Just To Clarify

I know I first saw this at Joe.My.God., but I cannot locate it in the archives.

I'm re-posting here to remind myself of these important distinctions:

beh = disgust combined with intense dislike
feh = disgust combined with contempt
meh = indifference with a shade of contempt

"War on Terror" Humor Break

A visit to Mr. Wolcott's blog never disappoints.

Reposted in its excellent entirety, I give you, "True Tales of Urban Terrorism" by James Wolcott:

I was once sitting next to a guy on the subway whose underwear exploded.

And his underpants hadn't been wired with any exotic device neether.*

I had to move, like, two cars down.

I and my fellow stampeding passengers didn't lose our nerve that day and America shouldn't lose its nerve now.

Something to think about as you take down the Christmas tree and shed dry needles all over the wall-to-wall carpeting...

-----
*phonetic spelling of "neither"

What a nightmare for all involved!!

Somewhere there's a tie-in to the way the ultra-macho WATBs of the right soil themselves with equal parts fear and excitement any time there's any hint of a the terrorists coming to get us.

Grand Re-Opening: Daddy Keep Us Safe!

In today's installment of What Digby Said:

Please just shoot me now. The media has gone insane. Suzanne Malveaux just asked Candy Crowley how the voters in 2010 are going to rank the president's response to this failed terror attempt. It's a stupid question, but the answer really takes the cake:

Candy Crowley: I think the fact that we have seen him for two days in a row is the White House recognizing that this is perhaps more important --- the safety of the American people ---than jobs at this point. It wouldn't take much to rev up security moms who were so important in 2000 and 2004. So I think what voters judge is, sort of, the record. So it won't be today, but then what did he do? How safe did he keep us?

That's ridiculous. Did Candy wake up this morning and think it was 2003? The plane didn't go down. Nobody died. The perpetrator is some young, screwed up loser who tried to set his pants on fire. The only "security mom" who cares more about that than the fact that she doesn't have a job is a well paid television celebrity.

The press loves the boogeyman story because it makes them feel like crusaders for freedom and allows them to make common cause with macho right wingers. It's far more exciting than dull stories about losers who don't have jobs --- you can see the exhilaration coming off of them in waves. They love it.

. . .

Clearly, the security bureaucracy didn't work. A number of people at various levels dropped the ball in letting this guy get through. But I suspect a lot of that is because they decided to rely on the stupid security theatre to scare off the bad guys rather than putting their efforts into tracking people like Abdulmutallab.

Unless we actually have a terrorist attack, I think we can feel fairly confident that the 2010 election will be about the economy. This failed attempt was a wake-up call, but it's not the equivalent of the Pearl Harbor. And this media revival of Daddy Keep Us Safe is nothing but a cheap sideshow.

For fuck's sake!!! "How safe did he keep us"???? If I hear one more MSM dumbass wondering and whimpering about how safe the President kept us, I shall hurl.

As Mr. Sullivan points out in the Bill Maher clip included in this post, the President takes an oath to defend the, um . . . what was that thing called? Oh yeah, to defend the Constitution, not keep the 'murcan people "safe".

Taxicab Confessions

Starting at First Draft, I was led to the Chicago Reader's blog, Chicagoland, where I found a link to this post, "Christmas in a Cab", at Hack - a captivating blog written by Chicago cab driver Dmitry Samarov.

He only posts 3-4 times a month. I already know I'm going to want more after I'm done with the archives. His accounts of the Chicagoans who pass through his cab have short titles like "The Fellas", "Uglyville", "Modesty". The characters/ archetypes he describes are very familiar. I just hope they don't get toofamiliar - fortunately he hasn't told the one about that drunk homo propositioning him . . . yet. Not that I'd ever do anything like that.

Here's "The Fellas":

Every night in this city they go out. Some begin in packs to plan their moves, work out the finer points of strategy, while others prefer to keep their techniques to themselves, to travel solo. Their moments in the cab present fragments of a process that repeats and repeats with minor embellishments and deviations on any given evening. Whether with their prey in tow or still alone, the mating dance of the urban male is a thing to behold. And often that's not for the best of reasons...

Four pile in early in the evening. We all know them too well. A few years out of school, just married but before the kids and the inevitable move to the 'burbs, or still playing the field, getting obliterated every weekend. Get them together and the collective I.Q. might not muster the insight to change a bulb. They call each other only by last name as if they're teammates or from some residual custom of fraternity days. They kid about fucking the girlfriends of buddies that aren't there. As we near the bar, final preparations are made. Jenson's definitely gonna be the wingman, while Jones and Fletcher'll hang back, then come in to close the deal. There BETTER be some talent at this joint...They're hanging at The Ledge, should you wish to join them...

He waves me over, then lets her in first, mid-argument. "Guarantee you you'll be bitching about those heels within the hour." He's in scuffed-up jeans and a ball cap while she's dressed to kill. Instead of telling her how good she looks he remains on the attack. Doing otherwise would be to admit that he left the house without a second's thought to his appearance. He's already got her so why bother with that shit, right?

Stopped at a red, I look to the left. On the sidewalk outside the Tavern on the Crotch, a shirtless man balls his fists, ready to take on all comers. Eyes flit this way and that, muscles flex, then go slack. There's no one within ten feet of him, so, seeing no takers, he picks up his white t-shirt off the ground and puts it back on. Tucking it in carefully, he gives the street a last once-over and goes back into the bar. The light turns green...

Two men and a woman stumble out of the soft loft. Deciding whether to go for the left or right door becomes a complicated operation, but they eventually persevere. "Guess I'm sitting bitch," the one in the middle announces to all concerned. They're making two stops, the bitch's being first. The fella by the window's in Mardi Gras beads in the dead of winter, his eyes might as well have Xs on them like they do in the old cartoons; he's no longer on this plane. He knows however that he wants to keep partying with his pal. The girl will have none of it, informing him in a stern, motherly tone that it's time to go home...Extricating the 'bitch' is accomplished at a glacial pace with phones and crumpled bills dropped and picked up again and again. His friend makes one more attempt to talk her into prolonging the revelry before climbing back in and laying his head on her lap...At their house, she hands me the fare, accompanied by a look that says that this kind of thing's getting old fast, "C'mon Jeff, it's time to go home!" she says and stalks off. There's a glove left on the back seat and when I hand it to him, he grins, "Hey, thass Coleman's glove!", as if discovering a lost toy. He waves it my way then staggers in the direction in which she disappeared...

Check out all the rest at Hack.

Air Travel Security Sanity Break

I saw Bruce Schneier on Rachel last night.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Today, Jeffrey Goldberg has an edited transcript of an e-mail exchange with Schneier, his "security guru":

A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy our country's way of life; it's only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage.

. . . hey look - it's working!

I could not agree more with Schneier's conclusions:

I want President Obama to get on national television and project indomitability. I want him to dial back the hyperbole, and remind us that our society can't be terrorized. I want him to roll back all the fear-based post-9/11 security measures. We'd do much better by leveraging the inherent strengths of our modern democracies and the natural advantages we have over the terrorists: our adaptability and survivability, our international network of laws and law enforcement, and the freedoms and liberties that make our society so enviable. The way we live is open enough to make terrorists rare; we are observant enough to prevent most of the terrorist plots that exist, and indomitable enough to survive the even fewer terrorist plots that actually succeed. We don't need to pretend otherwise.

Here's a Little Bit About Why the MSM Suck.

Loved this interview with Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald on GRITtv:



Tom Brokaw yelling at Schahill to be quiet. Ugh.

Homage to Mike Diamond

I first saw this at JMG last week and I am still. cracking. up.



One of these years I am so going to Hanukkah Hairy - a "jokey, gay, Jewish celebration" featuring the "best of the best in the gay Jewish nightlife world" in the East village. Squeal!

As JMG reports:

Last night at the Ali Forney Center's holiday party, Manhattan bon vivant Mike Diamond tipped me to his clip of the Hanukkah Hairy party at the East Village's Eastern Bloc bar (which is co-owned by Anderson Cooper's boyfriend.) You'll see a few JMG regulars in the video.

People, lemme tell ya - Manhattan bon vivant Mike Diamond cracks my ass up. (FUCK all you haters in the JMG comments section.)

Some of my favorite moments:

"Baby, what is the story with Hannukkah Hair-ree?"

"Even the Jews hate me . . . and I am one!"

"How hairy is you, Eric?"

"That's the laugh of a bottom."

"Now, I don't know what Joan Collins has to do with Hanukkah, except that she's made of wax like a Hanukkah candle . . ."

"So, are Jews more likely to be tops or bottoms? I say bottoms because they complain."

[Tzedakah box!]

"Why do ya hate the Jews??"

"My people did not wander the desert for forty years to have you walk into my shot, sir."

What an f-ing trip.

[I just have to say it: OMG - Eric Leven. I, along with many (all?) other JMG readers am absolutely ga-ga about ELeven. I actually talked to him once - wait--he talked to me--largely as a result of my "Spitzer for Governor" shirt one glorious Sunday afternoon/evening at the Eagle in NYC. Hey - whatever works. Swoon.]

And lastly, what can one say about Eyal Feldman? Oy. ("So, is everything on your body in scale?")

"The Stupid Agency"

Great. Just great.

Like many other frequent fliers, my first reaction to the news of the thwarted attempt to blow up Northwest-with-Delta-livery flight 253 yesterday was "What useless new 'security' measures will they implement now?"

We have our answer.

James Joyner writes:

Not surprisingly, TSA is going to make flying even more aggravating in a stupid overreaction to the Detroit terror plot.

In the wake of the terrorism attempt Friday on a Northwest Airlines flight, federal officials on Saturday imposed a new layer of restrictions on travelers that could lengthen lines at airports and limit the ability of international passengers to move about an airplane.

Among other steps being imposed, passengers on international flights coming to the United States will apparently have to remain in their seats for the last hour of a flight without any personal items on their laps. Overseas passengers will be restricted to only one carry-on item aboard the plane, and domestic passengers will probably face longer security lines.

The restrictions will again change the routine of air travel, which has undergone an upheaval since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001 and three attempts at air terrorism since then.

[...]

Airline industry executives said the new steps would complicate travel as vacationers return home from Christmas trips, and could also cause travelers to cancel plans for flights in 2010.

[...]

In effect, the restrictions mean that passengers on flights of 90 minutes or less would most likely not be able to leave their seats at all, since airlines do not allow passengers to walk around the cabin while a plane is climbing to its cruising altitude.

The new restrictions began to be instituted Saturday on flights from Canada and Europe to the United States. Air Canada said it was waiving fees for the first checked bag, and it told passengers to be prepared for delays, cancellations and missed connections because of the new limits.

This is mind-numbingly stupid. As Radley Balko notes, these measures “wouldn’t even have done anything to prevent the attempt over the weekend. The guy was in his seat when he tried to light the explosive device. And the passenger who confronted him got out of his seat to do it.”

We’re simply going to make people miserable for no apparent reason. There have been precisely three attempts over the last eight years to commit acts of terrorism aboard commercial aircraft. All of them clownishly inept and easily thwarted by the passengers. How many tens of thousands of flights have been incident free? And, yet, we’re going to make hundreds of thousands of people endure transcontinental flights without reading materials or the ability to use the restroom?

At least for domestic flights, we have the ability as consumers to tell TSA to stick it and just drive. More of us are making that choice all the time. But there’s no real alternative to flight for overseas travel.

UPDATE: Steve Bainbridge wonders, “Has TSA ever considered the possibility that maybe the terrorists aren’t really interested in blowing up a plane. Maybe the terrorists figure they win everytime we in the West spend millions of man-hours being hassled, inconvenienced, and generally put upon by a myriad of stupid security measures.”

I second (and third) Bainbridge's question:

When are we going to rebel and demand a sensible set of precautions?

No kidding.

They simply cannot be serious. Are they really "responding" retrospectively yet again to the latest failed attempt? Not that The Stupid Agency / Thousands Standing Around had any credibility left to begin with (how 'bout those new blue shirts and badges?), but come on.

GoodBYE 00's. You Will Not Be Missed.

Thank Zeus we had the 90s, because, as Atrios wrote today,

God it was a fucking horrible decade.

Can we please just go back to 1998 . . . forever?

Madonna - New Music - More Music Videos

As David E says, sing us out, Madge. And she will, at her most glorious.

More Health Care "Reform" / "Overhaul" Stream of Consciousness

The Dems' utter wussiness has been simultaneously infuriating and mind-boggling.

"It's not about the votes, people. It's about leadership."
- John Aravosis saying what needs to be said.

Speaking of "leadership", check this out. [HINT: It's an excellent political cartoon re: Obama's "leadership" since January 2009--I'm too lazy to navigate/risk all the copyright stuff, so just linking.]

Here's more from Marcy Wheeler, writing about "Healthcare on the road to neo-feudalism".

Of course we've all seen this by now:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Health care reform that benefits the industry at the cost of the people is intolerable and there are no moral constructs in which it can be supported." Full agreement. (Hey - is it just me or is Howard Dean quite hot?)

Speaking of hot, click here to read about Dylan Ratigan going off on Debbie Wusserman-Talking PointsShultz.

Here's a great piece about Barack's annoying, stale, and lying e-mails:

Barack Obama’s faux populism is beginning to grate, and when yet another one of those “we the people” e-mails from the president landed on my screen as I was fishing around for a column subject, I came unglued. It is one thing to rob us blind by rewarding the power elite that created our problems but quite another to sugarcoat it in the rhetoric of a David taking on those Goliaths.

In each of the three most important areas of policy with which he has dealt, Obama speaks in the voice of the little people’s champion, but his actions cater fully to the demands of the most powerful economic interests.

With his escalation of the war in Afghanistan, he has given the military-industrial complex an excuse for the United States to carry on in spending more on defense than the rest of the world combined, without a credible military adversary in sight. His response to the banking meltdown was to continue George W. Bush’s massive giveaway of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street, and his health care reform has all the earmarks of a boondoggle for the medical industry profiteers.

Health reform was the subject of Obama’s Tuesday e-mail, which proclaimed in its heading, “We will not back down.” Addressing me by my first name, which I assume is in acknowledgment that I, like the millions of other suckers with whom he so intimately corresponds, had contributed to his campaign, he began with a clarion call for yet another contribution, this time to donate.barackobama.com/FinalStretch.

“As we head into the final stretch of health reform, big insurance company lobbyists and their partisan allies hope that their relentless attacks and millions of dollars can intimidate us into accepting the status quo. So I have a message for them, from all of us: Not this time. We have come too far. We will not turn back. We will not back down.”

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But we, following him, have already backed down. Does the president not recall that he began his health care reform effort by ingratiating himself with the insurance lobbyists in taking “single payer” off the table on day one? The insurers are not really upset with what may survive as a minuscule public option, for they have won the big prize: Everyone must buy insurance from them under penalty of law, and there will be no built-in requirement for cost control. Their so-called opposition to the current plans has to do with fine-tuning the president’s guarantee of their future profits.

Finally, the inimitable Digby links to this delightful nugget from the WSJ about the machinations of the Karl Rove of the "Left" and my former Congressthing, Rahm Emanuel. She notes:

Rahm says, fuck the liberals, they don't vote for us anyway. Oh wait ...

Hope and Change Rawk!

OMFG Health Care "Reform" Sucks Giardia-ridden Ass

Some health care "reform" stream-of-consciousness:

Just watched Tom Harkin on Rachel mewling about how totes awesome the Senate's health care bill is gonna be. Gag-inducing.

I agree with Howard Dean - this shit is fucking worthless. "It isn't health care reform." Finally, someone with a connection to reality.

I really resent Obama trying to scare us by warning that our premiums will go up blah blah blah blah blah blah. Very Dubya of you, Barack.

Do not even start to equate the opposition by Dean, Feingold, et al with that of Lieberman and the know-nothing Republican troglodytes. At some point we have to take a stand and demand real change, not incremental bullshit with "promises" of years and years and years of more incremental change. (Oh, my - how intemperate of me. Someone please remind me that we don't achieve real change in the first round.)

I think I'm channeling Ms. McEwan, with whom I agree:

I've completely and utterly lost track of what it is that we're "going to get" out of this reform. I'm sure it'll be awesome, though.

Ben Nelson wants stronger abortion restrictions?? Fuck you, caveman.

Do not even get me started on revolting, sanctimonious, perpetually-constipated (Camille Paglia's term, not mine) Holy Joe Lieberputz.

Finally, what Athenae said:

Fuck you, Harry. Fuck you, Joey. May your last days be haunted by the faces of the people you helped condemn to death in the richest country in the entire world.

I mean it, what's left?

Walking in to the meeting, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) was asked whether the buy-in, and a triggered public option would be stripped from the compromise.

"[L]ooks that way," Harkin said. "There's enough good in this bill that even without those two."

As I was alluding last night, I just don't have confidence we'll be able to build on this later, which is what most of the defenders of the clusterfuck as well as the kindly people trying to keep other Internet peeps from jumping off a ledge are saying. Get this now, next year we pass X to make it better, next year we pass Y to make it better still.

Well, okay, but you're counting on continued GOP electoral fail plus a bunch of people who bought sweeping reovlutionary change instead of slow incremental progress not saying "fuck this" and staying home in future elections. Neither of those things are a gimme at this point. That the Republicans are disorganized and crazy and self-destructing is all well and good; doesn't mean people won't vote for them.

And I know it's gauche to mention it, but in the interim while we wait for what's to be improved upon here, there will be A LOT OF DEAD PEOPLE. Not to mention bankruptcies and in the best case scenario a few thousand ulcers from everybody worrying about the fucking earth caving in if they get the sniffles.

(Plus once again the dirty fucking hippies were right about Joe Lieberman, and once again absolutely no one cares. Fuck you, Dick Durbin, O Senator of Mine, for defending this douchebag for years.)

----------

UPDATE 12/16/2009 10:27AM

Jon Walker at FDL explains:

The sole defense of this massive corporate giveaway, formally known as the Senate health care reform bill, is that it would still do some “good,” helping millions of the uninsured. Unfortunately, the bill would dramatically worsen the quality of current insurance coverage for tens of millions Americans, thanks to the new excise tax on insurance plans. It is unlikely that any of the remaining “good” in this bill will outweigh the massive amount of harm.

Most of the “help” this bill will do is dubious at best. Help is being defined as giving insufficient subsides to Americans now forced by the government to buy extremely expensive, poorly regulated, junk insurance. Without banning annual limits and an extremely high out-of-pocket cap (which thanks to a massive loophole is not really capped at all), the insurance regulations are basically meaningless. Having this new, mandated “coverage” will not stop you from being bankrupted by accumulated medical debt should you get seriously ill. Insurance that does not protect you from financial ruin if you get sick makes a mockery of the entire concept health insurance.

The harm this bill will do thanks to the excise tax on employer-provided insurance benefits is enormous. The health care bill is designed with the goal of making millions of middle class Americans’ health insurance coverage much worse. That is not a bug, it is a feature.

The excise tax is meant to force your employer to cut back your insurance benefits, reduce your coverage, and increase your co-pays and deductibles.

Blog Headline of the Day: Attaturk

By Attaturk at Firedoglake:

Well, that’s all very interesting, says the American press, but a famous black man has slept with blondes

Yeah, seems over in the UK, they're looking into some Iraq-war-related thingy. Wevs - what's up with Tiger, people??

Attaturks' post is here.

Cat Fight!

JMG posted a blurb by a style columnist for the Boston Globe, who went on about how horrible Adam Lambert is for "compromising the reputation of gay men everywhere". Yes, compromising the reputation of gay men everywhere.

Understandably, a brawl - well, er, um . . . let's call it a spat - broke out in the comments section. It's actually great reading, from the very first entry by Randall:

Mee-yow! As my grandmother might say, "Well, smell her snatchy-box!" (Or maybe not.)

It was all uphill from there, with many key players in the JMG-verse weighing in and generally causing a ruckus.

Shut up, shut up, Shut UP

No. More. Tiger. Woods.

I just heard some "expert" on one of the teevee morning shows (I was in the other room, decidedly not watching it) puking up some bullshit about how Tiger Woods must offer up a (say this in full South Park Smug Alert voice) truly, truly contrite apology in order to preserve his ability to command $$$$$$ in advertising deals.

OMFG if I hear one more syllable about this ridiculous non-story I will vomit. Why do they keep replaying David Letterman's jokes about it??? Who gives a rat's ass???

Sigh. What Digby said:

I like salacious gossip as much as the next person. And the Tiger Woods saga is certainly salacious. People always love these stories because it's fun to pass judgment on others, particularly those who have previously been thought to be above human failings and made everyone feel a bit like losers by comparison. We love winners, but we also love a fall from grace. It's human nature.

I also don't blame the tabloids for flogging such stories. That's their bread and butter. This is all just part of our culture and saying that people shouldn't be interested in sex scandals is like saying they shouldn't like chocolate. Good luck with that.

But I just can't bear it when so-called serious journalism twists itself into pretzel claiming that the story is really "important" because it violated some sacrosanct "value" and therefore it is in the public interest to show pictures of hot babes on a loop and endlessly ruminate publicly about sex. (After which, without a pause, they rend their garments over how all this will affect the children.) The Tiger story is particularly grotesque because they are having such a hard time justifying their overwrought, prurient interest that they are reduced to fulminating about how he is despoiling his brand like anyone in their right mind should give a damn about such a stupid thing.

If they would just admit they are interested in the story because they love gossip and it sells papers and boosts ratings I could respect them. It's the ridiculous rationalization that it's somehow in the national interest that's insufferable.

Oh, Zeus, do not click on either of the links Digby provides, and whatever you do, do not ever in your life read the comments on the Boston.com ("fulminating") piece. Insufferable doesn't even begin to describe it.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Congratulations.

You're really, really good at driving thinking people insane.

As digby asked, WTF with the hat?? (Furthermore, what's with the blowup sex doll face??)

Here's Christopher Hitchens (thanks AS), in radiant voice:

At least Richard Nixon had the ill fortune to look like what he was: a haunted scoundrel and repressed psychopath. Whereas the usefulness of Sarah Palin to the right-wing party managers is that she combines a certain knowingness with a feigned innocence and a still-palpable blush of sex. But she should take care to read her Alexander Pope: That bloom will soon enough fade, and it will fade really quickly if she uses it to prostitute herself to the Nixonites on one day and then to cock-tease the rabble on the next.

So, congratulations. You're the Queen of the Assholes in the back of the class who got off on annoying the rest of us nerds who actually wanted to learn. You're the "little girl who thought she could fly", and yes, you do make those of us here in the reality-based community crazy. Well done. Now go away.

----------

UPDATE 12/8/2009 5:46pm

Amanda Marcotte has much more on just how important being supremely irritating to liberals is to winguts.

Obnoxious Religiosity from Tim Tebow

Thank Zeus, Adrastos at First Draft has named Tim Tebow Malaka of the Week. OMG I could not agree more. I almost vomited when I saw "John 3:16" written on on his eye blacks on Saturday.

As if that weren't wonderful enough, commenter Jude gives us this added deliciousness:

Yeah, I'm tired of this prick, too. But, annoying or not, he wouldn't be nearly so bad without all of the announcer love.

I was flipping through the TV one day, and the Florida-Georgia game was on. I believe the state with the winning team gets the coveted King Cracker trophy for the next season. Anyway, Captain Biblenuts there ran into the end zone for a touchdown, and the announcer (I do believe it was Verne Lundquist) busted a nut yelling about how Tebow had broken Herschel Walker's record for rushing touchdowns.

It was pretty sad. Worse than any of Brent Musburger's inexplicable love for Texas quarterbacks, and even worse than John Madden's long-term affair with Brett Favre (try and get that image out of your head).

Also, I think it's total bullshit that, because of this douche, there's now an even bigger movement to allow home-schooled kids to play for high school football teams. Fuck that. If you want to stay home and learn about how Mary and Joseph rode a brontosaurus to Egypt to escape the liberal, Marxist, proto-Muslim King Herod, fine. But don't come to school wanting to be on the teams. You made your choice. Live with it.

Finally, for the last word on Tebow, I turn to Tbogg:

Some genius shit. That picture is worth a thousand guffaws.

Believe me, it so is. Must click.

----------

UPDATE 5:54PM 12/7/2009: Re-titled to sound a little less like a sixth grader.

I Don't Care About This Shit, Either

Ripley at Whiskey Fire has penned a sublime little post "casually" cataloging things about which he does not care:

* Tiger Woods had an auto accident. Seriously, people? Oh, wait! His wife blah blah blah… Fuckin’ eh, we are the saddest species.
* The dumbasses that crashed the White House State Dinner. [MG: A-fucking-men] Yes, I’m concerned that they were allowed in. I don’t care about them. I will never watch your dick-drooling “reality” TV show, so get a real job or go fuck yourselves while you’re on fire, assholes. You’re stealing Sarah Palin’s limelight, which means you’ll probably be dead in a week anyway.
* The Episcopal Church in Uganda. [MG: OK, I do care about this one, but still totally agree with Ripley:] Like you fuckers don’t have anything more important to worry about than gay people? It’s Uganda, for Christ’s sake! It’s fairly apparent that God already hates you, in case you haven’t looked around for the last few decades.
* Sarah Palin on the Newsweek cover. I know a couple women who were raped or date-raped. The PUMA crowd can shove their “sexual violence” bullshit up their asses, roll over twice and see if a penny comes out. She’s a real American Hockey Mom, she’ll get over it.
* Carrie Prawnjoan or whatever the fuck her name is. You’re no Sarah Palin. Take advantage of that while you can – enroll in college, get a real job and salvage the last few scraps of your reputation you might find floating around. There’s not a thinking man on the planet who believes you wrote a book that fast, schatzie. Don’t push your luck, we’re a fickle crowd.
* Tom Cruise, Twilight, Tickle Me Hamsters, Cyber Monday (unless they mean “cyber” Monday, in which case, I have Skype, ladies), your Thanksgiving recipes, Brad Pitt divorcing Angelina Jolie (I have Skype, Ang), Dancing with Dear God Shoot My Brains Out Now! Please, just fucking PLEASE!, go away! You make us all dumber as humans, just talking about this stuff.

Whew - now that was good. So true!!

There is Hope.

It is so fucking ugly out there.

I know it's all the evil, unhinged, libruls' fault, but really. Just when you think the troglodytes of the right cannot get any more detached from reality, they do. What the fuck is this shit?

(Because the wingnuts have got the big, wide-open, working minds?? And you're wearing that uniform and making that face . . . because???)

As the ADL's report states:

Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence.

What characterizes this anti-government hostility is a shared belief that Obama and his administration actually pose a threat to the future of the United States. Some accuse Obama of plotting to bring socialism to the United States, while others claim he will bring about Nazism or fascism. All believe that Obama and his administration will trample on individual freedoms and civil liberties, due to some sinister agenda, and they see his economic and social policies as manifestations of this agenda. In particular anti-government activists used the issue of health care reform as a rallying point, accusing Obama and his administration of dark designs ranging from “socialized medicine” to “death panels,” even when the Obama administration had not come out with a specific health care reform plan. Some even compared the Obama administration’s intentions to Nazi eugenics programs.

Some of these assertions are motivated by prejudice, but more common is an intense strain of anti-government distrust and anger, colored by a streak of paranoia and belief in conspiracies. These sentiments are present both in mainstream and “grass-roots” movements as well as in extreme anti-government movements such as a resurgent militia movement. Ultimately, this anti-government anger, if it continues to grow in intensity and scope, may result in an increase in anti-government extremists and the potential for a rise of violent anti-government acts.

I can't even watch Rachel anymore, because what she's talking about is so fucking crazy.

Uganda?? WTF?? Ripley at Whiskey Fire asks:

Like you fuckers don’t have anything more important to worry about than gay people? It’s Uganda, for Christ’s sake! It’s fairly apparent that God already hates you, in case you haven’t looked around for the last few decades.

Right?? Mr. Sullivan takes a no less accurate but more somber approach in reporting that U.S. Senators actively support laws in Uganda that resemble "legislation that preceded mass killings in Rwanda and Serbia in recent years (and, of course, the Shoah before that)." He echoes something I've long believed when he writes, "Rip off the mask and see what these people would do if they could."

With all that said, go immediately to JMG's site and watch these four speeches on the floor of the New York State Senate. Blub, blub, blub, and (kind of) blub.

Diane Savino for President Queen right now.

----------

Although . . . when are we going to drop this "I have great respect for Senator Diaz" and "my friends across the aisle" bullshit?? Even if it's true, (which I doubt),

a.) this faux Victorian gentility is fooling nobody - the whole Senate (even state) as a special, precious, club schtick is so very, very tired and not believable (or justifiable) any more,
and
b.) it's not being reciprocated . . . in any way
and
c.) it deprives any D who says that of 99% of their credibility and makes them look like 100% wuss against an unhinged opposition.

It's Official: AT&T Wireless Sux

Ain't it the truth!

Daniel Indiviglio at The Atlantic reports:

Pretty much every iPhone owner I know complains that AT&T is the bane of their existence. Up to now, the service provider has blamed their bandwidth problem on the fact that iPhone users are data hogs. Their claim is that iPhone owners bring the network problems on themselves, because they use the devices too much. But news from Consumer Reports implies that the AT&T's bandwidth problem might be broader than many thought.

All Things Digital provides information about the new survey from Consumer Reports. It says that, as expected, major markets like New York and San Francisco report AT&T as having the worst network and Verizon as having the best. That makes sense, because everyone took for granted that those regions have lots of heavy iPhone users to blame for their network congestion.

But it turns out that AT&T's network scores the lowest even in less major markets where iPhones usage was thought to be lighter:

But to find that the carrier placed last in 17 other cities as well suggests that AT&T's shortcomings are more widespread than the carrier would have us believe and not simply the product of a high concentration of iPhones in the country's larger cities.

And:

With low marks for several key indicators of customer satisfaction-including service availability, circuit capacity, dropped-call frequency and voice service-across 73 percent of the markets Consumer Reports surveyed, it's pretty clear that AT&T has become overextended by the popularity of the iPhone. Which is bad news for the carrier and, of course, for iPhone owners as well.

Meanwhile, Consumer Reports also finds that iPhone users are at the most satisfied smartphone owners. If you want to enjoy the iPhone, then you have to suffer through using the worst network. At least for now.

It's hard to tell whether this news will bother Apple. They haven't given much indication that they plan to change course regarding AT&T's iPhone exclusivity in the U.S. And I guess, on some level, they don't need to. I don't know many iPhone users moving to other smartphones just because AT&T annoys them. For most, their love of the device is worth enduring their hatred of their network.

But from a customer service standpoint, this should bother Apple. A company that prides itself on making consumers happy should not be forcing them to use an inferior service provider. And as soon as other smartphones exhibit similar functionality to the iPhone, sales growth could begin to suffer.

I'll be interested to see if those new smartphones begin to put a strain on other providers' networks. If all devices converge in terms of functionality, then their usage should also be similar. When that happens we'll really know if one network is far superior to another.

In the meantime, AT&T should treat their network problems as an early lesson and work to improve it. Imagine a world a few years away where Verizon's network becomes strained from Droid users, while AT&T expanded their network to better address iPhone usage. That could change the service provider rankings remarkably.

I know for a fact that if I am on the phone (hands-free, of course . . . truly hands-free, which is still bad but at least it's not the put it on speaker and yell into the phone while still holding it in my hand while driving) at the corner of Webster, Lincoln, and Larrabee, my call will end. I love seeing "No Service" (you can say that again) on my iPhone here in the sparsely-populated wastelands of 60657 and 60613. Evidently the canyons of highrises on Sheridan between Diversey and Belmont and just north of Hollywood are just too much for the poor iPhone's signal to take. That Verizon commercial showing an iPhone on the Island of Misfit Toys due to its evidently measly 3G coverage is perfect.