What Are We Thinking? The Land of the Free Imprisons More Than China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, and Every Other Country In The World.

In spite of what Jesus taught, being punitive and beating up on the poor and troubled has been good politics. It provides a circus and a scape goat for failed policies. It looks like the government is doing something when the headlines are filled with drug addicts being locked up for most of their potentially productive lives. Maybe the public perception and these destructive (for us and the prisoners) practices will soon end and we'll enter the civilized world-not because of Christian charity, but because it costs too damned much money and it doesn't work. See, 1 in 100 adults now in prison 2,319,258 Americans behind bars in 2008, most of any nation

Bush Says US Not Heading for Recession-Get This Clown & His New Clone McCain Out Of Washington.

"[Bush has already denied the existence of global warming, the benefits of stem-cell research, the political disaster of the iraq War, the criminality of Jack Abramoff, the military record of John Kerry, and the Patriots’ illegal use of cameras against opponents. (Well, maybe not the last one.) So why not deny that a recession is happening. It’s all good. Don’t worry, be happy, baby!" Bobby
See, also Bush Vows To Make It Up To Country Somehow
Let's clean house. If we don't have enough respect for ourselves to do it, do it for Cameron, Rockey, Shelby and their generation.

Reds

Memories of old Reds. CJ asked me to thank his family and comrads.

Happy Birthday BEL. It's Still A Wonderful Time To Be Alive As Long As One Has Enough Dynamite.

A woman for all seasons.
Yum!

More Catholic Ignorance & Misogyny Makes Me Glad To Be of Presbyterian-Methodist Stock Whom God Allows To Use Their Brains & Be Compassionate.*

The Little Rock Diocese has retracted its Statement.* March 7, 2008-God Bless the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert. The Diocese, through him, "has now admitted its error and reversed its position that 'was based upon what were believed to be 'facts,' which upon further study have turned out not to be true." See, Errare Humanum Est by Jonah.
Msgr. Hebert used his brain and showed compassion and integrity. I thank him.
"The Respect Life Apostolate of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock has issued an edict discouraging its parishes and schools from supporting or participating in any activities that might possibly benefit the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. They claim that this nefarious event raises money for embryonic stem cell research and Planned Parenthood.

Consequently, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Tontitown will not be selling any charity spaghetti and fried chicken dinners on April 18, the night before the Komen Ozark Race for the Cure in Springdale. The irony here is that the Komen Ozark affiliate has given about $350,000 to Catholic hospitals in Northwest Arkansas, while the Arkansas affiliate has donated $1.4 million to Catholic hospitals since 1992. I'm sure they will return the money forthwith.

That is the second low blow this month for the fight against breast cancer, support for survivors, and the search for a cure. The Ozark affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation held a big fund raiser at the Fayetteville Town Center on February 9th. Thieves hit the items displayed for the "Pretty In Pink" silent auction and made off with about $24,000 of goods that included a necklace, a Teno watch, some Ray-Ban sunglasses, and one earring. Someone should consider dispatching Sgt. Shannon Gabbard to search the vaults at the Vatican."
Shameless copied verbatim from Barefoot and Breast Cancer in the Iconoclast

If You Love Politics, Don't Watch This! Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Thanks to Dr. Steve.

When Sex Was Dirty and the Air Was Clean, They Sanatized "Work With Me Annie" to Make "Dance With Me Henry."

“When ‘Work With Me, Annie (12169)’ appeared in 1954, it created a sensation and a furor. For that period, the lyrics were extremely sexually explicit-- ‘Annie, please don't cheat. Give me all my meat.’ And although it was anathematized by many men of the cloth and banned from many a disk jockey's play list, it still sold by the thousands. The rollicking ‘Annie’ came to symbolize what the white establishment feared the most? the stereotypical latent sexuality of the Negro running amok. ‘Hank Ballard & the Midnighters were the 2 Live Crew of the early 50s, burning up the airwaves and Black jukeboxes,’ asserts Cub Koda in his review of the 1993 retrospective, Sexy Ways, a ‘best of’ package on Rhino records, which specializes in reissues.Former mentor, Johnny Otis, seized upon this opportunity to ‘appropriate’ the melody and offer a less blatantly sexual version of the number to the public when he had the then fourteen-year-old Etta James (Jamesetta Hawkins) record ‘Roll With Me Henry’ for the Bihari brothers' indie Modern (947) at 686 N. Robertson in Los Angeles, featuring Richard Berry, the originator of rock classic, ‘Louie Louie (Flip 321).’ But Otis, too, had to compromise, changing the title to the more innocuous ‘The Wallflower.’ Such a practice, basically stealing a song, was rampant in this decade before such copyright laws were strictly enforced. In fact, Etta James soon sang a response to the macho ‘I'm A Man (Checker 814)’ by Bo Diddley, retorting with ‘W-O-M-A-N (972).’ Another egregious example of this custom was Johnny Guitar Watson's ‘cover’ on RPM (436) of Earl King's ‘Those Lonely, Lonely Nights (Ace 509)’ in 1955. Other such illustrations of the ‘Annie’ rip-off phenomenon included the vocal group El Dorados (‘At My Front Door’), who countered with ‘Annie's Answer (Vee-Jay 118),’ the West Coast Midnights (notice the name similarity), who replied with ‘Annie Pulled A Hum-Bug (Music City 746),’ the Champions, who responded with ‘Annie Met Henry (Chart 602),’ and label mates, the Platters, who answered with ‘Maggie Doesn't Work Here Anymore (12204),’ credited to the writers Taylor and Lynch. In all fairness, Otis did share the royalties between himself, James, and Ballard. But, for the most part, R& B artists of the 50s are still trying to recover what unscrupulous publishers of that era owe them.

But not only were other R&B artists jumping on the ‘Annie’ bandwagon. Pop chanteuse, Georgia Gibbs, further sanitized both the title, ‘Dance With Me Henry,’ and lyrics, resulting in a monster hit on Mercury (70572) in 1955?a song that was now so fit for public consumption that it sold over a million copies.” From Bluesworld.com Hank Ballard (1936-2003) by Larry Benicewicz, B.B.S. Thanks to Dick for the tip.

Oh No! Oh God. Say It Ain't So Ralph. This Is The Nader of Disgrace.

"That he stayed in the race in 2000 was tragedy. (See: Invasion of Iraq, 2003, and subsequent occupation.) That he came back in 2004 was unfortunate; his entry in 2008 is farce. Farce because it suggests detachment from political reality (the differences between the Republican and Democratic nominees are so faint that we can say, What the hell!) and, worse, narcissism. The fact that it won't make any difference in the outcome actually is sad.
I will always like and respect Ralph Nader and will always admire the wonderful things he has done. But I wish to God that he had not made this decision, or will reverse it soon. (And, I am sorry that saying this will make me an enemy in his eyes.) He is a better man than his recent decisions indicate." Ralph Nader: tragedy to farce - James Fallows
Mrs. Betty Bowers was not so kind. She claims that "Ralph has elbowed Paris Hilton out of the way for the The Attention-Whoring Narcissists Party nomination. See, The Attention-Whoring Narcissists Party Has Picked Its Candidate posted in Ralph Nader and other Creepy Narcissists, homos, other people's sins, True Chistian Politics

Everyone's for Girls' Rights As Long As They Keep Their Mouths Shut.

Hillary is a shameless politico, but certainly no worse than McCain is and Obama probably will be. She's head and shoulders above Bush, Romney, and Huckabee. She's probably the person most qualified of those who are running. The truth still is that women have a tougher row to hoe. It's time we changed that old tune.


See, also, SNL Spoofs Media Bias for Obama in CNN Debate Skit... and
SNL: Bitch is the New Black! Go Hillary!

McCain-Like Hope, But Different

"BACKCOUNTRY SKIING: Skills for Ski Touring & Ski Mountaineering" by Martin Volken, Scott Schell, & Margaret Wheeler.

If you fantasize about becoming like Virg, read this book for some of the basic skills you will need. “Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering is to Backcountry Betty as Einstein is to Imus. Where BB is destined for trash heaps and second-hand bookstores everywhere the only time anyone will ditch their copy of BS is when a revised edition comes out.
BS is an awesomely complete reference to everything its title indicates. Targeted at "intermediate to advanced in-area skiers" but accessible to all skill levels, the book's ten chapters cover all the gear and techniques you'll need to be better at everything. The authors' lofty goal is to bring it all together "in one place," and they pull it off in spades.
Choosing and fitting skins? Nine pages. Assessing avalanche danger? Forty-seven pages. It's all there, with the notable exception of navigation: for some reason this subject is given very short shrift, but at 339 pages I guess something had to give. Backcountry Skiing exemplifies the highest level of quality that I've come to expect from the Mountaineers Outdoor Expert Series of books. A no-brainer: buy it and read it.” Backcountry Skiiing book-Review in GearFlogger.
Scott & Margaret's new book sold over 4000 copies in the first month (good for a rather specialized type of book), and Mountaineers Books will have to order a second printing soon! They were in SLC last weekend for a book-signing at a large outdoor retail show, and have been giving presentations to various book stores, stores like REI, universities, etc. Scott & Margaret both are Instructors of the AIARE Avalanche Safety courses ... something seriously needed for people without Virgil’s skills and experience who venture into the Washington State back country where nine people have been lost so far this season to avalanches! Scott is an incredible photographer (he did all the photos in the book. He is also a Tech Rep for Backcountry Access.

Catholics Do It Again. No Women Allowed In Positions of Authority Over Boys At (Get This) St. Mary's.

A woman referee was walked off a Kansas high school basketball game and barred from officiating because she was a woman. Allowing a woman to referee "would be putting a woman in a position of authority over boys, . . — a scenario that was contrary to beliefs at St. Mary’s Academy." Removal of woman referee by religious school has some crying foul By STEVE ROCK The Kansas City Star. How far the Catholic Church has fallen, and how low it has taken much of Christianity with it. The real St. Mary had no such beliefs, at least according to Max Ernst . See, Happy Mother's Day, Mary. The Irish Catholic Church had female priests, no celibacy, and probably no child molesters. The Church of Rome finally stamped those common sense beliefs out. Even in modern times the church has allowed women to terrorize boys-Ask Jake & Elwood. I thought that they still did. Maybe, true to our culture, an athletic event is a far too serious forum for women. They can probably still beat the hell out of boys in an academic environment, but are not worthy to blow the whistle during a contest in the arena. Maybe the Pope will intervene. (That's a joke)

Virgil Wishes John & W. Would GET A ROOM! Straight Talking Maverick My Bippy! What We'd Get is Eight More Years.

McCain has also kissed up to the phony preachers and sold out on torture, campaign reform, reproductive freedom and God knows what else. It's sad to see this once brave man cower to curry the favor of cretins, including W., who have maligned and mistreated him. Too bad he didn't lose early on before he was seduced by the sirens of the office and lost his principles and his dignity.

Camogie & Hurling Update at Virg n' Mary

Some voters say sexism less offensive than racism-What's Your Hatred of Choice?

The ignorant, the hate mongers, and the Roveians will make plenty of sexist and racist statements this year. The United States has a chance to stand above it and let them wallow in and drown in their slime. I hope we do it.
Here’s some of the stuff already going around:
"Barack the Magic Negro" Rush Limbaugh
“Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?” Rush Limbaugh
“the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around.” Chris Matthews
Hillary’s breasts, ankles, and hair have been made issues. Barack has “been called a fundamentalist Muslim even though he's a Christian, and his middle name, Hussein, has been compared to Saddam Hussein.”
Let the games begin.

Huckabee, Never Serious About Being President But Always Serious About Passing the Plate, Is Back On The Money Speaking Circuit.

It is really interesting how the obvious can so often be invisible to so many for so long. See, Huckabee to take break from campaign trail Will leave Wisconsin to give paid speech in Cayman Islands

I mean lets start with the fact that at home Huckabee is known as the "Huckster" - Not surprising for a Baptist preacher turned politician. Does the national media really think he believes the earth is ten thousand years old?

Surely they have no illusion that he ever took this campaign seriously, given his utter lack of qualification for the office. To be qualified to be President you at least have to have wanted the office for awhile, so you can at least get your mind around the challenge. Unlike Bush, who was recruited by would be handlers into the job, Huckabee is too smart to suffer the illusion that he is qualified to be President of the United States. He does not want to be Vice President either, unless maybe he can figure out how to keep the china.

His glib governorship has been distinguished only by his creativity in subtly taping his office for personal financial gain by various sorted means without generating the overtly fetid atmosphere that such shameless pawning of public office would normally be expected to produce. Huckabee in short is a genius at passing the plate. It is the way the man is accustomed to making his living and he has never been shy about admitting it.

Of course, he is also well aware of the gullibility of those who would fill those plates. The religious right is the mother load, the Klondike vein of such gullibility. The mainline Republican Party has been shamelessly manipulating these people for decades. The GOP forgot to run someone who could claim the evangelical vote. So why should Mr. Huckabee not have a turn under the cow if the GOP is not going to use it?
By James The Bruce

Alone On Valentine's Day-Making Lemonade

Some like being alone, even on Valentine's Day, and some don't. One advantage is that that it may keep your testosterone levels up. See, Marriage lowers testosterone Hormones range less on the homestead By William J. Cromie The main advantage is that you don't have to buy no stinking Valentines.

Violet: Charlie Brown, we’ve been feeling awfully guilty about not giving you a valentine this year. We’d like for you to have this one.
Schroeder: Hold on there. What do you think you’re doing? Who do you think you are?! Don’t you think he has any feelings?!! You and your friends are the most thoughtless bunch I’ve ever known. You don’t care anything about Charlie Brown. You just hate to feel guilty! And now you have the nerve to come around one day later and offer him a used valentine just to ease your conscience! Well, let me tell you something: Charlie Brown doesn’t need your-
Charlie Brown: Don’t listen to him. I’ll take it!

–Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Obama & Clinton Need To Run Together With Her On Top.

" Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly 'uniter' with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.
As for the 'woman thing'?
Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but because I am."

Goodbye To All That (#2) by Robin Morgan