Something To Think About...

Updated to reflect that the link to The Great Dictator only has the first half of the movie.

The Great Dictator was filmed in 1940, before the United States got dragged into World War II. The "Jewish Barber" -- played by Chaplin -- is virtually a twin to Adenoid Hynkle, the Dictator. Through the convoluted circumstances that are Chaplin's trademark, the Barber is mistaken for Hynkle, and must make a speech to his assembled troops. The final speech should be as famous and as well-known as the Gettysburg Address, King's "I have a dream", and Kennedy's Inaugural Address... but it isn't...

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness - not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

 

A few days ago, I mentioned Paulette Goddard, the second most beautiful woman on earth, after the lovely yet talented Mrs618. I told you that she co-starred with Charlie Chaplin in both Modern Times and The Great Dictator.

Modern Times (the full movie): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zod87mGlIWs

The Great Dictator (full movie, first half, but with Czech subtitles...): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZAuiTIhSlc

 

 



And a bonus picture of the lovely yet talented Miss Goddard, from Modern Times:

Gimme That Old Time Music - Bonus

An extra piece... an old Shaker hymn, suggested by a post at Mustang Bobby's.

Enjoy.

... And maybe even learn...

Happy Leftovers Day!!!

Now comes the best part of the holiday season... all those yummy leftovers!  And one of the very best ways of disposing of leftover turkey is on a sandwich with fresh ground black pepper and apple butter (instead of mayo). The apple butters moistens the turkey, but also gives it a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg kick.

And remember, there are plenty of Americans -- AMERICANS!! -- in the same position as these kids, so be grateful for what you have. And maybe if you have a dollar or an hour (and a conscience), help those less fortunate than you.



... And for the totally useless 1%...

Screw you.

Happy Thanksgiving... And Some Old Time Music...

I'm going to be hellaciously busy tomorrow, so I'm going to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, safe, and healthy Thanksgiving.

For the folks who are working tomorrow -- the cops, firefighters, EMS personnel, toll collectors, cab drivers, radio announcers, c-store crews, Wal Mart folks, tech support staff -- well...

THANK YOU!

And if any of my readers are Red Cross volunteers and you get called out tomorrow to help some family whose Thanksgiving was suddenly destroyed by a house fire or flood or something, a very special thank you, and a "stay safe."

See you all on Friday.

Fresh Mushrooms...

As Saint Ronnie said, "well, there you go again..."

The rethuglicans are returning to one of their previous, less-than-stellarly-successful campaigns. I saw an ad on YouTube, decrying the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran, culminating with the ominous warning that if we don't stop Obama now, we'll have a mushroom cloud next week.

Apparently, the best way to prevent a nuclear (or as they pronounce it, "nukuler") holocaust is to... nuke Iran.

How long has that meme been floating around?

Since friggin' 1980!

Miscellaneous Musings and Random Ratiocinations...

Despite the fact that he was a RWNJ in the mold of Alexander Haig, Darth Cheney and few others, the late novelist Tom Clancy was a helluva storyteller. One of his most endearing (not) techniques was to take the proclivities of the conservatives, and transfer them to liberals. I just finished Locked On, currently the penultimate novel in the Jack Ryan/John Clark series.  Here are some of the things the libruls did, in an effort to oppress the innocent conservatives:

• Out a (former) CIA operative -- John Clark -- for purely political purposes (attempting to prevent the re-election of Jack Ryan as POTUS);
• Use federal law enforcement resources for purely partisan political reasons;
• Assist Islamist terrorists in avoiding justice;
• Use CIA personnel in domestic operations, targeting American nationals.

Of course, Clancy also reprised most of his other favorite themes: the violence inherent in Islam (which, based on current behavior, may not be all that farfetched); the portrayal of Islamists as deluded, ignorant buffoons (despite their having acquired and deployed nuclear weapons in at least three of his novels); the infallibility of the conservative viewpoint, and the concomitant inevitable failure of the liberals; and the belief that violence cures all ills.

Every once in a while, his lack of attention to continuity sticks out like a sore thumb. In The Sum of All Fears, Charles Alden was in the State Department,National Security Advisor and was instrumental in the initial stages of a brokered peace in the Middle East; in the later stories, however, those featuring Jack Ryan, Jr., Alden is a venal, corrupt (liberal) political appointee in the CIA.

Another drawback to Clancy's later novels is his use of the deus ex machina of a secret, extra-governmental agency to protect America (not unlike the Men In Black franchise).

And don't get me started on the lunacy of casting Ben Affleck in the movie version of The Sum of All Fears.

Michael Vick: Why Doesn't He Just DIE?!?

First it was Whoopi Goldberg supporting Michael Vick (saying that dog fighting was accepted in his culture). Now, Chris Rock and Jay Leno both have come out in support of Vick, with Rock saying, "Dogs have never been good to black people!" which might have something to do with the fact that so many blacks like to... umm, beat, torture, electrocute, drown and otherwise MURDER dogs?

Going back to the point I made in the linked article, since dog fighting was acceptable in their culture, maybe we should return to another culturally acceptable pastime: lynching these worthless pieces of shit.

Screw Chris Rock for being a worthless piece of shit, and for supporting another worthless piece of shit.

And for that matter, screw the human chin for supporting TWO worthless pieces of shit.

Dog fighting -- or animal abuse in general -- is NEVER culturally acceptable.

Never.

Screw Vick, Rock, and Leno.

What Attaturk Says...

"When Charles Manson is the SANE half of the couple, that's not a good sign."

Sweet baby Jeebus.

Gimme That Old Time Music

No drugs involved in this one.

None.

At all.

Gimme That Old Time Music

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy...

These guys do one helluva show... although the second time we saw them (in Manchester, NH), their amps were turned up WAY too loud.

At Least I'm Not Alone...

D r i f t g l a s s has a post up that describes my own situation almost perfectly, except for gender and lack of MIT credentials. Of course, the same can be said by countless thousands -- if not millions -- across the country.

Ms. Barrington-Ward, D r i f t g l a s s, Jurassic Pork, and yr humble and obt svt are all in the same boat: unemployed for so long that we're now unemployable, with credit scores that have been "sledgehammered," in JP's words.

I tell you, if there is reincarnation, I don't want to come back and be a nice guy all over again. I did that this time around, and I have nothing to show for it. Next time, I want to be a mean, miserable, nasty SOB... with lots of money.

It SUCKS to be in this situation. And to the jerkwads who say it's our fault, fine. Let's trade places. You take our cushy, lazy-ass lifestyles, and try to feed your families.

And we'll piss all over you.

Sanctimonious assholes.

Gimme That Old Time Music

Yes, Maya Caballero. Again.


I like her music.

She has an album out on BandCamp (http://mayacaballero.bandcamp.com/). Is it still an "album" if it's digital?

Oh, the piece above is not on the album, I simply like it.

Gimme That Old Time Music (That I) Heard Around the Barn...

A couple of weeks ago, two big bales of marijuana washed ashore at Jamison's Cove. Since it was tidal water, we had to notify the Marine Patrol and the Coast Guard.

Well, before either of the law enforcement agencies could get there, the bales were discovered by our local seagulls.

By the time the cops arrived....

.... wait for it....

There was no tern left un-stoned.

 

 

And in honor of our stoned gulls:

 



"If You've Got Nothing to Hide..."

One of the more conservative medical bloggers -- whom I will not link to because he's such a dyed-in-the-wool-right-wing whackjob (but also a helluva medic) -- was bitching about the TSA.

BillyJoeBobBubba "forgot" to remove live ammunition from his bags before heading to the airport to board a plane, and was complaining about the search that ensued.

This from one of those "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about" types. It was HIS philosophical cronies, after all, who established the TSA (and the rest of DHS) and rammed it down our throats.

Apparently, the fact that they searched a white man instead of a scary brown Moozlum is, well... intolerable.

Got news for ya, Bubba: you're the ones screaming that everybody should be armed, so it makes sense that you're the ones who should pay the price when your gun mania gets you in hot water. You're the ones who say "security trumps everything else", including Fourth Amendment freedoms. You're the ones who demanded the PATRIOT Act. You're the ones who supported the establishment of the American version of the Gestapo. You're the ones who insisted -- screechingly -- that TSA damn near strip search everyone within 5 miles of an airplane.

You wanted it, BillyJoeBobBubba, and you got it. Now YOU get to live with it, too, just like the rest of us.

Moronic redneck LOSER.

Gimme That Old Time Music...

Someone sent me a link to a Justin Bieber video.

Someone who has obviously done more drugs than the Stones, the Beatles, and the Dead.  Combined.

Bieber, fergodsake.  "Simpering saccharine soul-less slush" indeed.

Oh, Fercrissakes...

As Chief Curt Varone* says, "You can't make this stuff up"...

Ohio [was] set to execute a convicted child killer after denying the man's last-minute request to donate organs to his ailing mother and sister before he dies.
[Convicted baby-raping murderer Ronald] Phillips has said through his attorneys that the request was not a delay tactic, but rather an attempt to make a final gesture for good.

 This is the latest chapter in the saga of Ronald Phillips, who in January 18, 1993, murdered his girlfriend's daughter, three-year-old Sheila Marie Evans, at her home in Akron. Phillips had been sexually and physically abusing Sheila for some time. Phillips severely beat Sheila in the head, face and abdomen, threw her against the walls, dragged her by her hair and anally raped her.

Phillips probably figured he could donate his organs, and then claim his physical health prohibited execution. Variations on this tactic include, just before one's scheduled execution, half-assed suicide attempts, assaults resulting in hospitalization, and a few other more creative things.

His attorney said:

"He's been very reflective and prayerful over the last several weeks. I think he was very hopeful that he was going to be granted clemency and/or get relief from the court, so this never really had to come to a head," Sweeney said. "The disappointment on those fronts made this obviously more relevant."

That, of course, makes all the difference: "Ah have found Jee-zuss, and He has forgiven me, so now y'all gotta let me outa here. Hey, y'all need a babysitter?"

It's the same crap we get from the "family values" crowd when they get caught with their pants down (literally).

BUT.....

Republican Gov. John Kasich rescheduled 40-year-old Ronald Phillips' lethal injection to July 2, falling for the "I got religion" ploy just like every other Xristian Xrazy.

As a result, the "law and order" party is allowing a baby-raping murderer to escape the punishment decided by a jury of his peers. Just goes to show, moreover, that their "right to life" stance ends at birth.

Be interesting to see what happens in July, whether the BABY-RAPING MURDERER pulls another fast one out of his ass, and manages to avoid the same death sentence he handed to his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter. 

Oh, he was also claiming that lethal injection would have been cruel and unusual punishment because he was "afraid of needles"... just as Sheila was probably afraid of this needle-dicked dink.

Hey, Phillips: DIE. Slowly, painfully, screaming in agony. DIE, you baby-raping murderous maggot.

________________________
* I am NOT implying, in any way, shape, or form, that Chief Varone agrees with any of the opinions expressed in this blog. I am merely quoting one of his tags, which I adopted: "YCMTSU."

So, There I Was, Balancing My Checkbook...

 

 

My bank is too big to fail because of all my overdraft charges....

 

Yes, I had to learn "New Math" in school.

 

 

 

And for the kids who have never heard of Professor Lehrer, here's an entire concert from Copenhagen

Gimme That Old Time Music

Dawn Wells... one of the prettiest women on earth... after the lovely yet talented Mrs618 and Paulette Goddard.

 

 

 

 

You know what always amazed me? The Professor could build an entire rock band (as in this clip), or make a radio from two cocoanuts, and the whole crew could build a village...

...but no one could patch the damned Minnow???

Oh, and just how many bags did everyone pack for that three-hour tour?!? I don't think I ever saw a character wear the same outfit twice.

___________

Oh, and for the kids who don't know Paulette Goddard:

She was one of Charlie Chaplin's many wives, appearing with him in Modern Times and The Great Dictator. She was also considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind, but Vivien Leigh won that role.

Another shot of the lovely yet talented Ms. Goddard:

 

 

Maybe it's just me, but I think she looks a lot like Elizabeth Short (a/k/a the "Black Dahlia"):

 



Ooooh, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise...

Fat little murderer Georgie "Porky" Zimmerman stiffed his attorneys!

Porky, who has managed to evade a murder conviction thanks to Florida's Make My Day Law, has since attracted even more attention from the po-po, including numerous traffic stops where he asks if the cop recognizes him from TV. Personally, if I were still a cop, I might be tempted to view that as a threat: "I've killed before and gotten away with it..."

Now, he's managed to get in trouble yet again. After showing up at the home of his estranged wife, Shellie "I've never met a dessert I didn't like" Zimmerman, with a gun, his attorney told the court that he would no longer represent the fat little turdball.

Because the fat little turdball has yet to pay his attorney.

This is despite his legal defense having pulled in more than $300,000 (as of January).

The money went for things like bail (which, having been returned upon his acquittal, should have gone back into the pot), private security (gun nut doesn't want to be approached by someone who may be...well, armed? ... and who might fear Porky? ... and who might shoot his pudgy little ass? ... and then claim he was "standing his ground'?), and -- last but certainly least -- almost $62,000 for eight months of living expenses. That means, for 12 months of living expenses, Quick-Draw Gonzalez would need about $93,000. Ninety-three thousand dollars. Burritos must be awfully expensive in his neck of the woods.

Now, all of those contributions to the Ruger Bandito came from fellow gun nuts, militia members, racists, and other typical redneck scum.

Be interesting to see what they do to Turdball when they finally figure out that HE SCREWED THEM ROYALLY.

Nice knowin' ya, turdball. Not.

Haz-Mat... It's No Laughing Matter...

Well, yes, yes it is.

Sometimes.

This just showed up on Facebook, from one of the emergency management types:

This ranks right up there with the "Pink Shirt Guy"

 

 

HE shows up in just about every Haz-Mat PowerPoint I've ever seen.  Although, to be fair to PSG, if the crew is going to be taping their boots and gloves and wearing respirators, they should probably have their hoods on too.*

 

 

 

*Not that I have any haz mat training above awareness level. I simply use the rule of thumb: if I'm close enough so that I can't cover the entire scene with my thumb... I'm too freakin' close!!