Updating Zappa's "I am the Slime"

(Via Daily Funnies)

Isn't It?

A message to the Supreme Court:

This is a little creepy . . . .

This is a screen shot from my blog's StatCounter page from a few days ago. It purports to show a visit from "Department of Homeland Security" in "Washington, District of Columbia". The search referral is shown as "encrypted", so I have no idea what brought such attention on my humble little blog.  I really don't even know if it is truly the DHS that originated the search, but that is what the IP Address of this hit on my blog shows.

To say this is disconcerting is an understatement. Does the DHS really spend its time and energy checking out blogs such as mine, and if so what for? Is it random, or did something I published (maybe my Thanksgiving pictures?) draw the interest of DHS? Was it an official visit, or was a DHS employee just checking out my blog for personal reasons?

It's a mystery. I feel like I'm used to Google and Microsoft sending their rots to my site (those searches also frequently show up), but this is a little creepier. If anyone has some insight as to what is going on here I'd appreciate being enlightened.

I remember during the late sixties joking with friends I was chatting on the phone with when there was a click that we were "being listened to." Are those days really making a comeback in this digital age, and if so, are we supposed to be alright with it?

'Cause really, I'm not . . . . .

I am Bradley Manning

Walk like an Egyptian

(Via Crooks and Liars)

Here's wishing the rebellion in Egypt well. Remember, America, Joe Lieberman wants a "kill switch" on our internet access, too. The bastard.

The revenge of D.C. Douglas

Do not fuck with a voice actor!

Quote for the Day (Journalistic Division)

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. - A. J. Liebling

Quote for the Day (Freedom of Speech Division)

A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to. - Granville Hicks

Satire is not a pretty business

Okay, I thought the area of Northern California that I live in was the most irony-challenged place in the world, but give me a freaking break! Is it possible so many people really didn't get the joke in this New Yorker cover? I mean, Mad Magazine was doing this level of joke in the 1960s, and there wasn't a lot of ruckus about it then.

Alright folks, listen closely now. When a cartoon incorporates so many ludicrous and obvious stereotypes, culled from the worst of the bullshit that Fox News and the like put out, it is making a point, albeit a very heavy-handed one. Of course this is over the top, BUT THAT'S THE POINT!!!!! I'm stunned this has become controversial, even among lefty media types. It is irony, and it uses the inflation of ridiculous imagery to make the case for how ridiculous it is.

Now, get back to watching reruns of "Two and a Half Men", and leave humor to the professionals, please.

That is all.

Adding: Maybe one of the reasons some people don't find this funny is that they BELIEVE the Obamas are terrorists, so there is no humor in mocking that belief? Or is it that we are afraid to take on stupid beliefs by mocking them for being as stupid as they truly are?

The Fourth of July in my town

Small towns aren't all the same, and when the Fourth of July parade comes to my town, our uniqueness becomes evident. Oh, we have fire engines:

And the VFW:

And the traditional July 4th Brit:

But then there's the Straight Pride guy:

(I think he just does this for the kissin' . . . .)

And the nearly topless unicyclist:

The Artists for Peace:

The Parents for Peace:

The Kids for Peace:

The Gay Marriage Couples:

The dogs (I'm not sure of their sexual orientation):

The Mamas for Obama:

This thing, which confused me:

People who REALLY support the troops:

Uh, not sure about this:

Hummers for Peace:

Miniature cows:

A yodeling banjo guy:

Peaceniks for Peace:

And a whole lot of people having a lot of fun. Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

Lest we forget

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Void where prohibited by law . . . .

Well fuck me!

Created by OnePlusYou

Quote for the Day (Frank Zappa Division)

When we talk about artistic freedom in this country We sometime lose sight of the fact that freedom is often dependent on adequate financing. - Frank Zappa

Fox is Fucked!

(Via Crooks and Liars)

At last night’s 59th Annual Emmy Awards, Sally Field, who won Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Nora Holden Walker in ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters,” was censored by FOX as she was about to make a point about the Iraq War.

“Surely this [award] belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait. Wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm’s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women. If mothers ruled the world, there would be no….“

“…god-damned wars in the first place.”

Field on being censored by Fox: ”I have no comment other than, ‘Oh, well.’ I said what I wanted to say.”

And if truth ruled the world there would be no god-damned Fox!

Blind Man's Penis

Uh . . . wow!

(Via PCL LinkDump)

Peace & Love

I got high last night on LSD
My mind was beautiful, and I was free
Warts loved my nipples because they are pink
Vomit on me, baby
Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Stevie Wonder's penis is erect because he's blind
It's erect because he's blind, it's erect because he's blind
Stevie Wonder's penis is erect because he's blind
It's erect because he is blind

Let's make love under the stars and watch for UFOs
And if little baby Martians come out of the UFOs
You can fuck them
Yeah Yeah Yeah.

The zebra spilled its plastinia on bemis
And the gelatin fingers oozed electric marbles
Ramona's titties died in hell
And the Nazis want to kill everyone.

Stevie Wonder's penis is erect because he's blind ... etc.

I am speechless.

They did change one line, though -- they excised all mention of Stevie Wonder and had the singer croon repeatedly "A blind man" instead.

Read the whole story here.

Rohrabacher, supporter of torture

"Do ya like my mustache?"

(Via Think Progress)

Last week, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee held a hearing on the Bush administration’s practice of extraordinary rendition, whereby hundreds of “terror suspects who had never been indicted for any crimes” have been abducted and flown to either secret agency prisons or to foreign countries such as Egypt or Syria where they are tortured.

Throughout the hearing, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) aggressively defended the U.S. rendition program and attacked the witnesses, three members of the European parliament, who testified that rendition actually hinders prosecutions of terrorists.

Rohrabacher told the witnesses that Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann would still be alive if they were in charge. He said the witnesses were free to doubt the motives of U.S. rendition since “I know there’s a lot of people who hate America.”

At one point, Rohrabacher argued that imprisoning and torturing one innocent person was a fair price to pay for locking up 50 terrorists who would “go out and plant a bomb…and kill 20,000 people.” When members of the audience groaned, Rohrabacher said, “Well, I hope it’s your families, I hope it’s your families that suffer the consequences.”

One member of the audience was Army Col. Ann Wright, who served 13 years on active duty and 16 years in the U.S. Army Reserves. “After 16 years in the US diplomatic corps, she resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq.” Wright rose to protest Rohrabacher’s remarks but was quickly removed from the hearing room.

Yeah, let's not have anyone stand up for the principles of this nation while one of our elected representatives is tearing them down. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the members of Congress supposed to UPHOLD the Constitution? Don't they take an oath to that effect? This idiot Rohrabacher is the real danger to our country. He is the real Nazi here, defending torture as a method of protecting freedoms he doesn't even want to have others exercise. Thank God for people like Col. Wright. She knows what the oath she took means about preserving and upholding the Constitution. Rohrabacher should be ashamed of himself, but these assholes seem to be totally without shame.

Torture is not and should never be an American value.

Can you tell the difference?

Lenny Bruce:

"Are there any niggers here tonight? Could you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off this spot. Now what did he say? "Are there any niggers here tonight?" I know there's one nigger, because I see him back there working. Let's see, there's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kike. And there's another kike— that's two kikes and three niggers. And there's a spic. Right? Hmm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop; there's a polack; and, oh, a couple of greaseballs. And there's three lace-curtain Irish micks. And there's one, hip, thick, hunky, funky, boogie. Boogie boogie. Mm-hmm. I got three kikes here, do I hear five kikes? I got five kikes, do I hear six spics, I got six spics, do I hear seven niggers? I got seven niggers. Sold American. I pass with seven niggers, six spics, five micks, four kikes, three guineas, and one wop. Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig: if President Kennedy would just go on television, and say, "I would like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet," and if he'd just say "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" to every nigger he saw, "boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie," "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" 'til nigger didn't mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school."

Don Imus:

"That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --"

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

Hmmm. Where do we go with this? Is there a line, and when is it crossed? Lenny used humor to deflate hatred, and to take the power to cause pain out of words. And Imus---well, he uses words to hurt. Is this an issue of free speech? Well, sure, and as Rev. Al Sharpton said, the people who are hurt by Imus' stupid comments have as much right to their free speech to say "Enough is enough!"

People like Imus do have the right to free speech, but they also have a responsibility to accept the consequences when what they say causes other people to take action. I really think Imus said his words in such a frighteningly off-handed way (he does have a long history of such language) that he thought he had no responsibility, and that no one would call him on it. He was wrong.