I can't believe it's not a democracy!

When Taibbi's article includes the following paragrpah:

If you're not a conservative voter with a dog in this fight, watching Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and whoever else is running for the GOP nomination this week try to hold on to front-runner status has been great slapstick, like watching a cruel experiment involving baboons, laughing gas and a forklift. No matter how many times you ring the bell, those poor animals are never going to figure out how to move that pallet of bananas – yet they keep trying, taking the sorry show from one state to the next, over and over, as if something is going to change.

Well, you have to click to read the rest: The Odd Couple: Romney Vs. Gingrich (How the GOP race became a showdown between a walking OCD diagnosis and a flatulent serial adulterer). Pretty compelling subhead too, no?

Thanks to John for the link.

Update: I have to add another paragraph. This is for you, Jenn: After all this time, it ends up being Newt Gingrich? Really? How can a guy who was kicked off the B list in the Nineties be the headline act in 2012? It's like finding out that Eric Roberts has been picked to MC the Oscars.

I wondered if the (future?) government would ever try to track every one of us, but that seemed paranoid:

These Boots Are Made for Tracking: GPS Technology Comes to Shoes. Doesn't seem so paranoid anymore, huh? And yes, the reason for the tracking mentioned in the article is legitimate--to track patients with Alzhemiers or dementia would get and start walking and get lost. My grandmother had Alzhemiers and I recall when we lost here on the street of South Philadelphia in the Italian market. Oh, we found her, but it was really frightening for a while (she could walk quickly when she wanted to). That said, I guess it's easier to accept chips in our shoes then embedded in our asses. There's that, no?

The Murdoch phone hacking scandal has just gotten a lot bigger:

British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe. The five are four journalists from The Sun--one of Murdoch's other papers, not News of the World which yielded a number of arrests already--and one cop. So far. Two Murdoch outfits implicated and one cop arrested to date. This is picking up speed. As the article notes: As well as investigating phone hacking and allegations that journalists paid police for information, detectives are looking into claims of computer hacking by Murdoch papers.

I hope this ends with News Corp. bleeding money and the thing that passes for Murdoch's heart exploding...on tv. I need a new screen saver.

Cue the outrage:

Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice. Yet another study proving what is obvious to so many of us. That said, given the state of things in this country....we have a lot of stupid people among us. Lots.

More of this, please:

In the era of big boxes, a day for the little guy. I have said this before, but I will repeat myself: we must step in and do what the whores who run our government will not--support local stores, insist on having access to American-made products, and refuse to buy Chinese made shit (and shit from other countries with deep pools of exploited labor). Before I buy a thing, I find out if the product is made in the US (or Canada, the EU or another country where labor has some protection and the government regulates industry). If I can't find out on my own, I send the company an e-mail and ask where the product is manufactured. A couple try to be cute and say that their products are proudly designed in the US, but then add that the product is manufactured in China (with oversight, blah, blah, blah). When I get one of those e-mails, I know that I wasn't the first potential customer to ask. Good. I believe that if only 10% of us did this, the U.S. would be a hell of a lot healthier for the 99% of us who are obscenely rich.

Long and short, money spent in local stores will stay local. Money spent in WalMart goes to the filthy Walton heirs who are not spending it in your communtiy (although they may be spending it in mine, because I'm sure all of them have enormous penthouses in Manhattan, among other places). I didn't watch or listen to Obama's state of the union, but I understand that he started making some noise about saving the middle class, jobs, etc. Wow, it only took him 3 1/2 years to figure that out? Wrong. He needs votes so he's dancing for the disillusioned base. Once he wins his re-election--and he will--it will be back to serving his masters on Wall Street. We can't force Obama and his administration to investigate and prosecute the bastards, but we can refuse to fund them and the rest of sociopathic monsters running America's biggest corporation by simply refusing to feed them our money. It's simple: starve the beast. And yes, it feels good.

Rand Paul: Useful Asshole.

Rand Paul blocked at airport after refusing TSA pat-down. Long and short, the TSA requirement that we either expose ourselves via the "I can see you naked cancer machine" and/or get a pat down from an asshole who either cannot interpret the 4th amendment or doesn't give a shit that he or she is violating our 4th amendment rights for a living is illegal. I wonder if or when the case will eventually be heard by the monsters on the Supreme Court. Until that happens, we need prominent people--even giant assholes--to challenge these everyday violations of our constitutional rights loudly.

I am a citizen, not a fucking criminal:

NYC police developing “electronic frisking” device. Yeah, a portable "I can see you naked cancer machine." If this is the future of New York City, not only will I not buy a place here, I'll be looking to move as soon as it is implemented. I am not a criminal. This technology is fucking invasive. And I will not tolerate being exposed to terahertz technology that "could be harmful to DNA."

The 4th amendment is bloodied, but it's not gone. This move to an Orwellian police state has to stop and we must do it now.  It's really in the best interest of the monied class, after all, because I believe that if this bullshit is adopted lots of creative types will leave and go somewhere else--because they can. And when they do, the rich people will get bored and leave too. Because rich people generally aren't interesting or clever or funny. They are simply rich.

Hey, here's my idea: maybe more people would visit if the U.S. wasn't becoming a fucking police state:

Obama, in Florida, unveils plans to boost tourism. Because nothing says "I'd rather stay at home and look at pictures of New York City/Disney World/wherever on my computer" than giving some former burger flipper a cap and a badge and the right to feel up people's genitals. Long and short, if I lived abroad there is no way that I would spend a goddamn fortune to visit the U.S. when the price for wanting to do that includes being treated like a fucking criminal at the airport.

Anyone want to bet that TSA bullshit gets curtailed if and when stories come out claiming that foreign tourists are avoiding the U.S. because of the TSA's filthy prole searches? Because if the airlines or hospitality industry starts taking a hit, the grope and degrade procedure will go away.

A fucking disgrace:

Nearly one-third of middle class suffer downward mobility. It's not all Obama's fault, of course, but change we can believe in, my ass. Have you noticed that he's finally making some noise about outsourced jobs? After three and a half years in office. And right before an election. Where was he three years ago? Yes, I will be voting third party or writing in my choice for president.

Pedophilia is ok, here's the real problem:

Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: [Nazi] Pope. He's a fucking monster.

How sad that the catholic church will not come to its deserved end during my lifetime. But these headlines sound like a death rattle to me. How many more generations will it take before all religion is finally and properly described as mythology?