Gay Man "Dreads the day" Obama Becomes President.

Miss Thing Senator Lindsey Graham, appearing on ABC's Gasbag-powered "This Week", said that she he "would dread the day that Senator Obama took the oath to become commander in chief". [Did you hear that African-American voters in South Carolina?]

Really, hon? Do you really dread that day, you closeted fuck? In that case I'm going to hand it over to one commenter on HuffPo who said,

"Dread the day, do you? Well, son, now you know how the rest of us have felt almost every damned day for almost EIGHT YEARS !!!"

George Stephanopoulos committed the extremely rare and probably forbidden act of actually challenging something a guest was saying during the extended campaign commercial/propaganda-fest also known as ABC's "This Week" and noted that much of Ms. Graham's defense of Sarah Palin as Grandpa Simpson's VP choice was taking the form of criticism of Obama. Part of Ms. Graham's "response" included the following:

[Obama's] judgment in these areas has been terrible, proven to be terrible. I would be proud to call [Palin] my president. I think she could step in and fulfill the agenda domestically and internationally that John McCain wants to set for the country. Compared to Barack Obama, I think she'd make one hell of a commander in chief.

Honestly, lady . . . where to start? Obama's judgment has been proven to be terrible? Proven? By whom? Fox News?? You'd be proud to call her your president? Of what? The home-schooling PTA?

Oh and by the way, GF, you sounded so touch and macho with the "one hell of a commander in chief" stuff. Totally believable.

Are You Yaddayadda?

IS THIS YOU??

Dear Reader(s):

Now that I’ve attained global reach, I want to find out who posted this excellent-beyond-words comment and where this past March. I saved and printed it, but did not include the site on which it was posted. It’s from March 11, 2008, and was most likely written in response to the latest criminal act by Bush or someone from his cabal. Maybe it was in response to something on Jim Kuntsler's Clusterfuck Nation-—I’ll have to check. It fully captures the magnitude of the . . . not malaise . . . the evil and the nefarious ugliness that is the 2000s.

Should be an interesting few years ahead. My expectations are quite low.

Personally, I just had a kid and I know this much: I’m not going to raise my young family in a fascist, fundamentalist, creationist, broke-ass Ponzi-scheme, ignorant, propagandized, out of control country.

If 2009-10 doesn’t bring real balancing change, including comeuppance and legal justice for these scum—-I figure emigrating may literally be safer for me and my family. Live in a country for a while that doesn’t smell like a revving up suicide machine. I’m ready to put down the deepest roots—and it feels like a psychotic Germany 1935. My society is sick and led by people who think tragedies, war casualties, and high crimes and fraud are good humor at the slaveowner soiree. Enough.

I knew Bush was pure murder when I laid eyes on his psychopath, lying ass in 2000. I also bet he would win after campaigning on “compassionate conservatism” and then accelerate fascism at the first convenient opportunity. Madman Cheney was a big clue.

The Gridiron “media” blessed their new slavemaster, chuckling at his quaint alcoholism, megalomaniac shallow piety, and a snotty lifetime of petty, shitty judgment, bailouts, and failure. At least he passed the crucial earth tones and sweaters test, unlike the unqualified, all-too-sober Gore.

The Supreme Court blessed him. The pure dumbshit, bigoted, “conservative” half of Americans waved their flags as he got down to the mass murder of promoting “freedom”. I’ve watched it all in real time, and paid attention. Enough.

Not too excited about all my taxes for the rest of my life paying off sunken war profits, lifelong VA rehabs, fraud-driven inflation, and yet more bailouts for CEOs. The dollar is a joke. This was their plan all along: none of it was unintentional (including Greenspan hawking ARMs into a bubble). It’s called a Pump and Dump. Their assets and war profits are safe and growing, while you and your family get reduced to debt-servitude, homelessness, and ruin. The Katrina aftermath said it all, neglect plus profiteering as intended.

Welcome to Plantation USA, hope you are learning your place and station.

World opinion of the US is right on the money: we are fucked up, ignorant, gullible, and dangerously armed to the teeth. I love my country, but it’s a runaway train and the wheels are coming off. A better future is possible, even now. Impeach.

Yaddayadda | 03.11.08 - 9:05 pm | #

Perfection. All of it. Like the author, “I knew Bush was pure murder when I laid eyes on his psychopath, lying ass in 2000.” I knew he was bullshit and have felt like I’m Marker in UnWonderland or living out a protracted snuff film by David Lynch ever since then. Oh, that’s right – it’s just my Bush Derangement Syndrome talking.

I love the part about how the “pure dumbshit, bigoted, ‘conservative’ half (half??, try 80%) of Americans waved their flags as he got down to the mass murder of promoting ‘freedom’”. That could not be more true. After September 11, when his approval ratings were in the shockingly high 80-90% range and most people thought he was a macho Texas tough guy with huge star-spangled balls, a big swinging cock, and the (fake) accent of a real ‘murcan, I knew he was full of stinking crap. All talk. Guess what? The other 10% of holdouts and I were right. Who’s deranged??

Impeach? Chuckle, chuckle, snort, snort – you silly libtard. That was so, like, off the table, like, two years ago. I mean it’s not like he got a blowjob in the sacred Oval Office or anything. Gawd.

"Workin' it Hard"

No, you haven't clicked over to Roids and Rants.*

That's what loathsome CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent and McCain Hack/Fanboy John Harwood just said he is doing to try to contribute to the SquawkBox crew's efforts to predict who Grandpa Simpson's pick for VP will be. He's joined Carl and Becky (Joe is on vacation this week, thank Dog) by phone to report more of the same crystal ball BS that everyone's already been yammering about on the set. Thanks for that insightful update, John!

Oooh - a plane flew from Alaska to Dayton, Ohio. Deeply experienced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who happens to be a woman) may have been onboard. Pander pander pander. The Rethugs must really think women are stupid. (Now there's a newsflash!)

Ah, here comes something I do want to see--a segment on Darren Rovell hanging out with Michael Phelps while he spent a day running around NYC. Michael's tired 'cuz he's "not a morning person" - he even yawns cute. Take that all you asshole haters who tormented him in his youth!

* - One of the truly most awesomest places on the web. Highly NSFW.

Beyond Lame

I've been seeing clips on the "news" (muted of course to avoid hearing the gasbags' BS) of slimeballs grinning and sniggering like the absolute ratfuckers they are in front of a backdrop with all this "Not Ready 08: A Mile High and an Inch Deep" crap plastered on it. WTF?

Ah, of course . . .

"This is an effort to get beyond the glitz and celebrity of Barack Obama's convention and talk about the reality of his record," said Matt McDonald, the McCain campaign's senior adviser in charge of the Denver efforts.

Former McCain opponents Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, along with Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and a host of others, will be in Denver working with the staff in a two-story office within walking distance of the convention site.

Like their new-found Hillary-love, their deep concern for the average Coloradoan is profoundly touching; a veritable Precious Moments moment:

Voters can expect the Republicans to harp on Sen. Obama's so-called celebrity status by exploiting the star appearances scheduled for the Denver convention gatherings. "I don't know that the average Coloradoan will be able to participate in Ben Affleck's poker game," said Danny Diaz, communications director for the Republican National Committee, referring to the actor's planned event. "But they certainly should know about it."

Clever. Yes, Danny, they really, really should know about it. It's just so garish and Hollywood and elitist compared to all those bake sales and raffles the GOP has to have to raise money. Sniff, sniff.

Are they not the least bit embarrassed by this? Are these adults?? (Wait - What am I saying? No, and no.)

Let's get some expert, in-depth, science-y "analysis":

Attacks serve an important purpose, says John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and author of a book on political attack ads. "Voters want to know somebody's going to be tough," Mr. Geer said. "Part of that is going to be not only if they're going to be able to take a punch, but also deliver one."

Are we electing Caveman-in-Chief? Shouldn't be surprised - 'cuz us 'murcans are all, like, tough 'n shit. Not like those Frenchies.

This Blogger Thingy Is Fun!

Ha! Post post post. Then post more. As if I need another distraction from work.

I remember reading about (as opposed to actually reading) some guide-to-blogging book called Nobody Cares What You Had for Lunch. Clever. A rather obnoxious title, I'd say. I think I'll call my follow-up Right, But Nobody Told You to Keep Reading Once You Got Here.

We'll see how fun this is if/when readership increases and I start getting hate mail. A few months ago I was positively execrated in the comments section of Shakesville for saying something critical (but true) about Islam that other readers found way too un-PC for their liking. I got a little freaked out, being attacked so intensely and so personally by people I don't know. Surely there's a way, in this age of teh internets, for them to find out where I live and come attack me physically in person . . . with pitchforks. Guess it's something people in the public sphere, or the pseudo-public blogosphere, have to get used to.

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself . . .

. . . so I'll just paste/link.

Few can go off quite like Melissa McEwan. This post has stuck with me since it appeared a few days ago. In it, she once again says what so very badly needs to be said but is never, ever said within the festering boil that is the craven, impotent, inane, Beltway media (you know, that librul media):

One can't cast one's eyes toward Iraq, or read of the still-struggling Gulf Coast, or greet another infuriating 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, or hear about a family who lost their home because of the catastrophic combination of a healthcare crisis and no health insurance, or a crumbling infrastructure, or American students falling behind their global peers, or American scientists falling behind theirs, or any one of dozens of issues that have Rove's grubby fingerprints and Bush's crummy signature all over them, and fail to think about the scheming that has changed our country and our lives, not for the better by almost any estimation.

And the pot of shit behind it all has the temerity to suggest that Michelle Obama doesn't love her country—the proof of her insufficient affection being, evidently, that she hasn't endeavored for the past four decades to destroy it.

Fuck you, Rove. Fuck. You.

A-FUCKING-men.

One More Thing I Love: Jason Lezak

OY - such a mensch.

As a proud member of the Jason Lezak Fan Club (I know those e-mails come directly from him to me!), I want to recognize Mr. Jason Lezak here on my blog. What more can be said about his amazing finish in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay?

I saw him on CNBC about a week ago and he was modest, well-spoken, and very likable. Oh, and look at that smokin' bod.

Mad props to my man Jason.*

All y'all (Can I really say "all y'all" when I have a readership--counting myself--in the single digits?) need to get over to Sports Illustrated's Fan Survey RIGHT NOW and vote for Jason in the most memorable single performance by an American at the Games category. (Why is Games capitalized? Was that an edict by His Excellency Don Juan Antonio Samaranch Torelló, Marquess of Samaranch?)

Moving further off topic, I'm glad to see that like me, 90% of those responding think some members of the Chinese "womens" gymnastics team just may possibly have been under the age of 16. [Guess all those official records from 2003-2005 showing them to have been born in 1994 were wrong--good thing they got them corrected in time for the Beijing Olympics.] In other Fan Survey news, Chicago leads Rio de Janeiro as the choice for the 2016 Olympics. True, overall we may not look as good on the beach as the Cariocas . . . but I think we have fewer kidnappings. Would sure love to go there, though. Must work on my Português do Brasil.

_____________________

* - It should be noted that I am fully aware of the impropriety of a 41 year old white guy using the term "mad props", something that I of course do in a tongue-in-cheek spirit. Is this the type of thing one clarifies proactively on their blog, or should I be relying on my writing skills to convey the sublties of usage, etc.?
Hrmm - must consult Strunk and White.

More Things I Love: Jim Cramer

He is goofy, loud, and exchanges "Boo-yahs" with his callers. His affect and gesticulations are adorable to watch. He wants to make me some "Mad Money"! (Good luck with that.) He has a vurry likable Philadelphia accent, and for 63 years old he's very hot.

My First Blog Photo: Leonard Bernstein

Monday would have been Leonard Bernstein's 90th birthday, so in his great honor the first photo I post on my blog will be of him. I know he'd be touched.

WFMT-FM in Chicago had an audio tribute/remembrance on Tuesday afternoon, which I'm so glad I heard. While in the car, I caught the always uplifting fourth movment of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. This recording was extra spectacular, as it was performed in Berlin by musicians from Germany and the four nations that divided the country following WWII, on X-mas Day in 1989 after the Berlin Wall came down. (Thank Dog for iTunes - no more schlepping to Tower Records to maybe buy the CD if they had and it and be forced to interact with rude employees who were offended by having to share the same oxygen with anyone not as bitter as they were.) Later, an hour-long interview from the early seventies with Studs Terkel, and of course the Overture to Candide. By the time they finished with "Make Our Garden Grow", also fron Candide, I was a more than a little mushy.

What a life! I love Leonard Bernstein's music and somehow the contrast of what he gave to world with all of the awfulness that abounds everywhere here in 2008 got to me.

[It was kind of troubling to see that when one Googles Leonard Bernstein (which I did to find a photo in the public domain), one of the first few auto-fill choices is "Leonard Bernstein gay". WTF? Of course it's not the "gay" part that's gross, it's the popularity of people searching for that above so much else.]
But - back to the appreciation. On Monday I also bought the Three Dance Episodes from On the Town:
1.) The Great Lover
2.) Lonely Town (my favorite)
3.) Times Square: 1944

So much more. The symphonies with their Old Testament overtones. From Sony Classical's biography:

Inspired by his Jewish heritage, Bernstein completed his first large-scale work, Symphony No. 1: Jeremiah (1943). The piece was first performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1944, conducted by the composer, and received the New York Music Critics' Award. Koussevitzky premiered Bernstein's Symphony No. 2: The Age of Anxiety with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bernstein as piano soloist. His Symphony No. 3: Kaddish, composed in 1963, was premiered by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Yeah - I conducted my first symphony in my twenties, too.

The theatrical piece Mass is another favorite of mine. At the risk of sounding to melodramatic, it was one of the first, if not the first piece of music that I started listening to therapeutically after Sept. 11. I was not directly impacted, and I certainly didn't choose Mass because I was one of those who "turned to prayer" at that time. I bought the CD (my 2-album set didn't travel well) when I was in NYC for work on Sept. 16. Somehow it just seemed right.

Here's to you, Lenny.

So Much Awfulness

No, not the convention . . . the convention coverage.

Really enjoyed Jerry and Joe Long's take on the level of "analysis" on ABC.

And is it possible for any rethug/wingnut/garden variety conservative asshole pundit/McCranky campaign hack to appear on television without that "I'M-not-the-crazy-one,-this-libtard-I'm-talking-to/about-is" smirk?? [See: Steve Forbes every time he appears on CNBC]

Get it Girl!

As Seth Grahame-Smith at HuffPo says, McSame's been Hilt-owned by Paris.

How Timely

From FireDogLake

"You don't know me but you don't like me."

I get it - but it's not entirely true. I think I do know enough about you to not like you, and to know that you're probably not going to like me.

A Blog is Born

1:33PM Central time, Sunday, August 3, 2008 - a blog is born. I've been saying I wanted to do it for a long time, and here I am. More to come, of course.