Theme Songs for Politicians!

I'd never given any thought to the into music a band plays for a late-night show guest's "walk-on" until this past week, when the story broke that Jimmy Fallon's house band--The Roots--played a few bars of Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" for Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann as she oozed onto the stage.

I know, I'm supposed to be appalled at such disrespectful behavior toward such an important...

No, screw that. She's a lyin'-ass bitch (it has been proven!), and there should be no apologies from the band or Fallon (though he's already done so). SHE should apologize for her chronic dishonesty.

I've been thinking of other theme songs, though, for the rest of the wingnut brigade seeking the presidency.

Jon Huntsman? "Mr. Cellophane" from "Chicago."

Herman Cain? "Magic Man" by Heart (he's got magic hands!). Or "Gimme All Your Lovin'" by ZZ Top. Or "Ice Cream Man" by Van Halen. "Shaft."

Mitt Romney? "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. Not many songs about perfectly-lubed weathervanes, but plenty like "Any Way the Wind Blows" by Doris Day.

Rick Perry? What do you play for a stupid hick? "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme? The "Gomer Pyle" theme? Nah, he's not a LOVABLE stupid hick. He's more like the predatory banker Drysdale than like one of the Clampetts. Gonna have to think on it.

Rick "Frothy" Santorum? What do you play for a disgusting piece of crap? Anything by GG Allin would do.

Ron Paul? Maybe Edgar Winter's "Free Ride" for his freeloading libertarianism? A funeral dirge for those "Let him die!!!" teabaggers who adore this wasted stick of jerky?

Newt Gingrich? "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." Grinch is in his NAME, it's a natural! Besides, this idiot wants to get rid of child labor laws. Or--given his divorce record--"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."


No one should apologize to these thin-skinned morons after snarking on them. That's all they exist for.

Beating, Spraying Cops Out of Line

I've watched the Occupy protests growing from a handful of people on a September weekend to hundreds of thousands or millions of people across the world.

I think it's the best thing ever--and long past the time when such protests should have happened.

The big snag is that in the face of mainly peaceful protests, cops and governments have done the wrong thing, spraying, shooting and beating in an attempt to suppress the protests.

They didn't bat an eye at teabaggers showing up to Town Hall meetings with guns, or toting violent messages ("We came unarmed--this time!"), speaking of "taking their country back." They didn't blink when teabaggers assaulted black members of Congress. They didn't go after Sharon Angle when she threatened "Second Amendment remedies" if she lost her bid for election.

But let a college kid or an elderly woman or a retired cop sit on a public sidewalk (paid for and maintained by their own taxes), though, and the unconstitutional beatings and sprayings and arrests begin!

Unconstitutional? Absolutely. What the cops are doing amounts to punishment without due process--an assumption of criminality and an on-the-spot conviction. So much for "innocent until proven guilty." There's also the First Amendment's assurance not just of free speech, freedom of religion, and a free press, but also the right of peaceable assembly and the right to petition our government for a redress of grievance. Thanks to the 14th Amendment's "due process" clause, this applies to all levels of government, from the Feds to every city. Then there's the Fourth Amendment's protection against excessive force.

Back in my National Guard days, we got some of that same beat-on-people, spray-the-shit-out-of-people training. We learned how to club and poke with batons, how to subdue our fellow humans if some politician thought they were getting out of line. I never got called out to use it--and I would have refused to do so on people just sitting peaceably. It's simply not right. I took an oath to protect the Constitution--and, by extension, the People--from all enemies, foreign and domestic. How is an 80-something woman a threat to the country?

As long as they continue their violent assaults on peaceful protesters, they're nothing more than mercenaries for the scumbag elites. Those cops should be using their batons and pepper spray and rubber bullets on the bankers and politicians and predatory foreclosure executives and others--the real enemies of the state--who have screwed this country's citizens for so long.


Ray Pensador has an excellent writeup on the culture of brutality, "Take Your Hands Off Me" over at Kos.

There's an excellent write-up about pepper spray at Speakeasy Science--and some excellent comments there, as well; Leo says:

There seems to be a mentality of “I have pepper spray, so y0u’d better do what I say,” even if the order from the cop is unlawful. Does might make right? I thought we’d progressed beyond that caveman mentality. There’s a reason people employ peaceful protests and sit-ins. They’re not SUPPOSED to be convenient. If they were convenient, people could ignore them. Instead, they’re inconvenient… but also NON-violent. When the police use violence against nonviolent protesters (fire hoses against civil rights marchers, for example), all it does is make even clearer who is right and who is wrong.

And even more on the evolution of police attitudes toward demonstrators can be found here.

Pic of the Day: War on Xmas has BEGUN!

Billo said so, must be true. He warned his drones to cast their gimlet glares abroad, seeking anyone with the nerve to say the dreaded "Happy Holidays!" (oh crap! I wrote it!) instead of the proper 'Merkan "MERRY CHRIST!!mas!!" that has become the wingnut battlecry.

I didn't join the war last year, other than to be amused by one guy who wants to punch people in the throat if they violate the wingnut ban on HAPPY HOLIDAYS. (bugger! I wrote it again!)

Those of us bravely fighting the War on Xmas have already climbed the mountain and raised our flag, as seen above. We win.

Resistance is futile! HAPPY HOLIDAYS. (oops!)

Back on her Feet!

I've been dealing with X-11 withdrawals ever since the brand-farking-new clutch cable I put in 6 weeks ago went SNAP two weeks ago.

The last ride involved me trying to get the transaxle out of first gear while the tow truck driver pulled on the clutch lever, trying to release the clutch just enough for me to get it into neutral. From there, I coasted her into her usual spot, and there she stayed for the past 2 weeks.

The replacement cable got here 9 days ago--but my body decided to screw with me again. Instead of taking me off my feet like in the first half of September and October, this time my right elbow and forearm locked up. By Thursday evening, I'd gotten enough range of motion back to pull out the remains of the old cable and install the shiny new one. I finished the job by feel--the sun was down--and got all the tools and crap out of the way. I only had to rest three or four times. She didn't quite start right up, but I'm cranky myself after sitting up for too long.

She's back on the road, but I'm paranoid about the cable. The new one fits better than the last, it's not binding, but every time I push on the pedal I expect the thing to break.

The Caiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin Train!

Well, not just Cain, but any of the Nine Eight Morons who think they're fit to be President.

Maybe I should go with video of a rocket or jet engine flaming out, but watching a railroad tanker try to turn itself inside out reminds me of Mitt "Perfectly-Lubed Weather Vane" Romney, Tim "Where's the farkin' No-Doz?!" Pawlenty, that Trump prick, Rick "N-head Ranch" Perry, Michele "She really is this stupid" Bachmann, the Snowbilly, and especially Herman "You want a job, right?" Cain twisting themselves up in a desperate effort to out-batshit, out-bullshit, and out-outrage each other.



Pawlenty's implosion was his candidacy.

Bachmann's implosion? Her mouth. That's some incredible batshit she spews.

Mittens'? His precise ability to swing into any political wind and be on both sides of any issue. It's not nuanced or thoughtful--just desperate.

Trump's? He's a bankrupt attention whore with freakish hair.

Snowbilly? She's just a gold-digger.

Perry? He's George W. Bush's intellectual inferior. That's saying something.

Cain? He thinks he's Mr. Smoov and above any real-world consequences for his actions. He's the 1% Candidate.

Santorum? His douchebag personality.

Huntsman's the closest thing to rational in the lineup--and that's going to kill his candidacy.

These stooges need to be banned from any public space, let alone public office.

He Has a Right to Speak!

...said the cop to the banker.

In a post at Daily Kos, marvinborg relays his experience in passing out fliers in front of Chase and Bank of America branches in San Francisco.

The banksters tried to intimidate him, right up to calling the cops on him when their own private rent-a-goons didn't scare him off.

The sweet, sweet moment:

"He has the right to speak and the right to hand out flyers. Unless he blocks you or causes a disturbance, he has the right to be here - please don't call the police again if he is not bothering you. If you don't like free speech you should move to another country"

Awesome. In your FACE, banker boy.

Moving My Money.

I opened a new checking account at a local credit union last week; I'd been considering such a move for months, ever since I learned of the Move your Money Project.

My soon-to-be-old bank pissed me off. Following the lead of Mega Scumbag bankers Bank of America and others, Regions started charging me to use my own money in my checking account.

Where BofA was charging $5 per month for the use of a debit card, I was getting hit for $4. If I used the card at the bank's ATM or wrote checks, no charge. I make even one debit purchase in a month, $4.

There's also a new $10 per month fee just to have the account if you don't maintain the new minimum account balance.

Their notice:

We recently sent you information about some updates to your checking services. As a reminder, these changes are effective in September and will be reflected on your October checking statement.
As a reminder, what you'll see:

• The monthly account fee for LifeGreen Checking will be $10.
• This fee will be waived when you meet the account's balance or direct deposit requirement.
• Continued access to Online Banking with Bill Pay, Mobile Banking with alerts, and Regions Cashback Rewards.
• You will be charged a $4 monthly CheckCard fee for any statement cycle in which you use your card to make purchases or non-ATM transactions. Make as many of these transactions as you like during the statement cycle with no additional fee.
• No monthly CheckCard fee to use your Regions Visa® CheckCard to make transactions at any ATM.

The new minimum balance is something like $1500.

I make less than $800 per month, living check to check. Obviously, there's no way for me to meet their minimum--so I get sacked for $10.00 per month.

Fine.

Regions got their $14.00--or maybe $28.00, by the time I've shut the account down. I have to wait out the credit union's 8-day waiting period, so maybe I'll be able to boot Regions by Monday.

On the day I was setting up the CU account, I had to go into the nearby Regions branch to cash my Disability check. The teller was very friendly...and I thought of him--and the bank--as the person in a relationship who's the only one who doesn't know he's about to get dumped. I've been telling people about the Move your Money Project for weeks, now. They're sponsoring a big bank-dropping action--Bank Transfer Day--this Saturday, November 5th. Even my new credit union is participating.

"Idiots" tag to Regions and their bigger banker pals.

Move your money, folks. Screw the screwers.

"Regions: It's time to expect more"...of my money to go to your competition!


[UPDATE: Within a few days of this post, Regions discontinued the debit fee. Bank of America dropped theirs a weeks or so earlier. Too little, too late :) ]

Song Of The Day: Bastille Day (Rush live, 1976)

With all the Occupy action growing daily in the US and around the world, and with the whiny arrogance from certain shitbird one-percenters, I'm reminded of a time in history when the humble masses stood up and took down some people who needed taking down.



Is it time yet?