November 2011 archive
Nov 22 2011
Cartnoon
Nov 22 2011
Good.
Crossposted from The Stars Hollow Gazette
Foreclosure Firm Steven J. Baum to Close Down
By PETER LATTMAN, The New York Times
November 21, 2011, 2:51 pm
On Saturday, Joe Nocera, The Times columnist who originally wrote about the firm’s Halloween party, published another column about the controversy. In it, he quoted an e-mail that Mr. Baum had sent him last week.
“Mr. Nocera – You have destroyed everything and everyone related to Steven J. Baum PC,” said the letter. “It took 40 years to build this firm and three weeks to tear down.”
Good. Mr. Baum, you are a heartless sack of shit and your firm and its employees are lying perjurers. I hope you rot in a cell for the rest of your life, penniless and forgotten like the scum you are.
Nov 22 2011
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
Time for a break from poetry…in order to create some art.
| The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.
–Aldous Huxley |
 Carved 2 |
Nov 22 2011
Mene Mene Tekel.
The mechanisms of using the political system to do the people’s business have been irrevocably undermined. Things are getting slowly and irrevocably worse, without letup. And there is no way to fix it within the prescribed parameters of the system.
There is no two party government in power, except in name. There is power, and there is corruption. All else is an illusion.
And the advertised choice left to us, the serfs, is to fix it using the prescribed mechanisms, in twenty, fifty, or a hundred years.
If you choose to play in idiocy, you will be mired in idiocy. To date, you the taxpayer are funding thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at other countries in an expostulation of unmitigated terror and destructiveness that is described as everyday politics, and cannot be dealt with because of an unaddressable “political reality”. And one could go on, and on, and on and on.
And things will get bad. And things will get worse.
For a hundred years hence, it will get worse. The current system is designed to work through issues on a timescale of twenty, fifty, or a hundred years.
It’s not getting better, no matter how you vote, who you vote for, or if they win in the short term.
In twenty years, our easily obtainable energy resources will be gone, no matter how much latitude you gave “American Energy Companies”. And Congress will dither, and its apologists will say change takes time.
In fifty years, your children will not know the name of Albert Einstein, and will think it equally likely the sun revolves around the Earth as the other way around, and will treat ancient science texts claiming the latter to be propaganda leaflets of the militant left, and the Democrats will claim to be agnostic on the subject. You know I’m right.
And the Congress will dither, and your Democrats or their successors and those wise heads of the present day will talk about politics, and how that is important to solve problems. And the Republicans will talk about burning witches. And the Democrats will seem wise by saying maybe burning witches is a little extreme.
And in a hundred years, your childrens’ children will be fleeing the coastlines, as what remains of their cities are inexplicably flooded, and the corporations that had them building dams flee to the North Pole, leaving their serfs, your descendants, to die in the swamps.
And the Republicans, if they still exist at that time, or their ideological successors, and you know they will be there, will talk about sacrificing virgins to Quezocoatl or that god’s equivalent or some other god’s equivalent. And the Democrats will talk about how that also is a little extreme, but perhaps now we can burn witches.
You can deny, but you know I’m right.
Everyday politics in any venue and by any name has but one legitimate purpose: To serve the people.
What has gone wrong, so terribly wrong, is politics in today’s American culture is politics being seen as an end unto itself.
What defines the American political system of the present day is the be all and end all of politics. It’s not that politics is “bad” it is that our corporations and our nation have adopted a language of politics as an end unto itself.
It simply does not matter if what you are talking about is sacrificing the genitals of every living child under 12 to a mythical gnome who lives in a hole in the ground in exchange for tasty alien cheese that falls from the sky. All that matters is what the poll numbers on the question are! And your talking heads will cheerfully discuss it without gagging and while wearing Christian Dior clothing and black pearls around their neck if the person who brought the mythical gnome up has sufficient political backing.
And Rachel Maddow will do it too. Except, to mock it, while giving it airplay anyway. And without the black pearls. Whatever.
If anything it’s gotten worse.
If it fails to serve the people, what is left of politics is mechanism without meaning. What I mean is, people talk today about political reality without acknowledging that the barriers currently imposed by political reality are so abstract, insane and extreme they have no relationship with the realities of people’s lives.
Your politicians, and your government, have become disconnected with the people.
Nov 22 2011
What’s Cooking: What to Drink with the Turkey
Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette
Republished from November 24, 2010 for obvious timely reasons.
Now that we are done with cooking directions for the big day, time to pick the beverage that will not just accompany this spectacular meal but compliment the main course, the sides and deserts.
My usual choices for the wine is to have choices, serving both reds and whites. Cabernets and Sauvignon Blanc can be respectively too heavy and too acidic while the Chardonnays can be too oaky.
Don’t be afraid to ask the your wine merchant for suggestions. There are many very fine wines for those on a budget. Here are some of my suggestions:
Beaujolais Nouveau is the “first wine of the harvest” and the 2010 has just been released, This is a very “young” wine that spends little time in the cask between picking and bottling. It is traditionally released on November 21 with great fan fare among wine around the world. It is light and fruity, should be served chilled. It goes well with not just the turkey but everything from the appetizer cheese course to sweet potatoes and dressing to that pesky once a year veggie, Brussel Sprouts, not an easy feat. It is also inexpensive at less than $10 a bottle, the magnum is usually even more economical.
Pinot Noir is another good choice but not easy to find one that has some flavor and can be a little “pricey”, although there good ones in the $10 range.
For the whites there are two that I choose from Pinot Grigio or a slightly sweeter Riesling.
Pinot Grigio or Pinto Gris is a young fruity wine and depending on the region can be full bodied and “floral” to lighter, “spritszy” and a little acidic. I suggest the former and fond that the Pinot from Barefoot Cellars fits the bill and the pocketbook.
Riesling can be found in the German section and look for a Gewurztraminer or a slightly sweeter Spätlese.
The there is beer for those who prefer some foam and fizz. These are the suggestions from the Brewers Association:
* Traditional Turkey – Amber ale or a lager like Oktoberfest, brown ale or a strong golden ale like triple
* Smoked Turkey – a hoppy brown ale, Scotch ale or porter
* Pumpkin pie – Spiced ale, winter warmer or old ale
Nov 22 2011
US Now Poster Child For Suppression of Free Speech
Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette
The whole world is watching:
h/t Suzie Madrak at Crooks & Liars
From the Gawker:
How Egypt Justifies Its Brutal Crackdown: Occupy Wall Street
Two people were killed in Cairo and Alexandria this weekend as Egyptian activists took the streets to protest the military’s attempts to maintain its grip on power. And guess how the state is justifying its deadly crackdown.
“We saw the firm stance the US took against OWS people & the German govt against green protesters to secure the state,” an Egyptian state television anchor said yesterday (as translated by the indispensable Sultan Sooud al Qassemi; bold ours).
The death toll in Egypt has been reported as high as 33 and while as he Gawker points out, the US may not have killed anyone yet but we have militarized our police departments to do what the US military constitutionally cannot and two Iraq vets have been sent to the hospital with life threatening injuries.
Thank you, President Obama, for going where President Bush dared not.
Nov 22 2011
The Energy of Love
Uncle Bill has made known the future of my current domicile once/if I leave. It is a tug on my heartstrings as much of my families prosperity plus that vast treasure trove of outdoor Maine wilderness camping memories on top of this most skilled craftsman building most of my house which “the Illuminati” has now declared “illegal”.
I wish not to destroy this man’s memories/heart by leaving.
Nov 21 2011
Occupy Wall St.: You Cannot Evict An Idea
Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette
Try as they may, the 1% and their elected and appointed puppets cannot evict an ideas whose time has come. Allowing the police to use strong arm tactics, chemical sprays and other “non-lethal” weapons against peaceful, passive demonstrators flies in the face of logic, constitutional and principles. Curling up in a ball or moving your arms to protect yourself will now warrant you a beating with a baton before you are picked up and arrested.
The latest incident last Friday at the University of California Davis Campus produced massive outrage across the country and around the world over the weekend as millions watched the campus police use military grade pepper spray against students sitting, arms linked, peacefully in a circle. Yes, they surrounded police who claimed the students were threatening. But, in order to spray the students, the officer had to step over the students, leave the circle to get the spray. What cowards.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B Katehi had to walk back her initial statement of support for the campus police actions and held press conference Saturday late Saturday afternoon calling for an investigation of the incident. Outside the building where the presser was held, students had assembled around the building chanting “we are peaceful” and “just walk home.” The chancellor stayed inside for over two hours in an attempt to make it appear that the students were holding her hostage. After student representatives had the students stop chanting and form a three block long corridor, Katehi left the building accompanied by student representatives and an investigative reporter Lee Fang who asks her “Chancellor, do you still feel threatened by the students?” She replies “No. No.”. The video, “Walk of Shame”, the silence of the students speaks volumes:
Chancellor Katehi, under pressure to resign, has now suspended two of the officers involved and ordered the investigation to be completed in 30 days, not the 90 she original stated.
H/T John Aravosis at AMERICAblog, Lee Fang at Second Alarm and Jon Weiner at The Nation
More below the fold
Nov 21 2011
Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette
Our regular featured content-
- On This Day In History November 21 by TheMomCat
- Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat
These featured articles-
- Occupy Wall St.: You Cannot Evict An Idea by TheMomCat
- I’m lying to you NOW! by ek hornbeck
- Good by ek hornbeck
This is an Open Thread
Nov 21 2011
Tahrir Square
24 dead in 3 days of Cairo anti-military protests
By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press
34 minutes ago
The night before saw an escalation of the fighting as police launched a heavy assault that tried and failed to clear protesters from the square. In a show of the ferocity of the assault, the death toll leaped from Sunday evening until Monday morning. A constant stream of injured protesters – bloodied from rubber bullets or overcome by gas – were brought into makeshift clinics set out on sidewalks around the square where volunteer doctors scrambled from patient to patient.
…
(T)he vote has been overshadowed by mounting anger at the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which will continue to hold power even after the vote. Activists accuse the generals of acting increasingly in the same autocratic way as Mubarak’s regime and fear that they will dominate the coming government, just as they have the current interim one they appointed months ago.
…
“What does it mean, transfer power in 2013? It means simply that he wants to hold on to his seat,” said a young protester, Mohammed Sayyed, referring to the head of the Supreme Council, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi.
…
“I will keep coming back until they kill me,” he said. “The people are frustrated. Nothing changed for the better.”
CLGC Memo (.pdf)
Video continues after commercial break. You have to pause manually.
U.C. Davis Calls for Investigation After Pepper Spraying
By BRIAN STELTER, The New York Times
November 19, 2011, 7:44 pm
In one of the videos, the officer steps over a line of seated protesters, holds the pepper spray bottle in the air, then sprays it in the protesters’ faces in a coordinated fashion as eyewitnesses gasp and shout, “Shame on you.” Most of the protesters remain seated; police officers then forcibly remove and arrest them.
In a video taken from another direction, two officers can be seen dousing protesters with pepper spray at the same time. Though not visible in the videos, the operator of the Facebook page for the Occupy U.C. Davis organization claimed that one police officer “shoved a pepper spray gun down a student’s throat and pulled the trigger.” On Saturday afternoon, the Facebook page announced that protesters would be working with attorneys to pursue legal action.
…
A spokesperson for the U.C. Davis police did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. Annette Spicuzza, the U.C. Davis police chief, told The Sacramento Bee that the officers used pepper spray on Friday because the police were surrounded by students. “There was no way out of that circle,” she told the newspaper. “They were cutting the officers off from their support. It’s a very volatile situation.”The videos, however, show officers freely moving about and show students behaving peacefully. The university reported no instances of violence by any protesters.
Eyewitnesses uploaded their recordings late Friday. In a statement on Saturday that acknowledged the role of the eyewitnesses in raising awareness about the police’s behavior, the university’s chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi, said she was saddened by “the events.”