an Old Thanksgiving tradition


And a new one!



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Something else happened in 1994: at CBS, Letterman had successfully settled into direct competition with Jay Leno and Arsenio. No longer the perfect Letterman lead-in, Arsenio knew he was doomed -- he wasn't so much cancelled as allowed to jump before he was pushed.




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which had as much to do with starting the Bush regime backlash as anything.



Despite this being available for free, more than a million purchased a copy on iTunes!


And here's another oldie but goodie:




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Posted and self-deleted by another DU-er, but an important addition to my Rethug Psycho collection:

A personality disorder of excessive power strivings

None of the existing formal diagnostic categories in psychiatry today addresses adequately the issues of excessive power-seeking, corruption and destructiveness. Excessive power strivings both poison the personality of the individual who is obsessed in his spirit and mind with power and do unacceptable harm to other peoples' lives.

The present proposal of a diagnostic category of a Personality Disorder of Excessive Power Strivings is intended to fit into current diagnostic schema of DSM as well as into an earlier proposal to examine in all psychopathology not only the burdens and damage people do and impose on their own selves and their own functioning, but also the harm they do to other peoples' lives and functioning.

The diagnosis is to be used when the individual displays prolonged and severe manifestations of the following listed criteria.

The basic feature which is always present in this personality disorder is:
Intense and extensive power strivings.

In addition, at least three other of the following characteristics should be present:

1. Lack of empathy for people, and indifference to the suffering of others;


2. "Street smart" alertness and remarkable cunning committed to seizing and expanding power;


3. Ruthlessness in cultivation of power;


4. Scapegoating and projection of blame on to targeted individuals or a group, an insistent need to identify certain others as lowly, worthless and intended victims;


5. Corruption by power and addiction to power;


6. Demands of other people to be dependent on one's powerful personality, or that they become one's obedient followers;


7. Emphasis on symbolisms of pure vs. impure, holy vs. infidel, chosen vs. condemned;


8. A basic disrespect for the lives of others evidenced in callous or indifferent exposure of others to undue risks;


9. An absence of conscience in contexts of self-interest and opportunity;


10. A homicide/suicide orientation.

See also: Bush-Delay Syndrome (Narcissistic Peronality Disorder); Sarah Palin Syndrome (Histrionic Personality Disorder).


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On October 7, 2013, Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres will turn sixty years old. But he received his birthday present a month earlier -- from his appendix.

On September 10, 2013, the band was preparing to leave their hotel for the Mexico City venue where they would be playing a sold-out show. But Tico began experiencing severe abdominal pains, and they ended up rushing him to a hospital instead.

Two days later, frontman Jon Bon Jovi announced: "...Thankfully, the operation was a success and Tico is now recovering...We'd like to thank the doctors, nurses and all the hospital staff who helped...Tico sends his thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers...He even promised the doctors he would come back for the surgery right after the show..."

Well, Jon, his bandmates, and their fans owe Tico's appendix a lot of thanks, too.

That is, suppose it had decided to hang in for just a few hours more and detonate while Tico was drumming away at the sound check -- or worse, the gig itself. With his heartbeat and body temperature elevated, the attack could very easily have resulted in his appendix bursting. Would he have been correctly diagnosed and transported to the hospital in time? Were only a couple of hours the difference between the world's Bon Jovi fans sending their thoughts and prayers and their sending their condolences?

Of course, Tico is such a good drummer that it's only logical that his appendix would have natural rhythm, too. Or maybe it loved Tico so much, it just couldn't bring itself to destroy them both. Whatever the reason, I am very thankful that Tico is alive and well to perform another day -- and I will be eternally grateful to the body part that sacrificed itself to make his survival possible.




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Introductory remarks byJon Stewart.




An opening short subject by fellow DUer Symbolman:




And the feature presentation:





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"It is the beating down of everything 'white' and the promotion and glorification of everything 'black' that makes people angry..."

"Like it or not, most people view B/W marriages with some degree of distaste..."

"This Cheerios ad is yet another attempt to elevate the black man to the point of suggesting to white women that white guys are not what you want..."

"A color-blind society? No way as long as we have Black privilege in America."

"It's a dead-end proposition for whites...There is no benefit whatsoever for a white to breed with a black..."

"When...diversity and tolerance...along with all things progressive, are on the ash heap of history, America will be America once again."

TRANSLATION: "The child in that commercial is a living monument to the white man's fear of the black man's sexual conquest of the white woman."


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The Onion and Andy Borowitz are the leaders, of course. The Currant's not in their league because they rely too much on cheap shots (Anthony Weiner: ‘I Have A Hard-On’ For New York City) and just plain making stuff up (North Carolina Proposes Ban on Condoms). This article works because it spins a spoonful of inconvenient truth into a three-tiered cake with frosting. Most encouraging!


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and the ONLY kind of punishment is the death penalty.

Even the Mafia and motorcycle gangs dispense justice with a sense of perspective: while most infractions can indeed get you murdered, there are situations in which simply breaking your kneecaps or firebombing your place of business is punishment enough. Hip-hoppers, however, will "go to the mattresses" over something as trivial as eating someone else's candy -- anything less makes you look "weak."

Most recently, rapper and record label owner Rick Ross was fired upon because he displayed Gangster Disciple insignia on one of his albums, and they want to be compensated. Apparently, YouGoogleTube is too busy cracking down on people who post their favorite songs to notice that this kind of stuff is being uploaded: I guess they're cool with your making lethal terroristic threats as long as your background music is original.




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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1655120&mesg_id=1655889

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1658791&mesg_id=1659537

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1658791&mesg_id=1658791


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