I think there is something in the water down here

Recently, Tullian Tchividjian the grandson of Billy Graham announced he was resigning from his position as the Senior Pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale because of a personal "moral failing" - apparently he was driven into the arms of another by wifely infidelity.

Though his wife's riposte to his initial explanation for his resignation of "Well, that's his story!" is kind of telling.

Pastot Tullian in happier times

Tullian's downfall comes only 15 months after Pastor Bob Coy of Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale also resigned over what itself was initially described as a "moral failing". Though as you can see from the picture below taken just before his demise, Pastor Bob was already auditioning for his part of a Lost Soul Wandering in the Desert of Moral Bankruptcy. Either that or he was moonlighting as a lumberjack while still pulling in his $500,000 a year salary from what we can now laughingly call a "Church". HALF A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR? You've got to be shitting me.

But alas Calvary Chapel, you are not.

Since his ouster, we have learned that Pastor Bob was having multiple affairs while also enjoying the fleshly delights found in Internet Pornography. So pretty much he succumbed to the curse of any asshat moralizer - participation in the stuff he condemned to his flock just about every Sunday. And how often do we see this behavior? ALL THE DAMNED TIME.

Pastor Bob indicating his preference in waist sizes

So what is going on here? And can we see any patterns of behavior to look out for in the future?

Well one thing these guys had in common was wastrel youth. Both were admitted druggies before "finding the Lord". I'm sure they would both make some bullshit "Prodigal Son" argument as to why they should legitimately have been given jobs as Pastors when they got their breaks into Big Time Ministry. But perhaps those early lives should have raised some red flags to the Churches leaders who hired them?

Perhaps we can make a rule: Druggie at 25, no $500,000 tax free ministry job at 45. You can work for the Church with that past, but leading the flock for the Big Bucks? I don't think so. Christ preached forgiveness for sure. But I don't think he taught His Church should be gullible and easily hoodwinked.

And secondarily.....

Both of these falls from grace happned in South Florida - a State of tropical heat, little clothing, body shots and very tiny bikinis. Could men of dubious moral character such as these two resist the temptations Florida offers every day? After all, they could not resist the call of drugs when they were younger. And the hot girls of South Florida know what to do to get a man with a half  million dollar salary to party like he's 18 all over again.

So I see these two cases as very much related. And both falls from their respective ministries should have been at least anticipated by the people who made these men the leaders of multimillion dollar congregations.

Want to to see what South Florida tempatation can look like? Well here is the Miami-native actress formerly know as Ms Selena Rose...

South Florida Temptation

So only one question remains. And it is "Who's next?"

It's only a matter of time. We all know it.

The clown car now needs to be a clown coach

"You're gonna need a bigger boat" is one of the great lines from the movie "Jaws". I think the necessity for a bigger mode of transportation could now be applied to the GOP clown car with the addition of John Ellis Bush ( aka Jeb! ), Donald Trump and Donald Trump's ego entering the race for the GOP nomination for President.

Though I'm sure Trump would quickly snipe back at that by saying "My boat/car/mansion/estate/empire" are already as big as they can be. And it they're aren't it's all the fault of the rapist and leprous ISIS-supporting immigrants who are restricting my God-given freedoms of assholery and buffoonery."

So as the reverse of any kind of winnowing process is entering full gear, we now have two more candidates for the GOP nomination. And one will actually be the GOP nominee.

John Ellis Bush ( aka Jeb! )

Straight off the bat, I refuse to say "Jeb Bush" because that's saying "John Ellis Bush Bush" which when you think about it, is really Fucking Stupid. And while we are on this subject. puh-lease mainstream media, why did you all to a man say "The name Bush is not even in his logo for President"? The "b" in Jeb stands for "bush" you lazy lazy lazy morons. Even the BBC god bless 'em, were guilty of running with this less than honest narrative.

Stop it. Don't do it again.

So the Big Dog is in. And what we can now say is that we saw the Big Dog coming on the horizon a long time ago and strangely as he has come closer, we didn't see his stature increasing. This means that when he finally arrived at Miami-Dade College for his Big Event yesterday, instead of a towering candidate ready to take on the mantle of front runner, the Big Dog of our expectations shrank before out eyes into a wee Mexican Chihuahua speaking in Spanish.

And I think when it was translated it came out as "No-one deserves to be President, except me and any members of my family who want to hold the office in future."

Now Jeb has his work cut out for him for sure. His stances on Common Core and immigration reform are problematical to the GOP base, but he's the Party Choice, so he will get the nomination. All he has to keep saying is that he won't compromise his positions and his PACs just need to spin ads out their asses about him being a "Man of Principle and Integrity". Then barring any major scandals coming up, the nomination will be his.

And then we come to The Buffoon....

Donald John Trump Sr.

Why?

I have two theories. Both are outlandish. Both could be true.

(1) The hairpiece wants to run free on the White House lawn.

Or (2) Mr.Trump really feels the need to run because that explanation in "Cabin In The Woods" why blondes are stupid, WASN'T JUST A STORY.

Get me a Stretch, this Clown Car is too small. Part 1b

And just when you thought there was only John Ellis Bush left to enter the GOP race, up screams an Uber car in the parking lot where our fictitious clown car limo is idling and who falls out all drawl and no clue.......?

Of course it's Governor Rick Perry of Texas. A man condemned out of his own mouth in his last Presidential bid and as every Texas Governor before him, roundly rebuked by the pen of the late Molly Ivins as to his complete unsuitability for the job to which he aspires.

And just in case you don't know what I mean, Google "Weak Gubernatorial System" and get back to me.

Texas has such a system. The Governor is pretty much a figurehead position in the state. His main functions being to open public buildings and deny clemency to death row inmates. The powerful men in states like Texas are all in the legislature. The Governor in Texas isn't a Decider, he's an Endorser of what is laid before him. Just a Signer if you will.

It really frosts my nads when I hear "Well, he has 'Executive Experience'. He was the Governor of the second largest state in the nation" because no he doesn't really and so what? If you have no true power, it doesn't really matter what size your state is.

And what the heck was going on with the music playing in today's announcement of his new Presidential bid? Does he have advisers telling him to act all Jerry Lee Lewis or something? God that was bad! And way too obtrusive. And all Honky Tonk Revivalist.

And just before we go.......

Texas Governors always say they cannot grant clemency in Death Penalty cases because that is the job of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and indeed if that Board does vote to not give clemency, the Governor has to abide by their decision. That is how the Texas non-clemency procedure works. The Governor has authority to grant clemency only upon a written recommendation of a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Amazing I know.

HOWEVER........

The Governor appoints the members of that board and if he wanted to, he could stack it with people who would favor clemency - not anti-death penalty proponents, just with people who have, I don't know, some sense of humanity.

But no, Texas Governors always hide behind this complete fig leaf of "Not my decision" when in actual fact, they could easily make Texas a more humane state by just doing the right thing and making a death sentence REALLY REALLY HARD to carry out.

And if a Texas Governor did that, and the number of executions was drastically reduced and people saw nothing bad came of it, then I think we could see eventually Texas going the way of Nebraska.

Which would be beyond a Good Thing.

Get me a Stretch, this Clown Car is too small. Part 1

I fall off my chair laughing every time I hear a GOP operative or party shill say with a straight face, "Unlike last time, today we have a really strong field of candidates".

I think that's code for "At least we don't have a Mormon this time!" and "We have an African-American guy who's not Herman Cain." and "We've got a woman too".

So who are these Strong Candidates? Who stands out for you? I don't really see any of them being President.

Dateline 06/01/15 the following people have declared for the GOP nomination and they are all pretty universally BAD candidates.

Rick Santorum
Rick is trying a novel strategy. He's running as a "Man of the People" and against the GOP's principle backers - Big Business and their Big Money. The problem as I see it is that even though last time Rick finished second to Mitt "Mittens" Romney he can never appeal to sufficient people with this strategy to even get the barest of campaign traction.

Plus of course, Rick still has a huge Full-Of-Himself Religion Problem that can never be overcome.

And taking the dead baby home to "meet the family"? Absolutely NOT. Absolutely CREEPS ME OUT.

Ted Cruz
Senator Cruz is I think we can say, the Tea Party darling. This dooms him with the sensible people. And no matter what the courts say, he does still bring with him that whole "not born in the US thing".

Senator Cruz is supposed to be this "Master Orator" from his days of debating at Harvard - to date I've seen no evidence that he's more than a Talking Points Machine. Hitting all the notes in a speech is surely better than writing those points on your hand, but you have to be engaging while you do so. And Ted Cruz is not that.

Rand Paul
Two things probably rule out Rand Paul, (1) he's too much his own man and (2) he is a Junior Senator - and we all know how that worked out last time. Yes, I realize the Junior Senator millstone can also be hung around Ted Cruz's and Mark Rubio's necks.

Senator Paul is however right on War and on the Loss of Liberties after 9/11.

However some of his statements in the past concerning the Civil Rights Movement have been very problematic. I'm sure that will come up at some point.

Carly Fiorina
The woman who almost destroyed H-P, outsourced 30,000 US jobs and yet walked away with $22 million when she was canned, is in this race for one reason and one reason only. And that is to beat on Hillary. Relentlessly and not in a sexist way.

Ben Carson
One inappropriate speech at a National Prayer Breakfast and the monstrous ego of the medical profession, do not make for a viable candidate. Doctor Carson has already shot himself in the foot multiple times. He will only do so again as time goes on. He is wildly popular with the Republican Base, but as I like to remind everyone, Al Queada also means "The Base". Doctor Carson is in the race to trash the President's record while not being pinnable with the R-word.

His chance of gaining the Republican nomination is ZERO.

Mike Huckabee
Governor Huckabee thinks the way to the nomination is to out-Christ-y Rick Santorum. News just in: This may work with the rabid-most wing of the GOP, but it won't in the end win you the nomination after you've scared off the party's Corporate Masters and Bag Men.

Also with the Governor, his "Sticking By The Duggars" strategy is a Big Loser.
 
Marco Rubio
Another Junior Senator who's not getting the nomination. But as a Vice Presidential candidate Senator Rubio is absolutely golden.

His quest for the nomination fails because he's too Hispanic on the Immigration question. Also his slightly fudged family backstory to make the whole "Fleeing Communism for Freedom" narrative more heroic is really unseemly. And smacks of "trying too hard" to ingratiate himself with GOP voters.

You're young, you speak Spanish, you can bring Florida votes to the Electoral College. VP should be enough for you. THIS TIME.

George Pataki 
To run for President in the age in which we live, you have to have Name Recognition. Without that, you will never have the money to run even a mediocre campaign. Sheldon Adelson can only have one horse in the race. And I don't think Governor Pataki is his guy.

Lindsey Graham
Well you have to hand it to The Dapper One, calling for more US troops in Iraq as one of his major campaign promises, dooms him out of the gate. If he was a racehorse, they'd be putting him down right about....now.

Revisionism

When I was growing up, everyone knew the story about the rich man and the camel and the eye of a needle.

And we all knew what it meant. It meant rich people don't get into Heaven because Jesus said you had to give away all your shit to follow Him. And that people are greedy and duplicitous bastards who won't do that.

So we all knew that what the story was about was something that was difficult to do. And we all knew that being a true and faithful follower of Christ was going to be very hard for people who care more for their wealth than they do for the fortunes of the poor.

But now, we have a brand new spin on the rich man and the eye of the needle.

IT'S NOT A REAL NEEDLE PEOPLE!

The problem of being richer than Croesus and not getting into Heaven is now officially solved. And it's all thanks to....Geography!

Because now I'm hearing Jesus was actually talking about a rich man entering Jerusalem via the "Needle Gate" which was quite narrow. And this "Eye" of the gate would necessitate any new super-rich Jesus follower simply having to REARRANGE THE BAGGAGE ON HIS CAMEL and then "Bob's your uncle and Charley's your aunt" and into Heaven he can go without worries. All your wealth? Well that's yours to keep Sir. Enjoy your stay, have the veal. And don't forget to tip your waiter.

This is of course utter, utter, utter, revisionist bullshit of the highest order.

And you know why? Because if what Jesus said was as the new lie attests, my Bible would say "It is easier for a camel to go through THE Eye of THE Needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven".

And you know what? It don't say that it my copy. It says "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven".

And anyone perpetuating this new lie can kiss my ass in Hell when we meet.

The Minnesota Loon is cawing again...

And if you say this....

"With his Iran deal, Barack Obama is for the 300 million souls of the United States what Andreas Lubitz was for the 150 souls on the German Wings flight - a deranged pilot flying his entire nation into the rocks. After the fact, among the smoldering remains of American cities, the shocked survivors will ask, why did he do it? "

....people will ask....

"How the Flying Fuck did you ever get elected to Congress, you deranged unhinged woman?"

Inappropriate Signatures in Tech Forums

I've seen inappropriate and unprofessional signatures on emails and tech forums, but can you beat the one below?

"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: 
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author) 
The NRA is offering FREE Associate memberships to anyone who wants them.
https://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp 
Operator, please trace this call and tell me where I am. 
---||---

Because I don't know about you, but I always want some NRA with my tech help.

It just makes it sound so much more....reliable.

                 Know what I mean?

Close Mindedness

So two seemingly unrelated events are happening today that actually are strangely about the same thing.

And that thing is Close Mindedness.

The inevitable backlash against the HBO documentary "Going Clear" is now in full swing with Scientology's cannon fodder throwing themselves over the barricades armed only with a Church website and no independent thoughts.

Their sole intention? To do the Church's bidding and discredit the film along with the author of the book on which it is based.

These are people not open to reason. People whose minds could not be more closed if they lived all their lives in a locksmith's basement.

And it's sad. Sad to hear people who cannot break out from the mental straitjacket they willingly took unto themselves when they allowed the Church to get their financial hooks in them.

They act just like the victims of any con. They can't believe they are being duped. And you can't persuade them otherwise. And the kicker? Having a financial stake in their own progression through "The Hierarchy", which binds them even closer to the cult and their not-really-benevolent Masters.

Classic mind fuckery.

And then there is the Canadian town of Chilliwack BC that is banning Richard Dawkins "The Magic of Reality", a book that might teach children about actual real world stuff - but they are still allowing the Bible because that is "suitable educational material".

Yes, in 2015, the cold and frozen North is still awash in cold and frozen minds.

Minds just as closed as any cultists.

All we can do is hope that reason will thaw the mental ice, breaking the bonds that hold some people in backward and dangerous thinking.

And I use the term "thinking" it the loosest possible way imaginable.

There's a Religious Bubble

If you ask people if they believe Washington politicians are living in a bubble in our Nation's Capital, you will receive a variety of replies, "Sure" and "Absolutely" and "They know nothing about real Americans" and "They are completely out of touch".

You know how it goes.

Now, I'm sure the argument of political insularity can be made, but I'm more inclined to think that the coziness of Washington and the lure of being close to the actual Seats of Power may have more to do with the perception of the Washington Bubble than it's actual reality.

After all, they do have to get out of DC occasionally, if only to get re-elected so they can come back to bask in K-Street's alluring glow.

No. I want to address a different bubble. And perhaps a more insidious one.

Amongst the ever fragmenting media landscape in which live, any politician can find a friendly outlet to announce his new "exciting legislation".

And for GOP types those outlets are programs like James Dobson's "Family Talk" and Bryan Fischer's gig on AFA radio and wherever there is a microphone with Tony Perkins from the FRC behind it.

These programs are actually Big Religious Bubbles where pols of varying intellectual stripes from Governor Mike Pence to Senator Rand Paul to Senator Ted Cruz to Representative Michele Bachmann of the United States House of Representatives of the United States to former Partial Governor Sarah Palin can get on the air and utter their complete BS without any push back.

"Death panels in Obamacare" - Of course there are.

"Our Religious Freedoms are under attack" - Yes! We have to do something about that.

"Reparative Therapy works" - You are so right Mrs Bachmann!

"Climate Change is a myth and any Federal regulations are insidious intrusions into States' Rights". And on and on and on.

And if there are callers on these shows.....they are all sycophantic ass-kissers whose sole purpose is to reinforce to the politicians that their Groundbreaking Proposals are....Groundbreaking and REALLY REALLY NECESSARY.

Oh yes. They are so necessary. And thank you Governor/Senator/Dog Catcher for bringing up this important problem. After all at the end of the day, it's "All About The Children".

And eventually all this sycophancy and all this self-congratulatory back slapping with no-one uttering a single probing question, yields us RFRA laws.

Laws that are unnecessary and very very divisive.

So actually, though I do think politicians get out of the Washington Bubble, what we have to ensure is they don't just step into the Religious Bubble when they do.

What is a Troll?

An inquest just took place in the UK city of Leicester concerning the suicide of a woman who was confronted by a Sky News reporter for a story about Internet trolls.

As this story is being reported by the BBC, it should be raising serious concerns.

The woman was seemingly obsessed with the Madeleine McCann abduction case and had tweeted over 400 times on the subject between November 2013 and September 2014.

Now to me that does not sound a lot. Many people become drawn into the latest "Case Of The Century" and want to comment on it. Or be part of it. Or let the world know that they really, really, really know what happened.

These are sad people for the most part. And some like Nancy Grace get paid a shitload of money to pick at the carcass of the collective human misery such cases produce. And do it night after night after night. And why is Nancy special and this lady not? Because of a towering insight? Because of having the biggest microphone? Because she CARES so much more than regular folks? Of course not. Nancy is just so very special because she thinks she is.

So this woman in the UK made 400 posts over almost an entire year. And she didn't actually send them specifically to any members of the McCann family who eschew a social media presence. So where is the harm? Where is there any modicum of wrongdoing? How did the Sky News reporter track her down to confront her over her trolling? Did he find her by journalistic sleuthing? By serious gumshoe work?

No her name was on a list.

The reporter, let's call him Mr.B, told the inquest he and a cameraman confronted the woman after Sky News obtained a dossier of alleged Twitter trolls handed to police.

So the cops gave him the list? Why would they do that? Is that even legal? Was it their list? If it was, why are they keeping lists of people who aren't committing any fucking crimes?

If the list came to the cops via some Internet busybodying "watchdog group", we need to know who they are so that in the future, we can stop them from making and passing on such lists to any law enforcement agency. They are the 21st century equivalent of meddling old people with nothing better to do than report their utterly groundless suspicions about shit they know nothing about to the authorities.

This woman took her LIFE because she was on that list. And the people who compiled it should be named and ashamed. And the police officers who gave it to the reporter should be ashamed.

And the reporter should be ashamed.

But like Nancy Grace when she hounded that poor Vietnamese woman to suicide, he isn't.

And the real tragedy is, no-one is.

And if anyone can explain this sentence from the BBC report, you are a better person than I :-

"Coroner Catherine Mason concluded she had killed herself and called for sales of helium to be regulated."

Janet Strikes Gold AGAIN!

So once again on her comedic radio program yesterday (03-12-2015) our favorite Christian goofball Janet Parshall excelled herself with a guest of such monumental stupidity talking on a subject of which he knew precisely nothing. I refer of course to "Doctor" John G.West of the Discovery Institute.

Yes. Sorry I used the dreaded D-word. But sometimes you just can't get away from the fuckheads that abide there. Sorry.

I'm not sure why the program was on a full month after Darwin Day, maybe it was a rebroadcast. More likely Janet doesn't know what a "calendar" is.

But "Doctor" West was there to talk Darwin and absolute fucking nonsense. And he did not disappoint.

Now I hear you ask, what does "Doctor" West know about biology? Is he one of those turncoat scientists who falsely get their degrees and then renounce all the science they were taught and to go to Seattle and write shit about their discipline?

No. He's not one of those. Not a scientist. But a feces producing writer he surely is.

He's the author of "Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science, Darwin’s Conservatives: The Misguided Quest".

And what understanding of science does he bring to his book writin' endeavors?

Precisely none.

Because as Wikipedia says: "West received an undergraduate degree in Communications (Editorial Journalism) from the University of Washington in 1986. From 1986-1989, he served as Managing Editor of Public Research, Syndicated, which distributed essays on public affairs to more than 700 daily and weekly newspapers. He received his Ph.D. in Government from The Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University) in 1992".

And academically that's all he's got. No Science. No Insight. No Freaking Idea.

So well done Janet, once again you went above and beyond your usual crass idiocy to find a man who knew nothing about what he was talking about. And you put him on the radio for an hour, fed him softball questions and had him take some phone calls from soft brained callers.

Because I always want an hour of a pontificating idiot from the Discovery Institute with no qualifications in science telling me what's true when I turn on my radio.

Goofing with PicsArt

Scared now?

2015 - Movie List: Sequels, Reboots and Pointless Remakes

Sorry we are already in March so hopefully you have avoided the first four titles listed.

Here is my annual list of movies to avoid if you can for 2015. Yes, I do realize that the Hunger Games and Star Wars may be impossible to avoid, but I do think all the rest are very worthy of your inattention this year.

The titles are listed by proposed chronological release dates ( Jan to Dec )

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death
Taken 3
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Divergent Series: Insurgent
Furious 7
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Mad Max: Fury Road
Pitch Perfect 2
Poltergeist
Insidious: Chapter 3
Jurassic World
The Transporter Legacy
Ted 2
Magic Mike XXL
Terminator: Genisys
Minions
Mission: Impossible 5
The Fantastic Four
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Sinister 2
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend
Hitman: Agent 47
The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials
Hotel Transylvania 2
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Alvin and the Chipmunks 4
Point Break

---||---

Damn! This list of crap gets longer every year. And like every year, I implore you to not see these movies to try and make the producers and the studios give us something ORIGINAL.

My take on European "Radicalization"

This is my take on the thorny subject of the radicalization of young men in Europe and their going off to fight in the Middle East for idiotic causes like ISIS.

These views are my own. But I do have to say I haven't seen this theory expressed anywhere else amongst the reams and reams of utter bullshit I have read or the hours and hours of rationalizing drivel I have heard from so called "experts" in this area pontificating as they do, like Popes on meth.

Heck, today on National Public Radio, I swear to god some guy was talking about them being drawn to a "Utopian vision of a Perfect Caliphate". What The Flying Fuck?

No. That's not it.

That's not it at all.

Why do these young men go? ( I will address the three young girls from the UK at the end of this post )

They are drawn at least initially for the fighting. It really is that simple. It's a "my group against your group" mentality. It is football hooliganism with a hot AK-47.

Hooliganism and this urge to fight gets deeply embedded into young men very early. Once you are loyal to a football team, you are LOYAL TO YOUR TEAM. And once put yourself into your "firm", it's "us against the rest". And before you ask "Are you equating soccer and religion?" Yes I am. There are still a couple of Catholic vs Protestant rivalries in the Football League that define their fans in just this very way, albeit not at the levels of intensity of years gone by.

Now what you have with these young men is a focused identification with their religion as that which defines their group. Hell, it defines their very identity within a Western culture in which they feel utterly adrift. And what they see, even if they are by some financial measures successful, is that members of their group do not succeed. They do not reach the pinnacles of success in their adopted countries achieved by people who they see as less than role models and less than worthy of any modicum of respect.

Basically it is the same with working class football hooligans. They band together in a group to commit violence against other people not in the group. And they aren't doing it for a cause or a Utopian ideal - they are doing it because (a) it defines them in their most important social grouping and (b) it's fun chasing down the other guy and giving him a serious seeing-to.

That's exactly what you have with these young muslim men. Their faith defines their group and they simply want to fight people not in the group. Initially at least they aren't fighting in any way for any religious ideals or beliefs or for Quranic justification. They just want to fight. Fighting is what the purposeless do because it is all they feel they can do.

And guess what? Out in the Middle East there's is a whole thing going on where you can fight and be praised for it. A heady cocktail indeed. And they get lauded and they get recognition and they get justification from their elders and they get to shoot real fucking guns.

Now, the initial reason to go maybe for the fighting, but may I suggest many actually do get a rude awakening when the rubber meets the road in Syria and the gun is finally warm in their hand?

What happens then? Then, they get purged from ISIS or El Shabab or whatever group warily took them in. They get accused of being Western spies or Zionist infiltrators. They get dead in a ditch with a hole in the back of their head and no-one to say "I told you so". And only the most hardened will remain to fight another day - monsters like Jihadi John and his motley band of Brits - trapped in a deadly shithole of their own choosing until the drone that they will never hear coming, kills them.

We do hear frightening numbers about how many have gone to fight. I wonder how many are left a month after getting to place they so mistakenly thought would see them as brothers. I believe many don't live to see the error of their travel decisions. Probably many cannot convince the groups they so want to join that they are true believers. Which when you think about it, they initially aren't. They aren't upon arrival True Believers. At first they are there for the fighting. That is what they've shown up for. Later they may get to have the threads of Islamic justification draped over them and their murderous actions.

Given all the above, what can be done to stop this idiotic desire to fight?

That is a hard question. Only time will break a religion's hold. Education won't. As we see from hearing about the universities and colleges attended by people like Jihadi John. You have to break the link to the group that these young men are so self-identifying with.

And time is all that works. That is why there is no Protestant Crusader group channeling young men to Middle Eastern Christian militias. Those would-be recruits have no association with a "Mother Church" as their defining social group. In fact, they have their footie teams for that. And their fighting goes on within that restricted arena.

Infiltrating Islamist Groups sounds like it could help, but once the rat is found in the pack, that will only ever reinforce the "us against them" mentality of would-be jihadists.

Only time and making religion a smaller and smaller part of these young men's lives can save us.

And time takes time to achieve its erosive goals.

---||---

And briefly to address the UK schoolgirl issue....

Yes, I realize that my whole fighting-thesis does not apply. But two things do:-

1. As an article I read only today states, these girls are dazzled by these guys on social media. They are groomed within a religiously twisted framework to see these young men as admirable and worthy. If fact, worthy of marriage. The jarring reality of the life of a cheap camp follower is what awaits them. Many will never survive the shames that will be heaped upon them. A few of these young men may come back to the West, radicalized and ready to commit acts of unspeakable barbarity, but none of these girls will come back. They are lost to us and to their families. Swallowed by a glamour surrounding a blackest despair.

2. The alpha-males ( or those who see themselves as that ), always attract women. Why? I don't know. It is how the world spins. Alas, even in an organization involving the propagation of manifest evil, some naive young girls will only see the gleam in a killer's eye and not the knife he holds that puts it there.

Ohmigosh - Amazing music video!

Sapphica - Ready - Official Music Video - 4K Uncensored Full Length Cut: http://youtu.be/tKvZwo1jOdM

Cartoonists Respond

http://www.slideshare.net/ssuser63877e/cartoonists-react-to-attack-on-satirical-magazine-charlie-hebdo-in-paris?from_m_app=android

Ever gotten scammed when out of a job?

Just got this email.....

I found your resume on Monster.com when searching the IT and Sales Categories.

No you didn't. I ain't listed there.

 

My name is David xxxxx and I am sending you the following brief description sharing information about a company I started where I can set up people in home based businesses as IT recruiters where there is no cash investment involved and the income potential ranges from $100k to $400k.  If you are interested, great. If not, please forward this message to others you know who may be a good match.

This is a clearly a fucking pyramid "home-based business" scam. He's so going to want my money at some point.

 

I was in the IT recruiting industry for many years ending my career as VP of a national IT staffing firm then deciding to work for myself from home as an independent recruiter. 

VP? Of what? Vagina Polishing?

 

Linkedin has made it possible to build lists of companies, managers and IT experts in specific IT specialties.  Using Linkedin as the central resource, I was able to build a 6 figure income home based recruiting business and am now looking for 4 individuals to invite into my business and do the same thing.

LIAR. LIAR. LIAR. You troll LinkedIn looking for marks.

 

There is no investment required and this is a very real 6 figure income home based business opportunity.

No it isn't.

 

I own two businesses. abc.TxxxxxxSxxxxx007.com is a business where I am paid to help IT recruiting firms hire and train their recruiters. 

 

abc.MSBSxxxxx.net is the specialized IT recruiting business that I am looking to find 4 individuals to get involved with.

 

To clarify,  I was able to leave a corporate job to build a successful home based recruiting business and am looking to find 4 people who are at a time and place in life where they would like the chance to break free from corporate jobs and get into a home based business. I can set up 4 people with a specific plan, online virtual office, access to professional level Linkedin, payrolling of consultants and a step by step training program that is a direct path to a 6 figure income as a home based IT Recruiter.

No you can't you dickwad. You couldn't set a table let alone set up a Company.

You just want my money to be part of your great fucking "opportunity".

 

If you are not interested, I wish you the best. If you are interested, please send me an email that includes your Linkedin profile link and request the complete description. I will reply with a copy of the complete description as a WORD document.

As Liam Neeson would say "Good Luck".

 

Best wishes to you in 2015 ( AND FUCK YOU TOO )

 

 

David xxxxx

954-abc-xxxx

We specialize at helping companies and people find each other for the purpose of new contract and permanent jobs within the Microsoft stack starting with SQL Server and up to all the various MS related development lanuages and tools.

1. This sentence is actually gibberish.

2. AND the sap can't even spell "languages". Pretty sad if people get duped by this assclown.

 

Best pic ever

An idiot and a blithering idiot.

Time Talk Pinterest Attitude

I got this email from Pinterest:

**snip**
We'll recently removed your board "Back Now In Color" because it included pins that go against our policies. Like we mentioned in our earlier emails, we don't allow sexually explicit things on Pinterest. We do allow works of art and educational pins, like you might see in a museum or classroom.

Please remove any other pins that go against our policies. Otherwise, your account could be suspended.

The latest pin we removed was on this board and its description was " ". (Sorry, but we don't have a link to the image.)

Thanks for your help,

The Pinterest Team
**snip**

OK where do I start?

1. Repinning

Forgetting for the moment that I do not pin stuff that is contrary to the Pinterest TOS, I do repin. A Lot.

I think it is very reasonable to assume if Pinterest allows me to repin, THEY HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE ORIGINAL PIN. And so they shouldn't come after me as a repinner of content I FOUND ALREADY EXISTING ON THEIR SERVICE.

Why are they threatening me with account suspension when I'm only doing what their service was really designed for? (Sharing by repinning).

2. What was my bad pin?

Fuck. They can't tell me. I don't think I did anything against their TOS, but I can't freaking see what they thought was doing so. So what can I do to not piss of the Pinterest Puritans again? Nothing I think except to only repin pictures of kittens. And if in doubt, don't repin. Just to keep my account?

3. I don't react kindly to bot-threats.

And Pinterest gives me no recourse to ask them why they've done what they've done.

So now, let my new sarcasm-laden boards begin.

4. My suggestion for handling repins.

If the original pin I repinned was contrary to the Pinterest TOS, pick on that user. Email him. Threaten him with account suspension. To repinners, simply replace their repin with a post like "Original pin has been removed by Pinterest because it violated our TOS".

Leave that in the repinner's board for two weeks so they can see there was a problem and then automatically remove it.

---||---

Right now Pinterest's cavalier and frankly threatening attitude to their users is Fucking Appalling.

And they really need to work on that.

Duck Dynasty Is Fake!

Everybody needs to watch this.

And you want me to be a Customer?

The head of North American operations for the company I work for just quit. The head of our enire VoIP development is "stepping back from work".

And today the CEO announced he is quitting on the eve of what he had been telling us is the "The Most Exciting Development in our Industry ever".

What does that say to any potential customer for my company?

It says "Run the fuck away from us at the fastest possible speed. Because we won't be here in two years"

Never knew what doom felt like until today.

The 2013 Movie Crapfest List

Here are all the sequels, unnecessary remakes, comic book
and crap movies for 2013 in one vomit sized little package....

Scary Movie 5
Evil Dead
Jurassic Park 3D
Iron Man 3
Fast and Furious 6
The Hangover part III
Man of Steel
Monsters University
Despicable Me 2
The Lone Ranger
Grown Ups 2
RED 2
The Wolverine
The Smurfs 2
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
Kick-Ass 2
Riddick
Insidious: Chapter 2
Machete Kills
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Oldboy
Carrie
Paranormal Activity 5
Anchorman: The Legend Continues

This looks like a bigger list than last year! I'll probably
see "Sin City", but all the rest are a waste of anyone's
dollars and time.

Email to Janet Parshall

On her radio show this week, Janet Parshall, she of the regular mangling of the English language, had on a father and son team talking about a book they had written on Biblical Forgiveness - whatever the fuck that is.

I had to send her the following email after listening to what was said by these two men - one of whom's wife had walked out on his marriage...which Janet felt it was important that we knew. Go figure.

**snip - email to Ms Parshall**
Normally [Janet -sic] your radio program is just funny, but on 3/6/13 you moved it over into utter cruelty.

"If a woman is raped in a dark alley, she HAS TO FORGIVE her rapist to release him from punishment."

OMG. I have no difficulty understanding why this man's wife walked out on him.

What an uncaring, unfeeling, unloving thing to ever say. Why didn't you challenge him Janet?

No woman should ever be told she HAS TO forgive her rapist.

I'm dumbfounded. Utterly crestfallen that you gave this misogynitic idiot airtime.

Really, this was the lowest you've ever stooped. And you've been very low before.
**snip ends**

This piece on Janet Parshall's show rivalled the time I heard a pastor on Moody Radio's "Midday Connection" describing a woman as being born as the result of a "RAPE RELATIONSHIP" - and the female sheep on that show didn't challange that asshat either.

Apparently being Born Again makes you Fucking Stupid - especially if you are a woman.

Kayden Kross' Mainstream Movie!! BLUE DREAM Trailer

Dennis Rainey is a Big Fat Liar

And here he is.

So we reach the time of year where radio charlatans and their so called "ministries" pull out all the stops to get their sheeple to donate to their "work". Often of course, with the brilliantly unbiblical coercion of the "matching donation". Both Jim Daly of "Focus On The Family" and James Dobson of "Family Talk" love to use this ruse to get donations. But as I have to point out again and again, a cheerful giver isn't a guilty giver. Which most assuredly is what these organizations are making of their followers by using the terrible manipulation of the matching donation.

But today, on the last day of 2012, Dennis Rainey of the "Family Life Today" radio show wrapped up the usual end-of-year plea strong arm tactics in a story that was evidently such a monstrous lie that even he corrected himself - well, just a little bit.

Mr Rainey told a story from 2012 of children opening their piggy bank and scotch taping $400 to the walls of their bedroom ( "well, that must have been a big piggy bank" ) along with a note that these CHILDREN wanted their parents to use the money to go to a "Family Life Today" Marriage Conference. Which naturally they did, making their pathetic marriage better and Mr Rainey's pockets just a little bit fuller.

Does anyone with a brain think this actually happened? Children would have $400 dollars in singles in their piggy bank? That they would even know about what a "Marriage Conference" is? That they would know you got to go to such a huckstery event by coughing up your money to a charlatan like Mr Rainey? That children are in anyway interested in the very abstract notion of "marriage" as it applies to their moms and dads? Really? They might want their parents to be happy, but they surely don't know anything about any kind of "conference" events that supposedly can make that goal happen.

No. I'm afraid this story doesn't pass any test for authenticity or for truth. It stinks of falsehood. As I said, even Mr Rainey caught himself questioning the size of the piggy bank.

So really telling such a story of blatant lies simply does make Mr Rainey a Big Fat Liar.

And of course, let's not forget, he runs a "ministry". An organization where "bearing false witness" isn't frowned upon, it is encouraged - especially when it gets the gullible to part with their money.

Shame on Mr Rainey. Shame on him.

Guardian.co.uk - William Faulkner estate sues Sony over Midnight in Paris line

Guardian.co.uk - William Faulkner estate sues Sony over Midnight in Paris line

Sometimes you hear the truth

This morning on "Eric and Audrey in the Morning" on WRMB radio, they were interviewing Janet Parshall about her new book - the one with optional crayons. And as all right wing Christian stations are doing right now, the piece eventually had to degenerate into a plea for people to vote.

Then, in order to show they weren't actually pushing the GOP line ( duh! ), Janet went off on a riff about sharing a Bible study with people you disagree with politically in the hope of some sort of Jesus-inspired meeting of the minds. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about, "Political parties are not important, but don't forget, Jesus was a Republican. And vote your VALUES. Like Jesus would, as a supporter of smaller government."

You know...arrant unbibilical fucking nonsense.

But what Janet ended up saying was that after reading the Good Book together......

"You might change your mind".....OR..........

"I MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND."

Priceless! The GOP position, NEVER wrong. Janet, NEVER wrong, never persuadable. But the Baby Jesus could sway you from your Liberal, Socialist Democrat ways!

I guess sometimes the Truth just simply Cannot be Hid.

Hey! How about this though? Maybe Jesus made Janet say what she did to expose her for what she is, a GOP shill of the worst kind. After all, by their stripes you shall know them.

And we all know where Janet stands.

WAFG has returned!

Fuck! After nearly a month of WAFG being off the air, it is back up with canned programming from BBN, the Bible Broadcasting Network. Shit! Now I’ve got to check tonight if “Truth In Action” ministries from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church has made it back to the Monday night airwaves. I so hope it has not. GOP shills to a man that they be.

Stay tuned for future updates.

WAFG bites the dust!

Another South Florida "Christian" radio station has gone to dead air! Hooray!

For over two weeks 90.3 WAFG "Grace FM" has been off the air. The station has been sold, but alas to an organization called the Bible Broadcasting Network - so the damn thing may well rise from the dead in the coming weeks.

But until that unhappy event actually happens, I'm celebrating the demise of yet another lying Christian station here in the Sunshine state. First WLVJ and now WAFG! A pattern? I hope so.

So for a while, there will be no more "Truth In Action" Ministies from Coral Ridge spewing GOP politics in the name of Jesus every Monday night from the truly unchristian Dr. Jerry Newcombe.

Always beware of people with advanced degrees who insist on describing themselves as "Doctor". This is an indication that even they know they stand on the most shaky of intellectual ground. Remember "Doctor" Kennedy used to list EVERY honorary degree he had at the end of his former comedy hour TV show?


"Jerry Newcombe, D. Min., serves as host of Truth That Transforms with Dr. D. James Kennedy (formerly The Coral Ridge Hour and is Senior Producer for Truth in Action Ministries television. He has produced or co-produced more than fifty documentaries. The host of two weekly radio shows, he has also been a guest on numerous television and radio talk shows. Dr. Newcombe is the author or co-author of 21 books, including with Dr. Kennedy, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?, How Would Jesus Vote?, The Presence of a Hidden God, and The Book That Made America."

Enough said.

Pastor Donald Cole

Radio Pastor Donald Cole died on August 4th and Moody Radio has been gushing praise out of every orifice for him this week. Nauseatingly gushing it like a Religious Ebola outbreak.

He was of course a complete and utter fraud. As all people are who push their Imaginary Friends on the rest of us.

Just before his retirement from Moody Radio, on a phone-in show where he answered questions about the Bible, I once heard him COMPLETELY FLUMMOXED by a question from a seven year old girl.

The call went something like this :-

Girl: Hello Pastor Cole My name is Daisy. I have a question about Heaven.
Pastor Cole: How old are you?
Girl; Seven
Pastor Cole: Oh my! Seven? You know I was seven once? A long time ago....

(He always got gushingly folksy, especially with little girls)

Girl: Is it true everyone will be happy in Heaven?
Pastor Cole: Oh yes. Everyone is happy there. There is no sadness.
Girl: So I will be happy there too?
Pastor Cole: Most certainly Daisy. You will be happy there forever.
Girl: So if I'm in Heaven, what happens if I look around and all my friends aren't there? Won't that make me sad?
Pastor Cole: Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph. Er..well... Actually....

After he floundered around for what seemed like forever, his answer was the following. I am not making this up.

Pastor Cole: Well Daisy, you won't be unhappy because YOU WILL NOT REMEMBER ANYONE WHO IS NOT THERE. God doesn't want you to be unhappy, so you will not remember anyone who God has not allowed in Heaven because of their sins.

Now where is that doozie in YOUR Bible? It certainly ain't in mine.

I can only hope Daisy wasn't taken in by such a silly and obvious lie.

The Manhattan Declaration - Still An Utter Failure

So it has been more than three months since Chuck "The Felon" Colson popped his clogs so I think it is time to again look at the Manhattan Declaration - Chuck's "enduring legacy" in the very tiny minds of people who do not understand what the word "enduring" means.

OK. The calculation will be as before. I'm assuming the US has a population of 320 million and only adults might be signing this "Christian Manifesto" - which I take to be 50% of the population.

OK. Today on August 4th 2012, a total of 531,508 people have signed the Manhattan Declaration.

Based on 160 million potential signatories, that number represents a mere 0.332% of the people in these United States.

By ANY discernible criteria we might use, this tells us that The Manhattan Declaration has been and continues to be, an Utter and Abject Failure.

Focus On The Family Radio Theater

Just listened to episode five of "The Hiding Place" on Focus On The Family Radio Theater featuring the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her resistance to the Nazis in WW2. Please insert your ironic exclamations here.

Now the production values were very good, surprisingly so from an outfit that brings you the truly execrable "Adventures in Odyssey" series, but at the end I think they let the cat out of the proverbial programming bag.

Over the credits they said, "Starring Wendy Craig and Alec McCowen". Now these are two great actors from the UK and I got to wondering, "Is this really a production from Focus on the Family, or are they rebranding BBC dramas through some sort of deal with Auntie Beeb?'

Because if they are, I'm sure a lot of the Luvvies of the British Theater would be up in arms if they realized their work was being sold to and repackaged by such an intolerant and bigoted right wing organization as Focus On The Family.

I wonder how I confirm that the productions on the radio here in the US are really from the BBC?

And if they are, how can we get them stopped?

And let's not start on the sheer irony of a right wing organization like Focus airing a piece like this. I've got to wonder would they have carried the drama if Corrie Ten Boom had been rescuing gays and gypsies from the Nazis?

And the answer to my own question is: Of course they would not.

So let's get this straight

This is GOP "logic" ( and I use the term in its most ironic sense ), "We have to get rid of Obamacare by getting rid of President Obama.".

This statement comes from a party whose nominee for the Presidency introduced almost an identical system in his state when he was Governor. In fact his plan also has a penalty for not purchasing health insurance. But now he is against Obamacare and he hates the individual mandate? His own policy? His own law?

How can he say these things with a straight face?

And "We must repeal Obamacare and replace it with sensible healthcare reform". Who in their right mind thinks that is going to happen? If the GOP wanted healthcare reform they would have proposed legistlation a long time ago. But of course they don't ( and will not now ) because they are only interetsed in preserving the status quo. Just look how many GOP types can't even agree with the President when he says that a family should not be one illness away for bankruptcy.

These guys wouldn't agree with him if the President said "Ice is cold and fire is hot."

And you want to replace a man who is at least doing something with a suit who will do absolutely nothing about healtcare reform? Really that's your answer? Scrap everything and then have a commission to investigate healthcare reform and then after two or three years eventually do nothing?

Can anyone say "Simpson-Bowles all over again. And again. And again to the end of time"?

Mark my words that will be the "Romney Healthcare Initiative".

And talking about getting things done.....

If the GOP was serious about jobs being the number one issue to address, they wouldn't be having fucking meaningless contempt of Congress hearings for the Attorney General and then wasting legistlative time with pointless votes to repeal healthcare reform simply to pander to the loons in the Tea Party.

Pandering gets you re-elected, but it never saves a country from ruin. Sometimes you have to do the unpopular thing. These guys should ask the President why it is always better to do the right thing than to bend to the whims of a vocal minority within your party's base.

Saving the country should always take precedence over saving your own job in Washington.

But the GOP don't want to get anything done. What they want to do from now until November is stick it to the President and to hell with jobs, healthcare, education or the environment. Or really to hell with anything right now.

This is going to be five months of shitting on the country for political gain.

What a joke.

And if Romney picks Eric Cantor for VP it will only get 1000% more ugly and partisan than it is now.

The Time Has Come

I really think the time has come to lay some leather on the loons at CitizenLink, Focus on the Family's propaganda wing. I've been listening to their daily "Family News in Focus" broadcast for a while now and you may recall a previous piece when I analyzed how much of the aired comments in their "stories" were either from their own mouthpieces or Focus on The Family's or just from people on their side of  the argument. That number came out as a whopping 97%. Almost a ready made statistical definition of propaganda. My piece certainly showed that what Citizenlink ( via Family News in Focus ) was not providing was anything that could objectively be called news reporting.

Anyways, after writing that blog, I started to watch their weekly ( and sometimes twice weekly ) CitizenLink Report video segment. This has introduced me to a whole new set of liars and prevaricators who show up pretty darned regularly there. So I thought I'd do a piece of the unsavory cast of characters who appear most often on those broadcasts.

I'm doing this as a service to rational thinking human beings so that as Leonato says in "Much Ado About Nothing" if you see such a one, you may avoid him. ( or in some cases, her ).

There is also another occasional video piece CitizenLink puts out called "Stoplight" where they attempt to be humorous with some topic dear to their little hard hearts - more of that later. But suffice it to say their attempts at humor are about as funny as cancer.

So let's start by looking at who's who.

First, there is the principal mouthpiece of the whole rotten organization and that would be "The Weatherman" aka Stuart Shepard. Here is is looking as wild eyed and unbalanced as he does every week.

"The Weatherman"

Stuart is described at CitizenLink as their "Senior Director of Media", whatever THAT means. He's a good talking head. But not because he brings insight, clarity or balance to anything he does, but simply because before joining Focus on the Family in 1999, Stewie was the chief meteorologist at WLEX-TV in Lexington Kentucky. So what he brings to the table is some media savvy and presentation skills. What he has no idea about is what he pontificates on every week as he snipes at Democrats or snidely calls the President a liar. And this is most assuredly his weekly MO - sly and cruel.

And then we have "The Harpy", This is Carrie Gordon Earll.

"The Harpy"

Carrie's job at CitizenLink is as "Senior Director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy". Which is just Focus on the Familyspeak for screeching "Republican Shill". There is No GOP talking point she won't push, no anti-abortion position she won't condemn as too extreme. She is simply horrible as an analyst and has no business being associated with any organization that remotely claims to be providing news and information to ill informed people. He middle name may actually be "Agenda" not "Gordon". And why the fuck is it "Gordon" by the way? Doesn't that strike anyone as odd for a girl's name?

Now lest I forget, we have to talk about the Weatherman's right hand man, his go to dude with the 'tude and no clue - this is someone I choose to call "The Old Fool" and he would would be little Tommy Minnery former cub reporter extraordinaire and 100% "pro-family" dumbass.

"The Old Fool"

Without a doubt, my favorite CitizenLink pieces are those produced in the weeks where not much anti-family legislation has come down from the President, because then the Old Fool will do a piece on "Where I went for my Summer Hols" and tell us all about what he doesn't know about Europe and America's relationship to it in the 21st Century. Tom's a 1945 kind of guy. A VE Day and Liberation of Europe from Socialist tyranny kind of guy. He knows about how the French felt towards Americans then, but alas, he has not a freaking clue about how they feel now. These pieces are priceless, with Tom drivelling on about "Freedom" and "Values" and all those nonsensical codewords that other leaders of the rightwing loon movement use to culminate with "Taking Back Our Nation". To when? Probably around 1950 when blacks had no vote - some time around then.

Tom's position at CitizenLink is "Senior Vice President for Government and Public Policy". He desparately needs to retire and let someone do the job who is not living in the past.

Then we have "The Bimbo". This would be the blonde intellectual powerhouse who goes by the name of Ashley Horne.

"The Bimbo"

Poor Ashley, she talks like a Valley Girl and comes across as having the mental acuity of a clay pigeon. Ashley is CitizenLink's "Federal Issues Analyst". Again, as with all CitizenLink's spokesmen, there is no analysis, just talking points. No reasoned argument, no intellectual rigor, and with that godawful singsong voice of the truly dim. As an illuminator of issues, this woman's filament broke a long time ago. Truly she's one of CitizenLink's worst on air perfomers.

And next in the list of hucksters and agenda pushers we have "The Blob". This is the CitizenLink "Education Analyst" Candi Cushman. Candi's photo on the "About Us" section of the CitizenLink website looks so unlike what poor Candi as ballooned up to become. Here is what she looks like now.

"The Blob"

Candi looks like she's actually eaten some of the other correspondents at CitizenLink. I think it can be no coincidence that we no longer hear from Neema Reza and Kim Trobee while Candi continues to grow like some monstrous apparition from Moby Dick. Anyways, Candi likes to push "The Day of Dialogue" program at students in our schools. Something that is clearly not legal as such activities have to be student initiated. But CitizenLink and its analysts are clearly the driving force for this event. CitizenLink trots out the Blob whenever there is the hint of a free donut. No! That's wrong. I meant, "whenever there's an education initiative that might actually help some kids". That's what I meant to say. When that happens, Candi is always there to shout it down. So of course, she's also the anti-hate crimes gal at CitizenLink - the person who believes gays deserve no "special protections" in law. And by "special protections" I mean of course, "any protection".

Then we have perhaps the most dangerous of the CitizenLink experts and that is "The Schnoz" aka the Judicial Analyst, Bruce Hausknecht.

"The Schnoz"

The reason I call Bruce the most dangerous is because he is the most seemingly rational human being amongst the cadre of CitizenLink talking heads. But that is really why you have to watch out for him the most. He's a shill for the Roberts' court for sure and his pieces on Supreme Court cases seemed measured and deliberative, but they aren't really. As with all of these talking heads, whether they are as crass as the Weatherman, as ditzy as the Bimbo or as calm as the Schnoz, they are pushing an agenda, attempting to bend public will to their insidious positions by NOT TELLING THE WHOLE TRUTH on ANY issue they opine on. Bruce is no different. He just sounds like he almost might not be doing that. But in the end, he smarmingly is. So this is what makes him the one to fear.

And now my favorite, "The ex-gay" aka poor little Jeff  "My Wife and Three Beautiful Children" Johnston.

"The ex-gay"



I sometimes feel so sorry for poor Jeff. CitizenLink drags him out to talk "Prop 8" nonsense or have him testify before the Colorado legislature when any Civil Union or Same Sex Marriage proposal is being raised. Jeff himself can never wait to tell you he's a straight arrow now dammit! Whenever he speaks it's two sentences in and he's talking about his "coming out of the homosexual lifestyle" and his "lovely wife and even more wonderful children". And then you actually listen to him speak and you just say to yourself..."Really? You're out of it?"

And you just know as sure a God made little green apples, that when Jeff's area of expertise is not in demand that the Old Fool and the Weatherman push Jeff so bar back into a Focus on the Family closet that he has to give his address as "Under The Lamp Post, Narnia".

So these are the chief actors you might see if you tune into the CitizenLink Report every week as I do. There are a couple of other guys who appear a lot more rarely so they have not blipped sufficiently on my CL-BS radar to merit an expanded piece on them here. I'm talking specifically about Chad Hills the "Gambling Analyst and Abstinence Education Analyst" and Dawn McBane the CitizenLink "Bioethics Analyst".

Not sure how the two beats assigned to Chad actually connect. I guess if you get into too much debt while gambling, it might distract you from having sex? I'm really clutching at straws with that one.

So for me, the people I list above are the principal culprits you might hear ( and see ) on the CitizenLink Report video pieces. Every week you will usually see the Weatherman and and at least one of the other miscreants analyzing away, shilling for the GOP and presenting the worst form of biased argumentation you will hear anywhere on these Interwebs.

Beware them all.

And one last thing - The video pieces called "Stoplight" that I mentioned earlier.

If the CitizenLink Report is inaccurate, misleading and downright weaselly, Stoplight is simply inane babble that once again will prove every time you see one of the pieces, that right wingers have the humor gene removed at birth along with the one for caring about your fellow human beings.

For Stoplight, the Weatherman usually uses either the Bimbo or the Schnoz to make what he thinks are humorous and telling points on some item in the news ( They aren't typically either ). Then to show you it was meant to be so yuck-yuck funny and what a jolly jape it all was, they show the piece's outtakes which the Weatherman thinks are just side-splittingly hilarious but which in reality are as laughter-inducing as pus on an infected lip.

The Weatherman also often resorts to using a prop in the Stoplight pieces. It looks like a Webster's Dictionary, but wait, it's the "Wide Eyed Mainstram Media Dictionary" which he will consult to show the evil powers of  Real Reporters and their dastardly usupation of language to the Liberal Agenda. "Aw shucks Pa! He called a spade a shovel. And that just ain't right".

Fuck me, it wasn't funny the first time the Weatherman pulled it out of his ass to make some point that was profoundly stupid, and it has been equally unfunny on the many subsequent times he has forced it into a Stoplight piece.

The Weatherman just doesn't know how to quit when he's behind the humor 8-ball.

So there you have it, the motley cast of characters from the asinine CitizenLink Report broadcasts and the even more stupid Stoplight videos.

Enjoy them both at your intellect's peril.

2012 - Films to avoid. List # 1

Following on from 2011, possibly the worst ever year for original ideas in
movies, I offer this list of films to AVOID in 2012 courtesy of Empire
magazine.

Remember the criteria are simple :-

1. No sequels
2. No comic books
3. No TV show adaptations of shows from my childhood
4. No Jason Bourne
5. No Mel Gibson
6. No remakes

Plus, we have to start being careful - the studios are dropping the dreaded
number in movie titles, but they still are giving us a sequels.

Sucks! Ya! Boo! to THAT.

So here's my first 2012 list from the Turkey Farm :-

The Amazing Spider-Man
The Avengers
Wrath Of The Titans
Streetdance 2
American Pie: Reunion
Battleship
MIB III
G.I. Joe 2
Ice Age: Continental Drift
The Bourne Legacy
Total Recall
The Sweeney
The Expendables 2
Taken 2 ( Oh fuck no! )

2012 - The Year The News Media Deserved A Shellacking

Hang on to your hats people, this is going to get rough.

2012, a presidential election year, surely this is a time when the "news media" can come into their own, earn their collective crusts and actually perform some nominal service to the public, to aid them if you will, through the traps and unseen undercurrents of the American Political System right?

Well, actually no, not at all.

2012 is destined to go into the history books as the year corporate controlled news media failed American Democracy.

Where do we begin? Of course with the Citizens United case and the creation of the whole Super PAC phenomenon. Where were the media when explaining this to the American people was possibly the most important thing they could have been doing? They were AWOL - probably because their corporate overlords saw the Citizens United case as just fine and dandy. And it was just that for the News Corps and GEs of the world, but the American Political Process has been royally fucked up by it.

All the news media ( left, right, undecided ) singularly failed in their mandate to inform the people about the consequences of this truly egregious case. It probably wasn't until the Iowa campaign, when Romney's Super PAC effectively carpet bombed Gingrich out of that race, that they came late to the table and tried to remedy their huge mistake. Too little. Too freaking late. Why didn't they get on Super PACs earlier? Corporate interference not to? Could have been, but I choose to think it was a combination of sheer laziness and a perceived notion that the story was not interesting enough, or it would be too boring, or too obscure or too damn unsexy to snag the interest of people. You know, the "people"? Those human beings who tune in to "news outlets" to heaven forbid, learn something about what's going on so they can make informed choices? THOSE people. Oh yes, they'd certainly go straight to the remote on hearing a story about the usurpation of their country's political system. Wouldn't they?

So it was left to Jon Stewert and Stephen Colbert to guide those who wanted to know through the labyrinthine ways of Super PACs, their function, their controls and the ludicrous notion of "not coordinating" with a particular campaign. Riiiight. I cannot believe that the nine bozos on the Supreme Court couldn't have taken a few minutes to sit down before rendering the Citizens United verdict just to say, like in a game of chess, "If we rule in favor of 'X', what will be the immediate consequences to say 'Y'? " Where 'Y' just happens to be the integrity of the entire US electoral process. Couldn't they have foreseen that ultimate "coordination that was non-coordination" fiasco last week when Gingrich addressed the crowd and said "I'm talking to you ( the audience ) because I can't coordinate with the Super PAC, but the Super PAC should correct errors and remove ads if they have false allegations in them"? Couldn't they have foreseen that a "smart guy" like Gingrich would make a mockery of the Super PAC rules almost before the ink was dry on them? I heard Chief Justice Roberts was a clever man when he was nominated to the Supreme Court. He seemed to be so in his confirmation hearings. But on the evidence of the Citizens United ruling, I think we have been hugely misled on the cleverness issue in his case.

What else? Oh yes, laziness, still reporting the horse race, not reporting the subtlety of changes to delegate allocation, too damn eager to say "After such-and-such a race, it looks like it is going to be all wrapped up for Mr Front Runner".

All the news media were so quick to say "Romney's won two" and "First time since 19xx" and "If he makes a clean sweep in South Carolina, it's most likely all over".

In their lazy and simplistic coverage of the first GOP nominating contests, they ( the news media ) falsely colored people's perceptions of how the race was going when they said that Mr Romney had won the first two contests. This was especially stupid given the 8 vote margin initially given to Mr Romney AND given that the officially announced winner had not been certified by the Iowa Republican Party. So eager were the media to be first, to pick the winner, give him a garland and move on, that they allowed their perceptions, their prejudices to put Mr Romney in that top spot even though THE VERY NEXT DAY one caucus worker said Romney had been give 22 votes in a caucus count when in fact he should have received only 2. But on the night of the vote, a declared margin of victory of only eight should have presented more than enough uncertainty from a process may I remind you that involves COUNTING, for the media to say "Too close to call". But oh no, they wanted that result, they needed that result to validate their election coverage and their process and their glitzy swishy moving walls o'data.

"Mitt's the winner. Nothing else to see here people. On the bus to New Hampshire we go! Single Malts all round! Job well done boys and girls. Here's your bonus, Now let's make sure to wow them in New Hampshire just the same and we can all take a break in Florida, because after that one, we will most certainly be done. And we will have earned our time in the sun. Oh yes indeed we will have".

Also, this desire to be first, announce the winner, move on and so be able to declare someone has "sewn it all up" also leads to a profound and exceptionally unhelpful phenomenon - namely the received wisdom of "the media have decided its over, so it's over".

What should have happened in any of these contests, is that the media should not have concentrated on the winner nor even his margin of victory. This they should have strived to avoid in every minute of every hour of their coverage. What they should first and foremost have said was "Mr 'X' has won and will receive 'Y' delegates for the GOP Convention in Tampa which will happen a long long way down the road in this process of choosing the GOP presidential nominee. Mr 'X' now has a total of 25 delegates, he needs 1214 delegates to secure the GOP nomination".

The emphasis at any time in this process has to be on how many delegates the candidates have and how many they need, not reporting the horse race results after each caucus or primary and then having the talking heads come on and say "This is almost over" and "One more result like tonight and Mr 'X' has the nomination virtually sewn up". What? After TWO contests? And one of those a caucus where but a few thousand people get involved? Really? All over so soon? No. Of course it isn't. The media want you to think it is by telling you they want it to be so.

Heck even the less than unbiased information source called Conservapedia says of the 2012 GOP nominating process that "It is virtually impossible for a candidate to win a majority of delegates before June 2012". ( direct quote )

Why did the news media not report the contests this way? It almost seems they are conspiring with the big money donors, the GOP and the people on the inside to tell us, the saps in this entire process, that "It's all over now. Nothing to see after Florida". Which is of course palpably untrue and does a tremendous disservice to the political process in this country.

And it simply adds insult to the proverbial knee-in-the-groin injury, when you come to find out that this year, the delegates in contests before April 2012 will be allocated proportionately to their vote totals in any particular caucus or primary. This fact alone makes it even more important then ever for the news media to restrain from picking and anointing "The Big Winner" and to just report the three simple facts of, how many votes did each candidate get, how many delegates does that number translate into and how many delegates short of 1214 is each person who is still running.

I am truly appalled by all news organizations' efforts in covering the GOP nominating process to date.

And the sad thing is I don't see them getting any better as we move on to the Florida primary. They clearly will not accept any culpability in their distortion of a process designed not to be over until June at the earliest.

Phew! Rant over.

And I didn't even get to what piss poor candidates they are. How can Newt Gingrich, an insider if ever such a beast existed, get the GOP nomination for President when Congress ( his domain ) has an approval rating of 8%? Which. as was pointed out last week on the TV, is a lower number than the approval rate for Socialism.

And Romney, a man who has changed every thought he ever had in his head?

And Santorum, a theocratic loon with a strange and unhealthy obsession with same-sex relationships?

WTF America? WTF.

Bolt from the Blue

My favorite ranting "Family Values Radio Station" AM 1040 WLVJ has been sold! Just learned it from Dennis O'Donovan on his "Religion, Politics and the Culture" pro-Catholic daily gabfest. Apparently, from January 1st, it's all over.

So I have rushed to the Interwebs and learned IT IS ALL TRUE! OMG!

In other filings with the FCC, JAMES CRYSTAL ENTERPRISES' JCE LICENSES, L.L.C. is selling Religion WLVJ-A/BOYNTON BEACH, FL to ACTUALIDAD 1040AM LICENSEE, LLC for $2.3 million plus a time brokerage agreement before closing.  The buyer, through parent ACTUALIDAD LICENSEE 1020AM, LLC, owns Ethnic WURN-A (RADIO MEGA)/KENDALL-MIAMI, FL and recently bought the construction permit for WURN-F/KEY LARGO.

So I guess, it is going all Spanish, all the time? OMG. Where am I going to go to hear the biggest charlatans on South Florida radio? Yes, I'm thinking of you, Charles Capps and Brother Stair all through the night.

In some ways I am devastated to think that the object of almost 20 years of my unbridled scorn is no more. But of course on the opposite side of that coin, I'm elated because in the true Sheenian sense of the term, I see this as "winning". The dust clears and who is left standing? ME!

So that's Me: 1  Baby Jesus: 0

But don't worry about me dear readers, my invective can now fully turn to the FM dial where we have WRMB, WAFG and WCNO all on my radar. WCNO is the worst, carrying as it does the uber-charlatan that is Joyce Meyer, but WRMB is up there with one of its "Pastors" describing a woman born as the result of a "rape relationship".

This fight ain't over, though it is round one to me.