Thanks for stopping by

The House is now pretty much vacant, but due to requests, I'm opening the doors back up for whoever wants to look back at the past postings and maybe chuckle at a rant or two. Hopefully, you will read an older, angry post and then look around at this nation and let loose a deep sigh of relief that the Bush years are over.

I never said Goodbye to all my friends, and I've never been good at goodbyes, anyway. So, this will be my fare-thee-well post, 5 months after I quit posting.

This blog (and all of YOUR blogs) saved my life and my sanity many times over the past few years. I haven't been posting because the fire in my gut has cooled somewhat, and I just don't feel like I've had anything worth sharing to impart for a while. I will be content to haunt all of your blogs and listen for awhile and keep my own mouth shut for a little bit. It'll be good for me.

From 2004- 2008, those at the forefront of the Newsblog and Poli-blog movement changed this country. We made a difference. I don't include myself lightly in that "We." I've lost friends and gained friends, traded curses and even fists with a wide array of people over the events that warped and shaped our nation this past half-decade. From arguments with trolls I'll never meet to shouting matches with family members who now grudgingly acquiese because they know they were really and truly wrong. The "trust my gut" era is dead, thank the gods.

When I look back at 2004 in Lubbock when I started blogging, it's almost like looking back at the dark ages. So much has changed, in many ways- but the way I feel is the most important is that I am no longer shouted down when I dare open my mouth in public about ANYTHING. That severe black and white has been merged into a much more manageable grey. And that's a very, very good thing.

So, my work here is done. I've spent all the righteous zeal I possessed. I'll let others, with more nuance, and less in-your-face take over from this point on.

But if ya'll ever need a half-crazy Redneck Liberal to out-smart the fascist white collar ruling class of this country while simultaneously out-white-trashing their bible-thumping racist blue collar pawns- I'll be here... and those of you who know me the best will know it won't take much to recharge my righteous wrath.

Hope for the best and plan for the worst- And don't be bullshittin' the neighbors, now.

Ya'll be good.

I'll try to...

Last Gasp of the Republican Party

Requiem for a Maverick by the incomparable Matt Taibbi

EXCERPT
It sounds strange to say, but this election season may have done to the word "Republican" what 1972 did for the word "liberal": turned it into a poisonous sobriquet that no politician with bipartisan aspirations will ever again welcome. The Republicans didn't just break the party — they left it smashed into space dust. They weren't just beaten; the very idea of Republican conservatism was massively rejected in virtually every state where large chunks of the population do not believe in the literal existence of a horned devil, and even in some that do.

They lost in every way imaginable, on every political front. The symbol of their anti-gay crusade, Colorado congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, was beheaded. The party that had made so much hay running against Mexicans saw noted anti-immigration crusader Bill Sali of Idaho ousted along with several other members of the Immigration Reform Caucus. The GOP's grasp on the so-called "moral values" issue likewise went up in roaring flames, with Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island the poster child — his morals were once so perfect that he refused to be seen with his gay sister, and now he's a national joke, bounced after being caught drunk driving and having unprotected, babymaking sex with a married Air Force officer.

The ironic thing is that the destruction of the Republican Party was a two-part process. Their president, George W. Bush, did most of the work by making virtually every mistake possible in his two terms, reducing the mightiest economy on Earth to the status of a beggar-debtor nation like Pakistan or Zambia. This was fucking up on a scale known only to a select few groups in history, your Romanovs, your Habsburgs, maybe the Han Dynasty, which pissed away a golden age of Chinese history by letting eunuchs take over the state. But John McCain and Sarah Palin made their own unique contribution to the disaster by running perhaps the most incompetent presidential campaign in modern times. They compounded a millionfold Bush's legacy of incompetence by soiling both possible Republican ideological strategies going forward: They killed off Bush-style neoconservatism as well as the more traditional fiscal conservatism McCain himself was once known for by trying to fuse both approaches into one gorgeously incoherent ticket. It was like trying to follow the recipes for Texas 10-alarm chili and a three-layer Black Forest chocolate cake in the same pan at the same time. The result — well, just take a bite!

I witness the whole pathetic mess summed up a week before the election, on a baseball field in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The campaign has scheduled an outdoor rally, with a joint appearance by McCain and Palin, at this crucial moment in the race. But now there is driving snow and sleet, trees downed on roads all around, and the campaign — with no alternate indoor plan — is forced to cancel the event at the last minute. I watch as locals keep pulling up to the field, looking for the candidate, a lonely, rain-soaked "Country First" banner whipping back and forth above the stage. The whole scene captures the essence of the McCain run perfectly: Instead of a plan, they had an endless succession of dumb ideas scrapped at the 11th hour in favor of even dumber ones.
...

Like millions of Americans, I watched Barack Obama's victory on Election Night in a state of amazement. The only thing that gave me pause was the question of what kind of country this remarkable figure was now inheriting. Some of the luster of Obama's triumph would come off if the American presidency were no longer the Most Powerful Office in the World but simply the top job in a hopelessly broken nation suffering an irreversible decline.

Of all the problems facing this country by the end of the Bush years, the biggest is the absence of a unifying national idea. Since the end of the Cold War, America has been grasping left and right for an identity. We tried being a "world policeman" in Somalia, which didn't work so well. We tried retaining our Cold War outlook by simply replacing communists with terrorists. We created two bubble economies that blew up in our faces, and headed into 2008 a struggling capitalist state with a massive trade deficit and an overtaxed military that suddenly had to ask itself: For the supposed world leader in the community of nations, what exactly is it that we're still good at? Who are we, and what do we represent to the peoples of the Earth here and now — not in 1775 Concord, or 1945 Paris, or 1969, from the surface of the moon?

When Obama took the stage in Grant Park as president-elect, that question was answered. We pulled off an amazing thing here, delivering on our society's most ancient promises, in front of a world that still largely thought of us as the home of Bull Connor's fire hose. This dumbed-down, degraded election process of ours has, in spite of itself and to my own extreme astonishment, brilliantly re-energized the American experiment and restored legitimacy to our status as the world's living symbol of individual freedom. We feel like ourselves again, and the floundering economy and our two stagnating wars now seem like mere logistical problems that will be overcome sooner or later, instead of horrifying symptoms of inevitable empire-decline.

For this to happen, absolutely everything had to break right. And for that we will someday owe sincere thanks to John McCain, and Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush. They not only screwed it up, they screwed it up just right.

Simpler Dreams

The Sucker bait called hope

There's a lot of good stuff in that link. And in a lot of the older posts as well.

...and, following the same thread of "Hope" I bid you goodnight with this prayer to God:

Come, endless darkness- Mother Earth, fold us in your arms, pull us close to your breast-

and choke the poisonous breath from us before we kill everything.

Republican Spam

I receive at least one of those "George Carlin says/Bill Cosby says/David Letterman says/Insert Celebrity name says" emails once a week.

It is always some speak english/worship the flag and the pledge of allegiance/don't take the word "God" off money bullshit. And it's always a lie concerning who wrote the damn thing-

For those of you who get the same standard Republican email spam every day from your lackwit friends and relatives, I've got a canned response that you can customize and respond to all with:
( in order to save you time and effort with the mouthbreathers)

Please forward this to all:

The thing about these email-shortcuts to independent thought is that every single time a "concerned American" sends out these simple-minded screeds- is that they feel they have to say they were written by a celebrity in order to give them some sort of legitimacy. So, they will attribute it to some famous, well-liked celebrity instead of having the guts to put his/her own name on it.

It doesn't take a genius to know David Letterman didn't write this simplistic bit of airy propaganda, with its jingoistic, xenophobic, and not-so subtle racism.

People - please look further than your email box for political insight. I implore you- read a book, preferably a history book- and explore insights that may even seem antithetic to your current world-view.

It REALLY undermines the person's viewpoint in this email, in the simple fact that he had to lie about who really wrote it. If someone really believes what he is saying, why lie about who said it?
My name is Kirk Berryhill and I may not be a celebrity, but I have the guts to stand behind my own words. Please do so yourselves and you will discover that, like the lie concerning who wrote this crap, you will discover more simple lies wrapped in "common sense".

And don't be afraid to piss off Aunt Edna. If unanswered, these morons will never comprehend that there is an alternative other than their circle-of-stupidity-groupthink. Tell them Un-flock themselves.

And hope for the best. The stupid, as bad as it burns, is really contagious.

In Search of the greater good

Kester has an excellent post about leadership and what the Tao Te Ching has to say about it.

He also had a funny post that addresses Blue States vs. Red States, an old joke but a good one. It struck me though, that pitting "us" vs. "them" (as I am guilty of all the time, I know) isn't really smart or good for our future. Nobody's going to pack up and leave the country just because the leader of the "other party" won.

Texas and my fellow Texans have never seemed so ... just damn 'back-ards' as they do this week, with almost every Republican Christian I know praying for the Death of Obama (Seriously).. I would like to point out to Eva that the real Socialist elites are the guys who who 700 Billion bucks to bail themselves out... I don't know How much money these people THINK goes to welfare but believe me, it ain't even close to that number, which is just designed to keep the Rich Elite from falling into the ranks of the Underpriveleged (which, to them, is the under 1 million a year crowd).

The statistics were the most interesting thing to me from the joke post. As someone who loves my whole country, red states and blue states alike, I'm not big on gloating at this point. I just want to take back the country from the willfully stupid and their leaders who can feed their supporters lies all day long and pretend their will never be a backlash.

Note to the Redstate Repubs: Now that the Election is over you can let the scales fall from your eyes(please, o please) and note these TRUTHS, which if simply acknowledged may serve to move this country forward.

1. Obama is a Christian, not a muslim. He may not be the Perfect Christian, but then, neither are you, are you?

2. Obama is definitely not even in the top 20 most liberal Democrats currently serving in the Senate. He is extremely centrist, he has always reached across the aisle (despite the way Republicans have scorned Democrats while they were controlling the country) and he will continue to be bipartisan, (despite the future loud protestations of Democrats).

3. Electing a half-black man who believes that the future of this country lies with the lower and middle class and their well-being, NOT the rich, truly "elitist" CEO entitlement crowd is NOT the Death of our nation. The Death of our nation was narrowly averted. The Death of America and its ideals are being a country that tortures, a country that ignores the rule of law and the constitution, a nation that bombs and invades other countries without provocation, and a nation that only gives flag-waving lip service to its true ideals: Equality, Freedom, and Independence.

If the minds of the red-staters can be wrapped around these three simple ideals, then perhaps we can move forward TOGETHER. Hell, if I can put away my guillotine for the moment, surely ya'll can too.

If we continue to embrace red and blue only, and embrace the black and the white only, we are doomed to witness the death of this nation. Extreme views bring only extreme realities.

SUNRISE

Free at last, Free at last... Lord Almighty, we are free at last!

House of Representatives: Check

Senate: Check

Presidency: Check

/

(Told ya so moment: 2005 thoughts on the 2008 elections )

.

Not a moment too soon. It does not speak highly of my fellow Americans that we came close to electing another carbon copy of that madman Bush.

.

Racism, narcissism and ignorance still fuel a large segment of the American population. I am surrounded my those who are voting for McCain here in West Texas. I have yet to find even ONE of these folks who actually believe in McCain. They fear and hate Obama, though. They send text messages in the millions daily - racist jokes and lynching fantasies. I knew most people in this area were racist. This list includes my co-workers, my family, and even some people I considered friends. But the level that this group of people has outed themselves at shocks even this Redneck. I guess all it takes is one uppity nigger-and the very real fear that the White man's thumb on everything is being removed.

.

Change. That's what they fear.

.

They can't stop it. But thank Crom we've stopped them, at least for the moment. Every day more of these McCarthyist dinosaurs breathe their last, cancerous breath and new Americans are born to breathe fresh new life into this country.

/

Change is coming.

..
It's not gloating, it is tears of joy and relief...

In case you've forgotten - some memories of the Republican Reign of Terror:

TraitorGate

Treason for Dummies

Palin-publicans

Media Apologists for Bush

Rummy

Crimelords in Office

Conspiracy to Terrorize

Olbermann: We will not fear George Bush

Bush vetoes bill banning Waterboarding

The Bailout before the Bailout

and for shits and giggles:
Images from the House of the Rising Sons from the past 4 years

Scared of what, exactly?

Socialism like Social Security does not scare me. Communism like Community healthcare does not scare me.

4 more years of corporate cronyism, misguided wars that weaken our country, stealing the freedoms of our citizens and billions in welfare to our nation's richest people does.

Don't blame the poor mexicans that walk miles through a desert to get a job. Blame The Republicans that allow corporations to hire these illegal immigrants with no legal consequence.

Don't be fooled into being a pawn of the Republican elite. Take it from one of their alumni, rich Republicans don't consider you with your sub million dollar a year income as one of them. You are just a convenient tool. Your subservience to their Robber Baron system does not enable you. It just enables them.

What is to fear for an American citizent? THIS

Bloated Hearts and Twisted Minds

Tom Delay on Hardball (from Blue Herald)

My thoughts on Tom Delay:

As I like to point out to the hardest of the hardcore of my Republican friends, a man who actually donated money to Delay-

"This scumbag took your money, days before his re-election- dropped out of the race on the legal deadline that enabled him to keep his campaign contributions- and funnelled that money into his legal defense fund instead of using it to the defeat his opponent."

“You loved this guy BECAUSE he was just such a fucking bastard who fucked over the Democrats in outlandish ways. And when you and his other Texas Republican donors became his new piece of ass, you sat in stunned silence as he packed up and left you without so much as a kiss on the cheek.”

Delay, and the other self-serving crooks like him are EXACTLY the reason why the Republican party is a sinking ship. To have him come on tv and parrot this bullshit may fool the stupidest of the Republican base, but some Republicans, it’s a reminder that that they brought this shame on themselves with transparent bullshit such as Delay spews.

All I want for Christmas....

I just want all you Republican Dicks to watch this fucker like you were watching the Titanic sink and your life savings was in Cruise ship stock.

Own it, Bitches. OWN this motherfucker to the bottom of the motherfucking sea.


Shorter Republican Party:
"Do Not Flee! Wait until we have negotiated!"

Trickle down Idiocy

The Idiots who run America

EXCERPT

Andrew Lahde, the Santa Monica, Calif., hedge fund manager who made an 870 percent gain last year by betting on the subprime mortgage collapse, has abruptly shut down his fund, citing the risk of trading with faltering banks. In his farewell letter to his investors he excoriated the elites who run our investment houses, banks and government.

"The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking," he said of our oligarchic class. "These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America."

"On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal," he went on. "First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have [reined] in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government."

Democracy is not an outgrowth of free markets. Democracy and capitalism are antagonistic entities. Democracy, like individualism, is not based on personal gain but on self-sacrifice. A functioning democracy must defy the economic interests of elites on behalf of citizens. This is not happening. The corporate managers and government officials trying to fix the economic meltdown are pouring money and resources into the financial sector because they only know how to manage and sustain established systems, not change them. Financial systems, however, are not pure scientific and numerical abstractions that exist independently from human beings.

"When the elite begin to think that money is real, the crash is coming," Saul said in a telephone interview. "That is just a given in history. Because what they've done is pull themselves out of the possibility of looking in the mirror and thinking, this is inflation, speculation, this is fluff. They can't do it. And when you say to them, gosh, this is not real. And they say, oh, you don't understand, you're so old-fashioned, you still think this is about manufacturing. And of course, it's basic economics. And that's what happens every single time.

(Chris Hedges)

And check out this post by Driftglass: Junkie Republicans

(Hat tip Physioprof )

zero innocent sighs

Happiness is...

One of my oldest and dearest accomplices sent me the trailer to a movie that he is in, that is premiering Oct. 16 (in ATX)...



My "accomplice" is an artist and woodworker. I had the great gift of having him design two bedrooms onto my house almost eight years ago, in preparation for the arrival of my second daughter, Rain. He lives and creates in Austin with a whole host of other artists and is currently involved in more projects that even he could list in just one sitting. The movie looks great. His happiness stems from being able to create and enjoy the creativity of those around him. It is my great happiness to have worked and created with him.

I Link, therefore I am...

Kucinich on the Democrat's Bailout Betrayal ...

The Independent party you can "Believe" In ...

Your Bailout dollars in action... YAY! Cuz we had to do... er ... Something!

Badtux the illuminating Penguin on The McCain strategery and Reaganism hindsight

Polishifter: It's Time For a New Kind of Capitalism

McCains willfully Lie, Republicans dutifully eat it up

I made the following comment (roughly) at Blue Herald :

I just watched Cindy McCain attack Obama for not supporting the troops concerning a vote that Obama made. It was pretty vicious. But what makes it sickening is that her Husband voted the exact same way on the exact same vote. This was NOT a mistake or an oversight on the part of Cindy McCain. This was a LIE. A big, obvious dirty fucking LIE to the Republicans who were watching her speak.

She KNOWS her husband voted no to the funding, exactly like Obama did. McCain, behind her, does too, and he sat idly by while his wife lied to their supporters. He did not correct her. He didn't even have the balls or the grace to look uncomfortable while they lied to their supporters.

They are banking on the fact that their supporters are fools.

And, well, anyone who would support a man who will get up on stage and lie in their faces so blatantly IS a fool. Not to mention that they are a cowards and co-conspirators for letting him lie so many times in so many transparent ways, nodding stupidly all the while.

I finally blew off the last of my friends who is still supporting McCain last night. He actually tried to blame the Sub-prime mess on Obama. ?! I told him that I was sorry but I can’t waste my time being friends with fucking dumbasses anymore, no matter how fun he is to get drunk with. This guy is a nuclear technician but he CHOOSES to remain ignorant. And I really am tired of making excuses for these dumb fucking ass people in my family and around West Texas who just don’t have a clue and don’t plan on ever getting one.

As a side note, I will tell you this, I have seen ONLY ONE McCain sign in a yard and only one McCain sticker on a car, compared to wall to wall plastered vehicles and yards for W four years ago. The republican base - willfully stupid as it may be- is not on the McCain bandwagon that strongly.

Obama is handling this PERFECTLY. I am so glad that Hillary did not win out. She alone could have moved the base together in their hate. This “mystery man”, black or not, is weathering their typical barrage a lot better than the Clintons in the past or Kerry. I am also glad to see Biden coming out strong against the scumbags(Palin and the McCains).

My fellow prisoners, there's only one choice. Anyone, ANYONE, who thinks a vote for Backslider and Nimrodette is good for the future of America is simply a god-damned ignoramus.

A Perfect Epitath

to our glorious, glazed inaction...

TARGA

A nation this dumb...

... can't last forever.

Democrats push through Bailout Bill


172 chickenshit Democrats. 172 Dems voting with Bush. Twice as many Dems bend over for Wall street than Repubs.

“It’s pretty funny to see House Republicans run around claiming to be acting on true conservative principles”

What is decidedly un-funny is seeing kneejerk Democrats falling prey to the status quo once again.

“We must do Something!” Thank you for nothing. There’s not a damn spine among Dems and it’s a crying shame.

And the country wonders why Bush gets away with everything= it’s less because of the psycho republicans and more because of cowardly Democrats.

Fucking hell, this country has really gone to shit.

VOTE

... A Big Thank You to everyone at Blue Herald

Mo Betta Bailouts

Nicole Belle at C&L:

"As much as I didn’t like the bailout bill that lost on Monday, I do recognize that we must do something. For those screaming, “NO! Let them fail!” that’s all well and good for you, but the ramifications are far-reaching. How many of you own small business that rely on lines of credit to pay employees? Or are you employed by a small business owner who uses LOCs? How many of you have children who need a student loan to go to college? How many want to buy your first home or sell the one you have before it’s foreclosed upon? All of these very common scenarios require loans and lending is at a standstill right now."

Bullshit, Bullshit, and Bullshit. Lending is NOT at a standstill right now. The Sky is NOT Falling.

“We must act and we must act now,” Obama said. “We cannot have another day like yesterday.”

Yawn. Double Fucking Yawn. 777 down yesterday, Up 485 today. Investment bankers and banks lost money. And some people who play the market saw their portfolios take yet another big hit. And some smart players made a shitload. How did yesterday affect YOU? If your portfolio took a hit, don't fucking panic and don't jump on the sell-at-the-bottom bandwagon. Or do, if you like- that's your own decision. I took my own little bit of money (that was in double inverse funds) out of the market because I had the good sense to get the hell out of such volatility. I could have made a killing, but then again, that is only if I timed my exit just right.

The world will not end if more of these banks fail. Other banks, smarter banks, that haven’t played too fast and loose will buy up the failed ones. Other corporations will devour those that go ass up. The world will not end tomorrow if Paulson doesn’t get A NON REVIEWABLE wad of cash that he can dole out to his friends and other bush cronies as he sees fit.

This whole premise is ridiculous. I can’t believe that Nicole and others who should know better, don't. In the past twenty years (not just the Bush years), I have seen this same ploy being foisted on the American public, over and over again. "The Free Market must not be tied by all these rules and regulations!" - Followed by "X bank is too big to fail!" when their scorched earth investment policies turn around to burn their own asses.

This mass failure of banks could very well be the catalyst that the nation needs. Let the myth of free market supremacy die a very horrible and very public death. The morons on the right don’t argue that we should eradicate the police, the fire department, and the highway departments in favor of a “free” system that somehow magically corrects itself. Why do we let these small minded nitwits argue that “free market” is some kind of panacea for healthcare, the economy, and the innumerable Gordon Geckos running wild on Wall street?

Burn their golden parachutes. Let them die. It won’t hurt as much as you think. Hell, it won’t even hurt as much as the billions wasted in Iraq and $5 gallon gas is hurting us right now.

NO BAILOUTS.

No Bailout

Time to cut Corporate America's nuts off.



No More Golden Parachutes. Save America. Hang a CEO til he's dead, dead, dead.

Damn the luck. We knew it was coming, and we told em. Too bad all those investors didn't have the balls to hang with those double inverse funds.

Fuck em and feed em fishheads. How's that W sticker working out for ya, Jackass?

"And they never saw the hammer til they hit themselves in the face with it. Twice."

God Bless Wall Street. God Bless Capitalism. God Bless shiny stuff and Blessings from God.

God Save America from Republicans.

But you know what those good ole boys helping themselves to America's wealth say:
GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES.

I do believe it's time to Help the Republican party to the exit.

and why is it so fucking hard to accomplish such a necessity to sanity?

This is Why

Hollow pride burns low
America the two faced
Shame and faith combined


Inspiration ala Mauigirl.
Er, and the collapsing American flag, decaying freedom, decomposing liberty and dying independence.

Good night, and Good mother-fucking luck.