Photo: foxypar4

It's not often that someone says something in blog comments that is beautiful and profound. Yet, it happened on my blog. I'm delighted to do a posting featuring it in order to give it the attention it deserves. It was a response to my post on the Deceptive Nature of Appearances. I'm giddy to have gotten such an amazing response.

One of the things I love about the internet is that someone's physical appearance has nothing to do with my opinion of them. Most folks that I admire or downright love I have never seen a picture of.

- Dusty (of It's My Right to Be Left of Center)

It is utterly amazing what the US right believes:

Katie Couric was persecuting Sarah Palin during the famous interview when Ms. Couric was desperately trying to help Palin answer the questions but Palin still screwed it up.

Japan's Emperor Akihito, who has no governing powers, is a "despot."

Anyone who stands up to a rightist bully is just plain mean.

Abortion is "murder," but letting people starve without food stamps is just fine.

Global Warming is a "myth" but supply side economics is not.

Governments ration healthcare, but insurance companies do not.

Rudy Giuliani is the "hero of 911" despite the fact that he put NYC's terrorism response center in the World Trade Center after it had already been bombed by terrorists.

It is intolerant to speak out against intolerance.

"Free trade" creates more jobs for Americans.

It doesn't matter if you make the correct decisions, as long as you make them quickly.

Their marriages are miserable due to same sex couples.

Women shouldn't vote, but they should be pundits.

Science is an evil, liberal plot.

It is intolerant to speak out against the rape of children by Roman Catholic priests.

Washington Post propagandist David Broder actually wrote this (bolding mine):

The more President Obama examines our options in Afghanistan, the less he likes the choices he sees. But, as the old saying goes, to govern is to choose -- and he has stretched the internal debate to the breaking point.

It is evident from the length of this deliberative process and from the flood of leaks that have emerged from Kabul and Washington that the perfect course of action does not exist. Given that reality, the urgent necessity is to make a decision -- whether or not it is right.

That is a really dumb thing to write. It's as if he doesn't even read over his columns before submitting them for publication.

People are already speculating that Broder might be senile. The quality of his column has been gradually declining for at least a decade. Whether the problem is senile dementia, burnout, or just a general malaise at not having his beloved George W. Bush illegally occupying the White House, Broder should give it up. He's just self parody at this point.

Photo: SanFranAnnie

 

By now, you know that the loony religious extremist, Bart Stupak, got his misogynistic amendment through the House to discriminate against women by not allowing abortion coverage in private insurance eligible under the fairly weak healthcare plan that was passed by the House.

Once again, we have been betrayed by a far right Phonycrat who acts like a Bush/Cheney/Limbaugh/Palin/Duke Republican. You'd think that people would learn from what is happening in Iran that religious extremism brings nothing but misery. Yet, the Bart Stupaks of the world think that's just fine. There is so little real difference between someone like him and Ahmadinejad, it's not even funny.

Please Join the Primary Stupak Facebook Group!

How much more of this hateful religious extremism are we going to have to put up with in America?

Photo: Leo Reynolds

 

Updated: I had intended to use this fancy widget on the costs of the war, but it doesn't work on my computer. You will have to check the right menu of It's My Right to be Left of Center to check it out.

In any case, we have spent well over $600 billion on the Iraq War.



I'm amazed that unemployed Americans are willing to tolerate this colossal waste of money on a senseless foreign war based on lies.

Hat tip: Ten Percent

 

These emblems of the upper crust, Billionaires for Wealthcare, just keep the hits coming. The SF group performed "We Shall Overcharge" at a protest against Blue Cross, a formerly nonprofit group that was transformed in a sleazy deal to a for profit corporation a while back, causing rates to skyrocket. I share the protesters' goal of single payer healthcare.

This hit is so smokin' hot that it already has been covered by somebody else on YouTube. But, only the original version is good enough here on Godless Liberal Homo.


The Billionaires also serenaded the teabaggers in DC. I love the CIGNA Palin 2012 sign.


Another chart climber: Save the Status Quo

One of the biggest signs of the intellectual and moral decay of the Democratic Party is that no one in Nevada has stepped forward to challenge Harry Reid in the primary. Reid is a racist, misogynistic, heterosexist Mormon extremist who has failed to govern as a Democrat in any meaningful way.

Let's look at healthcare. Reid continues to lie and say that he needs 60 votes to pass healthcare as an excuse to try to block a strong public option. He hopes that Democrats won't know that he can easily pass it through budget reconciliation. Yes, the Goppers will whine, but they will attack, attack, attack everything the Democrats do anyway. It would be smarter politics to help boost 2010 turnout among understandably disillusioned Democrats and Democratic leaning independents by actually getting something done than worrying about the tantrums of Republicans. But, Reid is bought and paid for by the HMOs, so he doesn't care.

More on Budget Reconciliation from Think Progress:

...Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), who said any use of budget reconciliation by President Obama would be “regarded as an act of violence” against Republicans, and likened it to “running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River.” Other GOP senators have chimed in against reconciliation, with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) calling it a “purely partisan exercise” and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) saying it “would be a mess.”

Despite their howls against Obama, Republicans employed the same procedure to pass major Bush agenda items (which were supported by all four aforementioned Senators):

– The 2001 Bush Tax Cuts [HR 1836, 3/26/01]
– The 2003 Bush Tax Cuts [HR 2, 3/23/03]
– Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 [HR 4297, 5/11/06]
– The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 [H. Con Res. 95, 12/21/05]

As ThinkProgress has noted, Gregg defended using the reconciliation procedure to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for domestic drilling in 2005, arguing, “The president asked for it, and we’re trying to do what the president asked for.” Evidently, Gregg has lost the same sense of patriotic duty.

Reid has been acting like a Bush Republican for some time now. In the last Congress, Reid blocked efforts to defund the Iraq War, and he still won't support cutting funds off now. Reid even supported the efforts of Hillary Clinton, Joseph Lieberbush,and Dick Cheney to get us into a war with Iran. While Bush was in office, Reid offered only token opposition to any of Bush's initiatives.

Returning to this Congress, Reid, an anti choice misogynist, has refused to push for any legislation to curb the terrorist activities of his fellow abortion opponents. He's done nothing to crack down on the banksters. The antitrust division of the Justice Department is still horribly understaffed, which is just how Reid would like to keep it. ENDA and legislation to lift the military ban are going nowhere. Reid has done nothing to block the Hate Based initiatives that were started under Bush and have been expanded under Obama.

The least the Democrats could do would be to remove this de facto Republican as Senate Majority leader. His sniveling and dishonest behavior puts a terrible public face on the Democratic Party in the Senate. Yet, no public calls have been made by Democratic Senators to remove him from this position.

The fact that Reid is Senate Majority Leader and the fact that he has yet to face a primary challenger show how weak, corrupt, and spineless the Democratic Party has become.

Photo: talkradionews

 

Jonathon Tasini is running a primary challenge against gun nut Phonycrat Kirsten Gillibrand. In addition to giving us a Real Democrat to vote for in the primary, he also is using his candidacy as a platform to support a lot of important issues, including abortion rights.

As you may know, the House passed a misogynist amendment forbidding abortion coverage in healthcare available from employers and through private insurance companies covered in the healthcare plan. Although Viagra and Cialis are covered, abortion is not covered even though it is a perfectly legitimate medical procedure. This sex discrimination is unacceptable.

Tasini is doing something about it. Please sign his petition to Harry Reid demanding that this hate be stripped out of the final healthcare bill. From the petition text:

The health care legislation passed by the House of Representatives contains an unacceptable and immoral attack on the rights of women. We, the undersigned, call on Democrats in the U.S. Senate to block any attempt to include language that undermines a woman’s right to privacy and a right to health coverage. We also call on Senate Democrats to commit to removing the Stupak-Pitts amendment in any conference committee negotiations over the final health care legislation.

I couldn't agree more.

Please Sign the Petition!

 

Biases based on appearance are something I hadn't given much deep thought to until recently. Two things sparked it. I heard Susan Boyle sing for the first time not long ago. We usually are marketed at in a way which suggest that singers have to be beautiful, sexy, fashionable, or rebellious in the way they look. None of that has jack to do with singing ability, yet I have to admit to being surprised at how great of a singer she is. Now, I wish she could be sent back in a time machine to do vocals for Heaven 17 or Culture Club. The results would have been absolutely amazing.

The second thing that sparked this line of thought was an unconscious bias I had about men. I knew that I always have found big sideburns on men to be very sexy. There was no revelation there. But, after meeting this guy who had nice sideburns and was gorgeous in lots of other ways, I started realizing that I had other completely silly associations with long sideburns that I wasn't even aware of. For some reason, I have had this unconscious belief system where men with big sideburns are more intelligent, cooler, more fun, appreciate the arts more, and lead more interesting lives. Now that I examine this, I can't help but think, WTF? I can't help but think that part of this is a reaction to Morrissey and other musicians with long sideburns, but I'm sure it goes deeper than that. Sideburns are definitely part of why I think James Callis is cute, though there are a lot of things about him that are hot.

(Note to the Mos Reading This: The sideburns reference is completely literal. It is not a euphemism for penis size.)

I wonder how much of evaluating people based on their appearance is innate and how much of it is the result of marketing techniques. I'm not just talking about good looks vs bad looks. We get bombarded with messages saying that certain clothes and styles will make us more like this, that, and the other thing.

Social justice activists often talk of unconscious racism, sexism, and heterosexism. When you think about your own appearance based perceptions that are politically and socially neutral to the larger culture, it helps make it obvious that such activist claims are not just smoke and mirrors.

Photo: Brocco Lee

By the time you read this, I'm sure you will have heard that Lou Dobbs has left CNN. I have a personal reason for being glad that Osama bin Dobbs no longer will be on the Corporate News Network. They have CNN on at my gym right above the mats where I do abs. Being a captive audience for that piece of filth was really annoying.

There are lots of reasons to hate Lou Dobbs. He is horribly racist and homophobic. He is a cheesy, partisan Republican hack. All that gets a lot of attention. Dobbs is irritating for other reasons, which get less attention.

- He is incredibly vain.

- He has this annoying habit of resting his head on his chin to try to look intelligent while he babbles.

- Dobbs and his cronies made shit up all the time.

- He pretends he cares about middle class people like me when he is a total shill for the wealthy and corporations.

- His smile is incredibly sinister.

- He brags more than one of Linda McMahon's WWE superstars.

It was such a pain trying to avert my eyes from looking forward while doing abs. I did a little happy dance when I read he was leaving CNN. If that network really wants to improve their ratings, they should continue their winning streak by having Anderson Cooper do the newsreading in a pair of Speedos.

Illustration: ddogbreath

This fabulous Ted Rall video points out what Bush and his cronies have gotten away with.



Meanwhile, people are routinely arrested for victimless crimes like pot smoking, prostitution, gambling, and public sex.