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

Devastatingly accurate:

E.L. Doctorow on Unexceptionalism: A Primer. Via Atrios. Dead on.

Never good to start the conversation with a denial, is it?

David Cameron: there was no grand deal with Rupert Murdoch over BSkyB. The headline continues: PM admits conversation about BSkyB bid with James Murdoch at Rebekah Brooks's house, but says it was not 'inappropriate.' So, why did he appoint Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor, as his (former) director of communications director Rebekah Brooks' urging? And everyone knows that Tony Blair sucked Rupert's shriveled balls for years in return for his support. Long and short, these foreign interlopers openly held sway over UK politics and now their criminal acts are going to kill the little monsters they nurtured. Good.

Early on I said that I believed the Murdoch phone hacking scandal could bring down Cameron. What may have seemed like a hyperbolic claim then is looking more and more likely now, no?

No, really?

Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds. The LA Times reports: Scientists have revealed one of the reasons why some folks are less religious than others: They think more analytically, rather than going with their gut. And thinking analytically can cause religious belief to wane — for skeptics and true believers alike.

So here's my coming to god story, so to speak: I was raised in a catholic household and was required to go to church until I was 18 years old (actually a bit past that). My grandmother, aunts, and uncles were genuinely religious. That said, they wouldn't think of imposing their beliefs on other people, so they weren't the types to stand outside of women's health clinics shouting nasty shit at the women who needed health services. Anyhow, when I was around six or seven years old, I saw some tv show in which one of the kids on the show knelt by his bed and prayed. I recall seeing that in other shows or cartoons. We didn't do that at home--prayer was left for the church--so it seemed a little odd. One night, I thought I would try it. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? So I knelt by my bed, and held my hands together, and began praying to god. It only took less than a minute for me to feel ridiculous. Really, I felt ashamed for doing it. Never did it again. And that was the beginning....

Thanks to John for the link.

Excellent. Rupert prepares to throw two disposables under the bus:

Rupert Murdoch admits NoW phone-hacking culture of cover-up, but naturally claims "he was 'misinformed and shielded' from events at paper and points finger at 'one or two strong characters.'" Interesting that Rupert is still trying to protect Rebekah Brooks along with his ne'er-do-well son, James. Either Brooks blew him or she knows where the bodies are buried--I'm going with both.

So why the sudden "honesty" from this evil old man? Well, from what I've read Murdoch doesn't care if he has to close all his newspaper operations in the UK, but his head will explode if News Corp is forced into selling its stake in BSkyB because broadcast is where the big bucks are made. Sadly (for him), the UK has a public interest standard with media ownership like we do (as if), and the British public are getting increasingly angry with these foreign interlopers. It was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that Murdoch was trying to kill the BBC and he had his Tory minions working on doing just that. And that is going to blow up in a lot of faces right about now. In fact, it already has (read the bit about Jeremy Hunt near the end of the story, and then find a photo of Mr. Hunt and know, as I do, that he would not last long in prison).

The story is getting more interesting with each turn. And for the record--if anyone cares--I believe Rupert is too hands on not to know exactly what was going on. In fact, I bet he directed every filthy, criminal act. I hope one of the disposables kept a good paper trail, because I would love nothing more than to see that filthy old piece of shit get indicted and spend the rest of his miserable life trying to avoid jail time.

Here's a surprise:

Feds: Crooked TSA Screeners Arrested in Drug Trafficking Scheme. Why did they bother modifying the term "TSA screeners" with the word "crooked"? I mean, anyone who thinks it is ok to collect a paycheck for violating their fellow citizens' 4th amendment rights is a criminal douchebag in my books.

I think that those of us on the left have to reach out to those on the right who also hate this filthy violation of our rights for the purposes of stopping this unholy invasion of our privacy. No really. Many of them hate it too. And I think it is clear now that this screening bullshit is not about security. It's about money and getting the 99% of us who don't keep Gulf Streams at Teterboro Airport to accept that we are proles who they can touch and violate at will. No. They. Can't.

A co-worker was avoiding plane travel because the thought of a TSA screening made her angry and disgusted. Recently, however, she had to take a plane and was required to be pat down (despite going through the "I can see you naked cancer machines"). She said it was humiliating, and she was so appalled by the experience that she looked at the screener afterwards and said "so, was it good for you?" Honestly, the screeners deserve nothing but contempt, as do their bosses--they even more so.

Want to get rid of criminal TSA agents? Fire them all.

Wow. Now that the DoJ is done with the BP spill, no doubt they will start issuing indictments against Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, and et al.:

US makes first arrest in BP oil spill case. The perp? A BP engineer who destroyed evidence. Now destroying evidence is a big deal, but 11 men died in this travesty and with them the Gulf of Mexico. Where are the negligent homicide charges? Yeah, not holding my breath.

If the shareholders refuse to punish the criminal executives, then the public must:

Wal-Mart's Mexico probe could lead to departures at the top. Long and short, top executives covered up a history of bribes in Mexico which can "likely" lead to more regulatory scrutiny etc. Bullshit. Eric Holder won't do a fucking thing. The SEC won't do a fucking thing. No one will. The Walton family doesn't care. Hey, bribery is how things get done. But if someone were to call for a boycott and others joined in? The family would cut those fuckers off at the knees. Sure, the replacements would be just as evil, but they would be reminded that they are servants--replaceable servants. It's a useful exercise.

So Yahoo is over.

I couldn't find a "fuck you, I quit" button, so I edited my profile and account as much as I could and I removed Yahoo form my bookmark list. I will do the same at work. The only way to punish media type businesses that are actively trying to keep us stupid is to starve the beast. Bye-bye, Yahoo. That said, I now go to iGoogle, and while they, no doubt, are corporate monsters too, at least I can keep the inane shit off of my home page. I just have headlines from The Guardian, BBC, Democracy Now, and Reuters. I'll see if they have McClatchy and a few others. Now I need to get rid of my Verizon and Sprint accounts and move my money out of Chase. Yes, I still have my money at Chase. Why? Because I was all ready to move it to Amalgamated Bank, the only bank 100% owned by unions, except it isn't anymore. Turns out due to capital requirement issues they were forced to have two filthy douchebags assume 40% ownership. Get that. The only "100% union owned" bank isn't anymore because they had to get additional capital by ruining that which made them good, but Goldman, Bank of America et al. can have all the money in the world for free. So, I need to get a landline like replacement for Verizon and a new bank that isn't owned by filthy goddamn greedy sociopaths. Any suggestions?

Wow, shit does die:

Charles Colson, Watergate criminal, dead. May he soon be joined by the other criminals in that administration and those that followed. All of them.

Had enough with the whores at Yahoo telling me Kate's "lookalike" just won some fucking beauty contest.

Yahoo obviously is paid to keep internet users stupid.  I use them as a home page because I like customizing my "My Yahoo" page to include only foreign newspapers and not the shit printed here.  But I am getting increasingly angry at the fucking front page.  No one gives a shit about Kate, the future queen, and those other parasites.  Ok, someone does, but not nearly enough to allow real stories to be ignored.  But that's the point, no?

Long and short, I need to use a site that allows me to customize a home page but one that doesn't try to dumb down it's readers.  So, any suggestions?  You know me, I believe in starving the beast.  If Yahoo is going to continue to try to help in keeping Americans uninformed, they can do it without my eyeballs.  Bastards.