Fuzzy Math

Ya gotta ask yourself: What level of intellect is FoxNews catering to or, what level of intellect is FoxNews running on. Usually the sum of a pie chart equals 100.
I hope this little graphic I bumped into on the web is a hoax and the people at FoxNews aren't actually dumb enough to run it.

Thanksgiving Thoughts. . .

Hello my friends. Here in America it's Thanksgiving. It's a time for families to gather, be grateful for their fortune, however large or small it may be, and feast. We should enjoy our family and celebrate our personal triumphs and tragedies. It is good to do so. It should also be a time to reflect upon what has happened between today and when people from Europe first set foot upon this great land. If you are of European descent, it's not YOUR fault that our ancestors raped, pillaged, stole and committed genocide against the native population, but it is your responsibility to recognize and be aware of what transpired before we came to be here. In that awareness, perhaps we can recognize the ongoing oppression perpetrated by those who find themselves in positions of authority and rule. Sometimes, it only takes one person to speak up and voice concern when injustice occurs. A single voice raised against injustice can sometimes make a difference. If we are grateful for what we have, and humbly accept our good fortune, we can also be a voice for reason and justice.
So be happy on this day of thanks and celebrate family, friends and good fortune, but never ever forget the past, because those who do are doomed to repeat it with all its horrors.

In the words of my friend Blair: "It's Thanks - for taking my fucking land - giving"


Bedagi (Big Thunder) late 19th century.
Wabanaki Algonquin writer

Give us hearts to understand;
Never to take from creation's beauty more than we give;
never to destroy wantonly for the furtherance of greed;

Never to deny to give our hands for the building of earth's beauty;
never to take from her what we cannot use.

Give us hearts to understand
That to destroy earth's music is to create confusion;
that to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty;

That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench;
that as we care for her she will care for us.

We have forgotten who we are.
We have sought only our own security.
We have exploited simply for our own ends.
We have distorted our knowledge.
We have abused our power.

Great Spirit, whose dry lands thirst,
Help us to find the way to refresh your lands.
Great Spirit, whose waters are choked with debris and pollution,
help us to find the way to cleanse your waters.

Great Spirit, whose beautiful earth grows ugly with misuse,
help us to find the way to restore beauty to your handiwork.
Great Spirit, whose creatures are being destroyed, help us to find a way to replenish them.

Great Spirit, whose gifts to us are being lost in selfishness and corruption,
help us to find the way to restore our humanity.

Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, whose breath gives life to the world,
hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
May I walk in Beauty.

Why WVians look like ignorant hillbillies to the outside world

According to the American Cancer Society, here are the top ten smoking cities in the USA. Ive listed the cities followed by the percentage of people who smoke in those cities. WV, with <1% of the US population has the unique distinction of having THREE, yes three of it's metropolitan areas (if you can really call them "metropolitan" on the list. Congratulations WV, you come in 2, 3 and 6!

Yet another reason why we look like a bunch of ignorant hillbillies to the outside world.

Wichita Falls, Texas 30.9
Hagerstown, Maryland/Martinsburg, West Virginia 28.9
Huntington, W.Va./Ashland, Ky. 27.9
Louisville, Ky. 27.5
Winston-Salem, N.C. 25.3
Charleston, W.Va 24.9
Youngstown/Warren/Boardman, Ohio 24.4
Fayetteville, N.C. 23.8
Hickory/ Morganton/Lenoir, N.C. 23.8
Tulsa, Okla. 23.8

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry
Reuters
PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.

Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.

The article goes on to say that people have been fined and that the biggest complaint is that people don't want to look at other people's clothes especially their underwear.

That's some fucked up shit right there. If you don't want to look at somebodies laundry, don't look at their clothesline. This country has gotten ridiculous with people being told what they can and can't do. Buncha fucking bullshit! Now they want to outlaw clotheslines because they look like "white trash" according to one commentator.

This whole idea of community associations is stupid and exclusive as far as I'm concerned. If you chose to live in a place like that, I feel sorry for you. Obviously you're a pitiful little prole who needs others looking out for your well being.

Let's tell these rule nazis to stick their elitist bullshit up their big asses and stay out of other people's business.

Oh, and BTW: if that cute little sweetie down the road wants to hang her underwear where I can see it, I'm all for it! And if old lady McGill wants to hang her underwear out likewise, I just aint lookin. But bravo to both of you for doing things green and natural.

According to the article 6% of household energy use comes from electric and gas laundry driers

9/11 trials in NYC? Not likely.

Just one question about this decision to move the trials of the masterminds involved with the 9/11 attacks to, of all places, NYC: Do they think the defense will NOT be granted a change of venue? How do they expect any law biding decent judge with any knowledge of the Constitution of tyje United States to thin any of them could get a fair trial in NYC? Timothy McVie's trial was moved out of Oklahoma City. So they'll dick around for 6 months deciding to change the venue and then another 6 months over where to change it to and it'll be another 6-12 months while all the pretrial motions, etc. are filed and ruled on.
Not to change the subject, but that'll put us somewhere around the end of '11 or beginning of '12 before the trial gets underway. How will all that efffect the '12 presidential election?

Arrogant white Eurocentric assholes!!!!

Outrage in Washington over Obama's Japan bow
by Stephanie Griffith Stephanie Griffith – Mon Nov 16, 11:24 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – News photos of President Barack Obama bowing to Japan's emperor have incensed critics here, who said the US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

Obama on Monday was in China, having wrapped up the Japan leg of his Asia trip two days earlier. But Washington's punditocracy was still weighing whether or not the US president had disgraced his country two days earlier by having taken a deep bow at the waist while meeting Japan's Emperor Akihito.

Political talk shows have played and replayed the moment from the second day of Obama's week-long Asia tour, which set the blogosphere on fire and chat show tongues wagging.

"I don't know why President Obama thought that was appropriate. Maybe he thought it would play well in Japan. But it's not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one," said conservative pundit William Kristol speaking on the Fox News Sunday program, adding that the gesture bespoke a United States that has become weak and overly-deferential under Obama.

Another conservative voice, Bill Bennett, said on CNN's "State of the Union" program: "It's ugly. I don't want to see it."

I get so tired of this kind of shit. This is the same mentality that kept people enslaved in this country for centuries. It's the same mentality that committed genocide against a people and culture who had attained a balance with the Earth unknown before or since. This is the same mentality that gave rise to the Nazi regime in the mid 20th Century.

I was contemplating recently the tradition of protocol back in the mid 19th Century. There were elaborate rules and procedures for meeting and greeting. Failure to adhere to these protocols resulted in international scandals and sometimes war.
I was thinking of how juvenile and silly all that was, but at the same time thinking of what shame it was that we've totally abandoned all that pomp and tradition. There is something about it that causes people to stop and assess one another and pause before plunging a knife or dropping a bomb.

So, I was glad to see President Obama showing respect and honor for the emperor of Japan who, until a few decades back was thought of as a deity in Japan. Would the president not bow before the Queen of England?

So one would think that conservative people who claim to honor and respect tradition would be supportive of such acts. No, these days, white superiority and racism reign supreme among these right wing corpo-fascist ass suckers.
I can only hope that soon, clear thinking, honorable and patriotic Americans will begin condemning these extremist and labeling them exactly what they are when they weigh in on things like this. We must not let this shit pass. IF we ever what this country to be united in a common purpose again, this sort of extremist shit slinging can't not be tolerated. Let's be liberal, let's be conservative and let's be moderate, but let's come out from those isolated corners of extremism that causes people to condemn every move and step the "other side" takes.

Oh, and Bill Kristol; catch up on some history before making dumbass ignorant statements like that. And Bill Bennett; YOU are fucking ugly we're tired of seeing YOU for the past three decades!!

News Media: Fact vs. Fiction

So, the democrats picked up two more seats in the house which gives them 259 seats to the republicans 176 (or something close to that). The democrats still maintain control of the senate. Presodent Barack Obama has the strong approval rating of nearly 60% in these very bad economic times (show me a president who ever had such support under anything LIKE these economic conditions). So both houses of congress, the presidency and the support of the American people. Hmmmmm.

Two days ago, the republicans lost a house seat that they had held for over 100 yrs. They won two governor's seats in states where republi'can governors are not at all unusual.
The media sees it differently. They talk of "the big win" for the republicans. The republicans see it differently. They boast of a new "transcendence" (just because Christie is a huge floating blob of fat doesn't mean he's going to float the whole party). I heard one talking head say that it was astonishing that a "true blue" state like NJ would elect that republican tub of shit. How quickly they forget Christine Wittman, the raging right wing republican gov of NJ who was a darling of the Bush/Reagan cartel.

The media has taken on an air of insanity. They have let their obsession with making every story a big 'breaking news' story that they've gone over the edge.

Do we have to become social scientists in our ability to sort through the garbage and render out the facts? Let's face it, the mass of desperate proles out there just aren't up to that task.
Where do we turn for real news? Where do YOU turn for real news?

Another fraud perpetrated by your messaging media

So the big news is "Republican Governors!". . . in states that have a long tradition of electing republican governors. When was the last time a governor of any party voted on a single piece of federal legislation?

Of course, the big story before last night was the fact that the moderate republican was out and the right wing Limbaugh/Beck/Palin takin it up the ass republican was in. Well, looks like the New York congressional district in question that hadn't elected a democrat to congress in over 100 yrs has rejected the republicans and their ridiculous sophomoric fascist tactics and elected a democrat to congress. Hello? Is anybody out there? Not much talk about that this morning. Thought that was going to be the big news the day after?!

So a couple republican take governor's seat in a VERY minor off year election that in previous times would have gone totally unnoticed. But in these days of 24/7/265 news cycles, where hyping every little morsel of any event is the standard operating procedure, this insignificant election suddenly spells the future of American politics.

Man, I am so glad I've turned all this shit off, don't watch the talking heads anymore and only log on occasionally. What a waste of time.

Marshall Mcluhan warned us. He spelled it out for us. He was specific about how it would come about and what the consequences would be. It wasn't a prediction, it was a solid estimation based upon the facts and trends of the day. Why do human being ignore inevitability of certain catastrophes?

Listen very carefully just because they're telling it to you!!!

New Jersey, Virginia Choose Governors as Palin Stumps in N.Y.
Bloomberg

Heidi Przybyla Heidi Przybyla – Tue Nov 3, 12:01 am ET

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Governor’s races today in Virginia and New Jersey have been anticipated as barometers of next year’s midterm congressional elections. A U.S. House race in upstate New York may prove more meaningful.

The New Jersey campaign has been a referendum on the Democratic incumbent, Governor Jon Corzine, 62, and his record on property taxes, roads and other local issues. In Virginia, where Republican Bob McDonnell, 55, leads Democrat Creigh Deeds, 51, the race has turned on traditional concerns of taxes and transportation.

The New York election, in contrast, is a window onto a battle between moderate and conservative Republicans over the party’s future.

Ahem, I'm having a little problem with all the political commentary over this insignificant election cycle. Some of the media talk monkeys are claiming that this petty little election cycle is all about a referendum on Obama's administration. Some are saying the future of the republican party is at stake as is the future of the democrats.

Since when does some congressional race in some backwoods rednecked, upstate NY district determine the future of anything except the perpetual right wing redneck politics of upstate NY? VA governors race? The battle between southern rednecks and uber-groovy Washingtonians continues. Who will prevail this time? NJ? Do we even need to go there? When was the last time anything of any substance came out of New Joizee? I can't recall anything either. NJ is like the WV of the NE. They get no respect and there's usually good reason as to why that is.

So go ahead, tune into MSNBC, FOX News and the other news creation media and listen to how a bunch of pin heads without jobs that contribute anything to real people's lives spin this little excersize in democracy. Listen to them tell the trembling proles how the future of the nation is being shaped by a few minor politician whose collective intellect will accomplish zero in the years to come while they feed at the public trough.
Listen intently while the media defines the message.
Goodnight Marshall McLuhan. I believed you back in 1969.

Another great one passes

French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss dies
AP
By ANGELA DOLAND Angela Doland – 1 hr 7 mins ago

PARIS – Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, has died. He was 100.

The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing structuralism — concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths, in a wide range of human societies. Defined as the search for the underlying patterns of thought in all forms of human activity, structuralism compared the formal relationships among elements in any given system.

A brilliant mind who came up with truly original ideas, not just new angles on old ideas which seems to be the norm. Like most of his kind, his ideas will continue to evolve, take on new depth and surprise scholars through the coming ages.

I have to admit, I was very surprised that he was still alive.