tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-176158552024-03-13T15:01:34.575-07:00Big Daddy MalcontentLet Big Daddy set you straight.Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.comBlogger286125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-54362827136293432172012-04-27T09:10:00.002-07:002012-04-27T09:13:13.136-07:00THE BILL OF SUGGESTIONS<br />
<ol>
<li> <span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that the freedom of speech shall not be infringed.
But we are willing to submit to “free speech zones” or to just shut up if
there’s a risk of offending someone, especially if that person is religious. We
also timidly suggest that we have the freedom to hold any religious belief we
want to as long as it doesn’t conflict with that of the dominant religious
sect.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that we have the right to bear arms, but we promise
only to use them on black or brown people…or hippies, freaks, gays and other
“radicals.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that Corporate Feudal State forces cannot station
themselves in the people’s homes…unless they really want to.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that arrests, searches and seizures shall not be
conducted by Corporate Feudal State agencies without evidence and authority
from the people…unless they really want to. We the People trust you.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that persons can only be found guilty of a crime
when evidence is presented to a jury of one’s peers…or if the person has been
tortured into confession…or if the Corporate Feudal State wishes to avoid the
inconvenience of “due” process.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that “due” process should be conducted swiftly and
fairly unless, of course, the Corporate Feudal State doesn’t want to.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that a trial by jury is in order in civil cases
unless the case in question involves an employer, banking institution or
multinational conglomerate.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that fines, bails and punishments should be
proportionate to the crime…unless, of course, the Corporate Feudal State feels
otherwise.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that there may be other suggestions we would like to
make at some future time because we forgot to include them here. But we readily
acknowledge that these are merely suggestions subject to the momentary whim of
the Corporate Feudal State.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;">We
the People timidly suggest that our state and local Corporate Feudal States
cannot violate the suggestions listed herein unless they really want to.</span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></li>
</ol>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-71397083018618571182012-03-11T15:03:00.000-07:002012-03-13T18:31:20.503-07:00Is Kony 2012 a propaganda campaign for our next oil war?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q_fol7pjRvU/T10gEoLx6VI/AAAAAAAAAa8/BBUbGnFei8A/s1600/kony_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q_fol7pjRvU/T10gEoLx6VI/AAAAAAAAAa8/BBUbGnFei8A/s200/kony_0.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joseph Kony</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">As Mark Twain once observed, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on. And the truth about Kony 2012 is slowly getting its boots on. Invisible Children founder Jason Russell has <a href="http://www.alternet.org/visions/154477/Invisible_Children_%22Kony_2012%22_Leader_Suggests_It%27s_About_Jesus_and_Evangelizing__/?page=entire">even admitted that the campaign was about evangelizing</a> and not saving children. But could it be<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/14177583?story_id=14177583&source=hptextfeature"> about oil too</a>? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">James Arnold of Tullow says there are 700m barrels of proven reserves on
the Ugandan side. With likely additions from further exploration, he
believes, the figure could eventually reach billions of barrels. Some
speculate that, Congo included, the entire Albertine basin may yield
even more than Sudan’s 6 billion barrels of proven reserves.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to-combat-lords-resistance-army/">President Obama has already sent at least 100 combat troops to Uganda</a>, supposedly to "capture or kill" LRA leader Joseph Kony, despite the fact that <a href="http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things">Kony isn't even in Uganda</a>. So if Joseph Kony isn't even in Uganda, what are the US troops doing there?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It's probably also worth noting that nearby <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_5A,_South_Sudan#Oil_field_development_and_production">South Sudan also has large oil reserves, </a>which could be why President Obama has <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/south-sudan-shows-what-obama-can-do-when-he-leads/2011/06/30/AGTJYrwH_story.html">given the region so much attention lately.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vCypAQLZ2dg/T10gwqOcO7I/AAAAAAAAAbE/HFE3pHILob4/s1600/South_Sudan-CIA_WFB_Map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vCypAQLZ2dg/T10gwqOcO7I/AAAAAAAAAbE/HFE3pHILob4/s200/South_Sudan-CIA_WFB_Map.png" width="185" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Obama appointed <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/31/president-obama-announces-ambassador-princeton-n-lyman-us-special-envoy-">not just one</a>
but two special ambassadors to shuttle between the Khartoum government
of Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the southern administration, rebels in the
province of Darfur and the numerous other interested parties; he
attended a special meeting on Sudan at the United Nations, thereby
attracting many other world leaders, and delivered a strong speech. He
dispatched Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry
(D-Mass.)<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/1111/Out-of-sticks-US-offers-Sudan-a-carrot-to-let-South-Sudan-secede"> to lay out a detailed “road map”</a>
for Bashir’s regime: If it would allow the south to go peacefully, it
could earn a release from sanctions, debt relief and diplomatic
recognition from the United States.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Moreover, our sudden interest in central Africa could also be inspired by a desire to edge China out of the region. China has been <a href="http://www.chinafrica.asia/tag/uganda/">spending billions of dollars in Uganda </a>and neighboring countries in its effort to expand its sources of oil, especially now that <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/23/us-china-libya-oil-idUSTRE77M0PD20110823">Libya is out of their reach</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<br />Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-7358897797988203342012-03-10T10:14:00.000-08:002012-03-13T18:33:06.619-07:00In case of choking on faux progressive rhetoric...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QGFmzccWqJY/T1uZX3uOw_I/AAAAAAAAAa0/f53KuoY8pJU/s400/lookforsignsof600.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="315" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tip: Mark Gisleson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-34742390712144855782012-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:002012-03-05T19:26:19.702-08:004:20<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">...hi-ho the dairy-o, a blegging I will go...</span></span></h6>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ekk9zYIQvjs/T1WC9Wpn4MI/AAAAAAAAAas/NiOdMrQ6j2w/s1600/Photo-0070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ekk9zYIQvjs/T1WC9Wpn4MI/AAAAAAAAAas/NiOdMrQ6j2w/s200/Photo-0070.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover Art for Brummagem's debut album, "4:20."</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><br /> [Bleg: a portmanteau of "blog" and "beg"]</span></span></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><br />
So desperate for cash was I that I decided to cast about for anything I
could do to raise a little moneh. Then I re-discovered BANDCAMP, a site
where musicians (I hope you don't mind that I'm using the term broadly)
can upload and sell their songs, which is what I have done -- well, the
upload part, anyway.<br /> <br /> B<span class="text_exposed_show">ehold!
My new album, "<a href="http://brummagem.bandcamp.com/">4:20</a>," which consists of 11 songs, each 4:20 in length.
And they can be yours for the low, low price of $5. That's over 47
minutes of music for just $5. Or you can purchase the songs individually
for a buck apiece.</span></span></span></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://brummagem.bandcamp.com/">"4:20," the debut release from BRUMMAGEM</a><br /> <br /> I ain't-a-claiming this album is the next
WHO'S NEXT or anything, but there might be at least one song that you
will enjoy or at least be able to tolerate, and for $5, how can you go
wrong? I only need to sell a few of these bad boys to raise enough cash
to put minutes on my cell phone, which is my immediate concern. So if
you're a fan of random noises that sound vaguely like music, not to
mention supporting the telecommunications industry, please consider
purchasing the latest album by BRUMMAGEM, "4:20."<br /> <br /> Thank you.</span></span></span></h6>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-33527141773718620742012-02-12T09:02:00.000-08:002012-03-13T18:35:19.160-07:00Happy Birthday, Charles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8CiTNRECwIw/TzfucMAJq_I/AAAAAAAAAak/Kjgw7pFnXp0/s1600/charles+darwin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8CiTNRECwIw/TzfucMAJq_I/AAAAAAAAAak/Kjgw7pFnXp0/s320/charles+darwin.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-r-miller/darwin-day-evolution_b_1269191.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false">America's Darwin problem</a> is only one component of America's science problem. As Kenneth Miller notes:</span></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">Significant numbers of Americans have come to regard the scientific
enterprise as a special interest group that rejects mainstream American
values and is not worthy of the public trust. Governor Rick Perry of
Texas spoke to this view when he claimed that "There are a substantial
number of scientists who have manipulated data" to their own benefit.
Why? Perry was clear about this. It's personal greed. Scientists cheat
"so that they will have dollars rolling in to their projects."</span></blockquote>
<br />
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">Unfortunately,
Governor Perry is right, just not in the way his remarks imply.
Scientific data is indeed being manipulated, but it is almost always
done in the service of some financial interest. <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c5347.full">Andrew Wakefield</a>, for
instance, the widely discredited originator of the vaccine-autism
canard, had his own treatment racket in mind when he concocted the bogus
link between autism and the MMR vaccine. And pain researcher <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/health/research/11pain.html?ref=us">Scott Reuben</a> faked dozens of studies to keep research grants from Pfizer
rolling in. FDA "fast-tracking," agri-pharma profits and Americans'
piss-poor science education have combined to create a perfect storm of
scientific mistrust, which is what is at the heart of our rejection of
Darwinism. If we hope to catch up with the rest of the developed world,
let alone surpass it, we must take the profit motive out of science.</span></span></span></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text">And when data falsification
isn't the culprit, peer bullying is. A PR firm called <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/may/14/greenpolitics.digitalmedia">The Bivings Group formed an army of sock puppets</a> to impugn the reputation of a UC Berkely
researcher named Ignacio Chapella who had published a paper showing that
GM corn had cross-pollinated with conventional corn.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text">And when PBS programs
FRONTLINE and NOVA teamed up to address the issue of GMOs in a program
titled "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/">Harvest of Fear</a>," they were forced to post the following caution
regarding their online opinion tally:<br /> </span></span></h6>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"> In late May 2004, thanks in part t<span class="text_exposed_show">o
the vigilance of several outside readers who phoned in, we discovered
that some person or persons had tampered with this feature's tally.
Specifically, on May 16-17, 1,540,016 "Yes" votes and 33,641 "No" votes
were cast via just four IP addresses. (Prior to May 16, a total of
roughly 124,000 votes of any kind had been cast since the feature
launched in April 2001.)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show"> Deeming the credibility of the tally
to have been compromised, we made this page unavailable for several days
while we decided how best to address this problem. In the end, we threw
out these suspicious votes and recalculated the remaining response
numbers and percentages. Then we did a more thorough scouring of votes
from before May 2004.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show"> It appears that a lesser degree of
multiple voting has been going on for some time, so we have decided to
temporarily remove the final vote and tallying options from this feature
until we can put a more secure system in place. The feature itself
remains unchanged, and we encourage you to challenge your stance on GM
foods by reading it. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we
appreciate your readership.—The Editors</span></span></span></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text">The upshot is that Americans'
rejection of Darwinism and distrust of climate data and of science in
general is the result of decades of educational dumbing down and the
intentional scientific misconduct of researchers starving for grant mon<span class="text_exposed_show">ey, which, increasingly, comes from corporations and not government subsidies. <br /> <br />
And GMO defenders like David Tribe and Pamela Ronald, among others,
have cleverly manipulated this phenomenon in order to portray suspicion
of corporate greed as scientific ignorance, so that if you question
Monsanto's or Syngenta's motives regarding the promotion of genetically
modified crops, or if you make note of the many instances of pharmaceutical research fraud, you are lumped in with global warming and evolution
deniers.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show">I kind of feel the same way towards the agri-petro-pharma-chemical complex as I do towards President Obama. On the one hand, I am forced to defend the president against imbeciles who think he's a Kenyan Marxist with a fake birth certificate, but on the other hand, I'm forced to point out to his legion of defenders that he's a neoliberal stooge of the corporate feudal state. Similarly, I find myself reluctantly defending the agri-petro-pharma-chemical complex against attacks from the likes of <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/interviews/mccarthy.html">Jenny McCarthy</a> who think vaccines cause autism or Sean Hannity, who thinks global warming is a hoax, but on the other hand, I feel compelled to expose <a href="http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-october-12-1997-10-12.html">Breast Cancer Awareness Month</a> and <a href="http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/the-way-we-live-now-the-great-yellow-hype/">Golden Rice</a> as the scams that they are.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show">Somehow, we've got to find a way to restore integrity to the scientific community, and at the same time, we must remove the barriers of intimidation that prevent public schools from imparting scientific knowledge. Until we accomplish these two goals, we will slip further and further into a new Dark Age.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show">UPDATE: As the Guardian reports, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/12/new-anti-science-assault-us-schools">the ignorati have launched a fresh assault on science</a>: </span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: inherit;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">In a disturbing trend, anti-evolution campaigners are combining with climate change deniers to undermine public education.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"> [...]</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Heartland Institute – which <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute">has received funding in the past from oil companies</a>
and is a leading source of climate science skepticism – also lobbies
strongly for school vouchers and other forms of "school transformation"
that are broadly aimed at undermining the current public school system.
The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Discovery_Institute">Discovery Institute</a> – a leading voice for intelligent design – has indicated its support of exactly the same "school reform" initiatives.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If
you can't shut down the science, the new science-deniers appear to be
saying, you should shut down the schools. It would be a shame if they
succeeded in replacing the teaching of science with indoctrination. It
would be worse if they were to close the public school house doors
altogether.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, we're fucked. </span><br />
<br /></div>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-9526897888040194822012-02-10T12:48:00.000-08:002012-02-10T12:48:42.973-08:00Rank-and-file Democrats have no principles.<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-finds-broad-support-for-obamas-counterterrorism-policies/2012/02/07/gIQAFrSEyQ_story.html?hpid=z3">New poll</a> confirms what I've always suspected.</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HQvdAwKC8j8/TzWBwvfhHEI/AAAAAAAAAac/p_UxAxhLpqs/s1600/Obomney+12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HQvdAwKC8j8/TzWBwvfhHEI/AAAAAAAAAac/p_UxAxhLpqs/s320/Obomney+12.jpg" width="314" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The poll shows that 53 percent of self-identified liberal Democrats —
and 67 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats — support keeping
Guantanamo Bay open, even though it emerged as a symbol of the
post-Sept. 11 national security policies of President George W. Bush,
<b>which many liberals bitterly opposed</b>.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">More <a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/02/08/bipartisan-consensus-democrats-agree-with-obama-counter-terrorism-policies/">here</a>. And <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/02/08/repulsive_progressive_hypocrisy/">here</a>. </span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-24708441042427638342011-09-11T07:35:00.000-07:002011-09-11T07:37:01.260-07:00Controlled Demolition<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0ptvvbaR0-U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-70676459692689677292011-09-10T06:40:00.000-07:002013-01-23T08:02:19.889-08:00THE LONE NUTS ~or ~ How Insane Radicals Keep Helping the Right Wing<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-caHwDRZ5mz8/Tmtqa9JnUdI/AAAAAAAAAaY/itv2mIiHrRQ/s1600/Jet%2BFuel.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650727168790450642" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-caHwDRZ5mz8/Tmtqa9JnUdI/AAAAAAAAAaY/itv2mIiHrRQ/s400/Jet%2BFuel.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 352px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 274px;" /></a><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: 130%;">Once upon a time, a lone nut assassinated a somewhat liberal president without any assistance from anyone. Then, a few years later, a different lone nut assassinated a prominent liberal black leader without any assistance from anyone. Then, a few months after that, yet another lone nut assassinated the even more liberal brother of the somewhat liberal president who had been assassinated a few years earlier. Yes, that's right. Inexplicably, not one, not two, but three lone nuts emerged from the recesses of society to take out only liberal leaders, all over the course of about five years.</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 130%;">Time passed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 130%;">Then one day, 19 lone nuts hijacked some jetliners and flew them into some prominent buildings they felt symbolized the belief system that was keeping them down, except for one plane, which crashed harmlessly due to the heroic actions of its passengers. Two of the buildings that had been hit by the airliners, plus one building that hadn’t been hit, collapsed just like those controlled demolitions you see all the time on TeeVee. However, despite the fact that fire had never before (and has never since) caused a skyscraper to collapse, that was precisely the explanation offered repeatedly by trusted authorities. A shocked and saddened nation accepted this explanation with the same alacrity with which they accepted their leaders’ proposed response to the assault, which was to invade and occupy two nations that had nothing to do with the attack, but which, coincidentally, had lots of oil and/or natural gas. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 130%;">Again, the lone nuts had altered the course of history without any assistance from anyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 130%;">Gradually, with the assistance of Very Smart People and despite the efforts of of a few malcontents, the shocked and saddened nation resigned itself to the knowledge that we would always have lone nuts and that they would always coincidentally help achieve the aims of right-wing ideologues and multinational corporations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">The end.</span></span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-51732608228230814842011-06-20T12:09:00.000-07:002011-06-20T12:26:55.593-07:00Stop watching sports. Go outside and play Frisbee or something.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TdzTOMBlKco/Tf-dIx8Ce_I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/mmjODIN64W4/s1600/hockey%2Bdipshit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TdzTOMBlKco/Tf-dIx8Ce_I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/mmjODIN64W4/s400/hockey%2Bdipshit.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620383634151341042" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Several years ago, when I was working in a right-wing office environment in Minne-fucking-Crapolis, <a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/7499/the-fire-last-time-serious-damage-fewer-felonies-at-u-of-m-hockey-riots">there was a hockey riot</a> on the University of Minnesota campus in nearby St. Paul. Naturally, the mostly racist, conservative sports enthusiasts who infested my workplace became convinced that the riot had been perpetrated by inner city anti-establishment ruffians and not the nice, lily-white U of M students who populate hockey games. There were two subsequent hockey riots the following hockey season, one in Madison, Wisconsin and another in Mankato, Minnesota. Several investigations were conducted by various entities, all of which determined that the culprits were indeed U of M students and hockey fans and that the mythical inner city ruffians played no role in the violence, which included turning over cars and damaging public and private property.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">Now, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu is <a href="http://backofthebook.ca/2011/06/20/the-vancouver-riot-thugs-are-not-anarchists/5308/">making the same ridiculously baseless assertion</a>. “… our city was vulnerable to a number of young men and women, disguised as Canucks fans, who were actually criminals and anarchists,” he said, proudly displaying a fragment of a skull mask as proof.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">I can kind of forgive or at least understand this line of reasoning from the sheltered, exurban bigots in my former workplace, but I would expect a presumably trained professional like Chu to see through this obvious canard. If Vancouver is truly a “world class city” as Mayor Gregor Robertson <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Downtown+Vancouver+erupts+into+violence+after+Stanley+loss/4953918/story.html">recently asserted</a>, perhaps it should hire a police chief that isn’t as poorly informed and devoid of basic reasoning skills as my former co-workers.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;">The sporting world has long since abandoned the sportsmanship and camaraderie that are supposed to be athletics’ defining characteristics and has instead embraced a culture of cheaters, bullies and cry babies. From the hard-Right franchise owners who, hypocritically, can’t seem to keep their mouths off the public teat, to the over-indulged steroid junkies they employ, to the perpetually scandalized International Olympic Committee and FIFA and the Tour de France and the NCAA, etc., etc., sports is infested from top to bottom with humanity’s darkest elements.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></p><span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:Garamond;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" ><br /></span></span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-47282957535638927952011-05-24T05:37:00.000-07:002011-05-24T05:38:33.589-07:00I Want Eno's Synthesizer<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zVeEBMJt8vs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-4612848283590146072011-05-22T18:50:00.000-07:002011-05-22T19:07:39.869-07:00Why Does AT&T U-Verse Suck Shit Out of a Dead Donkey's Asshole?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5iwxH41PMAc/Tdm_RIrT54I/AAAAAAAAAaE/mPUNsoKv4eI/s1600/att-sucks.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5iwxH41PMAc/Tdm_RIrT54I/AAAAAAAAAaE/mPUNsoKv4eI/s400/att-sucks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609725111974487938" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.who-sucks.com/tech/8-reasons-why-att-sucks-beyond-all-belief?dem_action=view&dem_poll_id=12">This page</a> might provide a few clues. If they're going to co-monopolize the interwebz, you'd think they would at least have the decency to provide a service that's faster than dial-up.</span> <span style="font-size:130%;">Oh. But they don't have any decency, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20201788/ns/technology_and_science-internet/t/att-censors-pearl-jam-then-says-oops/">do they?</a> Oh. But oopth! It was just a mistake.<br /><br />"AT&T spokesman (read: LACKEY) Michael Coe said that the silencing was a mistake..."<br /><br />Yeah, right. We know about "<a href="http://bigdaddymalcontent.blogspot.com/2005/10/mistake.html">mistakes</a>," don't we?<br /><br />Fuck you, AT&T.</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-90739435847236959832011-05-14T06:40:00.000-07:002011-05-14T07:16:59.784-07:00Wall Street is a G-Unit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xX9ukjQT4Wg/Tc6NmPN5MKI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/E77yz-s01x0/s1600/WellsFargoLogo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xX9ukjQT4Wg/Tc6NmPN5MKI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/E77yz-s01x0/s400/WellsFargoLogo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606574274182197410" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The superb John le Carre novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Single-John-Carre/dp/0743458060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305381233&sr=1-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Single & Single</span></a> portrays prestigious London banks as money launderers for drug and weapons smugglers. Le Carre's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_le_Carr%C3%A9#Early_life_and_career">previous career as a spy</a>, combined with the detailed research he does for each novel, has produced a body of work that serves as a chronicle of the corruption and hypocrisy that more or less define the post-industrial West. Many people think le Carre lost a step when the Cold War ended, but I disagree. His post-Cold War novels do a better job than almost anything else of unraveling the shifting dual allegiances that characterize the era.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Case in point:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span style="text-decoration: underline;">How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs</span></span></a><br /><p style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">On 10 April 2006, a DC-9 jet landed in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, on the Gulf of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mexico" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Mexico">Mexico</a>, as the sun was setting. Mexican soldiers, waiting to intercept it, found 128 cases packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100m. But something else – more important and far-reaching – was discovered in the paper trail behind the purchase of the plane by the Sinaloa narco-trafficking cartel.</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">During a 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others, it emerged that the cocaine smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa" title="More from guardian.co.uk on United States">United States</a>: Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo.</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">[...]</span><br /></p><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-size:130%;" > "After the Wachovia case, no one in the regulatory community has sat down with me and asked, 'What happened?' or 'What can we do to avoid this happening to other banks?' They are not interested. They are the same people who attack the whistleblowers..."</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-35332294444021566622011-04-29T17:01:00.001-07:002011-04-29T17:07:07.934-07:00More Teeth, M'Lady<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J2P2YSjDY2A/TbtRc54Zi3I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/hgriwYWkNFI/s1600/Royal%2BHummer.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J2P2YSjDY2A/TbtRc54Zi3I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/hgriwYWkNFI/s400/Royal%2BHummer.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5601160118580906866" border="0" /></a>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-49383940752838057602011-04-23T15:31:00.000-07:002011-04-23T15:32:23.193-07:00What. The. Fuck.<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cmQvxfo75K0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-45017743734356992002011-04-16T10:01:00.000-07:002011-04-16T10:03:59.126-07:00Katt Williams Tells the Truth<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gWhUqo9Aivs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-71649016054334191652011-04-05T13:26:00.000-07:002011-04-05T13:29:10.478-07:00Them are little titties.<span style="font-size:130%;">A little comedy relief courtesy of Tig Notaro.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/beO_bXTXsJc" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-41579254601651999952011-03-29T10:52:00.000-07:002011-03-29T13:43:24.271-07:00You Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Here Before?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jNwXukcbxjI/TZIdHeLZeRI/AAAAAAAAAZs/VLYRd2yaG8U/s1600/Libyan-Revolution.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jNwXukcbxjI/TZIdHeLZeRI/AAAAAAAAAZs/VLYRd2yaG8U/s400/Libyan-Revolution.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589562101717367058" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The flags those protesters are waving represent the Libyan Republic, which was the ruling entity before Gadaffi (or however you spell it) took over 42 years ago. It made me wonder: <span jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://english.pravda.ru/world/africa/28-03-2011/117362-open_letter-0/">Where did all those former Libyan flags come from? Were they lying around somewhere in Libya for the last half-century?</a> Then I remembered an article called "<a href="http://www.truth-out.org/article/james-bamford-the-man-who-sold-war">The Man Who Sold the War</a>" that ran in Rolling Stone Magazine a few years ago. That article was about a guy named John Rendon, whose PR firm, The Rendon Group, </span></span>helped market the first Gulf War.<br /><br />From the article:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">After Iraq withdrew from Kuwait, it was Rendon's responsibility to make the victory march look like the flag-waving liberation of France after World War II. "Did you ever stop to wonder," he later remarked, "how the people of Kuwait City, after being held hostage for seven long and painful months, were able to get hand-held American - and, for that matter, the flags of other coalition countries?" After a pause, he added, "Well, you now know the answer. That was one of my jobs then."</span><br /><br />How indeed did those Kuwaitis get those flags? And how did the Libyans get theirs? Then as if on cue, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26vYN_kxK3Y">Eman al-Obeidi</a> manages to provide this war's humanitarian crisis to Western TeeVee audiences, just like good ol' <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmfVs3WaE9Y">Nayirah al-Sabah</a> did back in 1990. Of course, we have since learned that Nayirah al-Sabah was the daughter of Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Saud bin Nasir al-Sabah, and that her testimony was written and arranged by the PR firm Hill & Knowlton. So then one wonders which PR firms are responsible for the flags and for al-Obeidi's performance.<br /><br />UPDATE: Oddly enough, The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/africa/24qaddafi.html">spells it all out for us</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">WASHINGTON — In 2009, top aides to Col. </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/muammar_el_qaddafi/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Muammar el-Qaddafi." class="meta-per">Muammar el-Qaddafi</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> called together 15 executives from global energy companies operating in Libya’s oil fields and issued an extraordinary demand: Shell out the money for his country’s $1.5 billion bill for its role in the downing of </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/pan_am_flight_103/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about Pan Am Flight 103." class="meta-classifier">Pan Am Flight 103</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> and other terrorist attacks. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">If the companies did not comply, the Libyan officials warned, there would be “serious consequences” for their oil leases, according to a State Department summary of the meeting.</span><br /><br />And Russ Baker has a <a href="http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/03/28/take-the-quiz-qaddafi-immelt-good-or-bad/">quiz</a>:<br /><br /></span><p><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>Embattled Libyan leader</em> <em>Muammar Qaddafi: Good or bad? How about GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt?</em></span></p>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-68509968193582649212011-03-21T14:57:00.000-07:002011-03-21T15:08:20.795-07:00Some Things Never Change (Redux)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xCOn6sc-RaA/TYfK6fGDemI/AAAAAAAAAZk/LfBB-VSxDrg/s1600/Bukowski.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xCOn6sc-RaA/TYfK6fGDemI/AAAAAAAAAZk/LfBB-VSxDrg/s200/Bukowski.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586656968904505954" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I posted this <a href="http://bigdaddymalcontent.blogspot.com/2005/10/some-things-never-change.html">six years ago</a> (god, have I been blogging that long?) and it seems apropos yet again in light of our Libya misadventure:<br /><br /></span><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;">Charles Bukowski</span></strong> <span style="font-size:130%;"> is a writer known mainly for his short stories and novels about hookers, gambling, heavy drinking and weird, abusive relationships. Later in his writing career, he also took up poetry. <a href="http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2010/07/13">Here</a> is one of my favorites.<br />In addition to his fiction and poetry, Charles Bukowski is the author of one of the best political essays ever written. It was originally published in a volume entitled, <em>Erections, </em><em>Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness</em>. That volume has since been split in two and published under the titles <em>The Most Beautiful Woman</em> <em>in Town</em> and <em>Tales of Ordinary Madness</em>, both published by <a href="http://www.citylights.com/">City Lights</a>. The essay below appears in the former. I hope <a href="http://www.citylights.com/">City Lights</a> won’t be too pissed that I reprinted it here. Pardon the lack of capital letters; that’s the way he wrote it.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">POLITICS IS LIKE TRYING TO SCREW A CAT IN THE ASS</span></strong><br />"Dear Mr. Bukowski: Why don't you ever write about politics or world affairs?"<br />M.K.<br />"Dear M.K.: What for? Like, what's new? --- everybody knows the bacon is burning."<br /><br />our raving takes place quite quietly while we are staring down at the hairs of a rug --- wondering what the shit went wrong when they blew up the trolley full of jellybeans with the poster of Popeye the Sailor stuck on the side.<br />that's all that matters: the good dream gone, and when that's gone it's all gone. the rest is horseshit games for the Generals and money-makers, speaking of which --- I see where another U.S. bomber full of H-bombs fell out of the sky again --- THIS time into the sea while SUPPOSEDLY protecting my life. the State Dept. says the H-bombs were "unarmed," whatever that means. then we continue to read where one of the H-bombs (lost) had split open and was spreading radioactive shit everywhere while supposedly protecting me WHILE I hadn't even asked for protection. the difference between a Democracy and a Dictatorship is that in a Dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.<br />getting back to the H-bomb dropout --- a little while back the same thing happened off the coast of SPAIN. (we are everywhere, protecting me.) again the bombs get lost --- careless little toys. it took them 3 months --- if I remember properly --- to find and lift that last bomb out of there. It may have been 3 weeks but to the people in that coast town it must have seemed 3 years. that last bomb --- the god damned thing had gotten itself wedged on the edge of a sandhill far down in the sea. and everytime they tried to hook the thing, so tenderly, it would shake loose and roll a little further down the hill. meanwhile, all the poor people in that coast town were tossing in their beds at night wondering if they'd be blown to hell, courtesy of the Stars and Stripes. of course, the U.S. State Dept. issued a statement saying the H-bomb had no detonation fuse, but meanwhile the rich had left for other parts and the American sailors and townspeople looked very nervous. (after all, if the things couldn't blow up what were they flying them around for? might as well carry 2-ton salamis. fuse means "spark" or "trigger," and "spark" can come from anywhere, and "trigger" means "jolt" or any similar action that will set off the firing mechanism. NOW the terminology is "unarmed," which sounds safer but is the same thing.) anyhow, they hooked at the bomb but as the saying goes, the thing seemed to have a mind of its own. then a few undersea storms came about and our lovely little bomb rolled further and further down its hill.<br />the sea is very deep, much deeper than our leadership.<br />finally, special equipment was designed just to haul bomb-ass and the thing was pulled from the sea. Palomares. yes, that's where it happened: Palomares. and you know what they did next? the American Navy had a BAND CONCERT in the town park in celebration of finding the bomb - if the thing wasn't dangerous they were really cutting loose. yes, and the sailors played the music and everyone came together in one big sexual and spiritual release. whatever happened to the bomb they pulled out of the sea, I don't know, nobody (except the few) knows, and the band played on while 1,000 tons of radio- active Spanish topsoil was shipped to Aiken, S.C. in sealed containers. I'll be the rent is cheap in Aiken, S.C.<br />so now our bombs are swimming and sinking, chilled and "un-armed" about Iceland.<br />so what do you do when you've got the people's minds on something not so good? easy, you get their minds on something else. they can only think about one thing at a time. like, all right, headline of Jan. 23, 1968: B-52 CRASHES OFF GREENLAND WITH H-BOMBS; DANES IRKED. Danes irked? oh, mother!<br />anyhow, suddenly, Jan. 24, headline: NORTH KOREANS SEIZE U.S. NAVY SHIP.<br />oh boy, patriotism is back! why, those dirty bastards! I thought THAT war was over! ah ha, I see --- the REDS! Korean puppets!<br />it says under the A.P. wirephoto, something like this --- the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo --- formerly an army cargo ship, now converted into one of the Navy's secret spy ships equipped with electric monitoring gear and oceanographic equipment was forced into Wonsan Harbor off the coast of North Korea. those dirty Red bastards, always fucking around!<br />but I DID notice that the lost H-bomb story got shoved into a small space: "Radiation Detected at B-52 Crash Site; Split Bomb hinted."<br />we are told that the president was awakened between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. and told of the capture of the Pueblo. I presume he went back to sleep.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">the U.S. says the Pueblo was in international waters; the Koreans say the ship was in territorial waters. one country is lying, one is not. then one wonders, what good is a spy ship in international waters? it's like wearing a raincoat on a sunny day. the closer you can get on in, the better your instruments pick up.<br />headline: Jan. 26, 1968: U.S. CALLS UP 14,700 AIR RESERVISTS. the lost H-bombs off Iceland have completely disappeared from print as if it had never happened.<br />meanwhile:<br />Sen. John C. Stennis (D.-Miss.) said Mr. Johnson's decision (the call-up of Air Reserves) was "necessary and justified" and added, "I hope he will not hesitate to mobilize ground reserve components as well."<br />Senate minority leader, Richard B. Russell (D.-Ga.): "In the last analysis, this country must get the return of that ship and the men that were seized. After all, great wars have started from much less serious incidents than this."<br />House Speaker John W. McCormack (D.-Mass.): "The American people have to wake up to the realization that communism is still bent on world domination. there is too much apathy about it."<br />I think that if Adolph Hitler were around now he would pretty much enjoy the present scene. what's there to say about politics and world affairs? the Berlin Crisis, the Cuban crisis, spy planes, spy ships, Vietnam, Korea, lost H-bombs, riots in American cities, starvation in India, purge in Red China? are there good guys and bad guys? some that always lie, some that never lie? are there good governments and bad governments? no, there are only bad governments and worse governments. will there be a flash of light and heat that rips us apart one night while we are screwing or crapping or reading the comic strips or pasting blue-chip stamps into a book? instant death is nothing new, nor is mass instant death new. But we've improved the product; we've had these centuries of knowledge and culture and discovery to work with; the libraries are fat and crawling and overcrowded with books; great paintings sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars; medical science is transplanting the human heart; you can't tell a madman from a sane one upon the streets, and suddenly we find our lives, again, in the hands of the idiots. the bombs may never drop; the bombs might drop. eeney, meeney, miney, mo-<br />now if you'll forgive me, dear readers, I'll get back to the whores and the horses and the booze, while there's time. if these contain death, then, to me, it seems far less offensive to be responsible for your own death than the other kind which is brought to you fringed with phrases of Freedom and Democracy and Humanity and/or any of all that Bullshit.<br />first post, 12:30. first drink, now. and the whores will always be around. Clara, Penny, Alice, Jo- eeny, meeney, miney, mo.</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-44116378477324305552011-03-18T20:13:00.000-07:002011-03-18T20:15:55.621-07:00Words of Wisdom from Bill Burr<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1wq_edHqpdA" allowfullscreen="" width="640" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"That's not a family photo. That's an environmental disaster and you framed it."</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-81716264584475492362011-03-16T07:53:00.000-07:002011-03-16T09:03:19.980-07:00TEPCO, Toshiba, Stone & Webster, and You<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mx0bTYJNqmY/TYDeP9tV11I/AAAAAAAAAZc/NX9zQQPWjec/s1600/nuke%2Bblow%2Bup.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mx0bTYJNqmY/TYDeP9tV11I/AAAAAAAAAZc/NX9zQQPWjec/s400/nuke%2Bblow%2Bup.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584707903783556946" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepco#Scandal">TEPCO</a>, the utility company that operates the exploding Japanese nuclear reactors, <a href="http://www.nuclearcounterfeit.com/?p=2620">has an 18 percent stake</a> in the two new reactors President Obama has proposed for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Texas_Project">South Texas Project</a>. And <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457">as Greg Palast reports</a>, both TEPCO and their US construction partner, Stone & Webster (now a division of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shaw_Group#Political_connections">The Shaw Group</a>) have a history of falsifying safety reports. Not only that, but the reason The Shaw Group was able to</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:130%;" > <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E4DB1438F93BA35754C0A9669C8B63">acquire Stone & Webster </a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E4DB1438F93BA35754C0A9669C8B63">so cheaply</a> was due to a <a href="http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/03/15/the_bribe_memo_and_collapse_of_stone__webster/">failed $147 million Indonesian kickback scheme</a> that sank the company. And <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080305006380&newsLang=en">Toshiba has acquired the Westinghouse brand</a> primarily for the purpose of promoting nuclear energy in the US, despite its now apparent incompetence in Japan. So, as usual, our nuclear power future is pock-marked with corruption and incompetence.<br /><br />But wait! There's more!<br /><br />In the latest shocking reversal from his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R52J2D5QQU">campaign positions</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42106967/ns/politics-white_house/">President Obama is defending nuclear power's safety record</a> in the wake of Japan's calamity. He has already <a href="http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/05/20/obama_seeking_more_nuclear_energy_loan_guarantees/">asked Congress for $9 billion in loan guarantees</a> for nuclear energy, and he is expected to seek an additional $56 billion in his inevitable second term.<br /><br />So it appears the looming corporate feudal state will be augmented with dangerous, expensive nukes just for shits and giggles.</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-8971284016860958162011-03-11T10:48:00.000-08:002011-03-11T16:49:29.951-08:00The Right Wing Consists Entirely of Cheaters<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9kkuGDs_4E/TXpwKMYrweI/AAAAAAAAAZU/kyzvz0Z-Oqc/s1600/spuppet.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9kkuGDs_4E/TXpwKMYrweI/AAAAAAAAAZU/kyzvz0Z-Oqc/s200/spuppet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582898008504910306" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">From <a href="http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2011/03/are-koch-brothers-rewriting-wikipedia">Thom Hartmann</a>:<br /><br /></span><p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Beside screwing with EPA regulations – meddling in Wisconsin – and courting Supreme Court Justices - what else are the Koch brothers up to now? Try rewriting Wikipedia. ThinkProgress has uncovered evidence that the Koch’s employed a PR firm to act as a “sockpuppet” for them on websites. </span></p> <p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A “sockpuppet” is Internet lingo to refer to someone who creates a fake online identity to hype up himself or herself or a company they work for on message boards or social networking sites. If a sockpuppet is found out – it usually leads to the person’s account being disabled. The Koch’s “sockpuppet” edited their several Wikipedia pages to remove any references to the Tea Party – hype up George Soros conspiracy theories – and delete any citations to progressive media outlets – essentially scrubbing the Internet of any potentially embarrassing or damning facts about the Kochs. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >The Kochs have contracted with dozens of PR firms – they are BILLIONAIRES – to ensure their political agenda is kept under wraps. But thanks to some great reporting nowadays – these guys aren’t in the shadows anymore. </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/09/koch-wikipedia-sock-puppet/">ThinkProgress</a> fills us in on the details:<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >Last year, Koch Industries began employing New Media Strategies (NMS), an Internet PR firm that </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Media_Strategies">specializes</a></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > in “word-of-mouth marketing” for major corporations including Coca-Cola, Burger King, AT&T, Dodge and Ford. It appears that, ever since the NMS contract was inked with Koch, an NMS employee began editing the Wikipedia page for “Charles Koch,” “David Koch,” “Political activities of the Koch family,” and “The Science of Success” (a book written by Charles). Under the moniker of “MBMAdmirer,” NMS employees edited Wikipedia articles to </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:David_H._Koch&diff=prev&oldid=411170214">distance</a></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > the Koch family from the Tea Party movement, to provide </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://toolserver.org/%7Ebetacommand/UserCompare/MBMadmirer.html">baseless</a></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > comparisons between Koch and </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/MBMadmirer/Archive">conspiracy theories</a></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > surrounding George Soros, and to generally delete citations to liberal news outlets. After administrators flagged the MBMAdmirer account as a “sock puppet” — one of many fake accounts used to manipulate new media sites — a subsequent sock puppet </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/MBMadmirer/Archive">investigation</a></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" > found that MBMAdmirer is connected to a number of dummy accounts and ones owned by NMS employees like </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://nms.com/about/our-team/Jeff-Taylor">Jeff Taylor</a></span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >. </span><br /><br /><br />But New Media Strategies isn't the only PR firm engaged in this type of deception. As George Monbiot <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/may/14/greenpolitics.digitalmedia">reported in the Guardian</a>, a PR firm called the Bivings Group specializes in "internet lobbying," which is corporate-speak for creating false consensus. And the Bivings Group wasn't content to post inaccurate Wikipedia entries; they actually sought to ruin the reputation of a scientist named Ignacio Chapela, whose research found fault with Monsanto's patented "Roundup Ready" crops. Of course, <a href="http://bigdaddymalcontent.blogspot.com/2011/02/aaron-barr-asshole.html">as we learned last month</a>, thanks to the efforts of Anonymous, The Bivings Group isn't the only PR firm employed by Monsanto to game the system.<br /><br />Back in 2001, the PBS programs FRONTLINE and NOVA teamed up to address the question of genetically modified crops in a segment entitled <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/">Harvest of Fear</a>. Their extremely balanced approach included a <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/exist/">12-part questionnaire</a> designed to offer valid "for" and "against" arguments regarding the use of genetically engineered crops. Readers were encouraged to view all 12 arguments -- six "for" and six "against" -- and then cast a final vote on where they stand. However, the site administrators for the questionnaire were forced to suspend the final vote and tallying options of the questionnaire because:<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">"In late May 2004, thanks in part to the vigilance of several outside readers who phoned in, we discovered that some person or persons had tampered with this feature's tally. Specifically, on May 16-17, 1,540,016 'Yes' votes and 33,641 'No' votes were cast via just four IP addresses. (Prior to May 16, a total of roughly 124,000 votes of any kind had been cast since the feature launched in April 2001.) </span> </span></span> <p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> "Deeming the credibility of the tally to have been compromised, we made this page unavailable for several days while we decided how best to address this problem. In the end, we threw out these suspicious votes and recalculated the remaining response numbers and percentages. Then we did a more thorough scouring of votes from before May 2004. </span></p> <p style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> "It appears that a lesser degree of multiple voting has been going on for some time, so we have decided to temporarily remove the final vote and tallying options from this feature until we can put a more secure system in place. The feature itself remains unchanged, and we encourage you to challenge your stance on GM foods by reading it. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we appreciate your readership."—<i>The Editors</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">I wonder if it was The Bivings Group that was behind the fraudulent voting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">This type of online cheating has become legion.<i><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></i>Remember last year's story about <a href="http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/147802/right-wing_digg_scheme_just_one_example_of_widespread_effort_to_censor_progressive_media/?page=entire">right-wingers "down voting" progressive stories on Digg.com</a>?<i> </i>And who can forget <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGB8Uuffi4M">this handy instructional video</a> about how to become "digital activists."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Conservatives cannot prevail simply by stating and defending their position, so they have to cheat. It's their M.O. Sound ideologies aren't constructed with lies.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE: Please forgive the multiple fonts. Blogger's text editing is whack.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">UPDATE II: The <a href="http://ourcompass.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/us-gov-software-creates-fake-people-on-social-networks-to-promote-propaganda/">government</a> is also getting in on the action. And if you listen to right-wing hate radio, chances are you're listening to <a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/premiere_plants.php">actors</a>.</span><br /></p>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-44503518295377133792011-03-04T09:13:00.000-08:002011-03-04T09:33:05.586-08:00Hypocrites to the Left of Me, Republicrats to the Right<span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-us-electionschiefcha,0,2834576.story">This is awesome</a>. Three years ago, Indiana Republicans enacted draconian voter identification legislation, and now, the Republican state elections chief has been indicted for voter fraud. Priceless.<br /><br />In case you're wondering how draconian Indiana's voter ID law really is, check <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/07/uselections2008.usa">this</a> out:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Retired Nuns Barred from Voting in Indiana</span><time datetime="2008-05-07T01:56BST" pubdate=""><br /><br />Wednesday 7 May 2008</time><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >At least 10 retired nuns in South Bend, Indiana, were barred from voting in today's Indiana Democratic primary election because they lacked photo IDs required under a state law that the supreme court upheld last week.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">What's more, the voter fraud these laws are supposedly attempting to combat is <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2008/04/28/scotus/">virtually non-existent</a>, unless, of course, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/06/coulter-face-voter-fraud-charges/">you count Republicans</a>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The true purpose of these voter ID laws -- which, by the way, are being enacted in around seven states -- is to disenfranchise elderly and poor voters, who traditionally vote Democratic.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Meanwhile, the outgoing (nominally Democratic) Chicago mayor and brother of incoming Obama chief of staff <a href="http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2011/03/daley-were-a-country-of-whiners.html">dutifully recites GOP talking points</a>.</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-83687211752149050012011-03-02T08:48:00.000-08:002011-03-02T08:59:36.287-08:00Another One Bites the Dust<span style="font-size:130%;">Shit. I should've saved "<a href="http://bigdaddymalcontent.blogspot.com/2011/03/so-long-sucker.html">Another One Bites the Dust</a>" for this post. Is EVERY gay-bashing pseudo-christian preacher a closet perv?</span><br /><br /><span class="entry-date">March 02, 2011 07:00 AM</span> <h2 class="entry-title"><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/ant-gay-rev-grant-storms-arrested-mastu" title="Ant-Gay Pastor Grant Storms arrested for Masturbating at Playground full of children; Allegedly">Ant-Gay Pastor Grant Storms arrested for Masturbating at Playground full of children; Allegedly</a></span></h2><br /><p>The Rev. Grant Storms, the Christian fundamentalist known for his bullhorn protests of the <a href="http://topics.nola.com/tag/southern-decadence/index.html">Southern Decadence </a>festival in the French Quarter, <strong>was arrested on a charge of masturbating at a <a href="http://topics.nola.com/tag/metairie/index.html">Metairie</a> park Friday afternoon</strong>. Storms, 53, of 2304 Green Acres Road in Metairie, was taken into custody at Lafreniere Park after two women reported seeing him masturbating in the driver's seat of his van, which was parked near the carousel and playground, a <a href="http://topics.nola.com/tag/jefferson%20parish%20sheriff%27s%20office/index.html">Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office </a>report said. </p> The first woman told deputies she was taking her children to the playground and parked next to the van at about noon. As she was walking around her own vehicle,<strong> she noticed the van windows were down and the occupant was "looking at the playground area that contained children playing, with his zipper down</strong>...," the report said. <strong>The woman noted that he was masturbating and quickly ushered her children out of her car</strong>. She told a second woman, who walked to the van and also spotted the man masturbating, the report said. The second witness told deputies that the driver saw her and tried to conceal the zipper area of his pants with his hand...<br /><br />------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTxWoDpOMpQ"><span style="font-size:130%;">"Investigators say two people claim they saw Storms masturbating in his van while watching children on the playground."</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Will people ever abandon these hypocrites once and for all?</span>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-57641196759980327152011-03-01T11:07:00.000-08:002011-03-01T11:12:14.854-08:00So Long, Sucker.<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rY0WxgSXdEE" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe><br /><br /><h2><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/01/hbgary-ceo-aaron-barr-resigns-amid-anonymous-scandal/">HBGary CEO Aaron Barr resigns amid ‘Anonymous’ scandal</a></span></h2><br /><p><span style="font-size:130%;">The chief executive at data security firm HBGary Federal has resigned his job following a high-profile hack staged by online protest group "Anonymous."</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:130%;">Aaron Barr, the embattled CEO, made the disclosure yesterday speaking to ThreatPost, an online security blog. (<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/01/hbgary-ceo-aaron-barr-resigns-amid-anonymous-scandal/">Continue reading</a>.)<br /></span></p>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17615855.post-28249839618557926242011-02-17T16:03:00.000-08:002011-02-17T16:10:17.467-08:00In Honor of the Wisconsin Union Workers<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ul0qlHHvELU" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xWVxI6XZAuE" frameborder="0"></iframe>Big Daddy Malcontenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04725748546162709868noreply@blogger.com0