Anti-Misogyny Maneuver

Robert Fisk On Syria And Chemical Weapons Nonsense

Robert Fisk unpacks some of the bullshit being flung around concerning Syria and chemical weapons.  What's x-pecially usefull about Fisk is that he is a true English-speaking expert on the region.  He helpfully points out that the nonsense being spewed by the U.S. and Israel is the same nonsense that we always get in these situations--and probably not to be believed in any fashion.  What the U.S. and Israel are doing has nothing to do with Syria's civil war or chemical weapons and everything to d about regional hegemony. 

The Real Story Of 'Fairytale Of New York' From Victoria Mary Clarke And Shane MacGowan

Yeah, yeah, it's not Christmas right now--Fuck Off--but this Victoria Mary Clarke on "Fairytale Of New York" is pretty fucking cool.  She's got the inside line with Shane MacGowan, so we should be pretty happy that she shared the tale.  Plus, here's an excellent interview from last winter as well.  Good stuff.  Shane's work with the Pogues will hold up for the next thousand years.

Andrew Levine On Obama's Shameful Praise Of Heinous Men

Outstanding Andrew Levine on the heinous men at the Bush Library last week.  This thing is well worth reading in its entirety.  Levine does a nice job tying the disastrous Reagan legacy through all the following Presidents, including Clinton, all the way to Obama's shameful performance in Texas.  Our one-party state is a horrible place.

Obamacare's Slow-Motion Train Wreck

"Start over?"  Yes, unfortunately, that may soon be the best-case scenario as Obamacare becomes so much worse than the 2008 status quo as well as huge political liability for anyone unfortunate enough to have a D after their name.  How could that be?  Well, sucking the cocks of the insurance industry turned out to be a disaster, and, as Obamacare is and always will be an idea from the conservative infrastructure via the Heritage Foundation, it was never intended to bring affordable, univeral health care to the United States.  This atrocity is literally killing many of us, and Obamacare does almost nothing to help.

Matt Yglesias Slagging Is Everywhere

Here from GP.  Big Media Matt is being savaged for his idiocy, but it feels a little late in coming.  Certainly Yglesias was never a liberal or leftist or whatever; he was born into the privilege and knows nothing else.  The simple fact that he was not as big a fucking coke-addled simpleton as George W. Bush is really not much of an endorsement. 

Good Guy Of The Day: Jason Collins

Good for Mr. Collins.  It is legitimately nice to watch the world change just a tiny bit for the better.  Ok, he's a free agent, so I hope he gets a high profile gig next season, too.

Piss-Bottle Watt

Doctor Who Treads Water And Orphan Black Gets It, Maybe

The last three Doctor Who episodes have been less than crucial, with the hunting of Red October featuring the guy from Outcasts channeling an uber-low-budget Sean Connery, a weak Sherlock Holmesy ghost thing with Dougray Scott--what the fuck happened to him; I thought he was gonna be huge--and an especially tired retread of stuff they'd done before with black guys this time at least that really didn't further the Clara story.  On the other hand, Orphan Black finally started to feel properly claustrophobic and paranoid, hinting at a glorious Philip K. Dick world that we'll probably never actually see.  Still, it was finally a little bit interesting.  I highly doubt they can keep it up, but I guess you never know.

Very Annoying Doctor Who Web Thing With Alison Haislip

I luvs me some Alison Haislip; her compelling tee vee presence makes Olivia Munn seem like a cat poop, and I used to watch that stupid cable show she was on sometimes if I happened by it and she was on.  This Doctor Who thing from Screenjunkies is just lame, though.  Ms. Haislip looks uncomforatable and the rest of that crew is a fucking waste.

Martial Law Lockdown Precedent In Boston

Despite not having a shit ton of confidence in our wonderful establishment media, I was still sorta surprised that the Boston lockdown didn't get more play in the wake of the capture of mad bomber #2.  Even on the nominally "liberal" blogs and shit, not too too much (sane, reasonable) chatter about the martial law precedent bubbled up.  Shutting down a major American city Boston to capture one asshole kid who probably blew up the marathon was kind of a big fucking deal.  Certainly the shootout and subsequent escape of the second suspect was a titanic clusterfuck for the Boston PD and the FBI and the rest of them, but the ease with which they moved into lockdown was disconcerting.  The sad part is, I understand the very practical idea of the Boston lockdown: basic public safety.  Some of the more lucid Boston PD folks on the ground must have been worried about paranoid and scared-shitless cops shooting up cars and houses and random pedestrians or getting into shootouts with asshole NRA douchebags who considered themselves just the sort of Chuck Heston to fill mad bomber #2 fulla holes.  Those nightmare scenarios would have been tragic as well as really bad on the 24 cable news networks, so locking down the city probably seemed like a good idea to many of the people who were actually doing the police work.  However, the ugly precedent and police state tactics involved in declaring martial law over an idiot teenager aren't going away any time soon, and that sucks bigtime.

Counting The Moon

Signal Boosting The Very Pleasant Neighbor

There is almost nothing out there on the interwebs about the late, great NYC twisted art disaster/band called The Very Pleasant Neighbor.  That sucks, because before everybody had broadband internets, weird and wonderful indie music took a bit more effort.  Here are a couple of links, but today it feels like VPN may be mostly lost to our present. 

Obama's Planned Parenthood Speech: Welcome To The Party, Pal

Obama's speech today, nominally in support of reproductive choice and Planned Parenthood and sanity, was probably designed to mostly piss off the anti-choice wingnut assholes, which is good politics.  Choice and health care for women are great issues for 2014, so, for once, Obama looks like he's playing for the championship instead of the MVP award, and Democratic candidates should be playing this shit way the fuck up.  Good politics for Democrats other than Barack Obama is something this President rarely seems to understand, but this Planned Parenthood issue should pay off if the 2014 candidates run well and run hard and run smart.  The biggest ass clowns in America were oh so very upset by all the sanity, so you know it is a winner!

The Americans Turns Into The Young And The Restless

The Americans started out as a cute period piece about the nightmare that was Reagan's mourning in American, but the show has turned into a silly soap opera with the main characters running around greater Washington, DC killing people and blowing shit up while wearing embarrassing wigs.  Seriously, if you were a deep deep cover KGB agent like that, the most dangerous part of your life would be meeting your control in public or escaping into the woods at certain times to receive coded radio messages.  As soon as you started active operations, your cover wouldn't last a week--especially in DC for christ's sake!--and your life would be over; those active operations would have to be really fucking important.  At first it looked like the show was going to attempt to portray the stress and paranoia of living such a life without all the silly car chases and shootouts and shit, but they are clearly in a fantasy world now.  There's some good acting work though.  John Boy is doing a great job as the snippy little bureaucrat, and that guy from Little Children is pretty watchable here.  I have no idea what the next season of this show will be like, but I'm sure it will be beyond ludicrous, with the Soviet spies and FBI agents shooting it out on a daily basis and then sharing a car to go to a PTA meeting or something. 

Marianne Bowler, America's Finest Judge?

Could be, could be.  Apparently she wanted the world to know that she did not have her head up her ass, so she made the decision to Mirandize Tsarnaev and make wingnut jerkoff Mike Rogers cry.  Why isn't Bowler on the fucking Supreme Court instead of titanic assholes like Scalia and Thomas and Roberts?  I guess we will just have to take heart in the fact that along with Rogers, shitloads of reactionary morons like Frontpage and their buttlickers are all sorts of bent over the Constitution and Rule of Law!

Garage D Or

Was This The Lowest Point Of Obama's Presidency?

Probably not, as he has had plenty of really atrocious days as President, the vast majority of which were his fault, but fluffing that retarded cokehead George W. Bush at his ludicrous library would be a low point for anyone.  Today was a shitty day for America and more proof of our diseased, one-party state.

But This Was Certainly The Best Day In Barbara Bush's Life!

For once, the viciously nasty Barabara Bush says something that makes sense.  After birthing that walking cockbag who grew into the worst President in American history, she finally tells the truth.  Oh, the glory!

George W. Bush & Lance Armstrong

Together at the Bush Presidential Library in the form of Trek road bike.  Isn't that fucking cute.

Gatsby 3D or Abrams Trek 2: Which Will Suck Worse?

I can't really decide which is the more disheartening prospect: another insipid and annoying J.J. Abrams Star Trek flick or the dreadful Baz Luhrmann fecklessly skull-fucking The Great Gatsby in cheap-looking 3D.  Both Abrams and Luhrmann have been associated with some of the most despicable "entertainment" of this generation, so Trek vs. Gatsby may be a true battle royale of fetid celluloid offal.

Mittens Gingrich's Family Values

A valuable member of the team, Adam Savader, displays all the rock-ribbed traditional morality that you would expect from his mentors Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

Big Gay Marriage In New Zealand And France

Excellent news from around the world (in places where the U.S. is not actively fucking things up): big gay marriage in New Zealand and France.  This is some good stuff, not because our modern ideas of marriage carry some special relevance or wisdom, but because freedom for people who want equal rights and privileges is always a good thing.  More freedom, more equality, always good things. 

No Hope For The Hopeless, Boston Edition

Wingnut assholes trying to link "welfare" to the Boston mad bombers; that's sick even for those jerkoffs.  As if some social welfare programs require you to make bombs in order to get your food stamps or whatever.  The reactionary teabagger types are getting dumber and dumber as time goes on.  There is no hope for the future.

(via)

Get It, Atmo

BP Oil Spill Funfetti

This gets filed under "No Shit": the BP oil spill was much worse than was widely reported.  The Corexit dispersant used indiscriminately by BP is highly toxic, nasty stuff.  BP used it to prevent large oil slicks from forming on the surface of the Gulf water which would have looked very bad on the tee vee.  They didn't give a fuck that it increased the toxicity of the spill.  The biggest problem going forward, after the poison and illnesses and shit, is that none of BP people have even been charged, let alone convicted, tortured at Gitmo and/or executed.  What kind of bullshit is that?  A few (hundred) BP execs with their balls crushed in a vice by our friends at one of our numerous CIA torture prisons would do wonders to prevent such corporate malfeasance in the future!

Blazin' Full On

Excellent Weisbrot On The Venezuelan Election

Counterpunch has an excellent signal boost of column by Mark Weisbrot on the U.S. interference in the Venezuelan presidential election.  It's the old old story of our empire hating democracy because democracies don't always wish to so completely exploited by the dominant power in the region.  Venezuela has oil so there is money.  Money buys security in so much as we are unwilling and unable to use direct force against a country that might be able to fight back; for Venezuela it is incompetent coup attempts and run of the mill American bullshit.  Let's hope we learn our lesson and that freedom and equality in Venezuela have the opportunity to grow.

Cove STD

I may have gotten far enough to spring that I will not feel compelled to buy a new big bike this season, as I have a nice steel single-speed that I ride most of the time, but I still like the idea of the Cove STD.  The idea of a nice, handmade Canadian frame is quite lovely; the reality of the STD's geometry is not nearly so, and, since nobody I know has seen a new Cove frame in many moons, I am kinda wary of spending so much sight unseen considering what other people might consider a little cramped will probably be a nightmare for me.  Intense geometry and Knolly geometry are much better for me, which sucks because those are not bikes I want: the Knolly doesn't exist and the Intense continues to be a huge gamble on QC and customer service.  Would love an STD that fits me well, though.

Political Song for Lindsey Graham to Sing to Peter King

Steve Emerson And Mark Fuhrman On Hannity's Show

Really, could you scrape any lower on the bottom of the grungiest barrel in the universe than having Steve Emerson and Mark Fuhrman on the tee vee with Sean Hannity?  Rupert Murdoch must be so embarrassed by the inanity of his propaganda channel. 

Lindsey Graham Cried Again Today

Poor Lindsey "Giant Pussy" Graham.  Obama refused to go full-on wingnut and try to make Tsarnaev an "enemy combatant" the way Graham and McCain and the other biggest pussies in America wanted.  Just to piss Graham and the rest off even more, Obama should have had the guts to Mirandize that asshole straight away in the most public way possible.  That would have been a nice little middle finger to right.

The Third Worst Thing About Mad Bombers In Boston: Clint Van Zandt

This Clint Van Zandt piece of shit, former FBI profiler, is as big an idiot as you will ever find on your tee vee.  Why exactly anyone cares what some profiler has to say, since their expertise is easily the most pointless thing in the universe as, one, their profiles are all the same and uniformly useless, and, two, crimes are solved by police work not bullshit, is beyond any and all reason.  Profiling is a fucking joke.  Innocent dead, lost limbs, fear, terror, and Keith Ablow, and Clint Van Zandt, too.  This is a dark time for America.  Time to put this Van Zandt motherfucker back in Lynyrd Skynyrd where he belongs.

Excellent Krugman On Our Distintegrating Economy And Long Term Unemployment

This is a big fucking deal.  And Krugman nails it nicely.  What we are seeing, besides the individual suffering of people who may never work again, is the slow and steady degradation of our economy.  When so many millions of people out of the work force forever and high unemployment the new normal, more of the wealth of the nation will be redistributed to the 1% and the larger, poorer permanent underclass will become a untenable burden on the remaining middle class.  We can't talk about this enough, and it is long past time for radical action to grow the economy and increase employment.  What are the chances that Obama will find the will to make a political issue out of this in order to win the 2014 election for the Dems and have the ability to help the suffering?  Zero point fucking zero.

South Carolina First District Special Election Funfetti

This could be boatloads of fun, Elizabeth Colbert Busch managing to win that special down there in the moron paradise that is South Carolina.  I really question what her chances will be in the next general election, but for now we should all enjoy the wingnut discomfiture at Mark Sanford's tawdry shit-show campaign. 

Venezuela Is Still There

And the U.S. is still working hard to fuck it up.  At some point, the majority of Americans will have to educate themselves about our glorious imperial foreign policy and decide whether or not it is something worth anything to the real, live American citizens as opposed to American government or nominally American business interests.  

Fall Here

Fun Little Takedown Of Alex Jones

From Salon.  It's nothing Earth-shattering, but it is fun little piss take on the is-it-too-stupid-or-too-crazy-to-live-Alex-Jones?  Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.  Alex Jones and his ilk are usually not even good for entertainment. 

Virag's Movie Reviews: The Campaign (2012)

The Campaign is another one of those purported comedy films that is burdened by so many problems that it is sort of miraculous that they were able to actually complete the fucking thing.  The first, and probably biggest, issue is the lead cast.  Will Ferrell is terrible in everything that lasts more than 90 seconds and the other guy is very nearly as annoying.  It is a shame, too, because the secondary work is pretty decent, especially an oddly crazed Dylan McDermott and shamelessly scenery-chewing Brian Cox.  The script and direction are shit as well.  The script can't decide whether it wants to be crude comedy or incisive satire and fails at both.  The director, Jay Roach, was either stoned or absent most of the time, or maybe he is just a total fucking dipshit.  If you like sucky movies, maybe you found some joy in Ferrell's idiot-cousin-of-John-Edwards turn, or perhaps you get all wet and sticky over aimless and incompetent film directing, but if not, The Campaign was a pain.

Automatic Transmission

Mad Bombers Versus Guns

Which are more dangerous?  We as a people go fucking crazy over mad bombers who strike at random very rarely but not so much over the guns that kill daily.  Why is that?  Well, guns are big business while mad bombers probably shop at Building 19 and don't have a well-paid pampered lobbying group like the NRA.  Plus, scary mooslims and shit are great for our political class and police state, to keep us scared stupid.

Lindsey Graham Is A Cancer In The Colon Of Liberty

Lindsey Graham is exactly the sort of disease that a healthy body would shit out before it could grow.  Instead, he's out there with his senile grandpa John McCain spewing the sort of insanity that is designed to consume a purportedly free nation.  What Obama's people should be doing is making a fairly obvious show of reading that asshole Tsarnaev his Miranda rights, even if they have to get a little bit wonky in explaining the long-standing and very limited delay allowed by precedent.  Making a positive example of how we treat suspects would be a nice change from the usual shit show.

Wingnut Insanity Is Everywhere

Like an unending river of rancid, choking sewage, the disgusting wingnut hatred and inanity is fouling our entire existence. 

It's Not Just The Wingnuts Who Are Dumb As Rocks

Fucking Josh Marshall said this.  "Young men are weird."  Really?  What the fuck does the mean?  Which young men?  What about girls?  Old men?  Crying babies?  Who would be oblivious enough to puke up such vacuous banality in a public forum?  How fucking retarded is Josh Marshall?  Wicked retarded and not just on guns.  Just a thought: our professional "left" village idiot wannabees are not really any brighter than the average 1-watt wingnut.

Finally, Howard Dean Gets It, Atmo

A decade ago, Howard Dean was a reliably center-right establishment Democrat, who ran a campaign that frightened the rest of the Democratic establishment; remember that Fox "News" asswhipe Joe Trippi was his campaign manager.  But an interesting thing happened after Dean was snubbed by his peers.  He got himself into the party machine and realized that he had a taste for winning and winning in ways others had not dared attempt.  Dean was being educated.  Slowly, painfully, he began to creep leftward toward the political center.  Now the Obama presidency has only hastened Dean's inexorable ascent into reason.  If a rock-ribbed conservative Dem like Dean can grow into awareness, then maybe, just maybe there is the faintest glimmer of hope for our wretched political culture.  Seeing Obama for what he is, and seeing Obama and the Democratic establishment policies and positions for what they are, Dean might find the brains and the balls to make a very high-profile exit.  He's shown he's a dangerously good politician when he gets into it--he was dangerous enough for the Democratic machine and the establishment media to murder his presidential campaign in 2004--so let's see what Dean can do now. 

Well, At Least John Cornyn Is Still Reliably An Idiot

Luckily, since John Cornyn is a fucking dipshit, there may only be a couple of people still missing in West, TX and not 60 like that fucking asshole said today.  That would be something good and shit. 

Oh, Joy. No Legs And No Health Insurance

The enemy is us!  An event with many injuries and missing limbs and surgeries and other fun stuff, but some of the victims don't have health insurance.  In America.  In 2013.  Well, isn't that just lovely.  We will worry about clowns from Russia and Muslims and other bullshit, but the day to day in life our own fucking nation is not our concern.  We are surely doomed.

Fox "News" Is Going Kookoo For Chechnya

Those fuckers on Fox are working themselves into a frothy lather trying to make the idiot bombers in Boston into some existential threat to the homeland from the evil evil al-Qaeda terrorist villains.  If our greatest enemies are fucking clowns like the Brothers Tsarnaev, we should be fine, just fine.

Well, Thank The Gods Our Mad Bombers Are Really Stupid

This whole thing is turning into an even bigger clusterfuck as Suspect #2 runs himself sooner or later into the inevitable hail of gunfire.  In fact, the whole operation was so fucking stupid that a few questions arise.

What was the point of bombing the marathon?

Who would be dumb enough to bomb an event that was basically in their own front yard?

Why did these guys not immediately leave town after very stupidly personally bombing a very public event where they were sure to recognized in short order?

Why did they not even try to disguise themselves?

Did they think that robbing a convenience store and killing a cop was a good getaway plan?

What rocket scientists came up with this plan?

Did they build the bombs themselves?  They seem pretty fucking stupid and jumpy.

Were they someone's rubes?  That could be completely plausible as the two brothers have fucked up at every turn and never stood a chance of getting away with their asshole plan.

It could also turn out that these two jerkoffs were just a couple of nuts who thought they'd strike a blow for whatever bullshit they believe in and didn't think--or weren't capable of thinking--much beyond that.  The aftermath would certainly support that conclusion as well.

Regardless, these assholes could have done a shitload more damage and might have lived a lot longer if they hadn't been so unbelievably imbecilic and careless.  For once, rampant fucktardery works in our favor.

Russians? I Blame Putin. And Obama. Let's Bomb Russia.

And North Korea.  And Iran.  And Iraq again.  I mean these assholes have Tsar in the names!  They're commies!  Allen West was right!  It's the commies!  It's an invasion.  They've come for our womens!

Workin' Progress: Doctor Hannah

Hannah had not grown up wanting to be a doctor.  That was Mick; he constantly told her from her earliest years that she had to accomplish something with her life and being a doctor was a pretty good bet.  Mick had also had hopes that Hannah would have been exceptional.  Exceptional at something.  Even music.  Or sports.  Even that.  It would have made Mick's life so much easier.  He would not have had to worry and wonder.  But she wasn't.  She was average, smart but not out of the ordinary, and certainly not as good in school as Mick had been.  She did the sports that Mick put her in.  She took Spanish lessons and piano lessons as a child because Mick wanted her to.  She never showed any spectacular talent, but she worked at things because Mick made sure she did.  The summer when she was three, Mick put Hannah into a daycare preschool.  This disturbed his parents because they didn't understand his reasons; this also set a pattern for the next decade.  Mick made sure that Hannah was exposed to all the things he wasn't.  It was true that he did volunteer her grandparents to do things they would not have come up with on their own, but because they were in some ways so happy with the daughter they never had, they put up with it.  They lived in fear that Mick would take Hannah from them.  Every time they balked at something Mick was doing for Hannah, like preschool or piano or soccer or swim team, Mick wanted to throttle them.  It was disgusting to him that they could have their own sons right in front of them and not understand what Mick was doing without needing to have every fucking thing explained again and again. 

So Hannah grew up with books and music and sports and activities.  She and her father may not have been unusually close, but Mick continued to show her and teach her what he knew and guide her to a future better than he had been.  That was his mission.  He really didn't care so much about her being a doctor, but he constantly reminded her that she would have to make her own way as best she could, and if she lost focus on that goal, she could end up a very unhappy person.  Mick would never have admitted it, but he used his obligation to Hannah as his personal justification for his own life; whatever happened he wanted her to be different.

As she grew older, school was not as easy for Hannah as it had been for her father, but she learned to work hard and grew into the challenge and was trying to prove herself as a student by the time she was 10.  Mick had always told her that she had no excuse for not being the top of the class, and Hannah had learned how to succeed.  Mick was gladdened by her maturity when she started to actually work at shit. 

She was getting taller, too, though she never showed superior talent, you can't teach height, and Hannah dedicated herself to athletics.  As she grew able to push herself and work hard on her own, she depended less on Mick and spent even less time with him, which was fine with both of them.  They seemed to understand each other at least.

The scholarship to Hotchkiss was a surprise to Mick.  He had not prevented her from applying to all those prep schools, partly because that was what you did if you were serious about to a prep school as opposed to going to a certain prep school, and partly because he didn't think she would necessarily get in anywhere.  He had thought that maybe, just maybe she would follow him, but he had been convinced she would not get accepted.  Her grandparents were appalled and confused, but Hannah never wavered.  She wanted to go, and Mick was supportive.  She packed up when she was 13.  Mick took the money he'd stashed away and bought a house.

Workin' Progress: Hey! There's A Golf Course There Now

The last thing Hannah said before she left was that they had a golf course now.  It took Mick a minute to figure where they put it, but inland and above the village to the, what was it, south?, west?  Mick wasn't sure, but it made sense.  Plenty of space there and would fit if there was some other inland additions or whatever in the future.  Seeing the fucking golf course was not important to Mick, but he did feel like he should cross soon so that he could talk to Dillon once more, and this was as good an excuse as any.

He was wearing the BDU shorts and the faded old purple t-shirt he'd put on earlier.  That giant fucking cheeseburger was pretty amazing too.  Hannah was full of surprises even here.  Normally, he would have taken the unexpected visit after Hannah left as a wonderful excuse to not go, but he was not really sure how many chances he would have.  Would it be only hours or days?  Or somehow years?  More?  He couldn't contemplate that, but what if?  How the fuck would he stand it?

Mick knew how hard all this had been and continued to be on Dillon.  Maybe Hannah didn't even understand; Mick wasn't sure.  Mick was pretty sure he had at least some idea, though.  Taya had given him insight into the whole thing as well.  Dillon had been living with this for decades.  He had to be completely fucking crazy by now.  Mick understood obligation.  And revenge.  Dillon had been living and reliving everything that had happened so that he could finish his mission.  And then he was also collecting these people.  As much as Mick wondered what Hannah and Connie and Kevin and the others would do, Dillon was the reason they were there.  Dillon had continued.  How had he survived it?

Flyin' Flannel

Gabby Giffords Is Pissed

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Attention Texas: Chemical Plants Probably Don't Belong Right Next To School And Hospitals

Texas, it's like a whole other circle of hell.  Congrats, Texas, you win the biggest assholes in the world award again for being the just the sort of Galtian paradise where job creators are free to run chemical plants right next to schools and nursing homes.  Hey!  Freedom, motherfrakker!  This is what it is all about.  A dozen dead.  Homes destroyed.  Fires.  It's all good.  This is just like hell.  It is Texas!  And even better, the tee vee reports tonight say that the plant had not been inspected since the 80's.  Brilliant!  Nice going assholes.  Here's a science tip for you morons: Ammonium nitrate and anhydrous ammonia can be extremely dangerous, especially when rigorous safety practices are not followed.  Just when you thought Texas could not possibly get any worse.

My Favorite Thing On Tee Vee Today: Al Sharpton And Kevin Cullen

This is fucking golden.  Al Sharpton on the tee vee with a Southie looking motherfucker called Kevin Cullen.  There's something kinda brilliant about that combination.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Please Gods, Save Us From Pop Culture Banality And Shit Like Bridesmaids

Fictional gods, I beseech you to save us from banal and shallow pop culture criticism like this nonsense and from heinous films like Bridesmaids.  (And has the supremely unwatchable and unfunny Leslie Mann ever "stolen scenes" anywhere?  What the fuck is that bullshit?)  The only worthwhile, satisfying comedic entertainment of which Judd Apatow, or J.J. Abrams for that matter, could ever be part would be a prime-time self-immolation live on MSNBC.  Shitty films like Bridesmaids are chock full of cheap, obvious faux sentimentality and stunningly inept jejune attempts at humor.  I certainly understand that most pop culture appeals to the basest audience, but shouldn't we expect more at some point and not be such slipshod consumers?

What Do You Call A Lit Major Who Took Organic Chem?

Doctor.

Teenaged Australian Space Beetles Understand America Better Than Most Americans

With so many Americans living in ignorance and delusion for their entire lives, when America is so easily understood by intelligent people who live pretty far away that is some small hope for the future of the planet.  This person has more of a feel for life in 2013 America then our entire establishment and government.  The fact that it scares them is a sad testament. 

Real Gun Control Is What We Need

And I will keep saying it.  The failure of gun control in the Senate is a failure of our government, our politics, and our society.  The laws in question were pretty much shit.  Real gun control is what we need.  An end to concealed carry.  No semiautomatic rifles.  Registration.  Insurance.  Yearly licensing.  A deescalation of the violence everywhere.  Let the insane, the reactionary, the gun nuts froth and flail.  We as a society deserve better.  Unfortunately, we are incapable of acting in a rational manner, and we will continue to torture our children and ourselves with senseless, needless gun violence. 

America Is Filled With Hopeless Assholes

And unfortunately, they're everywhere.  On this thread, a guntard troll came out to make me reconsider my faith in humanity.  I know that critical thinking, reading comprehension, basic analysis, and rudimentary history are not the strong points of teabagging guntard types, but how they continue to willfully misunderstand the Second Amendment is one of the most disheartening things in the universe.  Here's what this asshole said (and he only got dumber from there!):

"Actually, Norway had a mass shooting in 2011. many kid/teenagers died. American was built on firearms ownage and usage and they are a right. The 2nd does not grant it, it affirms it. Evil is all around and will not be legislated away. As much as the MSM would like you to believe the progressive movement is winning, it is not. Witness the power of true patriots and Americans."

Because I am a bad, bad man, I said:

"you are the dumbest motherfucker on the planet, unfortunately you have too many brothers and sister who wallow in your shared ignorance and disgusting stupidity. the norway shooting from 2011 will never happen again because norway is a sane, reasonable society. i'm sorry your pathetic ignorance is only equaled by your atrocious reading comprehension. the second amendment grants the right of the people to form a militia; ownership of any particular weapon is neither granted nor affirmed by the second amendment. the evil people in america are guntards like you who are too dumb to read, too stupid to learn, and too paranoid to contribute to a polite society. the people you consider true patriots and americans are the biggest assholes who have ever lived."

It didn't get any better.  Jesus Frakking Christ, America is doomed.

Nuovo SunTour?

SunTour?  The Taiwanese owners of the SunTour name are bringing back some stuff but not racing junk.  Apparently they're going to go for randonneuring components.  As the Reno Rambler sez, this sounds like a joint venture with Rivendell.  Who knows, maybe they're going to make some neat stuff.  I mean, why not?

Tokyo Police Science

Gun Control Failure Is America's Failure

Our society is broken.  Our Senate is broken.  Our government is broken.  After a mass murder four months ago and thousands dead since, the United States has utterly failed to do what other decent, reasonable, and functional societies have done in the wake of such atrocities, namely passing laws that removed the guns.  Those societies, in Australia, Great Britain, and Norway, have not had a mass shooting since, but we have had nearly 4000 gun deaths since Newtown.  Jesus frakking christ, we suck.

Would The Boston Bombing Have Been OK If They Had Used A Drone?

Making a crockpot bomb and leaving it along the street during a marathon is a pretty shitty thing to do.  No doubt about that, but would it have been cool if the mad bomber had used a drone instead?  American military and CIA drones kill and mutilate all over the world just about every day, mostly for the protection of war profiteering and other corporate interests as opposed to the protection of American civilians or freedom or some other bullshit.  So, if by some miracle, another nation manages to access a trillion dollar military infrastructure and decides to sow a little chaos in the lower 48 by blasting away with some drones is that cool with us?  It's apparently cool with us when our government does that drone shit overseas, while the Boston crockpot bombs are the greatest atrocity in human history since 9/11.

More Fun We Missed: Fox "News" Versus The Greatest College Professor In America Last Week

The domestic teabagger terrorism bombing in Boston also wiped out was promising to be hella fun: the ginned up faux outrage against last week's winner of America's Best College Professor, Darry Sragow.  The dregs of the right wing idiot machine got all bent when a USC professor was unapologetically candid and correct about the Republican party, telling his class many of them were "stubborn", "old", "racist", "white", and "stupid".  Now that kind of truth cannot be tolerated by the racist cracker assholes and the propaganda idiot machine that nourishes them, so when some random dimwit little twerp in the mold of Ben Shapiro got all pissy, Fox "News" was doing its damnedest to take this nonsense national.  Because of the Boston incident, the sell-by date on this good stuff is probably past, and we will not get the high-calorie enjoyment of watching this turn rancid under the spotlight.  Fuckers.

Your One-Stop Internet Venezuelan Disinformation Site

I have no special insight into the people behind this Big Lie website, but it is often sighted these days as some sort of reliable source into the situation in Venezuela.  Really, though, anyone dumb enough to believe the panting paranoia and obvious fabrications found there probably thinks Obama is a Kenyan, a Muslim, or a liberal.  This bullshit is designed to prevent ignorant fools like the majority of Americans from understanding anything about life in Venezuela. 

Is Venezuela An Enemy Of The United States?

The news of Nicolas Maduro's victory in the election caused much discomfort in the U.S.  With sparse coverage even before the Boston bombs, most of it so insanely biased in favor of the conservative candidate that is sounded as if it could have been written by Fox "News" or Jay Carney, many Americans probably have no idea of what is really happening post election.  Unfortunately for the people of Venezuela, the United States government will continue to actively work against the interests of progress and of the people.  And of course, some Venezuelans themselves are fucking scum.  Too bad that douche isn't still in Triple A.

El Popo Franciso's Lady Problems

As it turns out, the new guy has the same problem with women as the Popenfuhrer did.  Can I get a no shit?  Probably the only good thing about the Church is the work for the poor and the vulnerable that the relatively decent and liberal nuns do.  They are a model for the possibility of a Catholic Church that doesn't disgust anyone with more than a couple of watts of brain power.  It's too fucking bad that Francisco doesn't seem to understand that shit. 

Virag's Movie Reviews: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

I wanted to see this flick in the theater and missed it.  I did see it on DVD at some point but only recently had the opportunity to watch the unrated version in some degree of peace.  Amazingly enough, there were a few funny moments, mostly due to Rob Corddry and Clark Duke.  John Cusack especially did not really look like he was all that interested in being in the movie, but he may have been reacting to the general sloppiness of the whole production.  Because the film could not decide whether the three middle-aged characters should be acting like the sadder, yet purportedly wiser grownups or the hard-charging hopeful but boneheaded teenagers, it was up to the actors to decide how to play it.  If the director had decided for himself and made the film more consistent, Hot Tub Time Machine could have been way more fun.  As it was, there were a few laughs, but it was far from being a raunchy, no holds barred comedy for grownups.  Given the state of tee vee, the movie felt like a pilot for a pretty awful sitcom with a few attempts at shocking humor thrown in, and a few of them were okay.  The "I want my two dollars" line was pretty good, and perhaps Dan Schneider should have popped up somewhere since he and Cusack are such good friends!  All in all, HTTM was probably a missed opportunity.

Life Is Hard On The Appalachian Trail

What the fuck?  I almost--almost--can't believe that Mark Sanford would be dumb enough to violate a court order and break into his ex-wife's house during the middle of a political campaign.  Except, that he did really go AWOL while he was a governor and violate all sorts of policies as well as the public trust, such as it is in South Carolina, so he is certainly capable of the most asinine conduct.  Why the house?  Was he looking for something?  Planting something?  Dressing up in his ex-wife's latex Bo Peep outfit and taking pictures of himself rubbing one out for the Argentine paramour?  We may never know the answers to these questions, but tune in next time for another episode of Bullshit, or Not?

Such Is The Bread Of An Everyday Life

Meanwhile, In Our Own Glorious Empire

Lost in the Boston coverage was this Times op-ed from a Gitmo prisoner, who oddly enough has not been charged, not been tried, and not been released!  While we wallow in our self-pity about some pathetic asshole who tried to blow up a marathon, we are probably not laser-focused on what atrocities our glorious American Empire is up to at this very moment.  The Boston bomber will be caught, and most likely charged and tried, but our America will continue to bomb, kill, and torture without mercy all around the world, and somehow, not so many people will get as worked up about that shit as did about Boston.  That's fucking bullshit, but it is fucking bullshit that serves the interests of our government and their masters because once again Americans are scared of some mostly-harmless and almost completely fictional enemies while the Empire wages war and business unabated.  The dumb fuckers were all over this shit doing the business of their overlords: IBD and The NY Post.  The last thing those sort of idiots want is any critical thinking about Gitmo, torture, or anything else that interrupts the business of empire.

Charles Pierce Is Getting TV Time

In the wake of the Boston bombing, Charles Pierce has been getting mucho face time on the MSNBC tee vee.  Now, this bombing thing will pass, especially when it turns out it some random asshole American who did it, but will Pierce still get on the tee vee?

Keith Ablow: The Second Worst Thing About A Bombing In Boston

Yes, the worst things about a bombing--whether it is a mad bomber in Boston or thousands of drones elsewhere--are the killed and the maimed and the horror.  But, if the bomb blows up in the United States, the second worst things are jerkoff assholes like the astoundingly creepy and stupid Keith Ablow who immediately start screeching bullshit about American exceptionalism and freedom and liberty and how the black, brown, yellow, other dirty people hate us because we're better than they are and Jesus, who was an English-speaking white guy from Cobb County, Georgia, loves us and hates them.  These fuckers should be blown up.  It would be nice if the innocent kids and other random folks were safe, here, there, and everywhere, and the hateful assholes who populate the mostly-conservative American political society were the victims, instead of the usual perpetrators, for once.

Thatcher Is Still Dead; Here's Some Useful Perspective

Here is an excellent essay on the Thatcherite legacy in Britain.  Spoiler: it's fucking horrible.  Thatcher was the British Reagan in every sense, and that is easily the most insulting thing you could say about any politician.

Four Months Since Newtown: Let's Tally The Dead

Unlike some of the jerkoffs on MSNBC, I was not that fucking impressed with the Senate not continuing a filibuster on the gun legislation for a couple of reasons.  First, the laws they are considering are pretty much useless, and second, the House is run by fucking assholes.  The best thing Slate has ever done is this gun-death body counter.  At least 3458 Americans killed with guns in the four months since the Sandy Hook massacre.  Think on that for a moment.  Thousands dead, and yet our government is not even considering any real gun control.  England didn't put up with that bullshit.  Australia.  Norway.  Those fools know better than we do; they have a functioning government and society.  The United States does not.

Chavez Vs. Thatcher

Thatcher dead = Good.  Chavez dead = bad.  I can buy that.  If, a hundred years from now, Chavez has had lasting impacting, and Thatcher is seen as the rancid villain she was, the world will be a much better place.  I'm not hopeful, but what else are you gonna do?

Still And Always Fighting For A Woman's Right To Choose

As conservative assholes like Kirsten Powers flail around idiotically trying to make a back-alley motherfucker Kermit Gosnell into an anti-choice cause celebre, they ignore the fact that Gosnell and his butcher shop are the products of laws and attitudes that restrict choice, restrict access to healthcare, and restrict oversight of medical practitioners.  Without Pennsylvania's laws restricting access to healthcare and abortion services, a piece of shit like Gosnell would never have been able to commit his crimes.  Rotten fuckers like Powers and USA Today harm women and children by being on the wrong side of the rights of women to choose whether or not to reproduce. 

Wonderful Outcome In Venezuelan Election

The Boston bombing has sucked up all the major news stuff today, but the Venezuelan election looks like a nice piece of news today, with the Chavez folks winning with more than 50% of the vote after a high turnout.  Good job, people. 

Conservatives Are Really Stupid: Morning Blow Edition

Joe Scarborough would love it if people thought he was not the dumbest motherfucker on the planet, but every time he opens his mouth, he destroys any chance of that happening.  I would venture that former Congressman Joe Dead Intern Scarborough does not in fact understand the difference between individual taxes and a politician's tax policies.  Asshole.

Long Term Unemployment Funfetti

This article from The Atlantic has been getting a shitload of play.  We are destroying individual lives along with our collective economy with our horrendous unemployment problem in the United States.  Unless we turn this shit around quickly, it will be a grim future for all of us as too many people who should have been earning a living start to struggle to survive as they get older.  It's too fucking bad that none of the ultra-rich assholes in our government and establishment media have any goddamned idea what most of Americans will go through if they don't work and collect a paycheck every week.  Fucked?  Fucked.

Pop Culture Criticism You May Not Have Expected: Big Tent Justified

Big Tent Democrat finds a cowboy.  Uh, marshal.  Anyhoo, Justified fucking rocks.  I don't know if it the bestest, but it has to be certainly one of the best shows currently produced.  Game of Thrones is a favorite of many; Elementary got a great write up from one of our great up and coming critics.  And there's always Doctor Who and Orphan Black to bring out the idiots.

Workin' Progress: Hanna With An H

When Hanna was little, she used to go down to her father's room on mornings that he was home and tell him that she was awake and going potty and going to have breakfast.  Generally, if Mick was in bed those mornings, it was because he had worked overtime or was catching extra shifts for someone  or some shit and being awakened like that was fucking torture.  She did this without fail--and he suspected she did that even on mornings when he was not there--for a couple of years despite any and all attempts to dissuade her.  Just about every day, someone was up already, but Mick got up, got her the fucking cereal or whatever, and went back to bed.

After a couple of years, when her schedule included full-time school and she was limited to ruining his day on the weekends, Mick was able to change her behavior by explaining the Prime Directive.  After explaining the importance of not interfering with alien civilizations, her father told Hanna that unless it was an emergency, she should not wake up her father.  Somebody else was up and could be with her, or she could read in bed, or go to the bathroom without informing anyone, or whatever.  Thus, the Prime Directive for Hanna was not to wake up her father on the very rare days where he got to sleep.  It helped that she was getting older and establishing her own personality.  At 5 she was already beginning to disassociate herself from Mick, and she could turn on the TV herself.  Mick suspected she enjoyed the time alone without anyone in that house fucking with her.

When Mick woke in that dark room to sounds a giant pregnant woman bumping around, he was not for a second confused into thinking that he was home 20 or 30 years ago and that Hanna was a small child.  Mick pulled on some clothes.  The room was dark, and he let the neon yellow light in to finish waking him up.  His head didn't hurt anymore, so that was good.  On his way out of the bedroom, he passed the ancient orange Super V.  It was his.  That one from 1999.  Hanna was fucking crazy; not only had she kept it, but she'd brought it all the way here for him.  The clothes were authentic too.  She'd packed him a fucking bag.  Jesus.

Hanna was sitting at the table, resplendent in her shiny space beetle maternity dress lit by bright sunlight from every direction, eating something from a wok-sized bowl.  Was it curry?  She'd polarized the room though, Mick noticed, because there were no harsh reflections anywhere in here.

     -Hi, Daddy.

Mick leaned across and pulled a handful of whatever it was out of the bowl.

     -Hey!

     -Hi, Nana.  How are you?  What the fuck is this?

     -Mine.  I got something for you.  I slaved over it myself.  You don't even like that.

She pushed a covered dish over toward him across the table.  Under it was a giant cheeseburger, or whatever, on a hard roll.  It would have salsa, and lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions and green pepper slices.  No shit.

     -No, shit.  Thanks.

     -That's me.  Domestic fucking goddess.  The first thing I had to do was genetically engineer the cow!  You're welcome.

     -How are you?  OK?

     -Yeah, I'm fine.  She absentmindedly rubbed the disc on her the inside of left wrist.  Wanted to see how you were doing.

     -Dillon OK?

     -He threw me out.  I've come here to live with you so that you won't be alone.  Aren't you proud? 

     -Fuck yeah.  Dream come true.  My unmarried pregnant daughter coming to live with me.  My daughter the surgeon with the MD/PhD from Harvard.  Yeah, that's happening.

     -Not that that gets us shit here, now.  But I'm cool.  Tom is okay, I guess.  He's having a hard time, not that he admits it.

Mick nodded.  He knew how hard all this was on Dillon.  Harder than anyone knew.  Probably harder than even Hanna understood.  Anyway.

     -Anyway, I saw you sleeping earlier.

     -I know.

     -Huh?

     -Blanket.

     -Yeah.

     -This fucking sucks.  I never know what time it is anywhere when you go across.  Fucking annoying.

     -Yeah!

     -Yeah! 

     -Those assholes shoulda thought of that shit.  You're probably tired all the time, right?

     -No, not really.  It's kinda weird cuz nobody has a schedule, but I'm very comfortable.  It's been all good so far.  I was actually talking to Olivia Park and Katie Berotti about their pregnancies.

     -Oh, Jesus.

     -Yeah, I thought you'd love that, but Mom never had an normal, ideal, pregnancy I guess.  Not with me.  Not Johnny.  Or the Anderson kids, so I wanted to ask them.  And Olivia is a physician, so...

     -Those two better watch out.  They'll wind up knocked up again.  Berotti's here.  There.  Olivia's husband'll be there soon.

     -Yeah.  She glanced quickly at her wrist.  You know, she continued, this really helps me with the sensitivities, but I don't have to be a mind reader to know that you shouldn't be here by yourself. 

     -I'm fine.  And the last place I want to be is there.  With those assholes.  But if you want to come here--

     -Oh, shit--

     -Well, fuck you, then, but I'm serious.  Bring Dillon.  Crank out the twins here.

     She laughed.  I don't think it'll come to that, but it's not good for you to be here by yourself.  You look like hell.  I'll send Connie over to live with you.

     -Yeah, that'd be fucking great.  What do I have to do to get away from that time?

     -Are you gonna eat that?

     -Yeah.  Hey!  This is pretty fucking good!

Nobody who knew Mick and was paying attention would have needed to ask why Hannah was spelled like that.  She had taken the explanation to heart when she was a toddler.  Now she was having twins.  How pregnant was she?  Mick still wasn't sure.  Would it be different with the thing.

     -What is that? he asked between bites.  Is that dress made out of the same--

     -Yeah!  It's surprisingly comfortable.  It is nice and light but feels substantial.  I like it.  I like to put it on after coming out of the ocean water.  It smells so nice.  And it's soft.  You wouldn't think so looking at it, but it is.

In the sunlight streaming into the room, the shiny dress was rainbow iridescent.  It was an interesting effect.

     -You look like a shiny space beetle in that thing, Mick said.

     -Yeah, don't fuck with me.

Political Song for Donald Kaufman to Sing

Good Gods, Blazing Saddles

Oh, fuck, I DVR'd Blazing Saddles last night, and I know that I will be watching it soon, when I should be doing something productive, and once I start it, I will be sucked in until the end.  There is so much win in that movie, and it should be the shame of our age that nothing as crazed and creative could be made today. "We'll give some land to the niggers and the chinks.  But we don't want the Irish!"

Virag's Movie Reviews: Hanna (2011)

Hanna was the sort of movie that I almost like a bunch.  There was some cool shit in it; Saoirse Ronan is a hell of young actor, and the normally unwatchable Eric Bana was surprisingly watchable in this.  What kind of cheesed me off was the fact that just about everything in the film could have, and should have, been better.  The goofy, derivative fairy tale elements should have been completely scrubbed from the script once the filmmakers got the vibe; the hackneyed symbolic shit was just sad.  The screenplay needed a major rewrite, and the original scribe probably would not have been up to that.  The scifi possibilities of the story should have been explored, along with the action.  I would think I was the last one to ever say something like this, but more Eric Bana in a more obvious parallel of actions scenes between the father and his adopted daughter would have been cool.  Seriously, if the script had been revised by someone who was a fuck of a lot more talented and imaginative, and the director had been able to bring a better sense of the fictional world in the film, this could have been really fucking neat.  Ronan was excellent; Bana was excellent; Cate Blanchett didn't have nearly enough to do, and some of the action was tantalizing.  Damn, this coulda been a contender. 

Green Establishment As Obama Fluffers

Jeffrey St. Clair is shocked.  Shocked, I say!  Really, thought, why should you, me, or the fellers down the street expect the establishment environmentalist type to be any different from the establishment media type or the establishment political type.  They are all deeply invested in the status quo above all else, and their actions show their true natures.  It's a good gig, pays well, and makes them feel all warm and fuzzy.  Of course, real work would be inconvenient or even dangerous, and doesn't pay that well, so don't look for any establishment tools to do the real work for the environment--or anything else--any time soon. 

This Is The Most Pathetic Thing You Will Ever See

No, it's not Dana Perino, the fucking dope so dim she didn't know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was while she was working as a White House spokesmoron.  Instead, what is so jarringly bathetic is the reaction of her peers on that Fox "News" show.  While any decent, self-respecting primate would have immediately ripped her to shreds with unbridled, lustful derision, the cowardly fuckers on Fox pretend she is not the most embarrassing specimen in Ailes' zoo and choke on their opprobrium to squeak out something incongruously, insanely complimentary.  Fucking disgusting all around.

Watching Obama Fluffer Heads Explode

Kinda fun and kinda sad.  These are the sorts of folks who bent over backwards and forwards to fluff Obama relentlessly when the (few) political realists and cynics said he was full of shit in general, but to be vindicated by shitbirds like Jim Carville is painful for even the most enthusiastic scuzz guzzlers.  Obama has shitty politics and shitty political instincts simply because he is a solid, rock-ribbed conservative, aka a fucking Democrat.  Democrats who for some reason fancy themselves liberal and count Obama as one of their own are fucking assholes.

Workin' Progress: I'm A Shiny Beetle, Don't Fuck With Me

Mick had not darkened the room, so the radiant yellow sunshine was reflecting everwhere when he opened his eyes.  There wasn't any excess heat though, and he felt pleasantly warm until he realized he needed to piss.  As soon as he stood up, he realized that Hannah was there somewhere in the house.  He didn't speak and went to piss before he put on some shorts and looked for her.

She was sleeping on one of the sofas.  Wearing some sort of light, metallic green dress, Hannah looked like a giant, pregnant shiny beetle lounging in the sun.  Mick had no idea why she was there, but she looked okay, and he could actually her left wrist the way she had it under her head, so he knew everything was fine physically.  Mick also knew that he hadn't really been sleeping long and still felt like shit, so he darkened the room around Hannah.  Naturally he couldn't find a fucking pen or anything because there probably wasn't anything like that there, and instead of replicating one, he took on of the clear sheets that Taya had used sketching and snapped it against his palm to make it rigid.  Propping it up on the table against Hannah's bag, he touched his fingertip to the smooth surface and wrote "Feel free to violate the Prime Directive" on it, the words trailing his finger in glittering dark script as moved.  Hannah was breathing softly, her long legs pulled up slightly towards her belly when Mick covered her with a light blanket.  Back in his room, he darkened it all the way and put out the yellow sunlight.

Pop Culture Criticism You Should Probably Not Be Wasting Your Time With: Doctor Who And Orphan Black

The second Clara Dr. Who episode was not exactly great.  It was kinda claustrophobic and cheap looking, with a real 60's Star Trek ambiance.  Jenna-Louise Coleman continues to please as Clara, but I don't have a shitload of faith that the story will have a super-duper payoff.  That's not her problem, though.  Matt Smith is starting to look a little odd in the part of the Doctor, but he does look like he's enjoying himself this series.  For me, the episode didn't work well at all until the end; Clara and the Doctor finally jelled, and their performances were nice.  The producers should have worked harder to make the episode better for the first 80%, though.  For fun they certainly should have the little kid singer made up like a tiny version of the opera singer from The Fifth Element; that woulda been cool!  And the cheesy cartoon jack-o-lantern moon monster was laughably bad and threatened to completely undo what the two principals were doing.  What was that thing anyway?  A star?  Was it a good thing when it collapsed and went dark?  Was all life in that system going to freeze and die in a short order?  That would fucking suck for them!

Orphan Black is looking like it blew its wad right away; I am having trouble believing that they have any fucking idea where they are going.  The initial idea probably seemed really fucking cool.  Clones!  Yeah, let's do a show about clones.  Good looking girl clones.  Let's cast an beautiful actress with a unique look and a great ass.  And let's show her great ass bare on the show!  Yeah.  Cool.  Ok, now what?  Beats the fuck outa me.  Well, I'm afraid they're going to wind up doing a sloppy mash-up of cop shows, mysteries, and X Files and Lost half-baked weirdness.  I guess we'll see.  I'm also curious as to whether the pretty actress with the great ass has the chops to pull it off and carry a series.

Don't forget!  Read this! She's a fucking pro, for christ's sake, and a great writer to boot!

Political Song for Thatcherites to Sing

England For The English

Thatcher's death and her disastrous legacy will be the important work of history now.  (Not that I'm incredibly hopeful that we'll learn our fucking lessons all of the sudden.)  The paroxysms of joy after her death were right and righteous, but, after the hangover, can't really change anything.  The only hope is history and progress, and hope is in short supply.

Pop Culture Criticism You Should Be Reading On Renegade Chicks

I'm not a viewer of the show discussed here, Elementary, but the writer of the column is excellent--I was waiting for her new gig to start.  And she knows her television!  And she's not afraid to be enthusiastic and candid about what she likes.  I read tons of depressing and infuriating dreck each day, along with too much political news and commentary and other random shit on the interwebs, but I actually enjoy reading talented writers regardless of the subject--in any medium--as long as they are sincere and interesting.  If Renegade Chicks continues to seek out and support compelling authors, it is exactly the sort of online content everyone should be reading.  Plus, I would like to read some music commentary in a similar vein because she's got skillz.

Mmmm...Peaches

Ed Frakking Rendell

Rendell is the herpes of establishment Democratic politics.  No matter what anyone does, he's that crusty sore that, even when he's not weeping puss, never really goes away.  Lucky us.  His frakking money is not the only reason to despise him, but it is a very good reason to cut him out of the American political and cultural conversation forever.  Just because our politics is a disease-ridden trollop doesn't mean we have to let that kill us all.

Jonathan Alter Might Be The Dimmest Bulb On The Fucking Village Idiot Tree

What the fuck was that?  On Chris Hayes's Chris Hayes Show, Jonathan Alter got skullfucked in both sockets over his insane Social Security position and didn't even seem to understand what was happening.  Hayes, the elected guy, the woman from Demos, and the woman from some stupid conservative shithole all savaged Alter for being an absolute dickbrain, and he just sat there and drooled like a simp with jizz gushing from his eye holes.  Having that fucking tool on the show almost made me feel bad for Chris Hayes. 

Lee Papa Suffers So You Don't Have To

The Rudepundit has a little fun with the horrific abortion that is a Brad Paisley/LL Cool J duet.  ABOUT RACISM!  Kill me now.  Am I going to listen to the song so I can wallow in its astounding awfulness?  No.  Because I don't have to.  I know what shit is, anything with the words Brad and Paisley is going to suck huger moose cock than has ever been sucked since 5evah.  The LL Cool J inanity is just a whole lot of chewy worms in the shit crusted on that ginormous moose cock.  No, thank you.

Workin' Progress: The Suns, The Moons, And The Stars

It was really dark; this could very be the darkest place in the galaxy, Mick thought.  There were no lights on anywhere--there were no other lights--and the sky was perfectly clear; before the moons, the night was so black.  The water and the breeze were very calm, silent.  He had been alone for far too long, and now he was farther than anyone had ever been.  He could physically feel the desolate emptiness opening before him, dead, dark, and cold.  It was a worthy dream to bring light and life to that emptiness, but he had no role in that.  He could no longer believe in any state other than alone, even with Taya, and could not even imagine who might have once been a companion.  Standing with the empty house behind him and the vast ocean ahead, Mick believed this could be the end, for even though he had such an improbable physical vigor, he was lacking whatever vital spark of spirit that was necessary to do more than simply exist.  He was creating the darkness now; it was rushing out from him to fill the space; he was more alone than the had ever been, and he was grateful for the solitude.  He was breathing but there was no air; he was standing but there was no ground beneath him and no sky above.  He was falling into the void.  At long last there was nothing to bind him.  With an unfamiliar panic, he realized that he could not see any way back.  With no familiar and no routine, he choked on the crush of oblivion.  He calmed and ordered and stretched himself into nothingness he was becoming but came crashing down under the weight of the first bolts of the dawn.

Mick slid to his knees and coughed up some slippery yellow bile.  He wasn't thinking clearly but he knew his head hurt and his feet were burning.  The breeze picked up ever so slightly with the sunrise with very little sound.  His head felt like it was cracking into large, irregular sections; the taste in his mouth was rancid and metallic, but he could not even consider moving from his collapse.  With his long period in healing, he had gotten quite good at ordering his consciousness.  Being by himself helped, but he had put the time in and was usually in control of his memories and his perception.  Nothing was helping this time.  He was pummeled by his fears and his failures; stretched into nothingness, they snapped back in wave after crushing wave.  This was worse than anything.  He needed to stop.

He caught himself looking at the disgusting oily slime dripping from his lips and realized it had only been a second or two since his knees endorsed the concept of physical reality.  This imposition gave him a lever and he pulled himself up.  He wiped at his mouth with his hand and immediately regretted it.

     -Motherfucker, he said aloud and tried to spit but nothing was there except that rotten taste.

He could not contemplate two hundred years of this, or four hundred, or whatever the fuck it was going to be.  One lifetime of desolation and fear was enough; he had no energy to go on, but he would for at least another day, apparently. 

If Taya had stayed with him, he could have gutted it out.  She was his angel; she understood him, knew him, but there was no way he could join her family.  Hannah didn't need him anymore; she had Rebecca, a better Rebecca than would have been possible anywhere else, and Mick didn't want any part of that, either.  That was his dilemma.  He'd been alone for his whole adult life practically; he couldn't do anything else now, and there was no one he wanted to be with.  He was glad Olivia was alive and shit, but he would be perfectly content to never see her face; the living woman whom he had loved in his teens was not the girl he had thought of every day, the ghost who had schooled him in the possibility of lifelong love.  He was damn lonely--he had been lonely every day, even if he hardly ever admitted it to himself--and would only get more lonely every day, and there was no longer even the tiniest hope that someone worthy would finally decide to love him.  They were all dead, and he might live for a thousand fucking years.  Taya didn't stay.  Taya didn't want to stay.  And he missed her.  And he really wanted to be fuck her again.  He really wanted to shower first and brush his teeth and then fuck someone.  Jerking off wasn't gonna quite cut it. 

Thankfully, he was exhausted.  He hadn't slept for the past couple of days, and whatever he did last night, it wasn't restful, so he would be able to sleep for a while.  While his head was clearing, he regained his clarity.  He could hear them in his head, just beyond his comprehension.  The Saga and the Morning Song were there, too.  It was quite remarkable; if he focused they were barely there.  He had no idea if most of them even knew he was there.  Regardless, he knew that most of them wouldn't care anyway.  In the most practical sense, Mick didn't give a fuck; what he most wanted in the short term was a period of deep, dreamless sleep.

Even in his wrung-out, maudlin state, Mick felt jittery and spastic.  Not sleeping until he was worn down was his plan to try and find a balance, a routine in tune with his existence.  That hadn't worked so well last night.  He was wary but fucking tired.

The Ol' Beggars Really Babely Trim

Flogging Molly is on a steady decline of recorded music quality, but this cut, "The Ol' Beggars Bush" is fucking epic.  It was on in the car today.  Just too good.

Justified Last Week

The finale was pretty fucking good.  Nice ending for the arc that took a while to get rolling.  The producers really jumped through hoops to keep the Boyd character viable.  Now they need to do an alternate-reality show where Jim Beaver, Sheriff Bullock, and Cletus Van Damme go around being bad asses and fucking shit up in a cool, hyper-violent series, kinda like a Game of Thrones for men.  (Jk.  I kid.) 

NCAA Women's Championship

Holy shit, UConn fucking destroyed Louisville.  Was interesting to see Pitino in the stands.  I say it every year, but I have no idea why the girls don't play on Sunday night for their championship, the day before the men's game.  They didn't ask me, so fuck 'em.

Doused Diiver

The Scum Of The Earth Loved Thatcher

The biggest pieces of shit on earth liked Thatcher.  I mean, loathsome assholes need each other, so what else would you expect from the likes of those bastards?

Political Song for The Labor Party to Sing

More anti-Thatcher goodness, this time from the Mekons.  There is always an alternative to rancid slags like Thatcher!

Fukushima Is Not Going Away

Go figure!  This is an excellent update on the Fukushima clusterfuck over on FDL.  Lots to unpack, because these sorts of accidents have wide-ranging effects and some of those take many years to fully manifest themselves.  Real science, unencumbered by batshit crazy right-wing idiocy, is never easy to do when energy money company is involved in occluding the facts, so the people really fighting to discover the truth should be lauded. 

Pain Was Your Just Reward

"Margaret's Injection", another great track from Kitchens of Distinction, with a hale and hearty wish for the death of the hated Thatcher.  There are some pretty bad live clips of this song out there, but the lyrics are quite good, so it is worth being able to hear them.  "Selling back to people what they already had."  "She dies unloved" indeed!

Political Song for Morrissey to Sing

The kind people didn't exactly didn't get their dream of the guillotine, but the witch is finally dead, so that's something.