Sadly, No!

Nathan Tabor once again shows why he’s a rising star in the world of wingnuttery:

Move to middle leaves conservatives looking for new home: Conservative real estate in short supply

Nathan Tabor
October 17, 2005

“Daddy was a veteran, a Southern Democrat; They oughta get a rich man to vote like that.”

Those lines from “Song of the South,” a legendary hit by the country-rock band Alabama, express the historical sentiment of many in the South. For many years, all right-thinking Southerners were Democrats. After all, the Republicans were the party of Abraham Lincoln and the War of Northern Aggression.

Whoa. Is Nathan implying that all “right-thinking” Southerners hated the Republicans because Abe Lincoln stopped them from enslaving black people? Sadly, yes. Sadly, sadly, yes:

The Democrats were decent, church-going, patriotic citizens who believed in God and country, in that order. They toiled in fields, factories and textile mills. They enlisted in the Armed Services in disproportionately high numbers during wartime. Their core values were what we call conservative today.

Around the middle of the 20th century, things began to change politically as the social fabric of the South was altered dramatically by court-ordered desegregation and massive school bussing, which were seen as further intrusions by liberals from up North. Most of those liberals were Democrats like LBJ.

So now we see what “core conservative values” are really about: hatin’ on the darkies. At least Nathan has the stones to admit it.
Read the rest of this entry »

Per Gavin’s request, here are some of our readers’ entries in the “Help Us Design a Feckin’ Logo!” contest:

(By teh l4m3.)

(By tigrismus.)

Thanks, and keep ’em comin’!

UPDATE: And here’s BruceH:
Read the rest of this entry »

So we were talking about bond annuities in my accounting class today when one of my classmates actually raised his hand and asked, “If interest payments are made semiannually, should we assume they’re made twice a year?”

The next time I see him, I’m gonna tell him to e-mail Marie to see if she’ll give him a job at PeoplePolitical. I just can’t let talent like that go to waste.

I’ve been having a supercrashy-browser thing, and’ve let lots of comments and emails go unresponded until I’m just a quivering heap of a pre-hominid, really. Jexter, you 3Bulls guys… I’m typing with oven mitts here.

Rowan; GuinnessGuy. Brad (if he can) will post the Dastardly Logos soon, and as soon as I reinstall this rackin’-frackin shickin’-frack software, I’ll…

AAAAH!

[sucked to Pluto by a software error.]

Wait; because it’s…

AAAAAAAAAH!

Add some shrillness to your day:

–Tristero:

It is long overdue for groups like HRW [Human Rights Watch] to get accorded the “moderate US mainstream” respect they deserve, and get acknowledged for the incredible courage it takes to report these kinds of abuses. While it is a secondary issue to the sheer immorality of torture, if ever there was a program designed to make overseas travel and work by Americans more dangerous, it is a policy of systematic torture of prisoners.

Once again, the Bush administration demonstrates that they are prepared to dangerously undermine American interests while branding all critics as leftwing scoundrels and traitors. And once again, they are full of shit.

–Hilzoy:

Before this administration took office, I would have thought that the one thing I could count on Republicans to do right was to take care of the basic needs of our men and women in uniform. “Help is on the way”, Bush said. I suppose I should have remembered that he came from the same party that told us (falsely) that “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help'”, and taken it as a threat. Leaving aside the little matter of sending them off to fight a needless war without bothering to take care of such minor details as planning for the occupation, we’ve seen the guard and reserves stretched to the breaking point, stop-loss orders, Humvees with inadequate protection, and soldiers buying their own body armor.

–PZ Meyers:

You would be surprised at how much email is sent to me telling me to stop being so derisive, that harsh language and ridicule turn people off and repel the very ones we’re trying to persuade. My reply is like the one above; by refusing to ridicule the ridiculous, by watering down every criticism into a mannered circumlocution, we have created an environment where idiots thrive unchallenged. We have a twit for a president because so many people made apologies for his ludicrous lack of qualifications?we need more people unabashedly pointing out fools.

I’m doing my part to fight Idiot America. I hope more people join me.

–PGL:

At the end of the day, it does not matter what Bill Frist really knew about the true standing of HCA when he sold the stock, it does not matter how many ethical violations and violations of Texas law Tom DeLay really committed, or in how many ways Karl Rove undermined the CIA ? they are all Republicans. Forget all the hypocrisy from those former prosecutors in the Reagan DOJ who now make money pimping for the rightwing. All of their nonsense is true by definition. The Rule of Law party is above the law. Karl Rove must be innocent ? regardless of the facts.

Man, that felt good. I picked the wrong week to quit smoking.

Because it’s one of our few gestures toward community, even as we’re plotting and scheming to rip off everyone’s logos and send mutant cats after them. (Crappy Kitty Nasty Story Time with No!bizness? Actually I think Norb is mad at us lately. Or actually, not at Brad or Seb. Because of the…)

1) ‘Contact the Fact’ — The Sound
This brings back intaglio-print memories of WNYU, a college station in New York whose New Afternoon Show played the pick-hits from the British music weeklies, debuting Aztec Camera and Smiths singles, hyping the Men They Couldn’t Hang one week, Prefab Sprout the next. At the time, we were all angry at WNYU for casting a searchlight at the UK while slipping in local hardcore cuts only when they came from DJ Tim Sommer’s approved pile. (Tim Sommer, of WNYU’s “Noise, the Show” later became a program director at MTV — which is a fact that one could extrapolate from.) But the Sound was in fact a great band. Sparse, spacious (yet claustrophobic) guitar dirge, of the leathers-and-gothic-hair variety. Nearly forgotten now, alas. I had to track this down over a span of weeks. The whole album is great, and the band’s entire canon ranges from really-good to stupendous. Singer killed himself a couple years ago. I think there are reissues out now.

2) ‘Johnny Too Bad’ – The Slickers
’60s and ’70s ska yielded up these incredible jukebox songs — Motown-worthy but with one-drop beats and chikka guitars. Young guys singing who have no showbiz veneer, but have soul. You want to hang out with these guys.

3) ‘Wait’ – Articles of Faith
If you want to hear an ’80s hardcore single that naively nudges into modern-classical territory, this is your pick. Legato like crazy, really strong vertical composition, and then it snaps into thrash. Not that fake metal-thrash or the young-kid thrash that you hear a lot these days (kids cheating with double-bass drum pedals and all that), but real thrash. This song has classical structure. How is that? I had an email friendship with Vic Bondi, the band’s main guy, a few years ago. I want to talk to him again. How, Vic?

4) ‘White Power’ – Skrewdriver
That’s why they call it the Random Ten. Frustratingly, this is a good, well-performed and well-recorded song with a hook. All the more reason to hate them.

5) ‘Self Destruct’ – UK Subs
This is more like it. I’d give a bid for the UK Subs’ Shake Up The City EP as a perfect record. It’s not worldbeating, but boy is it all there, focused, and all of a pace. Nicky Garratt, the guitarist, pushes this record aside in favor of the…(god, now I have to go look; the brain is failing…) ‘Countdown’/’Plan of Action’ single. The guitars are indeed thicker and crunchier on that one, but the songs are better here.

My copy of Shake Up The City has a weird skip on ‘War of the Roses.’ The chorus of the song goes, “Left-right, left-right, left-right, left-right, left-right, left-right — Cen-ter! Red and white; red and white: War of the ro-ses…” The skip makes a perfect loop of “left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right…” Forever, ever-ever-ever! It’s yikesey!

6) ‘Hungry So Angry’ – Medium Medium
I think this is what a New Wave jam band would sound like. Hmm.
I was down in DC for a concert at Dupont Circle once, and some jam band actually covered this. That was actually the best day of my life, as it happens, because when my band went on, we played the opening chords to Government Issues’s ‘Sheer Terror,’ and John Stabb vaulted onstage and started singing it. If that means nothing to anyone, then my name is Ike Witt, because I kwitt.

7) A three-fer by The Muse.
Likem lots.

7.5) ‘Pressure Drop’ – Toots and the Maytals
Norb got this one too. Everyone knows it, I think. But see re: The Slickers (above).

8) ‘Which Will’ – Nick Drake
Once bought an acoustic and tuned it in this special off-tuning just to learn this song. Grew and filed the nails on my right hand to be able to pick the strings right.

9) ‘Mississippi Queen’ – Mountain
Hm. Actually not bad, right? Raw and guitar-heavy. Mr. Ippi Queen would be proud.

10) ‘See See Rider’ – Roy Buchanan
I could launch a 3000-word arm-waving disquisition on Buchanan and the 1950s Telecaster (and its magnificent tonal there-ness), but today I shall not disquisiss. God, though: What a great guitar! What a great guitar player! Buchanan was haunting the DC club circuit at this point, and a friend of mine remembers him from it. If Only. If only one could see…

The American Family Association is upset:

‘American Girl’ Assailed for Teaming with Pro-Abortion Charity

By Mary Rettig and Jody Brown
October 13, 2005

(AgapePress) – The spokesperson for a pro-family group says she was disturbed to find that a toy manufacturer esteemed by Christians has joined with a pro-abortion, pro-lesbian group. And a Chicago-based pro-life organization is hinting at a boycott against that toy maker if the partnership is not dissolved soon.

Y’know, I’m not sure why they’re so angry about this. After all, promoting lesbianism inevitably reduces abortions, right?

Kathryn Hooks, director of media and public relations for the American Family Association, says American Girl has long been treasured by Christians for emphasizing traditional family values with their dolls. But now, Hooks notes, American Girl has partnered with a charitable group called Girls Inc. to sell a bracelet known as the “I Can” Band. Under the arrangement, American Girl is donating 70 cents of every bracelet purchase ($1) to the charity, as well as a $50,000 lump sum.

The AFA media spokesperson says the problem is that Girls Inc. promotes a social agenda that is distinctly contradictory to that of American Girl. “Girls Inc. has clearly stated support for Roe v. Wade and ‘every young woman’s right to choose.’ They are pro-abortion, pro-choice without a doubt,” the media spokesperson says. “That is made clear on their website.”

Of course, the AFA really shouldn’t be surprised by such treachery- just take a look at this picture posted on American Girl’s official website:

“American” girl my ass- that little bitch is a crepe-eatin’ Francophile!
Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to reader John T. for pointing us to this classy performance by WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Les Kinsolving:

Q: Presuming that the President is grateful that Oprah Winfrey is giving $100,000 rewards for assisting in the capture of child molesters, could you tell us whether the White House has seen any evidence of support for Oprah’s action from the nation’s many homosexual organizations, or has there been silence or opposition?

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, next question. I’m not going to dignify that.

Les Kinsolving: asking the questions that other reporters are too dignified to think of.

NPR has audio of Bush’s staged conversation with the troops yesterday. (Via Crooks & Liars) My favorite part:

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: We began our fight against terrorism in the wake of
9/11, and we’re proud to continue it here in North-Central New York — North-
Central Iraq.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something. Were you there when I came to
New York?

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Yes, I was, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: I thought you looked familiar.

SERGEANT LOMBARDO: Well, thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: I probably look familiar to you, too.

It’s hard work.

Ladies, consider your fantasies fullfilled: Carey Roberts is talking about hot, steamy sex:

The female libido becomes unleashed

Carey Roberts
October 11, 2005

The femmes fatales, those sexually-irresistible Delilahs of lore, are staging a comeback. And this time with a vixen-like vengeance.

Wait… is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Remember Mata Hari, the curvaceous exotic dancer who was accused of spying for the Germans in World War I?

Ah yes, the one who seduced Carey back when he was a sprightly 74 years old.
Read the rest of this entry »