Up yours, Jim Clyburn!

In an August 13th interview with Sam Stein at The Huffington Post, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn opined that protesters who object to effectively nationalizing America's healthcare are bigots.

"I have seen this kind of hate before. I have seen this discussion before," he said. "I have seen snarling dogs going after people who were trying to peacefully assemble. I have seen the eyes of people who were being spat upon."

Are black patients forced to ride in the back of ambulances? (I'm not an EMT, but I'm pretty damned sure that all ambulance patients have to ride in the back.)

Are there hospital lunch counters in this country where black folks are not permitted to sit?

Are black ER patients being turned away by angry white security guards holding back slavering German Shepherds?

Are black surgical patients prepped with fire hoses?

"Paging Dr. Faubus...Dr. Orval Faubus...white courtesy telephone, please..."

What the fuck are you talking about, Mr. Clyburn?

"This is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right. And I do believe that health care for all is -- a civil right," the House Majority Whip argued. "And I think that is why you see this kind of activity. This is an attempt on the part of some to deny the establishment of a civil right."

Hold-on, bucko; healthcare is very important, but it is absolutely not a "civil right". Random House defines that term as:

1. rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and certain Congressional acts, esp. as applied to an individual or a minority group.

2. the rights to full legal, social and economic equality extended to blacks.

American Heritage has a slightly different definition:

pl.n. The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination.
adj. or civ·il-rights (sĭv'əl-rīts')
1. Of or relating to such rights or privileges: civil rights legislation.
2. Of or relating to a political movement, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, devoted to securing equal opportunity and treatment for members of minority groups.

From the U.S. Constitution:

Amendment XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

The careful reader will note that there is no reference to "health care" nor anything even vaguely resembling it in those Amendments.

Back to the Huffington Post interview:

Clyburn, a veteran of the civil rights movement, said he was particularly appalled by the use of the Swastika symbol at some of these town hall events. Noting that one had been painted on the office of Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), an African-American, Clyburn insisted that was proof enough that some of the protests were racially motivated.

"There is no question in my mind," he said.

So according to Mr Clyburn, the standard of proof is now a single act of vandalism which somehow unquestionably proves "some of the protests" are "racially motivated". (But since no perp has yet been arrested, we have absolutely no clue as to his or her motivation. It is entirely possible, since Rep. Scott behaved like an enormous race-pimping jackass just a few days earlier - and was captured doing so on video - perhaps one of his sympathizers decided to, y'know, "help a brother out" by making him look like a "victim". It's not like that's never happened before.)

So how many is "some of the protests", you fucking old race-baiting piece of shit? Three? Fifteen? Thirty-six? Do you even know how many hundreds of these protests there have been across our country since February? (When they started due to an enormous increase in government spending for the stimulus package, TARP and auto bailouts.)

Yes, millions of people are angry about a whopping growth in spending of taxpayers' money; this includes the attempt to nationalize healthcare. Which I was against when Hillary Clinton tried it, just as I am now. Legitimate, thoughtful objection to a policy (or policies) advocated by Barack Obama, or anyone else who happens to be a different race from me, does not equate to racism.

I'm profoundly tired of any criticism of Mr. Obama being decried by (alleged) liberals as the product of "racism". So I'm going to be very clear about this, Mr. Clyburn: the reason I hope you get flattened by a bus or break your neck falling down a flight of stairs has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that you're black.

It has everything to do with the fact I find you to be a despicable and immoral human being, without whom both our Congress and our country would be slightly better off.

You see, sir...I've judged you by the character of your heart; one of us actually lives Dr.Martin Luther King's dream. I only wish he'd rise-up from the grave and give you the drubbing you soundly deserve.

Since that's probably not likely to happen, I can only hope that you soon enjoy a horribly painful and/or humiliating demise; you see, I really hate fucking racists.

Mainstream Media Takes A Cue From Monica Lewinsky

It's less than a week after Mr. Obama's inauguration, and I'm already weary of the barely-metaphorical schlong-slobbering the media is bestowing upon The One™ and His family.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "A first family that's not only endearing, but is one we can identify with and strive to be"!!

A young, busy, uncommonly traditional family moved into the White House last week, enchanting the nation, inspiring parents and offering a new model of the American family.

Well, okay...if an "uncommonly traditional family" consists of two millionaire ivy league attorneys who were married by a racist anti-semite and who espouse socialism.

Color me less than enthused.

Barack Obama, America's 44th president, arrived with a clan that smacks of an earlier era. Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, are the youngest residents of the Executive Mansion since the Kennedy children -- Carolyn and John John -- romped through the Oval Office in the 1960s.

Given that the allegedly "post-racial" Mr. Obama is demonstrably anything but, I'm highly amused at the statement he "arrived with a clan that smacks of an earlier era". Would that be the "Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) as a young Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan" era?

And I loved the heavy-handed reference to the Kennedy kids - Carolyn, an upper class twit who thought she was entitled to a U.S. Senate seat and John-John, an upper class twit who slightly overestimated his piloting abilities.

But where some see an endearing reflection of the traditional nuclear family, others glimpse a household of the future. A family loving and religious, egalitarian and multicultural. With two adorable kids and room for the mother-in-law, the First Family seems to offer something any parent can identify with and strive toward.

Religious? Sure...if you don't mind a religion such as Black Liberation Theology which lionizes idiots like Jeremiah Wright (head pastor of the church Mr. Obama attended for nearly twenty years), who spout racist filth:

"Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style. They have a different way of learning."

Loving? Mr. Obama referred to the white grandmother who raised him as "a typical white person" prior to tossing her into the crowd underneath his bus.

Egalitarian? I guess that's why the Obama girls are attending a tony private school, rather than the failing public schools which are supposed to be perfectly adequate for us proles.

Multicultural? We keep being told that Mr. Obama's is "America's First Black President", an appellation he has been only too glad to accept. But he's actually at least half-white. You can't have it both ways, folks. Was he "black" before the election and "multicultural" now?

I find racial identity politics so damned confusing, as I tend to judge people by their character. Silly me.

(Query: Does this mean that Bill Clinton has become "America's Zeroth Black President"?)

The article continues in a similarly smarmy vein; frankly, I can't bear to snark on any more of it.

Sadly, the drooling adoration has also infected our cousins across the pond, as witness this in The Sunday Times: Michelle Obama: America's Lady Diana?

Michelle Obama’s flair for fashion has captivated Washington and set the hearts of glossy magazine editors aflutter. She has already eclipsed Carla Bruni, the super-model chanteuse and wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the hyperactive French president. Not since Diana, Princess of Wales, has there been such a glamorous role model at the apex of society.

I would point out that what probably eclipsed Ms. Bruni was actually Mrs. Obama's non-trivial fundament.

Michelle, 45, has a theatrical sense of style, from off-the-rack colourful clothes from J Crew at less than $100 a throw, to pricey designer outfits such as the sparkling lemongrass matching dress and coat that she wore to the inauguration ceremony. But she is determined to carve out a role at the White House that is more than national clothes horse.

Ru Paul also possesses a "theatrical sense of style"; just sayin'...

===================

That's it...I can't stand any more; GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Pope Benedict XVI Still A Jew-Hating Cocksucker

[Once again, I apologize to my Catholic friends...but your current spiritual leader is an evil bastard.]

Just two weeks after the ambulatory turd formerly known as Joseph Ratzinger had fuck-all to say about an official Vatican statement comparing Gaza to a concentration camp, he's at it again:

The Pope is preparing to cancel the excommunication of four traditionalist Catholic bishops including one who believes the Holocaust never happened and the gas chambers were a myth.

Riiiiight. My then-thirteen-year-old Dad and his family won a fabulous vacation to fucking jazz camp in Zemlin, Yugoslavia where, after a luxurious trip via cattle car, they taught Dad to play his axe - actually more of a hatchet - and, erm, strongly encouraged him to practice...by chopping trees. For about 14 hours a day. Every day.

And he totally dug the mass graves, too, man; he doubled on shovel.

Sure...no Holocaust. It was a motherfuckin' Funocaust! "Bring the whole family! And don't forget to tip your capos; they're working hard to sell you out. Try the cabbage soup!"

Pope Benedict XVI has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication of the four bishops of the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, according to well-sourced reports in the Italian press today.

One of the bishops, Richard Williamson, an English former Anglican and graduate of Winchester and Cambridge, gave an interview to Swedish TV this week in which he said: “There were no gas chambers.”

That's true...all the fumes were the result of everyone eating cabbage soup all the time and being crammed three-deep onto shelves in their "cabins". Sadly, camp-goers frequently ignored the "NO SMOKING" signs and, well, shit happens.

However, Bishop Williamson’s statements on the Holocaust and comments he has made endorsing the anti-Semitic forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, threaten to derail the Pope’s plans.

Like an over-loaded cattle car full of happy jazz campers.

Despite the fact that the Protocols are a blood-libel, I'd be very glad to drain both Bishop Williamson and His Assholiness of every venal, foul drop of blood in their bodies and freeze it just on the off-chance we decide to start making "New & Improved" matzoh.

If Benedict XVI goes ahead with lifting the excommunication in spite of Bishop Williamson’s comments, that will in turn wreak havoc on more than 40 years of attempts to rebuild relations with the Jewish community after nearly two millennia of Christian anti-Semitism culminating in the Holocaust.

The Altar-Boy-Buggerer-In-Chief was quoted as saying "Ze last forty-some years vas an aberrrrration mit ze Juden; ve haff a lot uf lost time to make up, ja? Today ze Vatican, TOMORROW ZE VORLD!!"

The damage will be doubled, coming as it will on top of the Pope’s revival of the Tridentine Mass last year with its Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews.

Into soap and lampshades?

Relations between the Catholic Church and world Jewry have been improving since the 1965 Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, which included the statement: “The Church deplores all hatreds, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism leveled at any time or from any source against the Jews.”

"Unless we're doing it to them."

If there were any goddamned justice in this world (which there mostly isn't), Ratzinger would be stripped, whipped, forced to schlep an enormous cross until he collapses while people kick him, spit on him and use him as a human toilet before nailing his skanky ass to the cross.

Followed by an enormous clap of thunder and a humongous hand emerging from a cloud to point at the dying piece of filth while a Don LaFontaine-esque voice from the sky intones, "DID YOU FORGET THAT JESUS WAS A JEW, YOU MISERABLE, NAZI-SYMPATHIZING BASTARD?"

Culminating with said giant hand ripping the Papal Anti-Semite from his cross, transporting him swiftly to Hell and forcefully impailing him on The Barbed Cock Of Satan™.

Accompanied by a jazzy rendition of "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You" performed by Mel Tormé, Benny Goodman, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Denny Zeitlin, André Previn, Paul Desmond and Artie Shaw; hotcha!

Is "zinger" German for "bastard"?

"Thank you...thank you...you're too kind. So, a Catholic priest, a child molester and a rapist walk into a bar...and that's just the first guy!"

[A note to my Catholic friends: You are likely to find this rant patently offensive; please understand that my problem is with the Holy See, not you.]

======================

Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, shows us once again that you can take the Kraut out of the Fatherland, but you can't take the Fatherland out of the Kraut. On 01/08/09, the Vatican issued a statement comparing Gaza to a "big concentration camp".

Yup, Your Assholiness...Gaza's just like a concentration camp. Except for the slave labor, medical experiments, Zyklon B and crematoria...but why quibble about minutiae, eh?

The Pope today condemned the use of violence by both Israel and Hamas in his annual speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See. "Once again I would repeat that military options are no solution and that violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned," he said in an even-handed address.

He rejected "hatred, acts of provocation and the use of arms" and deplored the renewed outbreak of violence in Gaza which was "provoking immense damage and suffering for the civilian population".

He then muttered, "What the hell is wrong with you filthy Judenschwein that you won't just roll-over and die, along with the Gypsies, retards and homos? Hey wait a minute...is this thing still on? Scheiβ, scheiβ, SCHEIβ!!"

Echoing Pope Benedict's calls for an end to the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace, urged Israeli and Hamas to be "more willing" to hold peace talks. He accused both sides of only thinking of their own interests while civilians paid the price.

Cardinal Martino expressed concern over the humanitarian situation, saying "Let's look at the conditions in Gaza: these increasingly resemble a big concentration camp."

Except for the slave labor, medical experiments, Zyklon B and crematoria...

He added: "Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay."

Like the European Jews in the '30s and '40s, about whom Pope Pius XII (who deserves beatification about as much as Joe Stalin) did very little.

Or those Jews that your delightful cult came after during the Inquisition, like my forebear Jacob Lopez D'Olivera.

Not to mention the Jews today trying to live some sort of life in southern Israel, in-between rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza - frequently during a cease-fire which only one side honored.

It's painfully evident that the worms in a dog's stool have vastly greater moral authority than Catholic church officials; these are the same profoundly evil cocksuckers who for decades shuffled known child rapists from parish to parish. Non-consensual assfucking of altar boys is a stellar way of demonstrating God's love for the innocent. Especially when the only members of their flock whom the church actually protected were the disgusting "men of God" who committed those atrocious acts in the first place.

I would have thought that perhaps heinous behavior like that might make the baby Jesus cry; guess not.

Cardinal Martino made his comments to the Italian website IlSussidiario.net. He said that Christians "are not the only ones to call this land 'holy', Jews and Muslims do so too. The fact that this land is the scene of bloodshed seems a great tragedy. If they can't come to an agreement, then someone else should do it. The world cannot sit back and watch without doing anything."

Precious little of the bloodshed over thousands of years in the Holy Land was started by the Jews; rather, it was frequently their blood. Besides, you assholes fucking love bloodshed; it's part of your quaint little vampiric/cannibalistic rituals.

Jesus...nom, nom, nom.

So, Unholy See, if you can show me just one goddamned lampshade or bar of soap unquestionably made out of a Palestinian by the Israelis, I'll concede that comparing Gaza to a concentration camp might be valid.

Otherwise, kindly fold your pointy hats until they're even pointier and then sodomize yourselves with them. Which is probably a sin of some sort.

In which case, do us all a favor; don't confess it...kindly just drop dead and go to the Hell you so richly deserve.

Cleveland's economy is on life support, but we have a low carbon footprint! Hurrah!

[Ted Turner and his eco-minion Captain Planet; a billionaire really should have made sure his superhero's tights don't have a baggy crotch.]

According to the Plain Dealer's Laura Johnston, when decades of lousy politicians hand you lemons, make lemonade!

"Cleveland has low carbon footprint"

Clevelanders are getting something right when it comes to global warming.

The five-county, Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor area has the 31st smallest per-capita carbon footprint among the 100 largest American metropolitan areas, says a report to be released today by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Yup...turns out our crappy regional economy, caused by decades of high taxes, over-regulation and moronic, venal leadership is good for Gaia! Yay!

We each spew 2.2 metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year by driving on the highway, heating our houses and running our appliances. Carbon is the standard currency that scientists use to talk about air pollutants, encompassing the carbon present in coal, gasoline and carbon dioxide emissions.

In weight, that beats the 1.44 metric tons of solid waste each of us Cuyahoga County residents throws out each year. In the form of carbon dioxide gas, that much carbon would amount to a million gallons - enough to fill 1 Olympic swimming pools.

According to Wikipedia and some quick math, a typical Olympic size swimming pool's volume is a minimum of 660,430 U.S. gallons, depending on its depth. A pool containing 1,000,000 U.S. gallons would have to be slightly over 50% deeper than a typical pool of this size.

50% is not a trivial difference.

Additionally, the volume of a given amount of gas is highly dependent upon its pressure. The more pressure it is under, the less volume it occupies.

Lastly, "weight" and "volume" are apples and oranges; they have no direct correlation to one another.

But hey...let's not worry about any actual science, because we don't want to harsh the buzz brought on by this stellar news about the environment!

Still, the number pales next to the 2.6 metric tons of carbon emitted by the average American. And that matters since carbon dioxide accounts for about 84 percent of the U.S. greenhouse gases scientists say are accelerating climate change.

Wow...I'm pretty certain that I'm not personally emitting anywhere near that much carbon, else I should expect my apartment would require significantly more vacuuming and dusting. With a leaf blower and bulldozer.

"The fact that Cleveland wasn't at the bottom of the list is very exciting," said Andrew Watterson, Cleveland's sustainability program manager.

Ooooh...that is exciting! We're going down the tubes economically, but that makes Gaia happy, so it's actually good news! Whee!

The good news contradicts a Purdue University report last month that ranked Cuyahoga County fourth worst among more than 3,141 U.S. counties for carbon dioxide emissions. The Purdue study looked at industrial sources of carbon dioxide and ranked counties based on Environmental Protection Agency figures and local air pollution records.

But, but, but...I thought the "science" of global warmening was settled. Albert "Wide Carbon Stance" Gore and the UN IPCC say so. (Except for all of the scientists who have repeatedly asked the IPCC to remove their names from reports because they think said reports are complete shite. But what do they know, they're only, um, like, scientists.) Additionally, oh, look...a drowning polar bear!! Awwwww...poor thing.

[*Snip* a bunch of figures which I'm certain are meaningless, given the author's demonstrable utter ignorance of the most basic high school science.]

Regardless, local officials and national policy gurus are pushing us and every metropolis to do better.

Regardless? Freakin' regardless?? When it comes to real science (as opposed to "Pseudo-Science People Conjured From Their Gastrointestinal Tracts"), data that are so far apart mean that something's very seriously wrong. You can't just make the problem go away by saying "regardless".

Jesus H. Christ and His Orchestra! This woman is clueless and feckless.

"We've got a long way to go," said David Beach, director of GreenCityBlueLake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. "The good news with that is we can make a lot of progress by building cities with dramatically more efficient and nonpolluting energy systems, transportation systems and buildings."

Sure...we'll just get rid of the old cities and build new, non-polluting ones filled with hydrogen powered vehicles, bicycles, buildings cooled by lawns growing on their roofs, "Kumbaya" blasting from the solar powered public address system, rainbows festooning the skies and populate them with unicorns, puppies and hippies redolent of organic patchouli.

One small problem: I suspect that properly disposing of all those old cities is gonna put a little strain on landfills; just sayin'...

Watterson wants to improve buildings' efficiency, invest in public transportation and rethink the way Clevelanders live. But he's thrilled we're talking about carbon emissions and fuel efficiency.

I hope Watterson is planning on "investing" his own money, but suspect that he actually intends on extracting it from me at the point of government's guns. Hey, Andy...is that a carbon nodule in your trousers or are you just "thrilled" at the prospect of controlling others' behavior?

So is Andrea Sarzynski, an author of the Brookings report.

The study lists ways the federal government should battle climate change, such as putting a price on carbon emissions, investing in research, promoting public transit and creating incentives to buy energy-efficient houses.

Except we clearly have no method at present of accurately measuring carbon emissions for an individual or a city; it's all done by computer modeling or simply inventing numbers, otherwise their wouldn't be such a disparity between Purdue's and Brookings' "conclusions". And "creating incentives" almost surely means even more wealth transfer via ridiculous "tax abatement" schemes and other foolishness which makes sense only to government officials and ecoweenies.

But state and local governments, as well as average citizens, matter too, she said.

Of course...because the forthcoming tomfoolery will require productive individuals (aka "citizens") in order to generate the enormous monies required for state and local governments (made up of totally non-productive individuals) to skim while transferring it from one sector to another.

"It's not just the green-minded people," she said. "Basically gas prices are going up to the point where . . . we're all talking about things we can do to conserve. Where it hits people in their pocketbooks, that's when they're going to start thinking about their own behavior and improving their own carbon footprint."

Actually, the reason that fuel prices are currently so high is largely due to the actions of the U.S. Congress and the environmental movement for the past three decades...but that's a screed for another time.

Emails? We don't know nothin' 'bout no emails!

["Fake but accurate" file photo]

Here's the latest in the Cleveland Shitty Council's "Mystery Of The Disappearing Emails":

Cleveland City Councilman Joe Santiago turned over three computers from his ward office Friday to city officials and will open his personal e-mail account to be searched for e-mails about his relationship with a controversial bar .

Computer experts will also begin a "deep dive" of the city's outdated computer system today in an attempt to find missing e-mails to Santiago's City Hall account from May 2006 to July 2007, a period in which Santiago helped obtain a liquor permit for La Copa.

The bar on Clark Avenue near West 25th Street is managed by a convicted drug dealer and which now draws complaints from neighbors about fights, gunshots and rowdy behavior.

Results of the city computer search should be available, in part, by Wednesday.

Because city information technology employees could not locate the e-mails, the city has hired paying Visual Evidence/E-Discovery, a downtown Cleveland firm.

The company president, Daniel Copfer Sr., is the brother of Ron Copfer, a political insider who owns Fathom IT Consulting. Fathom is finishing a $321,000 upgrade to city council's systems, including the e-mail system the e-mails cannot be recovered from.

The search on all the computers will cost about $25,000, said Katherine Samsa, a spokesperson for Council President Martin Sweeney.

"Council's working hard at this and acknowledging that the state of our system is unacceptable," she said.

Sure...what could possibly be inappropriate in hiring the brother of the political hack IT "consultant" to attempt recovery of the emails?

"Independent data recovery services would have been really, really expensive. But good ol' Ron got us a 'family discount' so that we can save the taxpayers money, 'cause we're lookin' out for you. Trust me...$25K is a super special deal! It's for the children!"

E-mails to and from city accounts are public records under state law ands are supposed to be retained, but the city has been unable to meet The Plain Dealer's request for them.

Sweeney said this week that the city system does not save e-mails accessed from outside, nor does it save e-mails forwarded to outside accounts. That focused attention on the computers in Santiago's ward office where an assistant often opened the messages.

"Additionally, the dog ate our email server."

David Eden, a spokesman for Santiago, said the councilman turned over the computers because he has nothing to hide. A council employee picked all three up from the ward office Friday afternoon.

"If there's anything on there, they get it," Eden said.

My guess is that a clumsy, half-assed attempt has been made to "sanitize" the computers. I predict that these efforts will prove quite successful.

Next week, Eden said he and Santiago will go through Santiago's personal account on the hosting company Juno with an IT consultant and print any e-mails to or from Santiago's council e-mail account. He will not simply turn over the entire account to the city, Eden said.

Because who knows what other damning malfeasance might would almost certainly be found?

A representative of the city's law department could attend if necessary, Eden said.

As long as it's another crony with skeletons in their closet.

Eden said Santiago could not do that on Friday because he was at Lutheran Hospital with a kidney infection and wants to be there in person as the Juno account is checked.

Originally, the excuse was going to be that Santiago was in the hospital giving birth to an adopted Chinese orphan with AIDS as well as delivering a litter of puppies (awwww...puppies!) until it was pointed-out that even the average voting moron in Cleveland might not buy that.

Eden did not know if Santiago saves e-mails in a filing system or if Juno deletes them automatically over time. He said Santiago would grant permission for Juno to search its own computer records for that period, if needed.

Council considered doing the extensive search of the city computer system on Friday, but the system must be shut down. The search will occur on Saturday instead.

Because it's so much easier to search computers which are shut down. Plus, we can get us some o' that sweet, sweet overtime, baybee!

Samsa did not know why it would take until Wednesday for results and the company could not be reached Friday evening.

Oooh...color me "surprised"!

"Cleveland: All the corruption of Chicago, but without the pesky robust economy!"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's David Briggs: Obama Shill, Clueless Political Hack, Or Both?

In the "Ethics" section of yesterday's PD, Mr. Briggs wrote a column entitled "Politics is poisoning our discourse on racial issues".

His main contention seems to be that Mr. Obama ought not be called to account for his decades-long membership at Trinity UCC and his very personal association with Jeremiah Wright. (Despite the fact Obama acknowledges that Wright brought him to Jesus, performed his marriage, baptized his kids and has been the recipient of big donations.)

Mr. Briggs begins by asserting:

No one said being a prophet would be easy.

He continues with fulsome praise for Wright's accomplishments, including how he helped inspire Obama's presidential aspirations, before continuing:

What no one counted on was a political culture that would reduce thousands of sermons into a couple of shocking sound bites that portray the pastor and former Marine as racist and anti-American. And that the controversy would go so far that Wright and Obama would turn against each other in public.

Oh, sure...aside from the sound bites (which came from DVDs sold by Trinity UCC), I'm certain Wright's never, ever spewed such garbage. Not even on camera in front of the NAACP or National Press Club as recently as last week.

Apparently, Briggs is either completely unaware (or deliberately ignorant) that Wright is a vocal proponent of "black liberation theology", a pathetic, racist bunch of claptrap initially promulgated in America by theologian James Cone. In Cone's own words:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

In other words, Cone claims that a God who doesn't want to kill whitey ain't worth shit; that doesn't sound very loving or inclusive to me.

Some other highlights from Cone's writings bigoted frothings:

All white men are responsible for white oppression.
==========
What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal.
==========
Any advice from whites to blacks on how to deal with white oppression is automatically under suspicion as a clever device to further enslavement.

This would seem to distill down to "shut the fuck up and/or die, honky motherfuckers". But I digress; nothing to see here, folks.

Briggs continues:

For black and white religious leaders, it is a sad day in American politics.

Hillary Clinton, Obama's opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, and right-wing commentators have exploited fears among significant numbers of white voters by creating a "scary" black figure in Wright, religious critics say. A campaign that had been historic in its ability to transcend race is mired in old racial divisions.

I believe it's more accurate to say that Obama's campaign (which had included Wright as an advisor) had simply attempted to ignore race, as they knew damned well what would happen when that particular can of worms got opened.

The truth of the matter is that Wright is scary.

And black.

It is neither possible nor desirable to ignore those facts.

In his speech to the NAACP last week, Wright claimed that black children learn differently from white children because blacks are right-brained and whites are left-brained. (This also begs the question: is Mr. Obama ambidextrous-brained? Enquiring white brains want to know.)

Wright's claims about "learning" are scary, not to mention racist stuff. But again, I digress; back to Briggs' column:

"This whole thing has had nothing at all to do with Jeremiah Wright," said the Rev. Marvin McMickle, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland. "This was an attack on the prospect of a black president."

Actually, it has everythng to do with a credible, major party presidential candidate who is closely associated with a racist dirtbag. Personally, I'd be very happy to vote for a black presidential candidate, but he or she would have to be someone who supported my own views. Like Thomas Sowell, whom I believe to be one of the keenest intellects of our age.

What America is left with is not a national discussion on racial and economic injustice that would have been a serious response to Wright's ministry. We are left with a political conversation on how much Obama will suffer from being a member of Wright's church.

It didn't have to be this way.

Yeah...because there ought to be no questions whatsoever asked of Obama about his long-term relationship with Wright; perhaps it's one of those "you wouldn't understand; it's a black thing" things.

And what the hell is "economic injustice", a phrase I've always had trouble parsing. Does money somehow violate the rights of black people? Sic dogs on them or spray them with fire hoses? Is it only worth $0.67 on the dollar when it resides in a black persons' wallet or is deposited into their bank account? Is there a different currency exchange rate for black folks?

The unprecedented attack on Obama because of his pastor began with the charge that Trinity United Church of Christ was racist because of its motto, "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian." How many presidential candidates whose churches have been unashamedly all-white have received similar criticism?

It's not the motto; "it's the theology, stupid".

By sifting through years of Wright's sermons, critics found incendiary comments in which Wright uses an obscenity to refer to the United States or says it could be called the "U.S. of KKK-A."

Actually, not much "sifting" was involved; it only required purchasing DVDs from Trinity and watching them.

Missing from much of the conversation is the context of those lengthy sermons on a history of racial injustice and economic subjugation of the poor that religious leaders of many faiths have railed against. Within the tradition of the black church, where pastors often are expected to be social and political advocates, provocative sermons provide hope and inspire reform.

But don't you dare question their tax-free status. "Economic subjugation"? Briggs, uh, puh-lease!

That pastors such as Wright sometimes cross the line on reasonable discourse was evident this week when Wright affirmed his earlier statements that AIDS may have been a government conspiracy against blacks.

The fact that AIDS is also affecting non-black folks just goes to reaffirm my belief that government can't do anything right.

Obama rightly disowned this allegation and others as "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth."

Obama added, "But they're so hilariously fucking entertaining, I couldn't keep myself from listening to them regularly for the past seventeen years, tossing a few bucks into the collection plate and sharing them with my children. Yeah, it's for the children; that's the ticket!"

But what we cannot do is silence pastors as they challenge us. Nor can we allow Obama's political opponents to use Wright to feed racial prejudices.

No; we should in-turn challenge pastors who spew this sort of vile, bigoted shit. And we cannot allow a man who is asking for the job of leader of the free world to weasel out of the inconvenient truth that he has been affiliated with this poisonous demagogue for quite a few years. Further, Obama's political opponents don't need to use Wright to feed racial prejudices; Wright's doing a splendid job without their assistance. You go, Reverend!

When he first addressed Wright's comments in March, Obama said Americans need to acknowledge the profound misunderstandings we have on race and work to heal those wounds.

Agreed; I cannot understand the profound lack of gratitude from a wide swath of the black community for all of us ofays who put our lily-white asses on the line for equality. Believe me, it is a bit hurtful; we pale, left-brained people have feelings, too. Black clergymen really ought to quit hatin' on us Mister Charlie-Americans.

"If we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care or education or the need to find good jobs for every American," he said.

I, myself, am not walking away; I am being pushed away by the vicious hatred from some members of the black community. And if you want to solve the above challenges, get the damned government out of every aspect of our lives. Just like my man Tom Sowell advocates.

Those are the words of a prophet.

Nah...they're the words of a pandering asshole who's been caught with his robes hitched-up to his waist.

Heil Obama!

The following is from a blog at http://www.barackobama.com/ which was posted from 03/01/08 until it got redacted yesterday. (Screen caps available here.)

Obamanism is the cure for Clintonitis that has devastated America and I hope Jews all over US rally around Obama and support him to win both the nomination and the Presidency because after he wins, he would help the Jews and Israel as well as settle the Middle East problems.

However, if Jews betray Obama and he loses, Africans worldwide would consider it a betrayal to the whole African people and will never forgive world Jewry.

Just as I will never forgive black "leaders" like Sharpton, Jackson, Wright, et. al. in this country for promulgating anti-semitism.

In retaliation, (eye for eye, remember!) Africa would consider expelling all Jews from Africa who have been mining African Gold and Diamond and enriching themselves for many centuries.

It was African gold and diamond that built international finance, trade and banking that the Jews (Rothschild, Warbug, Rockefeller and others) dominate.

Rockefeller was a Joooo? Who knew?

It was African gold and diamond that built Jewish banks and wealth worldwide.

Yassuh...those gems and metals just jumped right out of the ground, crossed the Atlantic, grabbed some hammers, shovels and cee-ment mixers and started putting up buildings with vaults and Greek revival edifices. Crikey.

Thousands of years ago, when Jews were starving and nearly perished in Palestine, they took refuge in Egypt, Africa.

Yeah...and we were treated so freakin' well in Egypt. That's why they were sent all of the "hostess gifts" (frogs, boils, locusts, etc.).

If Egypt and Africa did not feed the Jews, perhaps there would be no Jews today.

Which seemingly might be okeydoke with this blogger.

Jews also took all Egyptian and African science, technology and religious knowledge that have helped them to develop themselves and to get to where they are today: on top of most of the industries and corporations all over the world.

Uh huh...my JooCo stock just split three-for-two. And Amalgamated Zionists is up almost 20% since the beginning of the year. I'm rich, bitches! Bwahahahaha!

Jews owe Africa and Africans everything they have today because if Africa did not shelter them when they were homeless and starving, they would not be here today.

And black Americans owe a bit of a debt to American joooos for helping to fight for their civil rights. (Hey...we even gave you a favorable interest rate, ya wretchedly ungrateful bastards.)

There's more, but you get the idea.

I'm sure that none of the Obama website's administrators ever saw this vile shit until the blogosphere published links yesterday.

If this is the kind of disgusting rhetoric that a major party candidate in America permits on his website, it's clearly time to arm myself. Unlike my Dad's family, I fully intend to take as many of these dirtbags as possible with me should they come a-callin' late at night.

[blazingsaddles]

"Up yours, Obama!"

[/blazingsaddles]

Barack will get neither an apology nor a pie from me for that last.

"Grandma Got Run Over By A Race Bus"

Thanks to BrendaK for the idea!

[Chorus]
Grandma got run over by a race bus
When Obama ran for President
'Cause she's just a "typical white person"
Hope she tells her grandson to "get bent"

===================

All she did was try to raise him
Nurture him and give him lots of love
But to her sad consternation
She found that all it got her was a shove

In a speech on Tuesday mornin'
By her dear grandson Barack
He placed a brand on her forehead
And discriminatin' stab marks on her back

[Chorus]

Barry ain't so proud of grandma
'Cause she happens to be white
I was really touched to hear him
Fuck her over while he tried to be contrite

In his church full of hatred
For anyone who's not black
He's learned a lot from his Pastor
Jeremiah Wright, who's totally whack

[Chorus]

Now his goose is slowly cooking
And his campaign's nearly through
As a dyed-in-the-wool bigot
He can always blame his failure on the Jews

I've appalled my friends and neighbors
With opinions which are blunt
I just hope they won't be voting
For this man (who's wife Michelle is quite a cunt)

[Chorus]

Shame on you, Barack Obama

Dear Mr. Obama:

I am sorely disappointed at your patently transparent attempt to save your (50% lily-white) political ass yesterday.

You are running for President, sir. That means you're asking us for the job of leading all Americans. As such, you've got some 'splainin' to do regarding your membership in a church which was, for the first twenty years you belonged to it, led by a racist demagogue.

(By the way, Jeremiah Wright looks like he's got a little "ofay in the woodpile", if you know what I mean, and I think that you do. Since this is all about race, despite protestations to the contrary, I think it's entirely fair to define the terms accurately.)

You had a splendid opportunity yesterday and threw it all away in a bid save your campaign. Instead of promoting "healing", you repeatedly ripped-off the scab, smeared shit into the wound and then sprinkled it with some nice flesh-eating bacteria.

Thanks a bunch, "Uncle Fester".

Being that you're running for the highest office in the land, you had a serious obligation to let us know precisely which of Mr. Wright's comments you've disagreed with. (You know, the ones you initially claimed not to have ever been present to hear first-hand.)

In your own damning words:

“Did I know him [Jeremiah Wright] to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely — just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.” 

Actually, when the head rabbi at the synagogue my family belonged to when I was child expressed some far less despicable views than those Mr. Wright has spewed from his pulpit, my Dad told said rabbi in no uncertain terms to fold that nonsense until it was all corners and shove it up his ass.

Followed by very loudly and publicly quitting that synagogue. But then, Dad was a man of principle.

(So much so that even before he had received his American citizenship, he was involved in the civil rights movement in this country. Despite having a wife, two young sons and knowing his actions might possibly cause some fairly serious problems regarding his naturalization. Because Pops had a wee bit of up-close-and-personal experience with hatred as a guest in one of Mr. Hitler's resorts. And bad as things have been for black folks at times during our country's history, we have never even come close to actually exterminating them by the millions, have we? But I digress.)

At best, Mr. Obama, I believe you joined Jeremiah Wright's kooky, foul institution to gain some black street cred in order to compensate for the fact you're just not very comfortable with being half-white devil/honky/Mister Charlie. At worst, you actually believe the vitriol Wright has espoused for decades. And it's abundantly clear that you're okey-doke with exposing your own children to such dangerous, foolish hate, thus ensuring it is passed on to yet another generation.

Kudos for "keepin' it real", Barack Obama; I hope it ultimately costs you your political career. Which it almost certainly won't, but a fellow can dream.

I have a dream that all reasonable Americans will rise-up, give race-baiting assholes like you the middle finger and condemn you to the derision, cruel mockery and obscurity you so richly deserve.

I have a dream that one day, you and your unhelpful ilk will actually comprehend and embrace the incredibly moving, inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King and feel a burning shame.

I have a dream I will one day live in a nation where nobody will be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (Given that you threw one of your grandmas under the bus yesterday, you are sadly deficient wherein character is concerned. And speaking of grandmas, is the one in Kenya a Christian or a Muslim? She's copped to both at different times; apparently waffling lying runs in your family.)

I have a dream that some day, America will be free at last from bigoted, self-serving bastards like you, Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, Cynthia McKinney, Louis Farakhan...

God damn your America, sir.

Along with your political aspirations and your place in history.

The "Wheels of Justice" sometimes have flat tires

On Monday, I had a fairly heated conversation with Gary, the managing partner of our inept attorney's firm. He was told in gory detail all of the ways which his employee has completely screwed the pooch; he got just a mite defensive.

Jeebus...it was like talking with a fuckin' trial attorney.

One of the many issues I had was that last Thursday, the mediator's first words to our attorney were, "What made you think this case was ready to mediate?" Sadly, it went downhill from there for nine hours.

Our attorney was utterly freaking clueless. She was not prepared. She had neglected to bring critical photographic documentation which has been in her possession for more than two years. She did not insist that the plaintiff be present (which is a rules violation in CA). She had not deposed anyone, yet was already trying to negotiate a settlement before she'd even built her goddamned case!! Plus plenty more.

About the only thing she said to my friend Jim - the owner of the roofing company - afterwards was to advise him to retain a personal attorney (as the damages the crooked plaintiff wants are about $400K over our policy limits).

And she followed up by mailing him a letter the next day putting her advice in writing. What a dangerously incompetent maroon. It would seem that the University of San Diego has a Special Needs Law School.

Gary said that he'd "look into the matter" and try to get back to me later that day (as he claimed he was going to San Francisco for the day on Tuesday).

By an odd coincidence, about 30 minutes after my call, Jim got a "P.R. call" from Gary. One of the things he told Jim was that I was "very emotional".

(As DFC!, our marvelously helpful "consulting attorney" wrote in an email to me yesterday, "You were emotional?  GOOD!!!  That's how people react when they're being deprived of zealous and competent representation.")

I asked Jim if Gary had said I was actually wrong about anything I reamed him for, apparently I was not.

Heh!

Even more coincidentally, shortly after Jim's call from Gary, our attorney called to advise Jim that she would finally start scheduling depositions. (She claimed the insurer had been holding her back from this; we'll see if that's the truth...)

Jim's personal attorney will be talking to the claims adjuster (hopefully) later today to find out what the hell's going on at his end. And to put the carrier on notice regarding possible breach of contract.

And if I don't get a call from Gary by the close of business in L.A. today, I'll tear him another new asshole tomorrow for not getting back to me, as he agreed to. (I'm sure he'll attempt to claim that his call to Jim fulfilled his promise to "get back to you".)

I really want to see if that motherfucker will try to tell me I was materially incorrect about anything I told him on Monday.

It's very disheartening when even the folks who are ethically and contractually bound to defend us are colossal fuck-ups.

"...the law is a ass - a idiot."

Charles Dickens' Bumble the Beadle spoke a truth when he uttered those words.

The company I repped for when I lived in Los Angeles got sodomized by the law yesterday. We got assaulted and had the shit stomped out of us; alas, it was all nice and legal.

It sure isn't right. Or just.

Our testicles were placed on the little wooden disc and whacked repeatedly by the gavel.

In fact, had we acted a lot less responsibly, we would be in a significantly better legal position. What a steaming crock of shit. Not to mention how it provides a disincentive to "do the right thing".

I now have officially zero respect for America's legal system, as it clearly has no respect for anything resembling actual justice. (Something I've believed for a long damned time, but now actually know from firsthand experience.)

The company has been the victim of a provably fraudulent insurance claim in the amount of nearly $1M for the past three-and-a-half years. Sadly, the law cares not one whit for the facts of the matter; it only cares about the law. And the filthy vermin, both clients and attorneys, who know how to work the system.

As far as I'm concerned, every fucking attorney in America contributes to this foully corrupt institution. Because even if they're principled individuals, they do effectively nothing to a) weed out the predatory douchebags among them, and b) fix the odious system which their profession has created and permits said douchebags to flourish.

Right about now, I wish much long-term suffering on each and every lawyer in America followed by an ignominious and painful death. Sadly, I have a few friends who are attorneys; please know that my desire for your painful suffering is, in the words of the Mafia, "nothing personal; it's just business".

Like it or not, your profession is a bunch of organized criminals which you virtually never do a goddamned thing to change. Actually, you seem to do whatever you can to make yourselves indispensible in daily life and guarantee full employment for your profession.

Fuck you all with a barbed wire dildo lubricated with cat saliva.

On the brighter side, the demise of every attorney in this country would do wonders to clean up our Congress.

In the words of a character in L. Neil Smith's novel "Pallas":

"People - pardon me, journalists and politicians - have often accused me of believing that I'm above the law. And yet, who isn't? Everywhere you prod it, even with the shortest stick, the established system isn't simply corrupt, it's unequivocally putrescent. The law is created by demonstrable criminals, enforced by demonstrable criminals, interpreted by demonstrable criminals, all for demonstrably criminal purposes. Of course I'm above the law. And so are you."

Bitchy bitch bitches about "bitch"; sonofabitch!

(Original NYT article here)

August 7, 2007
It’s a Female Dog, or Worse. Or Endearing. And Illegal?

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

The New York City Council, which drew national headlines when it passed a symbolic citywide ban earlier this year on the use of the so-called n-word, has turned its linguistic (and legislative) lance toward a different slur: bitch.

What about "spic", "kike", "wop", "slope", "cocksucker" and so many other potentially offensive words? Or is it that women and black folks are more "sensitive" than others?

The term is hateful and deeply sexist, said Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn, who has introduced a measure against the word, saying it creates “a paradigm of shame and indignity” for all women.

Um, get over it, Councilwoman Mealy-Mouth. You fucking whiny cunt.

But conversations over the last week indicate that the “b-word” (as it is referred to in the legislation) enjoys a surprisingly strong currency — and even some defenders — among many New Yorkers.

Especially NYC cabbies, public transit workers, construction workers...and pretty-much everyone else in New York.

And Ms. Mealy admitted that the city’s political ruling class can be guilty of its use. As she circulated her proposal, she said, “even council members are saying that they use it to their wives.”

The measure, which 19 of the 51 council members have signed onto, was prompted in part by the frequent use of the word in hip-hop music. Ten rappers were cited in the legislation, along with an excerpt from an 1811 dictionary that defined the word as “A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman.”

And precisely what miniscule percentage of New Yorkers are English women, you useless, contemptible twat? I could dig-up all sorts of interesting cites from a reference book nearly two centuries old; I'll bet a sawbuck that dictionary didn't label "nigger" as a pejorative.

While the bill also bans the slang word “ho,” the b-word appears to have acquired more shades of meaning among various groups, ranging from a term of camaraderie to, in a gerund form, an expression of emphatic approval. Ms. Mealy acknowledged that the measure was unenforceable, but she argued that it would carry symbolic power against the pejorative uses of the word. Even so, a number of New Yorkers said they were taken aback by the idea of prohibiting a term that they not only use, but do so with relish and affection.

“Half my conversation would be gone,” said Michael Musto, the Village Voice columnist, whom a reporter encountered on his bicycle on Sunday night on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Christopher Street. Mr. Musto, widely known for his coverage of celebrity gossip, dismissed the idea as absurd.

“On the downtown club scene,” he said, munching on an apple, the two terms are often used as terms of endearment. “We divest any negative implication from the word and toss it around with love.”

Darris James, 31, an architect from Brooklyn who was outside the Duplex, a piano bar in the West Village, on Sunday night was similarly opposed. “Hell, if I can’t say bitch, I wouldn’t be able to call half my friends.”

They may not have been the kinds of reaction that Ms. Mealy, a Detroit-born former transit worker serving her first term, was expecting. “They buried the n-word, but what about the other words that really affect women, such as ‘b,’ and ‘ho’? That’s a vile attack on our womanhood,” Ms. Mealy said in a telephone interview. “In listening to my other colleagues, that they say that to their wives or their friends, we have gotten really complacent with it.”

Might as well consider banning "cunt", "slattern", "tart", "tramp", "trollop", "whore", "slut" and a host of other words that "really affect women". And I'm sure that "they buried the n-word". Stupid bitch.

The resolution, introduced on July 25, was first reported by The Daily News. It is being considered by the Council’s Civil Rights Committee and is expected to be discussed next month.

Apparently every other pressing problem facing the city of New York has been successfully solved.

Many of those interviewed for this article acknowledged that the b-word could be quite vicious — but insisted that context was everything.

“I think it’s a description that is used insouciantly in the fashion industry,” said Hamish Bowles, the European editor at large of Vogue, as he ordered a sushi special at the Condé Nast cafeteria last week. “It would only be used in the fashion world with a sense of high irony and camp.”

Mr. Bowles, in salmon seersucker and a purple polo, appeared amused by the Council measure. “It’s very ‘Paris Is Burning,’ isn’t it?” he asked, referring to the film that captured the 1980s drag queen scene in New York.

There's some sartorial splendor; is it bitchy of me to point that out?

The b-word has been used to refer to female dogs since around 1000 A.D., according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which traces the term’s derogatory application to women to the 15th century; the entry notes that the term is “not now in decent use.”

But there is much evidence that the word — for better or worse — is part of the accepted vernacular of the city. The cover of this week’s New York magazine features the word, and syndicated episodes of “Sex and the City,” the chronicle of high-heeled Manhattan singledom, include it, though some obscenities were bleeped for its run on family-friendly TBS. A feminist journal with the word as its title is widely available in bookstores here, displayed in the front rung at Borders at the Time Warner Center.

So, given the "context", is that usage “a paradigm of shame and indignity for all women", bitch?

Robin Lakoff, a Brooklyn-born linguist who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, said that she despised the word, but that enforcing linguistic change through authority “almost never works,” echoing comments from some New Yorkers who believed a ban would only serve to heighten the word’s power.

“If what the City Council wants to do is increase civility, it would have to be able to contextualize it,” said Ms. Lakoff, who studies language and gender. “You forbid the uses that drive people apart, but encourage the ones that drive people together. Which is not easy.”

If by "not easy", you mean "bloody fucking impossible", than you're right, bitch.

Councilman Leroy G. Comrie Jr., the Queens Democrat who successfully sponsored a symbolic moratorium on the n-word that was adopted Feb. 28, said he supported Ms. Mealy’s measure, but acknowledged that the term had many uses.

“We want to make sure the context that it’s used is not a negative one,” Mr. Comrie said yesterday.

Because politicians, being such moral paragons and so incredibly intelligent, are just the folks to approve "context". Stupid son of a bitch.

Back at the West Village piano bar on Sunday evening, Poppi Kramer had just finished up her cabaret set. She scoffed at the proposal. “I’m a stand-up comic. You may as well just say to me, don’t even use the word ‘the.’ ”

But at least one person with a legitimate reason to use the word saw some merit in cutting down on its use.

“We’d be grandfathered in, I would think,” said David Frei, who has been a host of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York since 1990. The word is a formal canine label that appears on the competition’s official materials. But Mr. Frei said he worried about the word’s impact on some viewers, especially younger ones.

Aaah..."it's for the children". It's a "teachable moment", too.

“I think we have to take responsibility for that word on the air. The reality is it’s in the realm of responsible conduct to not use that word anymore.

Jeebus...what a cunt. (Which I mean in the British English sense, citing the same 1811 dictionary used by Councilwoman Mealy-Mouth. Who is clearly a bitch.)

U.S. tax dollars to fund Jew murder

Dear President Bush:

I used to believe that after WWII, state-sponsored killing of Jews - at least in the West - had become a thing of the past.

Which is why I am utterly disgusted that you are planning to send my hard-earned money to help fund Jew Murder, Incorporated LLC (aka the Palestinian Authority).

According to Fox News (click here for entire article):

In the showdown, much of the international community, including the U.S., the EU and moderate Arab states, is backing Abbas. Declarations of support were likely to be followed soon by a resumption of foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority, though it is not clear yet whether all the international funds would then be kept out of Gaza.

The U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, met with Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah on Saturday, and said the embargo is expected to be lifted once the new government is sworn in.

"I expect that we are going to be engaged with this government," Walles said after the meeting. "I expect that early next week. There will be some announcements in Washington, specifically about our assistance and about the financial regulations."

It would have been nice had my family (many of whom were brutalized and/or murdered by the Nazis and their fellow travelers) had a longer break from having to fear for our lives.

Well, shit...it was nice while it lasted.

Apparently the cretins who have been comparing you to Adolph Hitler since the 2000 election weren't completely wrong; kindly advise when I should expect my yellow arm band to arrive in the mail.

Yours, etc.,

Fatwa Arbuckle

p.s. - Consider the enclosed jumbo-sized bag of pretzels as my "thank you" gift.

Gee-willikers...got some mail!

Much to my surprise, I got a couple of emails from folks I don't know regarding my Falwell post.

They were from friends-of-friends; a couple of them criticized me for snarking on the formerly corpulent (and now merely corpse-like) Reverend before his cadaver had reached room temperature.

I can understand why they found my words offensive; however, I don't care. I see no reason to show the man any more respect in death than I had for him in life. There's nothing sacred about dying; we're all gonna be taking a dirt nap sooner or later.

While the cloud of dust from the WTC was still hanging over lower Manhattan, that pus bag was on TV using the attack to make political points with his minions. Which strikes me as fairly disrespectful to the victims as well as their friends and families.

If a self-appointed moralist and "spiritual leader" exhibits such profound lack of sensitivity to the deaths of innocents, I see no cause to behave any better upon his demise.

I refuse to be respectful of those who, themselves, are not.

And quite honestly, although I don't personally believe in an afterlife, the thought of Falwell impaled on the barbed cock of Satan makes me smile.

BellSouth Sucks!

While talking to a friend in Atlanta this morning, the call suddenly got dropped. When I attempted to phone back I got a message informing me that "this line is being tested; please try your call again in a few minutes".

Which I did, to no avail. I sent her an email and got a response; I was glad that she still had DSL and asked if she wanted me to report the outage to BellSouth. She responded in the affirmative.

I went to BellSouth's website and discovered that there's no fucking phone number for reporting service outages to be found!

Including under "Contact Us".

I finally used yellowpages.com and easily found their number. And, in fariness, I spoke with a courteous and professional individual named Donna who (seemingly) attempted to investigate the problem to no avail, so a service request was put in. There was no indication how long it may take to resolve the problem

It simply is stunning that a multi-billion dollar company whose business is communications utterly fails to provide such basic information on their website.

'Tards.

Welcome to the new fucking AT&T.

Jerry Falwell's dead; long may he rot in Hell!

To any TSW friends who wander by:

I should have recalled from the execution of Saddam Hussein that a few of you are uncomfortable with celebrating the death of someone truly evil. I cannot understand this, but I accept it is so.

Jerry Falwell was not a nice man, something I find absolutely unforgivable in a person who declares himself not only a religious leader, but "God's right hand". (Hubris? You're soaking in it!)

Based upon his actions and his words, I believe Jerry Falwell was a loathesome, hateful, despicable and yes, evil, creature hiding behind the cloak of religion and his beloved Jesus. The world is a better place without him. If he exemplified a "good Christian", than Christianity has some very serious problems.

Let's take a look at some of ol' Reverend Jer's words and deeds, shall we?

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve." - Jerry Falwell talking to Pat Robertson on "The 700 Club", September 13, 2001.

Nice. Holy man Jerry blamed the 9/11 attacks on civil libertarians, homosexuals and feminists while the fucking buildings were still smoldering and rescue workers were looking for survivors.

"And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'" - Jerry Falwell talking to Pat Robertson on "The 700 Club", September 13, 2001.

Crikey...I thought it was the Islamofascists' doing. Not very helpful or healing in the aftermath of the attacks, was it? I was really impressed with the uplifting and spiritual nature of his rhetoric right in the middle of a national tragedy.

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" - Jerry Falwell, America Can Be Saved, 1979 pp. 52-53.

As a Hebe, this sort of rhetoric makes me just a tich uncomfortable. Especially recalling the way good little Christians from St. Ann's here in Cleveland Heights used to bully me and my brother, call us "Christ killers" and vandalize our house.

"The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior." - Jerry Falwell, Listen, America!, 1981

Let's not forget his support for apartheid in South Africa during the '80s. Or the fact that for many years after this bastard started his Thomas Road Baptist Church, he was an ardent supporter of segregation and stated in 1958,

"If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision [Brown v. Board of Education] would never have been made…. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”

Yup...that's real loving, Godly stuff right there.

Frankly, if there really is a loving God (a prospect which I find dubious), than this venal cocksucker is assuredly burning in Hell for failing to "get it" while he was a corporeal asshole. I've seen worms in dog's stool that had more moral authority.

I take no joy in the deaths of good, decent people.

However, Falwell was not one of them; long may he rot in Hell.

Fulton Road Bridge-3, Duane Houkum-0

"Hah, hah!"

(Not) falling down on the job
Demolition Day falls through

Fulton bridge only partly toppled
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Rachel Dissell
Plain Dealer Reporter

(Complete article here)


The Fulton Road Bridge, deemed so deteriorated that it was a danger, refused to tumble Saturday despite several rumbling blasts of explosives.

The first detonation, a few minutes before 8:30 a.m., blew out four stanchions and part of one 110-foot-high arch on the bridge's northern end. The anti-climactic blast barely dusted the grassy Big Creek Valley's edge with chunks of chalky concrete.

The demolition contractor, Duane Houkom of Texas, had predicted the span's 50 million pounds of concrete and steel would drop straight to the ground after a five-second rumble.

But even the second try, almost an hour later, produced only a cloud of dust that dissipated to reveal most of the arches triumphantly standing. The explosion left the 75-year-old bridge looking as though it had lost its two front teeth.

A third and final blast sent the center part of the structure down, but four of the bridge's six arches remain.

Construction manager Ryan Kokosing blamed the malfunction on a defective cable that connected the charges.

The Ohio Department of Transportation and the demolition team will decide at a meeting Monday when blasting will resume. All areas of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which the bridge passes over, will be open during regular hours today, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

What a bloody freaking surprise to see yet another expensive public works screw-up around here. Despite very many wonderful things in this region, there are well-founded reasons this town is a pathetic joke; here we have a prime example.

Which causes me to ponder a few points:

The (allegedly) horribly precarious, danger-to-us-all-aiiieeee! Fulton Road Bridge got the better of numerous applications of explosives. This leads a reasonable person to conclude that the bridge probably could have been refurbished rather than demolished.

And it's not as if a city which has lost literally 50% its population over the past decade-and-a-half is having traffic problems requiring a larger bridge.

But a new bridge is far more expensive than fixing an old one. As such, that provides lots more union jobs than a repair job. This is of vital importance in a region where the unions (along with our comically inept and foully corrupt politicians) have managed to kill the economy in the first place.

(Yup...those unions sure do look out for workin' folks. There used to be a steel industry here. Autos. Hell...Akron used to be "The Rubber Capital of the World"; they haven't manufactured a tire there in years. And don't get me started on Local 4 of the American Federation of Musicians, which may actually disappear in the near future; it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of douchebags.)

Further, a new bridge provides exponentially more opportunities for our local elected thugs to "dip their beaks" and reward their organized criminal buddies. (I was born in Chicago, so civic corruption surprises me not. But the bastards here are not only greedy, they're dangerously stupid, too. Hence our moribund economy.)

I'd also like to know why a petrifyingly incompetent retard like Duane Houkom is even permitted to get on a plane by himself to travel here, much less play with high explosives on a fucking bridge built over our zoo. Shit...it's not like there's anything that could go wrong.

This man should be fired for not having the common sense that every semi-housebroken musician in the world possesses: bring an extra goddamned cable to the gig!

While I'm sure there's some modest technical expertise required, how fucking difficult can it possibly be to make explosives actually blow-the-fuck-up?

Jesus H. Christ & His Orchestra!

Alternatively, it may be that ol' "Cletus" Houkom was strongly encouraged to purchase supplies from "Uncle Rocco's Construction-Stuff-Dat-Fell-Off-O'-Da-Truck Emporium". If so, it'd be typical of Cleveland that even our mobsters are incompetent. Next thing you know, they'll attempt to blow-up an informant's car with a couple of M-80s (at least one of which will, no doubt, fizzle).

Houkom should be fired for non-performance without being paid one damned cent. Three strikes and you're out, motherfucker.

And let's hire some guys with a proven track-record for demolishing much larger structures; I'd recommend Mohammed Atta & Associates.

Now if only I can also figure out a way to ensure that all of our local politicians will be at Ground Zero.