Opera Glasses and Popcorn
Just a picture to hold up a thread……….. on a Saturday….
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An Opera Glasses and Popcorn view of Politics and the Assembled Multitude...
Marisacat -
- Real independent observations on current events with a particular fondness for the follies of the Big Box Blahgers.
Deflates bloated egos like a champion fencer in a balloon warehouse.
- Alan Smithee
Marisacat -
"...polish on a mud wallow"
- Meteor Blades [May 24 at Mcat]
Marisacat -
"... doyenne of donkle deconstruction"
- Who is IOZ [January 2 2007]
Marisacat -
"... hardened professionals and their primary strength lies in their being completely unconflicted."
"... the primary difference is that on the level of criticizing other blogs and bloggers, they can actually do some damage."
"... Not what I look for in a liberal blog product."
- peeder - MLW, Daily Rant [3.24.07]
Democracy NOW! / Amy Goodman Electronic Intifada / General Content Press TV / Middle East News Press TV McClatchy Headlines The Real News Reuters / Politics
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on one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.
If you click on La Louche the picture or the words, it leads to the Amazon PayPage, a way to ... oh let's say help with the cat can deliveries.
Thanks to all who made the very kind suggestion.
Taliban welcome back an old friend
Apparently, the news of his death was greatly exaggerated:
Off on a completely different track: Food additives ‘could be as damaging as lead in petrol’
In particular, I found this interesting:
I had to stop allowing my daughter to eat Cheeze Whiz as a kid because it made her uncontrollably hyper – not that it was any good for her anyway and sugar was a definite no no – but at least I know why that reaction happened all of these years later.
I didn’t have the internets back then and when I asked the doctors if it could be based on something organic or chemical, they refused to test her (which resulted in several ‘bang head against the wall’ sessions for me).
From a McClatchy article on Obama’s ‘brainy advisers’ comes this about Goolsbee:
Whoops.
And this:
(nerd alert!!)
Thanks so much for the Clarkson/Sharlet link in the last thread. One reason I’m as disgusted w/ “liberals” as wingers is the unwillingness or inability to pull back and look at the big picture, rather than falling into picking teams. It’s stupid, and leads to all kinds of horrors.
Speaking of clueless libs, much crowing over this court decision:
They will be penalized for EMOTIONAL DISTRESS. Will IVAW be next? Any anti-war protesting group?
Phelps and his church are disgusting, but speech should be fought with opposing speech.
More Zionist agitprop on the front page of the NY Time’s site:
Who are the occupiers here? Who are the people with no legitimacy? Who is editing that fucking paper? I’m sorry for the innocent civilians in that town, but the lack of balance in this kind of coverage, the willful blind eye turned to the bloody repression that creates a need to strike back makes me sick.
I won’t link to the piece of shit.
Timing, Two-Timing, And Truthiness
About the tax returns, timing, and Mark Penn shilling for the Columbian “free” trade deal.
6. Hillary was ready before day one. Honestly her campaign is such a mess that it is the best indicator that her presidency would not be run by her. It’s amazing that she hasn’t ditched Penn. She ditches her loyal girl first, and keeps hubby’s loyal boys on. I thought she “found her voice” in NH. Whoops, she lost it again. She has a real talent for picking men for whom her best interest is secondary.
I am for shoving both of them over a cliff. AND their paid help. And their attorney friends. AND their children.
But really, Balloon Juice is smoking something here:
LOL The past 24 hours for the right has been a last gasp slobber fest for WFB. Who was grandly memorialised at St Patty’s yesterday. Kissinger and Hitchens both were n attendance.
I am sure his fondest wish is to meet up with angels with an HIV warning tattoo’d on their plump butts.
What a tawdry joke it all is, has been.
hmmm… if you snooze you won’t be losing… gah. Can it get worse…
Duncan Black hit a new all-time low today.
#2 Thanks LC for that food additive link. I’ve sent it to all my friends and family with kids.
This is an important issue, along with genetically modified foods, which are sadly legal here and not even labeled yet so many countries refuses to allow them. Is Canada one of them LC?
11. Afaik, the labelling requirements for GM foods here are still pretty loose ie. you’d need to know what to look for when reading the labels. Plus, the standards are voluntary. And we do have safety testing – as far as that goes – which, I understand, the US doesn’t.
Then there’s the controversy over what’s really organic and what isn’t.
Honestly, without actually producing your own food via having a garden with seeds you can trust and control over herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, it’s tough out there for parents who want to feed their kids (and themselves) properly.
Like I said, I had to rely on the small amount of published info I had as a parent at the time to figure out how some foods were affecting my daughter’s behaviour. One of my brothers had given me the book Psycho Nutrition back then, which was an eye opener. I specifically remember a story from that book about a woman who hadn’t been heard from after Easter who, as a result of the chocolate she had eaten, had slipped into some sort of a coma. I also bought The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children which I tried to rely on somewhat. But the best research I did was just watching her reactions. As a single parent though, with no garden and not much accessibility to healthy foods (other than via the health food stores which was pretty expensive), it was an uphill battle.
I should add that in the case of my daughter, I’m not talking about just regular tantrums. She had uncontrollable rage episodes that she couldn’t even recall once they were done. It wasn’t garden-variety hyperactivity so finding some kind of help was crucial. There were the milder episodes – her eyes would literally glaze over when she ate Cheeze Whiz or drank pop and her energy outbursts in those cases were of the super-hyper variety.
Having gone through that, I really wonder how many of today’s kids who are now being diagnosed as having bipolar disorder are really just reacting to what’s in their food because I saw the manic/depressive swings my daughter went through and she wasn’t, imho, biploar – nor was she ever dx as such.
Disclaimers: The author of the book Psycho-nutrition, Carlton Fredericks was convicted or practicing medicine without a license in 1944 in NY. That book was written in 1983. I see he had a longstanding radio show where he discussed these issues though.
The Feingold book was controversial when it came out but he was ahead of the curve, obviously, when it came to looking at the role of additives etc. and their effects on behaviour.
I’ve also been researching the role of nutrition as it relates to my pain and fatigue levels due to lupus and fibromyalgia lately and was surprised to find out what I should be avoiding – beans, processed meats, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts etc. I’m trying to modify my diet as a result.
10. Why do you consider that to be a new low, bayprairie? Just curious.
Colombia to Penn: You’re Fired
How about ‘Hillary to Penn: You’re Fired’?
People get ready . . . it’s time for another round of repudiation!
Obama campaign: McCain not a ‘warmonger’, Campaign disowns comment by rally’s host before candidate’s speech.
This time the naughty rabble rouser was Ed Schultz.
17
I think the R are gonna keep up a drum beat on this one.
They are picking their themes and one is that Barack has no intention of ending the war.
I read just today that Shultz used to be a conservative R. Now claims to be a “liberal” Democrat….
LOL Whatever!
Reminds me of the silly old joke – you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t wipe your friends off on the couch.
Nowadays, with the eager assistance of Sunday morning talk-show hosts, yes we can do the latter thing, too.
In other interesting news: Paternity Test Hits Drugstores Nationwide.
Social developments to follow. . . .
What a laugh… I just read at Politico that although Obama has “denied” the word that Shultz used (sigh, campaign as minuet!)… R are calling for him to intervene personally.
The hedge clippers are out!
Someone dropped me this link. Interesting and troubling. U.S. supervising training of elite PA unit in Jordan.
McCain is a warmonger. What’s the big deal?
Also from Ha’aretz: Obama, Clinton, McCain to vice-chair Israel 60th anniversary panel
LOL hedge clipping.
McCain relates it back to the incident with Cunningham, theradio guy (think he is that… ) who used “Hussein” three times while into-ing McC. McCain was not present for it, but showily called it out.
I thought then it was a neat, too neat, set up for McCain to later use.
GOOD LUCK!!
Plus as I pointed out, they will be developing the theme that Barack has no intention of withdrawing from the war. War Monger right back at you!
24. they will be developing the theme that Barack has no intention of withdrawing from the war.
Well, that was my first thought: there’s not much daylight between them in terms of their foreign policy. McCain’s the public nutbar with his bomb Iran and 100 years in Iraq blather but, other than that…
From the last thread, I see Children of Men is on here tonite so I’ll check it out.
26- Hope you have a nice tv. Check out the cinematography. I loved Michael Cain’s scenes.
jesus h. fuckin’ joseph smith, Jr. christ it musta been a 24/7 mormon-sex palace.
52 wasn’t bad enough?
look what the the state of texas does after 24 hours of talking to the women and girls.
Texas removes 183 women and girls from sect ranch.
these guys are liable to give the catholic priests an even run for their money.
#26 I think you’ll like Children of Men. It’s beautifully done.
Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth were the two best movies of last year, IMHO.
They’re all war mongerers.
It was definitely riveting and the cinematography was great. I suspected that was Michael Cain from the voice. I was surprised to see that it was adapted from a PD James novel. The only ones I’ve read have been mysteries that didn’t border on science fiction at all.
hmmm something about from his dead cold grip?
Charlton Heston died………………………………………………
32. and he didn’t blog……from nytimes article:
“Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.”
dammit, I must been napping when that happened.
good old CH. the straight Michelangelo. Someone peel his fingers from the gun.
Interesting that, according to the WaPo, the family won’t say what killed him.
I suppose Ted Nugent could play at his funeral.
“The actor played the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. ”
and then he lost his mind, I guess.
{waves to catnip} [gets slapped]
am canceling my soylent green order for this week.
Judah Ben-Hur and Messala are fucking in heaven
LOL
I loved the interview with Vidal where he recounted having told Reed that the background to the story was a love affair with Charlton/Ben Hur and to play it that way, but not to tell CH.
What a scream!!
I wonder if there is anyone who’s had more fun than Vidal, grim as it may be. It isn’t often remarked on, but I admire him for taking what cold joy he can from this dismal world.
I know, I really lov him. When he dies I will just go to bed for a few days…
There is a link to a great 1996 Pacifica radio conversation (transcript) between Jerry Brown and Vidal in this post.
Vidal is definitely a rare gem.
Speaking of, I guess everyon saw Vidal’s “eulogy” for Buckley:
Rot in hell, asshole
ooo no I had not seen it.. thanks for that. I waited a bit for one, then thought maybe he was really going to let it go…. for months maybe.
i remember you linking to that transcript earlier, it gave me a lot more appreciation for brown, even given his most recent incarnation as cop-happy oakland mayor.
pity vidal doesn’t get invited on the teevee anymore. sharp wit.
Ride ‘em cowboy:
Okay, first of all, who said those states weren’t important?
Secondly, you still have “Indians” in the US? Who knew?
Obviously pandering to the redneck militia voters.
And then he had a Bush moment:
pity vidal doesn’t get invited on the teevee anymore. sharp wit.
He’s still on Canadian teevee.
Actually catnip all the American Indians I know refer to themselves as Indians, believe it or not. I understand it is very different even jsut across the border in BC.
Ecuador says CIA controls part of its intelligence
48. Ours call themselves ‘first nations’ people now. I’d have to google to find out when that change came about. It wasn’t that long ago.
I was just surprised that Obama even mentioned native American people. They’re so invisible.
btw, text of Obama remarks at the dinner in Missoula, or Butte or whatever.
45
oh yeah Jerry’s a mess. No question he green lighted the rubber bullets at the demonstrators. Just as, IMO, Villaraigosa green lit the MacArthur Park event during the immigration protests and marches.
And these assholes will be with us forever as they square dance their way thru term limits.
Think it was the late 90s when Jerry saw fit to say that the DP was “not the party of black people”. High defensive mode in full action. Not to worry Jerry, ven with Obama in the WH it still won’t be.
what a joke it all is.
51. “And I believe that the United States of America can remain the last, best hope of Earth.”
Oh puhleeze. If that’s the case, we’re all doomed.
Irony. Apparently, there was a stampede when someone yelled ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’
43
Oh I loved it! Esp how hard he hit Newsqueak. They do hve a very tiesome simpering bunch there.
Taibbi goes after Clinton.
It’s an interesting mess. The usual fratboy misogyny that one would expect, and the piece is plastered with Obama ads.
well RS endored Obama in a big Jann Wenner slobber. And, at least from what I read as I did nto go back, they changed the title on an earlier 2007 RS piece on the radical (oh yeah so rad) Wright underpinning of our friend Obama.
I so look forward to the non existant smaller liberal press excusing his bombing blacks, somewhere in Africa, Somalia, Chad, Congo, Niger Delta, Darfur, etc. I so look forward to the “blooding” of the Obama administration.
Not that there is any choice. There is not. When you whittle away the rhetoric, she is selling endurance. He sells sainthood and some odd bloodless recovery for whites.
it is all heinous.
Did the Elites Want MLK Dead–If So, Why?
The Buds of Change
I liked the Counterpunch Cockburn piece on martin, when I read it yesterday… in fact they had several good articles. Also one by Greg Moses.
Obama has a sit down iwht a MT paper… Great Falls Tribune
Still hunting for that Daddy. So damned sick of it.
Dennis Perrin:
8 Year Old Suspended for Sniffing a Magic Marker
I wonder if the next step is putting them in detention if they’re caught spinning around until they’re dizzy?
Nir Rosen makes his last appearance EVER before a congressional committee
Another update on the blocking of “abortion” as a search term on Popline:
So how is blocking that information “mak(ing) sure that all parts of the story are told”? I’m sure that they haven’t erased entries about abstenance “education”.
They don’t want anyone to view it as a medical procedure. It has to be some heavily weighted moral issue. Just as Howard Dean saluted Casey for his “conscience”: Just as Reid, knowing th outcome, advised Democrats in congress to be free to vote “their conscience” as the congress passed a law having to do with one person (Schiavo).
God forbid that reality or science intrude.
Fuck that shit.
I’ve always disliked Sundays and never been able to get to the heart of my gut reaction….it has always seemed to be beyong having to go to work the next day; or late in the evening, if on swing shift.
I’m hoping I can elucidate, if not only to myself, on that gut rumbling, before I leave this plain/plane.
and yes, I DO believe in an asexual God……….
beyond
67
in retrospect, that would be grave shift, not swing……..
It’s been awhile…..
or has it really?
Must now put on James Brown’s Night Train………
After listening to Jose Feliciano sing the fuck out of Sunny
And then Don Mcleans Vincent, and some fine, lesser known pieces……….
leading up to Ms. Simone……..
who gave up the ghost directly after “they” bombed the FUCK OUT OF IRAQ
Health benefits of water wishy-washy. Good to know.
Don Mcleans Vincent,
One of my favourite songs.
shit can’t find the Don McLean, but Fairuz will do just fine…just want to hear another human with a large and beating heart…
kisses to Nepetia catmint, anyone who loves that song, loves kindness………….
Disc 2, Song Seven, on the Nina Anthology:
Why? (the King of Love is Dead)……………..
US soldiers killed in Green Zone
I guess we’ll have to see what shiny, happy Petraeus has to say about that.
DHinMI tries to cast Obama as the new MLK and gets a much-deserved smackdown. The defense from O supporters? Well, you can’t expect a politician to actually have morals now, can you? That would be political suicide.
Btw, Obama’s continual worship of Bush 1 is nauseating.
Softening up torture, the WaPo calls it ‘permissable assaults’. If there’s anyone who rightly deserves the label ‘monster’, it’s John Yoo.
Nina broke just like a little girl?? girlymen?
fockers , kiss my asssssssss until you want to start dealing with the reality and responsibility of being a human being……………a human being with the capacity to effect change for the better………..
….funkier than a mosquitos tweeter….ya got a mouth like a herd of bollweevils
Nina trumped all ya’ll murderous fuckers………….
nothin worse than an educated fool…….same ole game……
John Yoo
The powers that be (sodomizers of pre-adolescents) in the US have, with focused intent, imported and enlisted tortured minds from tortured landscapes (John Yoo) to promote merciless torture and murder upon the world at large……..in the same manner that US corporations have imported slave labor from third world countries, under the auspices of philanthropy, to cripple U.S. rank and file citizens who weren’t on board with thier hideous hubris and greed.
A pyramid game that will end in dust.
if your house is built on quicksand…..ya’ll better correct it before going off to foreign lands to “help” them……..
Sorry, but that “smackdown” of DHinMi is missing, tossed down the Memory Hole. I clicked on the link and got nothing.
via the beautiful Nina Simone, I am reminded of the beautiful Judy Collins……..….across the morning sky…..all the birds are leaving….how can they know…. that it’s time for them to go?……
breaking from CNN:
“The chief strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Mark Penn, is giving up that post, the campaign says.”
interesting it is reported as “the campaign says.”
like it might not be true.
maybe a presser where Hillary says I don’t agree with what he is doing, but I can no more distance myself from him than I could distance myself from anyone else from my husband’s team.
Hillary of Arc=French Toast
Rest in Peace…and FOREVERMORE ….Ms. Nina Simone..passed from this earth April 21, 2003, after living it to the fullest….and, will live on forevermore………….
I watched Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County USA over the weekend. (Haven’t seen American Dream yet but I assume it’s continuing the themes that were shown in the last 15 minutes of Harlan County). I came away from the movie feeling like you could pretty much divide Americans into two camps… those who would feel they had some kind of personal connection to the protagonists of the film, and those who would think it was just a good documentary about dirty men and women with bad teeth and a penchant for endless folk tunes. As my dad was formerly an auto worker who experienced a lot of the frustrations expressed by the miners in the last section of the film, and because I grew up with union literature all over my house and hearing the word “contract” used endlessly, I guess I fall into the former category.
It’s strange going on Daily Kos occasionally and reading some of the more innocently arrogant (and painfully earnest) diaries about canvassing in places like Pennsylvania among those tired old working-class folk who don’t seem to have Hope or don’t seem to trust the HopeBearer, Obama himself. I doubt a lot of the young’uns have seen any of Kopple’s films but I would hope if they watched Harlan County they would shut up and listen rather than immediately deciding that those pore unedgercated folks are just in the grip of Fear and don’t know how to Choose Hope.
I wonder if they even know what fear or hope means…
File under: Cultural Divide, and Failure to Communicate.
NYCO NYCO NYCO
You are reading way too much into the votes of older poorer white Democrats in states like Ohio, thru Appalachia, coal country and of course, older white women in NH esp (they be nearly witches) and so on.
They are racists. I am sure if you read MSM more faithfully and were cued to the undertone you would understand this…
These people are refusing to fall in line as did IOWA voters. Obviously there is something wrong with them. There is no other answer.
[that was sarcasm]
You’re not alone NYCO, not that you don’t know, just to reinforce in ugly times.
89. Well, again, I wish anyone who thinks it’s all about racism would just watch Kopple’s film and realize that the union movement was just about the only context in which blacks and whites were mixing in eastern Kentucky (i.e., “Hick Central”) in the early 1970s. They’d get an eyeful. It may not have been a completely free mixing, but it was a hell of a lot better I dare say than many other “progressive” environments in the country back then, particularly the anti-Vietnam movement.
And this is the environment that a lot of Obama-nonenthusiasts come from, or their parents came from. A paradox. But try explaining that to some of the DKos diarists who’ve got it all figured out.
Oh, and as for older white women, they’re pretty much the heroes of Harlan County USA… how did it happen that they are now considered throwaways or obstacles in the New Shiny Democratic Party?
I still don’t really know why they’d prefer Hillary Clinton, to be honest; but I can understand why they’re not overly impressed with Obama. I suppose Obama could fix that if he stressed his organizing background, but I don’t know if he has enough time.
What’s telling about some of these diaries about canvassing in PA is that the Obama people keep running into voters who don’t want to talk to them. They aren’t arguing; they just don’t want to engage. That to me is indicative of a serious gap that defies easy shoeboxing. I also think Democratic turnout in a lot of these swing states is going to be really low come November.
NYCO
it’s painful to tell the truth ….but incredibly liberating….have AT Hon……………..
Also, something I felt I had to muse on after watching the film… maybe Americans can be grouped along the lines of “How many generations separated are you from bullets and billy clubs at your place of work or school?” I can’t say I’m particularly close… although my dad once brought home a union campaign button that had a bullet hole through it (probably done in some drunk joker’s back yard), so maybe that counts.
afterthought here….I agree with you NYCO…just in case my words were unclear…I believe it’s most important to let others know where you stand………………
from the gut………
it certainly does count NYCO!
Indulge me as I make one more post about Harlan County USA…
There is just no way Kopple could have made this movie in 2008, even if there were any actual strikes left to cover. She would not have been allowed near such picket lines. She would not have been able to get away with “Oh, I’ve misplaced my media credential too” when confronted by a heavy who claimed not to have his ID on him when she challenged him. She certainly would not have been allowed to film the picket line that took place on Wall Street in the film (nor would the picket line have been allowed to occur). She would have been censured for showing a piece of brain on a sidewalk and she would have been criticized for showing a mother wailing rawly over her dead son in an open casket. And if she had somehow managed to film any of it, her film would have been confiscated.
It’s like this movie took place in a different fucking universe… and yet, that is the very universe that a lot of these Mystery Voters with Something Wrong With Them grew up in, or their parents grew up in. But no, they’re just dead-enders who need to be lifted from their ignorance and fed the Good News.
And then the whole digital-freedom anti-DMCA generation (I call them the BoingBoingueoisie) likes to squawk in eye-bulging bloggy outrage about not having any rights or protections to take photographs of buildings, or film demonstrations, or put up stupid movie publicity items that look sort of like explosive devices… wow, all this freedom they’re losing, yet no evidence that they would actually do anything genuinely liberating with it.
Which oddly enough, is the same feeling I have about our two stalwart Democratic candidates.
ha it may be the last time (james brown) …believe me I don’t want to be alone……….. when you’re all alone…and ya jus wanna talk on the telephone…..the operator says just signal when your through please……………………………………………………..I gotta scream……it may be the last time……shake hands with your best friend ……you might not ever see them again……..sorry I gotta go……lord have mercy……..;0)
peel the flesh back and it’s all bleeding and pink and holds hope out for love and kindness……..
hard to get to in these times…………….
A lot of what is being said nline (and offline of course, as online are parrots) was also said, with some variation, when his district resolutely sent Jefferson back to congress.
Black New Orleanians signed on at the blogs, whites, bloggers of all colors… to explain to the Boyos who “just did not understand”.
People explained they knew Jefferson, knew all about the 90k … it got esp heated at MYdd a Tim Tagaris was posting there and we all know what an elections hero he is (I amsure he never utters “Pennachio” any more, LOL) and he had been down there working for … think her name was Betty Carter.
People explained how it works in NO, that Jefferson at least had a seat on Ways and Means, Katrina was in their laps and if one were honest, all Carter wanted was to take over the payola train. Nothing more.
The Boyos all but said, can you low information voters not get it? Fuck you.. we even ran a black for you… well fuck you and your mother too. Drown down there.
84. Hmm, it works for me.
nu thread…
LINK
8)
Fock em
……the wheels of justice run slow but so fockin fine and smooth……..
attribution – humankind who actually believe in, and will Die For kindness and Love versus the lifeboat where some asshole whacks the friend they’ve known from childhood over the head with the oar because they want to survive…..for what .. you pitiful FOOL?
98. I’d like to see a definition of “low information voters”. Exactly what kind of information are they supposedly missing and what makes a “high information voter” (a term I’ve never actually seen used) the paragon of all things acceptable or necessary in politics?
this line from taibbi is fucking bullshit:
iraq has about 30 million people. it’s not “tiny.” iraq used to be one of the mkst technologically adept countries in the middle east, and only now has no plumbing because we bombed the water treatment centers, starved the country with sanctions, denied then chlorine or replacement parts with which to rebuild their water treatment plants, bombed the place again, and have been doing everything we can to privatise the infrastructure that we don’t demolish for the past 5 years you ignorant jackass.
iraq wasn’t a threAt because they had no interest in attacking us. just because the country’s in ruins from decades of collective punishment doesn’t mean they didn’t have sewage and plumbing before we destroyed it.
fucking americans, no fucking grasp that people in non-european countries are human beings, much less human beings who developed urban centers going back millennia. and no goddamn recognition of what american bombs and sanctions do to people.