Pat Boone's Parents Were Ignorant, Hateful Bigots

Well, that explains it:

We are all, to a great or lesser degree, the inevitable product of how we were raised, what we were taught and experienced as children.

Dr. Laura, Sarah Palin, and First Amendment Rights

A quick note to the simple-minded: The First Amendment protects citizens from suppression of free speech by government. It has absolutely nothing to do with other citizens giving you shit. When you mention First Amendment rights when talking about this, you are saying something really stupid. I know neither of you mind saying really stupid things, I just wanted to make note of this.

And I just have to transcribe a Tweet The Palin made about this, exactly as she wrote it, spaces or lack of them and all:

Dr.Laura:don't retreat...reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence"isn't American,not fair")

She quit her radio show, if I'm understanding that spaghetti-headed drama queen correctly, because her First Amendment rights ceased to exist?

Kids, this is why they tell you to not do meth.

Manhattan Islamic Center: Not backing Down

Good for him.

And the guy is so regular American he actually kind of reminds of Jason Bateman.

A Long Tough Blog Fundraiser

And by "Fundraiser" I mean "Buy a song or three to support LT and A Long Tough Blog!"

I've never done a fundraiser here, and I don't have advertising (aside from the "Amazon Song Choices" button). I've maintained this blog for five years to say this and that now and then and to provide a place where people can hear and buy my songs. If you are so inclined you are invited to buy some songs, or even the entire "Bottomfeeders" album, and perhaps to even tell a friend or two about this humble internet abode. My personal favorite song on the CD: "Sigh." Something special happened with that one.

You can see the PayPlay link below. For other internet outfits where you find the album, look under "Songs For Sale - Cheap!" up at the top right of the page.

My great thanks in advance.

"Read Ayn Rand" Written Across America

Some dumbass did a dumbass thing:

One man drove 12,238 miles across 30 states to scrawl a message that can only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: “Read Ayn Rand.”

Except he forgot to finish the message. I helped him out:

"Disappointment Haunted All My Dreams..."

I know they're a pretend band invented by those seven guys at the Trilateral Comminsion, or something, but hell, this is just a cool song. And the opening lick - from keyboard to guitar - is just fantastic.

Sarah Palin's Eye Roll at "I'm a teacher"

This video reveals something bizarre. At about 1:10, Palin asks this obviously thoughtful woman what she does. She answers "I'm a teacher." Palin goes "Ohhh," rolls her eyes, and her and her daughter share an "Oh, that's what's wrong with her" look. Watch for yourself to see if I'm reading too much into it.



And the "Oh you wanted me to be your governor!" moment 10 or 12 seconds in is such incredibly pure slimy condescension I can feel it on my skin.

Shannyn Moore at HuffPo knows the woman in the shot.

Why Do They Call Them Racists? Part Bazillion

This video will make you want to drink lead paint by the keg. Summary: Barack Obama is an angry angry negro who is giving America's fortunes away to lazy no-good illiterate brown insect people - and they're not gonna take it anymore!

It was actually found on TeamSarah.org, a site put up by Sarah Palin supporters, who are all very hurt and offended that anyone ever had the vicious hateful gall to call them racists.

If you make it to the end...and you may not...the very last thing you'll see is Mr. Used Car Salesman Guy issuing a challenge: If Obama wants another white face to hate: "I'm you're Huckleberry." I am not lying about this. That's actually what he says. And he takes his glasses off as he does it. It's all very Starsky and Hutch.

Why Can't Bigots See Their Own Bigotry?

This is just so hard to comprehend:

"They hate Jews, they hate Chrisitans, they hate women, they hate dogs," Serain said. "[The idea of the new mosque] scares the daylights out of me."

Still, Serafin insisted she's no bigot.

"I want you to stress this -- I'm not prejudiced," Serafin told me.

How on Earth can a person like this - and there appears to be a growing number of them - not see their own bigotry?

And dogs? WTF?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Octopussy

He is one weird dude.

Senator Al Franken

I just like saying that from time to time.

Also.

How to be an Awful News Organization, #539,355

Run a headline like Fox News does with an AP story here:

Lawyer Who Defended 'American Taliban' Now Heads DOJ Suit Against Arizona

The implication: that the U.S. Constitution and particularly the Bill of Rights are awful, terrible, no-good piece of shite documents.

Sixth Amendment, please step to the fore:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

If you want to be an awful news organization, take a crap on the Founders and the Constitution every chance you get. That is all.

Guns in Church

Hey - now you can really have a shotgun wedding. Makes me feel so Jesus-y inside.

And: Anti-choice fanatics will find it so much easy to murder doctors, too. Yay, church.

A Mind Like a Steele Flap [updtd]

Methinks Michael Steele just found the only plank on the ship o' fools that is the Modern Republican Party. He actually said this:

Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.

He said that about Afghanistan. Af-freaking-ghanistan. This has not been taken out of context. He went on to say this:

Well, if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.

There are so many levels of stupid in there that it almost poisons the mind just to contemplate them. I do not see how he survives this. It's Friday. He might be gone tonight.

Update: Boom.

Is Offering Money For Private Emails Legal?

Imagine if someone was offering money to unearth all your private emails. If it were me I sure as hell would be talking to a lawyer. And Andrew Breitbart should not be taken seriously by a single person in news and politics ever again.

God's Plan: Rape your Daughters, Make Them Have Your Kids

We live in a time when absolute lunacy is shockingly popular.

Confederate Yankee Gets Ridiculously Pawned By One of His Fans

The doofus of the blog world has a post up on the non-extension of unemployment benefits, highlighted by this:

By stopping unemployment benefits, the Senate will force those lazy Americans enjoying "funemployment" to get off their backsides and get back to work.

He gets this in his comments. It's longish, but worth every word:

I have read and enjoyed your blog for a couple of years. I am very conservative and always have been, but I have to say your comments on this issue are short-sighted, callous and deeply hurtful. I am staunchly for the private sector free enterprise capitalist way of life and hate what this current administration is doing to our economy, but I don’t have a great deal of hope it will get better until they are voted out of office. I thought I would put a face on this for you to perhaps enlighten you to what it is like to be one of those currently unemployed. I realize there are a percentage of unemployed workers who abuse the system, but the majority of unemployed workers are probably similar to me. I just turned 61 and I have worked without interruption for 39 years. I have been out of work since November 2008. My job was eliminated. My company was one of the large investment banks that no longer exist. I spent two consecutive 18 year employment turns: One with a large corporation that is about to go bankrupt after over 100 years in business and 18 years with this bank. My retirement was virtually wiped out when the bank went under and what was left I had to use to attempt to remain solvent through last year while I continued to seek employment. I have applied to every sector, public and private that I could think of and have looked out of state for jobs paying 75% less than what I earned before. I have had four interviews in the 20 months I’ve been looking. I’ve encountered endless examples of age discrimination and am vying with kids right out of school for the same job. Do you think I can get a job flipping burgers or working at Home Depot? Guess again. When hiring managers see my experience (I am a former Managing Director) they promptly move on to the 1-5 year experience range category. I’m not eligible for social security for another year; my husband who is 61 is not eligible and is disabled. We no longer have health insurance. My severance ended in December of last year and I exhausted all my savings until I could no longer pay my mortgage and the majority of my bills with the $1,600 a month I get from New York State. As a consequence we are facing foreclosure and bankruptcy and I have four weeks of unemployment checks left; the proposed extension would buy me a little more time until hopefully I can get a job. I have seriously contemplated suicide; perhaps you think I am adding this for melodrama - I am not. I have one child who is 25 and struggling in his first job to make ends meet; we tell him he is blessed to have a job and he alone prevents me from completely giving up. I remind those of you who would brand me a social pariah and leech that I paid far more into the unemployment insurance system than I am getting out of it, I hate my situation and find it unbearable and I am deeply ashamed to be in this position. I am happy for all of you who have jobs but you need to understand that these unemployment checks barely pay the necessary utility bills, gas and feed one’s family in the majority of cases. Please don’t be so quick to judge those of us who are good honest people who have worked hard all our lives and lost everything we had to show for it through no fault of our own and put us with the minority of losers who abuse the system.

Joe Barton is a Lying Coward

He has now tried to defend his shameful apology to BP, the company that not only put greed over safety and caused the horrible disaster now ongoing in the Gulf - but also killed 11 men in doing so:

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex) featured an article on his own website Wednesday morning, in which a conservative author defends the Texas Republican for apologizing to BP for the "shakedown" it received from the Obama White House.

Barton apologizes to those murdering bastards, realizes he's done something stupid and revealing, apologizes for his apology - as if that would make his apology any less revealing - and now wants to go back and kiss some murdering ass again. This man does not have an original thought in his head, or an honest or courageous bone in his body. What a disgrace.

* He's taken the article down. Another gutless move.

General Who?

Civilian leadership of the military is a subject I don't know mountains about, but something I find fascinating. (How much of a reality it is when the Pentagon budget is more than $500 billion is separate issue.) And some smart people are saying that as of today civilian leadership requires civilian leadership.

And from that first link, this may not sound like it's from 1951:

The crisis exploded when a legendary general whose reputation overshadowed the president's, a general who was not willing to settle for stalemate after suffering a shocking defeat at the end of a fabled career, would not cease public disagreement with American policy and strategy.

BP, We're Sorry We Got Our Gulf in Your Oil!

Unbefreakinglievable:

WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Barton , R-Arlington, apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday morning for the "political pressure" his company is facing.

Barton condemned the White House's handling of a meeting Wednesday with BP officials, in which President Barack Obama pushed the company to create a $20 billion escrow account for damage claims from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The congressman called the account a "slush fund."

"Apologized to BP."

Beyond comprehension.