Random Thoughts

Just... just so much bugging the shit out of me lately...

I think the worst thing I heard of all week, though, was this shit in Fulton, Mississippi. It was bad enough that they wouldn't let Constance McMillan go to the prom because she was bringing her lesbian girlfriend. It was petty and terrible when the school decided to cancel the prom when the ACLU got involved, and then blamed Constance in an attempt to make her a pariah and get back at her for daring to make waves when confronted by that particular irrational hatred people tend to call traditionalism. But to send Constance and her girlfriend to a separate prom and then have the real prom in secret at the same time is just needlessly humiliating. Can they not see the parallels to segregation, or--much more likely--do they just not care? Certainly Fulton, Mississippi--a place I am ashamed to say is in the nation I call home--is willing to go to incredible lengths to satisfy their hate and to protect their rights to trample over civility and decorum in the name of hate.

And the Fulton kids now bragging about this on Facebook... What the hell is wrong with people? The people of Fulton, Mississippi are vile and cruel.

:: Speaking of stupidity in the South, Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia has declared that April is "Confederate History Month." Why are so many Southerners so damn proud of their slave-owning past? Get this through your heads: the Confederacy was treason, not a government; it was an insurgency, not an actual nation; it does not deserve it's own celebration anymore than Shays' Rebellion does. How about you guys stop electing officials who look back on a white-dominated past when women and blacks were property with such naked wistfulness?

Yes, you are celebrating a criminal act defended with violence in order to keep people enslaved. Be fucking honest about it.

(Oh, and the group that lobbied the governor for "Confederate History Month" are white supremacists who predicted race wars if Obama were elected because, of course, he would press hard for reparations. So, really, this could be construed as yet another idiot reaction to a black man being elected president.)

:: Thanks to the Texas School Board, I'm really afraid that America is going to lose all ability to compete in the world. Why are there so many people in this country that are just hellbent on turning America into an isolated country gnawing on the slipper of religion? We already have a pretty shitty standard of education in this country, but now it looks like it's going to actively be made worse by a few people who demand that their ancient sky mythology be published alongside actual scientific research as though they are both the same thing. It is, to me, the equivalent of listening to someone whine endlessly that their theory that a little man pops out of a box and turns off the refrigerator light when you close the door should be published in refrigerator repair manuals because we need to "teach the controversy!"

THERE IS NO CONTROVERSY WHEN IT COMES TO EVOLUTION! The idea that there is a controversy has been baked up by religious fundamentalists as yet another attempt to get creationism into schools. Sadly, it's going to work this time. So congratulations, you're setting every child in America up to fail in the future. Well done.

:: Bristol Palin starring in a PSA promoting abstinence. Good to know that Sarah Palin's hypocrisy didn't skip a generation, I guess...

:: According to a new Gallup poll, only 37% of Americans view the Tea Party favorably. That's lower than Russia, which is devolving into an organized crime operation, and Communist China. Sarah Palin is only slightly lower in approval ratings: 36.8%. That's still too high for both Teabaggers and Sarah the Quitter. Obama's at 55%.

:: Surprise, when it comes to net neutrality the federal appeals court has sided with the corporations, ruling in favor of Comcast's ability to gouge whatever it wants from online operations in order to keep content flowing at a fair pace. Now this is going to become a Congressional issue, and I don't see Congress voting to cut off anyone's slimy revenue stream.


And I'm ending with this footage that's been going around of American soldiers killing Afghan civilians, including a couple of guys from Reuters. This would be bad enough if it were just a case of mistaken identity or a cultural misunderstanding. But there are now stories coming out about the lies and cover-ups surrounding this and other such accidental killings. It was only a matter of time; war breeds immorality as it breeds a sense of authority and infallibility. And the extremely disturbing video does not show a battle, but an unprovoked slaughter.

For those who kept saying this war is not another Vietnam... well, there are battles, and there's My Lai. I expect we'll be hearing a lot more about this and Feb. 12 slayings of three women which were lied about. There have been too many lies, and this is what we're going to be left with from this mishandled war. We need to stop this thing. It's gotten out of hand, and we can't win it. It's naive to think that innocent people don't die in war. But that doesn't make it okay.

Film Week

A review of the films I've seen this past week.

EASTER PARADE (1948)
I woke up late in the morning on Easter Sunday and found that my TiVo was recording this off of TCM. I'll admit, too, that I decided to go back to the beginning and watch it because Ann Miller makes me unbelievably horny. She's a wonderful dancer and a joy to watch, but being honest, she also makes me incredibly horny. Anyway, as to the film itself... I haven't seen much in the way of Fred Astaire films, and every time I see him in a musical, I'm not sure why that is. He's a tremendous dancer. I'm more of a Gene Kelly fan, but you can't really compare the two in style: Kelly made bold, powerful movements, while Astaire is more graceful and even, I think, a bit more playful. The first musical number, with Astaire dancing in a toy store among those drums, is pure magic. The plot involves a famous dancing team (Astaire and Miller) who break up when she decides to go it on her own in order to headline her own show. Astaire then claims he can turn anybody into a perfect dance partner, and simply picks out a chorus girl from a bar (but she is Judy Garland, so who wouldn't pick her out of a crowd?) and... well, you've seen movies before, you know where this is going. Going into this movie, with all of the elements that make up classic 1940s musicals--Astaire, Miller, Garland, a script by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett, produced by Arthur Freed, music by Irving Berlin--you expect that it's going to be great. And it is. But I'm always surprised by just how much I get wrapped up in these films. A superlative musical; fluffy, but great. **** stars.

Anyone Else Remember These?

I notice kids these days think the time before remote controls for cable boxes is largely mythical.

This Is Why I Don't Hang Around with Other Star Wars Fans, Part 402

It's been announced now that Lucasfilm is going to be working with Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich and some Daily Show writer or other to make an animated Star Wars sitcom for either Cartoon Network or Comedy Central. And this news has been met with the typical Star Wars fan reaction: total skepticism in anything having to do with George Lucas.

This is the problem with this particular fandom. They're never excited by something new having to do with Star Wars: instead, they have to wait to judge whether or not it's worthy of their idea of Star Wars. It's like a lot of Star Wars fans--particularly your more obnoxious online ones--are just pissed that George Lucas isn't doing exactly what they want with Star Wars, and is instead doing what he wants with his own creation.

The online reaction is predictable. It pretty much amounts to an unspoken wave of 'Gee, I'd better wait and see how this fits into the Star Wars Universe as a whole before I have some kind of opinion on it."

How about just ignoring what you don't like and enjoying what you do? I don't give two whits about the Rogue Squadron stuff, but other people love them, and it's no skin off my nose. For me, Marvel Comics characters like Jaxxon and Plif the Hoojib are parts of the Universe to cherish; others think anything to do with Marvel Comics is anathema to the precious canon. Well, fine; my enjoyment isn't dependent on whether or not others approve of it. Some of us love Jar Jar and the Ewoks; others have spent their whole lives in childish tears because the Ewoks even exist. I actually don't even like the process of giving Hammerhead and Walrus Man names and back stories; to others, those are essential bits of info to the portrait of the larger Star Wars world.

What I'm getting at is this: the Star Wars Universe is a vast place that can accommodate characters I love (Ahsoka Tano, Tera Sinube, Grand Admiral Thrawn) and characters I don't (Dash Rendar, Tag and Bink, Luminara Unduli). Much too large to keep focusing and obsessing on the ones I don't.

It reminds me of something I saw on Tumblr the other day about the new series of Doctor Who: if you can't get over David Tennant, stick with the David Tennant seasons and stop just bitching about how Matt Smith isn't David Tennant.

That's how I feel about anything to do with Star Wars. Stick with the stuff you like, ignore the stuff you don't.

Reconstructing My 80s Saturday Mornings

I've been doing a little reading lately about Saturday morning cartoons. I found some schedules, and decided to just look through them again and see what memories they touched off. Here, for no other reason, is an attempt to reconstruct how I spent my average Saturday mornings during my childhood.

Starting with the 1980-1981 season. I was four years old.

I'm pretty sure my day started at 7 in the morning with Superfriends. I used to watch that show quite a bit. That was on for an hour, and then Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo was on for an hour and a half. I think I used to switch back and forth between that on ABC and The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour on CBS (which, despite its title, was on for 90 minutes). I liked the Looney Tunes, but I LOVED Scooby Doo, so I probably watched more of Scooby Doo. Thundarr the Barbarian was on after Scooby Doo, but I have no memory of ever actually seeing it, so it's more likely I watched Popeye on CBS. The Drak Pack was on after that, which I've never seen, so I probably went out to play before Popeye was even over.

In the spring, ABC switched its schedule around, and Superfriends was followed by The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, which saw Fonzie, Richie, Ralph, and the hideous anthropomorphic dog Mr. Cool traveled through time with a girl from the future. It was just as awesomely terrible as it sounds. But I was four and I loved it. ABC followed that show with The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Hour, which I probably watched intermittently: I loved Scooby Doo but I effing hated Richie Rich. NBC ran 90 minutes of The Flintstones starting at 8, so I probably watched a bit of that. I think there are some times when I flipped over to CBS' The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour, but I only recall watching Tarzan. After that I definitely watched The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show and The Plastic Man/Baby Plas Super Comedy Show on ABC. Which now seems weird since NBC had an hour of Batman on at the same time...

1981-1982 season. This is the first year I remember for sure that Saturday morning were a big deal. Superfriends had been shortened to an hour, so at 7:30 I would quickly turn to NBC to watch The Smurfs, which was a huge deal, as these things go. It seemed to get so much attention; those little blue mothers were everywhere. I watched the whole hour, so there goes The Fonz. After that, it was over to CBS to see the last two-thirds of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, and then back to NBC for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends at 9:30. At 10, my choices were either bowling on ABC, Blackstar on CBS, and Space Stars on NBC. I've never seen Blackstar, but I remember some of Space Stars. It actually had four segments, but the only segments I remember definitely watching were Space Ghost and The Herculoids.

I was encouraged to go out and play a lot as a kid, so I was probably out playing before that show was even over. Either that, or I was watching TV with my dad. We used to watch wrestling, old kung fu movies, Godzilla movies, and the Three Stooges on local channels. Those were the best days.

In the spring, it was still Superfriends and then The Smurfs, but The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour was bumped down to 8:30 and was on for two full hours, so I probably watched that all morning before doing whatever else made up the day.

Moving on to the 1982-1983 season, I was still watching Superfriends at 7. What's funny is, I wasn't much of a DC kid. I was definitely a Marvel kid; I liked Spider-Man and the Hulk. But I liked them more from television than comic books. I didn't get big into comics until I was in 5th or 6th grade. The comics I was into at this time were Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge.

At 7:30, thanks to my sister, we'd end up watching Shirt Tales. She loved those stupid things. Then The Smurfs started at 8, and it was on for 90 minutes, which is way too much Smurfs. Besides, at 8:30 it was over to ABC for Pac-Man, a show which I easily acknowledge as one of the stupidest things ever, but which I loved as a six year-old. I loved Pac-Man in all forms. We even had the board game! After that was over, I flipped to either the second half of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (now reduced to its titular hour) or the last half-hour of The Smurfs. Then it was the awful Gilligan's Planet (Gilligan! In space!) on CBS and then The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Puppy Power Hour to round out the morning.

The spring schedule was pretty much the same, except at 9:30 on CBS there was the terrible animated version of The Dukes of Hazzard, followed by a second hour of Bugs Bunny.

In 1983-1984, the schedule had some big changes. Superfriends was gone, but I still started the day at 7 on ABC. But instead I was watching The Best of Scooby-Doo. I guess his best days were long over and no new episodes were being produced by this point. Then, from 7:30 to 8:30, CBS had the Saturday Supercade, with a bunch of Atari-based cartoons. Does anyone remember Soupy Sales as the voice of Donkey Kong? Such lame, lame thinking, but that's the way cartoons were in those days; it's the same way they turned Pac-Man into a factory worker with a family... he seemed a lot less cool as the Fred Flintstone of the arcade world.

Speaking of, I must have gotten over my Pac-Man Fever by then because I was definitely leaving it on CBS to watch Dungeons and Dragons, possibly the greatest Saturday morning cartoon of my childhood. After that I probably watched the last half-hour of The Smurfs on NBC, and then right into Alvin and the Chipmunks, a show I inexplicably loved in the 1980s. I may have occasionally watched The Littles instead, because I remember watching it. I know I didn't pop in too often on The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, because that was about the time in animation when you used to be able to hear Snoopy's thoughts, and I just hated that. I don't think I watched anything after that in the morning. I must've been eating breakfast; my parents slept in on Saturdays, but I usually woke up around 6 in the morning. Still do.

Spring days started out with another one for my sister, The Monchichis. Remember those horrid things? I think my sister had a stuffed one, too. Were those the ones that could suck their own thumbs? If so, then that's what she had. She sucked her thumb, too, for years and years. I think that's why my parents got her the stuffed animal.

After that, the schedule was the same--Saturday Supercade, Dungeons and Dragons, then a half-hour of The Smurfs or possibly Tarzan, then Alvin and the Chipmunks. If I watched anything after that, it was Bugs Bunny, which was back on at 90 minutes. (It was only on for half an hour in the fall.)

In the 1984-1985 season, Superfriends was back on, but I was over on NBC watching The Snorks for some reason. It was just an undersea version of The Smurfs. Oh, and it gets worse: we would then flip over to CBS and watch the execrable Get-Along Gang. Oh, jeez, those damn shows that were supposed to teach us about caring... But at 8 was the sublime Muppet Babies, and that's just gold. I must have stuck with Saturday Supercade at 8:30 or flipped it over to The Smurfs, because I don't think I ever watched Dragon's Lair, which just seems weird to me. How did I never watch that show? After that it was Alvin and the Chipmunks and Kidd Video. Every time I think of that show, I get Ashford & Simpson's "Solid" in my head...

In the spring, Saturday Supercade was canceled and replaced with more Bugs Bunny and the return of Dungeons and Dragons. Otherwise, my schedule was unchanged.

Moving into 1985-1986, this was the first time I was faced with real dilemmas--such as dilemmas can be when you're 9 and talking about Saturday morning cartoons. Bugs Bunny had been moved to 7 am, so I was probably watching that, but at 7:30 CBS had The Wuzzles and NBC had Gummi Bears. Disney finally gets into Saturday morning television, and they have two shows up against each other? I know I saw both shows, but The Wuzzles was merely okay where Adventures of the Gummi Bears was awesome, so eventually I ditched trying to watch The Wuzzles and stuck with the Gummi Bears. Then, at 8, I had to choose between Muppet Babies and Monsters, now an hour, or head to ABC to watch Ewoks and then Droids. Muppets, or Star Wars? I think Ewoks won out most of the time, but I was never as into Droids. I loved Ewoks, and then I saw it on SciFi Channel about 8 years ago, and... ouch. What a terrible show.

After that was Hulk Hogan's Rock & Wrestling for an hour on CBS, then Alvin & the Chipmunks on NBC, and finally Dungeons and Dragons on CBS.

The spring was slightly different. Bugs Bunny was moved to 7:30, so I probably started the day with Scooby's Mystery Funhouse, went over to Gummi Bears, and then caught the first half-hour of Muppet Babies (which was the actual Muppet Babies part, anyway). Then it was Ewoks, and after that either Rock & Wrestling or, if my sister really wanted it, we'd watch Punky Brewster, that terrible cartoon with Glomer, her alien friend. Yuck. Then Chipmunks and Dungeons and Dragons.

Isn't this just riveting?

The 1986-1987 season started off with The Wuzzles at 7, then Gummi Bears at 7:30. Then the full hour of Muppet Babies and Monsters (I was avoiding Flintstone Kids like the plague), but then I was torn between The Real Ghostbusters on ABC and Pee Wee's Playhouse on CBS. I think I just alternated, because I remember watching both of those shows. After that, I may have watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, or I may have gone outside. I was playing Panther Football that fall, so I was out practicing a lot. The spring schedule was the same, actually.

In the 1987-1988 season, Gummi Bears was moved to 7, and then there were 90 minutes of Muppet Babies at 7:30, followed by Pee Wee's Playhouse (which was up against the animated version of Fraggle Rock, but it was an easy choice, because that show had zero of the magic of the HBO series it was based on). After that, I must have still been watching Alvin & the Chipmunks (or playing video games), because I do remember watching the animated series ALF, which was on right after. It was pretty much as bad as the sitcom. Or, really, worse. The fall schedule was pretty much the same, except ALF had been moved up against Pee Wee, so I probably just stopped watching TV that much earlier.

As the 1988-1989 series began, I was 12 years old and getting tired of a lot of the repetitiveness of Saturday morning cartoons. I think I didn't start watching any 'toons until 8, with New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and then opting for Slimer and the Real Ghosbusters, which had returned, completely foregoing Muppet Babies and Pee Wee's Playhouse. Then I'd switch over to CBS for Garfield and Friends, a show I didn't really like a whole lot and probably didn't watch all the way through. After that, I went and did something else lest I fall prey to the Ernest or Ed Grimly cartoons.

Then, in the 1989-1990, I basically gave up watching every Saturday morning cartoon except for Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters and Captain N: The Game Master (because Nintendo was the shit). And, of course, I was watching Saved by the Bell in the late morning, but that was because of Kelly Kapowski... oh, yes...

So, it ends with a petering out, then. Weird. What pointless memories I have.

Meco: Moondancer

Meco - Moondancer - 1979 (not available)

After four albums of disco versions of movie music, Meco finally decided to record an album of straight disco music. The sound is pretty different, partially because some of the songs are original, and partially because he did the album without the same collaborators from the last four.

As a result, Moondancer is a little less fun to listen to than the others. He tries to keep up the same science fiction theme--the album cover, designed by Meco, is apparently inspired by a dream he had of "creatures of the night" dancing at a disco in a gorge on the moon. If only the album were as interesting. (Take that as you will.)

There are only six songs on the album. The opener, "Moondancer," is the only track actually (co-) written by Meco. Even with the sound effects and the nice instrumental break, the song sounds like background music to a video game. "Love Me, Dracula" is background with a really, really cheesy chorus. "Grazing in the Grass" has some energy, but it's not a patch on the original version by The Friends of Distinction.

Flipping over to side B, "Spooky" is the high point of the album. A disco cover of the hit by The Classics IV, it totally justifies itself. This is one of Meco's best tracks. And despite its cheesiness, "Devil Delight" is campy fun. The album closes with "Living in the Night," a track so subdued and uninteresting that I've already forgotten what it sounds like.

"Spooky" is on The Best of Meco, which is available, and it's the only one you need.

Grade D+
A Side: "Spooky"
BlindSide: "Devil Delight"
DownSide: "Living in the Night," I think

Cross-posted from Septenary.

Kristen Bell Mondays

Happy Easter!

Song of the Week: "Sukiyaki"

Kyu Sakamoto, 1961. One of the best of the best of the best songs ever recorded.

And It Begins Again

I'm giddy with excitement from the premiere of the new series of Doctor Who. I really enjoyed it. Where David Tennant was more or less a continuation of the Christopher Eccleston series, this one really felt like the kind of reimagining I tend to expect from a new Doctor. It does still have certain elements we've come to expect from Doctor Who 2.0--the running, the shouting, the sense of urgency--but we've really got a new characterization this time around, and it's quite exciting.

I liked Matt Smith. I don't know that Steven Moffat really needed the scene where we saw the previous 10 Doctors and Matt Smith stepped through the image to cement his place as the Eleventh Doctor, but as a fanboy, I certainly loved that moment. I thought Smith did well; I never felt the sort of unease I always get as the new Doctor shakes himself down and the new actor becomes comfortable with a characterization. (I think it took David Tennant several episodes to find the character, although in "The Christmas Invasion" it was obviously done to ease new viewers into the regeneration process.) Matt Smith's Doctor emerged fully formed, and much more playful, I think, than the last couple of Doctors.

I enjoyed the last year of Doctor Who specials, but it's nice to have something fun and less dire. I hope we can stay away from the whole idea of the Doctor as burning everything and everyone he touches for a while. I also hope we can steer clear of the romantic entanglements, which has already been done (and not always successfully, as I still don't much care for the first half of the Martha Jones season).

Becca and I are divided on whether or not a romance is being set up between the Doctor and Amy; I think they aren't, Becca thinks they are. I guess we'll see. I do like the new companion so far. It helps that she's incredibly adorable (freckle-faced gingers rule!), but I like her willingness to embrace the weirdness. I always give extra points to companions who get over shock quickly. I also liked introducing Amy as a 7 year-old and having her meet the Doctor that way. I felt like it established the Doctor as a sort of authority, someone older, very quickly. For me, it dispelled fears of a romance, since this new Doctor is so alien that he's almost casually arrogant about who he is, what he does, and how late that can make him. It also does a lot for audience members worried about taking such a young actor so seriously as the Doctor.

Bottom line: I'm thrilled to start another ride on the Doctor Who train. Matt Smith has my confidence. And I love the new design of the TARDIS.

Geronimo!

Sunday Hottie 270

STANA KATIC

Kermit the Pook-a-Looz

I need this in my life.

But... You Fuck Kids

Here's a senior Vatican priest, Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, talking about the church's sexual abuse scandals before Pope Benedict at a Good Friday service:

"I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole world. The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism."

He claims to have been quoting a letter written by an unnamed Jewish friend.

So, the Vatican spends Good Friday, the day of the supposed crucifixion of Christ, morally equating the attacks on the Catholic Church for the institutional covering-up of sex crimes against children... with the Holocaust?

(Actually, the Vatican has released a statement that Father Cantalamessa's sermon was not an official Vatican statement, but until the Vatican actually condemns the abuse of children and offers an apology and to comply with the legal investigation into that abuse, I don't give a flying fart in space how they tap dance. Plus, the remarks were printed in the Vatican's newspaper.)

David Clohessy, an advocate for sexual abuse victims in the US, gets it right: he's quoted in the article thusly: "Men who deliberately and consistently hide child sex crime are in no way victims. And to conflate public scrutiny with horrific violence is about as wrong as wrong can be."

I don't expect the Pope himself to say anything about it, considering his history with the Jews, both as Pope and as a former Nazi.

You know what all of this lunacy reminds me of? It reminds me of that episode of South Park where the boys met those guys from NAMBLA, and the NAMBLA guys kept talking about how society frowns upon their way of life, to which the boys keep adding "But... you fuck kids!" That's how I feel every time someone from the Church (or apologist groups like the Catholic League) try to make the issue about how everyone just wants to attack the Catholic Church for no reason.

But... you fuck kids.

Frankly, at this point, what the US really should do with this is cut ties with Vatican City, since it is its own sovereign nation. The Pope should not be allowed back in this country until he agrees to cooperate with criminal investigations into a policy he created and made official in regards to the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests. Of course, the US government will never do that, because religious status will always trump the law. I guess because it would be rude, or something.

Nostalgia Bomb

How, Lord, how could I have forgotten all about Picture Pages? This was a staple of Pinwheel, which was a staple of my childhood. I'm just... stunned that I had forgotten all about this, especially since I'm sure it's one of the many things that inspired me to draw so much when I was a kid.

Wes Anderson's Fellowship of the Ring

He does have a style that's easy to emulate, doesn't he? Bonus points for the credits.

Random Thoughts

I can't wait to see how this turns out: a group of artists, creators, etc. who have become very jaded with the annual trade show that Comic-Con has become every year are now pushing for an alternative: Creator-Con. The discontent is palpable: over 2000 people have joined the Facebook page in the first week. I am absolutely in favor of this idea. I always used to be sorry that I couldn't go to Comic-Con in San Diego, but watching it from afar it looks like the focus has shifted completely from comics creators and artists (and fans) to something hijacked by the entertainment industry to use as a preview for upcoming movies and video games.

:: My opinion of Jesse James is that he can go fuck himself, but that's non-specific. I thought that before this latest scandal. Guy just rubs me the wrong way. I do think it's hilarious that he's going to sex addiction rehab, though. It's the catch-all excuse du jour.

:: Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin is a career soldier. And I don't spit on that, ever. Anyone who has put their lives in danger for the protection of their country is brave, case closed. And he's an Army physician, which is a noble calling.

However, aside from that, completely apart from the potential sacrifice Lt. Col. Lakin is willing to make... inviting your own court-martial by disobeying orders because you think President Obama isn't a US citizen is the willfully stupid act of a supreme dunce.

:: So, now that Obama is the one proposing offshore drilling, Republicans are against it. In other news, the sun rose today.

The price of oil and gas is going up again, by the way. Not because of demand or a shortage, but because the cocksuckers on Wall Street are artificially driving it up with speculation. It's a response to oil consumption going down. There is no sector of American life that these unregulated assholes aren't going to lay waste to.

:: I said Muqtada al-Sadr was going to end up in charge of Iraq a couple of years ago, and with this special vote taking place, that's probably going to happen. So, ultimately, we removed someone hostile to the US and are going to see him replaced with someone hostile to the US. Who could have predicted that? Other than history, I mean?

:: Geithner said that unemployment "is going to stay unacceptably high for a very long time." Everything he says sounds like the entire government just throwing up their hands and claiming there's nothing they can do. Where's our jobs program, guys? You're the fucking government. You have a responsibility to do something.

:: The first challenge to the Affordable Care Act came just two days after it was signed, as insurance companies decided to dither over the language when it comes to denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. Does that star immediately, or in 2014? Doesn't the fact that there was even an argument show anyone the true motives of the insurance industry? These people have to be ordered to issue insurance coverage to children. This is not a system that works, even with the band-aid that's just been stuck to the gaping flesh wound by Congress.

And if you don't think every insurance regulation in the bill is going to be challenged by the insurers, you're crazy. And my guess it that unless they all make the papers like this one did, the insurers are going to win more often than they lose.

It's not like they enforce the old regulations, anyway.

:: So, let me get this straight: your sex life is a concern of the Catholic Church, but their sex lives are none of your business. Is that right? Are we really still letting an organization riddled with pedophilia lecture us and affect our legislation when it comes to abortion and anything to do with a woman's body?

Did you hear recently about the woman in Nicaragua who has cancer and can't get treatment because she's 8 weeks pregnant? She could get an abortion in order to get her life-saving chemotherapy, but because a woman's life is apparently meaningless when compared to the future of a fertilized egg, she is basically condemned to death. Or how about the 9 year-old Brazilian girl who was raped by her stepfather whose mother is threatened with excommunication if she gets her daughter, now pregnant with twins, an abortion? And then there's the threat that all Catholic social services to the poor will be removed from the District of Columbia if they offer insurance benefits to married same sex couples.

This is all supported by a Church that just can't keep its hands off of children, thinks the embarrassment of the clergy is more important than the sick abuse of little kids, and would rather see people--especially women--die than be taught about contraception and safe sex.

When is our government going to stop giving these people a voice in legislation?

:: Obama the candidate, 17 July 2007: "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." Obama the president, 24 March 2010: signs an executive order affirming his commitment to the anti-abortion Hyde Amendment. Man, I wish Obama the candidate were president. Instead, it's someone else I don't recognize and probably wouldn't have voted for.

:: I know I'm not the only person who thinks the newest crop of right wing militant terrorists trying to dismantle the government would be hilarious if it weren't so stupidly dangerous.

First we get this asshole who flies his plane into an IRS building in Austin, something the Republicans (including wonder boy Scott Brown, Ted Kennedy's replacement, who is something of an idiot) try to morally equivocate instead of outright condemn. Funny, when bin Laden flies a plane into a building, they get angry. When one of their own does it, no so much.

The we have the far-right militia asshole who thinks he's leading some kind of charge against a tyrannical government, all while living off of government disability checks. So, big government is bad, or... what? (To say nothing of any Teabaggers who only have time and funds to chase Sarah Palin around the country because they're on similar government welfare, and who seem to have no idea that their Medicare is government-funded, apparently because they're stupid.)

Oh, and there's Silly Sarah herself, the one people should be comparing to Hitler (he was an idiot figurehead at first, too), talking directly to the stupid and the ignorant and telling them their stupid ignorance is really patriotism and patriotism takes the form of stopping people with Obama bumper stickers and giving them a talking to. Can't wait to see what happens in this country when that gets someone killed. I'm sure she'll do what the right has been doing for the last week and blame liberals for either purposely sabotaging their "movement" (if you can call something to unorganized and random a movement) or invoking that "there's violence on both sides" lie or simply telling everyone who isn't a crazy moron that it's their fault for stoking the crazed moronic fire.

We also have a GOP Congressional candidate, Stephen Fincher, who is out doing the usual rhetoric about the evils of big government and how the almighty free market (which we don't even really have in this country) is the answer to all of our problems, all while collecting $200,000 a year in farm subsidies. Hey, just like Michele Bachmann! Of course, the Tebagging rubes are eating this shit up, claiming that farm subsidies aren't an issue, despite Fincher's total hypocrisy.

We have a doctor in Florida, Jack Cassel, who refuses to treat patients who voted for Obama. So much for the Hippocratic Oath, I guess.

And then there are these Hutaree assholes who wanted to kill a cop and then kill other cops at his funeral as a way of bringing down the government, a plan that seems more inspired by Batman comics than anything else. The right wing came out to support these fuckheads, saying things like "wanting to start a civil war is not a crime" (the idiot at Classical Values) and "the timing seems convenient" (Glenn Reynolds). Of course the Hutaree shit-eaters are religiously motivated; two thousand years and the ultra-Christians can't stop burning everything down because they think Jesus will pat them on the head for it.

Isn't it just wonderful that these idiots who think the government is evil are asking for public defenders to plead their case in court?

Once again: any Republican who doesn't unequivocally denounce violence and denounce these treasonous rats who have committed it in the name of the right wing supports these fascist thugs.

:: Since I dumped a lot on the right wingers in this post, I do want to praise one, and an unlikely one at that: Bill O'Reilly.

This has to do with Fred Phelps and the Westboro Assholes who got out and picket peoples' funerals. They were picketing in 2006 at the funeral of a Marine who was killed in Iraq, once again spewing their venomous shit that dead soldiers are "proof" that God is judging the US for tolerating gay people. (A tolerance so institutional that we won't even let gay people get married, but why let facts and reason stand in the way?) The Marine's father sued Westboro and won an $11 million judgment against these--fuck, I don't even want to call them "people"--from a federal jury who said Westboro intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the family. The judgment was overturned on appeal this week, and now the father of a fallen Marine has to pay over $16,000 in court costs to the assholes picketing his son's funeral to further their own idiot agenda.

This is a travesty of justice, and the father is trying to take this to the Supreme Court. He can't afford the judgment against him, so Bill O'Reilly has actually stepped in and agreed to pay it, saying "It's obvious they were disturbing the peace by disrupting the funeral. They should have been arrested..." Thank you, O'Reilly, for doing the right thing here. In this case, we're agreed: the family's privacy rights should not be superseded by that kind of hate speech.

Two Worlds Meet

Stand By Me

There's a brand spanking new viral video from Muppets Studios just in time for Easter. (Well, it's bunny-related, at any rate.) I adore this one. It's so much like the old Muppet Show that it makes me wonder, yet again, why we can't have a new show.

Just? JUST?

ME [on the computer]: Awwwwww...

BECCA: I heard you say that and thought "Oh, is there a cute animal?" Then I thought "No, it's probably just Selena Gomez."

ME: Just Selena? JUST Selena? There's no such thing as just Selena. It's SELENA.