kpete
kpete's JournalThis is why Kurt Vonnegut is underrated
TUE FEB 26, 2013 AT 07:48 AM PST
This is why Kurt Vonnegut is underrated
bypierre9045Follow
In the shadow of the looming sequester, as elected government representatives, as they're wont to do, argue about whether they should choose between cutting services that help the poor and general populace, or raising taxes on the wealthy, I was reminded of this excerpt from a Kurt Vonnegut book, that I think helps to point out just how long we've been having this exact same conversation:
When the United States of America, which was meant to be a Utopia for all, was less than a century old, Noah Rosewater and a few men like him demonstrated the folly of the Founding Fathers in one respect: those sadly recent ancestors had not made it the law of the Utopia that the wealth of each citizen should be limited.
This oversight was engendered by a weak-kneed sympathy for those who loved expensive things and by the feeling that the continent was so vast and valuable, and the population so thin and enterprising, that no thief, no matter how fast he stole, could more than mildly inconvenience anyone.
Noah and a few like him perceived that the continent was in fact finite, and that venal office-holders, legislators in particular, could be persuaded to toss up great hunks of it for grabs, and to toss them in such a way as to have them land where Noah and his kind were standing.
Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun.
E pluribus unum is surely an ironic motto to inscribe on the currency of this Utopia gone bust, for every grotesquely rich American represents property, privileges, and pleasures that have been denied the many. An even more instructive motto, in light of history made by the Noah Rosewaters, might be: Grab much too much, or you'll get nothing at all.
-Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/26/1189927/-This-is-why-Kurt-Vonnegut-is-underrated
"A Thing Of Beauty": Santa Monica High School vs. Westboro Baptist Church
The Phelps’ made the trip to California for the Oscars, but since they were already there, they decided to picket a high school too.
Here’s a great shot of the pro-gay high school students protesting against Fred Phelps’ protest – it’s a panorama I created by grabbing shots from the YouTube video and stringing them together. The actual protest line went even longer to the right side of the image.
vs:
http://americablog.com/2013/02/santa-monica-high-school-blows-fred-phelps-out-of-the-water-with-mega-protest-video.html
http://santamonica.patch.com/articles/hundreds-at-samohi-unite-against-anti-gay-protest#video-13459274
KRUGMAN re: GOP: They want a fiscal crisis; they need it; they’re enjoying it.
To say what should be obvious: Republicans don’t care about the deficit. They care about exploiting the deficit to pursue their goal of dismantling the social insurance system. They want a fiscal crisis; they need it; they’re enjoying it. I mean, how is “starve the beast” supposed to work? Precisely by creating a fiscal crisis, giving you an excuse to slash Social Security and Medicare.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/tim-geithner-is-wrong-2/
Limbaugh Admits Defeat: "The Left Has Beaten Us"
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/02/22/what_makes_me_ashamed_of_my_country
McConnell's Court Martial for sodomy in 67 will be huge
I don't know if Judd is running but McConnell is going to have a hard time. His court martial for sodomy in 67 will be huge.
Naturally, I asked for clarification, and got this. Before seeing this tweet, I had had no idea that McConnell had ever served in the military.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4307109
Alan Lynch, a Lexington Postal Clerk, served in the 100th Army Reserve Unit, Louisville, Kentucky. He was in another unit in 1964 but the Army did a consolidation of units and he was transferred to the 100th in 1965 or 1966. He performed several duties while he served in the military as a postal clerk and personnel officer. Mr. Lynch has a remarkable story about the summer of 1967.
The summary of the story is as follows:
In the summer of 1967 Lynch reported for his summer active duty in the 100th Training Unit Army Reserve. The Unit did their summer active duty at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Lynch worked for S-1, the administrative arm of any army unit. Lynch worked for a Major, who was the assistant Adjutant and new to the unit. During his active duty in August of 1967 Lynch remembers coming into the office and noticed that the Major was upset. He asked him what was going on and the Major told him the following:
A new member of the 100th Army Reserve Unit in Basic Training at Ft. Knox was arrested in the barracks for sodomy. The guy is getting out of the military and the excuse will be due to an illness, an eye disorder. The Major then told a joke about it saying, "I guess the guy couldn't see the difference between guys and girls."
Lynch asked him how this guy could accomplish this and get a release from the army. The Major told him that the soldier had served as an intern to Senator John Sherman Cooper and Senator Cooper called the Commanding General of Ft. Knox to arrange the discharge.
At the time the Major told Lynch the name of the soldier but the name didn't stick to his brain. Lynch said frankly it was not important at the time because the name McConnell meant nothing to him. It was not until the issue was raised in McConnell's senate race of 1990 that he remembered the incident. Lynch provided the information to reporters with the Courier Journal and Herald Leader but they did nothing with it because they didn't have any real evidence. They only have the story of Lynch.
McConnell has been able to brush this whole thing off as a tempest in a teapot.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=2141
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/24/1189537/-The-Strange-and-Possibly-Sordid-Story-of-Mitch-McConnell-s-Military-Service
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4307109
Blackwater Felony Charges Dropped, They Were Following CIA Orders
Blackwater Felony Charges Dropped, They Were Following CIA Orders
By Michael Biesecker, Associated Press
23 February 13
RALEIGH, N.C. - The federal prosecution of five former employees of the private security firm Blackwater has crumbled after the defendants said they were acting at the behest of the CIA by providing five guns as gifts to King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Federal prosecutors indicted former Blackwater president Gary Jackson and four others in 2010 on a long list of felony firearms violations involving dozens of weapons, including 17 M-4 military assault rifles and 17 Romanian-made AK-47s.
All charges against three of the accused were dismissed Thursday at the request of prosecutors after a federal judge ruled earlier this month to reduce several of the felony charges to misdemeanors.
Under a plea agreement, Jackson and former company vice president William Matthews admitted guilt Thursday on misdemeanor charges related to record keeping violations, resulting in $5,000 fines and four months house arrest. They had originally faced decades in prison on 12 felony charges each.
MORE:
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/306-10/16159-blackwater-felony-charges-dropped-they-were-following-cia-orders
The GOP Doing To Themselves
Three reasons why Obama isn't leading on the sequesterFEBRUARY 23, 2013, AT 5:50 PM
............... Obama has not resorted to full finger-shaking, red-faced exhorting. Why not? Here are three reasons in order of significance:
1. Any deal that comes from the White House will not pass muster with House Republicans. So every effort must start and end in Congress. That is an incontrovertible political truth.
2. There are no cage-rattlers at the White House. Rahm Emanuel was a cage-rattler. He was capable of making ripples that could tip dynamics and make the incontrovertible... controvertible. The White House today is much quieter. There are no huge, saber-teeth personalities.
3. The agencies are doing the job for him. From flight delays to FBI furloughs, entities that are more trusted than politicians are giving the lowdown to the media, which is repeating it. The projected misery is what will influence public opinion, which, in turn, might influence Congress.
http://theweek.com/article/index/240524/three-reasons-why-obama-isnt-leading-on-the-sequester
Quite Telling: While the Vatican decried the media’s message, they "did NOT deny" the report itself
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/vatican-gay-scandal_n_2748470.html
http://www.taylormarsh.com/blog/2013/02/as-the-pope-turns-the-villain-in-the-vatican/
http://en.radiovaticana.va/Articolo.asp?c=667556
Hating on the poors
Hating on the poors
by David Atkins
John Cheese has a great Sunday read at Cracked: Four things politicians will never understand about poor people. Subjects include "Poor Does Not Equal Unemployed," "Poor People Are Not Mindless Leeches," "Poor People Aren't Rampant Drug Addicts" and "You Don't Have Real Sympathy for the Poor if You've Never Lived It."
This is another hot debate in political circles because quite a few states have already adopted it, and several more are considering it. Why not? Yes, it was declared unconstitutional on grounds that it violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches, but other than that, it seems like a good idea. Drugs are a huge problem with the poor, and I most definitely don't want to be handing my tax dollars to someone who's just going to blow it on ... well, blow.
That's what all of these states thought, and some of them still think that. Then they did the testing and found out that, actually, the poor are pretty much as clean as the rest of us. In Arizona, out of 87,000 people they subjected to the test, exactly one monster-forkin' person tested positive. One. And Florida had just as embarrassing results: 21 people tested positive out of 51,000. That was right before a federal judge showed up and put a boot in their ... leg-hat, by blocking the law. Of course, that didn't hurt their feelings much since the program not only didn't save the state any money, but it actually put them almost $46,000 in the hole (must ... resist), even when you factor in the money they saved by denying applicants.
What really troubles me with this one isn't the occasional crackhead being booted from the system. It's the 6 year old that isn't being provided for, regardless of what illegal horsepoop their parents are putting into their bodies. As in all of these points, yes, those people do exist -- I'll never deny that. And yes, I think it's a dagnabbit falootin' shame that some of our money is going to crack instead of ... well, literally anything else. But that child is along for the ride, regardless, and pushing him deeper into poverty is unacceptable on pretty much every level.
MORE:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-politicians-will-never-understand-about-poor-people_p2/
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/hating-on-poors-by-davidoatkins.html
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