Month: December 2012

Athenae, Immoral Values, Kids Today, LOL7 Comments

How Did You Learn to be a Homo in Your Day?

Allison Hantschel

Apparently they teach Kids Today in school now! “So, here you are, you’re an animal and you’re a god! So, what are we going to teach you about in school? Well, we can teach you about sex, we can teach you how to rebel to you[sic] parents, we can teach you how to be a homo! But we’re definitely not going to teach you about the word of God! Amen.” I’m furious. Not on my own behalf, although it might have been nice to get some lessons in before encountering actual gays in the wild. Mostly I’m furious on behalf … Continue reading How Did You Learn to be a Homo in Your Day?

Adrastos, Diary, Law/Justice, Political Crack5 Comments

Borked

I don’t usually speak ill of the dead but there are exceptions to every rule and Robert Bork ticks off many of the boxes on my speak ill of the dead checklist.He died today at the age of 85. The first time I ever heard of the wingnutty legal scholar was when he did Tricky Dick’s dirty work and fired Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox. That was the originalist’s original sin in my book. I was in law school when Reagan nominated Bork to the Supreme Court. Our faculty was largely liberal but there were some pretty good debates in … Continue reading Borked

Athenae, Faith, Immoral Values, Religion11 Comments

Puny God

Allison Hantschel

I’ve spent approximately six minutes on Facebook in the last 72 hours. Treacly remembrances of things make me crazy, appropriation of other people’s pain to make oneself feel important makes me crazier, and in the history of everything there has never been an intelligent discussion of anything on Facebook. It’s the butthole of the Internet. I like mine because I like memes and pictures of my friends, but Christ almighty, sometimes I want to set two thirds of it on fire. In those six minutes I managed to see this about nine times: Forget arguing the actual point, because there … Continue reading Puny God

Athenae, Immoral Values, Kids Today, LOL7 Comments

How Did You Learn to be a Homo in Your Day?

Apparently they teach Kids Today in school now! “So, here you are, you’re an animal and you’re a god! So, what are we going to teach you about in school? Well, we can teach you about sex, we can teach you how to rebel to you[sic] parents, we can teach you how to be a homo! But we’re definitely not going to teach you about the word of God! Amen.” I’m furious. Not on my own behalf, although it might have been nice to get some lessons in before encountering actual gays in the wild. Mostly I’m furious on behalf … Continue reading How Did You Learn to be a Homo in Your Day?

Athenae, Congress, Immoral Values5 Comments

The Stomach

Allison Hantschel

Framing, by the Very Liberal New York Times: The new inflation calculations, for instance, would probably not affect wounded veterans and disabled people on Supplemental Security Income. And Mr. Obama is sticking by his request for additional upfront spending on infrastructure and an extension of expiring unemployment benefits. He would also secure some tax and policy changes long sought by both parties but unattainable in the context of smaller budget deals. His proposal would permanently extend popular tax breaks like the credit for corporate research and development, permanently stop the alternative minimum tax so it does not expand to affect … Continue reading The Stomach

Current Affairs, Do Something9 Comments

Fuck The NRA

Okay, I spent an hour composing a nice thoughtful post with a much more polite title and fucking TypePad ate it and it’s nowhere to be found, so that’s an hour of my day gone and I’m now inclined to be crabby and brief. Here goes: 1 – TypePad sucks. 2- Fuck the NRA. Let’s just stop pretending they’re anything other than a political lobbying arm of the Republican Party operating on behalf of gun manufacturers. Whatever they started out as, they are no longer that. They do not represent gun owners or sportsmen. They are not a grassroots organization.Their … Continue reading Fuck The NRA

Adrastos, Congress, Pony, Bitches!, R.I.P.1 Comment

Daniel Inouye, R.I.P.

Peter Adrastos Athas

Sen. Inouye in the Oval Office with JFK. I’m not entirely comfortable with the term “greatest generation” but sometimes it fits a member of that generation like a glove. Senator Daniel Inouye was such a man.He died today at the age of 88. He was a bona fide war hero, a Medal of Honor winner who fought for our country in World War II despite the wartime hysteria that led to the internment of Japanese Americans. In his case, he partially fought *because* of the prejudice, to prove that Asians were every bit as patriotic as the slack jawed rednecks … Continue reading Daniel Inouye, R.I.P.

Athenae, Congress, Immoral Values5 Comments

The Stomach

Framing, by the Very Liberal New York Times: The new inflation calculations, for instance, would probably not affect wounded veterans and disabled people on Supplemental Security Income. And Mr. Obama is sticking by his request for additional upfront spending on infrastructure and an extension of expiring unemployment benefits. He would also secure some tax and policy changes long sought by both parties but unattainable in the context of smaller budget deals. His proposal would permanently extend popular tax breaks like the credit for corporate research and development, permanently stop thealternative minimum tax so it does not expand to affect more … Continue reading The Stomach

Adrastos, Congress, Pony, Bitches!1 Comment

Daniel Inouye, R.I.P.

Sen. Inouye in the Oval Office with JFK. I’m not entirely comfortable with the term “greatest generation” but sometimes it fits a member of that generation like a glove. Senator Daniel Inouye was such a man.He died today at the age of 88. He was a bona fide war hero, a Medal of Honor winner who fought for our country in World War II despite the wartime hysteria that led to the internment of Japanese Americans. In his case, he partially fought *because* of the prejudice, to prove that Asians were every bit as patriotic as the slack jawed rednecks … Continue reading Daniel Inouye, R.I.P.

Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T6 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Odds and Clods Edition

tommyfd

Morning, everyone! One more trip to the schadenfreude well, because there’s just so much of it left.

First up (and overripe for sure) –All-inclusive Newtie!

Gingrich: GOP needs to be “inclusive”

cbsnews.com ^

Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:21:38 PM by Sub-Driver

Gingrich: GOP needs to be “inclusive”

In the aftermath of Mitt
Romney’s presidential loss last week, Newt Gingrich is joining the
cadre of Republicans calling for the Republican Party to more actively
reach out to a more diverse electorate, arguing on Monday that the party
needs to become more “inclusive.”

“I think we need to be
inclusive, and I emphasize the difference between inclusive and
outreach,” Gingrich said Monday morning in an appearance on ABC’s “The
View.” “Outreach is when five white guys have a meeting and call you.
Inclusive is when you’re in the meeting. And I think we have to
understand to be inclusive.”

Gingrich, who was joined by his wife
Callista on the show, argued that Republicans had “misunderstood the
American people” in 2012, and that the GOP can’t just wait until 2016 to
try to broaden its reach.

“The Republican doctrine of highly
paid consultants spending hundreds of millions of dollars on 30-second
ads doesn’t build a party,” he said. “The Republican Party better not
wait until 2016. The Republican Party better rethink in 2013 how we’re
going to deal with the country’s issues and do it in a way that the
average American looks up and says, you know, those are folks I’m
willing to trust with my future. We lost that.”

He added that
“there were a whole series of fundamental things that were really wrong”
with how the GOP framed the 2012 election, including the fact that the
Obama campaign so successfully appealed to non-white voters.

Oh shut up…
1
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:21:40 PM
by Sub-Driver

To: Sub-Driver

This is the only reason Republicans lost the Presidency, Newt:

They chose a RINO like you.

2
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:23:58 PM
by fwdude
( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)

They did not choose a RINO like Newt.
They chose a RINO like Mittens.
So there.

To: Sub-Driver

Newt, we definitely need more Honey Boo Boos. People who can’t
identify the 3 branches of government or those who are on the Supreme
Court…

BachmannCrazyEyes

PS: What a crock!

3
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:25:27 PM
by Frank Sheed
(The injustice of trendiness is nearly dualistic in its isomorphism.)

To: Sub-Driver

How about looking into all the questionable precincts where Obama got 99-100% of the votes? This election was STOLEN!!!!

6
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:26:52 PM
by DLfromthedesert
Of course it was. Now you just go and have a little lie-down.

To: Sub-Driver

This is who Newt really is. He will be whatever you want him to
be one minute and then change back to who he really is a short time
later.

He says great things at times, but he doesn’t always mean them. He is an opportunist.

15
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:34:12 PM
by dforest
To: Sub-Driver

BS!If the Republican Party is to survive it needs to be more openly conservative. Period.

20
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:36:18 PM
by mosaicwolf
(Strength and Honor)
OhPleasePleasePlease
.

To: Sub-Driver

Et tu, Newt?

23
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:36:53 PM
by MichaelCorleone
(‘We the People’ can and will take this country back…starting today.)

To: Sub-Driver

Fabulous. More pearls of wisdom brought forth while sitting
amongst some of the biggest foul mouthed, ignorant shrews the
entertainment business has ever known. I suppose it could be worse. I
could have to sit through his and Callista’s convention speech again.

35
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:42:33 PM
by ShadowDancer
(“Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”)

How crazy are these heads of fuck?
This crazy:

To: paglia444

Screw the implication we’re in the wrong simply because we’re white and male.

(Tommy) No, you’re in the minority, and because you’re white, male, and living in the past – and a past that never really existed, at that.

We lead in the way we know is right and best for the Country. Don’t like it? Then GFY.

36
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:42:33 PM
by Gene Eric
(Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don’t get it, don’t spread it!)

No, I’d rather fuck YOU.
With the razor-sharp steel strap-on of reality.
Of course, some of them can see the apporaching light of the train that just ran over them and is coming around for another pass:

To: Sub-Driver

Why should he shut up? He’s right.

18
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:34:42 PM
by Melas
(u)
To: Melas

I’m with you. Take a poll of the Free Republic ideological
mindset and you might have a representative sample of about a quarter of
the electorate. We want to elect a president based only on that and
brand everyone else as RINOS, socialists, Marxists or idiots? Good luck
with that.

40
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:44:57 PM
by newheart
(The greatest trick the left ever pulled was convincing the world it was not a religion.)
AppealSelective

And, lest we forget:

To: Sub-Driver

People on FR that were punting for Newt…

Where are you now you
a-holes? You castigated us for pointing out Newt’s “sitting on a bench
with Nan” photo-op… You said we were being unreasonable. You said he
REALLY WAS a “conservative”…

All of it, utter BS.

This is why we can’t have nice things.
83
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 1:37:32 PM
by Dead Corpse
(I will not comply.)

And it is always thus.
More after the clickable feast.

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Odds and Clods Edition”

Athenae, Faith, Immoral Values, Religion11 Comments

Puny God

I’ve spent approximately six minutes on Facebook in the last 72 hours. Treacly remembrances of things make me crazy, appropriation of other people’s pain to make oneself feel important makes me crazier, and in the history of everything there has never been an intelligent discussion of anything on Facebook. It’s the butthole of the Internet. I like mine because I like memes and pictures of my friends, but Christ almighty, sometimes I want to set two thirds of it on fire. In those six minutes I managed to see this about nine times: Forget arguing the actual point, because there … Continue reading Puny God

Adrastos, Diary, Guns, Immoral Values, Law/Justice4 Comments

Waiting for the End of the World

Peter Adrastos Athas

In my day, people with root cellars filled with guns, butter and likker or backyard bomb shelters were called survivalists. They’re now called “preppers,” which is a term that I’d never heard of until today. It turns out that Nancy Lanza, the mother of the mass murdering Newtown monster, was a prepper. Nancy Lanza, whose gun collection was raided by her son Adam for Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook school, was part of the “prepper” movement, which urges readiness for social chaos by hoarding supplies and training with weapons. “She prepared for the worst,” her sister-in-law Marsha Lanza told reporters. … Continue reading Waiting for the End of the World

Current Affairs, Jude3 Comments

One Thought

judetoche

To anyone who says “if people didn’t have access to guns, they’d kill people in other ways,” I say if you think that we would have seen a spate of mass murders this year if there were no firearms–if you think that there wouldn’t be far, far fewer homicides in this country PERIOD if there were no firearms, then you are a shit-stupid motherfucker who shouldn’t be allowed near stairs lest you hurt yourself. And that is absolutely the nicest way I can put that. Take care of one another. Continue reading One Thought

Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T6 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Odds and Clods Edition

Morning, everyone! One more trip to the schadenfreude well, because there’s just so much of it left.

First up (and overripe for sure) –All-inclusive Newtie!

Gingrich: GOP needs to be “inclusive”

cbsnews.com ^

Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:21:38 PM bySub-Driver

Gingrich: GOP needs to be “inclusive”

In the aftermath of Mitt
Romney’s presidential loss last week, Newt Gingrich is joining the
cadre of Republicans calling for the Republican Party to more actively
reach out to a more diverse electorate, arguing on Monday that the party
needs to become more “inclusive.”

“I think we need to be
inclusive, and I emphasize the difference between inclusive and
outreach,” Gingrich said Monday morning in an appearance on ABC’s “The
View.” “Outreach is when five white guys have a meeting and call you.
Inclusive is when you’re in the meeting. And I think we have to
understand to be inclusive.”

Gingrich, who was joined by his wife
Callista on the show, argued that Republicans had “misunderstood the
American people” in 2012, and that the GOP can’t just wait until 2016 to
try to broaden its reach.

“The Republican doctrine of highly
paid consultants spending hundreds of millions of dollars on 30-second
ads doesn’t build a party,” he said. “The Republican Party better not
wait until 2016. The Republican Party better rethink in 2013 how we’re
going to deal with the country’s issues and do it in a way that the
average American looks up and says, you know, those are folks I’m
willing to trust with my future. We lost that.”

He added that
“there were a whole series of fundamental things that were really wrong”
with how the GOP framed the 2012 election, including the fact that the
Obama campaign so successfully appealed to non-white voters.

Oh shut up…
1
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:21:40 PM
bySub-Driver

To: Sub-Driver

This is the only reason Republicans lost the Presidency, Newt:

They chose a RINO like you.

2
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:23:58 PM
byfwdude
( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)

They didnot choose a RINO like Newt.
They chose a RINO likeMittens.
So there.

To: Sub-Driver

Newt, we definitely need more Honey Boo Boos. People who can’t
identify the 3 branches of government or those who are on the Supreme
Court…

BachmannCrazyEyes

PS: What a crock!

3
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:25:27 PM
byFrank Sheed
(The injustice of trendiness is nearly dualistic in its isomorphism.)

To: Sub-Driver

How about looking into all the questionable precincts where Obama got 99-100% of the votes? This election was STOLEN!!!!

6
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:26:52 PM
byDLfromthedesert
Of course it was. Now you just go and have a little lie-down.

To: Sub-Driver

This is who Newt really is. He will be whatever you want him to
be one minute and then change back to who he really is a short time
later.

He says great things at times, but he doesn’t always mean them. He is an opportunist.

15
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:34:12 PM
bydforest
To: Sub-Driver

BS!If the Republican Party is to survive it needs to be more openly conservative. Period.

20
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:36:18 PM
bymosaicwolf
(Strength and Honor)
OhPleasePleasePlease
.

To: Sub-Driver

Et tu, Newt?

23
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:36:53 PM
byMichaelCorleone
(‘We the People’ can and will take this country back…starting today.)

To: Sub-Driver

Fabulous. More pearls of wisdom brought forth while sitting
amongst some of the biggest foul mouthed, ignorant shrews the
entertainment business has ever known. I suppose it could be worse. I
could have to sit through his and Callista’s convention speech again.

35
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:42:33 PM
byShadowDancer
(“Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”)

How crazy are these heads of fuck?
This crazy:

To: paglia444

Screw the implication we’re in the wrong simply because we’re white and male.

(Tommy) No, you’re in the minority, and because you’re white, male, and living in the past – and a past that never really existed, at that.

We lead in the way we know is right and best for the Country. Don’t like it? Then GFY.

36
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:42:33 PM
byGene Eric
(Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don’t get it, don’t spread it!)

No, I’d rather fuck YOU.
With the razor-sharp steel strap-on of reality.
Of course, some of them can see the apporaching light of the train that just ran over them and is coming around for another pass:

To: Sub-Driver

Why should he shut up? He’s right.

18
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:34:42 PM
byMelas
(u)
To: Melas

I’m with you. Take a poll of the Free Republic ideological
mindset and you might have a representative sample of about a quarter of
the electorate. We want to elect a president based only on that and
brand everyone else as RINOS, socialists, Marxists or idiots? Good luck
with that.

40
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 12:44:57 PM
bynewheart
(The greatest trick the left ever pulled was convincing the world it was not a religion.)
AppealSelective

And, lest we forget:

To: Sub-Driver

People on FR that were punting for Newt…

Where are you now you
a-holes? You castigated us for pointing out Newt’s “sitting on a bench
with Nan” photo-op… You said we were being unreasonable. You said he
REALLY WAS a “conservative”…

All of it, utter BS.

This is why we can’t have nice things.
83
posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 1:37:32 PM
byDead Corpse
(I will not comply.)

And it is always thus.
More after the clickable feast.

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Odds and Clods Edition”

Current Affairs, Do Something, Doc8 Comments

Dead Children. Again.

docphd

A few days ago, a letter came home from The Midget’s school, noting that we had to fully list all of the people who would be allowed to pick her up from school. In addition, the school was implementing additional security measures in which children had to walk with their classes and teachers had to make contact the adult prior to releasing the kid. Last night, after the Christmas concert, the choral director announced that the parents had to come up and get the kids and make sure to check out with the teachers. To me, it all seemed frivolous. … Continue reading Dead Children. Again.

Adrastos, Diary, Immoral Values, Law/Justice4 Comments

Waiting for the End of the World

In my day, people with root cellars filled with guns, butter and likker or backyard bomb shelters were called survivalists. They’re now called “preppers,” which is a term that I’d never heard of until today. It turns out thatNancy Lanza, the mother of the mass murdering Newtown monster, was a prepper. Nancy Lanza, whose gun collection was raided by her son Adam for Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook school, was part of the “prepper” movement, which urges readiness for social chaos by hoarding supplies and training with weapons. “She prepared for the worst,” her sister-in-law Marsha Lanza told reporters. “Last … Continue reading Waiting for the End of the World

Current Affairs, Jude4 Comments

Making America Safer

judetoche

American Moloch. Image via. First, of all read this. I own a handgun. It’s a simple Ruger P95 9x19mm pistol. I bought it years and years ago when I lived in a terrible, terrible apartment in a shitty, crime-ridden neighborhood. It cost me a couple of hundred dollars. I bought this weapon for one reason–I might need to point it at another human, discharge rounds, and murder him (if the anticipated scenario had come to pass, the target would almost certainly have been a “him”). I had no illusions what it was for. I kept it by my bed for … Continue reading Making America Safer

Athenae, Economy, Games, Immoral Values, Kids Today, Terrorism, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq5 Comments

It’s Always Time to Talk About Shit That Doesn’t Matter

Allison Hantschel

I keep going back to this, from the brilliant Cleolinda: (Here’s my thought on that in a nutshell: Violent movies and videogames do not make people violent. Violent people are attracted to violent media. Of course, so are many of the rest of us, just for different reasons. I ended up watching The Matrix about 46,000 times–at one point on a three-day loop–for the book, and I shot nobody. If you want to talk about warning signs, don’t look at the kid’s taste in movies or his literary output–look at those two things in the context of his real-life behavior, … Continue reading It’s Always Time to Talk About Shit That Doesn’t Matter

Current Affairs, Jude4 Comments

Making America Safer

American Moloch. Imagevia. First, of all readthis. I own a handgun. It’s a simple Ruger P95 9x19mm pistol. I bought it years and years ago when I lived in a terrible, terrible apartment in a shitty, crime-ridden neighborhood. It cost me a couple of hundred dollars. I bought this weapon for one reason–I might need to point it at another human, discharge rounds, and murder him (if the anticipated scenario had come to pass, the target would almost certainly have been a “him”). I had no illusions what it was for. I kept it by my bed for the year … Continue reading Making America Safer

Athenae, Economy, Games, Immoral Values, Kids Today, Terrorism, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq5 Comments

It’s Always Time to Talk About Shit That Doesn’t Matter

I keep going back to this, from the brilliant Cleolinda: (Here’s my thought on that in a nutshell: Violent movies and videogames do not make people violent. Violentpeople are attracted to violent media. Of course, so are many of the rest of us, just for different reasons. I ended up watchingThe Matrix about 46,000 times–at one point on a three-day loop–for the book, and I shotnobody. If you want to talk about warning signs, don’t look at the kid’s taste in movies or his literary output–look at those two thingsin the context of his real-life behavior, which was already disturbing … Continue reading It’s Always Time to Talk About Shit That Doesn’t Matter

Adrastos, Film, Music

Sunday Morning Video: Gimme Shelter

In the wake of Woodstock, huge outdoor concerts were all the rage. The Rolling Stones show at Altamont was the anti-Woodstock, free love, peace, and all that hippie shit were in short supply there. It didn’t help matters that the Hell’s Angels did security there; sort of like giving an arsonist a can of gasoline. Anyhoo, here’s theMaylses Brothers’ classic Altamont documentary, Gimme Shelter: Continue reading Sunday Morning Video: Gimme Shelter

Adrastos, Film, Music, Sunday Morning Video

Sunday Morning Video: Gimme Shelter

Peter Adrastos Athas

In the wake of Woodstock, huge outdoor concerts were all the rage. The Rolling Stones show at Altamont was the anti-Woodstock, free love, peace, and all that hippie shit were in short supply there. It didn’t help matters that the Hell’s Angels did security there; sort of like giving an arsonist a can of gasoline. Anyhoo, here’s the Maylses Brothers’ classic Altamont documentary, Gimme Shelter: Continue reading Sunday Morning Video: Gimme Shelter

Athenae, Current Affairs7 Comments

Children Dying

Allison Hantschel

President Obama today: As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago —these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics. The children killed ranged in age from 3 weeks old to 17 years. Aliyah Shell was six. She wasn’t in the school in … Continue reading Children Dying

Adrastos, Political Crack12 Comments

Riced, Diced and Sliced

Peter Adrastos Athas

There’s been a lot of teeth gnashing and instant analysis of *why* Susan Rice withdrew from consideration as Secretary of State. I’m going to do something novel and take her at her word. She avoided most of the meaningless cliches in her WaPo op-ed, nothing about wanting to spend more time with her family or any of that rot. Her focus was sparing the administration a fight it did not need at this point and I believe her. While I don’t think Obama should shy away from scrapping with the Republicans, he cannot fight *every* battle and this one just … Continue reading Riced, Diced and Sliced

Athenae, Current Affairs7 Comments

Children Dying

President Obama today: As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago —these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics. The children killed ranged in age from 3 weeks oldto 17 years. Aliyah Shell was six. She wasn’t in the school in Newtown, … Continue reading Children Dying