6.06.2009

So horrible as to seem unreal....

Speilberg's greatest work paying tribute to unimaginable heroism.



Rick Sanchez hands Bill O'Reilly his ass for a blatant lie

CNN's Rick Sanchez 'Slams' FOX's Bill O'Reilly Over His Comments About CNN's Coverage Of The Army Recruiter Shooting Story.

This is how O'Reilly should be handled. Every time he lies.

No, there are no Right-wing extremists..... none

Remember when the right-wing went nuts(er) about the Homeland Security report detailing the efforts of right-wing extremists, aka domestic terrorists?

Do you remember how indignant they were? No conservative (as if they can all be lumped together) would ever engage in politically-based terror.

Right....
NEW YORK (AP) — A Manhattan man who threatened to kill U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and said he wanted to kill President Barack Obama has been arraigned on charges of making a terroristic threat. A criminal complaint says 48-year-old John Zaubler called 911 Saturday and said he was going to kill Sotomayor by "blowing her up" because he did not want his girlfriend to go to federal prison.

The complaint also says he wanted to kill Obama by "blowing him up."
Or this guy....
A nationwide manhunt was underway Friday night for the "Cape Man" of Blue Jay Way - a gun-loving goofball from upstate New York who threatened to kill President Obama. Daniel James Murray, who got G-men on his tail by telling a Utah bank manager he was "on a mission to kill" Obama

Daniel James Murray, who got G-men on his tail by telling a Utah bank manager he was "on a mission to kill" Obama
And is there anyone who will argue with a straight face that the assassination of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller was not political terror, designed to scare doctors from performing this legal service?

Please.

6.05.2009

Jon Stewart labels Fox "extremists" for coverage of Obama in Cairo

(Huff Post)
Jon Stewart committed a lengthy opening segment to President Obama's speech in the Middle East last night. He explored the expectations of our president at home and abroad, looked a the rhetoric he used both to further the tenuous relationship America has with even its closest allies in the region and the rhetoric he used to ensure that no one thought he was caving on protection for Israel, advancement for women and an end to terror.

Then he got to the funny part: Fox News' crazypants coverage of the same events. The conservative news network had talking heads and anchors alike on air saying Obama buys in to extremism, that he's disingenuous, that he threw the intel community under the bus. Stewart responded to them by saying, "What a torture it must be for such pretty people to see such ugly things."

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Looking for Comity in the Muslim World
thedailyshow.com

THIS is a GREAT idea.....

(AP)
NASHVILLE, Tennessee - Handguns will soon be allowed in bars and restaurants in Tennessee under a new law passed by state legislators who voted to override the governor's veto.
Really? This seems like a good idea? Really?

Actually, what surprised me was that 37 other states have the same laws.

We seem destined to prove Darwin right.

"It Might Get Loud" trailer

The new film from Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) chronicles a meeting between Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge in a celebration of the electric guitar.

Great moments abound. White and Edge standing slack-jawed as Page plays Communication Breakdown. Page re-visiting memories at Headley Grange where Zeppelin IV was recorded. Jack White taking a piece of wood, some nails, a Coke bottle and turning it into a cotton-field guitar.

This looks awesome. But I'm biased. The guitar is the height of human achievement and Jimmy Page is a god.

6.04.2009

Philosopher-King



Overstating things a bit?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

From Huffington Post:
Obama impressed Muslims with his humility and respect and they were thrilled by his citing of Quranic verses. Aiming to repair ties with the Muslim world that had been strained under his predecessor George W. Bush, he opened with the traditional Arabic greeting "Assalamu Aleikum," which drew enthusiastic applause from his audience at Cairo University.

Even some extremist Web sites, which have carried statements from al-Qaida in the past, gave rare praise for Obama by calling him a "wise enemy." One posting on a chat room expressed admiration for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "wearing a head scarf ... and she and Obama taking off their shoes" during a visit to Cairo's Sultan Hassan mosque.

Mohammed Zakarneh, a 33-year-old former fugitive militant in the West Bank town of Jenin, said Obama's speech "planted seeds of hope in our hearts, as Arabs and Muslims."
And this, as well, is excellent. It should be noted however, that this doesn't only apply to Palestinians.
Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.
I love this President. I don't agree with him on everything, but that's the wonderful part. I don't need to. It's time to move beyond pure ideology.

I voted for this man for him to make speeches like this. I voted for him because I want to reach a hand to the rest of the world. I want a philosopher-king. I want someone who is not afraid to break the old chains and step outside of the broken paradigms.

I am optimistic. I am proud.

Obama's major speech on Muslim relations in Cairo

The speech is getting very positive early reviews.

I'm sure it's only hours before Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh rip it, but Muslims in the Middle East are giving the President favorable reviews.

President Obama concluded his remarkable Cairo address by highlighting the individual mandates for peace in each of the major Abrahamic religions.

He said that, "The Holy Quran tells us, 'O mankind! We have ... made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.' ... The Talmud tells us: 'The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace. ...'"

"The Holy Bible tells us, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.' ... The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth."

Entire text here

Rock Band: The Beatles

I'm not a gamer, but the new Beatles Rock Band looks amazing. Play as the Beatles through their entire career, from the Cavern to Shea to the rooftop at Apple.

Soooooo cool.

View the trailer here

Uncut Dick

Jon Stewart takes on Dick.

Dick Cheney blamed Richard Clarke for leaving the nation vulnerable to attack ahead of 9/11 saying, "He obviously missed it." Cheney was referring to the threat from al Qaeda which Clarke had emphatically warned the administration about several times before the fall of 2001.

Jon Stewart was not pleased with Dick Cheney for these accusations, nor the members of the National Press Club who failed to challenge him about the assertion.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Dick (Uncut)
thedailyshow.com

6.01.2009

When do we start caring about the 4th trimester ex-fetuses?

With the assassination of abortion provider George Tiller in church in Kansas on Sunday, and the subsequent backpedaling of those who wished violence on him, coupled with the renewed emphasis on Roe v. Wade and the lack of interest in bringing it up in the Sotomayor hearings - I got to thinkin'....

The right wing is so interested in making sure babies are born, and yet once they're here, we give them the old "son, you're on your own".

Here's a partial list of countries that have a lower infant mortality rate than the U.S.. When are we going to become as concerned with the ones that are born?

1) Iceland (Bjork's country cannot beat us. We had Grand Funk Railroad.)
2) Singapore (a microstate... at #2. Really? Is that like micropenis?)
8) Czech Republic (used to be run by a poet, fer Chris'sakes)
12) Belgium (no one who drinks white beer should rate this high)
13) France (must be a misprint. Honey, put on your Freedom-cut Panties and get out the Freedom Tickler.)
17) Austria (the hills ARE alive, I hear they have eyes too)
19) Luxembourg (a landlocked Grand Duchy. Hang your head America)
22) Slovenia (formerly part of Socialist Yugoslavia. Don't let Hannity's head bounce off the ground.)
24) Canada (what's that about socialized medicine again?)
27) Portugal (the last time they were ahead of us, it involved Prince Henry the Navigator)
29) Cuba (freaking CUBA! They drive '50 Buicks. And float them too.)
30) Channel Islands (huh? That's a real place?)
32) Cyprus (most famous for the Bond movie Octopussy... and THEY beat us?)
33) New Caledonia (A French holding in the Coral Sea. France. Again. Damn.)
34) United States (why does infant mortality hate America?)

O'Reilly's jihad against murdered doctor

While many Americans may never have heard of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, who was killed Sunday, his name — and nickname, "Tiller the Baby-Killer" — should be familiar to viewers of Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor." Salon's Gabriel Winant reports that Bill O'Reilly has mentioned Tiller on 29 episodes since 2005, most recently in April of this year.

"There's no other person who bears as much responsibility for the characterization of Tiller as a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly thanks to the collusion of would-be sophisticated cultural elites, a bought-and-paid-for governor and scofflaw secular journalists" than O'Reilly, Winant writes.

Some of the things O'Reilly has said of Tiller, according to Salon:

He "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000."
He's guilty of "Nazi stuff," a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida
"This is the kind of stuff that happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union"
"operating a death mill"
"has blood on his hands"
"executing babies about to be born"

Does O'Reilly have blood on his hands?  No, I don't think so.  But he does bear responsibility for his words and the climate he creates.  At what point do we get back to discussing politics and not playing the Demonization Game?

5.31.2009

The end results of neo-Conservatism

Craig T. Nelson, a "fiscally responsible grandfather," he's not going to pay taxes or "fund things he refuses to fund."

Nelson is complaining that, because voters in California refused - via the polls - to fund California's (admittedly broken) budget, Gov. Schwarzenegger is now having to make historic cuts. (See below video for story).

Nelson rightly complains that education and firefighters are being cut. But then, so how is not paying taxes gonna fix that?

Further lamenting lack of responsibility, he says "I've been on food stamps and welfare, did anybody help me out? No. No. They gave me hope, they gave me encouragement, and they gave me a vision."

JESUS H. CHRIST IN A SIDECAR!!!! YES THEY HELPED YOU OUT, DUMBASS! "They" "help you out" with WELFARE AND FOOD STAMPS?

You know, "food stamps and welfare" the shit that Cali is going to cut because a bunch of rich Republicans bankrupted the system and then Cali voters said 'screw social services'.

Do you not get -- I...but...but -- are you unclear on the concept of -- am I? Are you? Is this supposed...what? Really? Huh?

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And hither comes the New York Times with this wonderful news of impending social apocalypse with coach finds so abhorrent that he's going to perpetuate it by not paying taxes.

In a special election on May 19, voters rejected a batch of measures on increasing taxes, borrowing funds and reapportioning state money that were designed to close a multibillion-dollar budget gap. The cuts Mr. Schwarzenegger has proposed to make up the difference, if enacted by the Legislature, would turn California into a place that in some ways would be unrecognizable in modern America: poor children would have no health insurance, prisoners would be released by the thousands and state parks would be closed.
...
Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is threatening to eliminate the Healthy Family Program, the state’s health insurance program that covers over 900,000 children and is financed with state and federal money, as well as the state’s main welfare program, known as Cal-Works, which provides temporary financial assistance to poor families and a caregiver for the severely disabled.
The $1 billion in cuts to programs for the poor would be met with $680 million in new cuts to education and a 5 percent salary reduction for state employees, many of whom are already enduring furloughs.
...
With the cuts to Medicaid, the state would probably increase its number of uninsured people by nearly 2 million, the California Budget Project says.
California, America... welcome to consequences.

And who gets hurt? Not the greedy bastards who did this. No, they'll be fine.

As Bob Cesca puts it: "When will the Right to Life people descend on California to make sure all of those 4th-through-48th trimester children survive?"

Literal music videos

Ever wish music videos actually said what they were doing?


Take On Me

White Wedding

Total Eclipse of the Heart