A Confederacy of Douchebags

I like the fact that the title Fanfare for the Common Man has evil socialistmic tendencies as well.

@Also sprach Tommmcatt: I think he might be the best birther I’ve ever seen – even better than Atlas Juggs.

@blogenfreude:

I agree. There’s something intrinsically hilarious about someone who is clearly so stupid trying so hard to seem brilliant.

@Also sprach Tommmcatt: And in the second video, the political science major. Must sleep through most of her classes.

did the population of lunatics exploded overnight or has it always been like this?

@karen marie:

I think it’s been like this for a long, long time. They just gave themselves permission to foam at the mouth in pubic of late, though.

Oh, and welcome. Love the furbaby avatar!

just for the record, since i’m here and I WOULD KNOW, these are a bunch of wasted american teenagers that have descended since school’s been out. got a kick out of seeing them at murphy’s pub, a place near me that makes great mojito’s, btw.
they seem to be enjoying them.
the “polital science”genius who didn’t know netanyahu was the giveaway.
this video in no way reflects an israeli attitude, and these were not israeli’s.even the one with the beard was a wanna be. trust me. couldn’t you tell these were drunk american teens? nauseating, nonetheless.

@baked:

I’m interested in your take on the speech. Did it make a splash there (you are still over there, right?

@karen marie: It has always been thus. Thats the most important thing to know, in life, what appears to be a spiralling decline, thats just situation normal, all fucked up. The shit of days gone by fades in memory, and when the same old shit comes around again, it seems like a new and horrible development.

Hi karen. There used to be free drink tickets. Now it’s go behind the bar and help yourself. Hopefully you’ll get more than just a warm Bud Light. Ax Prom for some nachos.

Baked – ‘sup?

@baked: (i mean tommycatt!!!)
among informed intelligent circles, the word is, lets wait and see.
obama is viewed with wariness.
he hasn’t done anything yet and the rhetoric is nothing more than we can expect. he supports israel blah blah, Palestinians need a homeland too blah blah.
there is a clear undercurrent of “we ain’t taking shit anymore” that scares me. the climate has changed to hawk. to wit, saw a t-shirt in a window with the israeli air force insignia’s. it said, “don’t worry america, we have your back”

hey, how is pupster catt?

@redmanlaw:
yo reds. nada. i’m almost through with israel. i’m just not a city dweller. too many damn people, which i tolerate in much smaller doses.
back to paradise island in july. talk about kerfluffles! the PM is so corrupt that i hear tell england is taking it back from self governing!
it’s a lot to absorb, following 3 different countries political fuck ups.

also, hope you’re recovered from the break in. i’ve had PTSD since they broke your window.

@karen marie: Actually, we’ve been fairly restrained here at Stinque.

Oh, you mean out there! Yeah, seems so.

Welcome.

@Nabisco: Heh.

@baked: You try not to let it get to you but it’s always on the back of your mind. It’s our second one here. Replacing the damn window cost more than the value of the stuff they got.

/rant, rant . . . .

So, as in the “Woodstock” song, “we’ve got to get ourselves
back to the garden”? Can you get your groovy crib back or you gotta find new digs?

if there was a gaffe in his cairo speech, this is it:

barry: “6 million jews were killed, more than the entire population of israel today, ON THE OTHER HAND, it is also understandable that the palestinian people have suffered in pursuit of a homeland”

on the other hand? there is room for comparison between the holocaust, brought upon the jews due to no fault of their own, and the suffering of the palestinians, for which a cogent argument can be made that the palestinians bear a good share of the responsibility.
as long as idiots deny a group of people the right to exist ANYWHERE, which will not change, there is only cannibal anarchy to look forward too.
1.5 billion arabs who laugh and are applauded for blowing up jewish children. ever hear of an israeli suicide bomber? as golda said, “when the jews put down their weapons, they will be exterminated. when the arabs put down their weapons there will be peace”

he also said something about israel “not going away” that is disturbing.
recognizing israel is not the same as as accepting it’s legitimacy, and the historic rights of the jews to be there.

@redmanlaw:
new digs! my former groovy beach house was spectacular because of it’s location, right on the The Most Beautiful Beach In The World.
i’m looking for elevation this time, and something new. with 360 views and more modern ammenities like central air, more space and a gourmet kitchen! trading charm for fabulousity.
all stinquers welcome!!!

“On the eve of President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt, I stepped out onto the streets of Jerusalem with my friend Joseph Dana to interview young Israelis and American Jews about their reaction to the speech.”

Both, apparently.

I’m getting a “Front Sight Firearms Training Institute” ad. I don’t have any firearms — just a dog with a growl that would scare the poop out of a Navy Seal.

@blogenfreude:
my favorite comment from that post:

Joshua · 1 day ago

“Gee, I want to gauge the political current in Israel…..

…..so I’ll find a few young drunks in Jerusalem and ask them!

Yeah, real hard hitting journalism here”

all i can say is, i’ve been here 6 months and have not been witness to racism of any kind, or anyone , israeli’s or arabs, who aren’t interested in peace. an impossible dream given the immutable characteristic of humans to be assholes.

all people want to live in peace. i blame politicians and their personal and professional agenda’s.

@baked: Probably much like this country – sociopaths stand out because those with a microphone are interested in what they have to say. See, e.g., Patrick J. Buchanan.

@Dodgerblue: I saw that ad as well … you’d think they’d know not to run it in a 10023 ZIP code.

@blogenfreude:
“first let’s kill all the lawyers”

@baked: I’m a lawyer, so I’d vote “no” on that one.

@blogenfreude:
bloggie, shakespear said it!!!!!
xoxo

@baked: Here’s a good precis on the context for that line: http://www.spectacle.org/797/finkel.html

@Dodgerblue: A friend of mine (an appellate public defender) endorses the Lethal Force Institute. He’s friends with the founder.

Those Front Sight email newsletters are annoying as fuck, in case anyone is interested in signing up.

@redmanlaw:
I signed up out of curiosity. Yes, they are annoying as fuck.

@baked: Shakespear had a character say it, a person intent on destroying the order of his society. Frequently forgotten, probably the most frequently “taken out of context” quote in history. I don’t like being a lawyer because I don’t like being the instrument of people’s greed, anger, their fueds and nastiness. Nor would I, as a government lawyer, like being involved in power, turf, and political squabbles.

Its ugly, sure, it costs society a lot, the litigisness of our society, and the lawyers who encourage have some things to answer for.

But and still, at least in our society, greed and power-lust and fueds and such are generally played out through lawyers in court.

Its not pretty, its expensive, its a drag on so much in our society, but its a huge improvement over those countries where disputes and greed and power struggles and such are settled not with lawyers, but with thugs and guns and murder and terrorism. It seems to me that those methods cost a lot more and do a lot more to impede the progress of those societies.

@baked: The palestinians have never been anything but the victims of the various regional powers that have controlled palestine over the years before it became Israel. They never did have a palestinian state, they were always under the control of someone, the Brits, the Turks, long list.

Even now, the poor bastards, they are what they are, because the regional muslim nations are using them as a constant thorn in Israel’s side, encouraging and funding their terrorism, noone will have them, I think because they know that if they take them in, they will relieve Israel of a huge constant problem.

@Promnight: I had never thought about the Palestinians as the pushed-about pawns on the uneven chessboard of the holy land. Even in international refugee law, there are refugees according to international treaties, and then there are “the Palestinians”.

@Nabisco: Historically, because of where it is, a crossroads, between several major power centers, Israel has always been subjected to domination by other, greater powers. Even in Biblical, Old Testament times, it was always dominated by either Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and others. The Bible tells the story, the jews were captured and subjegated by Egypt, Moses freed them, they were captured and subjegated by the Babylonians, they regained their freedom, then the various Alexandrian fiefdoms, then the greeks, then the Romans. After the romans, the Muslims, the crusaders, the arabs, the Turks, the brits.

The people we call “Palestinians” are just the poor local people who simply lived and survived in that land, while regime after regime of foreign powers subjegated them and carried on their power struggles in their territory. They never, in history, ruled it. Never.

And now the returning Jews, who have established their nation there, now the jews rule over them. And they are still just pawns in much bigger power struggles. The Egyptians and Saudis, Syrians and Iranians and others, fund and encourage their long term rebellion, using them as a proxy in their animosity towards Israel. But I think those other muslim powers need to have the palestinians exactly as they are, and thats why they won’t take them as refugees, won’t really offer any help to solve their problem, instead they make sure they remain in their impossible situation so that their desperation makes them easy to encourage to violence and rebellion and terrorism against the Israelis. Pawns in a bigger war, as always.

@Promnight:
good synopsis of the palestinians. i have heard this used as pro israel propaganda: palestine? there’s no such thing! i don’t believe that. these people have lived there for eons and certainly are entitled to stay and live in peace. how this will happen is, never, for the reasons you cite.

can i clarify something? the kill the lawyers quote was referring to your basic human who wants peace, and the powers that be fuck everybody up, mostly lawyers.

ADD: the psycho “palestinians”, the suicide bombers are brainwashed by whoever is up for destroying israel in the guise of helping and protecting them. what is israel to do? i’ve never seen it widely reported that before any aggression is carried out by israel, they air drop fliers telling them to get the fuck out of there. who does that? and then, they rush doctors and emt’s to the border to help the wounded, and they aren’t let in, and they don’t send the wounded out for treatment. if i sound like an israel sympathizer–i am. and they’re not always right.
this is so naive of me, but john lennon’s “imagine” is my code, and the world seems horribly sick.
why i build sand castles with children on deserted beaches.why i love dogs beyond reason. Sanity.

@baked: i’ve never seen it widely reported that before any aggression is carried out by israel, they air drop fliers telling them to get the fuck out of there.

Just for the record, AP, May 25, via MSNBC:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli aircraft have scattered pamphlets over the Gaza Strip warning residents to stay away from the border.

The heavily guarded border is the scene of sporadic fighting between militants and Israeli troops. Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters in a clash on Friday.

The Arabic pamphlets warn Gazans to stay out of areas 300 meters to 500 meters (yards) from the border fence, saying they risk being shot.

The Israeli military had no comment. The military has scattered similar warning pamphlets in the past.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says a 10-year-old boy was struck by a box of leaflets and moderately hurt during Monday’s airdrop.

Violence has largely subsided in Gaza following an Israeli offensive last January.

But that’s just one fact among many that aren’t generally reported in American media — and of course most of the story goes well beyond who bombed who, and doesn’t make for headline journalism.

From what I understand second-hand, Israeli media is much better at covering the complexity of the issues than America media would be under similar circumstances. Hell, you can’t even get the Times to call torture what it is these days — it’s “disputed,” after all.

@nojo:
al jazeera reporting box dropped on 10 year old as intentional in 3…2…1…

@baked: ADD: the psycho “palestinians”, the suicide bombers are brainwashed by whoever is up for destroying israel in the guise of helping and protecting them. what is israel to do?

I keep coming back to Prom’s analysis about Palestinians as pawns. No doubt a large part of the brainwashing is to keep the Palestinians poor and prone to anger and desperation. Having the “Palestinian cause” to rally your base and consolidate your own power is handy in Syria, Lebanon and even Saudi Arabia just like having Tio Sam continue the embargo is helpful for the Castros to keep power.

Anyone seen “Paradise Now”, about the two brothers who enlist as suicide bombers only to take different paths?

@baked: Its a fucked up world, baby. What to do? We US Americans committed a good combination of unintentional (diseases) and intentional genocide here, against the real Americans. Many still live in the refugee camps, oops, I mean “reservations,” that we set up for them 150 years ago.

Every piece of earth there is has had people that lived on it forever, and then had new peoples sweep through, Me, I am an attenuated descendant of the celts, who once occupied much of western europe, but now are left only in Ireland and Scotland and a little bit of france. They were pushed out by Romans and germanic tribes and huns and goths and others from central europe.

Is everywhere, these strifes, in varying degrees.

It will be so forever, until that day when people see themselves only as humans, and not US Americans, or christians, or jews, or muslims, or Irish or British, or conservatives and liberals, or as men and women, until, if it ever happens, people realize we are all kin, brothers and sisters, all just trying to live a meaningful life, needing as much love and forgiveness as possible, and owing love and forgiveness to all, as well.

That would be nice.