Peter Cetera at Taste of Blue Ash

Some local loving of Peter Cetera for you. I was at the Taste of Blue Ash last night with Mrs. Shambles and some friends, specifically to see Peter.

He's still got it. Because I didn't have professional video equipment with me (the cell video is weak as hell and punked out at 30sec). Enjoy this logged YouTube as I enjoyed it live.

Hard to say I'm sorry.


[Alternate YouTube Link]

Muhammad had a Unibrow

From the BBC:

The authorities say the barbers were encouraging un-Islamic behaviour by offering Western hairstyles, tattooing and also eyebrow-plucking for men.

On the world stage, for as many problems as different religions - and in many cases different sects of the same religion - have relating to each other and/or starting wars and/or committing atrocities and/or genocide, should anyone be getting fucking tweaked over whether or not someone plucks as not to look like Jo-Jo the Dog-Boy and maybe get some under-the-burqa action?

Just to be clear: I'm not targeting Muslims. I have no tolerance for any of the organized religion accouterments that serve to veil the prime, raw truths that almost all religions have in common, the walls of money and power and death that encircle the same base concepts. These concepts, true throughout humanity, are accessible to everyone at any time in the entire history of our existence; because if you could see through the labyrinths of sacraments, past the stone towers of regalia, and into the heart of every religion's sanctum sanctorum, you would see something shockingly familiar, something you had always felt in the middle of your chest, an inner truth, a hope, an understanding of something greater than yourself.

You would be in a room. By yourself. With a mirror.

But in a world where the ultimate understanding is truly knowing and literally reflecting upon yourself, where you are not told what parts of what book are more important than the other parts and what books should and should not be burned, where you are not told who is wrong and who is right, where you are not given a dance of orbiting pomp and circumstance to jump the planned planets of submission, then there is no profit. There is no profit of cash or power for those who control religion; there is no profit for those who control the war industry, those that rely on intolerance; there is no profit for the religious politicians who drive those war machines.

Organized religion is important for many people all over the world, internally, as a guide, as a reference for Hey, maybe I shouldn't sleep with the boss's wife or Hey, maybe I shouldn't beat the hell out of that guy with a lisp. But from the the perspective of those that lord over the bureaucracies that pull the strings of extraneous, "sanctioned" apocryphal rules and laws, it's a form of control. And it is that line between reference and control that we all need to be aware of because on one side is the betterment of humanity; on the other: you'll end up spreading your belief at the expense of detriment to others and, perhaps, retaining that god-awful unibrow.

Sucker-Free Me

Buddha wept.

Yesterday's post Wingnut Blog Bounce: an Anti-Semite Adventure began with the site Blogs 4 Brownbeck.

In the last 24 hours, I have learned that it is a brilliant satire site. So well done, in fact, that I must give myself this award:



Thank you. And a thanks to Blue Gal on the tip.

Stop the Iraq War Activism - Aug. 28th, Sept. 15th

August 28, 2007 - National Take a Stand Day - Stand Up in September Vigil
From MoveOn.org and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq

This September, after hearing the White House‘s report on the "surge," Congress will decide whether we bring our troops home or spend another year fighting an unwinnable religious civil war. As Congress heads back to DC, we're here to tell them that it's time to take a stand.

We're holding candlelight vigils and Town Hall meetings in cities all over the nation on August 28--National Take a Stand Day--to remember the human cost of the war and urge our members of Congress to stand up in September and end this endless war.

How? Go to MoveOn.org's page to find your local event. Then go.


September 15, 2007 - March on Washington, D.C. - END THE WAR NOW!

From No Cure for That:

[Alternative YouTube Link]

Now do something.

Couples for Christ Splits Up

In a move of irony and symbolism beyond my wildest dreams of a Google search result, the Catholic organization Couples for Christ has split into two distinct entities: one will retain the group's name, the other will be known as Restoration Movement.

There is nothing I can say that could add more humor or insight than the reality of the situation.

Wingnut Blog Bounce: an Anti-Semite Adventure!

There's this guy at Blogs 4 Brownback to which Blue Gal alerted me.

Holy Crap. I want to believe it's a ruse, a gimmick, but sadly I think it's true: this guy's retarded for Brownback like fat kids love cake. But that's not the crazy, of course. He believes Homosexuals are trying to kill him, 70's Comics about bible adventures are the height of comic art, and isn't quite sure Mitt Romney - in all his sophistication and panache - is actually human. (Scroll down further for the argument for the "right kind of Christian" as president. [NOTE: B4B is not part of this Anti-Semite Adventure; his arguments against the offenders begins the journey...now.])

A little farther? Sure: he's got beef with the Politically Correct Apostate who is pulling for - rut roh! - Ron Paul. This anti-Semite mouth-of-foul says that because Ron Paul was not invited to Republican Jewish Coalition Presidential Forum, that makes him the only "authentic" candidate. What happened to the PC part of PCApostate? Be careful should you click on the main site: links to David Duke's official page, "Zionist Watch," and blog posts with "nigger" in the title. Yay!

I went from there through the blogroll to News From the West. More anti-Semitic rhetoric, links to places like Jewwatch, Pat Buchanan, more David Duke.

Blogroll over to The Ugly Truth and...more of the same, including a grand treatise on how Sarah Silverman is the devil for making an absurd joke about the Jews killing Jesus.

I'm done. The childish banter of a seemingly mentally crippled Limbaugh that was so tantalizing in the first two stops became racist and ignorant and tired. Quickly. And that's because of the sad truth to much of the far right wingnut blogging: it's a big ol' circle jerk recycling itself within the bounds of the talking points, whether it be the Jew Hating points or the Reach-around Ron Paul points; tight orbits of shallow planets encircling a sun of misdirected male aggression.

I was, however, surprised to see that they all posted "Fox Attacks: Iran," just like me. Unfortunately, it's because they think the war is a plot for the Jews to rule the world. I, on the other hand, believe FOX, the fourth branch of this particular government, is pandering to the fear-filled fathoms, all of them feeding on our blood in tens and twenties.

Shady Health Care Strikes Again

This was supposed to be the first post of the day. It was a busy day.

You may remember the story I posted about my friend Dave, the veteran, and how he was in dire straits with his lack of health insurance and diabetes management. I guess lack of health insurance and diabetes go together like, well, like Daves.

Dave over at CrackpotPress has been dumped by his health insurance.

We try and stay away from self-indulgent weepy, bloggy crap here… BUT ….

Here's the deal, I've been working freelance for the last year and been paying Cobra.

Well, the jackasses at the COBRA SERVE NATION (from Florida) upped my policy by $15 and changed my due date UP two weeks. I received no notification of this.

When they got the regular payment I had been electronically transferring every month, they said "Whoa! You're late! You're short! You're CANCELLED! Effective immediately." I’m not quoting but that was the feel.

Here's the rub, as many of you know, I am a type-one diabetic. This means I am uninsurable across the board. I have about a month’s worth of insulin left. I am truly lucky to have the cash today to pay uninsured premiums. Today.

Amazingly, after a vitriolic conversation I had with COBRA SERVE NATION on Monday, they did not see things my way. Usuall, my gift of calm, caustic language works wonders. I once got a health insurance company to cough up some of my teeth after threatening to burn down their office. It was a bit “Studio Exec” but it worked. I even threw in the Michael Moore line, to no avail.

In essence, I think I'm fucked.

Sure, I can get an office or barista job or marry someone who has bennies, but all of these things will take at least three months. If I won the lottery today, I still couldn't get healthcare. I need to get it now.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Thanks.

Dave
Dave AT crackpotpress Dot com

I post because I care, and it's the only help I can offer as of now. Ah, would that Kucinich were in office!

If you have any suggestions, leave comments over there.

UPDATE:
There's always CobraServ's Member Services line.
1-800-877-7994

And if you go to Cobra Insurance - Ask Us a Question, click the "General Cobra Questions" link, then click the "Ask Us a Question" link near the top, you can send Cobra an email about why Dave was ripped off.

Democratic Party Thins to Three on Lobbyist Opinions?

Ruth Marcus over at WaPo makes a very good point in her article Democrats' Purity Primary: Edwards is all "not a cotton-pickin' penny from a lobbyist (get off my lawn!)" but makes no clarification that would stop him from taking money directly from the industries by which lobbyists are employed.

Unfortunately for Ruth Marcus, she is wearing blinders with the rest of the sheep; she only mentions Clinton, Obama and Edwards. I'm not saying that a political writer doesn't have the right to whittle down the story to a battle amongst the leaders, but when you decide to write about the Democratic field's views on finance and special interests, leaving out Dennis Kucinich and how he blows everyone else out of the water is like running an executive administration without the people's best interest in mind. Oh, I mean making Kool-Aid without sugar.

Email the Iraqi Government!

If you could email the Iraqi government, what would you say?

Think fast!

Bush says "We'll step down when they step up." Bush says he's "frustrated" with the progress in the government has made in Iraq. Iraq's Prime Minister, Nuri al-Malaki, chastises Bush for commenting that he was frustrated, reportedly stating that Iraq "can find friends elsewhere." Let's hold him to it!

We can hold press conferences, email our representatives, and blog away, but how many of you have actually emailed the Iraqi Interim Government?

I know! Me neither!

According to the official United States Embassy in Baghdad website, the official site of the Iraqi Interim Government is www.iraqigovernment.org (not as catchy as GoDaddy or eBay, but www.neverendingwar.org was taken).

Go to http://www.iraqigovernment.org


But Ricky, what's all them snakey-scribblin'? Don't Arabs speak teh English?
No. Bear with me.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the last link on the right side (I highlighted it in red).



Now you will see this relatively familiar form:


Holy crap! What do I do now?

Thanks to Google, I have the answer. The form fields and dropdown are translated in the following way:



And that final button? That's your Submit or Send button.

So now that you've got the Iraqi Interim Government on the horn, what do you say?

That, friends, is up to you. I would be polite but poignant; do your research, and no swears. I know, I know. But it's one more way we can be heard, and we should be heard as an intelligent and informed voice. So get active!

And then wait for the black whisper choppers. Or don't; you won't hear them anyway. Cheers!

Fox Attacks: Iran

Going down the same road we did four years ago...


[Alternative YouTube Link]

Now go to FOX Attacks and act.

Drudge Misquotes, Misleads Article for Anti-Science

Matt Drudge, everyone's favorite, lovable, not-gay wingnut has done it again. I've grown used to the anti-science on the site (Today: it's cold in NYC...and it's August! OMG!!11! [implied: global warming is bullshit]), but this pushes it a little far in my estimation. On the site today:



But in Norway's Moose Population in Trouble for Belching, the actual quote in the article is "Bacteria in a moose's stomach create methane gas which is considered even more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide gas." The actual methane produced is the same as a car that travels 13,000 km (8077.8 mi) - this being a Dane study, I'm guessing they don't include many excessively-low mpg vehicles. The information I was able to scrape up was that the average person (American) drives about 15,000 miles per year, nearly double the impact of a single moose.

Am I seriously comparing a moose to a car?

Yes, I am. Because the moose/cow methane argument is commonly used to justify all the filth we're dumping into the atmosphere: "Well, if a cow's farts are hurting the environment, then my sweet Escalade's just fine." No sense of balance, of avoidable consequences vs. nature. These are the same people who see that it's cold in NYC today so global warming's a lie, and the same people who will take Drudge at his quote, not read the article, and poop the "moose worse than car" argument as fact over and over.

Thought I'd take the time to let everyone know it's bullshit so when you do run into that person, you're well prepared.

Kucinich campaign is awaiting ABC News explanations for its actions

As a follow-up to a previous post about how ABC/LA Times are unfairly biased, from Kucinich '08:

The Kucinich campaign is still awaiting an official response from ABC News about the unexplained – some have charged "inexplicable" - way in which the network has handled its post-debate online coverage of Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich over the past few days.

Among the "outrages" that have energized tens of thousands of Kucinich supporters - and even non-supporters - thousands of whom have flooded the ABC News website and other online news sites with comments of protest:

• Congressman Kucinich was apparently deliberately cropped out of a "Politics Page" photo of the candidates.


• Sometime Monday afternoon, after Congressman Kucinich took a commanding lead in ABC's own on-line "Who won the Democratic debate" survey, the survey was dropped from prominence on the website.


• ABC News has not officially reported the results of its online survey.


• After the results of that survey showed Congressman Kucinich winning handily, ABC News, sometime Monday afternoon, replaced the original survey with a second survey asking "Who is winning the Democratic debate?"


• During the early voting Monday afternoon and evening, U.S. Senator Barack Obama was in the lead. By sometime late Monday or early Tuesday morning, Congressman Kucinich regained the lead by a wide margin in this second survey.


• Sometime Tuesday morning, ABC News apparently dropped the second survey from prominence or killed it entirely.


• AND, as every viewer of the nationally televised Sunday Presidential forum is aware, Congressman Kucinich was not given an opportunity to answer a question from moderator George Stephanopoulos until 28 minutes into the program.

The campaign submitted objections and inquiries to ABC News representatives on Monday and Tuesday. ABC News representatives have failed to respond - or even acknowledge - those objections and inquiries.

Stayed tuned for further details.

Strength Through Peace,
Kucinich for President 2008

The Jesus & Mary Chain Forever

From NME Jesus And Mary Chain unveil fall dates:

The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced a short stint on the road in the US, kicking off October 20 in Las Vegas.

The band have also confirmed they are heading back to the studio for the first time in almost ten years to work on new material.

The band broke up in 1998, but reunited earlier this year for a select number of shows, debuting at Coachella in May. The band performed a memorable greatest hits set, and were joined by actress Scarlett Johansson for vocals on 'Just Like Honey'.

They will be joined on all dates by Evan Dando, who will perform solo acoustically, and on the LA and San Francisco dates by Soulsavers, featuring Mark Lanegan.

The dates are:

Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues (October 20)
Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues (22)
Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre (23)
San Francisco, CA @ the Fillmore (26, 27)

Amen.

Imagine Torture, and Kids ...and Smiling

Imagine a child wearing a backpack that held ten pounds of electrical equipment. The child - retarded, autistic, or behaviorally crippled - wears this backpack out of which five wires emerge and attach, as electrodes, to the legs, arms, and torso of this boy. He has someone to shadow or watch a recording of him 24 hours a day; they always carry a button, or "sled." If he does something as innocuous as swearing or nagging and up to biting or clawing, he gets a two-second long jolt of electricity.

Now read this article from Mother Jones: School of Shock. This is not an exercise in imagination.

This is Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (site's a whitewash, but note the slide show - every kid with a backpack is carrying their own electro-shock cross), located in Canton, Massachusetts. Dr. Matt Israel pioneered the "therapy," the creation of the Graduated Electronic Decelerator or GED (after noting spatula spanks, finger pinches, muscle squeezes, and whiffs of ammonia could be inconsistant), and the legacy of the school. The parents of the most severe cases rally behind him to keep the school alive. The school district or state pick up the $220,000 tab for each kid. Half of the 234 kids are wired for zapping and deaths have resulted in the "care" of the facility. Warning: this is an angering "curl up and cry" story.

So what can we do about it?

State of the Union: Truth in Mashup

Brilliantly edited - watch and learn.


[Alternate YouTube Link]


And as a bonus, Sunday, Bloody Sunday (same channel, but I saw this a while ago - way earlier than the August 1 posting).


[Alternate YouTube Link]

Dennis Kucinich Takes Poll at ABC, Ridicule at LA Times

Here is the poll as of 1:50 PM EST.



Here is the image ABC put up for the debate itself:


(note Kucinich's name is still in the caption even though he has been cropped out of the picture)

Here is the LA Times article about the debate.

Here is the only mention about Kucinich in that article:

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, often overlooked in such settings, drew a big laugh with his response. "George," he said, "I've been standing here for the last 45 minutes praying to God you were going to call on me."

When authors Mark Barabak and Peter Nicholas were called on it and sent the poll, here is what we got back:

Thanks for taking the time to read the article and share your thoughts. We don't base our political coverage on opinion polls--especially ones that are unscientific or so obviously manipulated by orchestrated campaigns.
With all best wishes
-mzb

So if what Mark says it true, then they must be basing their political coverage on the inordinate amount of time George S. delved out to the "two leading candidates;" if not polls, how else could you explain the typed dry humping of Clinton and Obama that filled the article?

I have a bias towards Dennis Kucinich, but that is clear to any of my readers. Any journalist covering the debates or primaries should try not to do so with such an obvious candidate bias; it shows a weak will and sad need to belong to the popular clique.

And herd mentality is no way to heal a desperately sick nation.

Should you feel the need to politely remind Mark Barabak and Peter Nicholas what is at stake in this election, you can reach them at mark.barabak@latimes.com and
peter.nicholas@latimes.com

You can also contact ABCNews.com about the clipped image at their support email.

Free Sex Changes in Brazil

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Following court ruling, Brazil provides free sex-change operations

August 19, 2007
BY MICHAEL ASTOR
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Brazil's public health system will start providing free sex-change operations in compliance with a court order, the Health Ministry said Friday.

Ministry spokesman Edmilson Oliveira da Silva said the government would not appeal Wednesday's ruling by a panel of federal judges giving the government 30 days to offer the procedure or face fines of $5,000 a day.

Federal prosecutors from Rio Grande do Sul state had argued that sexual reassignment surgery is covered under a constitutional clause guaranteeing medical care as a basic right.

Gay activists applauded the decision.

'A question of life and death'
''Transsexuals represent about 0.001 percent of the Brazilian population, but for this minority, sexual reassignment surgery is a question of life and death,'' said Luiz Mott, founder of the Bahia Gay Group.

''It is unjust and cruel to argue that the health system should concern itself with other priorities,'' he said.

While don't share Mr. Mott's vim and vigor over the issue, I say good for Brazilian transsexuals. First the wax and now this.

I don't think there is any benefit to playing the "what if" for America; too many people in politics - thanks to Jesus and their mommies - are scared by and ashamed of regular, missionary-position, heterosexual relations. And "aw, shucks" to anyone who would deviate from that pale vanilla picture of reality.

The wonder of this article: "a constitutional clause guaranteeing medical care as a basic right." What? Why didn't we think of that?

I am Egypt

You're Egypt!

Curator of ancient mystical secrets, your life on the surface is fairly typical these days.  Though you are in denial about more things than most people.  Nevertheless, you're trying to convince people that you're safe despite your more volatile and unstable times that seem to be behind you.  You like cats a whole lot. You'd probably really appreciate The Blue Pyramid.

Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Really?