Lou Dobbs sure looks different in person

Dobbs, the racist hatemonger masquerading as a journalist is off the TV for awhile, how nice for us all. Too bad he'll pop up on FOX pretty soon.

Dead NFL quarterbacks talk about same sex marriage

"I'm not opposed to it. What I am opposed to however is getting the shit knocked out of me by that linebacker my offensive line hasn't been able to block all day long."

"Technically, I'm not dead but my broadcasting career may be after that lame ass 'joke' I made about that Colombian race car driver and tacos."

"Speaking of tacos, where can a dead NFL Hall of Famer see a Tennessee taco swap anyway? Hey, I may be dead but I still likes the ladies you know."

"If two people who are old enough and love each other and are ready to make that kind of lifetime commitment, who are we to stand in their way?"

"I'm pretty sure that I, Roman Gabriel, the first Asian American to start at quarterback in the NFL, am still alive. But don't quote me on that. Okay?"

"Heck fire, I'm against the homos gettin' hitched. See, if they is allowed to git married then next thing you know blacks will be a wantin' to marry whites. What's that? Blacks and whites is allowed to marry one another now? Aw shit, never mind then."

"Why am in this post twice?"

"Anybody seen Suzy Kolber?"

"Dude, I'm gonna tell the NFL that you're using pictures of us without our express written consent. Oh wait, no I'm not. It looks like it's finally my turn to get reincarnated, I'm coming back as a French poodle! Yipee!"

"I wouldn't mind being married to Roger Staubach. He's quite the handsome lad. Oh yeah, I'm not dead either dumb ass."

War is hell

Public service message of the week

Please don't drink and drive,
especially if you're a crawdad with a human face.

Pot meet kettle

Pat Robertson, one of the men who worked tirelessly to drag evangelical Christians into the political arena, lashed out at Islam the other day. He claimed it was not a religion but a political system that was bent on world domination.

Of course the fact that the Bronze age cult that he is a leader of wants to dominate the world and turn us all into Bible thumpin' followers of right wing Republican tax cuts for the rich Jesus must have slipped his increasingly senile mind.

One of the most pressing problems we face today as humans is religious extremism. And I mean extremism from Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, Scientologists, Shintoists, etc. When one religion claims it is the only one true religion and it's adherents then try to force it on others and insert it in to government, then we've got problems and people are going to take the metaphor of their religion seriously enough to kill others who don't believe as they do.

Maybe if idiots like Pat Robertson keep up their nonsense then more people will get disgusted with organized religion and they'll stop taking him and his twisted metaphors literally.

If you get this joke then you are one of my people

And now here's a picture of a Canadian being helpful

_______ of the week

Discarded appliance of the week:
Barn of the week:
Vintage radio of the week:
Creepy doll of the week:

Oh Darius, how I love your Tumblr blog so

I found all of these kick ass images on the Tumblr blog of Darius Whiteplume.

Fair warning to those of you who go visit him,
some of the images he posts you may find sexist.
Or they may cause you to lose your religion, which would be a good thing as long as when you lose it you begin to finally think for yourself.

Recipe for disaster!

While going through a horrid mid '70's romance comic book yesterday for scan worthy panels, I spied these ads on the last page of the comic book:
They are your usual quasi homoerotic self improvement product and decals ads but what struck me was the one in the middle:
Holy shit, can you imagine what would have happened if all the nerds, geeks, and dorkwads like me had sent off to get birds of prey from that company? I know for sure that a bunch of jocks, bullies, and stuck up girls would have suffered from almost round the clock bird attacks. Those people had better thank their lucky stars I didn't see this ad when it first came out or I'd still be in my mountain top lair deciding who my birds should be going after next.

White Guy to the rescue!

How would Asian sidekicks survive without white dudes to look out for them?

"And this little grease spot used to be...

...your 401K."

If you're going to hear the truth, then you might as well hear it from me

Some progressives and liberals are claiming the health insurance reform that was passed recently by the House of Representatives is a 'sell out' and/or an insult to working people, a slap in the face of women, the worst thing ever, and possibly the end of western civilization as we know it. They site the Stupak amendment, the fact that the bill is not single payer national health insurance, or that it didn't include something they thought it should, or that it included too much stuff they didn't want in it.

To those people I have this to say: get over it. Modern politics is all about compromise. And compromise means that you get some of what you want and some of what you don't want. In this age of hyper partisan politics we constantly expect that if our political party is in the majority then we get all of what we want enacted into law. Ummm, sorry to burst your bubbles but it doesn't work that way. In order to pass a bill you give away some things in order to get others. You and I may not like it, and I know I don't because I want European style single payer health insurance for all, but that's the way it is.

And you know what else? It's going to stay that way until you organize enough to oust the people you don't like and then you organize some more to elect the people you do like. But even if you do that then you still have to contend with the power of corporate money in our political system. Until we get rid of the tidal wave of corporate money that floods our political system and we go to 100% public financing for our elections then things will always be the way they are now. So what you people who want things changed need to do is to organize and work to oust politicians and judges who favor keeping the legal fiction that corporations are persons and have the same rights as you and I. And you also need to work to oust judges and politicians who say that political donations are a form of speech and therefore protected under the First Amendment.

There's another group of folks on the left who need to get over themselves too and that's those who say that the Democrats who voted against the health care bill aren't real Democrats and they should leave the party. One quick word to those that say that, and that word is, NO. You folks are sounding like Republicans. See folks, political parties are made up of all kinds of folks and some of those people are more conservative or more liberal than you. Do I like it that so many Democrats voted against the bill? No. But are they had their reasons, some like my man Dennis Kucinich voted against it because it's not single payer, and some like Heath Schuler and Rick Boucher voted against it because they represent heavily Republican districts and they want to be seen as 'tough' and 'standing up to' Nancy Pelosi. I guarantee you that those men would have voted for the bill if their votes meant passage or failure for the bill.

What those of you on the left who oppose this bill need to understand is that it is real reform, reform that we've needed for many many years. And like I and many others have said, it's a good start. Now please, before you leave me any long winded comments or write me off all together, go back and re read the previous sentence. This bill is JUST A START. And a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. I want single payer, but I am supporting this bill. And I know that if I really want single payer health insurance in this country then I need to get out and organize my neighbors, go door to door and explain why it will bring down the cost of health care and actually save small business, I could care less about big business and in fact, I hope big business fails and takes the corrupt financial system with it.

And to those disaffected Hillary supports out there who want all attempts at health insurance reform to fail because Obama is President and not Hillary, I say, kiss my ass. You people are lower than pond scum. You'd gladly see millions of your fellow citizens go without health insurance just so you can gloat about breaking President Obama. And if you idiots think that Hillary wouldn't have made the same concessions that President Obama has in this fight then think again. She'd have made the same ones and possibly even more. After all Hillary enriched herself while sitting on the board of directors of Wal Mart while it put hundreds of thousands of small businesses out of business.

It's not single payer national health insurance for all but it's a good start

The House of Representatives passed a national health insurance bill today. My Congressman, Phil 'Douchebag' Roe voted against it and so did the Republican wanna be from across the mountain in NC, Heath 'I'm a washed up NFL quaterback' Schuler.

Both men are a disgrace to working people in this area of the mountain south. Some one needs to crack open a can of

and pour it down their throats.

While the bill that's been passed is not single payer national health insurance for all, which I strongly favor, it's a good first step. Let's see what the corporate owned US Senate does with it now. Will Harry 'Craven Coward' Reed carry the day or will he keep his nose buried in Olympia Snowe's ass and screw us all once again? We'll see, we'll see.

Edina Realty sucks

Do you live in or near Edina, Minnesota? Thinking of buying a house or property in or near Edina Minnesota? If so then do not, I repeat, DO NOT do business with this company:
They are screwing over my friend Mnmom and her family. And when Mnmom spoke out on her blog about the shitty treatment that she has received at the hands of the greedy fuck pigs at Edina Realty they accused her of slandering them.

Someone needs to explain to the douche bags at Edina Realty the definition of slander. And perhaps that person could also explain to them how competent and ethical real estate firms are run.

A talk in the woods

Jane Goodall: Monkey, I wish I knew how to quit you.

Monkey: Liar.

(Fez tip to Minnesota Missy for sending me this great photo.)

I can't be stopped

My never ending quest to flood the internet with more inane content continues. I have started two new blogs on Tumblr. On one I'm posting and making fun of comic book panels. And on the other I'm posting vintage and found photos that I been collecting and scanning.

I'll still post comic book panels and vintage found photos on here from time to time but those two Tumblr blogs will be nothing those two things.

Someone rang the doorbell at Tragg's house

Yes, and they brought some Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists, and Mormons with them.

Vintage family of the week

And no, it's not my family. This picture was in a box of vintage photos I bought one day in an antique store.

And there was much rejoicing that day...

...when the kittens heard that the American Association of Retired People (AARP), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Cancer Society (ACS) had all endorsed the Democratic party's health insurance reform bills. The feeling that with these damn dirty socialist groups on board that health insurance reform might actually pass and become a reality. And other kittens saw this as a good first step towards national singlepayer health insurance for all.

Book Report

I just finished this book last night:
If you have seen the film adaptation of this book and you haven't read the book then get off your duff and read it. It's ten times funnier and more strange than the film is. And if you've not seen it or not read it, then do both soon.

I identified greatly with Burroughs and his account of his crazy early life. Sure, I'm not a gay male but the parallels between us are many. We're both roughly the same age so we came of age during the same time period and I felt each of his cultural references keenly, even if he and I had wildly different tastes. Like him I was living with a mentally unstable parent, both of his were mentally ill but only my dad was in my case. Like him I was sent to live in a house full of crazy people after having already lived with mentally parent(s). I knew where he was coming from and I appreciated his journey thorough the nuttiness. Like him I tried to bond with some of the nuts I was sent to live with and like him I was forced to cut them loose later in life, although he did it much earlier than I did.

This memoir is at times sweet, touching, harrowing, laugh out loud funny, and insane. Burroughs writing style is easy going and accessible and it makes for a fun read. I found my self chuckling at his pop culture likes and dislikes and I found myself laughing my ass off over his adventures with his first boyfriend who was 20 years older than him, Dr. Finch's use of his poop for divination purposes, and over the silly stupid things he and Natalie Finch did together growing up. The antics of his psychotic mother are also insanely funny, the image he paints of coming home one day to find the Methodist minister's wife going down on his mother is priceless.

As you can probably tell I really liked this book and I'm going to seek out and read his other books soon. I'm also going to watch the film adaption of this book again soon to compare it against the book version. If you're a fan of the 1970's, memoirs, or crazy people who do wild things, then this book is for you.

I honestly can't recommend this bittersweet memoir of growing up amongst a slew of mentally ill people enough.

Bobby and Susie were...

...rightfully wary of Mr. Hanson's 'protein' drink.

For an old school nerd like me, this picture oozes awesome

Found on Boing Boing.

Hate and Maine

Fear and hate won the day in Maine this past election day. And no matter what you say, that election was all about hate and keeping gays and lesbians from having their civil rights. I've seen the ads the anti gay marriage people ran in Maine and they are all fear based. They played on the uneducated and religious people's basest darkest fears. They used the fear of children being exposed to homosexual sex to scare people into voting to take away rights that they themselves already have.
And let's be honest here too, the gay marriage foes are against same sex marriage because their church tells them to be. It is written in their book of metaphors and fairy tales that it is evil for two dudes to kiss and love one another and it's horrible if two women make love with each other and have a stable loving home. Some guy chiseled that into a stone tablet back in the Bronze age so it must be true.

But people of reason and goodwill know it's not. And another thing we know is that if your religion and your church and your minister is against same sex marriage and extending civil rights to gays, lesbians, and transgendered folks then you are too . It doesn't matter if you say you're for same sex marriage, if your church is against it, then so are you. If you proclaim your love for gays and you say you want them to be able to get married, but if the religion you follow is against it, then so are you. If you are a Roman Catholic and you say, "I love teh gay! I want teh gays to get married!," but your church as a whole opposes same sex marriage and works to outlaw it, then you by your financial support, by your attendance, by your adherence to it's dogma, help keep those gays you claim to love from having marriage equality. Same goes if you're a United Methodist, a Presbyterian, a Sikh, a Muslim, a Seventh Day Adventist, a Scientologist, a what the fuck ever. If you really want to see gays get the right to marry then you need to stop supporting religious organizations that work their sanctimonious asses off to keep them from being equal.

Film director Paul Haggis put his money where his mouth was and he very publicly left the cult of Scientology over this issue. How many of you have left your church over it? How many of you pay lip service to loving gays and wanting gay marriage but still pay, through your donations, to keep gays separate and unequal?
But you know, having lived in the so called Bible belt for so many years amongst some of the most hypocritical people on earth when it comes to religion and sex, I can see how and why they hate gays so much. The born agains hate and fear gays because their Bible tells them to and because they are either uneducated or just plain ignorant. A former boss of mine, a reasonably intelligent woman with a college degree, once told me that she was glad that gays couldn't serve in the military because she was afraid if they were allowed to serve in the middle of battle those gays might be winking at other soldiers instead of trying to kill the enemy. And the sad truth is she's not the only one who thinks that gay people are some kind of hypersexed beasts who think of nothing but getting it on. When you hear someone claim they don't their kids around homos, it's a good bet they think that somehow gays can't control themselves sexually around anyone, especially kids.

While I can see why people who believe that witches are real and that the earth is only a little over 6000 years old hate gays and want to keep them from having the same freedoms and rights that straight people have, there is one group who's opposition to same sex marriage baffles me and that group is black people who lived through the Jim Crow years. If anyone would know what it feels like to be a second class citizen with the law stacked against them, then it's older black folks. The parallels between the struggle for civil rights for blacks in the 1950's and 1960's and the fight for equality for gay folks are as obvious as the noses on their faces. Both groups were ostracized and derided for seeking justice, both groups were beaten and mocked for seeking equality, both groups were told that the oppressors had the Bible and Jesus on their side, and both groups faced enormous amounts of hatred when they set out to gain rights that others had.

Just like in the struggle for civil rights for black folks, the federal government is going to have to step in on this one. If the government hadn't stepped in and forced schools to desegregate then it would never have happened. If Robert Kennedy and LBJ hadn't used the power of the federal government to stop voter intimidation then many black folks would still be unable to vote in many parts of this country.

The sad fact is that in this country the minority will always have to use the power of the courts and the federal government to gain equal rights. If we had put civil rights for blacks up for a vote back in the '60's like we do same sex marriage today, then blacks would still be living under Jim Crow laws today. It's time for our judges to become activist once again, like they did when Earl Warren was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and extend marriage rights to all the citizens of this nation.

They're quite the pair

It looks to me like the ballerina holding onto the constipated looking guy is about to poop in her leotard. 1960's advertising fail.

Election '09-Special election in NY round up

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha, let me catch my breath, I'm laughing too hard, hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Way to go Sarah! With your help the Republicans kissed good bye to a safe seat they had held for years in upstate New York!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. You cost your party a seat due to self aggrandizement and your lust for selling your soon to be panned book. You fancied yourself a king maker and instead of victory, you got the shitty end of the stick. Hahahahahahahaha. Way to go. All those real Americans in upstate NY voted for the Democrat you tried to defeat. Nice going. It's another loss to hang on your charm bracelet.

Yo Sarah, add this to your list of non accomplishments when and if you make a run for President some day. And oh, how I hope you make a run some day. Because if and when you do, then most of this country will see you for the charlatan you are. I can't wait to see how you try to pass the blame for this loss in upstate NY on someone else. And I can't wait for your book to tank as you flail about in interviews on your book tour.

Maybe you might have a chance at higher office or becoming a decent person if you emulate the Democrat you worked so hard to defeat in upstate NY. He's the epitome of what public service is all about. He served in the Air Force and retired from it, he didn't quit like you did when you were governor. Then after years of serving his country he decided to serve it some more in the Congress, while you choose to whore yourself out in order to sell a book you didn't even write.

Election '09-Gubernatorial round up

Republicans picked up two governorships from the Democrats last night. Big deal? Not so much.

In Virginia governors can only serve one term and there's been a Democrat in power for the last 8 years, the people were tired and wanted a change. Plus in off year elections like this one you usually see hard line party voters, unlike during years when you have a Presidential election and you get people who don't vote in off year elections.

In New Jersey the story there is Corzine is a rich out of touch douche-bag who bought himself the office 4 years ago and he didn't do a good job at running a small usually corrupt state. His opponent Chris Christie is a loyal Bushie who hates government will be a one term governor like Corzine was.

The two races, no matter how much the pundits say they are, are not a reflection on Obama or a harbinger of things to come in 2010. They merely reflect disillusionment in the two states involved.

If the Dems in Congress and in the White House want to keep their majorities then what they need to do is to get off their asses and pass real health insurance reform, end 'Don't ask, don't tell,' and get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, in other words they need to do what we elected them to do. Once they act like real Democrats again and stop pandering to the right in an effort to do everything in a bi partisan manner then people will flock to them in the voting booths in 2010 and 2012. If they can pass meaningful health care reform this year or early next year then that may be enough to ensure that they cruise through the mid terms and on into 2012.

On the other hand if they don't and they keep acting like Republicans then the voters who put them in office will just as surely put them out. I didn't work to put a Democrat in the White House only to see him sell me and my country men out. I worked to put Obama in office so that we can get on the path to single payer health insurance and to end the wars of terror. If nothing is done on those fronts and then you can damn well better bet I'm ditching the Dems and going Green, party wise.

May I suggest a coat?

I love the second sentence in the copy in this panel from an old comic book. "It's a cold world...." No shit it's a cold world. If the temperature drops below 75 and you're wearing a fur loin cloth, it's gonna be fucking chilly.

Tor was not one of Joe Kubert's finest comic book efforts. 'Cold world' my ass, what the hell were you thinking Joe? Oh yeah, one more thing Mr. Kubert, man didn't walk the earth at the same time as the dinosaurs did, unless you listen to Kirk Cameron that is.

Grown up?

My friend, the suitably stunning XUP (which stands for Ex Urban Pedestrian), has a thought provoking post up over at her fine blog. It's all about grown ups and whether we perceive ourselves to be 'grown ups' as our adulthood advances. It sounds stodgy but in her hands the topic is deftly handled and well written, as usual.

My take on it is that even though I may be an adult, at times I don't consider myself to be a grown up. And that's not a bad thing. I think of grown ups as uptight adults who worry constantly and are miserable over the least little thing. They have serious jobs and serious personalities to go along with them. And most importantly they have long ago lost the ability to enjoy life, crack a joke, especially at their own expense, and to just be in the moment.

One Christmas many years ago after Sparky and I got together her brother who lives in Texas came in to visit and he brought his wife and four kids with him. I had a blast getting to know the kids, we hung out and I joked around with them and took them sledding when it snowed and I played cards and board games with them, as did Sparky. In the midst of all this holiday fun I over heard her dad tell her brother that he thought I was an over grown kid sometimes. I'm sure he didn't mean it in a mean or insulting way and I didn't take it in that way either, in fact, I took it as a compliment because even though I was in my mid 30's and working a demanding grown up job, I was still able to push aside the bullshit of the grown up world and enjoy the time we had with the kids while they were young.

I recently had the displeasure of reconnecting with an old acquaintance from college on Facebook, whose name is John B. This guy was an obnoxious conservative Republican back then and the ensuing years have only made him worse. He always struck me as one of those people who were born grown up because he always had the ability to suck the joy out of every situation by injecting his pompous political posturing in any given situation (which may sound strange coming from me since I blog a lot about politics and I have an opinion I will share with you on every political subject but in my defense, I know when to shut the hell up about it and just be in the moment). Anyhoo, one day I put on my Facebook wall that I was going to play disc golf, which must have pissed off John because he made a snide remark along the lines of me never having grown up in response to that posting. And in another post about me wanting to win the Powerball jackpot he said he hoped I wouldn't because if I did then it might make me hate myself since obviously all progressives must hate rich people (which we don't as long as they didn't get rich by exploiting others or polluting the earth). Luckily, he dropped me as a Facebook friend before I had the chance to dump him. My point is he is just the type of person who is a 'grown up' in my book, because he's grown up and let life and his politics make him miserable.

As I get older I hear people talk about and fetishize the 1970's and '80's and I think to myself, "Holy shit, that time period seems like just yesterday to me. I'm getting old." But then I remember that even though I may be getting older and have adult responsibilities and duties, I'm still not a grown up and I'll never ever be one.

Republicans will eat themselves

The Republican candidate has dropped out of the race in district 23 in New York state and she's endorsed her Democratic party opponent. She did it because the big time Republican money and noise machine has gotten behind her more conservative rival, who incidentally doesn't even live in that district. The conservatives claim she not a real Republican or a real conservative because she supports a woman's right to choose and President Obama's stimulus package. In other words, since she doesn't agree with the conservatives 100% of the time then she's a godless Commie socialist fascist negro loving pig who should not hold office and who had damn well better produce a birth certificate and no that that birth certificate.

I hope the conservative candidate who ran her out of the race wins that seat. And then I hope that his victory emboldens the far right teabagger birther nut bags and they take over the rest of the Republican party. I hope they run as far to the right as they can in 2010 and 2012.

Please, please continue to purge all other Republicans who aren't a little to the right of Atilla the Hun. By all means, keep this up and the Democrats will not only keep their majorities in government, they might actually grow some spine as well.