Chimp Escapes Las Vegas Backyard-Again Associated Press (Joe Costello)
Parting Is Such Sweet Revenge New York Times
A Patent for What? Bloomberg
Olympic stars urge hunger action BBC
Male Athlete Dies In New York City’s Ironman Triathlon Debut Bloomberg. :-(
Lead shields masked radiation readings up to 30% Asahi Shimbun (Lambert)
Waste Issue Halts U.S. Nuclear Reactor Licensing Nation of Change (furzy mouse)
The Search for Energy Takes a Turn Underwater New York Times (furzy mouse)
New Groundwater Study Exposes Deep Folly of Fracking Common Dreams (Aquifer)
More On The Media’s Gun Polling Fallacy Media Matters. This is a textbook example of a well-known issue in survey research: how you phrase the question has a huge impact on answers.
Virus Seeking Bank Data Is Tied to Attack on Iran NYT Bits Blog (furzy mouse)
What makes our NDAA lawsuit a struggle to save the US constitution Guardian (Lambert)
US Attorneys Refuse to Assure Judge That They Are Not Already Detaining Citizens Under NDAA Daily Cloud (Aquifer)
Ryan consternation:
Paul Ryan: Murderer of Opportunity, Political Coward, Candidate for Vice President of the United States Charles Pierce, Esquire
Romney slips up by introducing Ryan as ‘next president’ BBC (ohmyheck). Who knows, maybe Romney got the “American Beauty” memo.
Despicable Me – Starring Paul Ryan Zach Wisniewski
Thoughts on the Paul Ryan VP Selection Dave Dayen (Lambert)
Mitt Romney acquires risky asset in Paul Ryan for VP Guardian
Billboards Feature Suit-Clad Dummies in Nooses: “Hope You’re Happy Wall St.,” “Dying for Work” Alternet. Oooh, I LIKE this! Some stealthy individual or group doing pointed messaging!
Ambiguity in Health Law Could Make Family Coverage Too Costly for Many New York Times
Laugh out Loud: The Vixen Index (and other recession indicators) Investment Postcards (Chuck L)
What Will We Do Without Wells Fargo? Preston Howard (GFR)
Here It Comes: Super Gonorrhea :-/ Atlantic (Carol B)
Antidote du jour:
And a bonus antidote (Carol B). No animals, just geekery:
But I did like this comment at YouTube:
In the future there will only be two workers, a human and a dog. The human’s job will be feeding the dog. The dog’s job will be making sure the human doesn’t touch the computers.
71 comments
Comments are closed.
Did the guy really get a patent for that?
I like my chances with my current patent application.
As an alien to the US, something for which I give thanks every time I visit Naked Capitalism, I’m puzzled by the acres of print given over the Romney’s choice of running mate as it appears to me that a US Vice-President is just something to be kept in a dark cupboard under the stairs in the White House for four years, only to be taken out and have its batteries inserted should the President drop dead or be caught with an intern attached to his flies by her teeth.
It did cross my mind that at least we wouldn’t have to listen to the schmuck as much if he did happen to become VP.
There are some Republicans who want Ryan, should Romney win, to be in charge of the OMB (Office of Management and Budget). Ryan would be the CEO of the OMB, and he would choose the COO.
Gee, you should have told all that to VP Dick Cheney. Sometimes it was hard to tell if Bush was acting as a President or if he was just Cheney’s meat puppet. Quick way to decide, if it was stupid or vindictive, it was Bush, if it was evil, it was Cheney.
In this case, it makes absolutely clear to everyone who cares to know exactly what the Republicans’ intentions are, specifically with respect to Medicare and Social Security. In this case, a Representative who has advanced a plan to decimate the heart of the so-called safety net wouldn’t have been chosen as a running mate were Romney’s plans other than to do exactly that.
From the NDAA article:
“In other words, they were telling a US federal judge that they could not, or would not, state whether Obama’s government had complied with the legal injunction that she had laid down before them.”
Now pardon me if I’m wrong here, but doesn’t that make the Obama administration a criminal regime rather than a legitamite arm of the US government? I’m really only asking a question here, because far be it from me to suggest that the people running this government are a bunch of corrupt criminals who by all that is right should spend the rest of their lives in federal prison–I would never want to be accused of saying such a thing.
The 1% must have its inquisition.
To help the Enlightenment:
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/08/petition-to-pardon-don-siegelman-urgent/
Petition to pardon Don Siegelman! (URGENT!)
Petition for the commutation of sentence or pardon of Governor Siegelman
http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-restore-justice-please-pardon-gov-don-siegelman
……
Also, from his daughter Dana Siegelman:
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/08/terrestrial-mailing-address-for-siegelman-petitions/
Information from Dana Siegelman:
Hard copy petitions may also be done for Governor Siegelman.
Les Siegelman
1827 1st Ave. N.
Suite 102
Birmingham, AL 35203
Send names/signatures and addresses and email address, if they have one.
If you have not signed the online petition yet, please take a moment.
…………….
Because:
via:
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/08/siegelman-prosecution-has-ties-to-911-and-some-bad-juju-at-an-alabama-air-force-base/
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2012/08/siegelman-prosecution-has-ties-to-911.html
August 8, 2012
Siegelman Prosecution Has Ties to 9/11 and Ugly Activities at an Alabama Air Force Base
The prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman was driven in part by a desire to cover up activity related to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a new report from a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist.
Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery was a hotbed of 9/11 activity, according to the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), and forces close to the Bush family were concerned that a Democratic governor might get wind of the misconduct and expose it.
Mohamed Atta, who is believed to have flown American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, was among the Saudi, Egyptian, and Iranian pilots trained at Maxwell. Part of Atta’s training came under the auspices of Doss Aviation, a Colorado company that was owned in part by an Alabama lawyer and entrepreneur named Mark Fuller. President George W. Bush appointed Fuller to the federal bench in 2002, and the judge went on to oversee the trial of Siegelman and codefendant Richard Scrushy.
whoa, sources?
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2012/08/siegelman-prosecution-has-ties-to-911.html
A real and brave journalist.
And:
http://wantedalabamademocrats.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-case-for-impeaching-federal-judge.html
The Case for Impeaching Federal Judge Mark Fuller
And:
via:
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/08/some-truth-about-don-siegelman-and-his-legal-lynching/
From Pam Miles:
I guess most people know that I have been working with Governor Siegelman for over seven years. I’m very proud that we have a very close friendship. I was with him when he was being investigated. I was there when he was indicted. I attended every hearing, every day of the trial, and was an eye witness to everything that has happened since.
This phase of Don’s long battle ended Friday, so I think this is a good time to correct a few things people think they know.
The media has written hundreds of times that “Siegleman’s supporters questioned his conviction.” That is true – but we were in good company. It’s worth noting that for the first time in history, well over a hundred former Attorneys General (Republicans and Democrats) from more than 30 states filed a brief stating that the contribution the Governor received and the appointment he made, was routine politics across the land. Top law professors across America also filed a brief stating much the same thing. In one of the 13 editorials written by the New York Times about this case, the Times said that Siegelman was convicted of something that “had never been considered a crime before.” This sentiment was echoed by an episode of “60 Minutes”, 13 MSNBC segments, conservative columnist George Will, and multiple segments by Neil Cavuto on Fox News.
Richard Scrushy had contributed to three previous Governors and received the same appointment three times. Governor Riley received large contributions from someone he appointed to the same board. There was no investigation at all. In a 2003 story, the Washington Post said that to be considered for appointment as an ambassador, an individual had to raise $250,000 for the Bush campaign. The Houston Chronicle reported that Rick Perry’s top contributors all received appointments. The burning question that remains is why did it suddenly become a crime when Scrushy contributed to Siegelman?
Grant Woods, a Republican who served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1991 to 1999, (and who chaired John McCain’s Presidential campaign) appeared in court to ask the judge for leniency, and said “no one was prosecuting the president for appointing donors to be ambassadors or other positions.”
I could write a novel about hundreds of others issues that arose during the investigation and trial, but I simply want to clarify something that people keep misstating. Richard Scrushy’s contribution did not go to Governor Siegelman. It went to the Alabama Education Foundation. The Government never charged Siegelman with personally receiving a penny. He will serve 69 months for a bribery in which he didn’t receive anything. Also, some are finding it easy to vilify Richard Scrushy. What the layman does not know, is that the Government offered Richard Scrushy three deals that would have resulted in no jail time. He rejected them because he would have had to make statements that were not true. His decision to stick to the truth cost him five years of his life.
Knowing my long involvement with the Siegelman case, many have asked how I feel about his sentencing. It’s a given that I’m sad, angry and frustrated. Again and again, I traveled to every corner of this state with him. The first time Don held my Daughter, she was 18 months old. Today she is 9. He called her every year to sing Happy Birthday. This is all personal stuff that no one wants to hear but it’s what I’m thinking about this morning.
I’d like to offer this summary: Don Siegleman is the only person to hold every constitutional office in this State. As Governor, he revolutionized early childhood education, built 1000 new schools and brought two automobile manufacturing plants to the state. He built more roads and bridges than any Governor in the last fifty years. He’s 66 years old and will be over 70 when he is released. The investigation, indictment, trial, and appeal of Don Siegelman lasted over 13 years and cost us, the taxpayer, over 100 million dollars.
Yet, the law regarding when a contribution is a bribe remains unclear and whether it is in fact a crime is completely at the discretion of the prosecutor who is looking into a particular case. We should all pray that if we make political contributions, we are on the good side of those prosecutors. Please be aware that whether your contribution is a bribe is not clearly defined in the law. The decision to prosecute your contribution as a bribe rests solely in the hands of a prosecutor. Let’s hope that he or she is honest and not politically motivated.
For the record, it’s not supposed to be that way.
Coincidental?
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/08/tv-interview-with-don-siegelman-2-parts/
Former Gov. Don Siegelman:
It was devastating.
I never thought I would face this day that is coming–September the 11th–as being D Day for me to go back to prison.
I always believed in the criminal justice system being able to set this wrong right.
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2012/08/don-siegelman-calls-this-petition-his-last-hope/
Don Siegelman calls this petition his “last hope”
Please don’t just sign this, but send it far and wide, and post it in as many places as you can.
MCM
http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-please-pardon-my-dad
Again as an alien to the US I have been brought up being told (usually by Americans) that their constitution, that shining star of thought in a dark universe of human history, was founded on a carefully crafted separation and balancing of powers that made it impossible for one branch of the administration to give a finger to any of the others.
Ah well. Back to the drawing board.
One intriguing aspect of the NDAA is that Obama can now dissappear federal judges and congressmen too if he feels like it, so Judge Katherine Forrest really is something else to stand up to the Obama regime. Good for her!
Waste Issue Halts U.S. Nuclear Reactor Licensing
Wow, a tiny turn toward the rational. We are into this experiment only a few decades and we still haven’t figured out where to begin storing the nuc waste that we only have to keep safe and secure for many thousands of years.
Good to see a small nod toward the existance of the giant elephant in this room.
Haven’t you guys just dropped a 2,000lb mobile ‘phone onto the surface of Mars without denting it? I’d have thought a few thousand barrels of nuclear waste would be a doddle. Just upscale it a bit.
Rex, I suspect if those scrupulous engineers the Germans can’t crack it, then none of us can:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asse_II_mine
I have seen estimates of the amount of plutonium on site at Asse put at between 9kg and 11kg. In a leaky former salt mine. The documentation, shall we say, is somewhat shoddy, as at Dounreay, Sellafield – par for the course in this industry, we now know.
Meanwhile, Nature has a 10-page paper dated August 9 on how butterflies have been affected by the “massive release of radioactive materials to the environment” at Fukushima, in particular, the appearance of physiological and genetic damage (eyes, wings) in subsequent generations:
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120809/srep00570/full/srep00570.html
Curious to learn about Preston Howard’s efforts between, say, 2000 to 2007, aimed at organizing the ‘pros’ among mortgage brokers to very publicly and very effectively root out all the unscrupulous brokers (and tbtf banks) from the mortgage biz?
That NYT article on underwater power is shamefully bad. Instead of drivelling about FDR it should have mentioned the decades-old French tidal power station at Rance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rance_Tidal_Power_Station
Here’s an article for the Romney Files. This concerns the cruel game being played out in my home town of Freeport, IL by the Bain Capital gang. They’re forcing loyal American employees to train their Chinese replacements, just before the company ships an entire factory to China.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/10/illinois-workers-bain-outsourcing
When I grew up in Freeport in the 1950s and 1960s this plant was probably the largest economic engine in town. It employed at least 400 people and supported that many living wage households. Micro Switch, as it was known then, was proud to have sent sensors to the Moon on the Apollo missions. Now all that Bain will leave is urban blight. And vulture capitalist George Romney has the gall to run for President? How can this nightmare be happening in our country?
Better start learning permaculture and animal husbandry techniques because pretty soon there won’t be any jobs paying any wage anywhere. And people who don’t know how to live without money just won’t make it.
I keep trying to tell people this–I want to help them afterall–but they keep blowing me off. Ah well, they’ll see.
Money is the easiest thing to create on a keyboard so long as it is not Debt paid to a Banker (you can never get out of Debt when your Money is Debt.)
There is a way to get money back to people:
http://www.monetary.org/2012-conference
Announcing the 8th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference
at University Center in downtown Chicago, Sept. 20-23, 2012
Register by phone at (224) 805-2200
The American Monetary Institute proudly announces its 8th annual Monetary Reform Conference in Chicago. Our conferences launched the modern grass roots movement for U.S. monetary reform and thereby World reform. You are invited to attend this important meeting in beautiful downtown Chicago. Our money system clearly needs a serious overhaul to secure economic justice, peace and prosperity as we enter the 3rd Millennium. True reform, not mere regulation, is necessary to move humanity away from a World dominated by fraud, warfare and ugliness and toward a World of justice and beauty. You can avoid discouragement and join with us in this adventure to achieve positive money results for America and the world.
Don’t be discouraged because the villians who created the present crisis, have manipulated governments to bail them out. The media, which has made such “errors” possible, and the economic theories behind banker activities already stand accused in the public mind.
Main Themes of the Conference: Implementing Monetary Reform now!
The Conference examines the essential elements of monetary reform needed to place time on the side of justice. We focus on Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s National Emergency Employment Defense Act (NEED, HR 2990), introduced into Congress on September 21, 2011, which contains the necessary provisions to achieve real and lasting monetary reform.
We continue examining the problem of usury. Is it a necessary part of “free market economics?” Is it a destroyer of nations? Or is it both? The deeper concept of usury is an anti-social misuse of the money mechanism for private gain. This classical definition of usury is how our present privatized monetary system malfunctions.
A Different Kind of Monetary Conference
The situation in which real monetary reformers find ourselves is that after years of study, we already know most of the broad shapes that monetary reform must take. These views have stood the test of time, and challenges from those with less experience or operating under misconceptions or pursuing non-reform agendas. It is time to implement the elements that must be part of good reform.
What are these broad national parameters supported by over 3000 years of history? That the control of the money system must shift away from private control toward governmental control. Away from commodity money notions; away from fractional reserve banking – using debt for money. Towards money issued interest free by government and spent into circulation for the common good. All serious reformers understand that we must replace our private credit system with a government money system, ending what is known as fractional reserve banking. Anything less should be viewed as a diversion, at this critical time.
Ray,
yoo,hoo – the practice of having to train your replacement is old hat in corporate America, among Dem and Rep businesses alike ….
With the nomination of Mr. Ryan as Mr. Romney’s VP, it is now time to begin analyzing the likely developments during President Obama’s 2nd term in office.
Will he do a populist turn?
Will there be any effort at all to reign-in Wall Street?
Will he find his “inner statesman” and rise to the promise of his first campaign’s rhetoric?
Are these hopes total delusions?
There’s no doubt he’s a very talented guy. Not many people can get themselves elected president of the USA. I actually do think that, at some deep level, there are hints of a moral foundation in his character. Not many, to be sure. But it doesn’t take many, actually, to spark something.
Hard to assign odds to this sort of thing. Sort of like economists say “40% chance of recession”. That is a logically meaningless statement, since all the outside variables are continually changing over time and there’s no way to run controlled experiments that produce a large enough sample set to make mathematical conclusions. It’s just the language of human stupidity and kleptocracy, that’s 100% verifiable. haha.
Oh well. If Mr. Obama gets rid of his bankster-loving clique of advisers and hires somebody we’ve never heard of, somebody who comes in and says nothing, and just does without press events or comments. Just does, like a man quietly at work with full conscious intention and craft. I will be impressed.
You mean like replacing Geithner with Erskine Bowles as Treasury Secretary? Oh, that’s a good sign….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/10/will-erskine-bowles-be-our-next-treasury-secretary/
No, no, no, yes ….
Hmm, just realized i misspelled my own name, Freudian slip? – as things “progress” “Aqui-grrrr” might be more appropriate ….
Sometimes a typo is just a typo.
You’re probably right.
They are largely rhetorical questions.
“moral foundation”? nah, not seeing even a hint of it.
Reign, rain, rein in Spain!
Regarding NDAA:
“In the March hearing, the US lawyers had confirmed that yes, the NDAA does give the President the power to lock up people like journalist Chris Hedges and peaceful activists like myself and other plaintiffs. Government attorneys have stated on record that even war correspondents could be locked up indefinitely under the NDAA.”
Gee, could this be the reason for the inordinate amount of attention being paid in the West to Putin’s terribly repressive regime?
Here’s a good refresher on the NDAA for those who need one:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/18/why-the-ndaa-is-unconstitutional/
BTW, in light of the fact that the West is now openly supporting, arming and abetting Al Qaeda in Syria – after they did so in Libya – what does this say about the entire War on Terror and any law – like the NDAA – that is ostensibly passed in its name?
So, people in the US can be imprisoned – and don’t forget the torture! – indefinitely for purportedly playing footsie with groups such as Al Qaeda but the US government itself can send weapons, money and tactical support through our armed forces to said group and that’s ok?
Don’t do drugs but the largest US banks can launder money for the drug cartels?
I wonder how much the 9/11 “Never Forget” tattoos burn on the arms of the our service people as they help AQ murder more innocent people?
The United States of America is the most dangerous and sick society on the planet in the year 2012.
Adding:
That is to say I personally don’t believe AQ was the main driver behind the events of 9/11 – if they were even involved at all – just that even those people who wholeheartedly accept the 9/11 fairy tale as the God’s honest now cannot escape the fact that the current actions of the fascist US government in Syria and elsewhere run completely, utterly and incontrovertibly against everything that the War on Terror supposedly stands for.
Even if one poo-poos any notion of their being more to the events of 9/11, one cannot poo-poo the fact that the United States government is now arming and assisting the very criminal organization that they told you caused 9/11.
Succinctly put, you all are a bunch of suckas!!!!!
How ’bout them apples, “patriots”?
So, why are we killing illerates on the other side of the globe? I doubt they’ve heard of America.
YES ! The two workers, a man and a dog was kept under my plexiglass desk cover throughout the 90’s. It may be from a speech by the University of Cincinnati’s president at the time. It was right next to one from elsewhere that posited that meetings were held due to organizations inability to masturbate.
Re the NDAA case, I can’t help but think that there is a lot of kabuki going on. As in why not require the actual US Attorney to make the argument and when he/she refuses declaring him/her in contempt and throwing him/her in jail until they complied.
The federal judiciary is notoriously sympathetic to the government in national security cases. But the one area where they are not is on separation of powers issues. Basically, courts have no real problem with the rights of individuals being violated but they get real touchy when their own prerogatives get trod upon.
Here at the Peter Pinguid Society we support P*ssy Riot, and we agree with Sting, Madonna, Danny Devito and the entire Western news media that Vladimir Putin is a bad man for persecuting the billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
He’s also a bad man for arresting P*ssy Riot when their only crime was protesting against Putin and his unfair persecution of the billionaire Khodorkovsky.
Sting, Madonna, Danny Devito and the entire Western media did the right thing by keeping silent and not expressing support for Occupy Wall Street when they were being beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested. And they’re doing the right thing now by speaking out in support of P*ssy Riot and the billionaire Khodorkovsky.
P*ssy Riot good, Putin bad!
A billionaire is being persecuted, we’re not talking about some peasants like Occupy Wall Street, we’re talking about an oil tycoon here! The Western media should not stop screaming until he is set free! Get Adam Davidson and Ezra Klein working on this! Get Andrew Ross Sorking on the case! Putin is a madman for jailing Khodorkovsky and the madness must stop!
Free the billionaire Khodorkovsky!!
Free P*ssy Riot for supporting the billionaire Khodorkovsky!
We are the Peter Pinguid, we are the 0.01 percent.
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Sorry ’bout that Andy. You did a great job with your article “Some backup for Goldman Sachs, now how about giving some back up to P*ssy Riot!
Just for curiosity, is there any truth to an article I read a year or so ago that Khodorkovsky was in the process of selling the Russian oil industry to some company in Dallas?
It seems that this was part of the reason for the Russian hardliners getting back in the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukos
In the Western media and the Russian opposition media the high-profile arrest of Khodorkovsky is usually attributed to his activism in the Russian political process.[13][14][15] On October 31, 2003, shortly after the arrest of the company’s CEO, the Russian government froze ownership of 44% of the company’s shares. The reason given was to prevent a group of shareholders led by Khodorkovsky from selling a large stake of the company to the US oil firm Exxon.
Can’t find the articles I read a while ago at the moment but it seems Putin made a deal with the oligarchs – I’ll let you be oligarchs to an extent but no U.S. involvement in Mother Russia. The K-man tried to test this and was gutted.
1% to Romney in Ryan pick: “Kid, it’s not your night.”*
Although I imagine they’ll try to keep it close (a) for the sake of appearances and (b) also too funding and ratings and (c) because Obama wants to be beholden to as few people as possible, ideally some demographic slivers in the swing states. Which won’t prevent him from claiming a mandate.
But let’s look on the bright side: There probably won’t be an October surprise, so maybe no war with Iran.
NOTE * Always assuming Rove doesn’t put Obama in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.
More likely Rove will put a dead girl in Andrew Cuomo’s bed in 2015, however in Andrew’s case it will probably be mob connections, which supposedly scared off his dad from running. I suspect he wants Obama to win to clear the deck for his boy Jeb in 2016.
Dear n-r;
If that indeed happens, we can all proudly tell our grandchildren that we were there when the Bush Dynasty seized power.
In addition to laying around wasting time and drinking red wine, I am the director of research at the Institute for the Advancement of Economic Thought (IAET).
We have recently completed a wide-ranging study of global economies and have determined that the lable “competitiveness” has an until-now-undiscovered corrolary which we call “cooperativeness”.
We have ranked global economies on a new “cooperativeness” index and surprisingly find the PIIGS and a few other places rank very high on the cooperativeness scale. They basically borrow money and let places like Germany do a lot of work for them. If you’ve ever been “the guy” who wants to be in charge of anything, like assembling that thing you bought at IKEA or even running a business, you’ll see the value of having people willing to stand by and let you hve the ego-boosting chance to do your thing and get the glory of being “the man”. This is not something to be taken lightly.
Countries can’t be competitive unless other countries are cooperative. So rather than looking solely at competitiveness, the IAET advises global economic minsters and other bureaucrats to look at cooperativeness too, when forming global policy, realizing that you can’t be the big Dude unless somebody is willing to watch.
We at the IAET are available for consulting at $3000 per day, plus food and drink. That’s not very much for well-funded and highly competitive nations. You can make it $3500 if you want and we’ll set you straight either way.
Lying, laying, ain’t misbehavin!
So, I’m curious, what would you have advised Cisco in 2000, when it sported a higher market cap than Apple’s today, due in large part to it’s “competitive” position as a result of fronting vendor financing to “cooperating” companies that had no business buying Cisco products.
Dear Jim;
So laddy, what about all those useless things the ‘average’ consumer gets tricked or forced into purchasing? That’s called “The Economy,” isn’t it?
re Here It Comes: Super Gonorrhea :-/ :
Ah, the ongoing battle to mock God’s rather strict rules for sexual engagement suffers a set-back. Who-could-a-guessed?
Remember those sweet days as children before we knew about sex? How was it possible we enjoyed life? Yet we did.
Next up – why AIDS is god’s wrath. Or something.
The last I heard, HIV came from green monkeys. I do recall something in the Bible about bestiality…
AIDS came from humans eating primates for food, not from what you are assuming.
Huh? I suppose. Blood to blood is more likely though:
The Origin of AIDS and HIV and the First Cases of AIDS.
I don’t recall that monkeys are Kosher, though.
An even worse thought for you F. Beard: the reason why so many people are willing to accept the kleptocracy is that this kind of financial plague makes sense to them. It is our punishment for our economic pleasures. The same way that you think that an incurable STD is our punishment for sexual pleasures.
The sense that we deserve to be punished, and if not us personally, certainly those ___ next door deserve it, this is a major bedrock of the current kleptocracy and all bad regimes. Congratulations on being part of what you think you are fighting against.
Until you decide that you don’t want to be.
the reason why so many people are willing to accept the kleptocracy is that this kind of financial plague makes sense to them. It is our punishment for our economic pleasures. Jessica
Right you are! That’s fallacious thinking of course. And even if it were true (it isn’t) many innocents are being hurt besides.
The same way that you think that an incurable STD is our punishment for sexual pleasures. Jessica
Well, sex (except for rape) is a voluntary activity; being driven into debt by a counterfeiting cartel isn’t, not really.
Is there a handbook? ‘Cos this is getting kind of complicated.
So if I get TB, who is it I shouldn’t have fucked? And in what position? Please spell it out.
Cancer? Sciatica?
Does masturbation really cause blindness in your world? ‘Cos I wondering, right now.
Ah yes, the “sweet days”, when we were “children”.
Some of us grow up, though.
You evidently haven’t.
Does masturbation really cause blindness in your world? Anon
Yes, it really did.
Dang I miss good eyesight!
As for having “grown up”, do you really think there are many mature adults in “Adult” Book Stores, for example?
Why stop at killing doctors who perform abortions?
Why not murder doctors who try to treat kids born with HIV?
Must be god’s will, after all, punishing them for something they did or didn’t do. Wouldn’t want to interfere.
http://www.unicef.org/aids/index.html
And don’t tell me they’re being punished because of what their parents did/didn’t, please, since collective punishment is recognized for what it is in all civilized societies – inhuman.
My own view on abortion is that it should be legal till the fetus has brainwaves. And after that, if justified to save the life of the mother, it should be done painlessly.
‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb?
Would that I had died and no eye had seen me!
I should have been as though I had not been,
Carried from womb to tomb.’ Job 10:18-19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
“God’s strict rules for sexual engagement”
Oh, do you and countenanced??
Or maybe Lot offering up his daughters to mob rape?
Or maybe Onan, who displeased TGC by spilling his seed on the ground instead of screwing his brother’s wife, as TGC apparently wanted him to do.
Or was it Judah screwing his daughter-in-law, resulting in the birth of an ancestor of TJC (The Jesus Character)?
Maybe it’s Moses, under TGC’s orders, keeping the (32,000) Midianite virgin girls for himself and his army after committing genocide.
Deuteronomy: If you see a pretty woman among the captives and would like her for a wife, then just bring her home and “go in unto her.” Later, if you decide you don’t like her, you can “let her go.” 21:11-14
If a betrothed virgin is raped in the city and doesn’t cry out loud enough, then “the men of the city shall stone her to death.” 22:23-24
If a man rapes an unbetrothed virgin, he must pay her father 50 shekels of silver and then marry her. 22:28
You can’t go to church if your testicles are damaged or your penis has been cut off. 23:1
God lays down the law regarding wet dreams. “If there be among you any man that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night …” 23:10
If a man dies without having a child, his brother shall “go in unto” his dead brother’s wife. If he refuses, the dead man’s wife is to loosen his shoe and spit in his face. 25:5-10
If two men fight and the wife of one grabs the “secrets” of the other, “then thou shalt cut off her hand” and “thine eye shall not pity her.” 25:11-12
—
After taking in a traveling Levite, the host offers his virgin daughter and his guest’s concubine to a mob of perverts (who want to have sex with his guest). The mob refuses the daughter, but accepts the concubine and they “abuse her all night.” The next morning she crawls back to the doorstep and dies. The Levite puts her dead body on an ass and takes her home. Then he chops her body up into twelve pieces and sends them to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Judges 19:22-30
And they give this book to children to read!!!
2 Samuel: God is angry at David for having Uriah killed. As a punishment, he will have David’s wives raped by his neighbor while everyone else watches. It turns out that the “neighbor” that God sends to do his dirty work is David’s own son, Absalom (16:22). 12:11-12
TGC is a real sicko.
Absalom “went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.” This was according the God’s plan as announced in 12:11-12. 16:21-22
Isaiah:
Isaiah has sex with a prophetess who conceives and bears a son. (You weren’t expecting a daughter, were you?) God then tells Isaiah to call his name Mathershalalhashbaz. (It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) 8:3
God tells Isaiah to take off all his clothes and to wander about completely naked for three years as a “sign and a wonder.” In this way he will be just like the Egyptian captives who will walk about naked “with their buttocks uncovered.” 20:2-5
Tyre “shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world,” and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord.” 23:17-18
Matthew:
“There be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” Dangerous words from a guy who recommends cutting of body parts if they cause you to sin (Mt.5:29-30, Mt.18:8-9, Mk.9:43-48). It might make someone castrate himself so that he could be one of the 144,000 male virgins, who alone will make it to heaven (Rev.14:3-4). 19:12
Romans:
Paul explains that “the natural use” of women is to act as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. 1:27
Jude:
The angels that Jude refers to here are the “sons of God” that had sex with human females to produce a race of giants. ( See Gen.6:4) 6
Just a sampling from
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/sex/long.html
and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because you have humbled her. Deuteronomy 21:11-14 [emphasis added]
It seems you are overreacting to this one at least. BTW, Jesus later said this:
“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” They *said to Him, “ Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Matthew 19:6-9
It seems women have a friend in Jesus, no?
I’ll get those other verse later. I be sleepy.
Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” 2 Samuel 12:9-12
Uriah the Hittite is a favorite of mine. I was reading 2 Samuel 23 which lists David’s top 37 men. Usually, lists bore me but I read on till I reached this and cried:
… Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all. 2 Samuel 23:39
David had murdered one of his top men!
Regarding the antidoe, could a color-blind person glance at it and see a child wrestling with whether or not to eat his broccoli?
F. Beard: “Well, sex (except for rape) is a voluntary activity; being driven into debt by a counterfeiting cartel isn’t, not really.”
Actually, the two cases are quite similar. Most sex and most taking on of debt is voluntary. In both cases, it can seem to the participant that the need is so pressing as to make the act all but involuntary. In both cases, someone watching from the outside can and often does judge the participant for their activities. In both cases, the participant frequently enough judges themselves (feels guilty).
I will stand by my original comment that F. Beard’s statement that “anti-biotic resistant gonorrhea is God’s way of punishing the sexually active” is drawing on the same mentality as “Goldman Sachs is God’s way of punishing those actively consuming”.
We really do need to be gentler to each other. We have the 1% to make sure that all of us get all the stress and suffering that we might need. No sense in us heaping more on each other.
and most taking on of debt is voluntary. Jessica
Not really. Those who don’t borrow are priced out of the market by those who do borrow. So everyone is under quite a bit of compulsion to borrow.
But yea, I should have held my peace about the gonorrhea link.
You didn’t say anything that most of us don’t feel at one time or another. You just picked a variation that is (rightfully) not socially acceptable. I wish that the attitude that “they had it coming to them” was also as socially unacceptable when it manifests as indifference or downright nastiness toward those labeled as somehow financially profligate or “losers” in the game of employment musical chairs.
Turning life into The Hunger Games is a major part of neo-liberalism, but one that depends on widespread cooperation or at least grudging acceptance.
Wait, what? Sex is voluntary? Where can i go to to volunteer?
There is definitely a Monty Python skit waiting to be written here.
Monty Python skit or not it seems somewhat interesting that it appears adjacent to an article on Wells doing their own origination. :)
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