Douchebag of the Day
If he keeps winning, we may have to give him some sort of lifetime achievement award:
The questioner, Cheri Heiland, persisted, telling Grassley, “You know there is nothing in the House bill that will require any elderly person to stand before a committee and decide whether or not they are going to live or die.” Much of the crowd booed and said she was wrong.
The senator instead went on to condemn the idea of end-of-life counseling, no matter how it is structured.
“I think the best thing to do is if you want people to think about the end of life, number one, Jesus Christ is the place to start, and after that, in the physical life, as opposed to your eternal life, it ought to be done within the family and considered a religious and ethical issue and not something that politicians deal with,” he said.
I did not know Jesus offered health insurance.
Grassley is Inhofe stupid.He is Jon Kyl stupid. He is, in fact, Michelle Bachmann stupid.
Why are we ruled by religious morons?
Grassley and Grandma [WaPo]
You bigot. You are a bigot against stupid people.
Why, some of my own relatives are stupid people! That’s not nice!!
….uhh, sorry about that, lost it for a second. Boo stupid people!! Hiss!
Another argument for the philosopher-king system — so long as I get to pick.
Heh. Good one.
Well, since everyone has different opinions, I guess we will just have to throw 42 beauty queens off a mountain ledge and let our leading auteurs interpret the meaning in their splayed legs. Kinda like Mayan meet Rorschachian.
That’s the only way to settle a debate like this.
Great, I’ll tell my Jewish friend whose mother was just diagnosed with terminal cancer* that she should forego trained medical counseling to help her cope with this horrible news and just see a priest instead.
Seriously, Grassley… go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself hard.
*hypothetical example, folks.
Last night was the usual bedtime routine with my kids. Bath and jammies, brush those teeth then a shared story before each has their own reading time then lights out. Just as I was tucking Junior in and collecting his empty cup of water, he said “Daddy, do you ever think about what it’s like to die?”
I said “no son, that’ s what the government is for.”
The real horror stories both for the elderly and those forceably dis-insured in their hour of need are entirely too numerous. You would think everyone knows a friend or relative who has gotten screwed.
Which makes these dumb arguments all the dumber. I tried. I really did. And now I have stopped trying, for my head is bloody and the wall is…patient.
You didn’t!
@RZ: No
SPORT TJ/: funniest comment seen over at deadspin:
Philadelphia Eagles announce they have signed Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme as public relations director.
/end SPORT TJ
@The Nabisco Quiver: good crack. I have no problem with Vick getting a job in the NFL. The only thing I can think of is how much shit Donovan McNabb has to take in that damn town — now they’re signing Vick, too?
@The Nabisco Quiver: That would actually make more sense.
Programming note: Obama’s Montana town hall at 3 ET. I’ll probably stuff comments here instead of setting up a new thread.
There’s nothing like reading the comments of the mentally handicapped. The vast majority of you can’t string 3 words together without making some vulgar comment. It’s obvious most of you live in some depraved world of your own creation. Morality has no meaning in your world. Each of you has created your own definition of right and wrong. Think about it. Why is something considered right? Because you decide it is? What if one of you decided that rape or murder is right, would it be right or wrong and what makes it that way. I know you want to change our country into what you believe to be some socialistic utopian but what model will you use? You all live better than any people in the world now, are you ready to swap what you have for a third world status? Come to think of it I don’t think you’ll have much to say about it one way or the other because when interest rates begin to go up and inflation kicks in, the value of the dollar will probably drop like a rock and then you’ll know. Health care will amount to finding something to eat at that point. Most of you have no comprehension of what’s happening, but you will within a year or so. Good luck, you’ll need it!
@jawja: The vast majority of you can’t string 3 words together without making some vulgar comment.
We’re slacking. It’s usually two.
I love getting a lecture about stringing complete sentences together from someone who basically decided the phonetic spelling of a state’s name was a great idea for an online moniker.
@jawja: Fuck you, asshole. You spent the last eight years cheerleading for the Republican maladministration that ran this country into the ground. Instead of taking responsibility and acknowledging the role you played in that clusterfuck you come here and condemn other people’s values. Your values appear to be centered on a principle of “I’ve got mine.”
I look forward to the day you get cancer, your healthcare coverage gets cancelled and you lose your home because of your enormous medical debt.
And I love getting feedback from someone with “Noise” for a last name. It says a lot.
@jawja: I know you want to change our country into what you believe to be some socialistic utopian but what model will you use?
Canada, England, Israel, Sweden, France, Germany, and Australia. For starters.
@jawja: Just to clarify here…
Morality as hammered out by intelligent, thoughtful, and informed people discussing and taking into consideration others’ situations, rights, and feelings: depraved
Morality as determined from literal interpretations of a 2,000-year-old book that happens to promote or at least condone in various spots rape, genocide, oppression, slavery, and patriarcy, to name a few: legitimate
You: priceless
@jawja: You all live better than any people in the world now
Well, some of us…
As of 2007, the top decile of American earners, Saez writes, pulled in 49.7 percent of total wages, a level that’s “higher than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of stock market bubble in the ‘roaring” 1920s.‘”
Beginning in the economic expansion of the early 1990s, Saez argues, the economy began to favor the top tiers of American earners, but much of the country missed was left behind. “The top 1 percent incomes captured half of the overall economic growth over the period 1993-2007,” Saez writes.
Me, I’m comfy enough. But I live cheap.
@jawja: Cannibal anarchy awaits, J, for you and for me and the survivors, every one of which will have to enjoy feasting on human flesh – because that is all that there will be left to eat. I for one can’t wait to bite through your fucking skull and tear through the rancid horror you call a brain. I’ll learn you some depravity, friend. Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahaha.
@jawja: Was there a point to this or do you just have to fill a troll quota?
Having a depraved old time here. Just shot out the wheels of a bus full of nuns from my roof and my neighbor is dragging them into the basement at gunpoint to sodomize and cannibalize, that is after we force them to pray allegiance to Satan. Gonna be a great weekend!
@jawja: really, is that the best you’ve got? Poor guesses about other people’s morality or lack thereof?
Better trolls, please.
The nuns are screaming for their god to save them! Ha. Haha. Hahahahaha! Their pain is so delicious, I can’t bear it!
@jawja: Morality has no meaning in your world. Each of you has created your own definition of right and wrong.
I’m usually the last person to quote Webster, but here goes:
3 : conformity to ideals of right human conduct
That sounds about right.
And in terms of those ideals, most of us here probably don’t stray far from a famous socialist philosopher. Exceptions made for lust, of course.
Just got off the phone with Osama and he says we should let them live long enough for him to have a taste. Haven’t seen the old bastard for a couple of months now since he dropped by with Jeb Bush for our annual cannibal barbeque. No season is as depraved as summer.
@Signal to Noise: Har.
@jawja: Fuck you. Yup. That’s only two words strung together.
Oh. This is great. The bishop just called and is coming by ‘for a taste.’ Great guy. Gave me the bus route and time so I could be in position when the bus came by. Guy runs a crystal meth lab in the church basement and always saves the good batches for us. Life is too rich.
The comments my few words invoked prove enough. When people can’t discuss things in a civil manner, civilization itself is in danger. All this has nothing to do with politics and you all know it. It has to do with you wanting society to accept you and whatever behavior you think is moral. Your battle is not with me, it’s actually with your maker. However, I’ll leave you guys to your own devices, go ahead and play in the toilet. My mind can’t help but conjure up the sight of a man wallowing around in his own vomit.
@jawja: I was gonna remove my post but not anymore. My maker says I don’t have to put up with this kind of shit in my sanctuary.
ADD: Overlords may remove or edit my F bomb if they feel it would add to the civility.
/ off to Green Day tomorrow night in Denver. Hitting the road this afternoon. Laters!
I don’t think this person is a real troll – everything is spelled correctly.
@jawja: When people can’t discuss things in a civil manner, civilization itself is in danger.
Arrive late to the party?
@jawja: Oh, please, please STAY! We’re going to make throw rugs out of the nuns’ intestines and you’ll want one to bring home, won’t you? Ha. Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahahaha!
Dude, I get stuck on a two hour conference call and all sorts of excitement happens around here.
@jawja: So your point is what? That the Stinquers are all a bunch of socialists doomed to hell because (1) we don’t think that one particular strand of religion should be jammed down the throats of citizens and (2) we think that our fellow neighbors and citizens should as a matter of basic human dignity have a basic baseline level of medical care, similar to the fact that every child in this country has a basic baseline evil of education?
If those two beliefs are dooming me to hell, then I can’t wait to spoon with my fellow Stinquers in the feather bed next to the lake of burning fire.
And note, Mr. Jawja, that I did not use a single obscenity or expletive. So please do not accuse me of being unable to engage in a civil discussion. Next time try to show the same basic courtesy to us.
Hugs and Kisses from a proud San Francisco Lefty.
@SanFranLefty: I miss Major Payne. Dude enjoyed the thrill of a bar fight.
@nojo: Haven’t seen our Paultard either. Sad.
@jawja: You’re right, I fought my maker and the maker won.
My mind can’t help but conjure up the sight of a man wallowing around in his own vomit.
They have meds for that kind of thing you know. Well, if you have health care that is. Otherwise, you’re fuckedscrewed. Civil!
ADD: Puh-LEEZE don’t go away! Our friendly Chainsaw (he’s really just a bandsaw) is only getting warmed up, and Promnight (née PromnightDumpsterBaby) hasn’t even woken up. Oh, and the gheyz are still at the gym.
Meanwhile, Belgrade, Serbia Montana, town hall on deck.
(Not an accident: 19th-century Serbian railroad investors.)
Oh, great, Hillary is here with her leather suit and her book of quotations from Joe Stalin.
Oh, sweet fucking Satan as my witness, is there nothing more deliciously depraved than a basement full of kidnapped nuns being forced to sing the Internationale at gunpoint. Oh, yes, yes, yes, life is too rich.
@jawja: BTW, sugar, it’s evoked, not invoked.
In addition to being a socialist Jew (just like Jaysus!), I’m a Nazi when it comes to grammar and word choice.
xoxo
Heeeeere’s Barry!
Presuming MSNBC’s feed doesn’t keep wigging out. May have to switch to CNN. (Fox, as we know, only breaks in for fistfights.)
Fashion note: No tie, but that flag pin has been superglued to his lapel.
@jawja:
Are you here as part of a class? I ask because of this recent story:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/10/1237245/College-Credits-For-Trolling-the-Web
Maybe there’s a class at Liberty University or the like that requires trolling “libral” web sites. And anybody that supported a government that killed roughly a million Iraqis in the name of “peace” has a pretty low place to stand regarding criticizing the morality of others.
Well SanFran Lefty, [since you used no obscenities] “Socialism is great until you run out of the other fellow’s money.” But don’t worry with “$14 quadrillion” floating around the world they’ll be pleanty of $$$ for health care. Oh one other thing, England and a few other European countries were mentioned as models for socialism. Remember this, while their whole budgets were dedicated to the welfare of their citizens, we were spending billions to protect them from the Soviet Union. If they had had to protect themselves, there would have been no social programs. But I don’t see thousands of you running to these wonderful bastions of socialism anyway. Obviously, none of you have colon cancer or prostate cancer. I hear they’ll treat you right away, especially if your over 50.
NB to Flores: Dow is at 9200+. Time to update the Obamaconomy chart! (Although some folks have moved the goalpost to last November 4. Haven’t checked those numbers.)
@al2o3cr: Technically, we’re anarcho-cannibal.
@FlyingChainSaw: What the fuck is with Hillz these days? Her face is as bloated as her kankles, lately. Looks like she’s swilling down the prednisone, she does. MS?
That jawja, he’s a unique specimen, he has the moral superiority of a jesustard, combined with the personal narcissism and self-worship of a paultard-libertariantard. It thinks itself superior because it is more moral, and also because it is smarter and stronger and, gosh darn it, just better. Smells very much like a catholictard, unlike the pigfucking fundie jesustards, the catholictards value education and often do possess the ability to string together a sentence and employ logic, if they are jesuit-educated, they can get quite tricky indeed with the sophisticated and deceitful sophistry. But the major sign is the little lecture about moral relativism and the immediate, subtle as a sledgehammer resort to the slippery slope, “if morals are a matter for individual conscience, than you might decide murder is moral.” Thats day one at conservative catholic indoctrination camp, word for word. Could be one of Scalia’s clerks, but no, unusually smart for a tard, but not that smart.
@jawja: Remember this, while their whole budgets were dedicated to the welfare of their citizens, we were spending billions to protect them from the Soviet Union.
You mean that socialist defense program? The one that pumped billions of taxpayer dollars into our own economy?
(Meanwhile, Barry’s retailing healthcare horror stories. No questions yet.)
@jawja:
The Cold War’s been over for 20 years. So why hasn’t US America adjusted? In terms of Defense spending, the US spends more than pretty much the rest of the world put together.
BTW: It’s You’re, not YOUR.
You guys have the combined intelligence of an earthworm.
@jawja: You’re still here? I am sorry I misjudged you, your analysis of the economics of the cold war and the impact of our decision to socialistically support the military industrial complex instead of the public, this fairy tale makes it clear you are also a Reaganite true believer, and that faith is incompatible with high intelligence.
Actually, jawja’s right: Single-payer national defense is the source of all our problems.
@jawja:
Is that all you got?
Now you’re upset because we weren’t blown away by the brilliance of YOUR intellect?
Ha. I’ve been insulted worse by a 4 year old who once called me a poopy face.
@jawja: Who are you quoting? The Stinque Style Guide suggests that we use bold and italics around here for emphasis instead of quotation marks.
@Promnight: Coffee, sir?
@jawja: Yo, comrade. Ma Nabisco comes from that place that used to have the original Belgrade as a capital. Socialist as the day is long when she was growing up. But you know what? They were fucking prosperous. She was singing in French cathedrals and visiting the Hermitage while I was working at a fucking Dennys so I could pay for college textbooks. The Nabisco-in-Law did in fact have colo-rectal cancer and she was treated by some of the best, FREE specialists you could have wanted. Oh and remember that little war they fought? Yep, all the weapons were produced by the domestic socialist fucking economy, douchebag. So, in this case they had both guns and fucking butter, and you can just shrivel up and die….
oops, civil.
@Promnight: socialistically support the military industrial complex
Commie. Just like Ike.
Suit jacket comes off. No flag pin on shirt collar.
@nojo: Wait, he’s stripping for health care for all? I could really get in to this…
Barry: Single-payer would be too disruptive, compared to current job-based insurance.
Doesn’t mention that current job-based insurance based on economic conditions in the 1950s. What’s good for General Motors…
@SanFranLefty: Sleeves rolled up, but relaxed-fit slacks. You may have to settle for Hawaii.
@nojo: Those Hawaii body-surfing abs are most definitely not “settling”
Question: Money doesn’t grow on trees, so how do we expand Medicare without stiffing the current beneficiaries?
(Nojo responds: Lower the qualifying age to 50. The rest of you can suck it.)
@nojo: Second that emotion!
@nojo: Speaking of, best Wikipedia find of the last week or so? The alt-text on Barack Obama’s portrait:
Head and shoulders of a man in his forties with close-cropped hair, dressed in a dark grey suit, light blue shirt and blue with maroon and white rep tie. On his left lapel is a pin of the American flag. Over his right shoulder the U.S. flag and the presidential seal are a bit out of focus.
Our tard needs to read “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” if he wants to truly understand the relationship between defense spending and spending on social programs.
Question from student mother with 11-year-old autistic son: What about Medicaid?
Barry: No change to Medicaid qualifications; might see expansion in benefits. More broadly, seek procedural efficiencies. (No, we’re not going to bring up Trig.)
Question from “Proud NRA Member”, who “gets my news from the cable networks because I don’t like the spin from the other places.”
Oh, the question: How do you pull this off without raising taxes?
Barry’s answer: two-thirds of estimated annual $90 billion cost would be achieved by cracking down on insurance companies. Final $30 billion coming from the filthy rich folks earning $250,000+, perhaps by lowering deductions.
Barry: Bush’s prescription-drug bill was completely unfunded. Take that, grandkids!
(My, there are a lot of commies in Montana. Most questions softballs so far.)
@nojo: Coincidentally and ironically, as I read your commentary on the health care town hall, the radio station I’m listening to is playing “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)” which I of course now associate with the Clinton Administration.
Did I hear “self-employed”? We who pay the whole 15% social security/medicare tax?
Oh, we get a “marketplace”. Show me the rates, and I’ll get back to you.
Background note: Back when I dealt with budgets, there was a line-item called OPE, or “Other Payroll Expenses”. It amounted to 30% on top of salary, and of course was untaxed for the employee.
Thus, my 15-year beef: Nobody, Republicans or Democrats, gives a shit about the self-employed. Thank god I get to deduct my toys business equipment.
Question from lumber-yard owner about COBRA, which she (hooray for ladies in cowboy hats) doesn’t qualify for because hers is a small business.
Answer: “substantial subsidy” to help small businesses get better health insurance for employees. And there’s that “Exchange” again, which must be the new brand name for the Public Option.
@nojo: Sounding like KanklesKare. Typical academic public policy masters idiocy; we have competing interest groups, instead of deciding which wins and which loses (here its “the people” and “the insurance industry,”) lets make like a dealer in a Vegas casino and start dealing, you get this card and you get this card and you get this card, until the baby is cut into 52 pieces.
I stay away from the health care debate, because, well, its a choice between tweaking a fucked and corrupt and wasteful system, and fixing it by lowering the age of medicare to 0. Thats it. Once universal government-administered single payer was taken off the table, the whole debate was over, and it was guaranteed that we will remain fucked, just in new, and for a short time, novel and maybe more interesting ways. We are gonna go from missionary to maybe some scissors or doggie style, one thing is guaranteed, we will never see the public-on-top position.
Question from health-insurance agent. Why vilify insurance companies? Why change pitch from “healthcare reform” to health-insurance reform?
Answer: If Barry was truly vilifying insurers, he wouldn’t be willing to keep shoveling them money. (Or something like that.) Just wants to keep them from “cherry-picking” customers.
(And yes, following up on comment elsewhere: You have to filter Michael Moore more than a little, but Sicko makes some strong points.)
Final questioner reads preamble from Montana constitution, asks Barry to read the whole thing. (Soon as he’s finished tattooing the entire Communist Manifesto on his butt.)
@Promnight: I was trying to avoid the issue until it became too entertaining to ignore.
But yes: One consequence of (again) pre-compromising the proposal — taking single-payer, or anything similarly effective, off the table — was that Barry lost the enthusiasm of potential supporters, while doing nothing to dim the inevitable enthusiasm of opponents. I’m not gonna hit the streets waving signs in favor of a sellout.
@nojo:
Why? Why not!
Chuck was for’em before he was again’em. Chuckie has some s’plainin to do:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/grassley-voted-for-socall_n_259750.html
NO SOSHEELIEZED MEDISEEN!!!
If someone’s in a coma, going through chemo or their heart stopped, then obviously it’s their own fault, right?
Where’s the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY???!!??
The Dumbass Dems blew it before this fiasco even started by ruling out and simply refusing even to discuss removing the age restriction from Medicare.
“Medicare for all” is a helluva lot easier to explain than “insurance coverage that can’t be arbitrarily cancelled under most conditions, but with restrictions, subsidies and endless loopholes.”
Then there’s Obama’s sickening, secret back-room profit deals with the insurance companies and pharmaceutical industry. Oh fuck it. We all know that somehow this healthcare “reform” is gonna end with Congress cutting a $1 TRILLION dollah check to PIG, Citiskank & Goldmine Sucks.
@al2o3cr: Accredited trolling: fascinating.
And really, somebody would have to make an effort to find us in the oceans of online discussion about health care. Especially for a post that Chainsaw didn’t write.
(peeking out from behind the sofa)
I’m really glad you’re on our side, praise the FSM.
@Promnight: Menopause and a lot of air flight time – and probably little control on her diet. She is probably slightly swollen all over. She’s taking the assignment on with both hands and keeping up a non-stop schedule. At that age, pace matters in travel and recovery time has to be built into the schedule.
@jawja: Well, I guess we’ll never have a civil discussion because while you require a lack of obscenities in the comments to which we respond, we require verifiable facts.
Good day, sir.
Sorry I’m late to the party, but I have to throw a bone under the bridge to our new troll:
@jawja: When people can’t discuss things in a civil manner, civilization itself is in danger.
If you want to start a civil discussion, opening with There’s nothing like reading the comments of the mentally handicapped is not the way to do it, dear. And following with an accusation that we are immoral beings who believe murder and rape are OK? Bless your heart, your mama didn’t raise you right. Or, as the kids would say, “Civility: UR doin it wrong.”
I had prepared an entire comment on moral philosophy (FYI, I’ve published a book on ethics. A real one. That’s in libraries and everything.) but glancing back over your comments, the light dawned, and I realized you weren’t here to condemn us for our “socialist” position on health care, or even on our cursing, and generally mocking everyone and everything. I had a bit on Democritus (the “laughing” philosopher, as you no doubt know) to use in explaining that one, and am rather put out that it’s beside the point because your REAL argument with us is our support of equal rights for all, whatever their sexual orientation. Ergo your pronouncement: All this has nothing to do with politics and you all know it. It has to do with you wanting society to accept you and whatever behavior you think is moral. [Emphasis mine].
Also: Insulting the mentally challenged, on the very day of Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s funeral? Where are your manners, child?
@jawja: I’ll leave you guys to your own devices…
Do you notice they always say that ,then they don’t keep their promises. He’ll be back. In fact in fact I think I see him crawling around up there on the wall.
I’m new to this party…but if jawja is going to keep showing up, I’m going to take my six pack and wallow in my vomit alone at home…so there.
@Mistress Cynica: That’s right! That is why I want to bite through Jawja’s skull – to celebrate lobotomies!
@texrednface: There’s always the nuclear option (i.e., banning), if necessary. Ain’t that right, nojo?
@nojo: I’m an NRA member who gets his news from stinque.
/waiting for Mrs RML’s pages to get done, then we split. Reporting tonight from Colorado Springs.
@mellbell: Yes. Trolls get nuked when they cease to be entertaining.
@redmanlaw: Jeepers, you going there on a cruise missile? You drive at 150 MPH?
@Mistress Cynica: Both “bless your heart” and “where are your manners” in one comment. You can leave the South but the South will never leave you.
And Democritus!
Cynica, I heart you.
@FlyingChainSaw: Colorado Springs is 4.5 hrs from Santa Fe. Denver dino museum – now with mummies! – tomorrow, Green Day tomorrow night. Six hr drive back on Sunday. Back to the Grind on Monday.
/hitting the road now
@redmanlaw: I’ll look for the video of you jumping up on stage to jam with them for Jesus of Suburbia.
@SanFranLefty: My thoughts exactly. She’s classy with a “C”, our Cyn is. And ethical, too!
@redmanlaw: 4.5 hours gets me to Pittsburgh, or Roanoke. Okay, or New York. But tomorrow it’s looking for a sublet in the MD burbs. I just d/l’d U2 and will listen to it in RML and Jr’s honor. Fortunately I have the new Sonic Youth on the same mp3 disc.
@SanFranLefty: @The Nabisco Quiver: Kisses, darlings.
@SanFranLefty: Oh, come on, “bless your heart,” and the best variant ever, when Ann Richards (blessed be her memory) said it of, was it Bush 1 or 2, “Bless his heart,” is the purest passive aggressive attack ever. Southerners have a way of wielding manners like a dagger.
@Promnight: Um, that’s the point. “Bless your/her/his heart” is an indication to your listener that you’re about to unload on someone, but that you’re not a bad person. Compliments never follow that phrase.
@Mistress Cynica: And of course, the word “heart” is stretched out to be three syllables, or at least in Texas.
@Mistress Cynica: Oh, yes, that is the crux of the biscuit, isn’t it? Its not ever about basic morality, you know, don’t kill people or rape them or steal, no, the obsession of these types is focused entirely on the sexual morality. And I has said it before and will say it again, its driven by misogyny. They don’t really have any objection to sex, they just hate women, and they put all these restrictions on sex, because they realize that sex leads to fraternization with the real enemy, women. They want to keep women in bondage to the threat of pregnancy, so they oppose birth control and abortion. They want to keep men away from consequence-free sex, too, so they hate teh homosexuals, who cannot get pregnant, even if they don’t use birth control and cannot have abortions.
Hey, lets face it, sexual immorality, prostitution, infidelity, promiscuity, these are and always have been inherent parts of the human condition, liberals and conservatives alike stray and whore about and otherwise break the rules they pay lip service to.
What chafes these people, I am utterly convinced, is the idea of women being free sexual actors, birth control, and less so, abortion, have freed women from the biological consequences of sex which were so helpful in keeping women at home in the kitchen. Its no coincidence that women achieving something close to equality in the workplace happened only after the pill arrived, and women attained the ability to control their reproductive role, and this freedom allowed them to pursue careers, to compete with men in their reindeer games. I has read Saint Paul and Saint Augustine, and those dudes were dyed in the wool misogynists, they did not regard sex itself as evil, they regarded the power of sex, they hated the way that women, with the lure of sex, could distract men from their religion. This strain is deepest in the catholics, unlike the protestants, the catholics still believe that only celibate men are capable of the moral authority necessary to become priests. Non celibate men are tainted by their association with the evil women.
And goddamit, how are all the modern professional “christians” so able to completely ignore the most profound aspects of Jesus’s teachings, which all had to do with social morality, social justice, taking care of the poor, a completely revolutionary moral teaching in a Roman pagan world which like modern conservatism, celebrates a “dog eat dog” ethic in which the strong and the clever are celebrated for what they steal and cheat from the powerless and weak.
@Promnight: Are you familiar with the Hugh Blumenfeld ballad “Long-Haired Radical Socialist Jew”?
If not, may I present:
Well Jesus was a homeless lad
With an unwed mother and an absent dad
And I really don’t think he would have gotten that far
If Newt, Pat and Jesse had followed that starSo let’s all sing out praises to
That long-haired radical socialist JewWhen Jesus taught the people he
Would never charge a tuition fee
He just took some fishes and some bread
And made up free school lunches instead
So let’s all sing out praises to….So let’s all sing out praises to
That long-haired radical socialist JewHe healed the blind and made them see
He brought the lame folks to their feet
Rich and poor, any time, anywhere
Just pioneering that free health care
So let’s all sing out praises to….So let’s all sing out praises to
That long-haired radical socialist JewJesus hung with a low-life crowd
But those working stiffs sure did him proud
Some were murderers, thieves and whores
But at least they didn’t do it as legislators
So let’s all sing out praises to….So let’s all sing out praises to
That long-haired radical socialist JewJesus lived in troubled times
the religious right was on the rise
Oh what could have saved him from his terrible fate?
Separation of church and state.
So let’s all sing out praises to….So let’s all sing out praises to
That long-haired radical socialist JewSometimes I fall into deep despair
When I hear those hypocrites on the air
But every Sunday gives me hope
When pastor, deacon, priest, and pope
Are all singing out their praises to
Some long-haired radical socialist Jew.They’re singing out their praises to…
Some long-haired radical socialist Jew.© 1996 Hugh Blumenfeld/Hydrogen Jukebox Music
@SanFranLefty: Nice. Truth is beauty.
Threadjack: I think my hamster, my son’s hamster, is dying. Its real sick. I am heartbroken, I am sure I have spoken here, of how much I have fallen for the funny little creature. I never thought a little mouse-like thing could have an identifiable personality, that you could become fond of. It likes us, it loved being taken out and held, its just purely charming, the little ‘squishy rat” we call her, because she can slip through the littlest crack in your fingers.
There is nothing to be done for a tiny sick hamster, is there? Its so sad, I tried to give it water, its eyes are crusted shut, it gave out these tiny little cries.
And my son is at camp, but coming home tomorrow, oh, this sucks, his little hamster died on my watch. Shit.
@Promnight: Plenty of vets treat hamsters. Look in the phone book for small animal vets–many do more than just cats and dogs.
@Promnight: Did you see the guy who wrote “The Family”on the Daily Show? He was talking about how Inhofe, Coburn, Ensign, and the rest of the C street crowd believe women must “submit” to men, and how they think the whole Jesus=love thing is for the weak; the real message is about power. It is so fucked up and scary.
@Promnight: Do not let the hamster die when Prom Jr. is at camp. You will set your son up for five decades of therapy. Get thee to a small animal vet. Even if you have to go to Philly or DC. It will be worth it to delay the inevitable (for when Prom Jr. is present) for a couple weeks.
@Mistress Cynica: I have seen that guy several times, and read a few articles he wrote. From what he writes, “The family” is an unholy intellectual hybrid combining some veneer of christianity with Ayn Rand. Its a systematized cult of sociopathy.
Here is the thing most people do not understand about sociopaths. Most people either beleive that they have no conception of right or wrong, or think that they are actively evil, and choose wrong over right.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Sociopaths are actually very “righteous” people. They have a highly developed, complex moral view of the world.
The problem is not that they are amoral, or immoral, its that their moral judgments are deeply flawed, in a systemic way, by a fundamentally self-centered view of all reality.
All sociopaths, all those I have known and all those I have read reliable descriptions of, have felt morally justified in their actions. All of them feel themselves victims, All of them feel superior, and therefore, the victims of grave injustice by the simple failure of the world around them to recognize their specialness and superiority. Almost without exception, they feel that their crimes are morally justified responses to the injustices they feel they have suffered. The system is rigged against me, I am just getting whats my due by cheating the system. Women hate me and reject me, I am gonna teach them by murdering these prostitutes. They are not workers of evil, in their minds, they are workers of justice, levelling the scales, getting retribution for the crimes against them.
Sociopaths are not immoral people, they are highly moral, they are so committed to their moral beliefs they take bold action. Its just that the moral conclusions they reach are so deeply flawed.
And the way in which they err is always the same; they regard themselves as elite, superior, and therefore, above the ordinary moral rules that govern ordinary people.
This is what Ayn Rand’s so called “philosophy” teaches, systematized sociopathy. And apparently, it is what The Family teaches as well, a systematic, formalized, “moral” system of sociopathy.
@The Nabisco Quiver: Magnificent and White as Snow are two great songs on the new u2. (Going to see them in vegas in October). I have not heard the new Sonic Youth.
@jawja: @Original Andrew: This is why I can’t get excited about healthcare reform. I know that no matter what, the “reform” will mean piling up trillions of dollars of profit for the very bloodsuckers that already feed from the trough of human misery, and the poor will end up with a mandate to buy insurance from their predators, without any meaningful subsidy.
If you are a fambly making even $50K a year, how could you possibly afford to pay $500/month (extremely conservatively) for health insurance?
@Pedonator: Any healthcare reform that doesn’t mean single-payer means nothing.
i hate missing a bar fight! nojo, fellow comrades, please excuse my absence, as i have been very busy seeing doctors–for free. but i am always close at hand, pitchfork and torch at the ready. come back troll! i haven’t had breakfast!
can we get back to my personal life now?
there comes a moment in every one of my relationships, when i look at that person and know, just know, deep in my heart, that what i have in common with that person, is, we are both carbon based life forms. that is all.
mileage varies. it can happen at month 3 or year 10. ratbastard has now gone too far. fucking more strange you are thinking? nah….
i was shrieking about michael vick playing for the eagles–His Team.
know what he said? “he did his time, let him play”
this renders him unfit to pay my vet bills.
people, my people, this is beyond tolerance for me. it’s as bad as one of my other husbands swan songs, a criminal defender. me: did he do it?
him: “don’t know, don’t care”
the health care debate will rage on. i have time to vent on this leisurely, i’ve been ranting about it for years already.
just stopped by to support MY playground, tell you all i lerve you, and have appointed cynica to assist my rabbi lefty in counseling me.
heehee “bless your heart” the most fearsome way to begin a sentence after, “we need to talk” heehee
speaking of fearsome, i tagged along with RB to a bidniz meeting this week ONE mile from gaza.i toured an elaborate bomb shelter. the interior was designed like a chucky cheese, so as not to frighten the children.
you know what? i am more fearful in a walmart. really.
more T/Jacking
hey hey, did ya’ll see turks and caicos making international news?
i’ve mentioned the hilarity of that banana republic before, but with 3 countries to oversee, i haven’t elaborated. it seems the corruption has become so laughably obvious, the brits appointed a governor for their territory in paradise and kicked the administration out of the country.
does this mean i don’t have to fly back to israel when i stroke?
my flight is booked for september 11 (!)
i’ll keep you posted from the ground..er sand.
@baked: “i toured an elaborate bomb shelter. the interior was designed like a chucky cheese, so as not to frighten the children.”
Did they have arcade games? I may need to build one of those here if Chainsaws’ prediction of cannibal anarchy comes true.
@baked: So what’s that about you Israelites seeing mermaids out there?
Dateline: Denver. We’re about 8 blocks from the venue for Green Day. Short walk, and $7 for 20 Coors at the Pepsi Center. Cheap well drinks. Lively downtown area.
@Mistress Cynica: I saw that Daily Show interview. With mouth agape, I kept looking around me to get an “I know, right??” reaction from no one at all. Holy crap, that was scary.
I can’t believe I missed @jawja. Time difference sucks out all the fun. But, being one of the foul-mouthed who lives not only in a socialist country, but FRANCE, I felt I could have added a certain je ne sais quoi to the proceedings.
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @peggynooner: The Ems? AAA when I was a kid, single-A as a teen. Old wooden (and recently burned…
PEGGYNOONER • A Kind of Hash @nojo: Not even the Emeralds? In any event, you should be drawn and quartered for admitting you…
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @nojo: Never been to a big-league game, so saw the Yankees with friends last night. Grand slam was…
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @¡Andrew!: Not yet, but I’m sure I can borrow one from a neighbor on the…
¡ANDREW! • A Kind of Hash @nojo: Oh wow! Congratulations on the move. Hope it's going well. I assume that you now have a…
MANCHUCANDIDATE • A Kind of Hash For the Ex-Mo contingent... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1W0pDpDBqE
NOJO • A Kind of Hash @¡Andrew!: Never made it, and too late now — I’ve been in Brooklyn since May.
¡ANDREW! • A Kind of Hash @nojo: So, have you dined at Casa Bonita yet? It seems to be the primary cause of mass insanity in…
¡ANDREW! • A Kind of Hash I hope Taylor Swift figured out a way to unleash her flying monkeys/army of lawyers against Tr666p…
MANCHUCANDIDATE • A Kind of Hash Team Kamala/Walz/Swifty