March 15, 2010 archive

I Want These Prayers

The ABA (that’s the American Bar Association) Journal brightens my day with this item:

The Christian law firm Liberty Counsel is selling “Adopt a Liberal” playing cards designed to harness the power of prayer to restore “poor leaders to right thinking.”

For $20, liberal detractors can buy the playing cards, featuring 51 liberals and an “unknown” liberal card that can represent their liberal of choice, the Washington Post reports. The cards come with instructions that say: “We encourage you to seek the Lord’s guidance on how to pray for your liberal(s), always allowing God to temper your prayer with his love and mercy.”

A press release on the playing cards features a trademark designation after the “Adopt a Liberal” name.

I am respectfully soliciting designation as the “‘unknown’ liberal” in everyone’s deck.  Obviously I’m not famous enough (yet) to have my own card.  According to the WaPo, those who are famous enough to be on the cards include Barbara Boxer, DiFi, Ahnold, Pelosi, Oprah, Hillary, and Michael Bloomberg.  Also, Al Gore (surprise!), Arianna, Bill Maher.  And Arlan Spector.  Sadly, I’m just not that famous, but, and this is a very, very important but, I am far, far more liberal than most all of those listed.

Here’s how to order.

Place your hands upon that keyboard and send those prayers my way.  I will appreciate them.  I promise.

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simulposted at The Dream Antilles

Monday Morning Meta Madness

More thoughts on scheduling, what else?

Netroots Nation & My Birthday Wish List

Last year I swore I was never having a birthday again.  Then I got asked to co-chair the Netroots Nation Auction and suddenly it was worth it to have a birthday again

“Life” in Iraq and Af-Pak

Game of Life Reddit alien generator from Tom Robinson on Vimeo.

John Horton Conway’s game of “Life” is just about the simplest representation of organic processes which captures anything of their complexity, and it’s essentially unpredictable.

No one has ever discovered a general description of the sort of structure which will generate relatively simple patterns like a “reddit alien.” The folklore of “Life” evolved by trial and error over millions of hours of computer animations in math and physics and computer science departments all over the world, and the sort of people who are better at understanding this sort of thing than anybody else only slowly, slowly developed a few rules of thumb for designing simple structures whose evolution we can more or less predict, but only after observing the still unpredictable outcome of microscopic variations in initial conditions, all of them exquisitely sensitive to the alteration of even one pixel on the screen, where almost anything that you and I would call a pattern rapidly dissolves into disorder.

Now imagine a game of “Life” where the rules vary radically across the screen, external factors constantly impinge upon the game, and you don’t know the rules.

This is a picture of the American “game” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Judge Thomas’ Wife Joins TEA PARTY

No, this is not snark or a joke.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was in the majority opinion of the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case whereby the court ruled that Corporations have the same rights as individual humans to free speech, that limiting money limits free speech, so therefore they can give unlimited money to campaigns,

has a wife named Virginia (Ginni) Thomas, who just started a Tea Party group.

http://www.latimes.com/news/na…

The group is a “non profit” called Liberty Central Inc.

http://libertycentral.org/

Liberty Central.org, where like minded people gather to preserve freedom in America.

She intends to take donations and issue score cards on political candidates.  She used to work for the Heritage Foundation and Dick Armey. (Armey now is chairman of Freedomworks, which is an astroturfing org masterminded by Koch Oil’s David Koch, who also runs Americans for Prosperity.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…  Freedomworks is Tea Party, and harrassed Democrats at August town hall meetings in 2009.

On the endorsements page of Thomas’ new lobbying group, the first gush of lying spin blather goes:


What Others are Saying about Liberty Central…

“Liberty Central, with its focus specifically on training grassroots activists interested in returning the country to its founding principles, is a necessary component of a successful, long-term conservative revolution. With its intent to serve a broad coalition of grassroots organizations, and a long term view of the new conservative revolution, Liberty Central is an organization worthy of every conservative’s support.”

Mark Meckler / Jenny Beth Martin, Co-Founders / National Coordinators, Tea Party Patriots

Mark Meckler is a Republican political front guy operative based in the Sacramento Northern CA area, and has done and been paid for Tea Party appearances for Russo Marsh & Rogers/ Move America Forward, the Republican PR firm which does Swiftboating and Smear campaigns, besides being the publicists for Kurdistan in Northern Iraq.  RMR/MAF is also known for their “Thank You Sarah Palin” campaign, their Tea Party anti health care reform Bus Tours featuring the anti Muslim bigot radio jock Mark Williams, and the “You Don’t Speak for Me” campaign featuring their own pit bull in lip gloss, Deborah Johns, “Pentagon Liason,”  who attacks peace activists.  Meckler is also involved in the Million Mormons on Facebook, which is loaded with whacky Glenn Beck devotees who think all government activities are anti Christian conspiracies designed to turn them into communists.  See links in this story

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

One of Meckler’s many Tea Party locations, see how it says “non partisan?” –  no, Republican

http://www.facebook.com/group….

The Tea Party logos on the Liberty Central site matches the one on Mark Meckler’s facebook page.  They claim to be:

misunderstood and mischaracterized by much of the mainstream media. “New citizen activists have been cast as ignorant, intolerant or a radical fringe by many in the media. The facts are now demonstrating that the mainstream media is wrong and ordinary citizens are up against biased elitists who are not seemingly interested in the truth.” said Virginia Thomas, President and CEO of Liberty Central …..  

Since I live in Tea Party ground zero, which is older, very wealthy Republicans manipulating anti tax populist anger combined with LDS Ron Paulian Libertarians who pretend we have no government as they collect on Medicare or work for the government, and I have witnessed Tea Party activity, let me tell you that the MSM is being too soft on them.  The MSM likes to pretend they are grassroots nutters, when they interview the hapless front guys,  when they are really Oil, Defense Contractor, Tobacco and Pharma Money, and Republicans with just another angle working.  But they endeavor to bring out the worst of human emotions, fear, selfishness, racism, and greed.

You know what “grassroots is?”  It’s not Koch Oil and others, spending millions donating to a 501(c)(4) anonymously, fronting anti tax protestors to kill health care reform, keeping the mid east mercenary drone wars going, and stopping any energy policies that would cut carbon emissions and lesson the use of petrochemicals.  Add in this political “non profit” being run by a wife of a Supreme Court Justice, and we have the Supreme Court BUYING OUR ELECTIONS OUTRIGHT for the highest bidder of their services.

Jenny Beth Martin likes to make up stories about her self being just a plain, aw shucks sort of grassroots type of girl, and neglects that part on her resume where she worked for Republicans or that her failed business owes the IRS a half million dollars.   http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…

Can you say Republican neocon war “grifters?’  Sure you can.

Can you say “conflict of interest ? for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?”  

per a law professor


“There is opportunity for mischief if a company with a case before the court, or which it wants the court to accept, makes a substantial contribution to Liberty Central in the interim,” he said.

Justice Thomas would be required to be aware of such contributions, Gillers said, adding that he believes Thomas should then disclose those facts and allow parties in the case to argue for recusal.

But it would be up to Justice Thomas to decide whether to recuse himself. He could not be reached for comment.  

http://www.latimes.com/news/na…

The LA Times story says Ginni Thomas is “intrigued by Glenn Beck and listening carefully.”

Here’s another endorsement of  Ginni Thomas’ LibertyCentral.org


Leaders committed to smaller government, fiscal prudence, and a strong national defense will be returning to Washington D.C., and I am confident that Ginni Thomas will be part of the reason it will happen.”

Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense  

Neglects to say it was Sec of Defense under George W. Bush, the Rumsfeld who went to war with the Army he had instead of the Army he should have planned for a peaceful Iraq occupation, which he totally effed up, who quit on the day after the Nov 2006 election. Amen.

2 more endorsements for Ginni’s little Tea Party fundraising for political campaigns:

Morton C. Blackwell, President, The Leadership Institute  http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind…   The “Leadership Institute”  does weekend workshops and pronounces its “graduates” as having journalism degrees  (think James Guckert, the male hooker and fake reporter for Talon News (Bobby Eberle) who pitched softball questions at WH press briefings under Rove and Bush )  Blackwell is a co founder of the Moral Majority.   Think also, the dreadful Barton kid and ex Minuteman who did the “wore his uniform to a war protest with a hanging effigy” and other ads for Russo Marsh Rogers/MAF and Tom McClintock. (Barton has been paid by Russo Marsh Rogers/MAF PACs)

Edwin J. Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…  Right wing think tank full of  Reaganites and supply sided trickle down economics.  Heritage had gotten money from Joseph Coors, Olin foundation, Scaife, DeVos, (think Amway, Prop 8 and Blackwater, that family) and Bradley foundations, in 2007 they got 48.7 million dollars per wikipedia.  Edwin Feulner was connected to the Abramoff scandal thru his co founding Belle Haven Consultants, which took Malaysian oil money and laundered it thru a non profit run by Tom Delay’s friends, and ended up bribing Republicans in the Bush administration with it.  http://www.calitics.com/diary/…    http://www.dailykos.com/commen…  (How Jack Abramoff started lobbying for Malaysia only a few days after 9/11/2001, and how ex Rep. John Doolittle was involved )

The LA Times says “although Liberty Central is a non partisan group…..  ”

Non partisan ?  

CUT THE NONSENSE, LAT !  Have you every heard of politcal blogs, or teh google?   The Tea Party is 100% Republican.   What part of Supreme Court Palace Coup did you just miss ?

Clarence Thomas should be impeached and removed from the Supreme Court.  

Docudharma Times Monday March 15




Monday’s Headlines:

Worldwide arms trade flourishing despite recession, report warns

USA

Democratic leaders say health bill will pass

Obama losing chance to reshape judiciary

Europe

Asylum deportation flights need rights monitors, EU says

Sarkozy’s party humbled by left in French vote

Middle East

White House goes on the offensive against Netanyahu

Election monitors’ report increases doubts over fairness of Iraq election

Asia

Survivors of family killed in Afghanistan raid threaten suicide attacks

Kim Jong-il keeps $4m ’emergency fund’ in European banks

Latin America

Colombia vote: Former FARC hostages run for Congress

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning


Origami

(Click on image for larger view)

Dos…

The Week in Editorial Cartoons – Showering With Eric and Rahm

Crossposted at Daily Kos

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::

Alfred Hitchcock Presents



Mark Streeter, Buy this cartoon

Brought Over. The Next Day. 20100315. Ides of March Edition

If you missed the initial piece, you can find it here.  This is a fictional body that incorporated vampires into science as it is understood, and gives them some humanity as well.

Athene is a very ancient vampire, and actually punched Aristotle in the nose once.  Tricia was just brought across, because Athene feel in love with her and would not allow her to die.  Athene is around 26 years old, except for the millenia, and Tricia is a real 23 years old.

Late Night Karaoke

Open Thread

Lyme & Dysautonomia

 Lyme. A four letter word for a cluster of tick borne diseases, with the syphilis like borrelia at the heart of the disorder.

  One of the more annoying mis-features of having this thing is dysautonomia, and it’s got me good this morning.

“Coffee Party Fact Check”

The title says it all.

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