WATBs

Dear Teawad Assholes:

Exactly which of your liburtees and freedums that you keep mewling about wanting back have been taken away? Please name them - or even one. I'm curious.

crickets . . .

It must really be very, very bad out there in Teabag Imaginary Scary Amurka Run By a Tyrannical Black Guy and the All-Powerful (snort) Democrat Congress, because I see at AMERICAblog that some knob in Texas (oh, look - he's a pastor - quelle surprise) thinks our gubmint is "tyrannical":

"We have a constitutional remedy," Broden said then. "And the Framers say if that don't work, revolution."

When asked if violence would be an option in 2010 under the current government, the pastor (and candidate for the House) with an intimate knowledge of the Constitution and its origins replied:

"The option is on the table. I don't think that we should remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms," Broden said, without elaborating. "However, it is not the first option."

Well, at least it's not the first option. That's good to know. How reasonable.

As Peter Daou writes:

If you’re going to ‘defend’ the Constitution, you might want to read it before taking the word of Constitutional scholars like Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Christine O’Donnell.

. . . and add dear Pastor Broden to the list.

Anita Hill, Imma Let You Finish . . .

. . . and respond to Virginia "Ginny / Creepy Fake Smile" Thomas's voice mail

Good morning, Anita Hill, it's Ginny Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.

on your own, but allow me to first say to Ginny:

FUCKING FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING CONNIVING RATFUCKING WEASEL . . . and an extra FUCK YOU for that ghastly photo of you and Clarence on the cover of People magazine. "HOW WE SURVIVED" . . . pardon me whilst I vomit.

OK, have a good day.

(source: Mr. Sullivan)

If, Like Me, You're Kind of (or More) Pissed Off at Barack . . .

Read this, by Ms. McEwan. It's a perfect distillation of Progressive dissatisfaction with our "Fierce Advocate".

In similarly astute Tweet, Peter Daou observes:

In a nutshell, the argument against Obama's progressive critics is this: set aside your core principles and let's win us some elections.

Depressing.

Bitch Did NOT Fucking Say That

Ah, but she did.

Valerie Jarrett:

Jarrett: Well, I think what we've seen over the last few months are some very tragic deaths of young people, our children. And avoidable deaths. They were driven to committ suicide because they were being harassed in school, and driven to do something that no child should ever be driven to do. And in many cases, the parents are doing a good job. Their families are supportive. Before I spoke at the HRC dinner, I met backstage with Tammy Aarberg, her son Andrew. These are good people. They were aware that their son was gay. They embraced him. They loved him. They supported his lifestyle choice.
(Source: Petrelis Files)

Take it away, FDL:

If the closest adviser to the President on LGBT issues — the one he sent to make nice with the Human Rights Campaign’s black-tie supporters last Saturday — describes a 15-year-old suicide as having "made a lifestyle choice" we are absolutely doomed.

Number one: it’s not a lifestyle.

Number two: it’s not a choice.

Number three: Valerie Jarrett is an idiot.

Yeah - we are absolutely doomed. I don't know how much more of this "fierce advocacy" I can take. I know a few posts ago I couldn't comprehend how people could even compare Dubya and Obama, but here I go: Which is worse for us 'mos? Dubya and company's very very thinly-veiled hostility, or Obama's faux friendship and increasingly frequent (and extremely obnoxious) scolding for not loving him enough for all his broken promises?

UPDATE 10/18/10 9:43PM

Very good post by Jane Hamsher.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to the choices people make about language, and I don’t see any reason to think that Jarrett did anything more than use words that are atavistic and reflect cultural isolation from the LGBT movement. She put herself out there to comfort the parents of those teens and spoke out against the bullying that led to their deaths. That counts for a lot more.

The much greater problem is that the comments do reveal Jarrett to be unfamiliar with the discourse in the LGBT community for the past 40 years. Which doesn’t make her a leper either — it’s hard to be up on the crosscurrents of every community all the time. But Jarrett is ultimately in charge of LGTB relations at the White House.

Stop Blabbing About Things That Actually Happened, Media.

This, from RudePundit:

By the standards of the current crop of Republican candidates, Ted Bundy, if still alive, could run for office. Sure, sure, Bundy murdered dozens of young women and was one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, but he was a loyal Republican, even engaging in dirty tricks to help the re-election campaign of Washington Governor Daniel Evans in 1972. And if Bundy was running now and some pesky reporter asked him, say, "Howzabout all that raping and bludgeoning?" he could call it a "personal attack" and add, "We've drawn a line in the sand. You can ask me about background, you can ask me about personal issues. I'm not going to answer."

No kidding. I thought the same thing when I somehow ended up paging through The Doormat to Hotel Guests Throughout the Nation, and saw this blurb in a story about Carl Paladino's recent pandering to the Jewish Taliban a "group of Orthodox Jewish leaders" with some particularly ugly anti-gay remarks:

Jul Thompson, chief administrator of TEA New York, a Tea Party group that supports Paladino, said the multimillionaire developer from Buffalo won't lose any supporters based on his comments on homosexuality. "These are just distractions," Thompson said. "I don't fault Mr. Paladino for it. I fault the media for making an issue out of it."

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Age of Idiocy. Up is officially down.

Oh, heavens no, I don't fault Mr. Paladino for saying something hideous - why on earth would anyone do that? I fault the media for sort of doing their job and reporting it "making an issue out of it".

When will that durned librul media learn? Rule #1 (for them as it is for Democrats): Never, ever, hurt Republicans' delicate fee-fees. Don't they know they only exist to provide free air time for politicians to vomit up their current talking points and focus-group approved version of reality?

Oh No She F-ing Di'int.

Greetings from Washington, DC, "Hollywood for Ugly People".

I cannot stand our politicians - whether it's the revolting, lying, shameless, hypocritical-beyond-belief, malevolent Republicans, or the maddeningly craven, pathetic, spineless Democrats. (Feingold and Grayson excepted, I guess.) Ugh - just being in this town gives me the creeps.

I saw JMG's post with that video by his very funny reader - The HRC Gala in Four Minutes - but I did not know that BFF and "Senior Advisor to the President" Valerie Jarrett had the temerity to co-opt Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" theme. (Mr. Sullivan told me that.)

Gross.

Savage's response is so excellent, I'm just re-printing it here to have it on my blog and to save anyone a click just in case.

Fuck you, you pack of co-opting cowards.

Seriously. You can do a lot more than offer hope. You have the power to make it better. Right now. Suspend enforcement of DADT. Don't appeal the decision by a federal judge that declared DADT unconstitutional. Stop defending DOMA in court. Keep your promises. Make it better. And if you're not going to keep your promises or do what you can to make it better, White House, then you could at least have the simple human decency to shut the fuck up.

State-sanctioned discrimination against LGBT people legitimizes the kind of anti-gay attitudes and beliefs that lead directly to anti-gay bullying at the ballot box and anti-gay bullying in schools. You can do more. Enough with the speeches. Enough with the pretty words—particularly the lifted ones.

Fuck you.

Word.

Guilty Pleasure

In her weekend question, the wonderful Athenae of First Draft asked about songs people that that they're ashamed of loving.

My answer:



It's The Jets, with "Crush on You" from 1986, thanks. I think I even have an actual 12" of this at my parents' house. Their outfits in this video are the absolute zenith (nadir?) of 80s wear. Good Lord. (Hello, is that Austin Scarlet at 2:23??) I think this is pre-computer video editing, so I have to give them major props for the accuracy of their (somewhat limited) dance moves.

I Give Up

WTF?

(CNN) - Americans are divided over whether President Barack Obama or his predecessor has performed better in the White House, according to a new national poll.

That is so depressing. Nice job, librul media. Thanks, false equivalence purveyors.

Can Humans Just Become Extinct Now, Please?

This is absolutely revolting.

He was told there was a party at a brick house on Osborne Place, a quiet block set on a steep hill in the Bronx. He showed up last Sunday night as instructed, with plenty of cans of malt liquor. What he walked into was not a party at all, but a night of torture — he was sodomized, burned and whipped.

All punishment, the police said Friday, for being gay.

There were nine attackers, ranging from 16 to 23 years old and calling themselves the Latin King Goonies, the police said. Before setting upon their 30-year-old victim, they had snatched up two teenage boys whom they beat, the police said — until the boys — one of whom was sodomized with a plunger — admitted to having had sex with the man.

The attackers forced the man to strip to his underwear and tied him to a chair, the police said. One of the teenage victims was still there, and the “Goonies” ordered him to attack the man. The teenager hit him in the face and burned him with a cigarette on his nipple and penis as the others jeered and shouted gay slurs, the police said. Then the attackers whipped the man with a chain and sodomized him with a small baseball bat.

The beatings and robberies went on for hours. They were followed by a remarkably thorough attempt to sanitize the house — including pouring bleach down drains, the police said, as little by little word of the attacks trickled to the police. A crucial clue to the attackers was provided by someone who slipped a note to a police officer outside the crime scene, at 1910 Osborne Place in Morris Heights, near Bronx Community College.

Ah, I see - punishment for being gay. OK, right. Latin King Goonies. Cave-dwelling troglodytes have decided that people need to be "punished" for being gay. Got it. Hey guys, let's have the 7 of us trick one guy into coming over, tie him up, torture him, steal his keys, and beat and rob his brother. That will demonstrate what studs we are.

If there were any justice, each of these monsters, these animals, these cowards would get to experience the same treatment - individually, 9 gay guys against 1 "straight" waste of carbon-based material. Of course, even that would not equal the horror that their victims experienced - so perhaps we leave it up to the 9 individuals who get to administer the punishment whether or not it will result in the death penalty. That still wouldn't even things out, but it would help.

(Sources: Peter Daou's tweet and JMG)

Who Says 'Murcans Are Stupid?

Listen to this feeble-minded caller tell us how she's "not a racist".



Where to start?

To describe her knowledge of history as incomplete is being incredibly charitable.

(Source: Daily Kos)

The English Language in 24 Accents Guy

LOVE. HIM.



I f-ing love this stuff. I love to listen to the subtle differences within the US, within the UK, within Australia.

How cool is it that there is a Philadelphia accent? Isn't it so very cool that a Brooklyn accent is not a Queens accent which is not a Bronx accent? That a Chicago accent is so not a Wisconsin accent which itself is so not a Minnesota accent? I love that very subtle but discernible (and impossible to imitate) Detroit thing.

And what about the wide variety of Southern accents? I love trying to guess where they're from - certain North Carolina and Tennessee accents are quite lovely. I also love that Texan Woman Thing - think Ann Richards/Molly Ivins.

[SIDEBAR: Worst 'murcan accent ever? Dubya's fake, bullshit Texas act - duh. Nails on chalkboard times infinity. Of course Heath Ledger studied that as the prime example of fucked-up over-compensating faux masculinity. It just exudes ASSHOLE. Although . . . I must say that Barack's droppin-the-G / "just folks" thing is starting to get just as annoying. It seems that the patrician FDR got his message across pretty well, and I don't think he ever had to dumb it down when communicating with the great unwashed.]

Wow - I'm so very full of love today - but I really do love this stuff.

Naturally, some uptight queens have taken to the comments section of JMG's post to trash the kid. Bitchez, he started and ended with about 2 minutes of disclaimers, and he labeled some of his accents as "stereotypical". It was captivating. Give the guy a break - GAWD. Of course some queen beat me to it in pointing out that having his American say "take the piss" was an inaccuracy, but as he mentioned in his intro, that wasn't the point. I was hoping to hear him try to demonstrate the differences between Kiwis and Aussies, or even give us some distinctive Melbourne (think original Kath and Kim), but we can't have everything.

(Source: JMG)

[SORRY for the f'd up YouTube embed - just double click on the video for full viewing acoutrements.]

UPDATE 10/9/10: Edited for clarity.

An Excellent "It Gets Better" Post

No, I'm not bragging about something I wrote! :)

Read this beautiful post by Athenae at First Draft and try not to get a little (or more than a little) emotional:

And speaking of shared history, you'll have friends you haven't met yet. God, will you have friends. Friends whose faith will give you faith, whose strength will awe and inspire you, whose company you'll glory in. You'll be courageous with them beside you. You'll laugh so hard your sides hurt. You'll go to baseball games and football games and plays and farmer's markets and out to dinner and brunch and to movies and plays together. They'll come to your parties. You'll go to theirs. They'll e-mail you four times a day and you'll drop everything to answer. You'll babysit their kids and love that their kids know your names. You'll pick them up from the airport and they'll cook for you when you're sick. They'll follow your life like a soap opera and you'll follow theirs. You'll go for months without speaking but think of them every day. You'll think, every day, how lucky you are to have found them. You'll wonder, every day, why they put up with you and sometimes you'll get down and feel broken and unworthy, and they'll come around, and they'll lift you up again.

You'll fill your house with them whenever you can, and as you're in the other room getting drinks you'll hear them laughing and talking. The paint might be peeling and you didn't get a promotion and nobody's making enough money, and everybody in the room is fighting some kind of battle every day and so are you, but you'll hear these people talking and laughing in your home and the love you feel will almost choke you. You'll feel ten feet tall. You'll think to yourself, "I have the life I wanted." And your greatest fear will not be that you'll never get there but that it will all be taken away.

Sniff.

OK at least this never happened* at Cedarburg High School

Oh dear.

This, from Mr. Sullivan.

Can you imagine?

High school sucks. It's barbaric. Kids are evil. But it does get better!

I got e-mails this year inviting me to my 25th reunion. As if!

I fondly remember my homeroom teacher, the wrestling coach, and my "guidance counselor", one of the football coaches. These were the adults to whom I was supposed to turn with problems? "Yeah, hi - I'm a Senior and a not small percentage of the male population of the freshman class has decided to abuse me because I'm a fag. Can you please help? Thanks."

Mr. Wrestling Coach was also the "psychology" and "sociology" teacher. Our "unit" on homosexuality in Sociology class was a real eye-opener, Mr. Stillman. That was cool when you read the brochure on AIDS (circa 1984) which listed all the hideous things that men having sex with men do with each other aloud to the class in your most sensational, shocked voice while everyone shrieked (not exaggerating) in horror. I learned a lot. Thx.

[OT, but that was also highly educational when we spent an entire class period watching the videotape of your wedding - because you married a Jewish woman and that was all exotic and sociology-ish. Or something. Perhaps I could have gotten some extra credit if I'd brought some artifacts of this unusual and rare civilization to class for added entertainment edumacational value - like my parents, who, like you, actually attended a Jewish wedding--their own.

----------

(* - Never happened to me, or to anyone, while I was there, that is. Who knows what happened at the time the writer describes. I wouldn't put it past some of those troglodytes.)

I Love Peter Daou

Yes, I said it on the internet.

The latest installment of David Dust's heavenly Afternoon Dance Break series got me looking at the lists of number one dance singles . . . 1994, 1993, 1992 . . . look at all those songs we danced to at the Vortex, Manhole, Roscoe's, etc. Maybe we all romanticize our twenties, but I sure did love the 90s! (OK, yes, some of my 20s were in the 80s.)

The #1 single per the July 11, 1992 issue of Billboard was "Surrender Yourself" by The Daou. The Daou, of course, was Peter and Vanessa Daou.

That's this Peter Daou. Oh, and by the way, he's Erica Jong's nephew (per Wikipedia).