By Manifesto Joe
Haven't we had enough stupid MFs as our presidents?
Monday night, Mitt Scumney repeated a gaffe that he'd committed several times before. Unfortunately, Obama chose not to drive a Mack truck through that one. I guess he didn't have time to get to all of them.
Syria, he said, is Iran's route to the sea. He gets an F in geography, and if his staff doesn't get a grade that low, he obviously hasn't been listening to them.
Here's a link explaining the problem.
For one thing, Syria and Iran don't even share a common border of any kind. Look at the map.
For another, both have access to the sea, but quite separately. Syria has Mediterranean shores. There are a couple of ports there. Iran, separately, has access to the Caspian Sea on the north, and to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman on the south.
And, this isn't the first time Scumney has said this moronic thing. And this time, he said it in a nationally televised debate with the president on the subject of foreign policy.
Yes, Obama has made a couple of geography gaffes, too, but never more than once. Scumney seems to consider this foolishness something that bears repeating, and so he has.
He's too damned stupid to be president. This shit should disqualify him. I know it's been said, with good reason, that nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the intelligence of the American people. And the voters have quite manifestly made some mistakes more than once.
Let's hope that this time, Nov. 6, that can come to an end.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Third Debate Shows Scumney Isn't Ready For Prime Time
By Manifesto Joe
What seemed to emerge clearly from Monday night's final presidential debate between incumbent Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Scumney -- er, Romney, may have to get used to that if the bozo really gets elected -- is that he doesn't seem ready for prime time.
Oh, he was very well-coached for all three encounters, and did well enough each time. An overscholarly Obama held him to a boring draw in the first debate, then showed a clear edge in the second. In the third, he administered a pretty thorough spanking, exposing some amateurish sides to Scumney that made clear the latter's unpreparedness to hold the world's most powerful office.
What we saw from Obama last night, saw none of in the first debate and not much of in the second, were the "zingers" that make a TV debate performance memorable. It's unfortunate that American politics has been dragged down to the level of sound bites, but the widespread perception that Romney had an edge in the first debate was based on better showmanship.
Leave it to right-wingers, being the cry babies that they are, to whine and shriek over Obama's "fewer horses and bayonets" zinger in response to Scumney's lament that the Navy has fewer ships now than it had in 1917. (They also threw a lot of public tantrums about the hiding Vice President Biden administered to Eddie Munster.)
Far right-wing mouthpieces like Michelle Malkin made much ado about that response, calling it "ignorant." As a point of dry fact, the military has about twice as many bayonets now as it had in 1916 or so, but those who cling to the literal numbers miss the point.
Here's a link to a sane analysis of the issue.
To the point here -- around 1944, it was crucial for a combat soldier to know how to use a bayonet. And the uses could be unorthodox. My old man won five Bronze Stars for service in the Pacific Theater of World War II, one of them for an incident in which a Japanese soldier entered his tent and confronted him with a bayonet. My old man took the bayonet away from him and stabbed him with it. (I don't know what the other four Bronze Stars were for, because my old man didn't like to talk about his war experiences. Killing just doesn't sit well with some people.)
Combat, even at close quarters, has changed a great deal since 1944, so much so that such an incident would be very unlikely to happen today. That's the point Obama was making.
The most telling point Obama made during the exchanges was a description of Scumney's very backward ideas in all policy areas. To paraphrase, Obama said he embraces a foreign policy from the 1980s (the Cold War is over, pal), social policies from the 1950s and economic policies from the 1920s.
I think he just described the Republican Party's platform.
Not everyone with a center-left view is enchanted with Obama. The first debate pretty much encapsulated what's wrong -- "No Drama" Obama is a law professor who doesn't bring forth passion and fight when they are desperately needed. Fortunately, he got better with each debate.
And each debate progressively (pardon the choice of words) exposed Scumney's lack of fitness for office this powerful.
Tyler Perry aptly described Obama as a guy who volunteered to take command of the Titanic after it had already hit the iceberg. He's had less than four years to clean up a mess that was eight years in the making. And he's had little cooperation from congressional Republicans.
I can't muster that much enthusiasm for Obama, but he's all that is standing between us and a tragic reprise of the Il Doofus administration. He's been performing, albeit rather ploddingly, in prime time. Scumney's clearly not ready for the job.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
What seemed to emerge clearly from Monday night's final presidential debate between incumbent Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Scumney -- er, Romney, may have to get used to that if the bozo really gets elected -- is that he doesn't seem ready for prime time.
Oh, he was very well-coached for all three encounters, and did well enough each time. An overscholarly Obama held him to a boring draw in the first debate, then showed a clear edge in the second. In the third, he administered a pretty thorough spanking, exposing some amateurish sides to Scumney that made clear the latter's unpreparedness to hold the world's most powerful office.
What we saw from Obama last night, saw none of in the first debate and not much of in the second, were the "zingers" that make a TV debate performance memorable. It's unfortunate that American politics has been dragged down to the level of sound bites, but the widespread perception that Romney had an edge in the first debate was based on better showmanship.
Leave it to right-wingers, being the cry babies that they are, to whine and shriek over Obama's "fewer horses and bayonets" zinger in response to Scumney's lament that the Navy has fewer ships now than it had in 1917. (They also threw a lot of public tantrums about the hiding Vice President Biden administered to Eddie Munster.)
Far right-wing mouthpieces like Michelle Malkin made much ado about that response, calling it "ignorant." As a point of dry fact, the military has about twice as many bayonets now as it had in 1916 or so, but those who cling to the literal numbers miss the point.
Here's a link to a sane analysis of the issue.
To the point here -- around 1944, it was crucial for a combat soldier to know how to use a bayonet. And the uses could be unorthodox. My old man won five Bronze Stars for service in the Pacific Theater of World War II, one of them for an incident in which a Japanese soldier entered his tent and confronted him with a bayonet. My old man took the bayonet away from him and stabbed him with it. (I don't know what the other four Bronze Stars were for, because my old man didn't like to talk about his war experiences. Killing just doesn't sit well with some people.)
Combat, even at close quarters, has changed a great deal since 1944, so much so that such an incident would be very unlikely to happen today. That's the point Obama was making.
The most telling point Obama made during the exchanges was a description of Scumney's very backward ideas in all policy areas. To paraphrase, Obama said he embraces a foreign policy from the 1980s (the Cold War is over, pal), social policies from the 1950s and economic policies from the 1920s.
I think he just described the Republican Party's platform.
Not everyone with a center-left view is enchanted with Obama. The first debate pretty much encapsulated what's wrong -- "No Drama" Obama is a law professor who doesn't bring forth passion and fight when they are desperately needed. Fortunately, he got better with each debate.
And each debate progressively (pardon the choice of words) exposed Scumney's lack of fitness for office this powerful.
Tyler Perry aptly described Obama as a guy who volunteered to take command of the Titanic after it had already hit the iceberg. He's had less than four years to clean up a mess that was eight years in the making. And he's had little cooperation from congressional Republicans.
I can't muster that much enthusiasm for Obama, but he's all that is standing between us and a tragic reprise of the Il Doofus administration. He's been performing, albeit rather ploddingly, in prime time. Scumney's clearly not ready for the job.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Geekus Maleekus Returns! And He's Looking For A Job!
By G.M.
The Job Hunter's Mantras:
Jobhungo: We going get you job! As copy eddtor!
Super Jobs: No, WE going get you job! As poofreader!
Snagajobski: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
JobsNearYourAss: If we can get this dog in our logo a job, we can get you one!
Eljobforyou.com: Give us credit card number, and we get you job!
Jobsforalldudes: Like, wow, Jack, we'll, like, find you something, man. Long as you don't have to pass a piss test.
Wesuckupjobs: Ever considered owning a franchise, or selling insurance?
The Job Hunter's Mantras:
Jobhungo: We going get you job! As copy eddtor!
Super Jobs: No, WE going get you job! As poofreader!
Snagajobski: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
JobsNearYourAss: If we can get this dog in our logo a job, we can get you one!
Eljobforyou.com: Give us credit card number, and we get you job!
Jobsforalldudes: Like, wow, Jack, we'll, like, find you something, man. Long as you don't have to pass a piss test.
Wesuckupjobs: Ever considered owning a franchise, or selling insurance?
RIP, George McGovern: 1922-2012
He had a reputation for being a daredevil bomber pilot during World War II, which seems strange for the quintessential "peace" candidate.
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising. Almost everybody was for the defeat of Hitler, the Nazis, etc., during the "good" war.
I still wonder whether I would have voted for him for president in 1972, had I been eligible then and even had the views I have now. Nixon was too crazy to support, so I may have just stayed home or thrown my vote away on a fringe-party candidate.
I might have voted for George, considering that it was apparent early that he had no real chance of winning. A lot of what he said rang true, but the remark about crawling to Hanoi on his hands and knees to "beg for peace" was a bit much. Presidents just aren't supposed to say things like that, even if they privately think them.
Well, he had the courage of his convictions, and plenty of physical courage as well. Godspeed, George. -- MJ
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising. Almost everybody was for the defeat of Hitler, the Nazis, etc., during the "good" war.
I still wonder whether I would have voted for him for president in 1972, had I been eligible then and even had the views I have now. Nixon was too crazy to support, so I may have just stayed home or thrown my vote away on a fringe-party candidate.
I might have voted for George, considering that it was apparent early that he had no real chance of winning. A lot of what he said rang true, but the remark about crawling to Hanoi on his hands and knees to "beg for peace" was a bit much. Presidents just aren't supposed to say things like that, even if they privately think them.
Well, he had the courage of his convictions, and plenty of physical courage as well. Godspeed, George. -- MJ
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Scumney's Binders Full Of Women
Many tracking polls still have Romney slightly in the lead, even after Tuesday night's debate. Go figure. -- MJ
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Yes, Mittens, Government Can And Does Create Jobs
By Manifesto Joe
Mitt Scumney lost Tuesday night's encounter with President Obama on points, and Obama showed more fire than he did in their lackluster first debate. Scumney, though, seemed prepared for a more spirited show from Obama and didn't do badly, on the whole. But one "point" he emphasized stuck in my mind because of how dead wrong he is on it.
"Government doesn't create jobs," Scumney said repeatedly, with passion and emphasis.
Scumney didn't live through World War II, nor did I. But if that war effort wasn't powerful, compelling proof that government can and does create jobs, there couldn't be anything more to demonstrate that. Suggesting otherwise has become part of the mindless nonhistory of contemporary America.
A mantra of Republicans in my younger days was that "The New Deal didn't get us out of the Depression; World War II did."
Yes, exactly. And here's why.
The New Deal was a bid to mobilize the U.S. against the Great Depression, but it was often blocked, with a reactionary Supreme Court striking down two of its centerpiece programs, the NRA in 1935 and the first AAA in 1936. Southern Democrats often sided with the Republican minority against the more far-reaching measures, and a double-dip in the business downturn followed FDR's moves toward austerity during 1937-38.
It wasn't until Dec. 7, 1941, when U.S. military forces suffered a direct and devastating attack, that the national government finally got a free hand. Defense industries flourished as direct recipients of government contracts. The Detroit auto industry was literally commandeered for national defense. No new civilian automobiles were built for four years, and the assembly lines became the source of tanks, Jeeps, and other military vehicles. Commodities such as meat and sugar were rationed.
And soon, the U.S. had full employment, with a jobless rate of about 3% in comparison to nearly 25% during the 1932-33 depths of the Depression.
It's a valid point that government isn't a long-term solution to joblessness. The Soviet Union and its imitators were proof of that. But World War II was vivid proof that it can work in the short term as a way of jolting an economy back into motion. The Obama stimulus plan didn't profoundly affect the American workforce, mainly because a stubborn right wing would never have let it go far enough.
Obama can't afford to contest that point too much, because the job-creation myth has become one of economics' sacred cows. He responded to Romney with his own soliloquy about the so-called free enterprise system. Since he's already being labeled a "socialist" by ignorant right-wingers who don't know what that word means, he's got to play it cool.
And the consensus was that he won Debate No. 2. Too bad he's still having to play the game according to "rules" that history belies.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Mitt Scumney lost Tuesday night's encounter with President Obama on points, and Obama showed more fire than he did in their lackluster first debate. Scumney, though, seemed prepared for a more spirited show from Obama and didn't do badly, on the whole. But one "point" he emphasized stuck in my mind because of how dead wrong he is on it.
"Government doesn't create jobs," Scumney said repeatedly, with passion and emphasis.
Scumney didn't live through World War II, nor did I. But if that war effort wasn't powerful, compelling proof that government can and does create jobs, there couldn't be anything more to demonstrate that. Suggesting otherwise has become part of the mindless nonhistory of contemporary America.
A mantra of Republicans in my younger days was that "The New Deal didn't get us out of the Depression; World War II did."
Yes, exactly. And here's why.
The New Deal was a bid to mobilize the U.S. against the Great Depression, but it was often blocked, with a reactionary Supreme Court striking down two of its centerpiece programs, the NRA in 1935 and the first AAA in 1936. Southern Democrats often sided with the Republican minority against the more far-reaching measures, and a double-dip in the business downturn followed FDR's moves toward austerity during 1937-38.
It wasn't until Dec. 7, 1941, when U.S. military forces suffered a direct and devastating attack, that the national government finally got a free hand. Defense industries flourished as direct recipients of government contracts. The Detroit auto industry was literally commandeered for national defense. No new civilian automobiles were built for four years, and the assembly lines became the source of tanks, Jeeps, and other military vehicles. Commodities such as meat and sugar were rationed.
And soon, the U.S. had full employment, with a jobless rate of about 3% in comparison to nearly 25% during the 1932-33 depths of the Depression.
It's a valid point that government isn't a long-term solution to joblessness. The Soviet Union and its imitators were proof of that. But World War II was vivid proof that it can work in the short term as a way of jolting an economy back into motion. The Obama stimulus plan didn't profoundly affect the American workforce, mainly because a stubborn right wing would never have let it go far enough.
Obama can't afford to contest that point too much, because the job-creation myth has become one of economics' sacred cows. He responded to Romney with his own soliloquy about the so-called free enterprise system. Since he's already being labeled a "socialist" by ignorant right-wingers who don't know what that word means, he's got to play it cool.
And the consensus was that he won Debate No. 2. Too bad he's still having to play the game according to "rules" that history belies.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, October 15, 2012
"Ayn" Can't Decide Whether He's Eddie Munster Or Pinocchio
By Manifesto Joe
It was refreshing to see a Democrat (Joe Biden) acting tough and fiesty at Thursday night's vice presidential debate. But something that's often been lost in the analysis is how many brazen whoppers Paul "Ayn" Ryan told in the 40 minutes that he spoke.
Perhaps the most obvious distortion from "Ayn" was on unemployment. He depicted the jobless rate of 10% or so in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pa., as representative of conditions throughout the country.
This may have gotten by a lot of people who don't follow the news, and the aggressive Biden did miss an opportunity to double up on this point. This absurd distortion came only days after the Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent U.S. jobless figure of 7.8% was the top story for most media outlets.
Igor Volsky of ThinkProgress points out further that the U.S. jobless rate dropped from a year before in 325 out of 372 metro areas that the bureau surveyed. Here's a link to Volsky's entire analysis.
Myths about Social Security and Medicare
"Ayn" also rehashed the old myths about Social Security and Medicare going broke. Volsky also addresses this "malarkey," as Joe Biden described it:
[T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is —- and historically has been —- greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits.
Social Security is taxed regressively, with the levy collected on annual incomes only up to $110,100. It would be very easy to shift some of that payroll tax onto people with higher incomes, thereby making the system able to pay 100% of obligations.
But many Mainstream Media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal are demagoguing this issue in a way that favors the wealthy, and keeping alive the myth among younger people that Social Security and Medicare won't be there for them. It isn't that the programs are destined to fail -- it's that the Republican Party is under the spell of people like Grover Norquist (and "Ayn") who lust for their failure and are doing all they can to undermine them.
Here's a link to an article on the subject by Travis Waldron.
The terrorist bogeyman
It had already become clear, listening to gaffes by the fool heading this "ticket," Mitt Scumney, that these people remain mired in a Cold War mentality. Now comes Eddie Munster, beating war drums and rattling sabres over Iran. That country seems to have become the latest villain in The Enemy of the Month Club.
More from Volsky:
(Quote from Ryan) "When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material -— nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five." This is misleading and unproven. Iran now has enough fissile material, but has not yet enriched to the necessary level for a weapon. The Institute for Science and International Security says "it would take Iran more than two months to produce that amount if it started with 20%-grade uranium, and 'several months' to make enough for a bomb using low-enriched uranium. That would give the world community enough time to detect the operation and organize a response, ISIS noted in June."
Well, at least "Ayn" stopped short of saying that Obama wants to implement Sharia law in America. It wouldn't surprise me if he privately thinks that's seriously possible.
Tomorrow night, Obama gets his second shot at Scumney. I hope he's as aggressive as Biden. He made no mistakes on the facts, but his lack of aggression was his perceived failure in the first presidential debate.
With liars like these perhaps only weeks away from the two highest offices in the land, the stakes couldn't be higher.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
It was refreshing to see a Democrat (Joe Biden) acting tough and fiesty at Thursday night's vice presidential debate. But something that's often been lost in the analysis is how many brazen whoppers Paul "Ayn" Ryan told in the 40 minutes that he spoke.
Perhaps the most obvious distortion from "Ayn" was on unemployment. He depicted the jobless rate of 10% or so in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pa., as representative of conditions throughout the country.
This may have gotten by a lot of people who don't follow the news, and the aggressive Biden did miss an opportunity to double up on this point. This absurd distortion came only days after the Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent U.S. jobless figure of 7.8% was the top story for most media outlets.
Igor Volsky of ThinkProgress points out further that the U.S. jobless rate dropped from a year before in 325 out of 372 metro areas that the bureau surveyed. Here's a link to Volsky's entire analysis.
Myths about Social Security and Medicare
"Ayn" also rehashed the old myths about Social Security and Medicare going broke. Volsky also addresses this "malarkey," as Joe Biden described it:
[T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is —- and historically has been —- greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits.
Social Security is taxed regressively, with the levy collected on annual incomes only up to $110,100. It would be very easy to shift some of that payroll tax onto people with higher incomes, thereby making the system able to pay 100% of obligations.
But many Mainstream Media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal are demagoguing this issue in a way that favors the wealthy, and keeping alive the myth among younger people that Social Security and Medicare won't be there for them. It isn't that the programs are destined to fail -- it's that the Republican Party is under the spell of people like Grover Norquist (and "Ayn") who lust for their failure and are doing all they can to undermine them.
Here's a link to an article on the subject by Travis Waldron.
The terrorist bogeyman
It had already become clear, listening to gaffes by the fool heading this "ticket," Mitt Scumney, that these people remain mired in a Cold War mentality. Now comes Eddie Munster, beating war drums and rattling sabres over Iran. That country seems to have become the latest villain in The Enemy of the Month Club.
More from Volsky:
(Quote from Ryan) "When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material -— nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five." This is misleading and unproven. Iran now has enough fissile material, but has not yet enriched to the necessary level for a weapon. The Institute for Science and International Security says "it would take Iran more than two months to produce that amount if it started with 20%-grade uranium, and 'several months' to make enough for a bomb using low-enriched uranium. That would give the world community enough time to detect the operation and organize a response, ISIS noted in June."
Well, at least "Ayn" stopped short of saying that Obama wants to implement Sharia law in America. It wouldn't surprise me if he privately thinks that's seriously possible.
Tomorrow night, Obama gets his second shot at Scumney. I hope he's as aggressive as Biden. He made no mistakes on the facts, but his lack of aggression was his perceived failure in the first presidential debate.
With liars like these perhaps only weeks away from the two highest offices in the land, the stakes couldn't be higher.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Joe Biden Stomped All Over Eddie Munster's Ass -- But Obama Will Have To Do Something Similar
By Manifesto Joe
It seems a picture of split verdicts on the vice presidential debate, held Thursday night. I suppose there are enough people living in alternative universes to make that so. I watched every word, and it looked to me like legendary badass Joe Biden drew blood at least five times for every one time for "Ayn."
Of course, I'm prejudiced, but I was a bit concerned about Obama's performance at the first of the presidential debates. Obama is going to have to win the second and third encounters with Scumney. He turned in a dry, professorial performance in their first debate, roughly scoring a boring draw, which was something that worked in Scumney's favor because expectations for the latter were rather low.
It's sad that American politics is so often rooted in the visceral in the outcomes. And debate outcomes aren't always that pivotal. If they were, John Kerry would be a departing president now.
But this race is close, and much will hang on the debate outcomes. Expectations for Obama have been high, given that he is regarded as a superior orator. Against Scumney, the second and third times, he will have to demonstrate that he can think on his feet.
Stay tuned.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
It seems a picture of split verdicts on the vice presidential debate, held Thursday night. I suppose there are enough people living in alternative universes to make that so. I watched every word, and it looked to me like legendary badass Joe Biden drew blood at least five times for every one time for "Ayn."
Of course, I'm prejudiced, but I was a bit concerned about Obama's performance at the first of the presidential debates. Obama is going to have to win the second and third encounters with Scumney. He turned in a dry, professorial performance in their first debate, roughly scoring a boring draw, which was something that worked in Scumney's favor because expectations for the latter were rather low.
It's sad that American politics is so often rooted in the visceral in the outcomes. And debate outcomes aren't always that pivotal. If they were, John Kerry would be a departing president now.
But this race is close, and much will hang on the debate outcomes. Expectations for Obama have been high, given that he is regarded as a superior orator. Against Scumney, the second and third times, he will have to demonstrate that he can think on his feet.
Stay tuned.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Only Jobless Rate Romney Ever Reduced Was The One In China
By Manifesto Joe
News came out Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by nonpartisan sources, had fallen from 8.1% to 7.8%, a 44-month low, with the main reason being people moving into new jobs.
No sooner had the news been announced than right-wing Republicans were up to their usual bilge. Most notably, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, infamous for cooking the books at the corporate conglomerate when he was there, was accusing those biased nonpolitical appointees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics of cooking the books right before the election.
Here's a link to an Alternet story on the right-wing response to the loss of one of their big talking points.
One of Scumney's bogus debating points Wednesday night was the notion that he will create 12 million jobs if elected. He neglected to mention that a lot of economists already project that the economy itself will create something like 11.8 million jobs in the U.S. no matter who is elected president next month.
Here's a link to a story on Scumney's assorted inaccuracies at Wednesday night's debate.
Scumney has to distort thusly, because he's got no record of his own to run on. Massachusetts wasn't overly prosperous during his single term as governor there, and as head of Bain Capital he did much more to cut the unemployment rate in places like China than to do anything to help Americans get jobs. The objective of Bain Capital was, in his own words, to "harvest" companies. Lots of U.S. jobs are sent overseas with that kind of harvesting.
But, something it appears we can expect from Republicans for at least another month is this habit: They blame Obama for anything "bad" that ever happened on any day of his watch, even for the calamities he obviously inherited from Il Doofus (Bush 43). But he gets no credit for anything "good" that has happened during the same period. That kind of thing either had to have been done by his hapless predecessor, or in spite of Obama.
Obama was very dry and lackluster for the first debate. I hope he'll be loaded for bear for the second and third ones.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
News came out Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by nonpartisan sources, had fallen from 8.1% to 7.8%, a 44-month low, with the main reason being people moving into new jobs.
No sooner had the news been announced than right-wing Republicans were up to their usual bilge. Most notably, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, infamous for cooking the books at the corporate conglomerate when he was there, was accusing those biased nonpolitical appointees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics of cooking the books right before the election.
Here's a link to an Alternet story on the right-wing response to the loss of one of their big talking points.
One of Scumney's bogus debating points Wednesday night was the notion that he will create 12 million jobs if elected. He neglected to mention that a lot of economists already project that the economy itself will create something like 11.8 million jobs in the U.S. no matter who is elected president next month.
Here's a link to a story on Scumney's assorted inaccuracies at Wednesday night's debate.
Scumney has to distort thusly, because he's got no record of his own to run on. Massachusetts wasn't overly prosperous during his single term as governor there, and as head of Bain Capital he did much more to cut the unemployment rate in places like China than to do anything to help Americans get jobs. The objective of Bain Capital was, in his own words, to "harvest" companies. Lots of U.S. jobs are sent overseas with that kind of harvesting.
But, something it appears we can expect from Republicans for at least another month is this habit: They blame Obama for anything "bad" that ever happened on any day of his watch, even for the calamities he obviously inherited from Il Doofus (Bush 43). But he gets no credit for anything "good" that has happened during the same period. That kind of thing either had to have been done by his hapless predecessor, or in spite of Obama.
Obama was very dry and lackluster for the first debate. I hope he'll be loaded for bear for the second and third ones.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Depressing Letdown: Obama MIA At 1st Debate
By Manifesto Joe
I felt pretty depressed after watching every word of Wednesday night's debate between President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Scumney. Oh, it could have been worse for Obama supporters. It looked pretty much like a boring draw, if you'll pardon the boxing analogy. There were no knockdowns.
But this worked very much in Scumney's favor. Expectations for him were pretty low, so this performance actually gave many people the perception that he won. Never mind that the fact-checkers had a field day with all the bogus numbers he was tossing around. TV debates are about telegenic image (ask the ghost of Dick Nixon). He'd been well-coached, and made no major mistakes. He looked sharp -- well, as good as it gets -- and primed for battle.
Obama, in contrast, looked tired, as though he really didn't feel very good and didn't want to be there. His performance was adequate, but very dry and academic, as though he were back at the University of Chicago giving a lecture on constitutional law. He let Scumney get away with a lot of factual liberties, too.
Obama seemed to labor a lot, and with the mummified Jim Lehrer, 78, as the moderator, he ultimately spoke for about 4 minutes longer than Scumney. But he pretty much blew any opportunities he had to score with heavy punches.
Sometimes TV debates don't count for very much. I watched every word of the first 1984 encounter between Reagan and Mondale, and I thought Mondale mopped up the floor with the senile old man. There was a second debate, and a highly coached Reagan was relatively impressive the second time. That seemed to be enough for most of the voters who'd paid any attention -- he won with 59% of the popular vote.
And, I thought John Kerry pretty much pummeled Il Doofus all three times that they met in 2004. But he never quite went for the jugular. The right-wing voters apparently just decided that Kerry was a pointy-headed liberal who had learned how to argue better along the way, and so the debates didn't influence them much, if at all.
On the "strength" of this, Scumney seems to be back in this thing. Obama is probably getting an earful from his staff, and probably from Michelle, too. I pray that he's listening -- he's only got two more debate shots at Scumney this month.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I felt pretty depressed after watching every word of Wednesday night's debate between President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Scumney. Oh, it could have been worse for Obama supporters. It looked pretty much like a boring draw, if you'll pardon the boxing analogy. There were no knockdowns.
But this worked very much in Scumney's favor. Expectations for him were pretty low, so this performance actually gave many people the perception that he won. Never mind that the fact-checkers had a field day with all the bogus numbers he was tossing around. TV debates are about telegenic image (ask the ghost of Dick Nixon). He'd been well-coached, and made no major mistakes. He looked sharp -- well, as good as it gets -- and primed for battle.
Obama, in contrast, looked tired, as though he really didn't feel very good and didn't want to be there. His performance was adequate, but very dry and academic, as though he were back at the University of Chicago giving a lecture on constitutional law. He let Scumney get away with a lot of factual liberties, too.
Obama seemed to labor a lot, and with the mummified Jim Lehrer, 78, as the moderator, he ultimately spoke for about 4 minutes longer than Scumney. But he pretty much blew any opportunities he had to score with heavy punches.
Sometimes TV debates don't count for very much. I watched every word of the first 1984 encounter between Reagan and Mondale, and I thought Mondale mopped up the floor with the senile old man. There was a second debate, and a highly coached Reagan was relatively impressive the second time. That seemed to be enough for most of the voters who'd paid any attention -- he won with 59% of the popular vote.
And, I thought John Kerry pretty much pummeled Il Doofus all three times that they met in 2004. But he never quite went for the jugular. The right-wing voters apparently just decided that Kerry was a pointy-headed liberal who had learned how to argue better along the way, and so the debates didn't influence them much, if at all.
On the "strength" of this, Scumney seems to be back in this thing. Obama is probably getting an earful from his staff, and probably from Michelle, too. I pray that he's listening -- he's only got two more debate shots at Scumney this month.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Samuel L. Jackson Says His Piece
Politicians are, generally, not good people. But no, they are not quite all the same. Some are more on your side, others less so. Samuel, in this video, tells it like it is, from my standpoint, anyway.
http://www.mostwatchedtoday.com/tag/wtfu-2012/
Check it out. I'll try to get a better version up soon. -- MJ
http://www.mostwatchedtoday.com/tag/wtfu-2012/
Check it out. I'll try to get a better version up soon. -- MJ
Saturday, September 22, 2012
'Slick Willard' Isn't So Slick Anymore
By Manifesto Joe
After the past couple of weeks, I'll have to stop using the nickname of "Slick Willard" to refer to Mitt Scumney. He hasn't been slick at all, and some of the American people are getting a chance to see whom this really is.
I suppose his asinine behavior while visiting the Summer Olympic Games in London should have been enough foreshadowing of this. Like Obama's predecessor, this is a doofus, a son of privilege whose main talent seems to be for making a fool of himself.
He followed up on insults to America's closest ally with the Libya debacle, attacking alleged weakness in the Obama administration even before the victims' families had been notified. Even many top Republicans were aghast at that one.
Then there were the "47 percent" remarks, which appear to show Romney as the ignorant plutocrat he really is. The only "redistribution of wealth" that people like him object to is the kind that travels down the socioeconomic ladder. When it comes from the bottom up -- as it usually does -- it's called "smart business."
'Incompetent' was polite
Even prominent plutocrats are upset. Peggy Noonan, the onetime Reagan speechwriter who's now with The Wall Street Journal, said she was being polite when she called the Scumney campaign "incompetent." What she meant, she said, is that it is more like a "rolling calamity."
Here's a link to a story about Noonan's dismay.
Many polls are now showing Obama in the lead, reversing previous trends. One factor, I would say, is a closing of ranks among America's "center-left." Obama's lack of fight, at least for a long time while faced with Republican intractability, was disheartening to many. But the Republican Party has come so much under the spell of its kook element that the "center-left's" potential dissidents realize that Obama is the only person standing between us and utterly irresponsible right-wingers.
I worry, though, remembering an old adage that nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the intelligence of the American people. It has surprised even me, just a bit, how many people are still obsessing over where Obama was born when the U.S. is being faced with such a grave choice in November. The "birthers" always deny this, but I think the fact that there's an uppity n----r in the White House is what bothers them most. I would have thought that the Il Doofus (Bush 43) disaster would have spoiled the "Republican brand" for at least a generation, but the election of a black president seemed to make a lot of Il Doofus' damage invisible to many middle-class white people.
Scumney may still be able to make it close enough for the Republicans to steal it with their voter disenfranchisement strategy, and so forth. But at least the latest gaffes are giving people a chance to see whom he really is. As Massachusetts governor, he talked like a moderate, and even governed like one to a great extent. But recent missteps, plus his choice of Paul "Ayn" Ryan as his running mate, make clear that this is merely a privileged, opportunistic dork who's willing to tell anybody anything to have the office to which he obviously thinks he's entitled. The Republican right wing owns him now, and they also will do anything to grab power.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
After the past couple of weeks, I'll have to stop using the nickname of "Slick Willard" to refer to Mitt Scumney. He hasn't been slick at all, and some of the American people are getting a chance to see whom this really is.
I suppose his asinine behavior while visiting the Summer Olympic Games in London should have been enough foreshadowing of this. Like Obama's predecessor, this is a doofus, a son of privilege whose main talent seems to be for making a fool of himself.
He followed up on insults to America's closest ally with the Libya debacle, attacking alleged weakness in the Obama administration even before the victims' families had been notified. Even many top Republicans were aghast at that one.
Then there were the "47 percent" remarks, which appear to show Romney as the ignorant plutocrat he really is. The only "redistribution of wealth" that people like him object to is the kind that travels down the socioeconomic ladder. When it comes from the bottom up -- as it usually does -- it's called "smart business."
'Incompetent' was polite
Even prominent plutocrats are upset. Peggy Noonan, the onetime Reagan speechwriter who's now with The Wall Street Journal, said she was being polite when she called the Scumney campaign "incompetent." What she meant, she said, is that it is more like a "rolling calamity."
Here's a link to a story about Noonan's dismay.
Many polls are now showing Obama in the lead, reversing previous trends. One factor, I would say, is a closing of ranks among America's "center-left." Obama's lack of fight, at least for a long time while faced with Republican intractability, was disheartening to many. But the Republican Party has come so much under the spell of its kook element that the "center-left's" potential dissidents realize that Obama is the only person standing between us and utterly irresponsible right-wingers.
I worry, though, remembering an old adage that nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the intelligence of the American people. It has surprised even me, just a bit, how many people are still obsessing over where Obama was born when the U.S. is being faced with such a grave choice in November. The "birthers" always deny this, but I think the fact that there's an uppity n----r in the White House is what bothers them most. I would have thought that the Il Doofus (Bush 43) disaster would have spoiled the "Republican brand" for at least a generation, but the election of a black president seemed to make a lot of Il Doofus' damage invisible to many middle-class white people.
Scumney may still be able to make it close enough for the Republicans to steal it with their voter disenfranchisement strategy, and so forth. But at least the latest gaffes are giving people a chance to see whom he really is. As Massachusetts governor, he talked like a moderate, and even governed like one to a great extent. But recent missteps, plus his choice of Paul "Ayn" Ryan as his running mate, make clear that this is merely a privileged, opportunistic dork who's willing to tell anybody anything to have the office to which he obviously thinks he's entitled. The Republican right wing owns him now, and they also will do anything to grab power.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Manifesto Joe's Great Moments In Conservative History, Part 12: Right-Wingers Rewrite U.S. History
I can't add much to this link, so here it is.
Enjoy.
I got my tower back several hours ago, so I'm back in action. -- MJ
Enjoy.
I got my tower back several hours ago, so I'm back in action. -- MJ
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Computer Woes Again
I'm out of commission, yet again, with PC issues. My tower is in the repair shop. Hope to be back in the saddle soon. -- MJ
Saturday, September 8, 2012
This Is 'Gone With The Wind' For Birthers
By Manifesto Joe
Someone I know urged me to watch this, so I did, all 76 minutes of it:
The bottom line seems to be the insistence of one Verna Lee, 95, that neither she nor her office could ever have made a mistake on a birth certificate in her official capacity in Hawaii back in 1961 (not 1960, as the investigator repeatedly says).
A number of years back, I had to get a copy of my own birth certificate. I was most surprised to learn that I was born at 3:25 p.m. The doctor recorded it as 3:35 a.m. My mother recalled that the event occurred in the dark of the early morning hours, and I think that she was there. In any case, my Texas birth certificate was screwed up by an incompetent person on the day I was born. So was my mother's -- her name was misspelled on hers.
But in Texas, they make such mistakes all the time. The officials in Hawaii were perfect, every time, even back then.
The person who urged me to watch this said it convinced him that President Obama's long-form birth certificate, as presented to the public in PDF format, is a forgery. It raises a couple of interesting questions, but ultimately, he got me confused with someone who actually gives a shit.
I really, honestly don't care if Obama was born on Jupiter. His opponent has a running mate who's a disciple of hag selfishness cult leader Ayn Rand, and who has proposed to convert Medicare into a voucher system. The "GOP" ticket has me worried about a great deal more than where Obama was born.
The whole "birther" thing seems to me like a diversionary nonissue, the kind that right-wingers just love. They were floating these the full eight years that Bill Clinton was president. Now, with them horrified at the prospect of a second term of President N----r, can we expect any less?
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Someone I know urged me to watch this, so I did, all 76 minutes of it:
The bottom line seems to be the insistence of one Verna Lee, 95, that neither she nor her office could ever have made a mistake on a birth certificate in her official capacity in Hawaii back in 1961 (not 1960, as the investigator repeatedly says).
A number of years back, I had to get a copy of my own birth certificate. I was most surprised to learn that I was born at 3:25 p.m. The doctor recorded it as 3:35 a.m. My mother recalled that the event occurred in the dark of the early morning hours, and I think that she was there. In any case, my Texas birth certificate was screwed up by an incompetent person on the day I was born. So was my mother's -- her name was misspelled on hers.
But in Texas, they make such mistakes all the time. The officials in Hawaii were perfect, every time, even back then.
The person who urged me to watch this said it convinced him that President Obama's long-form birth certificate, as presented to the public in PDF format, is a forgery. It raises a couple of interesting questions, but ultimately, he got me confused with someone who actually gives a shit.
I really, honestly don't care if Obama was born on Jupiter. His opponent has a running mate who's a disciple of hag selfishness cult leader Ayn Rand, and who has proposed to convert Medicare into a voucher system. The "GOP" ticket has me worried about a great deal more than where Obama was born.
The whole "birther" thing seems to me like a diversionary nonissue, the kind that right-wingers just love. They were floating these the full eight years that Bill Clinton was president. Now, with them horrified at the prospect of a second term of President N----r, can we expect any less?
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, September 3, 2012
A Labor Day Warning About Job Scams
By Manifesto Joe
Ever heard the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is?
I recently joined the ranks of America's unemployed, and that bit of wisdom is coming in quite handy for me as my job search heats up. There are job scams galore out there, and if you've got e-mail addresses involved in your search, you're certain to be getting all kinds of offers from con artists.
With as many nervous and vulnerable job hunters as there are out there, there are countless vultures ready and willing to prey on them and put their unemployment benefits in a different bank. I can identify several types of these scams.
1. Insurance companies
However good their pitch, and however reputable they sound, this is one of the most common scams. Oh, it's legal, and they tend to merely stretch the truth rather than outright lie. If you've uploaded a resume, any resume, on any kind of a site like careerbuilder.com, you've either gotten these kinds of offers or will soon get them. The requirement for their interest: a pulse.
I almost fell for one of their common ploys -- a presentation that serves as a sort of preliminary interview. I decided recently to accept an offer to do this, so I suited up, printed out my resume, got my briefcase out and used this as a "dress rehearsal" for a one-on-one interview.
The presentation was good, I had to admit. But I looked around the room. These prelim events generally have five to 15 prospects in the room. I was one of 10, so we were very average. There were people there from all walks of life, all levels of education. Most already had jobs and were looking for a different sort of opportunity.
It all sounded pretty good, until you are told that it's going to cost quite a bit of money to get licensed by the state. It's also 100% commission, and they avoid telling you that most "agents" don't survive the first year. Even among the ones who do, there's a trainer there who's going to help you build a call list, and that person is very likely to take the lion's share of the money. They say it's not a pyramid scheme, but you eventually find that's how it works.
When a company sends you an e-mail, Google the company's name and then type in "scam." I'll bet you get numerous hits on that every time.
I'm not going to name names, but I'll go so far as to say that it's every single one of them that directly contacts resume posters. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you didn't send a resume directly to this company, chances are 99.44% that this is a scam.
2. Franchises
Again, these outfits will send you an e-mail and lay lots of flattery on you about your "experience." They will tell you how much money you can make, and how you can be your "own boss" as a franchisee.
Delete, with extreme prejudice.
3. Work-at-home schemes
Again, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. A common one of these is how one can make $77 an hour working at home on one's PC.
Do yourself a favor and get rid of it.
4. For-profit colleges
Ever gotten into what looks like a job-search website, then get bombarded by pop-up ads for those "for-profit" online colleges?
They'll gladly take your money for a degree that, in the end, you may be unable to use.
Exit these, post haste.
One problem that's not exactly a scam, but is a disgusting time-waster, is when you're trying to apply for a company's advertised job, and your software isn't communicating with the company's. This is tied in with how unhealthily dependent companies have become on computer programs. In this case, the company's IT people haven't updated their system to be compatible with a wide range of PC software. So, you get taken around in circles until you realize that this is an exercise in futility.
Perhaps the worst scammer of all is Corporate America itself
This is happening where I used to work, and it's common all across the U.S. People get laid off from full-time jobs with benefits. Then, six months to a year later, if they're still available, the same company offers them a part-time job, with no benefits, of course.
Also, have you noticed how many of the advertised job openings are part time, or for temporary contract posts, etc.?
We live in the age of the Throwaway American Workforce. More than ever, people are being replaced by computers, and employee pension plans are being abandoned so that corporations can "afford" to pay lavish executive pensions.
The official U.S. unemployment rate has generally been 8-9% for years. If you take into account the number of people who are underemployed, stuck in no-future jobs with no benefits, I think you could double that percentage for all practical purposes. And then, there are millions who have just plain given up.
Bottom line: If you are hunting for a job, be careful out there.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Ever heard the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is?
I recently joined the ranks of America's unemployed, and that bit of wisdom is coming in quite handy for me as my job search heats up. There are job scams galore out there, and if you've got e-mail addresses involved in your search, you're certain to be getting all kinds of offers from con artists.
With as many nervous and vulnerable job hunters as there are out there, there are countless vultures ready and willing to prey on them and put their unemployment benefits in a different bank. I can identify several types of these scams.
1. Insurance companies
However good their pitch, and however reputable they sound, this is one of the most common scams. Oh, it's legal, and they tend to merely stretch the truth rather than outright lie. If you've uploaded a resume, any resume, on any kind of a site like careerbuilder.com, you've either gotten these kinds of offers or will soon get them. The requirement for their interest: a pulse.
I almost fell for one of their common ploys -- a presentation that serves as a sort of preliminary interview. I decided recently to accept an offer to do this, so I suited up, printed out my resume, got my briefcase out and used this as a "dress rehearsal" for a one-on-one interview.
The presentation was good, I had to admit. But I looked around the room. These prelim events generally have five to 15 prospects in the room. I was one of 10, so we were very average. There were people there from all walks of life, all levels of education. Most already had jobs and were looking for a different sort of opportunity.
It all sounded pretty good, until you are told that it's going to cost quite a bit of money to get licensed by the state. It's also 100% commission, and they avoid telling you that most "agents" don't survive the first year. Even among the ones who do, there's a trainer there who's going to help you build a call list, and that person is very likely to take the lion's share of the money. They say it's not a pyramid scheme, but you eventually find that's how it works.
When a company sends you an e-mail, Google the company's name and then type in "scam." I'll bet you get numerous hits on that every time.
I'm not going to name names, but I'll go so far as to say that it's every single one of them that directly contacts resume posters. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you didn't send a resume directly to this company, chances are 99.44% that this is a scam.
2. Franchises
Again, these outfits will send you an e-mail and lay lots of flattery on you about your "experience." They will tell you how much money you can make, and how you can be your "own boss" as a franchisee.
Delete, with extreme prejudice.
3. Work-at-home schemes
Again, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. A common one of these is how one can make $77 an hour working at home on one's PC.
Do yourself a favor and get rid of it.
4. For-profit colleges
Ever gotten into what looks like a job-search website, then get bombarded by pop-up ads for those "for-profit" online colleges?
They'll gladly take your money for a degree that, in the end, you may be unable to use.
Exit these, post haste.
One problem that's not exactly a scam, but is a disgusting time-waster, is when you're trying to apply for a company's advertised job, and your software isn't communicating with the company's. This is tied in with how unhealthily dependent companies have become on computer programs. In this case, the company's IT people haven't updated their system to be compatible with a wide range of PC software. So, you get taken around in circles until you realize that this is an exercise in futility.
Perhaps the worst scammer of all is Corporate America itself
This is happening where I used to work, and it's common all across the U.S. People get laid off from full-time jobs with benefits. Then, six months to a year later, if they're still available, the same company offers them a part-time job, with no benefits, of course.
Also, have you noticed how many of the advertised job openings are part time, or for temporary contract posts, etc.?
We live in the age of the Throwaway American Workforce. More than ever, people are being replaced by computers, and employee pension plans are being abandoned so that corporations can "afford" to pay lavish executive pensions.
The official U.S. unemployment rate has generally been 8-9% for years. If you take into account the number of people who are underemployed, stuck in no-future jobs with no benefits, I think you could double that percentage for all practical purposes. And then, there are millions who have just plain given up.
Bottom line: If you are hunting for a job, be careful out there.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Clint, God Is Not On The Republicans' Side -- He Hates Stupid People
By Manifesto Joe
Hard-core film buffs may recognize the title of this post as a paraphrase of a line that "Blondie" (Clint Eastwood) speaks to "Tucco" (Eli Wallach) in the quintessential spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967).
As an actor, Clint was OK, but always a bit more archetype than character, sort of like John Wayne was to an older and less-hip audience. As a director, he blossomed into a world-class auteur, aided by the tutelage of cinematic masters like Sergio Leone and Don Siegel.
It was tragi-comic to see an 82-year-old Eastwood make a doddering fool of himself before a prime-time TV audience Thursday night at the Republican National Convention.
For one thing, I thought Clint had learned a few things about his "friends" on the right. His reaction to having right-wing critics like Michael Medved spray bladder juice all over his 2004 boxing masterpiece Million Dollar Baby was angry and defiant. The film seemed, in the view of right wingers, to support euthanasia. Clint seemed at the time to have distanced himself at least somewhat from the political right, with his obvious and apolitical question about any script: Is it a good story?
But he's always been a fiscal conservative, and was a Republican as mayor of Carmel, Calif. Old habits die hard.
Back to the post title -- God may not be on the Republicans' side, but from what one can tell, He, She or It often doesn't seem to be on ANYBODY'S side. The deity, presuming that one exists, doesn't usually intervene in human affairs. Jews and other victimized groups were not spared holocausts, and black people were not rescued from slavery, at least not for centuries.
Humans are mostly left to their own devices. They can do things to make the world a better place -- or they can make it a hell on Earth, which they quite regularly accomplish. It's often sad to watch, but that's what free will is all about.
God didn't even stop Il Doofus (Bush 43) from being president for eight long years, declining to step in as apparent election fraud was committed. He, She or It didn't stop 1.4 million Iraqis from being killed over official lies.
And, perish the thought, He, She or It may not prevent Slick Willard Scumney and Paul "Ayn" Ryan from being "elected" to the Nos. 1 and 2 offices in the land. Atheists and agnostics seem to expect the deity to intervene in human affairs, but that seldom happens. We can foolishly and avariciously screw things up just as much as we please -- I learned that from watching "Blondie" on the Big Screen when I was just a lad of 11. It's up to us.
He, She or It may hate stupid people -- but that's never stopped them before.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Hard-core film buffs may recognize the title of this post as a paraphrase of a line that "Blondie" (Clint Eastwood) speaks to "Tucco" (Eli Wallach) in the quintessential spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1967).
As an actor, Clint was OK, but always a bit more archetype than character, sort of like John Wayne was to an older and less-hip audience. As a director, he blossomed into a world-class auteur, aided by the tutelage of cinematic masters like Sergio Leone and Don Siegel.
It was tragi-comic to see an 82-year-old Eastwood make a doddering fool of himself before a prime-time TV audience Thursday night at the Republican National Convention.
For one thing, I thought Clint had learned a few things about his "friends" on the right. His reaction to having right-wing critics like Michael Medved spray bladder juice all over his 2004 boxing masterpiece Million Dollar Baby was angry and defiant. The film seemed, in the view of right wingers, to support euthanasia. Clint seemed at the time to have distanced himself at least somewhat from the political right, with his obvious and apolitical question about any script: Is it a good story?
But he's always been a fiscal conservative, and was a Republican as mayor of Carmel, Calif. Old habits die hard.
Back to the post title -- God may not be on the Republicans' side, but from what one can tell, He, She or It often doesn't seem to be on ANYBODY'S side. The deity, presuming that one exists, doesn't usually intervene in human affairs. Jews and other victimized groups were not spared holocausts, and black people were not rescued from slavery, at least not for centuries.
Humans are mostly left to their own devices. They can do things to make the world a better place -- or they can make it a hell on Earth, which they quite regularly accomplish. It's often sad to watch, but that's what free will is all about.
God didn't even stop Il Doofus (Bush 43) from being president for eight long years, declining to step in as apparent election fraud was committed. He, She or It didn't stop 1.4 million Iraqis from being killed over official lies.
And, perish the thought, He, She or It may not prevent Slick Willard Scumney and Paul "Ayn" Ryan from being "elected" to the Nos. 1 and 2 offices in the land. Atheists and agnostics seem to expect the deity to intervene in human affairs, but that seldom happens. We can foolishly and avariciously screw things up just as much as we please -- I learned that from watching "Blondie" on the Big Screen when I was just a lad of 11. It's up to us.
He, She or It may hate stupid people -- but that's never stopped them before.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Like Others In 'GOP,' 'Ayn' Ryan Is Shameless Liar
By Manifesto Joe
No sooner did U.S. Rep. Paul "Ayn" Ryan have his big chance to "introduce" himself to much of the American public than he was already spouting gross lies, and just as shamelessly as many other Republicans.
During his speech to the "GOP" National Convention on Wednesday night, Ayn blamed President Obama for the closing of a General Motors plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis.
He seemed to have conveniently forgotten that the closing was announced while his good buddy Il Doofus (Bush 43) was president. Where was he during this convention, by the way?
Ryan also slammed Obama for ignoring the advice of the so-called bipartisan debt-reduction panel -- "the cat food commission" -- neglecting to mention that he himself opposed its recommendations.
Not that much of this is surprising. Slick Willard Scumney has been telling the voters that money has been absconded from the Medicare trust fund, when in reality no such thing has happened.
Meanwhile, Ayn, his running mate, is the author of a plan to convert Medicare into a private voucher system. It's estimated that if this is done, it could end up costing U.S. seniors as much as $6,400 more per year.
Ayn repeated the stale rhetoric that the Democrats are all out of "ideas" and have nothing left but promoting fear and division.
I suppose there's truth in the suggestion that Democrats' "ideas" basically all hark back to the New Deal in the 1930s. But there's certainly nothing "new" in the Republicans' "ideas." One can read an 1873 satirical novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, co-authored by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, and get an idea of how old their notions are.
What's most pathetic is that, even though reporters for big media outlets like the Los Angeles Times have little trouble finding the inaccuracies in Ayn's speech, lockstep Republicans and Tea Party cretins will swallow it all whole. As Mr. Twain phrased it, a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
No sooner did U.S. Rep. Paul "Ayn" Ryan have his big chance to "introduce" himself to much of the American public than he was already spouting gross lies, and just as shamelessly as many other Republicans.
During his speech to the "GOP" National Convention on Wednesday night, Ayn blamed President Obama for the closing of a General Motors plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis.
He seemed to have conveniently forgotten that the closing was announced while his good buddy Il Doofus (Bush 43) was president. Where was he during this convention, by the way?
Ryan also slammed Obama for ignoring the advice of the so-called bipartisan debt-reduction panel -- "the cat food commission" -- neglecting to mention that he himself opposed its recommendations.
Not that much of this is surprising. Slick Willard Scumney has been telling the voters that money has been absconded from the Medicare trust fund, when in reality no such thing has happened.
Meanwhile, Ayn, his running mate, is the author of a plan to convert Medicare into a private voucher system. It's estimated that if this is done, it could end up costing U.S. seniors as much as $6,400 more per year.
Ayn repeated the stale rhetoric that the Democrats are all out of "ideas" and have nothing left but promoting fear and division.
I suppose there's truth in the suggestion that Democrats' "ideas" basically all hark back to the New Deal in the 1930s. But there's certainly nothing "new" in the Republicans' "ideas." One can read an 1873 satirical novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, co-authored by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, and get an idea of how old their notions are.
What's most pathetic is that, even though reporters for big media outlets like the Los Angeles Times have little trouble finding the inaccuracies in Ayn's speech, lockstep Republicans and Tea Party cretins will swallow it all whole. As Mr. Twain phrased it, a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
'Family Values' Republicans Spend Three Times As Much As Dems At Titty Bars
By Manifesto Joe
That's according to a study by the Association of Club Executives, an organization that represents the 4,000 "gentlemen's club" owners in the U.S.
Here's a link to a story on the subject from CNN.com.
The survey found that Republicans typically spend $150 per person at strip clubs, compared with $50 per person for Democrats.
I find this a bit confusing, that the sexually repressed "family values" crowd would go ape in titty bars, and it's reported that there are 50,000 people who are about to descend on Tampa, Fla., for the Republican National Convention.
Tampa has a rep for being the strip club capital of America. I suppose I shouldn't use the term "bar" regarding Tampa, because even with that rep, I understand that you can't order booze in one of that city's strip clubs.
Even so, just imagine all those Todd Aiken types, prowling the city at night for a chance to drool at pole dancers.
As far as the amount of money they spend in these establishments, perhaps it's simply that Republicans usually have a lot more dinero to throw around, and tuck under garters, than Democrats have.
Regarding the very actions themselves, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. A man who used to collect Dumpster trash outside a popular North Texas hotel told me that the empties of vodka and gin would increase as much as tenfold when Southern Baptists would come to town for a convention. The rationale is that vodka and gin are harder to detect on someone's breath than other alcoholic beverages. And of course, Southern Baptists are supposed to be teetotalers.
Back in Tampa for this week's shenanigans, I read that one strip club has hired a Sarah Palin lookalike just in time for the GOP Convention. That's right -- she comes complete with the glasses, the hairdo, and everything else. Here's a link to that story on jezebel.com.
That ought to bring a bulge to many a pair of right-wing trousers.
Personally, I'm not much of a fan of titty bars. A friend of mine used to like going to them, so I've seen the inside of several. Although the young women are said to be well-paid, it's a very exploitative situation, plus a sad amount of the earnings go up the dancers' noses. I eventually decided that I'd rather not exploit nubile young women, or subsidize their cocaine habits.
But hey, since I'm considered a Democrat, they don't make that much quid off of me, anyway. It's the right-wingers who are the big spenders in such places. Get ready, Tampa -- there'll be no calm after the tropical storm.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
That's according to a study by the Association of Club Executives, an organization that represents the 4,000 "gentlemen's club" owners in the U.S.
Here's a link to a story on the subject from CNN.com.
The survey found that Republicans typically spend $150 per person at strip clubs, compared with $50 per person for Democrats.
I find this a bit confusing, that the sexually repressed "family values" crowd would go ape in titty bars, and it's reported that there are 50,000 people who are about to descend on Tampa, Fla., for the Republican National Convention.
Tampa has a rep for being the strip club capital of America. I suppose I shouldn't use the term "bar" regarding Tampa, because even with that rep, I understand that you can't order booze in one of that city's strip clubs.
Even so, just imagine all those Todd Aiken types, prowling the city at night for a chance to drool at pole dancers.
As far as the amount of money they spend in these establishments, perhaps it's simply that Republicans usually have a lot more dinero to throw around, and tuck under garters, than Democrats have.
Regarding the very actions themselves, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. A man who used to collect Dumpster trash outside a popular North Texas hotel told me that the empties of vodka and gin would increase as much as tenfold when Southern Baptists would come to town for a convention. The rationale is that vodka and gin are harder to detect on someone's breath than other alcoholic beverages. And of course, Southern Baptists are supposed to be teetotalers.
Back in Tampa for this week's shenanigans, I read that one strip club has hired a Sarah Palin lookalike just in time for the GOP Convention. That's right -- she comes complete with the glasses, the hairdo, and everything else. Here's a link to that story on jezebel.com.
That ought to bring a bulge to many a pair of right-wing trousers.
Personally, I'm not much of a fan of titty bars. A friend of mine used to like going to them, so I've seen the inside of several. Although the young women are said to be well-paid, it's a very exploitative situation, plus a sad amount of the earnings go up the dancers' noses. I eventually decided that I'd rather not exploit nubile young women, or subsidize their cocaine habits.
But hey, since I'm considered a Democrat, they don't make that much quid off of me, anyway. It's the right-wingers who are the big spenders in such places. Get ready, Tampa -- there'll be no calm after the tropical storm.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Incredibly, Missouri GOP Has A Senate Candidate Even Crazier Than The One In Texas
By Manifesto Joe
Rep. Todd Aiken, a Republican, represents Missouri's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House. I didn't think it possible, but he's even more of a kook than former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, who's likely to be this state's next U.S. senator.
Aiken, 65, suggested during a TV interview Sunday that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" are biologically unlikely to become pregnant -- attributing this ludicrous "science" to "doctors." A lot of top Republicans have called on the congressman to withdraw from his challenge against U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat.
Akin has apologized for his remarks, but he insists that he'll stay in the race. The deadline for him to drop out passed on Tuesday.
It's a close call, but I'd say Aiken's foolishness has exceeded that of Cruz, 41, who's on record as saying a good many insane things. To quote Tarrant County (Texas) Democratic Party Chairman Steve Maxwell:
Cruz is on the record saying there is a conspiracy to eliminate golf courses, unemployment benefits lead to more unemployment and that Sharia law is a "enormous" problem.
None of the above is very surprising, as the Texas Republican Party came under the control of psychopaths long ago. More from Maxwell:
Similarly, the Texas Republican Party Platform ranges from the silly to downright frightening –- doing away with minimum wage, repealing the Voting Rights Act, promoting corporal punishment in schools, but eliminating critical thinking (which makes sense, based on the fact that it is now clear, Republicans have done away with all thinking).
But I would say that Aiken, with his pronouncement that a "legitimate" rape victim can shut down the advance of an unwelcome sperm through sheer biological will, has Cruz bested in the category of mental illness.
Scumney's attempt at distancing
I suppose it can be marked just a bit to his credit that Slick Willard Scumney immediately realized what an appallingly stupid thing this was to say. But his struggle to distance himself from kooks like this rings hollow.
The problem is that Scumney chose Rep. Paul "Ayn" Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. And Ayn has worked closely with Todd Aiken in the past, as recently as 2011.
Ayn and Aiken co-sponsored a bill that would ban abortions in the case of "forcible" rape. These two have co-sponsored quite a few anti-abortion bills, including the proposed "Sanctity of Life Act," which says that "every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood." And by that, they mean that a "person" exists from the very moment that an egg is fertilized.
Ayn's public positions on abortion are no different from Aiken's. But now, of course, he wants to be vice president, so we're not hearing much from him on this issue.
This gaffe needs to be kept alive through the first week of November. The Republican Party has been hijacked by lunatics, and now it's across the nation, not just in Texas (where that happened long ago).
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Rep. Todd Aiken, a Republican, represents Missouri's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House. I didn't think it possible, but he's even more of a kook than former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, who's likely to be this state's next U.S. senator.
Aiken, 65, suggested during a TV interview Sunday that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" are biologically unlikely to become pregnant -- attributing this ludicrous "science" to "doctors." A lot of top Republicans have called on the congressman to withdraw from his challenge against U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat.
Akin has apologized for his remarks, but he insists that he'll stay in the race. The deadline for him to drop out passed on Tuesday.
It's a close call, but I'd say Aiken's foolishness has exceeded that of Cruz, 41, who's on record as saying a good many insane things. To quote Tarrant County (Texas) Democratic Party Chairman Steve Maxwell:
Cruz is on the record saying there is a conspiracy to eliminate golf courses, unemployment benefits lead to more unemployment and that Sharia law is a "enormous" problem.
None of the above is very surprising, as the Texas Republican Party came under the control of psychopaths long ago. More from Maxwell:
Similarly, the Texas Republican Party Platform ranges from the silly to downright frightening –- doing away with minimum wage, repealing the Voting Rights Act, promoting corporal punishment in schools, but eliminating critical thinking (which makes sense, based on the fact that it is now clear, Republicans have done away with all thinking).
But I would say that Aiken, with his pronouncement that a "legitimate" rape victim can shut down the advance of an unwelcome sperm through sheer biological will, has Cruz bested in the category of mental illness.
Scumney's attempt at distancing
I suppose it can be marked just a bit to his credit that Slick Willard Scumney immediately realized what an appallingly stupid thing this was to say. But his struggle to distance himself from kooks like this rings hollow.
The problem is that Scumney chose Rep. Paul "Ayn" Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. And Ayn has worked closely with Todd Aiken in the past, as recently as 2011.
Ayn and Aiken co-sponsored a bill that would ban abortions in the case of "forcible" rape. These two have co-sponsored quite a few anti-abortion bills, including the proposed "Sanctity of Life Act," which says that "every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood." And by that, they mean that a "person" exists from the very moment that an egg is fertilized.
Ayn's public positions on abortion are no different from Aiken's. But now, of course, he wants to be vice president, so we're not hearing much from him on this issue.
This gaffe needs to be kept alive through the first week of November. The Republican Party has been hijacked by lunatics, and now it's across the nation, not just in Texas (where that happened long ago).
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
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