Even people on Death Row get the occasional commutation. There is no guarantee our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will be so lucky. There isn't. Sorry. I wish it were different. I wish our leaders weren't such slaves to money that they are willing to hurl our citizens into a hellish death to up their bottom lines. Up their bottoms indeed!
Slavery was a bad institution. People were literally worked to death. Some were even killed indiscriminately. But if it turns out that Halliburton (or whomever) are little more than megaplantations...I cannot imagine it will sit well with people back home. And I feel sure it doesn't sit well with the people picking the oily cotton over there either. Not with targets on their backs.
And are we really just paying our military to be free workers for the Oil and Energy plantations? I imagine the foot-soldiers really love that idea, huh!
Well, here's one now. Let's see what he says on the matter:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/6967466.htm
This looks like a modern-day crusade not to free an oppressed people or to rid the world of a demonic dictator relentless in his pursuit of conquest and domination but a crusade to control another nation's natural resource. At least to me, oil seems to be the reason for our presence here.
There is only one truth, and it is that Americans are dying. There are 10 to 14 attacks on our servicemen and -women daily in Iraq, and there appears to be no end in sight.
We soldiers have faced death in Iraq without reason or justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed before Americans awake and demand the return of the men and women whose job it is to protect them rather than their leader's interest?
How much is this war like slavery? How much is it like what we did to Native-Americans? How much is it like Death Row? Is this really what America is about? Are we just displacing people and stealing their land and resources...then making them, and even our own soldiers...slaves for Oil plantations? Don't ask me? I do not know. But if it is drifting this way, I say it is wrong. Just as it was wrong before.
As Shakespeare hints: "All's well that ends well"...and indeed, it needn't end badly. So far the beginning was strong (but deceptive), and the midgame very weak and deadly.
We needn't end badly. No one's life needs end badly, unjustly, or for a mammoniacal cause benefitting only the masters. Johnson hesitated bringing home our soldiers and many died badly because of his misplaced mercy, or lack thereof. Let us hope for more mercy...and Godspeed.
Let our people go!
Bring them home.
Friday, October 10, 2003
Hey Nonny, Nonny!
People; hominids, often say to me, they say: "Hey Nonny...who are you talking to when you write your blog?" To which I usually respond: "Which blog"? (For you see, it really does make a difference.) But this usually confuses the querent (since I hang out at sanitoria, usually feeding them soylent green through the tynes of the fence) and they move on to greyer fissures, being fissure kings in the court of The Fisher of Rolando. Percevalis est.
Sometimes they, in their insanity, ask me (again) how I came to be named Nonny, to which I (again) respond by telling them that it is a nickname for Anonymoses, which generally sends them down the path of asking about other nicknames that have been foisted upon me over the millennia.
Names like Surreal McCoy, Yokel from the 8th Dimension, Mr. Wondrous, Adamant Steve, Clara Bowie (on my prettier days), Buckwheat, Annoythemost, Analmouse, (these two from detractors), Oliver Sutton, Lee Marvin, Abel Baruch, Melchizedek, Acey Bach, T. Wedanta, Swamiprob, Hugh Pada, Yaggers, Ryni, Daveithe, A.L.P. Coel, Luke Cool, The Number 13, Sharday, George Michael Jackson Brown, Prince Albert Gore Vidal Sassoon, Osama Ben Franklin Roosevelt Greer Garson Kanin Abel, All and Everything...you get the picture. I rarely tell them.
I'll have to get back to you on the rest of the story. My glass fingers do weary early.
Sometimes they, in their insanity, ask me (again) how I came to be named Nonny, to which I (again) respond by telling them that it is a nickname for Anonymoses, which generally sends them down the path of asking about other nicknames that have been foisted upon me over the millennia.
Names like Surreal McCoy, Yokel from the 8th Dimension, Mr. Wondrous, Adamant Steve, Clara Bowie (on my prettier days), Buckwheat, Annoythemost, Analmouse, (these two from detractors), Oliver Sutton, Lee Marvin, Abel Baruch, Melchizedek, Acey Bach, T. Wedanta, Swamiprob, Hugh Pada, Yaggers, Ryni, Daveithe, A.L.P. Coel, Luke Cool, The Number 13, Sharday, George Michael Jackson Brown, Prince Albert Gore Vidal Sassoon, Osama Ben Franklin Roosevelt Greer Garson Kanin Abel, All and Everything...you get the picture. I rarely tell them.
I'll have to get back to you on the rest of the story. My glass fingers do weary early.
President Pat Robertson: It Could Happen!
Conservative Republican Emeritus, Pat Robertson, is alienating Democrats AND Republicans these days, and we at Anonymoses offer our condolences for his now glowingly evident senescence. His most recent whopper is when he suggested nuking Foggy Bottom -- long associated with the Underground Railroad.
In related news, I heard that Jimmies Bakker and Swaggert have collaborated on a book they plan to call "Evangelists do more than Lay People". I know, I know...an old joke. But it does relate...
Anonymoses presents:
Tired of the same old blather? Tired of words like piffle, nexus and pathetic?
Tired of phrases like "There is no question but that ..."?
Let the Political Verbivore help you out of Clicheville. Let him or her show you some new words with which to browbeat your political opponents.
The PV will pop in here every so often and edify us with his or her verbal blepherospasms.
Why here he is now!
Not much time. Here eat these. Gotta go.
SCAREBABE - Relates to scaring babies. Used as a noun or adjective. EX: Bush's scarebabe policies toward the most primal foods of water and air caused Republican mothers to sit on their hands during the election. Tom Delay was such a scarebabe that he never campaigned among real people.
QUAKEBUTTOCK - A coward. EX: If you weren't such a quakebuttock, you wouldn't need a gun.
WHARFINGER - The owner of a wharf, but SOUNDS like Warfinger, which is not yet a word. OK I just deemed it a word. It means organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits.
WARFINGER - Organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits. EX: The only thing I shoot is the warfinger, and I do it in your direction.
THE POLITICAL VERBIVORE
Tired of the same old blather? Tired of words like piffle, nexus and pathetic?
Tired of phrases like "There is no question but that ..."?
Let the Political Verbivore help you out of Clicheville. Let him or her show you some new words with which to browbeat your political opponents.
The PV will pop in here every so often and edify us with his or her verbal blepherospasms.
Why here he is now!
Not much time. Here eat these. Gotta go.
SCAREBABE - Relates to scaring babies. Used as a noun or adjective. EX: Bush's scarebabe policies toward the most primal foods of water and air caused Republican mothers to sit on their hands during the election. Tom Delay was such a scarebabe that he never campaigned among real people.
QUAKEBUTTOCK - A coward. EX: If you weren't such a quakebuttock, you wouldn't need a gun.
WHARFINGER - The owner of a wharf, but SOUNDS like Warfinger, which is not yet a word. OK I just deemed it a word. It means organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits.
WARFINGER - Organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits. EX: The only thing I shoot is the warfinger, and I do it in your direction.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Kelsey Grammer: A Bob Hope or a Nixon?
Kelsey Grammer has a golden opportunity. I wonder if he knows it. Now that Bob Hope has died, there will be great nostalgia for him. And no one looks like Bob Hope as much as Kelsey Grammer.
But Kelsey Grammer is thinking about getting into politics. The man in politics he most resembles is Nixon.
Granted, all three are Republicans. Hope's son-in-law was apparently a lobbyist for a military contractor. Hope is no Nixon, but Grammer may be thought of as one...should he forego this golden opportunity, and chose politics instead.
Kelsey is a smart man. Almost as smart as David Hyde Pierce. Maybe he will realize he can do more good as a funnyman than as just another Republican token.
Time will tell. But Kelsey...if you take my advice...remember where you heard it. I take donations.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Arnold Wins Recall! : California Verifiable Laughingstock
Lawsuits, impeachment & another recall to follow
A Big Victory for Enron, gropers, and ze gestapo
None Dare Call it Armageddon
None dare call it crusades,
None dare call it Armageddon...
Time for a little peace, love and truth-telling
I just watched a History Channel video on The Crusades, just to gain a little information on that period for a dollar...the rental charge on the video.
Turns out Damascus played an important role. I flash forward to the present news of Israel bombing Damascus and shake my head. Will this madness ever cease? Why can't we all just get along? Is God that deranged that he or she would not allow a sort of wise tolerance to enter into the souls of these endlessly warring peoples?
I googlesearch the matter and stumble upon a page which bears this quote:
The Prophet (pbuh) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the Armageddon (al-Malhamah, the great war) will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Sham. (Abu-Dawud)
...this makes me feel no better. No better at all. Even a little anxious.
Bush's poll numbers are falling, badly, and when that happens...someone has to be kicked. Kicking dogs is illegal. Vicariousness is an intriguing concept, and one wonders if such things do not still go on among world leaders. We don't need no stinking religious war or religious victory. Blessed the peacemakers.
All people are created equal. It is the handful who act otherwise. And sadly, it is that handful that currently rule the world.
If mothers ruled the world, less children would die.
Women...rise. Gaia is calling her daughters to save her from the rapists and child-killers.
Sheesh! And to think Google caused all this!
Let us make a detour around Armageddon. Let our children live.
Winning is not everything. Possession is overrated. Cain means ownership.
Peace is disarming.
FADE TO BLACK
None dare call it Armageddon...
Time for a little peace, love and truth-telling
I just watched a History Channel video on The Crusades, just to gain a little information on that period for a dollar...the rental charge on the video.
Turns out Damascus played an important role. I flash forward to the present news of Israel bombing Damascus and shake my head. Will this madness ever cease? Why can't we all just get along? Is God that deranged that he or she would not allow a sort of wise tolerance to enter into the souls of these endlessly warring peoples?
I googlesearch the matter and stumble upon a page which bears this quote:
The Prophet (pbuh) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the Armageddon (al-Malhamah, the great war) will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Sham. (Abu-Dawud)
...this makes me feel no better. No better at all. Even a little anxious.
Bush's poll numbers are falling, badly, and when that happens...someone has to be kicked. Kicking dogs is illegal. Vicariousness is an intriguing concept, and one wonders if such things do not still go on among world leaders. We don't need no stinking religious war or religious victory. Blessed the peacemakers.
All people are created equal. It is the handful who act otherwise. And sadly, it is that handful that currently rule the world.
If mothers ruled the world, less children would die.
Women...rise. Gaia is calling her daughters to save her from the rapists and child-killers.
Sheesh! And to think Google caused all this!
Let us make a detour around Armageddon. Let our children live.
Winning is not everything. Possession is overrated. Cain means ownership.
Peace is disarming.
Bush: "It's very important that any action Israel take(s) should avoid escalation and creating higher tensions."
FAT CHANCE!
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Cursed are the Warmakers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55227-2003Oct7?language=printer
From the article:
"Israel will not be deterred from defending its citizens and will hit its enemies any place and in any way," Sharon said in a speech broadcast live from a military cemetery in Jerusalem.
"At the same time, we will not miss any opening and opportunity to reach an agreement with our neighbors and peace."
Peacemaker? Warmaker? Blessed or cursed?
And how will Bush respond when the answer comes?
Is Bush a Peacemaker or a Warmaker?
Faux News: Live and/or Learn
More on "Garbage In"
Fox News makes people patriotic but stupid...but what can be expected from one of the main mouthpieces of the lying liars? But, as Jim Lobe points out in his Alternet article, commercial television news, in general, is guilty of purveying untruths and misperceptions.
From the article:
"This is a dangerously revealing study," said Marvin Kalb, a former television correspondent and a senior fellow of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
While Kalb said he had some reservations about the specificity of the questions directed at the respondents, he noted that, "People who have had a strong belief that there is an unholy alliance between politics and the press now have more evidence." Fox, in particular, has been accused of pursuing a chauvinistic agenda in its news coverage despite its motto, "We report, you decide."
MORE...
So...what are the media's obligation in debunking myths (should they ever decide to correct their ways)?
Editor & Publisher take on this question here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1991322
Fox News makes people patriotic but stupid...but what can be expected from one of the main mouthpieces of the lying liars? But, as Jim Lobe points out in his Alternet article, commercial television news, in general, is guilty of purveying untruths and misperceptions.
From the article:
"This is a dangerously revealing study," said Marvin Kalb, a former television correspondent and a senior fellow of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
While Kalb said he had some reservations about the specificity of the questions directed at the respondents, he noted that, "People who have had a strong belief that there is an unholy alliance between politics and the press now have more evidence." Fox, in particular, has been accused of pursuing a chauvinistic agenda in its news coverage despite its motto, "We report, you decide."
MORE...
So...what are the media's obligation in debunking myths (should they ever decide to correct their ways)?
Editor & Publisher take on this question here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1991322
Monday, October 06, 2003
Sunday, October 05, 2003
SNL : Why Bother?
I saw the very first Saturday Night Live. It was fresh. It was ballsy. It took on the establishment...and was funny. Very funny.
The players were even gifted. One could sense that the Second City proverb "Think at the top of your intelligence" was still very much alive and well.
Those days have long passed. Thank God for the wondrous physical comedian and Renaissance Man, Jack Black, who was the bright spot of the evening. Even Smigel, always the best part of the show, seemed to have lost his nerve. Whither the edge? Why the middling intelligence?
Maybe it will get better in the second half -- it is still on, and currently there is, mercifully, a commercial break.
I'll return when it's over and see if it gets any better. I'm not holding my breath...
Well, the News segment pulled it out. But, as others have noted, it is still not as scintillant as Jon Stewart at The Daily Show.
We are glad to see Tracy Morgan go, and hope that Horatio Sans works a little harder this year. He is no John Belushi, no matter how hard he tries to look like him. Chris Parnell, will, I predict, emerge as the leading light of the new pack. I just hope that they quit skirting political issues, and, instead, take on the madness...left and right. Clinton was fair game. Bush should be as well. When did Lorne Michaels become so pussilanimous anyway? Is he overpaid or something?
If they don't change...this current pack may well preside over the demise of SNL. It's time may alas have come. We hope not. But there are alternatives now, and they are, at present, much better than the current SNL...so far.
EX POST FACTO
Linda Holmes shares my grief over the sad moribunditude of the erstwhile humorous institution:
Lame, From New York, it's SNL
The players were even gifted. One could sense that the Second City proverb "Think at the top of your intelligence" was still very much alive and well.
Those days have long passed. Thank God for the wondrous physical comedian and Renaissance Man, Jack Black, who was the bright spot of the evening. Even Smigel, always the best part of the show, seemed to have lost his nerve. Whither the edge? Why the middling intelligence?
Maybe it will get better in the second half -- it is still on, and currently there is, mercifully, a commercial break.
I'll return when it's over and see if it gets any better. I'm not holding my breath...
Well, the News segment pulled it out. But, as others have noted, it is still not as scintillant as Jon Stewart at The Daily Show.
We are glad to see Tracy Morgan go, and hope that Horatio Sans works a little harder this year. He is no John Belushi, no matter how hard he tries to look like him. Chris Parnell, will, I predict, emerge as the leading light of the new pack. I just hope that they quit skirting political issues, and, instead, take on the madness...left and right. Clinton was fair game. Bush should be as well. When did Lorne Michaels become so pussilanimous anyway? Is he overpaid or something?
If they don't change...this current pack may well preside over the demise of SNL. It's time may alas have come. We hope not. But there are alternatives now, and they are, at present, much better than the current SNL...so far.
EX POST FACTO
Linda Holmes shares my grief over the sad moribunditude of the erstwhile humorous institution:
Lame, From New York, it's SNL
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