I figure that if you are willing to read my drivel, the joke is already on you.
The same world view does does not apply to my son though:
Category: Video
Well Here’s Some Interesting Information
In the matter of the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, we have a new development.
It appears that the detective originaly assigned to the case wanted to arrest him for manslaughter:
The lead homicide investigator in the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin recommended that neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter the night of the shooting, multiple sources told ABC News.
But Sanford, Fla., Investigator Chris Serino was instructed to not press charges against Zimmerman because the state attorney’s office headed by Norman Wolfinger determined there wasn’t enough evidence to lead to a conviction, the sources told ABC News.
Police brought Zimmerman into the station for questioning for a few hours on the night of the shooting, said Zimmerman’s attorney, despite his request for medical attention first. Ultimately they had to accept Zimmerman’s claim of self defense. He was never charged with a crime.
Serino filed an affidavit on Feb. 26, the night that Martin was shot and killed by Zimmerman, that stated he was unconvinced Zimmerman’s version of events.
The fact that Zimmerman’s dad is a retired judge makes this decision even more suspect.
Then there is the fact that Martin’s body remained listed as a John Doe in the coroner’s office for 3 days, while repeated calls to his cell phone went unanswered. (Maybe that would have allowed them to identify the body)
Whatever else happened, given the Sandford, Florida PD’s long and notorious record of corruption and racism, it’s tough to conclude that their handling of the case was racially tinged.
BTW, Lawrence O’Donnell was going to interview Zimmerman’s lawyer, but when he realized that it wasn’t going to be softball questions he fled the studio.
O’Donnell then asked the questions of the empty chair, and they were very basic questions:
- Who is paying you? Who hired You? When, exactly, did they hire you?
- Does George Zimmerman have a job? Does he have any property? Does he own anything?
- Did you represent him when he was arrested for assault on a police officer in 2005? Did you represent him in a domestic violence case in 2007 when his girlfriend accused him of assault?
- You said Zimmerman got a broken nose, can you show us photos of him that night with the broken nose, or even the next day?
- You said Zimmerman’s clothes had grass stains and other evidentiary material … do you have that garment, can you show us what happened to it?”
These are not unexpectedly hard hitting question. Certainly they are a bit hostile, but if you are doing the media rounds as his lawyer (to my mind always a bad decision) you have to be able to answer these questions.
One of the interesting things here is just how hard the right is trying to smear this teenager.
It’s an article of faith among them that there is no longer any racism in the United States, and the obvious racism here kind of gets in the way of that.
Well, This Explains a Lot
I now understand why he created Jar Jar Binks, the bastard. (Marginally SFW)
H/t JR at the Stellar Parthenon BBS.
I Am Stunned
Moveon.org has finally put out an ad that doesn’t suck!
Imagine that!
Seriously. The typical Moveon ad seems to preach to the choir, and not do so particularly well.
This is actually a decent piece of agitprop.
Could The Use Of Flying Death Robots Be Hurting America’s Reputation Worldwide?
Yes.
This has been another episode of simple answers to simple questions:
Could The Use Of Flying Death Robots Be Hurting America’s Reputation Worldwide?
I hate the fact that The Onion seems to have a better grasp or reality than does CNN.
Dan Savage on Rick Santorum
Glad not to be named Rick!
Dan Savaged is, of course, the genius who coined the nelogism for Santorum, “The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.”
Well, all I can say is that everyone in the United States named Rick is desperately hoping that he stops hating on the gay.
Davy Jones Dead at 66
Bummer. It was a heart attack.
Say what you will about the Monkees, but their show, and guitarist Mike Nesmith’s subsequent work as a director had a seminal roll in the creation of the moder music video.
Here is a video of his audition for the Monkees:
I have a Cat Infestation
No, really.
The cat that beat me up when I attempted to adopt it has apparrently found a way to transit into the house, and score food from the cat dishes in the basement.
I’ve got to figure a way to co-opt it, because in a conflict, mano a gato, it will kick my butt, because it already has.
Catnip, I need lots of catnip.
BTW, this is the first time that I’ve ever used Windows Live Movie Maker.
This is chapter 3 of the tale of RP the Cat.
Another Person I Do Not Want to Piss Off
Lewis Black. Seriously. This guy is brutal.
I really have no opinion on the death of Whitney Houston, but the coverage has been awful, thought thankfully I have missed the self-debasement of Nancy Grace over this event (In fact, avoiding her clear psychological pathologies is kind of a goal of mine).
As an aside, I’m pretty sure that he has the lowest blood pressure in America, because he doesn’t keeop anything bottled up.
The Aliens are in Retreat
It was Jon Stewart that Killed the Beast
So the space the aliens* more commonly known as the Virginia Republican Party, following extensive coverage, or no small amount of ridicule, have started to walk back from the bill requiring that women be probed in genitals if they want an abortion:
Virginia governor Bob McDonnell has performed a U-turn on a controversial bill which would have forced women seeking first trimester abortions to undergo an invasive transvaginal ultrasound.
McDonnell had previously said he would sign the bill if it was passed by the general assembly. But faced with growing opposition, McDonnell released a statement on Wednesday minutes before the bill was debated in the House, in which he said that, after discussions with lawyers, physicians and legal experts, amendments were needed to “address various medical and legal issues which have arisen.”
Critics had pointed out that the bill, if passed in its original form, would have obliged doctors to carry out a procedure that risked breaking a state sex crime statute known as object sexual penetration.
State lawmakers passed the amended bill on Wednesday afternoon. It now explicitly states that no woman will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily. Instead, it requires women seeking an abortion to have an external, transabdominal ultrasound.
The changes also include having a doctor ask the woman if she wants to see an image from the ultrasound rather than requiring a copy to be attached to her medical file.
The upside is that they are retreating because their ideas on this are completely toxic.
What I fear is that they will keep coming back to this, and in a few years, it will be considered a legitimate area of dispute, as opposed to the rantings of bat-sh%$ insane Taliban wannabees.
*Basically we know that aliens conduct involuntary probes of their captives, and so do the Republicans in Virginia, QED Virginia Republicans are space aliens.
Do Not Piss Jon Off
Liz Trotta at Fox said that female soldiers getting raped have it coming to them.
Jon Stewart begs to differ.
It’s subtle, but this is the first time that I’ve ever seen him truly enraged.
But They Still Suck
So the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure has sort of backed down:
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation announced Friday that it would revise a new policy that barred the organization from funding Planned Parenthood, a move that had thrust the breast cancer foundation into a national controversy.
Komen apologized “to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.”
The foundation said that Planned Parenthood would now be eligible to apply for grants. It did not, however, address other reasons Komen has cited for why it might choose not to approve such grants.
“Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation,” a Friday statement said. “We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.”
“We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities,” the statement continues.
What they are saying that they aren’t cancelling current grants, which they never said they would, and Planned Parenthood can apply for grants next year, but there are “no promises”.
There may be grants to Planned Parenthood next year, but they will eventually cut them off, assuming that these folks aren’t (hopefully) a dead corporatist charity walking.
Btw, in the, “It sucks when an angel pees down the barrel of your rifle,” department, a documentary, called “Pink Ribbons, Inc.,” is hitting theaters in Canada, and film festivals in the United States as I am typing this.
The film alleges that Komen is “Pink Washing” companies that are suspected of exposing the population to carcinogens that might cause breast cancer, among other things.
Like a Bad Penny
Un-Dirty-Word Believable
She keeps coming back.
Sarah Palin has endorsed Newt Gingrich, and Newt Gingrich has said that Sarah Palin would have a “major roll” in his administration:
Newt Gingrich said Wednesday he would consider former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for a “major role” in his administration if he is elected president.
“Certainly, she’s one of the people I’d call on for advice. I would ask her to consider taking a major role in the next administration if I’m president,” Gingrich said on CNN. He added that he has not discussed the idea with Palin, who he called “a very good reform governor.”
Palin told Fox News on Tuesday that she would vote for Gingrich in South Carolina “in order to keep this thing going.”
Palin has not endorsed a candidate in the Republican race, and her comments Tuesday weren’t exactly an endorsement either, although Gingrich characterized them that way on CNN.
You see, Sarah Palin is saying that the problem is that in 2008, there was a candidate who was not properly vetted (@ about 1:10 in the vid), and she’s referring to Barack Hussein Obama, not Sarah Louise Heath Palin.
Who says that Irony is dead?
Irony, Neh?
Have you heard the latest joke?
It goes like this, Rick “Frothy Mix” Santorum has declared that Iran must not have nuclear weapons because they are a theocracy.
This from a guy who had declared himself Jesus’ Candidate.
Who says that irony is dead?
First Ron Paul, Now RuPaul
Are politicking in New Hampshire:
Drag superstar and reality TV host RuPaul made an appearance on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Saturday.
Looking spruce in an ice blue tailored wool coat and studious-looking, horn-rimmed glasses, the nearly seven foot tall “Supermodel” singer was “campaigning” in the state. He announced that his goal is to raise awareness that he is not Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), and that he is not running for president. The latter piece of news was met by the assembled crowd with some disappointment.
The International Man/Woman of Mystery then issued a challenge to Ron Paul and all of the other Republican candidates before reminding the crowd, “You better vote.”
If he were in the debates, it would be one for the ages.
The oddest thing here is that if he were running for the Republican nomination, I think that it would actually make it a more reality based community.
We are living in very strange times.
I Know Who I’m voting for This Year
I’m voting for Canada.
I’m, so glad that I don’t live in a swing state, because don’t have to hold my nose and choose between voting for Gordon Gecko (Mitt Romney), and a Gordon Gecko fanboi (Obama/Geithner).
Why I Haven’t Put Out a List of My Best Posts of the Year
This puts this post in the top 10
Because it would simply be a list of my various cat posts and videos.
Seriously.
I don’t have the writing chops to beat the pootie tats.
After all, the internet as we know it would not exist without cats.
I Miss Calvin & Hobbs Too
Well, Now I Know Why They Were Flying a Stealth Drone in Afghanistan
Click for full size
Note the Radar Blocker in the Inlet
I thought that its deployment to Afghanistan was a budget ploy, after all, why use a stealthy drone, the RQ-170, against an opponent who has no radar (the Taliban), but I was wrong.
It turns out that they were using it to spy on Iran, and Tehran, does have an integrated air defense network.
And now the us sources are privately admitting that they flew it over Iran, and that the Iranians did get the drone.
Of interest, to my not particularly schooled eye, I think that I realize what the fairing on the top of the wing are; they are to accommodate the landing gear.
BTW, here’s a rundown on what secrets might be compromised, and it’s a pretty big deal.
This is an Inspired Way to F%$# With the Police
No violence, no profanity, but the people at Occupy Melbourne have it going on!
It’s whimsical and effective.
Two snaps up.
(on edit)
It appears that I postedcondemnation of the thuggish police response before I posted the story. (I set this up to post on Friday, because of its lighbt hearted nature)
Oops!