“Beware of the leader who bangs the drums of WAR in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind….the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.”
- Julius Caesar
Filed under Chastise Man, John McCain, Philosophy, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, War by 
A jerk and a bigot
Eddie Burke is a local Anchorage shock-jock wanna-be with a radio show mislabeled as “smart radio”. In reality Eddie Burke is apparently little more than a foul-mouthed, small-minded right-wingtip idiot. But I don’t want to sound biased. Let’s look at the evidence.
We begin with a small group of Alaskan women “talking over coffee” about the political goings-on in their state and nation. They decide to organize a rally– some might call them community organizers – to voice their rejection of McCain and his running mate, their governor, Sarah Palin.
They print flyers and alert the media. KBYR Radio in Anchorage is one of those media outlets, home of Eddie Burke.
When Eddie Burke finds out about the rally, he announces it on his little radio show, calling its organizers and those who would attend
…a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots”
Such intelligent and insightful discourse gives us evidence that Eddie Burke has no class.
He then gives out the names and phone numbers of the rally organizers, urging his cadre of desperate listeners to call them up and tell them what they think; which, oddly enough, is what Eddie Burke thinks. (And that is truly a Bridge to Nowhere – Eddie Burke telling you what to think.)
Of course, people do call and leave messages full of vehement hatred, but the women are undaunted.
As it turns out, an estimated 1500 people show up, the biggest rally in the history of the state (bigger than the one for Palin’s “triumphant” return to Alaska after her “lipstick on a pitbull” (or whatever) speech that the media breathlessly – and stupidly – covered.
O-Bah-Mah
Obviously not anticipating the level of disgust the McPalin ticket brings to many Alaskans, Eddie Burke and his crowd show up about 20–strong. Go get ‘em tiger. And so Eddie Burke does. But when trying to address the media, he is surrounded by Obama supporters chanting “O-Bah-Mah, O-Bah-Mah, O-Bah-Mah”
Kind of like “Drill – baby – drill” only smarter.
Little Eddie Burke (he’s actually not that little) and his tiny band of Palin supporters (or perhaps those who just know a “socialist” when they see one – they looked it up on wikipedia) are drowned out by the vein of emotion tapped at the rally, an Alaskan source of energy that this country truly needs. Providing evidence that Eddie Burke really is as dumb as he sounds on the radio.
So is Eddie Burke Sarah Palin’s kind of guy?
—————————
McCain on Palin’s Foreign Policy
-
McCain said Palin has foreign policy experience because Alaska is close to Russia. This wasn’t something I read on a blog or heard on Fox News. I saw McCain hold a microphone in that awkward way he does (another story for another time) and heard those words part from his lips.
McCain on Palin’s Energy Policy and Experience
-
“Sara Palin knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the country” – John McCain.
Oh really? Take that scientists, technicians, entrepreneurs, business owners, speculators, bloggers, writers, anybody who’s read a book about energy or entropy, or anything remotely scientific… Oh, and lest we forget, all ya’ all at the Department of Energy. Sarah Palin knows more about energy than any of you. Combined. So when she said that Alaska provides 20% of the country’s domestic supply of oil and gas, she didn’t mean it. She knows that it isn’t even half that. So just never mind. She knows a lot about energy. Okay? Enough with your pesky questions.
—————————
Chastise Man leaves you with his favorite mantra:
We Get the Leaders We Deserve”
Filed under Barack Obama, Chastise Man, George Bush, John McCain, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, Things That Make Me Cranky, Video by
Our “American Hats”
John McCain asked his fellow Republicans to “take off their Republican hats and put on their American hats” while calling for a postponement to the start of the Republican convention, set to begin tomorrow in St. Paul, due to hurricane Gustav.
Senator McCain should perhaps be asking the FBI, Minneapolis police, and the Ramsey County Sheriff to take off their police thug hats and stop harassing and detaining American citizens.
A friend, who lives in Minneapolis, alerted me to a series of raids carried out over the weekend by Ramsey county sheriff SWAT team with the assistance of FBI agents.
At least four homes were entered, computers, personal journals, and political pamphlets seized while occupants were handcuffed and forced to lay on the floor. Repeated demands to see a search warrant were apparently ignored until the heavily armed officers left.
Dozens of people were also handcuffed, photographed, and detained at a public venue and meeting place for an organization called the “Republican Welcoming Committee” for “fire code violations”.
There were no reported illegal acts nor has there been any evidence proffered by any source that I could find of any conspiracy to commit any illegal acts.
It appears nothing more than an abridgment of the constitutional rights of left-wing dissidents intent on carrying out their once-guaranteed freedom of speech and assembly.
Where is the Outrage?
Any American should be concerned when they see such tactics used, but little is being reported on this, save for the links below.
We all hope for the safety of those in Gustav’s path, but there is perhaps an even larger storm brewing in this country, one that has been gaining strength for some time. And it is one for which we must not evacuate but meet head-on.
George Bush and Dick Cheney have done much to eviscerate American principals, and too many have gone along for too long, either through agreement, ignorance, or apathy.
We are left with a police state in Minneapolis on the eve of the nominating convention of the party that has given us eight years of national tragedy. What’s next?
We’re losing America and too few seem to care.
—————————————————————
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html
http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6158/breaking-food-not-bombs-house-among-saturday-raids
Filed under Chastise Man, George Bush, History Blogs, John McCain, News, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, Things That Make Me Cranky by
Reports recently show “startling evidence” that Republican presidential candidate John McCain is the Antichrist, according to “biblical scholars”.
The analysis was conducted by the True Bible Society and will be published next month in the End Times Journal. McCain may be trying to throw us off his trail, it is said, by subtly implying that Barrack Obama is the Antichrist by calling him “The One”.
My gut reaction to all this is:
“Oh, Dear Christ! Haven’t we been through enough already? You mean to tell me that both candidates for president after George Bush might be the Antichrist?!!?”
Perhaps they’ve got a co-Antichrist thing going on. But I doubt it. Because we all know who the Antichrist is, don’t we?
Dick Cheney
Besides, even if the position weren’t already filled, do we really think that John McCain is the best they could muster down there in hell to represent evil incarnate?
For evidence I offer this John McCain montage:
On the other hand, a bumbling idiot can really do a lot of damage…. Hmmm….
Filed under Chastise Man, Humorous, John McCain, News, People, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, Religion by
Hmmm…. Seems like the typical crew I see when I walk down Polk St.
At least they’re voting (except for the one who doesn’t want to get blamed for anything).
-Have a Nice Day!
Filed under Barack Obama, Chastise Man, Comic Relief, Fun Stuff, Humorous, John McCain, People, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, Ron Paul, Video by
To the west lay the ocean and food, to the east the colony.
Separated from a group walking – waddling really – to the sea, a lone individual stopped and considered which direction to go from where it now stood.
Turning north, away from both the colony and the feeding grounds of the frigid Antarctic Sea, the penguin set out resolutely toward the mountains.
Once decided on its path the flightless bird was unhesitant, walking, sometimes falling forward on the ice and propelling itself forward with its wings, but never ceasing.
Past a baffled scientific team surprised to see the animal so far from its group, normal habitat, and continued survival, it remained focused on an internal and solitary goal, unheeding of the strange and odd-looking humans.
Marching away from food and its own kind toward certain death in the towering, unmerciful mountains at the End of the World, it nonetheless continued on its chosen course.
Death is at the end of every path. Best to walk that path purposefully.
Filed under Chastise Man, Mumbling to Myself by
Understanding that the intricacies of modern sound systems and complex audio signal flow are truly known to only a “select few” (the few, the proud…), I offer the following advice:
Before one cuts one’s own off by expressing, on-camera and on-mic, the wish to do the same to another, please consider this -
When you have a microphone strapped to your chest, there can be no expectation of privacy!!!
A microphone is NEVER really “off” (well, there are some exceptions, if it’s a condenser mic it does require 48V of phantom power, but lest I geek out while making my point, I shan’t digress further).
Whispering doesn’t help. THERE’S A MIC STRAPPED TO YOUR CHEST!!!
Claiming your crude comments were “highly private” is ludicrous. THERE’S A MIC STRAPPED TO YOUR CHEST!!!
Like, Duh.
Sheesh.
Thank you, and as always –
Have a Nice Day
Filed under Chastise Man, Comic Relief, Humorous, News, People, The Soundman Chronicles by
“Liberals Are Killing America”
Not only that, the 14th amendment is “predicated on nothing less than pure communism” (which is why Barack Obama is poised to “take over America”).
Further, our reliance on and addiction to Middle Eastern oil (using G.W.’s own characterization) is nothing more than a plot from liberals, headed by Al Gore, to block our blessed right to drill every last drop of oil – the environment, future generations, and true economic development and innovation be damned. Every God-fearing American knows that drilling in ANWR would provide the “opportunity to free ourselves from the bondage of tyranny from the Middle East, with very little impact on the environment”.
Liberals are killing America.
After nearly eight years of continued and relentless erosion of the founding principles upon which America was founded (a.k.a. the Constitution); after more than five years of a war of choice, sold to a frightened and supine public on false justification, poorly planned, and incompetently executed; after largely underestimating the true terrorist threat in Afghanistan and Pakistan, only to let it re-emerge stronger and smarter; after abandoning the principals of humanity that once held to the core of the spirit of America (at least in theory); after illegal imprisonment, torture, and surveillance of its own citizens; after allowing a city to drown through sheer incompetence; after neglecting our environmental heritage, wrecking the economy and burdening future generations with unfathomable debt (both environmental and economic); after making a mockery of this country in the eyes of the world, after all this and more – and all of it at the hands of neo-conservative idealogues bent on a radical un-American agenda and usurpation of power from the hands of a few into the hands of even fewer, turning the country of Paine and Jefferson, Adams and Washington into something those men might likely abhor if they knew what would one day become of their bold, if imperfect, vision – it is liberals that are killing America.
If America is dying, it is not liberals that are killing it. But neither is it conservatives – or even neo-conservatives.
It is an apathetic, uninformed, ignorant, unthinking, fat and lazy public that is killing America. It is allowing what has happened to happen, and then letting it continue in the hopes that our tanks stay full with cheap fuel and our televisions stay tuned to American Idol while the country slips away.
If this is, or ever was, a nation based on government of the people and by the people, then it is at the hands of the people that it will be allowed to die.
Liberals aren’t killing America; Conservatives aren’t killing America.
We are killing America.
-Have a Nice Day
…the citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth’s political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor.
-Mark Twain, an American
——————
The Declaration of Independence
The United States Constitution
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Filed under Barack Obama, Chastise Man, George Bush, Politics, Things That Make Me Cranky by
It is always the court jester that can speak truth to power – and to the masses:
“If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.”
“Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.“
“If we could just find out who’s in charge, we could kill him.”
“Just ‘cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.”
“May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.”
“Not only do I not know what’s going on, I wouldn’t know what to do about it if I did.”
———
“I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.”
Not this time George.
Thanks for giving us something to think about and a good laugh, even – and especially – when we realized we were laughing at ourselves.
We all just lost a little bit of our collective grip on reality. You’ll be missed.
George Carlin – 1937–2008
Filed under Chastise Man, News, People, Something Nice to Say by
