And I Bet Clay Doesn’t Even Have Health Insurance Himself

Shorter Clay “Man of My Dreams” Waters, Newsblusterers
New York Times Again Falsely Claims Audience Shouted ‘Let Him Die!’ During GOP Debate

  • There is an enormous difference between shouting “Let him die” and shouting “Yeah” when someone asks “Should we let him die?”

Apparently the winsomely handsome sex-pot Clay Waters is the only one at Newsblusters who has enough three-syllable words in his vocabulary to be able to read the Sunday New York Times. So sometime this past weekend, Clay hunkered down with a pound or two of microwaveable bacon strips and the magazine section of the NYT looking for stuff that would make Brent Bozoell proud to be Clay’s Sugar Daddy and happy to keep the checks and gifts coming in Clay’s direction. (We can safely assume that Clay wasn’t doing the crossword puzzle.)

And here are the fruits of Clay’s perusal of the Sunday NYT magazine:

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee talked to Andrew Goldman for the New York Times Magazine, who used a media myth to give Huckabee a platform to call the Republican Party “hyperorthodox” and excessively ideological

Oooh. A “media myth” and a RINO attack before Clay has even finished the first sentence. Clay is really earning his keep at Newsblusterers today.

Goldman’s opening question basically begged Huckabee to bash the GOP: “During the Republican primary debates, audience members booed a question from an active serviceman who was gay and shouted, “Let him die,” about a hypothetical gravely ill patient without insurance. Is this different from the party that you know and love?” Huckabee obliged by smacking the slow pitch: “Very much. . . . “

Now comes the piercing media analysis for which Bozell’s boys are so justly famous:

One problem: No one shouted “Let him die” at the Republican debate televised on CNN and hosted by Wolf Blitzer.

In fact, it is well known that the entire audience of Republicans started weeping inconsolably at the very thought of someone dying because they lacked health insurance.

As Times Watch reported back on September 23, 2011 after the paper first forwarded this falsity as fact: “It was debate moderator Wolf Blitzer who actually used the words ‘let him die,’ when asking candidate Ron Paul a loaded question about letting a hypothetical man die for lack of health insurance. There is no auditory evidence anyone at all in the crowd shouted such a thing….” ABC News gave a more accurate presentation of what happened.

As you can discern from the Shorter, the “more accurate presentation” of what happened is that Wolf asked Ron Paul ” “Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?” and some members of the audience shouted “Yeah.” Waters’s claim that this isn’t the same thing as shouting “Let him die” is the sort of sophistry that you’d expect from a six-year old and not even a smart six-year old. “I didn’t hit Timmy. His face just fell into my fist. I swear!”

Of course, the reason that Clay is relegated to the amateur wingnuttia at Newsblusters is that he didn’t even have the wits to come up with something clever like arguing that there is no proof that the folks who shouted “Yeah” were Republican. For all we know, they could have been Islamocommie Obama supporters who snuck into the debates just to make Republicans look bad. Or that actually they didn’t say “Yeah” in English but were speaking Transcroaslavimongolian and said “Yöøeâuh,” which sounds much like “yeah” but which means, roughly, “Please, dear Lord, give him insurance and save his precious life.”

 

Comments: 177

 
 
Looch has been a' ramblin'
 

It’s good to see that there is no lack of material out there. The parody/reality demarcation no longer can be located. CERN researchers are on this.

 
 

Secundus!

 
 

When Wolfie said “Should we let him die?” some people thought he said “Should we let him fly (to Disneyland for an all expenses paid holiday).
Simple really

 
 

Boo-urns! Boo-urns!

 
 

Some audience members thought Wolf said “lemon pie” or “leather guy” or any number of wholesome things.

 
Looch has been a' ramblin'
 

It’s funny, I am having this back and forth on Facebook with a Republican I knew back in high school. I post charts and data, he posts Reason Magazine articles. Or Doughy Pantload columns. He’s not stupid but he is hanging on with his fingernails to Republican Cult talking points. And I have no idea how to break him loose. And he’s a lot smarter than the maroon pictured above.
It’s a damn pandemic.

 
 

And I have no idea how to break him loose. And he’s a lot smarter than the maroon pictured above.
It’s a damn pandemic.

Tribal identity, self justification for success, and the thought that one of “them” might be getting over on you are a powerful stew. Willful ignorance to buttress an ossified worldview…pretty much par for the course.

I bet the dude self identifies as a libertarian.
.

 
Looch has been a' ramblin'
 

He’s a Republican. And he has daughters. I mean, *hello*?

 
 

the “more accurate presentation” of what happened is that Wolf asked Ron Paul “Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?” and some members of the audience shouted “Yeah”

Must be that “culture of life” thing I keep hearing about.

 
Looch has been a' ramblin'
 

I haven’t been around. What’s the status of the Wingnut Processor? Or is the Cliffotine still near and dear to everyone’s heart?

 
 

There is an enormous difference between shouting “Let him die” and shouting “Yeah” when someone asks “Should we let him die?”

LOLWUT? No, there isn’t.

 
 

And he has daughters.

Ouch!

But they won’t get into any trouble he can’t afford to get them out of. I guess now that since the rebranding of the party after the apocalypse (Jan 20, 2009, natch) it is no longer the embarrassment to be a publican than it was circa 2007-2008.

Thanks for trying to get him to see the error of his ways. Doubt that you will have any success, but at least it is an opportunity to work on the angles of presentation.

 
 

It was such a loaded question because the sick guy was real, was a former campaign staffer of the good Dr. Paul, and actually, well, died. Also too, to summarize the good doctor’s answer: Well yeah, people can and do die because they can’t or couldn’t afford treatment, but why is that MY problem?

 
 

I’m not clicking through to the NYT mag article because I’m too cheap to subscribe and so much preserve my monthly ration of free views. But what I find far more intriguing than anything those Newsbusters idiots say is that Mike Huckabee—Mike “Evolution is a Big Lie” Huckabee—finds the current teatard base repugnant.

OTOH, it’s instructive that the most bland-vanilla candidate of the bunch got the nomination. Maybe they’re not totally suicidal over there.

 
Looch has been a' ramblin'
 

OTOH, it’s instructive that the most bland-vanilla candidate of the bunch got the nomination. Maybe they’re not totally suicidal over there.

He was kinda the only one that could walk and chew gum, politically.

 
 

Must be that “culture of life” thing I keep hearing about.

A culture of life as it involves members of the tribe. I think i have managed to distill the situation to involve the following. Freedom and Liberty for the Republican (Patriarchal Authoritarian) involves impunity. The freedom/liberty to do whatever you want to your property; i.e, your women, children and any group perceived as below your station with impunity and without regard to any possible negative effects to anyone downstream.

Us Commies have an entirely different view of the two terms entirely.

Back in the day they could bitch-slap their wives and children in public, lynch uppity Negroes, etc, and do so with Impunity. The rest is just window dressing and concern trolling in service of an attempt to retrieve that lost impunity.

 
 

The heckler may have thought that Wolf meant “Let him dye.” And why not?

 
 

And you know the Titanic didn’t actually “sink,” the water just rose up all around it.

 
Looch has been a' ramblin'
 

Back in the day they could bitch-slap their wives and children in public, lynch uppity Negroes, etc, and do so with Impunity. The rest is just window dressing and concern trolling in service of an attempt to retrieve that lost impunity.

This article hits that nail hard. My acquaintance is from North Carolina.

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/01/southern_values_revived/

The money shot:

“The Civil War was, at its core, a military battle between these two elites for the soul of the country. It pitted the more communalist, democratic and industrialized Northern vision of the American future against the hierarchical, aristocratic, agrarian Southern one. Though the Union won the war, the fundamental conflict at its root still hasn’t been resolved to this day. (The current conservative culture war is the Civil War still being re-fought by other means.)”

That is as good an explanation as I have ever seen.

 
 

The heckler may have thought that Wolf meant “Let him dye.” And why not?

Ahah! No explanation could be simpler. The man could start a dyeing business to earn money for health care, or barter dyes for care.

 
 

For Republican worshipers of what they think is “free market capitalism”, “scarcity” is a GOOD that encourages cut-throat “competition” which is GREAT because PROFIT. It’s GOOD that that guy doesn’t have medical insurance. That makes medical insurance that other people have more valuable. It’s GREAT to let him die because that makes the lives of people who have medical insurance more valuable. It’s all a competition that no one can win unless someone else loses and can even be embraced by people who know that they could also lose, but being stupid, they are willing to sacrifice themselves and their loved ones on the altar of the economic religion they have conflated with Democracy, Christianity, Nationality, and being Caucasian.

Which reminds me of a study done in the late eighties on people from different countries. People were grouped according to country and set against each other in a game of Tug-O-War. The rule was that each time your team pulled the flag across a line your team got a penny. The people from nations not the U.S. were quick to figure out that if the two teams cooperated, they could both get more pennies by pulling the flag back and forth over the line quickly. The U.S. team, even after figuring it out and seeing it demonstrated continued to engage in win/lose competition to the detriment of both teams. This lose/lose mindset is characteristic of very stupid people.

 
 

who used a media myth to give Huckabee a platform

Your picture of yourself is a media mythotine
Underneath this floor we’re on the edge of a cliffotine.

 
 

You don’t GET it.
Someone else having NO pennies is even BETTER than me having LOTS of pennies.

USA

!

 
Spengler Dampniche
 

I know I am not alone in deliberately clicking through, time after time, because I want to see if the shorter is accurate, knowing that it will be the most scrupulously accurate thing on the entire internet.

But flaming nutwattles it hurts.

 
 

Though the Union won the war, the fundamental conflict at its root still hasn’t been resolved to this day.

Ah, yes, the Caddyshack war of the snobs vs slobs. The eternal American conflict.

Jonah Loadpants is Spaulding, right?

 
 

Trusting the shorter is the most powerful armor in the arsenal of mental self-defense against pernicious batshit. Though it can, admittedly, be very difficult to suspend disbelief while reading a wingnut screed, a tiny momentary lapse can result in toxic levels of malignant batshit breaching the blood/brain barrier. The effects of a major breach can be irreversible.The mental effort required to resist the batshit can lead to mental and emotional exhaustion in addition to the flaming nutwaffle pain. The cost of brain bleach can be prohibitive.

If you have any doubts, just glance at the comments at the bottom of each linked post and see what happened to them. Leave it to the experts. Trust the shorter. Always trust the shorter.

 
 

I think I am two threads behind.

I get to work in this town, and YOU DON’T.
.

 
 

JP, that may be literally the best thing Ive ever seen. Ever.

No. Strike “may.”

 
 

does that street sign go to 11?

 
 

That intersection is right around the corner from Lick My Love Pump Lane.

 
 

That intersection is right around the corner from Lick My Love Pump Lane.

Smalls Court is just up the street. I swear, I had to pull the truck over for a minute to stop laughing… and to get the photo, of course.
.

 
 

Wheaton, IL (west suburban Chicago) has a Fapp Circle.

I always make the noise whenever my wife and I drive by it, whereupon she wonders exactly how old I am.

 
Just Alison freezing her tits off (still)
 

Errr, is this a joke that hasn’t fallen down to the antipodes yet? ‘Cos I don’t get it…

 
 

Errr, is this a joke that hasn’t fallen down to the antipodes yet? ‘Cos I don’t get it…

Wiki the flick, This Is Spinal Tap.
.

 
 

I must be in the ‘podes, cause I don’t get it either.

 
 

I must be in the ‘podes, cause I don’t get it either.

Ahem.

Just noticed: In typical La Vergne fashion, they misspelled “Tufnel.” 😆
.

 
 

We’re talking about a place who has a form that states, “We cannont adjust your bill if you do not provide meter readings.”
.

 
 

This Is Spinal Tap.

‘smell the glove’ still cracks me up…

 
 

I’m surprised no repub has suggested that cops and firefighters, as public servants, be required to tug their forelocks when passing a member of the ruling class.

 
 

We’re talking about a place who has a form that states, “We cannont adjust your bill if you do not provide meter readings.”

what if you cannont read your meter?

 
 

reading your meter…

 
 

what if you cannont read your meter?

Customners who cannont read their meters nmust breed their meaters

 
 

I knew about St.Hubbins and Tufnell, but I am pretty hep with the kids. Oh god to live on the corner section!
In the deep frozen South island there is a road between two small towns and they give their names to this “highway”. It is the Clinton-Gore highway
The Photoshop on Clay would have been a better look for copied-Breitbart.

 
 

“The Civil War was, at its core, a military battle between these two elites for the soul of the country. It pitted the more communalist, democratic and industrialized Northern vision of the American future against the hierarchical, aristocratic, agrarian Southern one. Though the Union won the war, the fundamental conflict at its root still hasn’t been resolved to this day. (The current conservative culture war is the Civil War still being re-fought by other means.)”

Are they comparing elites, or entire societies? Seems to me that the Northern elites (more modern, urban and capitalist) are the people who went on to be the robber barons after the slave-owners had been evicted as America’s ruling class. Also seems to me that those Yankee elites haven’t had much of a problem with the Old South ever since they put it in its place, and we’ve had to fight both of them, not just the Southern ones. The Mr. Potters from the North and the Boss Hoggs from the South have been working together against liberal reforms for over a hundred years.

 
 

tugging the forelock…………

 
 

Which reminds me of a study done in the late eighties on people from different countries. People were grouped according to country and set against each other in a game of Tug-O-War. The rule was that each time your team pulled the flag across a line your team got a penny. The people from nations not the U.S. were quick to figure out that if the two teams cooperated, they could both get more pennies by pulling the flag back and forth over the line quickly. The U.S. team, even after figuring it out and seeing it demonstrated continued to engage in win/lose competition to the detriment of both teams. This lose/lose mindset is characteristic of very stupid people.

Competition led to inefficiency! Inconceivable!

Serious question for people who know… something more about economics than I do: does anyone think it’s actually possible to get as much or more efficiency out of a socialist economy than a capitalist one? E.G. the communist “food on your plate now belongs to the state” model, minus the police state dictatorship, the non-transparency, the massive military budget and all the ugly things? Or is that just a complete pipe dream by Marxist intellectuals?

I’ve never really asked the question before because I figure the mixed economy New Deal type model’s done a damn good job when it’s been allowed to, and I’m not even saying I’d want it if it were possible, but I’m actually curious.

 
 

Sorry about your confusion, Chris. Shan’t help you.

 
 

Well thank you, bro.

Since I appear to have killed the thread and must amuse myself somehow, here’s the ludicrous song that’s been stuck in my head all day courtesy of a friend of mine who loves all things German. I literally do not understand how human vocal cords can be configured to make these sounds, but apparently they can. Crazy fucking people, those Germans.

 
 

Chris – Interesting question.

I suppose in theory a command economy could be more efficient than a market economy but in practice it doesn’t seem to work on any scale larger than an Israeli Kibbutz.

 
 

Seems to me there are a couple of Scandahoovian countries that run on a system kinda like what you’re talking about and they seem to do pretty well. And what about Israel for that matter? South Korea? I dunno, really, but somebody here must.

 
 

the ludicrous song

……………..and then, he goes UP A KEY. Holy crap.

Also, I love comment #2.

 
Just Alison freezing her tits off (still)
 

Ahhh, Nigel Tufnel. Been a while since I’ve seen Spinal Tap.

And Chris, depends on where your putative socialist economy sits on the authoritarian/libertarian scale – a more libertarian arrangement that just co-ordinates production and distribution without messing with too much else could be much more efficient, since it wouldn’t have to divert flippin’ great wodges of dosh towards (a) huge executive salaries, (b) profits, and (c) marketing.

Something I’ve been thinking about for a while, actually, as a reason for why gubmint can be much more efficient than Teh Free Market. Heresy, I know, but I know you can’t reach down here to hang me for it.

 
 

I suppose in theory a command economy could be more efficient than a market economy

See under “US, 1941-1945”.

 
 

See under “US, 1941-1945?.

I guess it depends on how you define “efficient”. At the end of the war we were literally flying planes from the factory to the smelter. In the Pacific they dug holes and bulldozed fighter planes into them because it wasn’t worth bringing them home.

 
 

I don’t see a reason, aside from that pathetic fact known as human greed, why a resource based government company couldn’t be in the market place and use the profits to lower tax rates.
It could be limited in size so that it doesn’t monopolise the sector and the workers could be payed the going rate.
I guess we would all catch socialanist germs and die or something.

 
 

I suppose in theory a command economy could be more efficient than a market economy but in practice it doesn’t seem to work on any scale larger than an Israeli Kibbutz.

The largest multinational corporations are as big as nation-states. Internally, they are run as command economies — hierarchical, authoritarian ones at that. If Sally in accounting needs her computer fixed, she does not pay the IT guy. Of course the computer is not hers; it’s supplied for her use, along with virtually everything else she needs to do her job.

There are major exceptions (my car), and the quest for efficiency has led corporations to out-source many things. My point is that corporations, indeed like other social institutions that aren’t nation-states, can be analyzed as having internal economies wherein goods and services are exchanged according to rules or fiat. Consider the traditional family …

Big corporations are bureaucratic behemoths in part because running them involves a complex mix of command* and market economics at every stage and level. This doesn’t even get into how they really interact with each other, or governments, and again, sometimes those interactions can only loosely be described as market-y, if at all.

*In a well-run workplace, I have as much autonomy as is practical and efficient. This is not to be confused with me having rights to behave freely at work, or have robust democratic input. I am still subject to a pseudo-militaristic hierarchy, however infrequent and mild its decrees.

 
 

I suppose in theory a command economy could be more efficient than a market economy but in practice it doesn’t seem to work on any scale larger than an Israeli Kibbutz.

“Efficiency” and “work” require definition. If efficiency means that people did meaningless stuff, that’s okay: an economy is a tool to keep people alive and happy, and secondary to that is the production of Mercedes vs. Lada.

 
off topic comic con geekery
 

Did you know that Spiderman and Wolverine and Daredevil are all “eskimo brothers”?

 
 

I’m not surprised. It’s a little-known fact that Spiderman’s totem animal is a wolverine, and Wolverine’s is a spider. Daredevil’s is an eskimo.

 
 

If I can own things, and negotiate contracts with other entities, I have the building-blocks of a command economy – within the scope of those assets and dealings.

This helps explain why businesspeople hate some types of regulation. It interferes with their ability to create hybrid internal economies, command-heavy fiefdoms that carefully send their outputs to market.
No entity goes to market at every possible juncture. We often seek non-commercial solutions: social ones, or ways to redeploy the resources at hand.

The Body. We typically buy food at markets, but once eaten it’s subject to the workings of the body-system. The heart and liver do not place bids for the nutrients they need. If I am unsatisfied with how my skin is doing its job, I cannot seek market solutions, or assign its functions to my lungs.

Corporate Persons. The fictitious entity’s corpus is a Frankenstein’s monster comprised of people, the physical plant, and other resources or inputs. Unlike the physical body, its internal economy is a hybrid, meant to make marketing its outputs profitable. Concentrating on the end-result – sending outputs to market – obscures the nature and workings of the corpus.

 
 

Hullabaloo just posted about an interesting NYT article, “The Machine and the Garden” that relates to my comments this morning.

 
 

I don’t see a reason, aside from that pathetic fact known as human greed, why a resource based government company couldn’t be in the market place and use the profits to lower tax rates.

I was recently thinking about how things could be if one of these Republican free market candidates actually did run the government like a business. How much would we save in taxes if say the government worked as hard as some of our corporations to get the maximum profit from the resources that are on public grounds? Or made businesses and corporations pay a fair market value to ship goods over our public highways? We could eliminate taxes altogether. Of, course we’d end up paying a fortune at the pump and at the retail stores, but no system is perfect.

 
 

That’s very alienating, Substance. For example:

Harry’s style has evolved. “I used to only wear overalls, Alaïa T-shirts and my mom’s Manolo Blahnik loafers,” he said. “That was my uniform.”

 
 

From the creepy link at 16:24

Harry, 15, and his 18-year-old brother are the well-spoken product of cross-pollination of the Übermenschen. Their father, Peter M. Brant, is the industrialist, art collector, polo enthusiast and publisher of Interview. Their mother is the supermodel Stephanie Seymour.

Industrialist, art collector, and polo enthusiast. Sounds exactly like the sort of people I hang out with.

 
 

Also, I’d just like to point out that women have it so easy! I notice that for a man to be considered Übermenschen he needs to be an industialist, an art collector, a polo enthusiast and a publisher. All a woman has to do is be a super model. It’s really not fair.

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

Pollo enthusiast? weird.

 
 

Markets are considered “efficient” because supposedly prices reach an equilibrium between supply and demand… it’s a weird, pinched definition of efficiency that doesn’t mean markets run the world well, use resources wisely, treat employees fairly, or anything. Unnecessary services are offered by multiple providers, finished products are thrown away untouched by the ton, equipment and supplies are left to rust, rot, and ruin, etc. Not efficient by any other usage of the word.

 
 

What Clay didn’t hear was the muttered part: “lethimdie…..YEAH!”

 
 

Pollo enthusiast? weird.

Don’t judge.

And keep fucking that chicken.

 
 

Harry, 15, and his 18-year-old brother are the well-spoken product of cross-pollination of the Übermenschen. Their father, Peter M. Brant, is the industrialist, art collector, polo enthusiast and publisher of Interview. Their mother is the supermodel Stephanie Seymour.

Your daddy’s rich, and your ma is good-lookin’…

 
 

How about this NYTimes article?

good bob almight, i’ve wasted my life…

 
 

Pollo enthusiast? weird.

keep fucking that chicken!

 
 

/self a-heming…

 
 

they squeeze in normal activities one would find more age appropriate. Besides getting an early start at philanthropy by serving on the committee of Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, a blood-cancer research charity, he is spending the summer interning at Sotheby’s. “Besides delivering mail, I help with appraisals and circa dating,” he said.

Yep, just like any teenager, interning at Sotheby’s.

 
 

Yep, just like any teenager, interning at Sotheby’s.

Hmph. My stupid slacker daughter is only painting houses for a summer job. Where did I go wrong?

 
 

Yep, just like any teenager, interning at Sotheby’s.

indeed…what teen hasn’t engaged in a little circa dating now and then…

 
 

okay, since i’ve been in executive directro position here at the foundation, i have refrained from being too vocal in public criticisms and such…of course when i was on the air all day at the station, i could say pretty much whatever the hell i wanted as when i whizzed off our entire mormon community (1 person) when i pointed out that people thought joseph smith was crazy…anyhoo, this week’s issue of the ‘hooterville indigestion’ just may change all that…from time to time i’ve regaled/bored you with some of the meanderings of the paper’s publisher, well, here’s an item from this week’s edition:

Worth taking note of…..this piece via e-mail from reader-friend Myron Scholberg of Williamsburg, VA, called an original Chinese Proverb: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish…..and you feed him for a lifetime!” The latest Chinese Proverb import reads: “Give a man a welfare check, a cell phone, cash for his clunker, food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicaid, 100 weeks of unemployment checks, a 40-ounce malt liquor, needles, drugs, contraceptives, and designer Air Jordan shoes….and he will vote Democrat for a lifetime!” Depending upon if you’re a died-in-the-wool party man, you might prefer to replace Democrat with Republican?????!!!!!!

all typos belong to editor, not me…

i really, really want to send a letter to the editor that simply reads: “fuck you, jim”

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

Give a man a match and he’s warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he’s warm for the rest of his life.

 
 

and goddammit! he’s got an actual ‘editorial’ this week spouting off about the 16, 500 agents that will be hired to *enforce* obamacare…other highlights from his week: zomg! we’re gave pakistan $2b a year?!?!?!? and presidential and legislative post-service salaries…he’s like a zillion years behind the times with these issues, but calls for a revolution (srsly) and that we should (and i quote) Time to fire the lot at November’s election. REALLY!!!!!!!

and that’s 7 exclamation points, folks, so i’m guessing the perverted old coot really means it…

the larger question however remains: how do i call him out on this latest round of bullshit, without jeopardizing his donor status…i’m still trying to get him to honor his latest pledge…

 
 

Stop drop and roll!

 
 

Give a man a dogwhistle and he won’t think for a day, teach a man to stereotype and he need never think critically again!

 
 

one more tidbit:

Is the ‘gestapo’ comparison carrying it too far? Hardly, not when you learn of the humongous tax increases….all because Chief Justice John Roberts betrayed “common sense” thinking ,among true Americans, when he cast the “surprising” vote on the Supreme Court that turned the decision Constitutional.

It’s only now too clear that what’s needed now to save American Independence is the November election to overthrow the Obama Healthcare. Regardless of party affliction, JUST THINK ABOUT IT!

yes, americans either choosing to buy private insurance or pay a nominal fine is TOTALLY like the gestapo…i bet the people tortured and/or killed by the nazi’s and their families will totally get where you’re coming from…stupid mother fucker…and he probably was too, and i mean that…he’s molested one daughter, has had a long running affair and has perved on every young woman in the county and i’m sure wherever he roams…and i’m not kidding here…the man is an evil fuck…

 
 

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish…..and you feed him for a lifetime!”

Feed a man to the fish and you’ve got extra-tender sushi.

 
 

Give a man a dogwhistle and he won’t think for a day, teach a man to stereotype and he need never think critically again!

this just became my new fb status…with proper attribution, of course…it has already garnered many ‘likes’

 
 

Give a man an apple and he’ll be healthy for a day. Give a man Obamacare and, well… Death Panels!

 
 

dammit, thread bear…can i have more than one status? maybe i’ll start a contest…

 
 

Isn’t the command economy versus market economy debate a bit of a wank? Only places you’ll find pure market economies are Free Market Paradises like Afghanistan & Somalia where there’s no government to meddle with the Jerb Creators – & I’m not sure a purely command economy is even possible. Even the USSR had its own little ecosystem of side-deals going on where the Party poobahs sold off contracts & goodies to each other – & right now the PRC Politburo is doing the same with bells on.

One look at the USA & the bulk of countries in the EU tells you the current “Corporate Supreme Soviet / Public Free Fire Zone” status quo is a big fat FAIL. Pretty amazing that there’s so little attention being paid to how much ass Scandinavia is kicking, simply by making sure people have a real safety-net & infrastructure while refusing to let the usual Wall Street/Chamber Of Commerce parasites run the flea circus.

PetroCanada was a Crown Corporation, & Bog knows how much money it’d be making for Canadians right now … if only that chisel-chinned chucklefuck Mulroney hadn’t privatized it & sold its shares the minute it started making a profit.

 
 

Isn’t the command economy versus market economy debate a bit of a wank?

It’s a series of increasingly sore wanks.

 
Marion in Savannah
 

bbfk, you may just have to grit your teeth and pretend you never read that screed if you want to keep the pledge. My boss (ENT doc and, after almost 20 years of me working away at him a Democrat) has had to be selectively deaf with many of his patients who love to bend his ear with the latest wingnut screeching points. He either tries to change the subject, or just gets sorta vacant eyed and nods…

It ain’t easy.

 
Marion in Savannah
 

Well, bbkf too, also…

 
 

bbfk, you may just have to grit your teeth and pretend you never read that screed if you want to keep the pledge.

i know, i know…but dammit! somebody needs to call him on this nonsense! one of my all time favorite donors recently died, but when i would go to visit him, he told some of the most hilarious stories…he was a farm-boy who ended up marrying the schoolteacher who boarded with them…and became a county sheriff…but, the conversation would always turn to politics at some point, and since i dearly loved him, i got pretty good at just nodding and looking interested/shocked/outraged at the latest skullduggery of the obummer administration…

 
 

It’s only now too clear that what’s needed now to save American Independence is the November election to overthrow the Obama Healthcare. Regardless of party affliction

Yeah sure. Somehow this always translates to “vote for the Republican”.

 
 

Re-printed, without permission, a letter published in the Austin American-Statesman on Tuesday:

“Last year, I earned $52,300 and had health insurance. I lost my job in February and was billed for $800 in medical bills in March, which I paid.

After the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act constitutional, all that I have heard from the Democratic Party is that I’m a “free rider” and need to pay a “penalty” (ruled a tax by the Supreme Court).

Pay a penalty for what? Paying my bills? I don’t have car payment insurance, rent insurance, grocery insurance or newspaper bill insurance.

What happened to the expectation that people paid for the services that they receive?

I have been forwarding my health-related bills to the White House because my penalty payment negates my personal responsibility to pay those particular bills. Not my problem. For the first time in my life, I’m a free rider.”

Is it mean for me to hope he gets a brain tumor and is subsequently presented a bill for $866,741.36?

 
 

Regardless of party affliction

Yeah sure. Somehow this always translates to “vote for the Republican”.

yes, i would consider voting republican to be an affliction…

 
 

Is it mean for me to hope he gets a brain tumor and is subsequently presented a bill for $866,741.36?

short answer? no…

i was particularly struck by the fact that the entire democratic party has contacted this gentleman personally to address what they see as him being a freeloader…and i bet the white house really appreciates his missives and will get right on whatever it is he wants them to get right on…

 
Entire Democratic Party
 

i was particularly struck by the fact that the entire democratic party has contacted this gentleman personally to address what they see as him being a freeloader

Well, we did contact him, but apparently he misunderstood. Freeloader wasn’t exactly the term we used.

 
 

short answer? no with a “but”, long answer yes with an asterisk.

 
Spengler Dampniche
 

Give a man a blowjob, he’ll shut up for five minutes. Make a man give himself a blowjob, and you can use his back as a drinks table.

–Henry Kissinger

 
 

weather conditions:
84 degrees
clear skies
north wind at 9mph
humidity at 37 percent

can anyone tell me why i do not want to sit at my desk and work on board meeting minutes and such?

 
 

Wait, is Franzl Lang’s father a cheese or a dog???

 
 

Global warming? Pshaw! Chill out, folks – we’ve got a cunning plan!

Don’t like our cunning plan? Well, maybe you’d prefer to see a real live freakshow*!
__________________________________________
* Biting heads off chickens, loincloth not included.

 
 

The U.S. has long used more energy for air conditioning than all other nations combined.

does this surprise anyone? bueller?

 
 

here’s the ludicrous song that’s been stuck in my head all day

Awesome. No Autotune!

 
 

Have I mentioned how much I hate fucking Autotune?

 
 

I personally enjoy listening to music in the car.

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

I think Otto Tune has been getting a bad rap. Sure, polka may not be everyone’s bag, but that guy can shred on an accordion.

 
 

I think Otto Tune has been getting a bad rap. Sure, polka may not be everyone’s bag, but that guy can shred on an accordion.

once upon a time, while presenting the ‘diversion directory’ on the local station, the announcer read an upcoming gig at a local supper club for one of our local polkameisters named wally braaten…he then opined that that sounded like a special in the dining room or an unfortunate bodily noise…

 
 

bbkf, you might just reply to raving old fool with a polite letter. Mention the work of the real gestapo and how it might offend their actual victims and IRS workers to have comparisons made between the two groups. You might want to put a few stats in about the “healthcare system” as it stands and suggest that his anger, while admirable in it’s compassion, is misdirected.
But you know the situation and whether or not it is worth it.

 
 

Here’s the Ludacris song that’s been going through my head all day…

 
 

bbkf, you might just reply to raving old fool with a polite letter.

Sign it “Gary Ruppert”.

 
 

bbkf, you might just reply to raving old fool with a polite letter. Mention the work of the real gestapo and how it might offend their actual victims and IRS workers to have comparisons made between the two groups. You might want to put a few stats in about the “healthcare system” as it stands and suggest that his anger, while admirable in it’s compassion, is misdirected.
But you know the situation and whether or not it is worth it.

once my ire cooled a bit, i have decided that the politely worded letter might be the way to go…i think he will appreciate the fact that i take what he writes seriously and that i actually took the time to respond politely…

Sign it “Gary Ruppert”.

i was toying with writing a letter to the editor from hugh jass…

 
 

“The [Auto-Tune] processor slightly blends pitches to the nearest true semitone (to the exact pitch of the nearest tone in traditional equal temperament).”–Wikipedia

What Auto-Tune does is part of a larger issue, the prevalence of equal temperament. It is a Western compromise, allowing music in all twelve keys to sound equally good, or bad; without it, one might tune an instrument to sound very sweet in one key, and a few related keys, but sour in all others.

Equal temperament is built into all sorts of instruments and devices, and is presumed even when people should know better. The problem is that other tuning systems are superior when applied to any single tonality, though not across them all at once; and furthermore, people like notes outside any system.

“String ensembles and vocal groups, who have no mechanical tuning limitations, often use a tuning much closer to just intonation, as it is naturally more consonant.” Emphasis mine, and the word “traditional” in my first quote is misleading, in spite of equal temperament’s pedigree and dominance.

Applied to vocal music, Auto-Tune is the mindless imposition of an inappropriately pianistic compromise, the neutering of singing’s full melodic potential.

How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (And Why You Should Care)

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

If that book won’t show me how I can destroy smooth jazz forever, I’m not reading it.

 
 

I dunno, Helmut, but Pat Metheny claims that Kenny G is chronically out of tune in a bad way. But then, much of Metheny’s catalogue treads dangerously close to smooth jazz.

Pat gets points for doing an uncommonly good job of ranting about Kenny G. What really set him off was when Kenny G overdubbed himself on a Louis Armstrong track:

But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis’s tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture – something that we all should be totally embarrassed about – and afraid of. We ignore this, “let it slide”, at our own peril.

 
Pupienus Maximus
 

But then, much of Metheny’s catalogue treads dangerously close to smooth jazz.

I’ve been on both sides of that fence, at different times, for a long time. In any case, even though his whole catalog might not be top notch no one can reasonably deny that at least some of it is.

Pat gets points for doing an uncommonly good job of ranting about Kenny G.

Everybody go read the whole thing. That is a righteous motherfucking rant, that is.

 
 

The thing about Pat Metheny is that he really can play kickass, authentic jazz guitar. If he wants to do a variety of projects, that’s fine with me.

I can’t expect him to be too twisted — this is a man who’s never had so much as a beer, so he says.

 
 

Sorry to have been pissy toward your comment, Chris. I hate the whole frame, so what Jim said:

Isn’t the command economy versus market economy debate a bit of a wank?

It’s a total wank. The Cold War is STILL the umbrella under which these economic comparisons are made and the Cold War was thirty years of propaganda and lies from both sides. The Soviet Union lasted for 69 years. The Russian Revolution, a bloody Civil War, Stalin declares “Marxism-Leninism” as state doctrine, rapid industrialization, World War II in which the Soviet Union fights at home and abroad and loses a quarter of it’s population, then gets locked into a pathological rivalry with the U.S. that begins with a nuclear threat…

The Soviet Union lasted 69 years. The U.S. wasn’t more powerful because of its economy, it just happened to be peaking at the time that the Soviet Union was getting its shoes on, yet the Soviets were still stiff competition and both used other countries shamelessly to fight their proxy wars (which were part of their economies).

There isn’t a “choice” between two imaginary models of “free market economies” versus “Marxist-Leninist” economies. Those wells have been poisoned. Using these models that have never been manifest is part of the reason that demagogues are able to whip of the rubes up with fear of the U.S. becoming a totalitarian state because of the Affordable Care Act.

Even when you say “minus the …”, because in the U.S. a large and vocal part of the population worships what they believe the economy to be, so the “free market” economy is believed to be the source of all freedom and the command or heavily regulated economy is reviled as the source of all oppression to the degree that it’s difficult to talk about compromises that are in place NOW and have been since forever.

Is it mean for me to hope he gets a brain tumor and is subsequently presented a bill for $866,741.36?

Are you kidding? Libertarians and wingnuts are begging for cruel irony. That letter was written by someone with serious delusions about his ability to pay for medical care in the future and his prospects. Anyone not seriously considering the possibility that something catastrophic could happen to them when assessing what policy is “fair” for medical coverage is putting themselves on a pedestal that doesn’t belong to them. Some bigger force comes along and kicks it out from them, that’s called “learning the hard way”.

That garden metaphor in the NYT editorial was sweet.

 
 

Obama is kicking ass in this category! From a National Geographic survey.

Nearly two thirds (65 percent) think President Obama would be a better leader than Mitt Romney if an alien invasion were to happen.

 
 

so the “free market” economy is believed to be the source of all freedom

well, duh! it has ‘free’ right in it’s name!

but, srsly…wiley, i am always blown away by your wisdom…you and the other sadly wimmens are formidable company to keep…thank you all for letting me be your dorky younger sister who always make the stupid jokes…

 
 

If that book won’t show me how I can destroy smooth jazz forever, I’m not reading it.

You’re not supposed to read it- you’re supposed to beat poseurs with alto saxes with it. NOW GO GET ‘EM!

 
 

That garden metaphor in the NYT editorial was sweet.

i just posted that link on fb…and then had to reply to an asshat from a friend’s thread who was whining about the socialist health care reform…he is dead sure that ‘this president’s’ objective is to make us all ‘drink from the government’s teet’

 
 

Nearly two thirds (65 percent) think President Obama would be a better leader than Mitt Romney if an alien invasion were to happen.

Naturally, since he’s an alien himself.

 
 

As of today, banksters have a new role model.

Hey, Mr. Blankfein, take a hint: that half-off sale is still going until Friday!
Shop now, avoid the rush!

 
 

As of today, banksters have a new role model.

It’s a start!

 
 

…wiley, i am always blown away by your wisdom…

Bet you were blown away by my psychotic episode, as well. I know I was.

You seriously perform, bbkf, and are remarkably observant. I admire all the things you DO these days (you are totally involved in your world with good effect), you are amazingly grounded, and your jokes are never “stupid”.

 
 

Alicublog is being bombed! It’s horrible!!

 
 

What really set him off was when Kenny G overdubbed himself on a Louis Armstrong track:

The nineties were rife with artists (studios) ripping off arrangements.

 
 

Alicublog is being bombed!

I looked over there, didn’t see any craters.

 
 

Alicublog is being bombed! It’s horrible!!

Worst than J-Kit?

 
Gordon, the Dancing Octoroon
 

“That intersection is right around the corner from Lick My Love Pump Lane.

Smalls Court is just up the street. I swear, I had to pull the truck over for a minute to stop laughing… and to get the photo, of course.”

Whenever I am passenger in a car and we pass an “Emergency Pull Off” sign, I yell (while feigning masturbation) “Stop the car, this is an emergency!”

Never seems to get old…
.

 
 

Now that I’ve switched back to Ubuntu, the comments are available again at alicublog. I have no idea why I ventured onto the internet with Microsoft and the once wonderful, now lame Firefox. Have those bombs always been there at alicublog? They’re old-fashioned bowling balls with a fuse bombs, no less.

Today, while playing solitaire on Windows, the screen froze. I had to do a hard shut-down, and when I brought it up again, there was an hourglass icon bouncing around a black screen instead of the whirling ring while W was coming very slowly up again. I called Clouds in to witness this relic and he agreed it was weird.

Yes, I’m bored. It’s nice outside for most people, but uncomfortably warm for me, and Cloud’s car is still out of commission. It looks like everyone else is at a really great party and is having a LIFE. Harumph. I am soooooo fucking bored. WAAAA.

 
 

Snag my OPML file from the bottom-right of my site and plug it into the reader of your choice.

Currently 46000 unread items.

 
 

the Cold War was thirty years of propaganda and lies from both sides.

A joke that was supposedly popular in Russia a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union:
“Everything the Communists told us about communism was a complete and utter lie. Unfortunately, everything the Communists told us about capitalism turned out to be true.”

 
 

“Everything the Communists told us about communism was a complete and utter lie. Unfortunately, everything the Communists told us about capitalism turned out to be true.”

It’s sobering, then, to think that Americans are worse off than Russians in at least one respect: everything the Capitalists told us was a lie. Full stop.

 
 

Applied to vocal music, Auto-Tune is the mindless imposition of an inappropriately pianistic compromise, the neutering of singing’s full melodic potential.

That would be “at best.” More commonly it is used for somewhat more extreme pitch “correction” while it screws with every other component of the vocal quality. If you take a performance with wavering pitch and constant timbre and adjust it to constant pitch, the timbre goes wonky. And such as.

Hearing this on every stinking modern record makes me stabby.

 
 

Kenny G

Fucking kazoo-playing muppet.

 
 

I apologize to muppets everywhere.

 
 

Kiss our fuzzy felt asses, Hogeye.

 
 

Well-put re: timbre, Hogeye Grex.

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

How does one go about tuning an otter? They don’t have strings much less those little dealies like on a guitar where you twist them to adjust the tension.

 
 

How does one go about tuning an otter?

well, you see, helmut…sometimes when a boy otter and a girl otter love each other very much…

 
 

How does one go about tuning an otter?

A skilled Mousebender might know something like that.

 
 

okay, so last night i am at work…second job of the day and i had to waitress because we were short one person…it’s wednesday night which is prime rib night and holy shit…the doors opened and the people did not stop coming in…we were swamped. surprising as it may seem, my little town of 132 has an episcopal bishop we can count amongst our poplulation…he and his wife and youngest son came out to eat…they came a little later in the evening and so were still finishing their post-prandial cocktails when the rush in the dining room came to an end…so, as the other girls were replenishing the salad bar, i was wiping and re-setting tables…as much as i didn’t want to, i had to be in close proximity with said bishop and family…i used to enjoy them and their frequent visits to town, but have increasingly become disenchanted with them…this vanity fair article should give you a rundown as to why…it’s not the original article, so said bishop’s offenses are not fully fleshed out and i can’t be arsed to find it.

anyhoo, youngest son, court, who lives in nyc with his heavily pregnant wife, was waxing nostalgic about how lucky he is to have had all the advantages his parents gave him…he has a great career, but a lot of his compatriots are not so lucky…the bishop was intoning that ‘he just doesn’t get that, because with good degrees from good schools, they should be able to find good jobs! court replied in the tone of a long-suffering child, ‘dad…it all comes down to who you know, you know that don’t you?’

did i mention i was working my second job of the day? waiting tables? do you know how hard it was to not tell the bishop and his son (who used to be so much fun and turned me on to movies like ‘sexy beast’) not to fuck off? the wife i give a pass because she’s just a drunk little wilting flower…do you know how hard it was to keep my mouth shut about the vanity fair article? ‘the bish’ doesn’t know that my in-laws (who he treats as caretakers of his property here), everyone at the club, and hubbkf and i have read the original and know that he is nothing but a common thief…

it was more than mildly nauseating to listen to…and to realize that the bishop has some serious cash and he has done really nothing to deserve it…motherfucker…

 
 

As of today, banksters have a new role model.

I went to high school with that guy. Don’t really remember him that well but have friends who kept in touch with him, one of whom says he hinted at being brutally abused in Joe Arpaio’s little fun house when he was first arrested. Think of every prison joke you ever heard. His theory was that Marin couldn’t face going back.

I don’t know about that but I do know his facebook posts were a little weird and overdramatic. I’m also pretty sure he’ll be THE big topic at the upcoming 35th year reunion and picnic.

 
 

bbkf: OMG, St. Paul’s School! I hadn’t thought about them since my Andover days. I had no idea about that scandal. Thanks for the link.

What I mostly remember about SPS is that we Andover punks used to sneer at them as “preppies.” Back in those days that actually was an insult. Now it’s probably a badge of honor.

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

If you attend one of theses elite ‘prep’ schools, doesn’t that make you, by definition, a preppie?

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

*tap* *tap*
Is this thing on?

 
 

bbkf: OMG, St. Paul’s School!

i continually find it weird that one of our hometown boys flew to such heights only to be nominally punished and still living the high life…

 
 

Here’s what an infusion of Tea Party candidates will do for you.

Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level, according to a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of the Congressional Record using Capitol Words.

 
 

Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level

This has been floating around, but I have yet to see a conservative reaction. Is it a badge of honor, similar to rationalizations about G.W. Bush?

I remember my mother arguing that Bush was very intelligent, and not just on the basis of his public utterances. You see, she says she met a guy who trained him to fly planes, and this fellow found Bush to be uncommonly sharp.

On the merits of plain language, here’s an excerpt from Sprat’s History of the Royal Society — not that it shines a favorable light on our wingnuts:

 
 

Romney campaign, later today: “Even though Mr. Romney asserted in SEC filings that he was Bain’s ‘sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president’ after 1999, that doesn’t mean he had anything to do with running the company.’

 
 

[2.20.1] Thus they have directed, judg’d, conjectur’d upon, and improved Experiments. But lastly, in these, and all other businesses, that have come under their care; there is one thing more, about which the Society has been most sollicitous; and that is, the manner of their Discourse: which, unless they had been very watchful to keep in due temper, the whole spirit and vigour of their Design, had been soon eaten out, by the luxury and redundance of speech. The ill effects of this superfluity of talking, have already overwhelm’d most other Arts and Professions; insomuch, that when I consider the means of happy living, and the causes of their corruption, I can hardly forbear recanting what I said before; and concluding, that eloquence ought to be banish’d out of all civil Societies, as a thing fatal to Peace and good Manners. To this opinion I should wholly incline; if I did not find, that it is a Weapon, which may be as easily procur’d by bad men, as good: and that, if these should onely cast it away, and those retain it; the naked Innocence of vertue, would be upon all occasions expos’d to the armed Malice of the wicked. This is the chief reason, that should now keep up the Ornaments of speaking, in any request: since they are so much degenerated from their original usefulness. They were at first, no doubt, an admirable Instrument in the hands of Wise Men: when they were onely employ’d to describe Goodness, Honesty, Obedience; in larger, fairer, and more moving Images: to represent Truth, cloth’d with Bodies; and to bring Knowledg back again to our very senses, from whence it was at first deriv’d to our understandings. But now they are generally chang’d to worse uses: They make the Fancy disgust the best things, if they come sound, and unadorn’d: they are in open defiance against Reason; professing, not to hold much correspondence with that; but with its Slaves, the Passions: they give the mind a motion too changeable, and bewitching, to consist with right practice. Who can behold, without indignation, how many mists and uncertainties, these specious Tropes and Figures have brought on our Knowledg? How many rewards, which are due to more profitable, and difficult Arts, have been still snatch’d away by the easie vanity of fine speaking? For now I am warm’d with this just Anger, I cannot with-hold my self, from betraying the shallowness of all these seeming Mysteries; upon which, we Writers, and Speakers, look so bigg. And, in few words, I dare say; that of all the Studies of men, nothing may be sooner obtain’d, than this vicious abundance of Phrase, this trick of Metaphors, this volubility of Tongue, which makes so great a noise in the World. But I spend words in vain; for the evil is now so inveterate, that it is hard to know whom to blame, or where to begin to reform. We all value one another so much, upon this beautiful deceipt; and labour so long after it, in the years of our education: that we cannot but ever after think kinder of it, than it deserves. And indeed, in most other parts of Learning, I look on it to be a thing almost utterly desperate in its cure: and I think, it may be plac’d amongst those general mischiefs; such, as the dissention of Christian Princes, the want of practice in Religion, and the like; which have been so long spoken against, that men are become insensible about them; every one shifting off the fault from himself to others; and so they are only made bare common places of complaint. It will suffice my present purpose, to point out, what has been done by the Royal Society, towards the correcting of its excesses in Natural Philosophy; to which it is, of all others, a most profest enemy.

[2.20.2] They have therefore been most rigorous in putting in execution, the only Remedy, that can be found for this extravagance: and that has been, a constant Resolution, to reject all the amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style: to return back to the primitive purity, and shortness, when men deliver’d so many things, almost in an equal number of words. They have exacted from all their members, a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions; clear senses; a native easiness: bringing all things as near the Mathematical plainness, as they can: and preferring the language of Artizans, Countrymen, and Merchants, before that, of Wits, or Scholars.

[Sans italics found in the original. I started to code them in and gave up.]

 
 

Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level

yes, but are they speaking below the levels of the girls of that grade level?

 
 

You see, she says she met a guy who trained him to fly planes, and this fellow found Bush to be uncommonly sharp.

I’ve been flying professionally for 28 years now. Pilots run the gamut from highly intelligent to “dumb jock”. In fact, quite a lot of pilots seem to have been “jocks” in school.

So W being able to check out in an F-102 wouldn’t have required any special brilliance on his part.

Note that an F-102 was an interceptor and not an air-superiority fighter. This sounds trivial, but interceptors are meant for shooting down bombers, not dueling with enemy fighters. In those days interceptors relied heavily on instructions from a ground controller, who would vector him close to the target, with the interceptor pilot only taking over at the last minute to lock on and fire.

A “real” fighter pilot would have dismissed a ‘102 driver as a “dot chaser”.

 
 

If you attend one of theses elite ‘prep’ schools, doesn’t that make you, by definition, a preppie?

Yes, but when you’re 15, you reject logic like that in favor of some desparate attempt to differentiate yourself.

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

Spending some time thinking about Bush Jr’s aviation career made me change sides on the “George Bush stupid or evil” question. The F-102 may not have been complicated by the standards of the day, but it was still expensive, if nearly obsolete aircraft by the time George was flying it.

I started out thinking when I began this comment that the Texas air national guard wouldn’t put one of their fast, expensive aircraft at risk by putting an idiot in the cockpit, but what if that was the plan?

What if they were hoping for an incident that would render the plane useless, not necessarily a full on crash, a taxiway run in with a wayward baggage cart (or whatever vehicle you find on the runways of TX air national guard bases) would have done just fine to total an obsolete jet. Who would they put in the cockpit but someone who was convinced of his own infallibility ? If they were looking to upgrade to the new hotness, maybe they didn’t want the best and brightest in those particular cockpits? After all, no one seriously expects to have to defend US airspace from bombers coming from the south. Hmm.

 
 

Helmut: Intriguing theory. Too bad it didn’t work out.

 
 

Yes, I’m bored. It’s nice outside for most people, but uncomfortably warm for me, and Cloud’s car is still out of commission. It looks like everyone else is at a really great party and is having a LIFE. Harumph. I am soooooo fucking bored. WAAAA.

wiley…forgot to thank you for your kind words…and frankly, yes…your psychotic break scared the pants of me…for you.

i pity you your boredom as i have been in that position many times through stupid health related circumstances…and i am still resentful that my doctor will no longer give me any scrips for percocet for any reason since that is the only way to get through those days when you are an unwilling shut in…

 
 

also, too…finding out that two teenaged boys are having teh time of their effing lives in new york society yesterday, also makes me resentful…

 
 

“George Bush stupid or evil” question.

i still maintain he is too stupid to be evil…

 
 

Personally, I believe W was of about average intelligence, but was lazy and spoiled. I believe he thought it would be cool to be president and that he could get others (like Dick Chenney) to do the hard work involved and he could just cruise around in Air Force 1. It didn’t all quite work out that way for him though and I remember a particularly whiny speech from him about what hard work it is to be president. I was a bit surprised that he ran for a second term, but I think his pride, along with a lot of outside pressure, over rode his lethargy.

 
 

I remember a particularly whiny speech from him about what hard work it is to be president.

Was that the one were he called himself “the decider”?

 
 

woot! i am off to ‘cyber thursday’ at our local overpriced artsy fartsy coffee bistro to make some final tweaks to my new website which can be found at http://www.bshcf.org

 
 

“the decider”?

never fails to make me laff…also doctors practicing their love of women…

 
 

Helmut –

The Air National Guard flew mostly obsolete equipment up until the late 1970s. I can recall the Illinois Guard flying piston-engined KC-97 tankers well into the 1970s, at that aircraft was obsolete sometime around 1957.

Most Guard fighter were flying “century series” (F-100 through F-106) aircraft through the 1970s and even into the 1980s. A guy in my pilot training class had an F-106 assignment from the Atlantic City unit – in 1985.

Sometime after Vietnam the military realized that all these 1950s vintage aircraft would be pretty useless if we had to fight the Russians so they came up with the “total force” concept. That is, the Guard would fly the same aircraft as the Air Force. This came with a big infusion of federal $$$, because most states couldn’t afford to purchase and operate F-15s etc. Now the Guard gets roughly 70% of its funding from the feds.

The other side of “total force” was greater reliance on the Guard and Reserves. The idea was to make it impossible to take the country to war without activating the National Guard so we wouldn’t have a situation like Vietnam where people were getting drafted but the Guard was sitting around waiting for World War 3.

The F-102 unit at Ellington Field was called a “Champagne Unit”. Wealthy and connected people would get their kids into those units knowing that they would likely never be activated for anything short of WWIII.

 
 

Personally, I believe W was of about average intelligence, but was lazy and spoiled.

I more or less agree. I don’t think he’s truly stupid, he just has a sloppy mind and is too lazy and sullen to do anything about it.

similar to rationalizations about G.W. Bush?

I get the impression the wingnuts don’t bother rationalizing away W’s flaws anymore. They seem to have disowned him, insofar as they think about him at all.

 
 

Was that the one were he called himself “the decider”?

Actually, looking it up, it wasn’t a speech actually. It was a debate against Kerry. He whined “it’s hard work being president” or words to that effect 11 times. Watching at the time I got the idea that he was actually pleading with voters to not vote for him.

 
 

I got the idea that he was actually pleading with voters to not vote for him.

He must have had a greater sense of civic duty than I realized.

 
Helmut Monotreme
 

Major, then I’m back to thinking that someone who flew jet interceptors and graduated from both Harvard and Yale, ought to be smart enough to know right from wrong. So Bush Jr = evil.

 
 

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