Opera Glasses and Popcorn
Guatemala City, Guatemala: Vultures are perched on top of graves at the municipal cemetery – Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters
Or, it looks like they are waiting…
* * * * * *
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
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.
Marisacat 
Madman comment from the end of he last thread:
Recovery Begins When Addiction Ends: An Open Letter to Jamie Dimon
By the Alternative Banking Working Group of Occupy Wall Street
Mike Whitney writes about the plan to kick Greece out of the Eurozone.
I’m not so sure there is such a plan, though no doubt the EU is pulling all the stops to threaten Greece with financial Armageddon, or at least get Syriza to play ball. They count on the 70% of Greeks that say they want to stay in the Euro.
I’m also not sure it’s “endgame” yet. Philip Pilkington suggests it’s just one more revolution around the porcelain fixture.
I do think its coming though. EFSF funds can be used to bail out banks or bail out the government. Now that there’s a pretty steady drain on cash out of banks, the more that’s siphoned off to shore up capital requirements, the less that can be used to pay the Greek Government’s bills. I don’t know where the breaking point is, but its out there.
One thing that I don’t hear much commentary about, is WHY Greeks don’t want to leave the Euro. I don’t think its much about any affection for the EU as it is about most citizens having no protection against the massive immediate devaluation. For example, a labor union might get wage increases equal to the inflation rate tied to the Euro, but that won’t cover inflation due to leaving the Euro. Pensioners are in the same boat, as are any businesses contracting with the government. Rich people can buy stocks or spirit their money out, but that’s the 1%.
This is why money is disappearing from banks. You can’t have virtual Euros – stuff that can get forcibly converted to Drachmas at your loss – when the devaluation hits, you have to keep the hard stuff.
So the public now thinks it’s over, and it probably is, but who knows how many governments Greece will cycle through before the end.
I think I’m going to research a longer piece along these lines this weekend. I’ll let you know when its done.
Yes please! Post with a link and snip when it is up….
And somehow i never made it to Cpunch all week… time to drop in… 😉
What we teach children about police
wellll we have been told now for several months, it has been a chosen mantra of this latest Lifetime movie in FL, the conversation that black and brown parents have wtih their children about cops. Maybe it was news to some..
ANY white parent who does not have a well informed sit down with their children is an idiot. Was, is, and will be.
Just because it is worse now, does not mean it was ever good, the policeman was not your friend. He might be depending on circmstances – and if you are lucky….. it was always hit or miss, depending on the cop you ran into.
Was just having a conversation with my newly minted 13-year-old yesterday:
“If you get arrested for any reason, just say, I want a lawyer/my mom”. Say nothing else. At all. Even if you have done nothing wrong. Treat police with respect, but know your rights at all times.”
Too true….
Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud
ugh I am so worried he will squeak thru.
me too, they’re flatout making up unemployment numbers, with the local paper changing stories and headlines to match the campaign here in Milwaukee. LOTS of money pouring in from wingers/big bidness all over the place, and the donks as a party are nearly as clueless here as they are locally. Oh, and the DNC apparently is being tightfisted with money to help.
The Righties just bluntly say the DNC has pulled out. A few weeks ago the triumphalism on the Right side seemed a bit nervous, but lately it is very assured. They expect to win – no question…
I think Obbie wants to run against Walker, or something. Hell, I don’t know.
I had not thought of that… but sure, I could see that.
People here need to tell the party to go fuck itself. Half of the Senate recalls have been pursued despite the donk party, and the recall against Walker went forward despite the party as well … they wanted to postpone the filing to time it to the fall election.
Oh I so agree…. in most states…but esp in WI. Such a long sustained struggle and for the party to be cheap and churlish… I hope it is a big mistake.
There’s still time for that General Strike. Sorry I can’t bus in and join you.
National Lawyers Guild Condemns Preemptive Police Raids & Unlawful Searches
ugh I think they do whatever they want… and the NLG is but a small dam against it being worse. They at leeast document…
Between Immigracion and the many levels of the drug wars, then the Age of Terror, we are in deep trouble.
ugh speaking f that sort of thing… I saw this over at Talk Left (she links back to the SL Trib):
Eventually they will have all surveillance everywhere….
Can this get more boring? I guess it can. Yes yes thank you Cornell. So. great. of. you.
(banging head against brick wall)
he’s just racist /obama fanboy>
I’m pretty sure that expecting self-absorbed predators to “evolve” after you give them your blessing for being exactly that is a really, really bad strategy, Cornell.
Nice crocodile tears, though. Maybe you can squeeze another book out of it.
He s so dreary. If it is not Cornel, then it is Tavis, if not Tavis then the Dyson rambler.
We have equal opportunity jerk offs. The line-up of whties is long.
One of the times I was hassled coming back intothe US… and held for ove an hour, three absolute tubs of lard I mean wider than they were tall! Not chubby not plump, not even just old fashioned fat, presided over me. a White an Asian and a Black. I dubbed it Equal Opp SLoth.
The real reason these wankers are unhappy is because they thought they’d get cushy gigs from Hopey after they worked so valiantly on burnishing his rep, but of course he’s far too “post racial” to be seen doing that sort of thing.
Miles Davis turned to Nancy Reagan and said…
LOL
THE SHOWS:
–NBC’s “Meet the Press“: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL); Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI); roundtable with Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Republican strategist Mike Murphy, CNBC’s Jim Cramer and the Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strassel
–ABC’s “The Week“: Speaker John Boehner (R-OH); House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); roundtable with ABC News’ George Will, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, political strategist Matthew Dowd, syndicated radio show host Laura Ingraham and Current TV host Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)
–CBS’s “Face the Nation“: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); foreign policy roundtable with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, CBS News’ Clarissa Ward and Sen. Graham; political roundtable with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell and CBS News’ John Dickerson
–“Fox News Sunday“: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and former Obama White House Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee; roundtable with the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), former Bush White House senior adviser Karl Rove and former Howard Dean presidential campaign manager and Democratic consultant Joe Trippi
–CNN’s “State of the Union” (SUN 9am ET / 12pm ET): Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX); Obama campaign senior strategist David Axelrod; RNC Chairman Reince Priebus; roundtable with CNN’s Dana Bash and the New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny; NATO Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen
–CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS Live“: (SUN 10am ET / 1pm ET): Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti; Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini; New York Times columnist Paul Krugman
–CNN’s “Reliable Sources“: (SUN 11am ET): Roundtable with the National Review’s Ramesh Ponuru, RealClearPolitics.com’s Erin McPike and Newsweek / Daily Beast columnist John Avlon; USA Today president and publisher Larry Kramer; former Daily Show producer Mike Rubens
–C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30pm ET): FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, questioned by Communications Daily’s Jonathan Make. “Newsmakers” (SUN 10am ET / 6pm ET): Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), questioned by the New York Times’ Binyamin Appelbaum and the National Journal’s Major Garrett. “Q&A” (SUN 8pm ET / 11pm ET): Author Robert Caro (“The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power”) (part two of two).
so bad. so so so bad.
Scott Walker Cornered — Criminal Defense Fund Reveals Answers
Oh just lovely.
I’m just amazed how little effect all of these revelations have had on his supporters.
Politics now is a complete cult of personality. Like being a Mickey Mouse Club member. It s utterly disgusting.
Did Newsweek really just declare Hopey the “First Gay President” ?
…
Where are Silber and IOZ when you need them? I’m fighting back some serious fucking nausea here.
Wasn’t that astonising? And a slobber piece by Sully, cabana boy extraordinaire. Even if it was a ‘change the subject’ play it was massive weird overkill.
yup, complete tribal thing
Be sure and wear your mouse ears to show your support. It really is down to that…
hmmm I almost did not read this as in the opening graf the writer says he voted for Jerry here in Cali and is disappointed (call an ambulance! Hankies at the ready…) but then he goes on to touch on WI and Slobby and and and….
Here is a snip from the grafs on WI:
This dipshit seriously wants to know why Obama does what he does?
Uh, because he knows you’ll still vote for him no matter what he does, you moron. So will every last backstabbed Dem in WI, most likely.
P.S.- I just saw the Wash Post article from 5/8 in which a “top rated” commenter blames Occupy for “sullying” the reputation of the Democrats and depriving them of a movement to coalesce behind or some shit like that.
I desperately need some of what the average Democrat smokes.
I think they smoke some sort of Nader weed!
😉
:p Oh, silly me. I thought Occupy was deliberately trying to avoid yoking itself to any one person’s political fortunes. I thought they/we were all on communal weed. Locally sourced, of course.
[toke]
I seriously think it’s a strategic decision for the election in the fall. Obby’s campaign thinks they will benefit if people are still pissed off. I think on the other hand that a lot of people will say “fuck it” and drop out, and the rest that stay motivated will turn hard against the democrats as being ineffectual.
The election is his to lose, and that means he can deliberately shit all over an entire state and its people just to score a couple of moral points sometime before November.
So typical. What a fucking asshole. How did this guy ever pass himself off as a fucking “community activist”? It’s been clear for ages that he loathes true “community activism” and the people involved in it. He doesn’t respect them, doesn’t trust them, doesn’t understand them.
He’s not their friend. Never was.
Stupid white people and gullible church-slap-happy black people. The biggest thing Slobby did was kill “racist” of having even a shred of meaning anymore. So I guess he wins for “post racial”.
‘Course I am re watching The Wire… LOL on disc one season one.
It’s been clear for ages that he loathes true “community activism”
oh but we live in the era when the Democratic party is happy to push Sharpton as a professor emeritus of activism. A man who works for whoever pays him… an operative of the Dems, no prob!, An operative paid by Roger Stone to trash the Dem conv in 2004, no prob!!
It is all so fucked up. They all so deserve each other. The pity is they all take a Fleet Enema on the rest of us (think I stole that from Last Exit to Brooklyn!)
People should “drop out” withhold the vote. Only thing that works.
NATO protests in Chicago: Police van drives into protesters, web video reporters detained, held at gunpoint (photos+video)
UPDATE: CNN Confirms Nat’l Guard on ‘Stand-by’ in Chicago
oh thank you for posting that… sorry it was snagged in Mod for a bit…
oh and
Let’s remember this is a BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO state, Blooooooooooo mayor and Bloooooooooooooo Governor. Home of our very own Black Lincoln.
(and fuck them all)
and current uber-donklephant mayor, don’t forget.
who thinks protesters are Palestinians and Arabs (in his mind).
I went to Google News and I see print stories began coming in on the injuries and whathaveyous about and hour and a half ago…
Chicago Indymedia has some good info up now.
I saw that wretched AP excuse for “coverage” a couple of days ago (buried on Page 3 of the Boregonian, which really needs to be put to sleep at this point) and almost laughed out loud. I especially loved their dogged refusal to call the vets who threw their military directions at NATO by the proper term. Instead these extreeeeeeeeme offenders against the State were “people in military costume” or something like that. Also, they mentioned twice in a three-paragraph article that all those protesters extreeeeeeeme protesters were in extreeeeeeeeeeme black regalia. Like the police weren’t, I suppose.
I can deal with quasi-journalistic fuckery, but does it have to be so
half-assed, so thuddingly transparent? It’s like they don’t even try anymore…
You don’t understand! It is just so hard to write with your knees, when still wearing the kneepads. Spare a moment to feel for the reporters!!
(snicker)
In other news, Slob short notice canceled his am event a fundraising breakfast in Palo Alto set for 8 AM tomorrow. Supposedly to gin up support with the “Asian and Pacific Islander” crowd. Somehow I bet “crowd” is the not the right word.
He IS keeping to an event in a private Atherton home this evening… and a later threee tiered event at the renovated old Fox Theatre in Redwood City.
whoopee, he leaves sooner than originally planned…
Gambling in Casablanca… 😆
WashPo
Wow… No Shit! How hard is it to see what is happening?
Zenga, much chatted about in SF and much touted a few months ago upon its IPO, kept Facebook company on its inaugural day and lost too.
😆
🙄
I’m forced to “invest” all my surplus [snerk] income in the stockholders of various archaic medical interests.
Tell Zucker-kins to go hit them up for a few bucks. Ppphht.
I have to laugh at people who felt “lucky” to get online and buy a few shares… at this point all they really can do is hold them and hope at sometime in the future… etcetera!
Well, they are lucky to feel they have a long-term future, or at least the idea of one.
Some of us feel like the evidence points in another direction. :p
I think the future looks positively terrifying…
Five Arrested As Occupiers in MN Successfully Defend Home from Second Eviction Attempt
In debate, Barrett says Walker purposely divided state
Did you watch the debate?
I noticed a polll the other day, I forget whose, and the pt spread between the two seemed large….
I watched some of it, but Walker’s absolute refusal to answer anything directly just got exhausting, so I didn’t get through the whole thing. Barrett put up a much better fight than he did in the last campaign. He’s really hammering Walker on the out-of-state money thing.
Polls after the debate are showing a dead heat, with Walker in a slight lead within the margin of error. That poll that showed the wide gap last week was done by Marquette’s law school … it’s sample was skewed heavily towards Republicans (compared even towards Marquettes own sampling for earlier polls) and conducted in Republican-leaning areas.
It’s all going to come down to turnout. From what I understand, the last several elections showed wide swings in the turnout of Democratic Party voters, so “likely voters” might not be an easy thing to define.
There is some hope that the Senate recalls will be successful, and one of the protest leaders, Mahlon Mitchell, is running against the Lt. Gov (who’s WI’s version of Michelle Bachman … a complete anti-abortion loon).
I
oh good to know the polling pulled up for Barrett… I will keep my fingers crossed then…. It’s not over yet… 😉
there was similar polling and reporting before the petition drive was completed, that they were falling short, etc, which all fell apart at the end.
I’m choosing to believe that the early polling stories and other reports were just a PR campaign in support of Walker.
I’m choosing to believe that the early polling stories and other reports were just a PR campaign in support of Walker
Yeah so common… OK! I am back on the HOPE wagon, for this one!
😉
yeah, if only to avoid that little extra bit of gloom that comes with contemplating that asshole winning. I’ll deal with that if it happens.
I cannot tell you how sickened I was when Arnold won… and i held no hope for the feckless Democrats – even in this state where they have numerical power they are merely handmaidens to conservative power and game the people … but oh it was AWFUL. AND the bitch with him.
Greenwald: The Authoritarian Mind
the post before it on the Imperial mind is good, too.
check out this photo:
Global Solidarity Events Today in NYC
oh that is stunning!!
This brings to mind the thought of Hitler stating his disgust with Japan for the Bataan death march: Netanyahu ‘revolted’ by Assad’s massacre of 108 in Houla
I read a few weeks ago that Bibi’s father was an extreme extreme right wing… he considered Irgun and … oh I forget the oher well known Israeli gang but the era of Begin and Shamir as paramilitary gangsters… he considered them pussy cats who barely got the job done.
I am really sick of the ISreali /US /Jewish wars. Which we relish.
STERN gang was the other one…
OH!! I knew the Hitler reference reminded me of soemthing… you should have heard the ex Cubans in this area, screaming as Castro’s daughter was invited to participate in a medical panel here last week… her speciality is LGBT medical care. A Cuban spokes man said that “Castro was a worse human rights abuser than Hitler”.
😆
Knocked that out of the park! We must invade and immediately check for ovens!
outrage is almost always so selective, and political, especially when it comes from authoritarians.
Quebeckers take to the streets with pots and pans: a charivari
Beautiful video at the link.
i think that is so smart….lots of women in Italy came out to the streets with pots, pans and spoons against Berlusconi…
New
LINK
…………….. 🙄