"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road."
-- Henry Ward Beecher
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Well, The Zombie Apocalypse Is Finally Upon Us
 |
| Image via |
You read that right.
To the surprise of no one, it started in Florida...
The Miami Herald reports:
"According to police sources, a road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away. Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area.
The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots." EMPHASIS OURSWe always knew it would happen this way. In every one of the films we apparently should have taken much more seriously there is just such a report in the background. Sometimes it's carried along the crackle of a radio. Other times it's a "breaking story" seen partially while someone is flipping through TV channels. And no one pays attention.
I am pleased to say that most of the folks I know and many in the commenting public aren't making that mistake. It's clear that the end is nigh and precautions must be taken so we hopefully don't have to double-tap grandma.
Also, there are serious tools at our disposal. A little over a year ago, the CDC published a piece (we flagged it HERE) titled "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse." No, I am not making this up.
We can only hope that the victim is being properly monitored at this time. That's usually how these things get out of control.
In any event, if we keep our heads, science tells us that we stand a pretty good chance. Wired reported a few years ago on a study out of the University of Ottawa department of mathematics which gave reasonable odds for civilization's survival provided that we "hit hard and hit often." However...
"If the timescale of the outbreak increases, then the result is the doomsday scenario: an outbreak of zombies will result in the collapse of civilization, with every human infected, or dead. This is because human births and deaths will provide the undead with a limitless supply of new bodies to infect, resurrect and convert."The biggest enemy may be official denial. MSN reports:
"Police haven't released any details about the people involved, but they speculate the alleged face-eater might have been suffering from "cocaine psychosis."Uh huh.
As a musician who's toured extensively, I've seen plenty of "cocaine psychosis" and it never involved eating people's faces or being nearly impervious to firearms.
At least not that I recall.
That's why I am urging all of you to plan for the worst. Review the important educational materials extensively.
And, if you are bitten? Please tell your fellow survivors. They'll know what to do.
A Poem For Memorial Day
May 27th, 2012
Shiloh: A Requiem
by Herman Melville
Skimming lightly, wheeling still,
The swallows fly low
Over the field in clouded days,
The forest-field of Shiloh--
Over the field where April rain
Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain
Through the pause of night
That followed the Sunday fight
Around the church of Shiloh--
The church so lone, the log-built one,
That echoed to many a parting groan
And natural prayer
Of dying foemen mingled there--
Foemen at morn, but friends at eve--
Fame or country least their care:
(What like a bullet can undeceive!)
But now they lie low,
While over them the swallows skim,
And all is hushed at Shiloh.
Shiloh: A Requiem
by Herman Melville
Skimming lightly, wheeling still,
The swallows fly low
Over the field in clouded days,
The forest-field of Shiloh--
Over the field where April rain
Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain
Through the pause of night
That followed the Sunday fight
Around the church of Shiloh--
The church so lone, the log-built one,
That echoed to many a parting groan
And natural prayer
Of dying foemen mingled there--
Foemen at morn, but friends at eve--
Fame or country least their care:
(What like a bullet can undeceive!)
But now they lie low,
While over them the swallows skim,
And all is hushed at Shiloh.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Quote Of The Day
"A mistake made by many people with great convictions is that they will let nothing stand in the way of their views, not even kindness."
-- Bryant H. McGill
-- Bryant H. McGill
Mitt Watch - A Staggeringly Ugly Reveal
May 26th, 2012
Websters defines the word game as an "activity engaged in for diversion or amusement."
Games are fun.
They are also frivolous.
This matters.
In an interview with one of his fawning water-carriers, the WSJ's Peggy Noonan, the GOP nominee for the most powerful position in the history of world said the following a few days ago:
The shocking elitism in his statement is only matched by its craven stupidity. It's bad enough to consider his even thinking this way. But, to have so little regard for the people that he would say it aloud is unlike anything I have witnessed in the last quarter century.
Politics, by his own proclamation, is simply his latest hobby. While wife Ann spends part of their fortune on her "dressage," Romney has set out to saddle the people with a more hopeless future for his own gratification and that of his monied friends.
After all, it's just a "game."
We are the pawns and pieces. We are the poker chips. He likes a good bluff so why not truck with "birthers" and "tenthers" and propagandists? Anything to win.
After all, it's just a "game."
This serves to explain Romney's staggering mendacity. Why bother to tell the truth?
It's just a "game."
Wild proclamations that Russia is our "number one enemy" don't really mean anything.
It's just a "game."
Promising the last administration's neo-cons that he will give them their third war in the Middle East is of no consequence.
It's just a "game."
A worldview in which leadership of the United States is just a shiny prize during times this turbulent and potentially transformative should preclude eligibility for any office, much less Commander in Chief.
To doubt that a Romney presidency would be a disaster of previously un-imagined proportions is increasingly naive.
 |
| Image via |
Games are fun.
They are also frivolous.
This matters.
In an interview with one of his fawning water-carriers, the WSJ's Peggy Noonan, the GOP nominee for the most powerful position in the history of world said the following a few days ago:
"I think the game is like a sport for old guys. I mean, you know, I can’t compete in competitive sports very well, but I can compete in politics."This should end Mitt Romney right here.
The shocking elitism in his statement is only matched by its craven stupidity. It's bad enough to consider his even thinking this way. But, to have so little regard for the people that he would say it aloud is unlike anything I have witnessed in the last quarter century.
Politics, by his own proclamation, is simply his latest hobby. While wife Ann spends part of their fortune on her "dressage," Romney has set out to saddle the people with a more hopeless future for his own gratification and that of his monied friends.
After all, it's just a "game."
We are the pawns and pieces. We are the poker chips. He likes a good bluff so why not truck with "birthers" and "tenthers" and propagandists? Anything to win.
After all, it's just a "game."
This serves to explain Romney's staggering mendacity. Why bother to tell the truth?
It's just a "game."
Wild proclamations that Russia is our "number one enemy" don't really mean anything.
It's just a "game."
Promising the last administration's neo-cons that he will give them their third war in the Middle East is of no consequence.
It's just a "game."
A worldview in which leadership of the United States is just a shiny prize during times this turbulent and potentially transformative should preclude eligibility for any office, much less Commander in Chief.
To doubt that a Romney presidency would be a disaster of previously un-imagined proportions is increasingly naive.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Quote Of The Day
-- Harriet Braiker
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Quote Of The Day
I look at those words now, and "cat stranglers" seems excessive to me."
-- Garrison Keillor
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
What War On Women? Humor Edition.
May 23rd, 2012
Poor women. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could help the little dears by taking away all that worry that accompanies their having to carry a uterus with such feeble little minds? Now, there is!
Poor women. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could help the little dears by taking away all that worry that accompanies their having to carry a uterus with such feeble little minds? Now, there is!
Staggering Impunity
"Almost all the prospectuses and sales material on mortgage-backed securities sold from 2005 through 2007 were a compound of falsehoods. But it starts even earlier in the food chain. We also know that mortgage originators committed securities fraud when they misrepresented the characteristics of loan pools, and the nature and extent of their due diligence with regard to them, when they sold pools to securitizers (and accepted financing from them). Most or all of the securitizers (meaning nearly all the investment banks and major banking conglomerates) then committed securities fraud when they misrepresented the characteristics of the loans backing their CDOs, the characteristics of the resulting mortgage-backed securities, and the nature and results of their due diligence in the process of creating those securities. The securitizers also committed securities fraud when they made similar misrepresentations to the insurers of, and sellers of credit default swap (CDS) protection on, those securities."The utter lack of consequences for this illegality and, worse, the excuse-making by conservatives that the downturn was somehow a "glitch" in legitimate capitalism very nearly ensure another crisis. Possibly quite soon.
"In some cases, we already have clear evidence of senior executive knowledge of and involvement in these frauds. For example, quarterly presentations to investors are nearly always made by the CEO or CFO of the firm; if lies were told in those presentations, or if material facts were omitted, the responsibility lies with senior management. In some other cases, such as Bear Stearns, we already have evidence from civil lawsuits that very senior executives were directly involved in constructing and selling securities whose prospectuses contained lies and omissions."And yet, not one CEO or CFO involved has been charged with so much as a misdemeanor. It's long past time we admitted that these are not titans; they are simply extremely ambitious thieves.
GOP: It's Completely Different When We Do It, cont...
May 23rd, 2012
The recent decision by the Obama administration to grant a visa to Mariela Castro Espín, the daughter of current Cuban strongman Raul Castro, allowing her to attend the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco later this week where she is set to chair a panel on LGBT issues has set off a firestorm of indignation in GOP circles. It's quite the conniption.
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is "greatly distrubed."
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called it "outrageous and an enormous mistake." (Video HERE)
The ever-temperate Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) participated in an angry joint statement with fellow congressional Republicans and some Florida Democrats writing that "The State Department needs to wake up from its delusional love fest with the dictators in Havana. I urge them to immediately revoke these visas."
The recent decision by the Obama administration to grant a visa to Mariela Castro Espín, the daughter of current Cuban strongman Raul Castro, allowing her to attend the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco later this week where she is set to chair a panel on LGBT issues has set off a firestorm of indignation in GOP circles. It's quite the conniption.
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is "greatly distrubed."
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called it "outrageous and an enormous mistake." (Video HERE)
The ever-temperate Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) participated in an angry joint statement with fellow congressional Republicans and some Florida Democrats writing that "The State Department needs to wake up from its delusional love fest with the dictators in Havana. I urge them to immediately revoke these visas."
Ed Morrisey sees it as a possible tipping point that will send Florida to Romney in the general election:
Where was the outrage then? There was none. Where were the screaming headlines on right wing blogs and breathless pronouncements of near-treason on Fox and talk radio? There weren't any.
It's always just "different" when they are in charge.
"The Cuban-American community in Florida leans Republican, but they’re strongly anti-Castro. They won’t appreciate the decision by the Obama administration to give the dictator’s daughter a pass to the US, especially not for the purpose of politicking. Listening to lectures from the Castro family on the nature of political and cultural freedom is somewhat akin to having to sit through a seminar on graciousness by Morton Downey."What's that you say? You've never heard of Mariela Castro Espín? That's funny because she came to the United States repeatedly under the last administration.
Where was the outrage then? There was none. Where were the screaming headlines on right wing blogs and breathless pronouncements of near-treason on Fox and talk radio? There weren't any.
It's always just "different" when they are in charge.
The Gaffes Are Uncountable
May 23rd, 2012
Rachel Maddow notes the sheer volume of GOP blunders in recent days and wonders why they are largely going unchallenged.
Rachel Maddow notes the sheer volume of GOP blunders in recent days and wonders why they are largely going unchallenged.
Quote Of The Day
May 23rd, 2012
"The fear of not being able to buy guns has led to buying so many guns that now we can’t buy any guns... just like we feared."
-- Stephen Colbert cracking wise about the results of ongoing Obama Derangement Syndrome
-- Stephen Colbert cracking wise about the results of ongoing Obama Derangement Syndrome
Friday, May 18, 2012
Quote Of The Day
-- Jean-Paul Sartre
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Quote Of The Day
May 17th, 2012
"Do you want to know the cause of war? It is capitalism, greed, the dirty hunger for dollars. Take away the capitalist and you will sweep war from the earth."
-- Henry Ford
-- Henry Ford
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Quote Of The Day
May 13th, 2012
"Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret."
-- Don Miguel Ruiz
-- Don Miguel Ruiz
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Quote Of The Day - We Were Warned Edition
 |
| Image via |
Frankly, these people frighten me.
Politics and governing demand compromise.
But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."
-- Sen. Barry Goldwater reading the Tea leaves quite some time ago.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The GOP's Phony Bin Laden Outrage, cont...
May 2nd, 2012
My, my. The GOP sure has its collective panties in a bunch over Obama actually making political hay from his successful operation to get Bin Laden last year. There are so many reasons their hypocrisy on this represents a new achievement in willful, collective self-delusion that its hard to know where to begin. That said, let's start with Jon Stewart's take.
My, my. The GOP sure has its collective panties in a bunch over Obama actually making political hay from his successful operation to get Bin Laden last year. There are so many reasons their hypocrisy on this represents a new achievement in willful, collective self-delusion that its hard to know where to begin. That said, let's start with Jon Stewart's take.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
