Archive for October, 2004
Bush scares me too
It’s OK If You’re Republican
Agitprop of the Day
Image from Norwegianity
Posted: October 30th, 2004 under General.
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Four Days…
Agitprop of the Day
The power of Tild compels you
…Not to mention the power of Reality
…and Sanity
Nuff said
Well, almost nuff said. In case anyone is wondering why the image above looks strangely familiar (as well as just strange), here’s what I did:
I took a Soviet poster from 1941 that I’ve always loved, and made a few changes.
In my version there are pens arrayed in back of the exhorting mother figure. The pens symbolize freedom of speech, and also call to mind the maxim that the pen is mightier than the sword. Also mightier than the rifles and bayonets that bristle behind Mother Russia in the original.
Just a little exercise in learning Paintshop Pro, my droogies. Far from expert; kinda clumsy; but it proves that even an old battle ax like me can learn something new.
So why can’t George W Bush learn anything new? Oh yeah, I forgot — He’s never made even one single mistake, so obviously there’s nothing left for him to learn…
Posted: October 29th, 2004 under General.
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Buckle Down and Focus
I’m at home again today, slogging through the ickiest phase of a head cold [sorry to be so technical; yes, 'ickiest' is the correct scientific term in this case].
The TV will be off all day. Maybe I’ll turn it on now and then, but I WILL ONLY WATCH CSPAN OR CSPAN-2! Everything else on the tube; all commentary from the “news” channels, without exception, is Pandering and Poking: attempts to elicit knee-jerk emotional responses. To them I say: BEGONE! AND BESMIRCH MY TV SCREEN PIXELS NO MORE!
It’s time to buckle down and focus on the real goal: keeping our country from being turned into a fascist state. Electing John Kerry next Tuesday is only the first step towards that ultimate goal. It’s a big step, but it’s also only one step of many.
Just a cursory blogaround, before I make another cup of Hot Cinnamon Sunset tea and go lie down again…
Latest update on the KSTP video footage from Al-QaQaa. Video shows IAEA seals in place on April 18, 2003.
“The photographs are consistent with what I know of Al-Qaqaa,” David A. Kay, a former American official who directed the hunt in Iraq for unconventional weapons and visited the site, told The New York Times. “The damning thing is the seals. The Iraqis didn’t use seals on anything. So I’m absolutely sure that’s an IAEA seal.”
14 Indicators of a Fascist Society Must reading, from Free Inquiry via our most excellent sisters Shameless Agitator and des femmes.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous†acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and “terrorists.†Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly
The Rise of Pseudo Fascism By Orcinus, via the American Street. Thanks again to des femmes for pointing out this intelligent inquiry.
Certainly, one only needs review the current state of affairs to recognize that the “conservative movement†– especially as embodied by the Bush administration – has ar astray from its original values. Just how “conservative†is it, after all, to run up record budget deficits? To make the nation bleed jobs? To invade another nation under false pretenses? To run roughshod over states’ rights? To impose a radical unilateralist approach to foreign policy? To undermine privacy rights and the constitutional balance of power? To quantifiably worsen the environment, while ignoring the realities of global warming? To grotesquely mishandle the defense of our national borders?
Mind you, it is not merely liberals who have observed this transformation. It includes a number of longtime conservatives who remain true to their principles as well.
The “conservative movement,†in the course of this mutation, has become something entirely new, a fresh political entity quite unlike we’ve ever seen before in our history, but one that at the same time seems somehow familiar, as though we have seen something like it.
What’s become clear as this election year has progressed – and especially in the wake of the Republican National Convention – is the actual shape of this fresh beast.
Call it Pseudo Fascism. Or, if you like, Fascism Lite. Happy-Face Fascism. Postmodern Fascism. But there is little doubt anymore why the shape of the “conservative movement†in the 21st century is so familiar and disturbing: Its architecture, its entire structure, has morphed into a not-so-faint hologram of 20th-century fascism.
The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters Thanks to the intrepid Mr. Tild for pointing this out at The PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll homepage, via Newshounds.
A new PIPA/Knowledge Networks poll finds a consensus among the American public that if Iraq did not have WMD and was not providing substantial support to al Qaeda, the US should not have gone to war with Iraq. Seventy-four percent overall have this view, including 58% of Bush supporters, 92% of Kerry supporters and 77% of the uncommitted-those who have not made a definite commitment to vote for one or the other candidate.
Posted: October 29th, 2004 under General.
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Whatever Photoshopping It Takes
Iraq problem? = Solved!
Gosh, were we ever dumb to think that the Holy Dub would bring back the draft! Why do that when the Bushies can instantly make as many troops as they want!?
But Oh! Don’t forget: “Kerry will say anything to get elected!”
Posted: October 28th, 2004 under General.
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Panicky, sniveling Dubya’s prayer: O Saint Rudy, intercede for us!
…and, whattaya know?! Brave St. Rudy… Mayor of America… Beloved Post- 9/11 Icon… the [erstwhile] Captain Courageous Combover… and first, last and always: Republican Tool Extraordinaire… gives it his best shot.
Defending his pusillanimous preznit:
The president was cautious; the president was prudent; the president did what a commander in chief should do.
Blaming the troops:
No matter how you try to blame it on the president the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn’t they search carefully enough?
Read the whole thing here, from Ripple Of Hope
And more, from Kos.
And more, from Atrios.
Yeah, that’s it: Have Giuliani mouth your despicable lying filth. Giuliani can deflect all this bothersome noise about ” responsibility” and “accountability” away from you, o Holy Dub. All Americans love Giuliani! Everybody’ll believe him.
Posted: October 28th, 2004 under General.
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WELLSTONE LIVES
Lest we forget…
Every time you speak out for human rights…
Every time you take a stand for the empowerment of all Americans,
not just a privileged few…
Wellstone lives.
Don’t Park the Bus!
Posted: October 26th, 2004 under General.
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Scary: Sharing a brain with John Dean
A Storm Warning of Things to Come If the Vote Is as Close as Expected
By John W. Dean, FindLaw
This next presidential election, on November 2, may be followed by post-election chaos unlike any we’ve ever known
Look at the swirling, ugly currents currently at work in this conspicuously close race. There is Republicans’ history of going negative to win elections. There is Karl Rove’s disposition to challenge close elections in post-election brawls. And there is Democrats’ (and others) new unwillingness to roll over, as was done in 2000. Finally, look at the fact that a half-dozen lawsuits are in the works in the key states and more are being developed.
This is a climate for trouble. A storm warning is appropriate. In the end, attorneys and legal strategy could prove as important, if not more so, to the outcome of this election as the traditional political strategists and strategy.
Let’s go over each factor that spells trouble — and see how they may combine.
It’s damn scary to find out that I’ve been sharing a brain with John “Blind Ambition” Dean 30 years post-Watergate. But it’s true. The scenario he paints for America after November 2nd sounds all too plausible.
I’m not a prayin woman, but:
Hera! Yahweh! Gaea! Bog! Zeus! Generic Higher Power! Cthulhu! Yog-Sothoth! If any of you a)exist, and b)have ever been inclined to lay some help on us, NOW is the time!
Posted: October 26th, 2004 under General.
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Watch this immediately!
Warning! Gut-buster ahead:
The New Florida Voting Machine
Posted: October 25th, 2004 under General.
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