November 18, 2007
November 17, 2007
The Incessant Sliming of Hillary Clinton
This is just horrible. Today, Adam Lisberg, form The Daily News City Hall Bureau, takes his swipe at Hillary with this story on Mayor Bloomberg’s visit to New Orleans.
NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Bloomberg Friday blasted the presidential candidates for being incapable of leadership – and deviated from his prepared remarks to take an apparent swipe at Sen. Hillary Clinton.
In a speech to municipal officials from across the nation, Bloomberg laid out his principles of governing and seemed to attack Clinton (D-N.Y.), whose campaign was criticized this week for answering staged questions from friendly crowds.
Read the rest of the story here:
One big problem, in the rest of the story Bloomberg does not mention any of the candidates Republican or Democratic by name.
Asked later if he was talking about anyone in particular, Mr. Bloomberg specifically said, “I’m referring to everybody,” he said.
Of course just to demonstrate how knowledgeable Mr. Lisberg is about politics, he mentions that Mr. Bloomberg is mulling a billion-dollar campaign for the presidency next year. Hey Mr. Lisberg, news flash!!! that ship has sailed.
In any case, this appears a like a hit job on one candidate and a clearly biased ort of “not news.”
Does the Daily News have any editors left?
Let’s Recall Lazy Parents
While many of the recalls lately have been necessary to preserve the health of our nation’s children (sorry, lead is just bad for you), some things that are being recalled or banned point more to lazy parenting than to any threat from the product.
One of the best examples of this is the recall on Aqua Dots. If ingested, it releases GHB. What kind of parent would give this toy to a child young enough to stick everything in his or her mouth? Because it reacts with water, it is a reasonable assumption that it contains chemicals. Since the human body is made up in large part of water, any idiot should know that this is not a good thing to snack on.
Another example is the possible ban in Rogers, AR of “novelty lighters.” Because a child in Russellville, two and a half hours away, burned down his parents’ house with a motorcycle shaped lighter, the Rogers Fire Department is calling for a ban on both sales and possession. On the news, the spokesman admitted that there is no known correlation between these lighters and fires started by children.
Maybe we should stop blaming products for bad parenting. I realize that no one can keep an eye on their children all the time, but some bans on items are just stupid. Maybe if a parent can’t watch their children, they shouldn’t have them. If they have them and don’t watch them, maybe their children’s demise is just an example of natural selection.
This is so dumb – Grimgold
STUCK ON STUPID
“Santas in Australia’s largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas’s traditional ‘ho ho ho’ greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday. . . . One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use ‘ho ho ho’ because it could frighten children and was too close to ‘ho’, a US slang term for prostitute.”
The Tattlesnake — Voltaire on the GOP Flaming Bag of Crap, and Asking the Right Questions Edition
Somebody said to me the other day, “So what’s the problem if Frank Luntz or Karl Rove spin words to put the Republicans’ best foot forward; everybody does that.”
Everybody does it to some extent, but here’s the problem: GOP ‘message man’ Luntz and the sleazy Rove would market a flaming paper bag of crap left on your porch as an “organically-grown natural product packaged in an environmentally-friendly biodegradable wrapper, delivered piping hot to your door!” In fact, in their work for the Republican Party, they essentially already have. Now, most of America is choking on the stench as we try to stamp it out.
As Voltaire said in the 18th century: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” It’s still true two hundred years later and most of what the GOP peddles these days are absurdities that lead to atrocities in thought and deed.
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Support The Striking Hollywood Writers
Most of the country is aware of the current writers strike that is effecting the production of television and movies. Although I will not pretend to know the specifics of the revenue sharing that has caused this strike I can say that the writes that make it all possible are the lowest paid creative people involved in the production of what we watch. My understanding is that the writers are looking for a raise that takes into account the new digital distribution of their product. I say they are entitled to a piece of the pie. Basically, the writers are looking for a long overdue raise and those that produce the show don’t want to share.
I have to admit up front that I am not a huge watcher of television. My wife watches a great deal of television and we both enjoy movies. The real reason I am concerned with the strike is because, well, how much reality television can America really take. Okay I’m kidding. What is really stoking the fire to write outside my normal venues of music and politics is that my sister-in-law writes for television and every day that the strike goes on my nephew loses out. Not only does the little man have to endure the stress of a family dealing with the loss of an income, he has to go on the picket line with his mom and deal with some of that crazy Hollywood talent that has joined the writers on the picket line. Okay so maybe the little man is lucky to be in barfing range of Eva Longaria, but that ain’t much when you don’t appreciate what you’re looking at.
What is really important and what Hollywood writers want, is more equitable distribution of the money made from their labor. Without the writers there are no shows and movies. We have experienced a writers strike before and that ushered in the beginning of reality television. Television has suffered enough with the ridiculous amount reality television that is currently programmed. How many more buffoons can we watch running around some tropical island or running around the planet all in hopes of winning some cash.
What the money people in Hollywood need to understand is that sitting in multi-million dollar homes and complaining about revenue sharing will not put them in a favorable light with those sitting on their couch in Wichita waiting for a new episode of Desperate Housewives. Those that are in charge need to pay the writers what they are worth. Its simple economics. No writers, no product. No product no multi-million dollar homes. It is really as simple as that.
November 16, 2007
Driver’s licenses for migrants? Not in Mexico – Grim
Driver’s licenses for migrants? Not in Mexico
Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Nov. 15, 2007 12:00 AM
MEXICO CITY – The question of whether to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants ignited a national debate in the United States. But in Mexico, the largest source of U.S. immigrants, there’s no question: Here, you must be a legal resident to get a driver’s license.
The Tattlesnake — Dick Cheney’s Veterans Day Speech Subjected to The Tattlesnake’s Truth Ray (TM pat. pend.) Edition
A Choice Excerpt from President Cheney’s Speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Nov. 11, 2007:
“America may be a country founded in revolution, but we’ve never been a warrior culture, especially in my case — I dodged the draft with five deferments; I just had better things to do at that time than get my ass shot off in Vietnam defending democracy from the threat of communism or whatever. Now, we are a democracy defended by volunteers, and we can’t find many of those these days as even the half-wit proles have caught on to our game and we’re forced to recruit ex-cons. We’re a peaceful nation, ha, ha, with friends to the north and the south of us that hate our guts, and great oceans to the east and the west of us that have the polar ice caps melting into them, thanks to the air pollution that my administration eagerly encourages. Yet these blessings alone have never been enough to assure safety at home or peace in our world when there’s so much goddamned money to be made from war. At times in our history, arms and ideologies have been massed against us, and we have heard the call to bring freedom, new hope, and healing to afflicted peoples. These days we still utilize all that flag-waving malarkey to sell our wars to the peasantry, but cut right to the chase for our campaign contributors — big no-bid contracts from Uncle Sucker!
November 14, 2007
Abstinence-only
I don’t usually include a rant with my toons, but I wanted to share a story with you.
My daughter is in the Upward Bound program, which is designed to help kids get to college. The first year that she attended, the Saturday morning classes consisted entirely of abstinence-only sessions. One day she complained about how boring and stupid these “classes” were, so the very next Saturday I went to class with her.
I had to agree that it was boring. I watched three propaganda films which had little to do with factual education. There was nothing technically incorrect about them, but the real kicker came when the program director started spinning the information.
She emphasized the fact that condoms do not provide very much protection against HPV (Humpan Papilloma Virus). This is technically true, since HPV can be transmitted via any skin-to-skin contact. But then she proceeded to drill into these kids’ heads that, because of this, “condoms are a joke.” And that’s what they took away from this one class – the idea that it doesn’t do any good to use a condom because they don’t protect you.
I was livid, and immediately pulled my daughter from this part of the program. As a father, I don’t like the idea of my little girl having sex, but even less palatable is the idea of her contracting a fatal or debilitating disease that could have been easily prevented.
So why does this program, designed for helping kids get to college, include such a harmful element? Funding, my friends. The Bush Administration has been trying to kill programs like Upward Bound by cutting off the money, but abstinence-only programs are fully funded by the federal government.
But in the ensuing power-play, our kids are being sacrificed like pawns.
November 12, 2007
The Tattlesnake — Here’s Your Hat, You Little Tucker, and Who’s Following Olbermann? Edition
Goodbye TV Dinner Boy as MSNBC Drifts ‘Funny Left’
Tomorrow Will Be Another Day — Without Tucker: Just got the good news that perennial MSNBC pain-in-the-rump Tucker Carlson is soon to be Gwine with the Wind, back to the Swanson plantation down home, oh lawzy, lawzy. Seems I’m not the only one who can’t stomach this pinheaded Connivy League huckster who claims wide-eyed that he’s a libertarian while he lugs water jugs for the Bush neocons. Rejoice and burn your bow-ties, people! And don’t worry about Tuck; he’ll have his very own fevered little column at The Corner and his family’s frozen TV dinner money to keep him from starving in the gutter. Hey, Friar Tuck (or is that Tired F…?) — say hello to Dennis Miller on your way down!
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A House Divided, or Why It No Longer Matters to Woo the Religious Right
Pat Robertson (R-Nutcase) made a startling move a few days ago by endorsing former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-Walkin’ ‘Round in Women’s Underwear). Given that Focus on the Family head James Dobson (R-Anti-Feminist) said that he will encourage his listeners to vote for a third party candidate if Giuliani wins the Republican nomination, we are seeing the Religious Right marginalizing itself in a way that none of us could have expected or even dared to hope for.
Admittedly, Robertson’s following is much less than Dobson’s, and he is seen in some religious circles to be avaricious and insane rather than spiritual, but his unforseen endorsement of Giuliani could be the split needed to completely marginalize the Religious Right. If they are seen as the lunatic fringe and robbed of their assumed power and influence, it no longer matters which party they support. Quite frankly, no one will care.
November 10, 2007
The Tattlesnake — Sci-Fi: On Film and In the Markets Edition
“Altogether, the circumstances seem as dangerous and intractable as I can remember. Boomers are spending like there is no tomorrow. Homeownership has become a vehicle for borrowing and leveraging as much as a source of financial security… As a Nation we are consuming about 6 per cent more than we are producing. What holds it all together? High consumption — high leverage — government deficits — What holds it all together is a really massive and growing flow of capital from abroad. A flow of capital that today runs to more than $2 billion per day.” [America is facing] “huge imbalances and risks.”
– Paul Volcker, from a speech at the second annual economic summit of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Oct. 2007.
– Standing Still On Its Head: Remember that inimitable 1951 film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” one of the greatest, most unique and intelligent science fiction films ever made? Well, none of that’s going to stop Hollywood from remaking it and, according to the press release, Keanu Reeves is set to co-star with bean-pole bikini model Jennifer Connelly. While I admit Keanu’s wooden acting style is perfect for Gort the eight-foot-tall space robot, it doesn’t say who is going to fill out the other roles. My vote for the rational and humane intergalactic visitor Klaatu, played by Michael Rennie in the original — Dennis Kucinich. And Patricia Neal’s meddlesome, dimwit boyfriend Tom Stevens, played by Hugh Marlowe — Alberto Gonzales, of course. I predict Gonzales’ “I can has cheezeburger?” will replace “Gort! Klaatu barada nicto!” in water-cooler wit across the nation.
November 8, 2007
US Economic Collapse Underway
from breadwithcircus.com
Things look really bad for the US. Oil is now worth nearly $100.
Gold just rose to $850. The Dollar is at record lows against
most other currencies. Even the Canadian dollar has seemed
to rise, it is now worth 10% more than the greenback.
The story here is not the rise in the price of commodities or
other currencies. The value of oil and gold has not really gone
up all that much, rather, the US Dollar is being rapidly devalued.
It is time to sound the alarm. I recommend that those of you in
the market get out now. Put your money into something real,
like metals. The Dow lost 360 points today, at a time when
everything else that is priced in US Dollars is skyrocketing.
(more…)
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The Tattlesnake — Rudy Gets It Down Pat Edition
Giuliani Nabs Nutcase Robertson’s Nod; Can a Posthumous Thumb’s Up from the Equally-Popular Mussolini Be Far Behind?
And God Laughed: CNN reported Nov. 7th that Rudy Giuliani picked up the ‘important’ endorsement of bat-shit crazy televangelist Pat Robertson. This is the same Pat Robertson who thinks Episcopalians and Methodists are the antichrist; the same alleged ‘Christian’ who endorsed the political murder of Hugo Chavez; the same psychopath who claimed that feminists wanted to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians; the same one who thinks God speaks to him on a regular basis, informing Mr. 700 Club of how much he hates gays, liberals, Democrats, and uppity women, coincidentally just like Pat himself. Being a neoconservative Republican, Pat isn’t up on the joke yet, of course, even after the Almighty spoke to him a year before the 2004 election and told him Bush was going to win by a ‘blow out’ (Junior barely limped in with 51 percent of the vote, and that was only after Ken Blackwell stole Ohio); the Creator of the Universe also whispered to the Rev’s fevered brain that the US would be hit by a tsunami last year for supporting gay rights and the like, another boner prediction. It never occurs to buzzheads like Robertson that God may have a very sublime sense of humor and perhaps they don’t listen long enough to catch the chuckle at the end of the message.
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Sesame Street Is Dangerous
This article truly made me sad. We seem to have become a society where a children’s show is threatening to our children because it shows a little reality, but our government isn’t threatening even though its reality is waging illegal wars and using torture. We are really on the brink of insanity as a nation.
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