Cyrano
Cyrano's JournalHas North Korea shown the way?
North Korea, a backward, barbaric relic of the dark ages, has scared the living shit out of Sony, Hollywood and, perhaps, “The Men In Charge.” They did it the 21st century way. They hacked into a treasure trove of information and they killed a major Hollywood production.
As much as I despise the fact that Hollywood/Sony has caved in on freedom of speech, there’s an incredibly powerful lesson to be learned here. For years now, we’ve been decrying the power of the haves over the have nots, the power of the Koch brothers, the Walton (Walmart) family, and a handful of others, to buy and own everyone and everything. Not to mention the power of government to gather up everything we say and write, and to track our physical location at any instant.
Perhaps there are hackers out there who are capable of breaking into anything and everything that the powers that be don’t want anyone breaking into. Perhaps such hackers might decide that wealth and power can’t keep screwing the people and creatures of the earth with impunity. Perhaps they’ve decided they can’t keep polluting the water we drink and the air we breathe. Perhaps such hackers have decided that there really is a way to fight back against a stacked deck and a system drowning in corruption.
Military might has always been the path to power throughout recorded history. However, … I’m willing to bet that, at this very moment, governments, and the handful of people who buy and own governments, are in deep discussions with McAfee, Norton, and every other organization or entity that has even an iota of an idea as to how to protect themselves in today's cyberspace universe. After all, they are all as vulnerable as Sony/Hollywood. It seems that the “Masters of the Universe” have an Achilles Heel.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
Thoughts on Ferguson
There are concepts which most of us can’t verbalize. But we do recognize them when someone else speaks them aloud. They are a verbalization of our hopes and dreams. They are words like “I’ve been to the mountain,” or, “Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.”
Very few people are as articulate as Martin Luther King. For many hundreds of years, white people have oppressed, enslaved, abused, degraded, raped, tortured, murdered and done everything possible to tear the very soul out of people of color. But it hasn’t succeeded. The instinct for fairness, justness, and the sense of a shared humanity, cannot be suppressed through threats, bribery, pain, or “the rule of law.”
And now we have Ferguson, Missouri. Nothing is new here. Nothing is surprising. Nothing is any fairer than it has ever been. And nothing is as infuriating as the current inability to sweep away the injustice.
So let’s say it plainly. Ferguson, Missouri is nothing more than ongoing American racism. It sucks as much as it ever has. And only a fool would believe that this will be the end of it.
Okay, call me a fool, but I believe that the younger generation places little stock in the racism, religiosity, regionalism, nationalism, or any other remnants of ignorance out of the past. But that doesn’t mean that those who harbor hatred are going to go away tomorrow. It will take a while longer. But the future is upon us, (if we can survive the current rape of planet Earth and somehow fix it).
And I also believe that the future holds much for humanity. We are just coming out of our adolescence. That which is to come, we can only imagine. But one thing we can be sure of. The future does not belong to the bigots, the haters, and the unimaginative. It belongs to those who know of reason, humanity, tolerance and even the love of one's fellow human beings.
We must believe that the victims who have paid the price with their very lives have not done so in vain. The alternative is far too unthinkable.
So decide for yourself. Are we on the threshhold of a world about to drown in the muck of intolerance? Or are we about to enter a world made brighter by the sacrifice of so, so many.
My hope is that we are emeging from the darkness and ignorance of the past
2nd Texas Ebola case. Stop all Texas flights!
No one should be allowed to fly out of Texas. We're talking about Ebola here. And who knows how many Ebola infected Isis terrorists may have slipped into Texas from the Mexican border? Safer to just ground all the flights.
Oh, ... sorry. I must have had a brief case of GOP-think fever.
More
Last night, I was watching an old Bogart Movie, “Key Largo.” Edward G. Robinson played a mob leader and he was asked something like, “What is it you really want.” He hesitates and says, “I want, … I want, …” Bogart says, “He wants more.” “Yeah, that’s it,” says Robinson enthusiastically. “I want more.” Another character asks, “Will you ever get enough?” Robinson shakes his head and says, “No, I guess I won’t.”
That less than one minute on the screen explains the top 1% who virtually own this country. It’s just not that deep. Every fool who votes for a Republican is helping that 1% get “More.” And that single word “More” is all the explanation needed for Republican dickishness.
Stories of Karl Rove being a child molester are untrue
That headline is an example of how you start a rumor which becomes self perpetuating. And Karl Rove is a master at it. It’s a tactic he’s been using his entire career.
His recent attack on Hillary, while ridiculous, will have many wingnuts believing she actually has a brain injury from that fall she took a while back. And it will seep through to those who pay no attention to politics.
We can expect such attacks against Hillary to be launched daily now by Fox “news,” hate radio, and the rest of the Republican propaganda machine. They’re already blaming her for the kidnapping of the girls in Nigeria.
Truth means nothing to Republicans. They will just make up any piece of shit and then use their echo chamber to repeat, repeat, repeat.
We Dems don’t currently have the means to counter their never-ending lies. But we’d better figure out a way pretty damn soon.
Here’s why you have to be a dick to be a Republican
(a partial list)
You want to deny health care to millions – Screw children, the elderly and everyone in between. Every once in a while you’ve got to thin out the herd.
You want to make sure that no one can get an abortion – Including that 13 year old who was raped and that woman whose physical or financial existence is endangered.
You want to make sure no one can vote except white, mature men – Can’t have the country destroyed by “The Other.”
You have to make sure that all education is privatized and useless – educated peasants can be dangerous.
You have to be sure your voters believe global warming is a myth – Can’t have anything biting into the fossil fuel profits of your donors.
You have to keep the peasants working for as little money as possible – Hell, it’s the next best thing to slavery and you don’t have to give ‘em room and board.
You have to be against everything that black guy in the White House is for – And keep telling your moron voters he’s an uppity bastard who wasn’t even born in America.
You have to be against repairing the infrastructure – Safe bridges, roads, rails, water: screw ‘em all. Let the next generation worry about that crap.
You must be against any rights for women – They’ve been a pain in the ass ever since they got the vote. Let ‘em bring up kids and get on their knees when you want them there.
You’ve have to tone down anti-LGBT rhetoric – Too many of “THEM” out there now, (not to mention that perhaps you yourself might be so inclined).
You have to keep saying you want to attack any country that pisses us off – can’t let down your weapon-maker donors.
You have to care for your voice so you can shriek BENGHAZI, BENGHAZI, every moment of every day. Amazing what the suckers who vote for your will believe.
And most importantly, you have to say “God” and “Jesus” a lot. Don’t ever let those voters forget whose side God is on.
Please add to whatever I missed.
More GOP dickishness (a rant)
It’s no news that the party of “family values,” and “pro life,” doesn’t actually care about families, values, or the living. The party that wants to “cut the debt” doesn’t give a rat’s ass how deeply individual Americans are mired in debt. The party of “compassionate conservatism” totally lacks compassion and the only thing they want to conserve is their own power. The party that is controlled by a few super wealthy people through their teabagger minions of know-nothings, is a blight upon this country and a danger to us all.
Their real agenda is, “Screw everyone who isn’t a white, ‘Christian,’ Republican male. Screw ‘em, squeeze ‘em for everything they’ve got, spit on ‘em, and stomp ‘em into the dust.”
Imagine if they end up controlling both the House and Senate after this year's election. What they’ve done in the states they control is what they have in mind for the entire country. It was the author Sinclair Lewis who said: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.” We seem to be pretty much headed in that direction.
The dickishness of today’s Republican/Teabagger party is something I've posted about here before, but they continue to become ever more dickish with each passing day. They've got to be stopped and it all depends on Democratic voter turnout this year. We've got to hang onto the Senate and win over the House. We must be as well motivated as our enemies. And make no mistake about it. They are our enemies as well as the enemies of human decency, empathy and freedom.
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Gender: MaleHometown: Palm Beach County, Florida
Member since: Fri Apr 16, 2004, 02:36 PM
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