-hour Semiramede where I didn’t realize that Marilyn Horne was supposed to be playing a man).

She introduced me to the Manhattan cocktail...she couldn't drink anymore, but she wanted me to order one so it sat on the table through dinner so she could smell it...she ordered it the way she liked it: gin, dry vermouth, a dask of bitters and a twist lemon peel.

She was a teacher, but also, always a scholar. Into her eighties she was taking classes at Columbia University. In her late seventies she decided she needed to read the Bible and took a class. I would get a call from her. “What do you know about The First Nicene Council?”  or “Have you read Aquinas?  Let’s have a nosh and talk about it.”  So I would wrap up in a scarf and coat and gloves and take a cab from my East 55th Street apartment to her West 89th Street penthouse and we’d get coffee and something to eat and discuss religion and inevitably movies.

I moved to Los Angeles over twelve years ago and only corresponded with Ellie at first by phone and letters and then dwindling to a few emails and a long Holiday card.

I wasn’t there for the dementia or the need to put her in a home, or for the end where I am told she simply refused food and shortly after, died.

To live such a life and to take it to age 91...Not bad Ellie, not bad at all. You are remembered and cherished...tonight over a Manhattan, Ellie-style.

Saturday Musings: "Bringing It All Back Home' Edition

Where to begin...

"Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) each borrowed at least $30 billion in 2008 from a Federal Reserve emergency lending program whose details weren’t revealed to shareholders, members of Congress or the public."

This is awesome… The United States Congress didn’t know about these loans nor did the governments of the country where these banks are located…

So who controls the Fed?  Where does the Fed’s money come from?

This is America; we don’t get to ask those questions.

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But what we do get is a Democratic President that signs an extension on the Patriot Act from Europe… yes the Patriot Act, one of the those hopey, changey things the folks who voted for President Obama thought he was going to help us out of… like Banking De-regulation and Health Care Costs and ending the wars in the Middle East with his all powerful Nobel Peace Prize... the list is growing...

Oh well, what does he care, look what is running against him in 2012, the GOP is mounting the field with a pack of morally degenerate, financially spoiled, politically disingenuous , morally corruptible and intellectually devoid candidates.

What would John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin make of these mopes?

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Speaking of morally degenerates, Pope Benedict the XOXO’s First Officer of The Pedophilia Inquisition… (I have to go for the link to this one.)

"Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. "I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues," he allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse."

Like shooting fish in a barrel… or like putting the fox in charge of the hen house… or like putting Barack Obama in charge of re-regulating Wall Street…

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Oh, sorry, I’m not done with Barry O, yet… now on to Israel and the Second coming speech he made over there... this ‘1967 borders’ speech did not go over so well with our allies in Israel... Welfare Queen Bibi Netanyahu is not interested in anything America is selling right now... don’t get him wrong, America’s global socialism is always appreciated, but don’t try to dictate to dictators and keep your nose out of Jerusalem.

It seems to me Obama’s Israeli/Palestinian peace initiatives may be coming from Secretary of State Clinton and Obama is simply relaying the message. There is no love lost between a Clinton and a Netanyahu… what a mess. A lot of unfinished business there.

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Madam Secretary Clinton is also over in Pakistan trying to sweep up some of the collateral damage done by her boss’ decisive move to kill Osama bin Laden, with no help from the previous President who cannot and will not speak ill of the dead…

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If only Clinton had a stronger President, the work she is doing could be so much more focused on actively changing things for the better instead of trying to keep them from spinning out of control.

President Obama’s failure, and the single thing that will keep him from achieving anything except keeping the Oval Office chair warm for the next Republican President, was not taking control of the Financial Industry reform when they broke the world and were on their knees.

That was the moment... the once in a generation moment when Progressive politics could set the rules… it doesn’t last and the chance doesn’t come often, but our laissez-faire economy does have its cycle… the Great Depression brought on the New Deal, which enabled America to become the greatest nation on earth for a while, ending the Depression and fighting World War Two with a dedicated, united and determined middle class… the pendulum swung back, Republicans moved in and the world almost ended… and President Obama didn’t do the heavy lifting required for change…. Unless you count the bags of money he helped carry out of the United States Treasury…

Anyway… here we stand… heading into President Obama’s re-election… I’m more interested in what Hillary Clinton’s next move will be.

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HBO’s Game of Thrones is getting better each week and stranger….  If you have not read the books by George R. R. Martin, you are in for some crazy television over the next month… winter is coming…

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Books: I’m kind of trapped in the post-World War Two world of both fiction and non-fiction… I’ve been nostalgic for New York City lately and have been looking for books that take place or are about the city that never sleeps… two left of center novels, Gore Vidal’s In A Yellow Wood and James Baldwin’s Another Country offer a look at life in New York City, basically at the same time, but from two very different viewpoints.

Vidal’s book follows a waspish, white WW2 vet into his post war life on Wall Street … with an option for something else that he may have left behind in Europe…

The Baldwin novel follows a black man living in Greenwich Village and the civil rights movement is only beginning to stir in the public consciousness… he too has to choose between staying in America and making his life work, or heading off to Europe…

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Music has drawn be back to these times as well… I got a hold of The Miles Davis Quintet’s’ four album cycle Workin’ Cookin’, Relaxin’ and Steamin’ that came out of the 1956 sessions with Rudy Van Gelder.

Also, Bob Dylan at 70…?! And still crazy after all these years… in fact, as I write this, Bringing It All Back Home is playing for the neighbors to hear.

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So have a relaxing and thoughtful Memorial Day Weekend comrades, rest you weary feet, listen to some good music, smoke some smoke, drink some drink and eat unhealthy food… we have a long summer ahead of us… and Gingrich and Palin and our Republican Congress ain’t going nowhere…

Is God Punishing The Red States?

With the Catholic Church coming down hard on climate change deniers and Republican Party fiscal policies, the Religious Right seems to have no where to go for cover. They are congregating in the deep South and mid-West... but the plagues are following them...

Is it science and weather or is it religion and God's wrath that make the winds blow and the rivers rise?

This Sucks... Literally and Figuratively... Cheap Thrills, Indeed

 

A five-year study commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops to provide a definitive answer to what caused the church’s sexual abuse crisis has concluded that neither the all-male celibate priesthood nor homosexuality were to blame.

Instead, the report says, the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 1960s and ’70s.

Saturday Musings: 'Petunia Pig Is Back and He's Running For President' Edition

The Republican Party is demanding, and acting with their votes, to protect the right of people on the FBI terrorist watch list to buy guns. God Bless America.

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And for God’s sake, are we really going to have to hear what Newt Gingrich (aka Petunia Pig)is thinking every day between now and Election Day 2012? As an American, this is embarrassing.

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Speaking of God blessing things, the Chosen People have lost an advocate this week with the resignation of George Mitchell as the President’s Special Envoy to the Middle East. He had to call it quits because both sides are run by nuts and people who feast on violence, hate and war. What can you do with that? Go with God, George Mitchell.

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So if opening oil drilling in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t reduce the price of gas at the pump, can we throw stones at oil executives and their families? That should actually be in the legislation.

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The television spokes people for the Republican Party and their leading Presidential candidates have lost a major moral ally in the Catholic Church.  Global climate change denial and Republican Party fiscal policy are now actions that are considered sinful. What’s  a sexually promiscuous Catholic politician to do? They have needs and pressures to protect America… give a brother a break…

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It’s a shame that our national media is unwilling and frankly, unable to cover world news properly. There is a dynamic, divergent, complicated, scary, dangerous and inspiring global democracy fueled revolution happening…  oh, man Aston Kutcher is replacing Charlie Sheen?!!!!!?!!  WTF! I'm so Tweeting this shit.

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Still haven’t figured out what to do with my iPhone4 beside check my work email at home without having to turn on my computer.

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Cell phones have changed the way we communicate so pervasively that even old people are driving cars and checking their text message at the same time.

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I have been listening to a Miles Davis album that is freaking me out a little: Filles De Kilimanjaro, probably because I don’t completely understand it, but I am really into it… it seems the same can be said for the musicians… what the hell are they up to…? that and the fact that I am reading James Baldwin’s Another Country make me want to visit to Manhattan this summer... it’s been twelve years since I thought about that old rock. I’m sure it is nothing like how I left it.

I heard there was a Cuomo in the Governor’s Mansion again, but this apple may have fallen far from the tree.

DeRosaWorld has been facing the Pacific Ocean with his back turned to the rest of the country for too damn long… and now the waves are filled with flash mobs of dead fish off the pier at the end of my street.

Winds of change are blowing...

The shattered water made a misty din.
 Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
 Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the Light was spoken.

                                                  -Robert Frost

What's A Good, Practicing Catholic To Do?... Follow The Beatitudes?... God Damn It!

    

"...More than 75 professors at Catholic University and other prominent Catholic colleges have written a pointed letter  to Mr. Boehner saying that the Republican-supported budget he shepherded through the House will hurt the poor, the elderly and the vulnerable, and that he therefore has failed to uphold basic Catholic moral teachings...."

Just what are super-Catholics Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and John Boehner to do?  Burning abortionist at the stake just doesn't go over well anymore... 

In a statement on the Vatican  website, Pope Benedict XVI made a bold “call to action” for “all people in all nations.”

"...We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink, as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us. The believers among us ask God to grant us this wish.

The bold remarks came after the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) presented new evidence on climate change to the Vatican..."

The true hypocrisy of the 'moral majority' is about to under-reported by the American media.

Saturday Musings: "Allergies and Assassinations" Edition

Why was Madam Secretary Clinton the only person in the room asked to defend her face during the assassination of Osama bin Laden?

The President looked like he was taking a shit in the corner.

And how many Nobel Peace Prize winners have ordered the assassination of their enemies?

It’s starting to look like gloating Mr. President…

I wish President Obama had shown this side of himself in the days after taking the oath of office… maybe we wouldn’t still have this sinking feeling in country that the Republicans still run the place.

And no, I don’t think in this land of free speech, in which the enemy hates us because of our freedoms, we should ever stop questioning the events of 9/11.

The Bush, Jr. /Cheney Administration never spoke an honest word including “the” and “and”.

Where is the track record of truth? That anything said by them wasn’t the complete opposite… a total lie?

So I’ll keep asking until someone can tell me why and how Building Seven was pulled, so I can sleep better at night.

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William & Kate and Osama have kept American televisions free from news for over three weeks now.

How are our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Yemen going… did I miss any? should I be saying ‘hotspots’?

And all this bin Laden is DEAD analyzing seems to have justified our government’s pass on the Middle Eastern revolutions in Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain… where even Senator John McCain can see that the incredible power of satellites, smart phones and social media can spark democracy with the same raw power of lighting striking Ben Franklin’s key and kite… while in modern America, we download 'Angry Birds’ and pop music and occasionally email pictures of our asses to each other.

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Clouds are forming over the ocean in time to ruin any hope of a sunny weekend… so it is Jameson’s Irish whiskey and the new Emmylou Harris album for me.

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Oh, and remember to support Bill Nye, The Science Guy... The Inquisitors are after him for defying the Book of Genesis.

50 Years Ago Today, Senator John F. Kennedy Was On The Campaign Trail...And Spoke Before Ministers In Houston About Religious Intolerance.

(a portion of this speech is captured on this video)

The 50th Anniversary of the Presidency of John F. Kennedy is approaching.  He announced his candidacy on January 2, 1960, so every campaign speech is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Religious intolerance has been a part of American history and continues to be. As Senator Kennedy says in this speech to the Texas Ministers... the finger of suspicion will point again and again, if we are not dilegent. HE was right. This year, the finger is pointed at Islam.

Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association at the Rice Hotel, Houston, Texas.  September 12, 1960:     (The audio track of the entire speech is included in this link.)

"...For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew--or a Quaker--or a Unitarian--or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim- -but tomorrow it may be you--until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

     Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end--where all men and all churches are treated as equal--where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice--where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind--and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

     That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe--a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

     I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the first amendment's guarantees of religious liberty. Nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so--and neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test--even by indirection--for it. If they disagree with that safeguard they should be out openly working to repeal it.

     I want a Chief Executive whose public acts are responsible to all groups and obligated to none--who can attend any ceremony, service or dinner his office may appropriately require of him--and whose fulfillment of his Presidential oath is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation.

     This is the kind of America I believe in--and this is the kind I fought for in the South Pacific, and the kind my brother died for in Europe. No one suggested then that we may have a "divided loyalty," that we did "not believe in liberty," or that we belonged to a disloyal group that threatened the "freedoms for which our forefathers died."

Saturday Musings: 'That Quayle Boy Was Raised Right' Edition

How do the Democrats always end up spending so much time arguing for issues that are no-win situations at the polls?

Are the Republicans that good or are Democrats innately idiots?

Remember Jimmy Carter’s decision not to go to the Moscow Olympics? It just pissed everybody off.

I don’t want my Congressional Representative wasting time defending marijuana, gay marriage or mosques being built at Ground Zero.

I would like to hear my Congresswoman (Jane Harman for Christ’s sake) taking the Republicans’ knees out with the unemployment rate, their votes against health care and jobs and veterans benefits.

I want liberal solutions to the ills that are killing American society... mostly brought to us by Republican and non-progressive Democrats.

Every newspaper, every cable news pundit, every network news show, and every liberal progressive blog updates me daily on what Gingrich, Palin, Beck and now Rand Paul… have to say... and I’m sure this Quayle kid will be hosting a FOXNews show after losing his election in November.

Legal marijuana is a fool’s issue.

Gay marriage is like denying you beat your wife on TV, you don’t, even if you don’t care or are all for it… the issue is not something that should be argued over every fucking day.

And as for the mosque at Ground Zero, of course they have the legal right to build a mosque there; they own the property… but should they? And even the dumbest Republican (Rick Lazio) does win the TV sound bite argument with when he says… why can’t people build churches and synagogues in Mecca?… the argument may be stupid, but it rings true… most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, so wouldn’t it be an amazing gesture if Mecca dedicated a church and a synagogue in Mecca for all the world to see and worship in… including women…

Look, I want to smoke pot with lesbians just like the next guy, and hell, mosques are pretty… but let’s focus like a laser beam on the economy, like one of my favorite modern Presidents once said. That is a winning issue for Democrats if they play it right and can get air-time.

Because here is another truth that shouldn't be... the reason to vote Democratic in November? Dan Quayle and Ron Paul have kids... and they're rich and mean.

Tell Me This Guy Couldn’t Suck A Pewter, Saint Dominic Belt Buckle Off A Thirteen Year Old Catholic School Boy.

Holy Mary Mother of God...

From TPM:

 "To many conservatives, almost everything is a secret liberal plot: from fluoride in the water to medicare reimbursements for end-of-life planning with your doctor to efforts to teach evolution in schools.

But Conservapedia founder and Eagle Forum University instructor Andy Schlafly -- Phyllis Schlafly's son -- has found one more liberal plot: the theory of relativity...

...In non-confusing terms, that indicates the ability to cause something to happen instantaneously in another location (i.e., faster than the speed of light). Since Jesus could, reportedly, do this, thus Einstein is wrong. Schlafly's evidence is John 4:46-54, in which Jesus reportedly cured someone's son just by saying it had happened...

...The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world...

...See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson's book about the 20th century, and the article written by liberal law professor Laurence Tribe as allegedly assisted by Barack Obama. Virtually no one who is taught and believes relativity continues to read the Bible, a book that outsells New York Times bestsellers by a hundred-fold...

Schlafly brags on Conservapedia that he has homeschooled 185 children, all of whom do exceptionally well on standardized tests.

Yeah... sigh...

nuff said:

"On that day, 3,000 people were killed because some murderous fanatics didn't want us to enjoy the freedom to profess our own faiths, to speak our own minds, to follow our own dreams and to live our own lives."   - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg - August 3, 2010

Saturday Musings: 'Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...' Edition

Wow, what did the Bush Family have against President Lech Kaczynski of Poland and his military team?

Bad Karma all around. "Junior! Marvin? Neil? What are you boys up to in there?"

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Kind of sad that the Bush. Jr./Cheney team and the Republican Party still control the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, one year into the Obama Administration. . Dawn Johnsen finally had enough of waiting for Obama  to grow a pair of balls and decided to pack up and go home. Barry didn't see fit to make a heroic speech in her defense.

So what is the score?

Republicans: 450

Obama: 0.5

Who won the election in 2008?  Who has a majority in both Houses of Congress?

I shutter to think of how far backwards President Obama is going to bend over to his Republican bullies when it comes to the Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Stevens… what do you think? Evan Bayh? Bart Stupak?

My money is on Orrin Hatch.

I keep closing my eyes and clicking my heels and telling myself that what the Obama Administration is really doing is showing the American people that we really are and really want a liberal, progressive, activist government… kind of like the New Deal… when everything worked in America for the good of all the people… and that come November we are going to clean house of all Republicans up for election and then in 2012 reduce the Republican Party to a few Southern seats… yeah… until the flying monkeys attack.

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The West Virginia mining disaster could have been avoided if there was a strong union of mine workers making life better and safer for the miners… anyone? Anyone? Can we discuss it on the Sunday talk shows?

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Saw an awesome conspiracy theory video on YouTube about the Denver Airport… or what is under the Denver airport… great stuff… better than the ‘9/11 was a group of Islamic terrorists who trained on simulators and hit the World Trade Centers on the day NORAD was training in Canada’ theory.

The Denver airport underground complex thing has something to do with the Mayan calendar and 12/21/2012 and the Queen of England and the Bush Family hiding underground when the Earth suddenly changes it axis and rotates in the opposite direction… or gassing a bunch of people underground, I’m not sure which, but just pointing a camera at the murals in the Denver airport is enough to scare the hell out of any god-fearing American.

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Tiger Woods, professional golfer is playing golf this weekend.

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Tax Week my fellow Americans… here is some news that will help make the medicine go down, especially for people in TAX strapped States like California… “The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.

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And what would any self respecting rant be without mentioning the smoking gun in the Vatican this week... Pope Joey Ratz' signature on a child molestation protection letter... sounds like a RICO statute violation to me... "consider the good of the universal church"

Yikes!

Saturday Musings: 'Old Europe Screws The Pooch' Edition

So I’m digging what I’m reading about Long-Term Care (CLASS Act) in the new left-wing, Kenyan, socialist health insurance plan, because some day I am going to be old and I am sure there will be no Social Security money available then, so either I work until I die or I get some long-term care for when I get Alzheimer’s... because this is America baby, and nobody rides for free.

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Is President Obama’s Blue-Dog Democrat stand on the issues just a transition to a future more liberal Presidency?

I can’t believe that America will slip into the FOX News utopia of Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck…. Oh and Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. The vast right wing conspiracy has been uncovered. They stand naked before us, mouths dripping with blood and other precious bodily fluids.

And if it weren’t for the alternate media found on the Internet, blogs and foreign press sites, we would all be Republicans by now.

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Here is a link to ACTBLUE, this is a start for 2010 and 2012. I know it’s hard to trust elections in America, I’m still angry over voting for Gore and getting Bush, Jr. and voting for Gray Davis and getting Schwarzenegger and voting for Kerry and getting Bush, Jr. again… I mean this is embarrassing. 

We should be embarrassed.

Here is an example of what I hope for: because the Republicans in Congress have held up the extension of unemployment benefits and the National Flood Insurance Program out of spite and hatred of all things Democratic, when the worst flooding in 100 years hit Rhode Island and other parts of the Northeast last week, the people are screwed… They are Katrina screwed. 

I expect, I dream, I hope that every Republican running for office in these districts is thrown out of office in 2010. Will they be?  Will the national, corporate media cover this story as a Republican Congressional failure?  Progressive blogs will.

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And what is Easter without a look at the state of the Catholic Church...

Pope Bends-for-dick XVI (aka: Joey Ratz) is up to his miter in boy-butt trouble with a global round of child sex abuse cover-up charges AND complaints of Gestapo-like strong-arm tactics by his shepherds on the youthful flock. Catholic Priests just can’t keep their hands or other appendages off the kids. Maybe it’s time for a nice African or South American Pope. 'Old Europe' just can't handle the duties anymore.

And so on this holy of Holy Days,let's go to the videotape: (and check out #4... it has been debated on FOX News a lot lately.)

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Age Appropriate Content

So the Pope likes a little underage boy-butt story now and again, he is the infallible one.

The Huffington Post makes no excuses for Papal indiscretions or for some guy from KC & The Sunshine Band doing the nasty with kids... but on the same page they are reporting on some guy playing That's The Way (I Like It) with a teenage boy and getting arrested in New Jersey, they also have a link for their visitors to enjoy a video of teenage boy singer Justin Bieber blow-drying his hair.

What tween-age girl is reading The Huffington Post?  Who the fuck do you think is going to be linking on the video to a teen age boy blow-drying his hair?

The Huffington Post sometimes does as much harm to our culture as good.

Two Days Until St. Joseph's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Heh. Heh.

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican", according to the Holy See's chief exorcist.

Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon".

He added: "When one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia."

It's Never Just A Simple Reach-Around With These Guys

"The Vatican was today rocked by a sex scandal reaching into Pope Benedict's household after a chorister was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.

Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, was caught by police on a wiretap allegedly negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Vatican chorister, over the specific physical details of men he wanted brought to him. Transcripts in the possession of the Guardian suggest that numerous men may have been procured for Balducci, at least one of whom was studying for the priesthood."

What is it with these guys? Everything has to be epic. They have decades-long, institutionalized child sexual abuse networks.

Instead of school-boy crushes, they have prostitution rings inside the Vatican, ordering up guys like they were reading from a 'take-out' menu...

You would think these Pontifical Potentates would get a handle on this or at least let these guys have a circle jerk once in a while to get it out of their system.

Saturday Musings: 'Who's In Charge' Edition

Until we Americans ride every one of our Media Elite out of town on a rail, there will never be peace in America. To see CPAC covered as if it was a double bill of Jesus Christ and Elvis at Madison Square Garden just sickens me.

It doesn’t help, and can’t be helped I guess, that even the liberal progressive blogs cover every fucking word, albeit snarkily, that these buffoons have to say.

Don’t blame the buffoons for trying to be famous or rich or powerful, blame the media for putting them on television and for lying to us all… and blame them hard.

A good example, David Broder… need I say more?

The folks you see on TV everyday need to be pelted with garbage every time they show their faces in public. Their children should be ashamed of them. Their heads should be shaved.

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Okay, so Al Haig is dead. Who’s in charge?

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So after President Obama dick-slapped the entire Republican Congress on national television, in their own ballpark without a teleprompter or even notes… the new criticism of BHO is that he reads from a teleprompter too much?

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DeRosaWorld whole-heartedly supports the 'Secession II' of the Southern States of America. I think it should be mandatory and then lets build a Mexican-border-type wall around it all and put windows in it so we can all watch the freedom.

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Speaking of President Obama, so are the rumors true? Did the Administration finally get around, after a year, to writing its own Health Care Reform Bill? Will a public option be dangled before us again full of hope and change? Oh, please don’t say it if it isn’t true. We love you, Mister President!

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Remember Evan Bayh from last week? Me neither.

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Flying airplanes into buildings to kill people and make a political point is terrorism. Anyone who jokes about it, supports it or tries to dismiss it are supporters of terrorism and spit in the face of all who died in the hijacked airliners, the WTC, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.

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The FBI and Justice Department has officially closed their investigation into the 2001 mailings of anthrax-contaminated letters to Capitol Hill and journalists in New York and Florida, concluding that lone gunmen and suicide victim, U.S. Army medical researcher Bruce E. Ivins was solely responsible for the five deaths that resulted.

Hmm... can I poke around in this story for a while longer?

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Although I am a liberal Democrat, I am off to do something very all-American. I am going into the wilderness for a few days, heading up into the snowy mountains of California. I plan to commute with the gods and nature. Don’t worry; I am not taking a small plane. I am going to walk among the eagles and tree tops and breath clean air and think. 

Saturday Musings: 'Corporatism Makes Its Move' Edition

Sarah Palin made her journalistic, pundit, FOX News debut last week and it was covered in the media and in the progressive blogosphere like Elvis was having another Comeback Special.

Has anyone run for higher office from the pundit chair? I know some are threatening to do it. We might get a couple of truly TV-generation races in 2010 and 2012.

It is sad to watch Palin go through the painful act of trying to sound as reasonable and smart as Newt Gingrich or Lou Dobbs for the FOX News and Progressive Blogosphere audience. (Yes… they have become the same audience…) This will eventually work and I will hear some college educated adult say…’you know, she actually made sense last night”

The few people that run things, the “They” who control our corporate generated lives do not respect Sarah Palin. She is their court jester and she may think “They” want her, but they really just want her to dance for them to entertain us. And we are watching and laughing and putting dollars in her underwear. I can’t avoid it and I don’t even have a working TV in my house.

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So this Health Care Tax Reform thing the Democrats have been jerking off for a year now may go down the tubes because of one special election to fill a Senate Seat?  How many times does this game show have to crash before we just cancel it. It's embarrassing.

The Corporations have won. The Republicans kicked the Democrats ass in the Democrats own stadium. They won when Single Payer was not put on the table by President Obama. They won again when abortion amendments in both houses pissed on the law and the Democrats let it happen. It ended when a public option of any kind was taken off the table.

Well, we will see on Tuesday if God’s will struck Senator Kennedy down so a Republican can take his seat to stop Obamacare.

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Speaking of God’s will. Good Lord, did that pact will Satin turn around and bite those anti-colonial, anti-slavery Haitians on the ass. This coming week is going to see a new level of Hell created. The Devil is not done with Haiti... and we are going to be forced to watch.

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I would like to see a reality show where Jay Leno, David Letterman, that read-headed, skinny guy, Jimmy Kimmel, that other guy from SNL all have to get 9-5 day jobs… for thirty years.

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I’ve bailed out the Airline Industry, The Automobile Industry and the Banking Industry. Why are they still the three headaches in my life?

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Oh, the war in Afghanistan is not going well, but the new government in Iraq is acting just like the American government. So I guess Mission Accomplished?

Jesus H. Christ. Brit Hume Insults One Of The World's Major Religions

I don't think anyone on the FOX News panel saw this one coming. Brit Hume (as if it is any of his fucking business) has life advice for Tiger Woods.... convert to Christianity.

"He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of redemption and forgiveness offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger is, 'Tiger turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”

There are quite few people on the planet who are scratching there heads at this one.

That's What Christmas Is All About, Charlie Brown.

Merry Christmas

Winter Solstice

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn.

I've lived in Southern California for 10 years now, and this is what I am in for when traveling back East this year for the Christmas Holiday to be with family and friends. 

 

 

Saturday Musings: 'The "If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting" - Curtis LeMay' Edition

Pope Benedick-head V1,V1,V1 wants a “Leaner, Smaller, Purer Church.”.

Now all you abortion hating, ex-commie fighting Catholics in America, please don’t misunderstand his Holiness's message… from God…to Pope…to you… It is not about you or religion or sex.

It is about money and like every other country and corporation on the planet this century, The Vatican is going to turn its back on America and go after the dumb poor. America has become the smart poor. We don't give generously to a church that molests our children or we chose weekly groceries over the weekly donation envelope.

The Church is going to send the Holy Spirit into Central and South America and into Africa to convert the poor, the hungry, the mourners, to the one true faith… with donations accepted at services.

But remember, on Sunday, according to the Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine, it is now okay to throw a Nazi salute after blessing yourself.. SO it is forehead, heart, left shoulder, right shoulder, Hail Hitler!

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Why did President Obama double down with our young soldiers in Afghanistan?

If it is war, let the air force go at it for a couple of weeks to kill every living thing along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. Then put a standing order that if one more terrorist attack happens on American soil, the capital cities of all Middle Eastern nations will be nuked.

Hold them all hostages for peace: Ankara, Beirut, Jerusalem, Riyadh, Sana, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Kuwait City, Baghdad, Damascus, Amman, Tehran, Ashgabat, Kabul, Islamabad, Dushanbe, Tashkent, Bishkek

If even one attack… they all go. So they are all in it together. Peace in our time.

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If the Republican Party is not blown out of the water in 2010 and then ended in 2012 then the American people might as well roll up the side walks and go home.

Watch TV for a ½ hour and listen to their side of the debate on any topic. You may not love the Democratic Leadership, but good lord, at least most of them have the middle class in mind and are not certifiably insane.

Let’s just take two extremes… Senators Vitter and Franken. Now who do you really want making decisions about your future, your children and your grand children?

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I have made my Holiday gift-giving Writer of Choice for Christmas 2009 decision: Somerset Maugham. So if you are a member of my ever expanding family, be prepared to be Anglicized this year. Cakes & Ale anyone?

Pope Benedict (Joey Ratz) XVI Canonized Five New Saints: President Obama Was Overlooked

Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints on Sunday, including a 19th-century Belgian priest who worked with lepers in Hawaii.

Here are the steps that must be followed in the process of canonization:

   1. A local bishop investigates the candidate's life and writings for evidence of heroic virtue. The information uncovered by the bishop is sent to the Vatican.

   2. A panel of theologians and the cardinals of the Congregation for Cause of Saints evaluate the candidate's life.

   3. If the panel approves, the pope proclaims that the candidate is venerable, which means that the person is a role model of Catholic virtues.

   4. The next step toward sainthood is beatification, which allows a person to be honored by a particular group or region. In order to beatify a candidate, it must be shown that the person is responsible for a posthumous miracle. Martyrs -- those who died for their religious cause -- can be beatified without evidence of a miracle. 

   5. In order for the candidate to be considered a saint, there must be proof of a second posthumous miracle. If there is, the person is canonized.

These alleged miracles must be submitted to the Vatican for verification.

So why was President Obama dissed?

What Have Republicans Done To Us? Good God.

There are some things I just don't understand.

Human behavior can be fascinating, frustrating, wonderful and horrible. We are both fragile creatures and incredibly durable. The contradictions are magnificent and... what make us human. That is who we are.

But this..? What the fuck?

Jesus Was A Kennedy Democrat

I went through the Catholic School system in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Pictures of Jack and Bobby Kennedy hung in the class rooms. Some of the nuns and priest that taught me had worked with Bobby Kennedy in New York City and Cesar Chavez in California.

Now look at them. the Democratic Party is their enemy. The Republican Party is what they have adopted.

Satan wins.

"The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been lobbying for three decades for the federal government to provide universal health insurance, especially for the poor. Now, as President Obama tries to rally Roman Catholics and other religious voters around his proposals to do just that, a growing number of bishops are speaking out against it."

If it all comes down to a woman''s right to an abortion in America for the Catholic Church, then the 21st century will see an end to that religious sect. They are as useless to god and man/womanlkind as Islamic fundamentalism.

Which political party does this remind you of...

    * Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    * Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
    * Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
    * Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
    * Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
    * Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
    * Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
    * Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It’s A Bipartisan Thing.

"Dr. Francis S. Collins, the geneticist who discovered the causes of half a dozen diseases, oversaw the government's efforts to map the human genome and wrote a now-famous book presenting scientific evidence for a belief in God, will be nominated to head the National Institutes of Health, the White House confirmed Wednesday."

I'd rather have Socrates.

So a Cosmonaut goes into orbit around the earth, looks out his space ship window and declares: This is proof there is no god.

An Astronaut goes into orbit around the earth, looks out his space ship window and declares: This is proof there is a god.

Francis Collins. Do we trust him to spend the billions of dollars in the right places?  He seems like the perfect example of an Obama-man for-all-seasons.

Education... check. A little too American South for my prejudices.

Curriculum vitae... check.

Science bona fides... check.

Theological bona fides... BioLogos... not so much.

I just wish that somewhere in the Administration we were getting a flaming liberal... no apologies.

Saturday Musings: 'Show Us Your Tits' Edition

Sarah Palin melted down in a rambling, winking, almost illiterate resignation speech as a 4th of July present to the people of Alaska and to the rest of America.

Oh, she has plans, too big to discuss in front of the evil liberal media… like … FOX News? John King of CNN?... David Letterman?

Look, the Bill Kristol-wing of the Republican Party hand picked this idiot to be John McCain’s running mate in 2008 because they saw their neocon dreams going down in flames. The fact that that dream also brought down the United States of America doesn’t matter to them.

They manipulated John McCain, who was never their man, never really one of them, but too weak to defend himself when presented with the Party’s ultimatum of Sarah Palin.

Is Bill Kritsol proud this 4th of July? Is he smirking, knowing that Sarah Palin will be back someday and he will be proven right? I fucking hope so.

Sarah Palin and Bill Kristol are insane. This brand of Republican Party hero has had their day and the day was lost.

The Republican Party, both politicians and media, need to follow Sarah Palin’s example and leave the stage. You stole the American Century and trashed the nation. Thank your god you are not all in jail or up against a wall.

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It seems some Democratic Senators have a “if you build it, they will come” plan for national health care. Okay, let’s see it, but what about a full-court, fuck the Republican Party press on a strong Democratic Party national health care system?

Be brave. Be strong. You are fighting for America… act like it. The Republican Party has acted in bad faith on this issue. So they don’t get a seat at the table. The Democratic Party needs to be willing to kick a little ass when it has to, for the good of the American people.

We deserve that much for putting up with Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich and The Contract With America and the George Bush, Jr. /Dick Cheney take over. You have the ball. Run with it!

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Afghanistan…so it begins.

“When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
   An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
    Go, go, go like a soldier…

THERE WAS A TAPE MACHINE, Ass-Sweat.

Most Americans know most national religious figures are charlatans.

Most Americans know that most Republican political leaders are phonies.

I'm not saying these two groups aren't smart, they do fool a lot of people into following them, but man... Richard Nixon takes the cake.

These newly released Presidential recordings of Nixon just keep getting worse for the former, failed, Republican President. We already knew he was anti-Semitic and racist, but in that everyday, all-American, white- guy, asshole from the 1950's kind of way.

I know Richard Nixon never slept with pre-teen boys, or sexy female interns, but he committed every other sin the book. And like all professional assholes, he takes people down with him.

The Reverend Billy Graham is toast. Butter his ass and file it under L for liar... "Synagogue of Satan"?

I love the Presidential tape recording system. Not only does it prove for history that Republican Presidents are degenerate, racist, lying pricks who belong in prison rather than the Oval Office... it also has proven that Democratic Presidents are interesting, smart, patriotic leaders who deserve to be in the Oval Office.

I read a few hate biographies of President Kennedy that have him in a back-brace, rolling around the floor of the Oval Office crying to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to help him out of the Cuban Missile Crisis... but wait... there is TAPE!!! And guess what... JFK was actually a hero... and the Joint Chiefs were treasonous bastards that would have blown up the world. Check out the movie 13 Days based on the tapes.

"Bomb, Bomb, Bomb... Bomb, Bomb Iran"... how would that have worked out for us all, in the light of history, huh?

Republicans... trash 'em.

Saturday Musings: 'Plane and Boats and Trains' Edition

I’m sure glad all the tanker fires at freeway underpasses in California are not terrorism.

Strange time for airplanes, too. They seem to be having trouble staying in the air.

Maybe there are just too damn many of us people traveling around.

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If President Obama was a socialist dictator in waiting, where are the mass executions?  That list would be long and we wouldn’t be worrying about those rich, CEOs flying around in executive jets.

If President Obama was a fascist dictator in waiting, where are the mass executions? That list would be long and FOX News reporters would only be seen and heard in show trials on TV.

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So if I opt-in for a national health care plan, would that part of my salary taken from each paycheck be mine? It would be like a pay raise! Damn the AMA and the big Pharmaceutical corporations… where’s my Paxil?

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Saving Grace is back on the air. I guess it is the point of the show, but they don’t even need the angel. The ensemble acting is so good. This is one of my favorite police shows, but the angel… I don’t see the need for an angel in post-Bush, Jr. America… seems unnecessary, now... with heathens in charge.

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June-gloom in Southern California. It's raining this morning. A good day for reading.

Saturday Musings: 'Do As I Say, Not As I Do' Edition

Wow. Iran and America have had an interesting history this century. Our conservatives overthrew their liberal government. Their super-conservatives eventually revolted against this government... but they turned out to be religious fundamentalist nuts.

Our conservatives have overthrown our liberal governments. Our conservatives turned out to be religious fundamentalist nuts.

Conservatism is so fucked up.

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The Bush Family must be proud right now. A stolen election right under the lights of the modern, global mass media.

It is not wrong to keep bringing up the Bush Family, come on... Grand-pop Prescott Bush was involved with the attempted overthrow of the American government and coup of FDR. Poppy Georg Bush was involved with treasonous acts WITH IRAN against the Carter Administration that brought him and Ronald Reagan to power. George Jr. stole the election from Al Gore and ruined the nation, if not the entire world.

So why are we going all 'O'Reilly' on Ahmadinejad? The phony raging indignation is embarrassing. 

At least some Iranians are taking to the streets. That's more than America did in 2000.

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If Prescott Bush was a Nazi and America won WW2 and Prescott Bush's Son and Grandson become President through treasonous acts... did the Nazi's win WW2?

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President Obama is set to turn his sites on reforming health care in America. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

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Did you ever see the Manchurian Candidate?

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Is it true FOX News didn't report much on the terrorism at the Holocaust Memorial Museum? That would be reason enough to haul them all in for questioning and ban the network. Accomplices before the fact? Accomplices after the fact?

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Instead of sending ships overseas to North Korea, why don't we ask China and Japan to smack the little fuckers around? Even with a nuke or two, would you want China coming back over the Yalu River?

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BOOKS: Just bought Aaron Copland: The Life & Work of an Uncommon Man the biography by Howard Pollack. Copland was born in 1900 and lived 90 years, so I'm looking forward to a very specific slice of the American Century.

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A musical recommendation off the beaten track: The Hotel Costes Series of lounge music mixes. The Hotel Costes in Paris has released about a dozen mixes by Stéphane Pompougnac. They make interesting background music for hanging out, talking and drinking . If you create your own quiet cocktail hour or want to throw a low-tempo party, this is good stuff to be playing in the background.

Saturday Musings: 'You know, I saw Newt Gingrich on the News last night and he really made a lot of sense...SHUT THE FUCK UP!' Edition

The last time Newt Gingrich made sense was when he cried after the doctor smacked his ass at birth. I am tired of people telling me that they think the disgraced, divorced, adulterer former Congressman makes sense.

And does the newly converted Catholic version of Newt Gingrich realize that he now has to go to confession and actually tell a priest his sins, be sorry for them and promise to go and never sin again and make an act of mother fucking contrition… or he is going to hell?

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Giving Republicans air-time to do nothing but... well, take up air-time on the 24/7 cable news shows to talk their ridiculous hate talk has got to come to some sort of violent head. This much hate-energy has to be released somewhere and when it does who will be blamed. Better yet, who will take the blame?

It is a sad statement on America that the Republican Party is still considered a legitimate political Party representing American citizens.

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And again, something needs to be done to change the face of what is called TV News in America. It has ceased to serve the public and has become detrimental to American society... And that is being way too polite about it. And don't think it is just all about ratings. It is about you and me and our future.

And I haven’t even started on the Sonia Sotomayor coverage. I mean is this finally the end of the Republican Party as a serious political force in America? It better be.

I will be patient and wait and see what the American electorate does to the Republicans in 2010. Maybe by 2012 they won’t be around any more and all of this will be a bad dream.

Aren’t Americans tired of all the hate speech and lies? I assume we are and that is why the Democrats control both Houses of Congress and President Obama was elected.

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And what exactly was the point of making Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor of California?

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Film 101: If you want to see an example of bad film editing and how it can ruin a movie, check out the last James Bond film: Quantum of Solace. I had to give up watching it. I couldn't tell what the hell was going on. From the opening scene...I think it was a car chase... I knew I was in trouble. Where is Pussy Galore when you need her?

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I'm going bak to my books. I just found an old, used copy of Pastoral by Nevil Shute. Makes watching Susan Boyle videos on YouTube seem down right post-modern.

Saturday Musings: 'that horrible moral squint' Edition

Sorry I missed May Day, Comrades. I had to work, thank god.

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Arlen Specter, Smarlen Specter. We don’t need anymore Lieberman Democrats. Politicians who put their self preservation over the good of the State and the Will of the People need not apply to the Party of Hope.

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) is going to kick Specter’s ass in the Democratic Primary. Stesak just won election in a Congressional District that is a suburb of Philadelphia. This was a Regean/Republican stronghold before Bush, Jr. took control of the reigns. Once Arlen Specter actually has to cast votes with the Democrats, game over.

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Justice David Souter... I hope he plans to write a memoir. Our Man For All Seasons on the Supreme Court. The Republicans thought they had a Sarah Palin for the bench and he turned out to be Thomas More.

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So do you think the Powers That Be would waste Jeb Bush on a 2012 run or wait until the Democrats fixed everything, filled the Treasury again and then take over in 2016?

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FOX News is a hate crime.

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Swine Flu, huh? Maybe in 75 years we will be told what really was going on.

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Speaking of swine... Mark Penn sucks big, fat elephant dick.

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Hmmm, it looks like being a bitch to the Banking Industry, even after all that has happened, is still a bipartisan thing in the US Senate. Congress is doing its part, but the Senate is just disappointing when it comes to homeowners vs. banks.

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Okay enough of this political stuff, I have a yard to sit in and some wine to drink. Let’s get to the important stuff…

Book of the Week: Hell, I’m not even finished yet and James Gould Cozzens is resurrected from the library trash bin with Guards of Honor.  Where have you been all my life? If I could write like this… well, I would. Three days in the life of a military base, yeah, I know… sounds wonderful and out of print longer than Zac Efron has been alive, but this book is being devoured this weekend.

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In music, don’t arrest me, but I traded my download of Chess Records Soul for a copy of Mavis Staples Live, Hope At The Hideout... Indeed.

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So I’m set for the weekend, I have Jacob's recap of American Idol's Results Show (the funniest writer on the Internet. Don't bother watching TV, just read Television Without Pity.) and I can smell the ocean. So now I just have to kick Marnie the cat off my lounge chair and I'm good to go.

Saturday Musings: 'Sermon On The Mount' Edition

So now it Pirates. There is always some bright, young thing for every new American President to fight.

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Why where there still any unclassified papers from the Reagan presidency? What could they still possibly be trying to hide?

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President Obama went to Europe last week and it was pretty amazing how much reporting was not done on the specific political news of his trip. It shouldn’t be hard for American news junkies to read some straight reporting about the President of the United States. He went to Turkey for Christ’s sake.

We have a dangerous media. They are Republican propagandists. FOX News doesn’t even pretend to be a news organization anymore. Glenn Beck is acting out pouring gasoline on people and threatening to light them on fire and reporting that as news from Washington. Maybe re-education camps are not such a bad idea.

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Maybe President Obama bowed slightly when greeting the Potentate of Saudi Arabia, but at least he did it standing up and kept his lips together.

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Oh, Happy Easter. Can you imagine an America if tomorrow, the day symbolizing Christ’s Resurrection, every Christian really started acting like Jesus Christ and following the Sermon on the Mount? What a wonderful world it would be. But tomorrow, turn on FOX News and see what American Christians are really like in the 21st century.

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Okay, it is probably a little too late for both shows, but Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Doll House kicked ass this week.

As for music, I am just retreating to comfort food. I have been listening to my Fleetwood Mac records, mostly pre-Stevie and Lindsey: Future Games, Bare Trees, Mystery To Me. Lot’s of Christine McVie and great guitar playing.

Book of the Week: Time to read The Great Gatsby again.

How The Catholic Church Can Save Itself In America

   

Religion is on the decline in America. What has it done for us lately?

The Catholic Church has an incredible network called the archdiocese system. Built around churches... parishes, most have grade schools attached. Most also have convents and rectories.

There is also a large network of Catholic High Schools. Me, all my brothers and sisters and all my cousins… are products of this Catholic Archdiocese school system.

Their attendance is dwindling fast. Many Archdiocesan high schools have had to close or merge. The future does not look bright for the Catholic Archdiocese school  system.

The Catholic Church has also taken a self inflicted beating with its child abuse scandals.

I have an idea how to save all the brick and mortar and to save the Catholic Archdiocese system that is already in place.

Close all the schools. Get out of the education business and turn all the schools into hospitals…more specifically, Senior Citizen Hospitals. The nuns and priests can still live and work at these locations.

The Catholic Church can pay to educate the Nuns to be nurses…or doctors…to take care of the aging population of Americans. So a life of charity and service in the health care field could invigorate the Catholic sisterhoods.

This way, families can go to church on Sunday and visit their parents or grandparents. The Senior Hospitals would be part of the community.

These Senior Hospitals can specialize in senior care and the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia patients. Families can volunteer or just visit, as easily as they went to school or to church.

The Nuns would be there, employed and useful, instead of being responsible for educating young Catholics, they can be responsible for taking care of old Catholics.

The Catholic Archdiocese school system is a withering, expensive network that served its purpose and its time has passed. But a new Catholic health network of hospitals with Churches and living quarters for care-givers...Nuns and Priests...  would integrate nicely into a national health care system and make the Catholic archdiocese and Catholic sisterhoods a relevant part of many, many communities in 21st century America.

Atlas Scratched His Ass

 

Conservatism has collapsed like an imploded skyscraper.

Republicans reach for Ayn Rand novels to find they are too long to read and seem to be about white men with red pubic hair trying to rule the world.

Little boys and Rush Limbaugh are the guest speakers...tidal waves of dust fill Wall Street.

The yellow brick road of conservatism led not to the Emerald City ruled by a Wizard, but to George Bush, Jr.  Not exactly what Rand had in mind.

Ronald Reagan was an actor. The RNC asked Bob Hope to run for President first, but the comedian thought it was a really bad idea.

FDR and the New Deal saved the United States of America from slipping into either a fascist dictatorship or a socialist revolution. He preserved  corporate America. He just wanted it to play fair.

The majority of Americans are not millionaires and never will be. So be easy.

In a society where we all agree to work for ‘The Man’. That Man should play fair.

Get rich, but don't lie to us. Don't pollute our water and air. Pay a fair wage so we can buy the products we are making. Let us save a little for retirement.

And Mr. Man, if you want to go to church on Sunday, for Christ’s sake, read The Sermon On The Mount.

Nazi King of The Pedophiles Attacks Speaker Of The House

In the most inhospitable counter attack since the Battle of the Bulge, The Pope, (Joey 'Ratz', aka Benedick XVI) the man of god who turned the other cheek on the inhuman atrocities of George Bush, Jr., insulted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for not doing enough to stop abortions through legislation in the United States.

Pope Bene XVI's final solution to the abortion problem is to build concentration camps and put all the women who have abortions and the doctors that perform them to death and then stick them in ovens and burn the bodies.

Speaker Pelosi rejected the Pope's ideas. She answered his eminence's infallible rudeness by showing him pictures of her children and grandchildren.

America Is Going To Sit This One Out: Charles Darwin Turns 200 Tomorrow

February 12, 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin.

The Feast of St. Thomas Becket

"Who Will Rid Me Of This Troublesome Priest?" - Henry II

Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.

His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, he was made archbishop (1162), resigned his chancellorship and reformed his whole way of life!

Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France for safety and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to England, he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favored by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral.  

Always the Competitor, George Bush, Jr Tries For Single Digit Approval Rating Before Leaving Office...Says Bible Is A Crock of Shit

Oh, the humanity.

"I think you can have both," Mr Bush, who leaves office January 20, told ABC television, adding "You're getting me way out of my lane here. I'm just a simple president."

But "evolution is an interesting subject. I happen to believe that evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life," said the president, an outspoken Christian who often invokes God in his speeches.

"I think that God created the Earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don't think it's incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution," he told ABC television.

Asked whether the Bible was literally true, Mr Bush replied: "Probably not. No, I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it."

"The important lesson is 'God sent a son,'" he said."

Jesus Hussein Christ, man! Don't you know your word is gospel to some Republicans Americans. You were god-sent. There may be mass suicides over this revelation, dumb-ass.

He may have been the worst President ever, but he is going to be the best ex-President ever.

Saturday Musings: Holiday Shopping In The 21st Century Edition

Mumbai joins the coalition of the fucked along with New York City, Madrid and London as terrorism stomps its nightmarish footprint on the daily routine of 21st century cities.

Now comes the 24/7 cable news coverage of ‘who?’ and ‘why?' The answer will most likely be in the name of god.

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In strange world of modern American holiday seasonal festivities, a man was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart during Black Friday, the start of ‘shopping season’.  Even with folks losing their homes, credit cards and local banks, participation in the front door orgies at shopping centers still seems important to people.

What were they trying to buy this year?

My advice for the 21st century is shop on-line. Fuck the malls. Remake the suburban landscape. Knock down the malls and build giant parks. It will save gas and traffic congestion and now, lives too.

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Watched The Godfather and The Godfather Part II this weekend, on some commercial cable station and there were not only commercial breaks but the film was ‘sped-up’ in some strange way when the characters were not talking. Kay would be listening to Michael and her face would blur and then she would deliver her line. The cable station was too impatient with the pace of the movie I guess.

Four Christmases was the number one movie at the box office this weekend.

Are there still film schools? Is it still a popular major in college? If so, what are they teaching nowadays? And if it is the old classic movies and directors, where do students apply it in the industry?

I guess cinema is a thing of the past, a 20th century past-time that is not healthy and surviving into the 21st century...like shopping malls and the Republican Party.

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And on that same thought, music, popular music is wheezing its last breath. The industry doesn’t know which way is up and is drowning in a swamp of one-shit wonders.

Diversity is the key to mass appeal. It is completely wrong to try and make it all sound as one. I can’t tell the difference between Justin Timberlake, Beyonce’, Ludacris or the latest Disney Movie soundtrack…and that makes the record executives very happy. Now that is ludicrous.

In my snobbishness, I have been listening to Willie Nelson’s Spirit album. I guess if a commercial radio stations played this album, they would speed up the instrumentals to get to the singing.

Put this record on and sit back, give yourself an hour to relax and get into the groove. It will be good for your stress levels.

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DeRosaWorld Family Member SPOILER warning:

I’m putting my on-line shopping list together for my family.

We have the K.C. Constantine mysteries: Grievance (Rugs) and Brushback (Mario) this year for my brother.  I'm not doing these novels justice by labeling them mysteries.

One of my sisters requested Robert Wagner’s Autobiography Pieces of My Heart. Yeah, why not.

Another sister dreams of traveling to Paris so she is getting On Paris by Ernest Hemingway and Paris by Julian Green, two collections of essays by two very different writers who were in Paris at the same time.

One of my nephews recently graduated from Temple University with a degree in History so he is getting From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (Oxford History of the United States) by George C. Herring. The most expensive book on the list, but I'm his Godfather....seriously.

My niece loves a spooky mystery so she is getting Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House.

And my Republican brother-in-law is always difficult. It was almost Pat Conroy's My Losing Season, but I figured I'd be magnanimous and this year it is Richard Reeves’ President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination.

The youngest boy in the family is getting The Boxer and the Spy by Robert B. Parker.

My sister-in-law asked for 'Irish Music". I don't know what that means exactly, she didn't specify, so she is getting Black 47's Fire Of Freedom. I hope she isn't expecting Three Irish Tenors.

Saturday Musings: Dodged A Bullet Edition

Well that’s over, thank-fucking-god and a host of angels.

The election of 2008 will go down in the history books with President-elect Barack Obama defeating John McCain.

Can you imagine waking up on November 5th to a McCain Presidency, especially after the campaign that his team ran. Sarah Palin? What the fuck were they thinking?

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Republicans are my enemy. The actual politicians are traitors and the party members are fools. Nothing nice to say about them. Too much hate TV and not enough book-learning.

Two words…Bill Kristol. Fuck that shit with a volleyball.

I supported Senator Clinton in the primary, but am a loyal Democrat from the old school. Give me FDR and Jack Kennedy and of course, Bill Clinton. And now I guess it is Barack Obama’s turn to try to turn the country around from a failed Republican Administration. I’m seeing a pattern here.

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I am very proud of my home State of Pennsylvania for telling the McCain/Palin ticket to get the hell out. McCain has no sense of the history of the place and Palin was just there to pick up hockey players.

Archie Bunker was a long time ago, folks and its Obama-time. Your children have grown up with TV, too and they aren’t watching FOX News, they are watching reality TV and the Disney channel. They like black people. The Civil War is over. Your side lost.

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I love Presidential politics and can’t wait to see history unfold as the Democrats control the corridors of power again. History is full of surprises, especially for American Presidents. Remember, some of our past Presidents have woken up to the news that the Southern States had seceded…or the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, or that the World Trade Centers have been knocked down. It could be rough going.

But some Presidents get to free slaves or stop child labor or enact Social Security or pass the Civil Rights Act.

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As for my two cents worth. I don’t believe in bipartisanship in America today. Maybe that worked to get us through World War Two, but it also installed the Patriot Act. And I remember every time President Clinton tried to work with the Republicans, they fucked him. And after this last President, starting with a stolen election, lying treasonous wars and ending with the financial collapse, I want a little liberal hardball. Because we don’t know how long we will control events. Take the reigns and ride, Democrats. Stampede the Republicans into the dirt for at least the next two years. Maybe let them up for air in 2010.

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Proposition 8, the California State Constitutional ban on gay marriages passed on Election Day. I thought Christianity was all about love, but my only experience with it has been all about hate. So be warned…Barack Obama’s election didn’t Change everything.

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Music: I’m still trapped in the 1970’s with Manassas and Stephen Stills. I just downloaded a couple of Joe Walsh songs, well one Joe Walsh (Rocky Mountain Way) and one James Gang (Walk Away). I also picked off two Steve Miller tracks: Jet Airliner and Rockin’ Me.

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Just got some history in: The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman and Davis in The Mexican War, 1846-1848, you know for that holiday spirit.

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Movies, forget it. TV, even worse. But I rented the series Firefly from Netflix. I've watched the first three episodes so far. It was a one-season series (canceled) from Joss Whedon. Sort of a sci-fi, western with some Civil War era steam punk thrown in. Lots of fun so far. Apparently there is also a movie to watch at the end, Serenity, after the series was canceled, in which Whedon wraps up the story and characters. Hey, it beats has-been-celebrity reality TV with a stick. (I was a big Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fan, if you turn my lapel back, I have a Buffy Sucks pin next to my Gore in ’04 pin.)

Happy Birthday Fyodor Dostoevsky

Writer Fyodor Dostoevsky was born October 30, 1821 in Moscow. Considered by many (and many fellow writers) to be the best of the best.

His Brothers Karamazov may be the greatest of novels.

"Is there in the whole world a being who would have the right to forgive and could forgive? I don't want harmony. From love for humanity I don't want it. I would rather be left with the unavenged suffering. I would rather remain with my unavenged suffering and unsatisfied indignation, even if I were wrong. Besides, too high a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much to enter on it. And so I hasten to give back my entrance ticket, and if I am an honest man I am bound to give it back as soon as possible. And that I am doing. It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket." - The Brothers Karamazov

Saturday Musings: Stock Market & Republican Party Crash Edition

Poem blogging with William B. Yeats.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; (SARAH PALIN)
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, (BUSH-o-NOMICS)
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; (2008 ELECTION)
The best lack all conviction, while the worst 
Are full of passionate intensity. (MCCAIN SUPPORTERS)

Surely some revelation is at hand; (DOW DOWN)
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.  (MCCAIN/PALIN)
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert (ARIZONA)
A shape with lion body and the head of a man, (JOHN MCCAIN)
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? (JOHN MCCAIN)

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We are nationalizing the banks. FDR and The New Deal are being resurrected.

We all know FDR you half-wit and you are no FD-fucking R.

President George Bush, Jr. has destroyed the economy. He has done more damage to Wall Street than the terrorists on 9/11. He needs to be blamed and chants of BUSH MUST GO! need to be heard throughout the land, every day until the next Inaugural.

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Cindy McCain claims Senator Obama endangers her son in Iraq. Is shed fucking kidding? Her husbands very existence dangers her son's existence in Iraq.

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Sarah Palin leads chants of “Kill Obama” and winks at the crowd. She like to hunt and kill.

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John McCain is booed at his own rallies by confused Republicans. Their TV and radio keeps saying Obama is a terrorist. John McCain defends Obama, they boo.

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Dick Cheney has already retired. He could give a shit about the state of the economy.

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Republican Congress men, whose fingers still smell of little boys’ assess, have stuffed their pockets with billions and are getting ready to be retired.

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Despite the news media’s best efforts to cover the Republican Party’s demise, I believe the Election of 2008 will be a sea change in American politics.

If not, then I predict the end of American politics.

Pope Benedict XVI Wants To Spank Your Children

"If we look at history we are forced to notice the frequent coldness and rebellion of incoherent Christians. Because of this, God, while never shirking in his promise of salvation, often had to turn towards punishment," he said.

Joey Ratz needs to step back from the incense and myrrh.

My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?

The Pope is a former Nazi.

The American President is a former coke-fiend and drunk.

The Vice President is currently Satan.

The Democratic Presidential nominee is a former Muslim.

The Republican Presidential nominee is a former POW

The Democratic Vice Presidential nominee is a former candidate over and over and no one ever votes for him.

The Republican Party Vice Presidential nominee is a former beauty pageant contestant.

You all need to shut the fuck up. Get off my TV and get jobs.

Saturday Musings - Social Change Edition

Let’s just jump right into it shall we…

Governor Palin did not run off the stage crying, therefore, she won the debate. Case closed. She is ready to be President.

Senator McCain is nuts and should not be President. I wasn’t a psychology major and I don’t know if a cigar is really a cigar, but John McCain has some sick-fuck Daddy/Grand Daddy issues that he has never worked out.

Senator Biden seems smart, a nice guy. Maybe he could be President, but he shops at Target and wears Payless shoes. Most Americans don’t even know what State he’s from.

Senator Obama isn’t even from here. He was born in like the Panama Canal Zone or some-such place owned by the Democratic Party.

So it seems logical Governor Sarah Palin (R-Close to Russia) should be President. If I only have these four politicians to choose from in 2008, it’s the hockey mom.

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What are the rules if John McCain wins on election day and Sarah Palin resigns to be a hockey mom to her family, including her new special needs baby as well as grandmother to teenage Bristol’s new baby with the hockey player? Does he just get to pick someone we didn’t vote for? Like Rudy Giulani or Joe Lieberman?

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Bush Doctrine – the trickle-down details, year 8: In an apparent violation of federal regulations, the State Department has outsourced to private contractors the responsibility to investigate possible crimes committed by security contractors in Iraq.

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-- The Senate, then the Congress voted for the $700 billion dollar taxpayer bailout of banks, and 'other financial institutions'. Happy days are here again. How is this going to help, again?

I took my millions checking and savings account out of JPMorgan/Chase. Fuck them.

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On the TV front. If you thought Gossip Girl was the end of Western Civilization, tune in to the BBC America show Skins. Their teens are worse than our teens and there ain’t anyone left worth leaving our future to. If I were the Martians that the rovers found? I would nuke us from space before we send these kids up there.

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Oliver Stone’s "W” is set for release on October 17th. In the trailer, Jr. face-plants on the floor and a pretzel pops out of his mouth. The American Presidency in a nutshell…so to speak.

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To commemorate the passing of David Foster Wallace, I am reading Edwin O’Connor’s The Edge of Sadness. You want a big book, packed with absurd situations and human characters stumbling through life together; spend some time with the Carmody family. 

One of my favorite John Ford films and favorite Spencer Tracey films is The Last Hurrah, based on O’Connor’s novel of the same name. A pre-Kennedy-era political novel that reverberates strongly today.

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I mentioned a few posts back that I was listening to Meet Glenn Campbell. The new release from the 72 year old country singer. This led me to his collection Reunion: The songs of Jimmy Webb. We’re talking Galveston, Wichita Lineman, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, I Keep It Hid, The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress. Good stuff.

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen." - The Emperor

Sharia law in Britain and the American Banking System collapsing.

Seems like the Anti-Christ had a pretty good weekend.

So do you think President Bush, Jr. or maybe Vice President Dick Cheney will come on TV and let people know that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, blah, blah, blah?

I wish Bill Clinton was still President.