Thread? What thread?

When Sarah Palin used the media last week to express her “outrage” at jokes David Letterman made about her recent visit to New York, including what may have indeed been slightly tasteless references to her daughters, I became curious about this “thread permeating society” that “makes it okay” to make fun of “statutory rape” of underage girls, thinking it is “funny”.

Now, I looked high and low for this thread to which she refers, and I’ll be damned (some think I already am) if all I could find was another thread that thinks it’s okay to make broad, unsubstantiated claims to cynically manipulate the media in an effort to stir up support from people barely able to think for themselves. To wit: “good ol’” Sarah Palin, stirin’ up her base.

Following are some comments made by people that came out for a “Fire Dave” rally in New York. Reports are that more press showed up than protesters. Nonetheless, these stalwarts were vocal in their thoughts. I quote some highlights with my reaction:

• Everyone in the country is very, very frustrated and upset that he was allowed to make a rape joke about a little girl, fourteen years old, sitting on the sidelines watching of all things an American basketball game”

  - Okay, I’m not a sports fan, so let me see if I have this right: basketball is where they use a wooden stick to hit a ball thrown at them at about a hundred miles an hour. If they hit the ball, they get to run around in a big circle, ending up right where they began. And what’s baseball again? By the way, did you actually hear this “rape joke” that Letterman told, or did you just hear about it from Sarah Palin?
  Ma’am, I’ve got one word of advice: research.

• He made A-rod a pervert too…”

  - Everybody knows that A-rod is just a horn-dog.

• I think he stinks, I’m a Jay Leno fan”

  - Fair enough, sorry Jay.

• At least Jay Leno has interesting people, this Schmuck has nobody… Do you know what schmuck means in Jewish?”

  - Do tell. (And you’re right, Leno did get president Obama on his show. That’s who you meant isn’t it?

• I only watch Fox news channel”

  - Now that’s just plain stupid

• …I believe his son was born out of wedlock, I believe there’s a term for that”<'blockquote>
  - Does that go for Sarah Palin’s grandson as well?

• …especially, you know, when he had a daughter out of wedlock as well”

  - What? Who? Lady, do you even read?

• …when he has a bastard son and a slut for a wife”

  - Now I’m really confused, are we talking about Letterman or making jokes about Palin’s almost son-in-law?

• You think you’re so smart, you think you know soooo much”

  - Well, I didn’t until I saw you.

• Close the borders. Close everything down for the next twenty years. Clean your house and you’ll see how this economy will come back.”

  - Excuse me ma’am, the right wing-nut rally you’re looking for is a few blocks over.

• Keep children safe from David Letterman’s mouth! He will rape them with his mouth! He is a child abuser, he is a verbal pedophile! Wake up! Go home and take care of your kids! They could be next.”

  - Lady, you’re just freakin’ scary. You have kids? Talk about abuse.

The Sarah Palin Pledge:
I, Chastise Man, do hereby swear that if Sarah Palin ever sets foot in the White House in any official capacity other than governor of Alaska, if she should ever be any closer in line to the presidency than what an entire disappearance of the president, vice-president, cabinet, and both houses of Congress would require to manifest, then I will leave the country immediately and move to France.

I do not deny the existence of an intelligent designer – God – a presence and influence evident with every breath we take.

Extremism (fundamentalism) demands of it an assuredness of belief that bestows the right of divine vengeance on others. That is where I draw the line.

That we should endeavor to speak for, or imagine to know the thoughts of such a presence, is original sin all over again. Imbuing oneself with authority to dispense divine retribution is The Downfall reign supreme.

I don’t know, mind you, I’m agnostic after all, but I would guess that if Hell does exist, the quickest route there is to condemn others to it.

It is disturbing to get anywhere near such minds, charred as they are with ignorance, hatred, and unwavering conviction of their atrophied humanity. But it is instructive and necessary to look, if for no other reason than to understand the level of dysfunction in the human psyche, to recognize it when it creeps into the backwoods of our own mind, and to encourage the fortitude to resist it when it does.

—-
To the Extremist:

God didn’t send the shooter; The murder of Dr. Tiller was not the will of God; God doesn’t hate “fags”; You aren’t an infidel if you don’t believe as I believe (though perhaps not that bright); Democrats can be Christians (or any damn religion they choose – so can Republicans for that matter); And “praying” that Barack Obama will die (and professing such action in public media) is little more than cowardly and criminal.

You are no closer to God than any of these people, to me, or to anyone else. I’ll see you in hell.

Of that I can be sure.

This guy is a messenger from God?

To me, this is the true sign of a fraud and a fake. Prove me wrong.

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?

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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.

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Chastise Man leaves you with his favorite mantra:

We Get the Leaders We Deserve”

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.

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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.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30arrests.html?_r=5&adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1220227363-HMM8kJ4X/w6BmkQQfgYDeA

http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6158/breaking-food-not-bombs-house-among-saturday-raids

“Liberals Are Killing America”

Not only that, the 14^th 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?

And the conscious of the King – in solidarity with his subjects :

Said with a straight face as if he has no idea, no idea at all, that the world would be a better place if he had stayed on the golf course and never set foot in Washington.

And what’s up with the jerk doing the interview? “Uh, Mr. President, was there a particular moment or incident that brought you to that decision, or how did you come to that?”

He “came to that” because you’re an idiot, Mr. Interviewer, the President is an idiot, and this country and the entire world will pay for it for years to come.

How is it that we have sunk so low as to take the president’s alleged abstinence from golf as some meaningful act of solidarity with those whose lives he has ruined? WHY IS THIS MAN STILL IN OFFICE??!!

If we get the leaders we deserve, then we have gone woefully astray my friend. January 2009 will come eight years too late.

ARRGHHHHHH!!!