Welcome visitors from FireDogLake, and everyone else, to our modest little corner of the intertubes. Enjoy your stay and come back often.

~~~

Posted: February 25th, 2007 under General.
Comments: 1

Or at least that’s what I hear from some friends who occasionally read the local rightie blogs; something I am very grateful to them for doing, as it means that I never have to.

Apparently there is a guy in Blaine named Andy Aplikowski, whose nickname is Triple A, and whose blog is called Residual Forces. He also participates in a blog that is now called Truth vs. the Machine, but still bears the kennedyvmachine.com URL. Umm, if I recall correctly, that whole Mark Kennedy thing didn’t turn out too well, but at least I’d heard of KVM. Hey, I even had some fun with KVM last summer.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Triple A is not happy about something. At the end of a recent post he says:

“(Link to these nutters is embargoed, since they like to perform crude photoshops of me with my photos used with out permission.)”

Wow, that sounds pretty serious. This Triple A must be a big deal. Since I’m always interested in photoshop techniques, and especially curious about what kinds of photoshopped pictures people will deem “good” and what they’ll call “crude”, I asked around to see if anybody knew what this Andy/Triple A looks like, and where I might find some of these ‘crude photoshops’ that have been done with such an impudent lack of pre-approval.

To find pictures of Triple A, I was directed to look here, and here.

Now, what immediately strikes me about these two efforts is:

1) far from being “crude”, I’d rate both as better than about 90% of the photoshop jobs I’ve seen out on the intertubes, and

2) The photoshopping hasn’t really altered Triple A’s picture, has it? I mean, Fecke’s (fabulous; very funny) “Superteam” is just a collage of (unaltered) pix of local wingnut bloggers, while all Avidor has done is put Triple A on a boat which has Michele Bachmann as the figurehead.

Now, many of us in the reality-based community have figured out that to the right, appearance is everything. For the right, form trumps substance every time. The right is constantly striving to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing; the appearance of conflict of interest; the appearance of impropriety. And never forget: for the right this battle for the best appearance is really hard work.

Maybe what Triple A is really pissed about is not that he was photoshopped at all, but more that he hasn’t been photoshopped to appear in flattering-enough surroundings and situations. Let’s see if I can cheer him up.

Now here’s a picture of Andy Aplikowski, aka Triple A.

I like the vaguely Secret Service/super fan of “24″ look. Oh yeah; Cool and intimidating… Nice! (by which, of course, I mean NOT nice)

OK kids: let’s give that face the photoshopping it truly deserves. First up, how could anyone look at that hotdog-apple pie-and Mom countenance and not see great traditional American values?

Yeah, that’s more like it. And heroic? Are you also thinking ‘heroic’, America? Of course we are:

Yes indeedy. And I don’t know about you, but I’m also thinking “Triple A = influential”. Influential like this, maybe?

Oh, yes. Yes yes yes. And I think now the only other thing we could wish for is …..Majesty. Majestic, monumental majesty.

I think my work here is done. Feel better now, Andy?

Posted: February 25th, 2007 under General, Wingnuttia.
Comments: 13

 

h/t Avedon

 

Posted: February 20th, 2007 under General, Randy Newman.
Comments: 4

The months since last fall’s elections have not been kind to Michael Brodkorb, who writes the local “blog” Minnesota Democrats Exposed.  First he suffers the indignity of being himself exposed as the paid GOP operative and party-directed smear merchant  he is.  Then (coincidence or conspiracy?) the local media outlets start to cut way back on links to MDE.   Oh sweet, creamy links that give Mikey that warm all over glow of legitimacy and  validation…where have you gone? 
What’s a poor discredited Republican hack with only marginal writing skills supposed to do?
But of course –  it’s time for teh Funny!

MN Observer reviews the current comedy cavalcade in the posts and comments at MDE.
    
Looks like you got a winner, Mikey — you have tickled Our Miss Katie’s funny bone!   Mmmmmmm….   sweet, creamy, linky Katie…..

~~~        

Meanwhile, at Mikey MDE’s Supersecret Republican Comedy Workshop and He Man Librul-Haters Club,  the gang has an important visitor!

 

Posted: February 19th, 2007 under Michael Brodkorb, Minnesota Democrats Exposed, Republicans.
Comments: none

So, is 2007 merely a Year of the Pig , or is it the rare, only occuring once in 600 years year of the Golden Pig? I dunno.

I hear it reported with much hilarity that HRC is a Fire Pig (Heh. Hilarity –get it?) and that Barack Obama is a Metal Ox.
What will Rush advise him to renounce first: his Metallicness or his Oxness?

Depending on the method of calculation, I’m either a Water Dragon, or the way more specific Brown Monkey, born in the year of Black Dragon, and equivalent to Soil.

Umm, let’s just leave it at Water Dragon, okay?

Posted: February 18th, 2007 under General.
Comments: 1

OK, so lately we’ve seen the latest in a long line of bozos seeking to return us to the Dark Ages by bashing Copernicus, not to mention all other science that doesn’t fit with said bozo’s belief in the Bible as literal truth. Cripes, here we go again. Didn’t we settle this about 500 years ago? It really makes me wonder if it’s true, that old saw about there being nothing new under the sun..

And BTW, don’t you forget, sinners - - per Congressman Warren Chisum (R-Ye Olde Bizarro Faerie-land), that sun revolves around the earth, dammit!

Well, to put that nothing-new talk to rest, try out this kinda new-sounding concept : Evolving Christianity.

Consider that some people are witnessing an evolution, a re-invention of their beliefs as science reveals more and more about the nature of humanity and the nature of the universe.

Whoa, nellie. Am I saying that spiritual beliefs can evolve with expanding scientific knowledge? Am I saying that all physical laws, all science, the entire universe itself doesn’t have to conform to a static interpretation of, oh, say, some 2000-year-old belief system? Am I saying that scientific knowledge can illuminate and elucidate and thus sometimes reconfigure the meaning of our spiritual beliefs? Yikes. Sounds pretty damn progressive to me. Cue the retired Episcopal bishop….

We haven’t heard from John Shelby Spong in a while, so let’s take a look at this Q&A about Evolving Christianity that arrived in my inbox a few days ago:

Steve Langley from the Internet writes:
“I am a 63-year-old man who was raised in the Pentecostal Church until I rebelled and forced my way out at about age 14. I subsequently have lived my life with the existence of God as an open philosophical question to me and with utter contempt for all religious structures and teachings. I have always thought they were self-serving as institutions and for the people who wrap themselves in those teachings.

I once had a conversation with two doctors who were both raised in the same Muslim faith. One remains devout in the most human way. The other has drifted from the religion of his birth. He now believes that ‘democracy’ is the best religion. I have thought about his concept and your teachings as I have read them in your newsletter and several of your books. Democracy, in its purest form, and the Christ experience as you ponder and teach it. What a marvelous concept. In a pure democracy there would be neither ‘man nor woman’ nor any other of the differences that exist now in our world and religions. For me, my recent reading of your teaching on Paul and the scripture quoted above seems to make ‘democracy’ and humanity the best religion. As for the Christ experience and your teachings not just of faith but humanity in the Christ experience, it is something I have started to think about. I must thank you for a lifetime of faith, work and all that goes into it so that one day I might pick up your writings, read them, and begin to think about WHY AM I HERE DOING THE GOOD ‘CHRISTIAN DEEDS’ IN MY LIFE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF RELIGION OR EVEN A BELIEF IN GOD BECAUSE I BELIEVE THEY ARE RIGHT?? Maybe there is a new Christianity that would reveal itself in me, but perhaps not in my lifetime. Thank you for reaching out to people like me. I look forward to each newsletter.”

Dear Steve ,

Thank you for your letter and a description of your pilgrimage. You are certainly traveling in the same direction that I find myself walking. I think faith is a journey to be undertaken not a set of propositions to be believed.

Religion always seems to begin in childlike immaturity in which God is portrayed as a being, supernatural in power, eager to bless, protect and care for us in our childlike fear. As we mature, the need for the parent God fades and the divine, as being itself or as that experience of transcendence, comes into focus. The boundary between humanity and divinity also fades and the two seem to penetrate each other, making the way into the divine and the journey into self-awareness quite similar. The goal of the Christian life then becomes not rescue from the bondage of sin, but expansion into a deeper sense of what it means to be human.

This approach represents, I believe, a significant shift in consciousness. It also makes it clear that the content of the traditional religious myths is no longer operative. Facing the end of traditional religious systems, we fear that nothingness dwells at the heart of life and that drives us to create security systems to protect us from our fear. Some are religious and they always claim to possess inerrant truth or to be guided by an infallible authority. Others seek to lose themselves in the pursuit of the idols of alcohol, drugs, sex, wealth and pleasure. Still others sink into the despair of being alone in an impersonal universe. I believe there is a better option.

My sense is that the Christianity of the future must be willing to let go the content of yesterday in a far more radical way than people have yet imagined, but to do so without sacrificing the experience that created yesterday’s content. Only then can we begin the slow and laborious task of developing new content to make sense of the eternal experience of being human.

Long after fundamentalist churches have moved away from their excessive but uninformed zeal and long after Benedict XVI has discovered that no one can return to the Middle Ages without committing intellectual suicide, a still, small voice will speak and a new reformation will begin on the edges of yesterday’s religious systems and slowly begin to make its way into the center of our reality. I live for that day.

– John Shelby Spong

You and I may not be on the same path of spiritual evolution as Spong and Steve here, but isn’t it beneficial to know that some self-identified Christians are?

This has been a Tild Public Service Announcement. Thanks for your attention.

Posted: February 18th, 2007 under General, John Shelby Spong, Religion.
Comments: 2

 

I’m Spartacus.

It’s time to stand up.   driftglass started it, and many  have followed suit and are already standing.  If you have a site, grab the graphic above and  stand up with us.

The slavering rightwing hordes have begun their assault.  Amanda, Melissa and their families have received death threats; their sites have been hit with DDOS attacks. 

Go buy a T shirt, or two, or more.  All proceeds go to Shakes and her family. 

It’s time to take a stand.  We’re all Spartacus now. 

Stand up. 

UPDATE:   This Spartacus dude gets around.   Some recent sightings:

 Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus.
 

Are you Spartacus?

~~~

UPDATE2:  More sightings…

Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus. Spartacus.

~~~

UPDATE3:    Shakes’ list updated, including two minutes of ur-Spartacular video.

Technorati hears the roar

Are you Spartacus?

~~~ 

UPDATE4:

Spotty is!

~~~ 

UPDATE5:

Look at the crowd now… 

 

 

Posted: February 15th, 2007 under General, I'm Spartacus.
Comments: 2

Yes, here I am again, kids - - posting at the speed of drying paint.  I hope none of you is coming here for daily  news, cuz a news aggregator blog this ain’t.  If that’s what you’re really looking for, I recommend the Carpetbagger Report.  Or Norwegianity.  Both excellent at delivering the latest news with articulate commentary.    

On the other hand, if you’re here for an inimitable blend of links to old news and funny pitchures and subjects of interest only to myself, relax — you’re in the right place.   Here’s my usual bi-weekly roundup of stuff I saw and things I read:

~~~ 

     Mmmmmmm. Paging PZ…

[Click on the image for the full picture.]   It’s octolicious! 

See more appetite-unsettling mashups here.   

~~~

A house divided: couple divorce, but won’t move

(Or, there but for sanity go I.)

~~~

(via) It’s Goatse Hands stickers!  

Once you get these, think how those long hours waiting in lines and at bus stops and in doctors’ offices are going to fly by…

~~~ 

Lactivist beats Pork Board!  Vindicated blogger milks victory over sans-a-clue corporate lawyers for all it’s worth.   

~~~

Mac Hammond: I would almost welcome an IRS audit

Here’s the money quote (and never has that phrase seemed more apt):

“It takes wealth, folks, to establish God’s covenant on Earth,” he said. “It takes money to buy airtime. It takes money to be influential. If you have no money, you can’t even love, because love is about giving and not being a burden.”

Let’s see. WDJS (What Did Jesus Say) about love? How about this:

” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

Now what did Jesus say about money?   Something about camels and needles….

“Again i say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God..”  (Matthew 19:24 NASB)

Wait wait — I’m a little confused here.  Jesus says that love is the most important commandment of all, so love is what i must do.  But you just said that I have to have money in order to be able to love, so I need money.  But money will make it hard for me to get into heaven, so it would be better if I didn’t have money.    I’m missing something here. Help me out, Mac!

~~~

Posted: February 12th, 2007 under General.
Comments: none

Stuff I saw; things I read…

Why I heart driftglass, reason # 3,997: He can smack down Bobo like nobody else. Just read and enjoy:

“Then, because whatever the truth is Bobo is damned well going to grind and blast and sledgehammer this story until the narrative fits into his Procrustean Bed of the Happy Town of Centerville, we are presented with the Liberal Student who will “switch to the Republicans in a heartbeat if I believe my ideas are better received in the G.O.P.”

Hell, I’d switch from off-brand mayo to owl poop if owls pooped apple butter.

And I’d certainly switch from Bud to squirrel urine if it turned out squirrels peed 20-year-old Oban.

But they don’t.

And as a disingenuous little weasel like Bobo knows full well, that is the very fucking point. Lots of people might switch to the GOP if they weren’t evil, planet-raping Christopaths.

But they are.

They’re proud of it.

It’s right on the letterhead.”

~~~

Oooooh. Be still, my commie-lovin’ fellow traveler heart. Soviet anti-capitalist propaganda! On DVD!

~~~

Oh crap, I missed it. January 31st was National Gorilla Suit Day.
Especially during the past 3 or 4 days, traipsing around the Twin Cities in a gorilla suit would’ve been pretty nice and toasty. Damn. Oh well. Wait’ll next year!

~~~

Speaking of smackdowns, Mary Cheney finally gets the one she deserves, courtesy of Dan Savage:

“You kept your mouth clamped shut when your father needed the political support of assholes like Dobson. And now that your dad is a despised lame-duck VP, dad’s gay-bashing political allies feel free to treat you with the same contempt with which they have long treated other gay and lesbians. And now you cry foul?

Sorry, Mary, and fuck you. You and your whole fucked-up family crawled into bed with bigots like Dobson when it suited you. And now you and your whole fucked-up family have some explaining to do. So welcome to the political debate, Mary, and remember…

Your side started it. It only serves you right that you’re going to have to finish it.”

~~~

Hmm. National Gorilla Suit Day… “Bobo”… Who or what does that remind me of?

Why, Kevin Murphy of course. That would be the Kevin Murphy who played adorable portly red robot Tom Servo as well as distinguished silverback gorilla scientist Professor Bobo on MST3K.

Kevin’s working on a new project with a couple other Best Brains alumni, and as luck would have it, they need our help. Here’s Kevin with a shout-out to all MSTies :

~~~

Posted: February 7th, 2007 under General.
Comments: 8

Hey boys and girls! It’s the weekend — in fact it’s Superbowl weekend — but, it’s -9 degrees outside (and that’s not even counting the windchill) so you’re pretty much stuck inside, and you hate the Superbowl even more than you hate regular season football, and you really only watch the Superbowl for the ads, and lately even the ads have been pretty sucky. So, whattaya gonna do?

Why don’t you pass the time with Lite Brite online?

Hey, forget those lame Superbowl ads, you could even start up one of those wacky “viral marketing” ad campaigns that all the kids and the Boston cops are so wild about.

Happy Superbowl weekend, everybody!

~~~

[ADDED]

Via Boing Boing, the ultimate link-laden post about all things Boston “bomb scare”-related, including this blew-my-mind example of what an artist can do with the humble Lite Brite as the medium:

[/ADDED]

~~~

[ADDED 2]

Via Badtux the “Welcoming Our Jiggly Overlords” Penguin, another neat thing you can make with LEDs this weekend:

Caution: Do not try this at home with Lite Brites. *Ouchy*

[/ADDED 2]

Posted: February 3rd, 2007 under General.
Comments: 1