the akin defense

senate hopeful and gynecological expert todd akin (r-mo) certainly sounds like a another tea party twit today, but tomorrow, who knows?

because akin sounds like he's been reading the jane's defense weekly for female sexual self-defense — "aeon flux: the herodotus file" (1995):

(story by mark mars and eric singer, art by eric canete and peter chung)

the killer inside

when did fresh-faced boy james holmes become crazed killer james holmes?

murderers, maniacs and movie myths

thanks probably to a steady diet of "chiller theater", i've been fascinated by sociopaths for a long time. thankfully, most of them don't fall into the well-worn hollywood trope, i.e.; the hannibal-lecter-style genius super-predator.

however, unlike most real life homicidal maniacs, james holmes comes closer to the movie myth than most, since, unless he's suffered a recent drastic personality change into sociopathy, he has somehow managed to suppress his homicidal tendencies while advancing to a high degree of intellectual accomplishment.

but until his manifesto is found and/or holmes starts talking, this is all i'm ready to say about him. it is probably too early even to assume he's a sociopath.

see also:

"almost famous"

ritual sacrifices

while there's no sense to be found in a senseless massacre, these tragedies do happen for a reason. they happen because americans have collectively decided that our way of life is worth at least one or two senseless massacres a year.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by further restricting which people can buy which guns, we've decided that it's not worth it.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by further restricting which manufacturers can sell which guns, we've decided that it's not worth it.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by further restricting which people can buy and sell body armor, we've decided that it's not worth it.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by better tracking the violence-prone and the unstable, we've decided that it's not worth it.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by building more mental health facilities, we've decided that it's not worth it.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by reducing the violent content of our media, we've decided that it's not worth it.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by tightening security in public spaces, well, we're in the eleventh year of an experiment in doing just that.

if it's possible to prevent another massacre by expanding the government's police powers, again, we're in the eleventh year of an experiment in doing that too.

the one thing that we've decided that's worth doing, in lieu of most of the above, is engaging in a well-practiced national ritual: the nonstop replay of the crime; the mourning of the victims; the dissection of the killer; lastly, the hollow demands and promises of action, before returning numbly to whatever it is we do between the massacres. the ritual is necessary because we refuse admit to ourselves that we won't do anything else. the victims are the necessary sacrifices that allow the rest of us to continue enjoying the american way of life. the ritual is the necessary trade-off that allows us to trade away the guilt.

it is of course possible that there is actually nothing we can do or agree upon that will prevent another massacre, but who really believes that? so if this latest tragedy goes by without our acting meaningfully to prevent the next, it's because we've decided that it's not worth it — or maybe we think that it's worth at least one more senseless massacre.

have you seen me?

it's 2012 ... do you know where your CEOs are?

the wrong boys

"the evidence shows that mr. paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action, even though sandusky had been a key member of his coaching staff for almost 30 years, and had an office just steps away from mr. paterno's," the report's conclusion reads.

"at the very least, mr. paterno could have alerted the entire football staff, in order to prevent sandusky from bringing another child into the lasch building. messrs. spanier, schultz, paterno and curley also failed to alert the board of trustees about the 1998 investigation or take any further action against mr. sandusky. none of them even spoke to sandusky about his conduct.

"in short, nothing was done and sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity."

predictions

a mere twenty-four hours ago:

guess what is up for today?

first on the news will be: O-BOMB-A-CARE!

next on the news will be: holder won't be holding his job!

what a beautiful day this will be!!!:)

by seekthetruth

the whole law will get tossed because there is not enough pretzel logic on earth to find the mandate constitutional. and there is no severability clause. and there is no way in hell the court is going to wade through a 3000 page bill to try and create one.

the result will be much wailing, crying, and stamping of feet, culminating in a long-range leftist plan to undermine the supreme court (an FDR court packing scheme or something similar). it will become the bush v gore bloody shirt of the next decade.

electorally though it will actually help obama, as it will remove a huge unpopular albatross from around his neck. it will also get the catholic church to shut up about the mandate and many catholics will go back to voting democrat.

by buckeye mcfrog

SCOTUS will strike it down, POTUS will ignore the ruling.

by kosciusko51

by hotlanta mike

obama's responses usually have the flavor of vindictiveness, as in the arizona case. whatever his response, it will have to be an executive order, because most dems in congress just want this thing to go away.

of course, he will lash out verbally at both the republican party and the supreme court, but as to politically effective actions he could take, he may be boxed in. the most politically effective thing he could do would be to graciously accept the supremes' decision, but he won't do that. i hope he tries something, because it's just going to make it worse for his election chances.

by wayoverontheright

i predict there will be much sadness...

by vrwcArea51

me too, but not for us or this grand nation

by bornToBeAmerican

a constitutional crisis is about to be created, and obama, i hope, will be clapped in irons.

by candor7

and the rest, as they say, is history ...

dreams from my birthers

i guess i am just dreaming, but i am starting to hear a lot of (new) rumors that barry is going to be arrested within a matter of days.

let us pray they are true!!!

by bob1943 [jun 2, 2011]

most america wrote off birthers in june 2008, when candidate barack obama released his birth certificate to dispel charges that his name was really "mohammed". just like most america wrote off birthers in november 2008 when obama won the election. just like in january 2009 when he was sworn in by chief justice roberts. just like in april 2011 when the president released his long-form birth certificate — while signing the death certificates of osama bin laden and donald trump's political ambitions.

or so america foolishly thought. again. to quote george will, both donald trump and birtherism are "redundant evidence" that "your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into american politics." perhaps the blame lies in the egalitarian nature of the american dream.

dreams die hard. so too conspiracy theories. you could probably write a book about them ...

my dream is that barack obama ... won't be able to go to any city, any town, any hamlet in america without seeing signs that ask, 'where is the birth certificate?'

by joe farah, worldnetdaily.com [feb 2010]

i am so confident about the eventual outcome now that i am increasingly persuaded that barack obama will not even seek re-election.

that will be the tipoff that our suspicions about obama's eligibility and/or life story were correct all along.

by joe farah, [feb 2011]

we will have him out of office in 30 days.

by orly taitz [sep 13 2009]

noone has done more to bring the marxist/muslim down than dr. orly taitz.

she may not succeed this time, but one day she will.

by patriot08 [jan 23 2012]

i just got off the phone with my brother who's a police detective in tucson. you know that lucas smith is in jail there?

my brother says he wasn't arrested for a crime, he's in protective custady to keep obozo's thugs from murdering him. ive never heard my brother so excited. he says he's working with the FBI and obozo will definitely be arrested by monday morning! smith will be the main witness at his trial, becasue of the kenya birth certificate he got in mombasa.

i think its finally happening! the end of the usurper on monday morning!

by dolores moody [jun 2 2011]

i want to witness obooboo’s first day in leavenworth with his new cellmate bubba.

by georgia girl 2 [jun 2 2012]

my dream... one day a judge awards terry lakin every penny that soebarka has ever made.

we are one day closer.

by pa-river [mar 22 2012]

someone, some person or persons out there know what's going on. come forward boldly and publicly with evidence and provide it to sheriff joe. hussein and crew wouldn't dare touch you. cash in your story for 7 or 8 figures. be a hero, or be taken down as an accomplice. i am sure there are people out there that could, and should, do this.

meanwhile, we'll just keep plugging away, asking the tough questions like why there are so many contradictory statements being made by people who should know; why different versions of a single document keep springing up; why the latest one is so obviously a fake; why so much of the MSM seems to be an accomplice to the coverup; etc. i'll just keep hoping and praying that the truth comes out. i will take the day off from work and celebrate when i see hussein perp-walked out of the white house.

by thunderSleeps [may 30 2012]

eventually the damn will break. it may be when obama is well out of office where he could be stripped of his presidential retirement perks like salary and secret service protection.

by red steel [mar 24 2012]

let the neighbors of corrupt puppets like judge land, judge malihi, judge wright know, that they are corrupt and dirty. let their spouse feel embarrassed, that they are married to such dirty and corrupt individuals". we need people on the public sidewalks in front of the houses of the dirty sold out traitors, who sit on the election boards and allowed the usurper obama on the ballot and in the white house. let the family of this corrupt commissioner dumezich be embarrassed to be related to him, let his children be embarrassed to have such a corrupt scum for a father. we need the children of these corrupt commissioners in NH know, that they should be ashamed of their parents. same with all the other corrupt commissioners, corrupt congressmen, corrupt judges, secretaries of state and so on. until know there was no consequence for treason. now there is a consequence: a scarlet "T" for traitor.

... corrupt judges like nishimura, corrupt attorney general luie, corrupt deputy attorney general nagamine, director of health fuddy, registrar onaka are simply corrupt and treasonous and belong on the gallows for treason.

... now a corrupt fulton county judge cyntia wright ... this woman should be hanging from the gallows for high treason against the united states of america. same goes for corrupt judges clay d. land, royce lamberth, corrupt commissioners from the ballot law commission in new hampshire, corrupt commissioners of the elections law commission in indiana, corrupt attorney general eric holder, corrupt director of homeland security janet napolitano, corrupt congressmen, corrupt directors of news networks, who told their cameramen not to film the proceedings, not to report on high treaon and forgery and fraud in the white house ...

by orly taitz [mar 3 2012]

still struggling to come out

as everyone knows, second to the initial struggle with accepting an identity that conflicts with the mainstream (especially an antagonistic mainstream), is the painful exodus of even longtime friends unwilling to accompany much less support the journey:

i never post on free republic, although i come here everyday, but something has been bothering me and i'm not exactly sure how to handle it.

ever since his holiness obama has made his gay marriage proclamation, my facebook feed has been inundated by posts from my gay friends about it.

i haven't responded to any of the posts, because i know it would be go over well. none of my friends responses by others has been anything except positive (from the gay point of view).

i'm smart enough to know that not everyone believes in gay marriage, and the ones who feel as i do just don't want to get involved because they don't feel the hassle is worth it.

my issue is that i'm sick to death reading those idiotic posts day after day. i'm fed up and I WILL respond eventually, but when i do, i want to do so calmly, and in a way where i won't come across as a homophobe. i know when i respond i'll lose at least half my gay friends, which sucks, but that's life i guess.

does anyone have suggestions on how i could respond civily? i tend to think i'll leave religion out of it, because i want to come across rationally, and when religion gets into the mix, rationality goes out the window instantly.

i apologize for the lame post, i'm extremely new at this.

— "sporke"

well, that is a painful dilemma, isn't it?

while i'm sure "sporke" isn't the first homophobe to struggle with coming out of the closet, to those taking their first steps, it often feels that way. but whom better to turn to for rational guidance than the "guns-god-and-country"-loving patriots at the wingnut waterhole free republic?

i must admit to my own struggle just sifting out the gold from this rich vein of wingnut wisdom. the first response pretty much summed up the practical advice:

are they real life friends, or FB friends?

if the latter....just unfriend them! no matter WHAT you say...they’ll label you a phobe anyway.

or, say your peace and THEN "unfriend" them.

if the former? they should already know how you feel.

my 2 cents....

— "brad's gramma"

dr. lecter suggests staying in the closet:

anything you say can, and most certainly will, be used against you on facebook. best to leave it be.

— "helloooClareece"

unfortunately there is no response they would consider civil. it's there way or the highway.

BTW the vast majority of people of all ages highly disapprove of the gay agenda.

this has been repeatedly born out by popular elections.

— "cyberSpartacus"

which BTW explains why there are no openly gay elected officials ...

i'm so glad i came across this post, i have been struggling with this as well. i have been trying to compose a response in my head and couldn't quite figure out how to respond to some posts.

after reading what other people have commented, i have decided that they are right and there is nothing you can say that won't make you sound "evil" for disagreeing.

at least we have somewhere to go with like minded people. :-)

— "mrsadams"

it may not be facebook, but sporke's making and helping new friends already!

i have lots of gay friends on facebook and those who vehemently support them. their primary reason for supporting gay marriage is that they hate the dogmatic intolerance of the religious right trying to dictate to them how they should live and what they should believe. in their attempt to sway us away from our beliefs and doctrines for its intolerance, they often display the most hateful,vicious intolerance themselves for those with whom they disagree. the hypocrisy is lost on them. do not trouble yourself to respond.

— "erkyl"

we like our intolerance just fine, thank you!

the only reason homosexuality is wrong is because god said so.

— "donna"

which, until god changes his mind, should be good enough for everyone!

... you could also point out to your gay friends that they already have the right to marry—everyone does as long as they marry someone of the opposite sex. gay people CHOOSE not to exercise these rights. they aren’t denied anything. they want special privileges. why should two able-bodied gay men who can work their whole lives without ever producing children together get special privileges?

— "dupree"

and up to now i thought that this talking point was universally recognized even by wingnuts for the cynical absurdist joke it is. apparently, not everyone is in on it.

i don’t have any "gay" friends, wouldn’t associate with anyone gay, won’t work with anyone gay (that i’m aware of) because my views are well known on the subject and folks know exactly where i stand.

— "maddog55"

well, alrighty then — problem solved! forever!

(cross-posted at daily kos)

cartoon of the day

(art by frank cho)

the fluke contraception deception

the numbers are out and in a surprise to no one but conservatives, it turns out that women do not like being called "sluts":

the biggest change came among women under 50. in mid-february, just under half of those voters supported obama. now more than six in 10 do while romney's support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30%. the president leads him 2-1 in this group.

republicans' traditional strength among men "won't be good enough if we're losing women by nine points or 10 points," says sara taylor fagen, a republican strategist and former political adviser to president george w. bush. "the focus on contraception has not been a good one for us ... and republicans have unfairly taken on water on this issue." (usa today/gallup)

"unfairly"? well, cry me a river ... one which appears to be roaring right through our favorite wingnut watering hole free republic, where you will never find a more wretched hive of chauvinism and misogyny.

and they're wond'ring where all the wimmenfolk went ...

unfortunately, to some women, especially single ones, government is daddy, husband, lover and provider all rolled up into one. (scottinVA)

but isn't that the model wingnut family? (cue "dueling banjos")

women are "wired" that way.

the 'rats and their mentor, satan, knew what they were doing when they destroyed the support structure called "marriage" and "family".

the title should say "boosted by SINGLE AND DIVORCED women voters..." (mrB)

bingo - a lot of the women i know politically are mostly selfish, self centered, ditzes who only care about abortion, birth control, etc. (glockThe Vote)

translation: "they didn't wanna touch my glock!"

why do they keep calling these free contraceptives? someone is paying for them. and are rat women so gullible that they'll vote for a guy who is killing us at the pump, thermostat, grocery store and job market - not to mention the little matter of national security, just to get "free" birth control??? (aria)

if these women don't like romney they sure as heck aren't going to vote for santorum. obama's little birth control scheme seems to be working. i think republicans need to do some intense opposition research into obama's donors. the candidates need to start talking about all the dirt that's been coming out on him. make him look like the crooked chicago politician that he is. (jersey117)

riiiiiight. because in four years nobody's tried that yet ...

the social issues bs makes me want to scream. birth control? FNG really???

women voters in general are easily scammed. (glockThe Vote)

that they are. i'm here to tell you — they're buying this issue hook, line, and sinker. bunches of women i know are convinced that EVIL republicans have only one agenda ...and that is to make birth control ILLEGAL in this country.

i kid you not. they are convinced. rational, otherwise intelligent women. this flat out LIE has worked like a charm.

but, who is surprised. america has and is going down due to this very issue at the heart of it. we've contracepted ourselves so much that we've had to import workers. we have aborted so many we dont' have a tax paying base anymore to support all the elderly OR the freeloading immigrants. radical feminism has done its trick on this country ...and continues to do so, destroying marriage, family, and a strong moral base. why be surprised? many women are in love with themselves and their own power and new-found freedom to screw up their lives with oblivion. (libsRJerks)

repeal the 19th amendment. (sharpRightTurn)

sure glad we gave them the vote. (dagogo redux)

because women vote for appeals to emotion. that is the democrat party's specialty. (longbow1969)

and the GOP's specialty? appeals to idiocy ...

young single women want to go on killing their unborn babies. and now they really believe evil republicans are going to completely ban contraception. the fluke contraception deception worked perfectly. (protectOurFreedom)

tricking rush into a three-day tirade was the easy part. tricking wingnuts into defending him? actually, that was easy too ...

woman — being fooled by snakes since the garden. (bmwcyle)

the "war on women" paying dividends.

dems would never win without the woman voter advantage. (tigerClaws)

alas, the unfairness of it all ...

it won't matter -- those ideological women voters are blind to everything except what they want to see, their "vision". by teasing up reproductive issues, obozo is rattling their chains, they just don't know it.

giving women the vote was a civilizational mistake that will kill the republic. women don't want anything like what men do from government, and the republic was constructed around a male electorate. women's brain processes make them the very, very last people anyone anywhere should want next to the levers of republican government, and that's even allowing for real exceptions like margaret thatcher and sarah palin.

overeducated, barren, man-hating democrat women will turn america into a despotate, and then a wasteland -- like something out of hellboy. (lentulusgracchus)

unlike the patriarchal heaven-on-earth that is saudi arabia, or even afghanistan, eh, lentulus?

now i'm pretty sure that free republic, every dittohead's little patch of heaven on the internet, is by no means men-only. i'm pretty sure freeperville has some members that at least have claimed to be female. i'm pretty sure i can remember reading the praises of these culture-war-hardened survivalists for the fierceness and independence of their mothers, mates and daughters. so where are all the wimmenfolk? none showed up today, or more certainly, no one either female or male showed up to crash this little meeting of the "he-man women haters club":

so if not unfettered misogyny, what kind of hate speech proves simply too intolerable for the neanderthals on this thread?

cut it out psycho. santorum can’t be blamed for splitting the vote, but we know who polls lower than rick with women and he is the one with the second fewest delegates.

so cut the hate. (dforest)

... just leave little ricky alooooone!

the bat-pun robin left unsaid

from 2007's nightwing^[1] annual #2 (an "annual" that curiously took ten years to follow nightwing annual #1):

(story by marc andreyko, art by joe bennet and jack jadson)

understandably, robin chooses to suffer in silence, so i'll just have to say it for him: "holy hard-on, batman! i've gotta raging bat-boner!"

1) "nightwing" is the superhero identity assumed by dick grayson in 1984 after he quit wearing the short shorts and pixies boots.

what it all comes down to

cartoon of the day

(art by tim egan)

the least surprising conspiracy theory of the year

and it's only march ...

ml/nj: there were three isolated events on march 1st: joe arpaio detailed fraud committed on behalf of barack obama, we learned of the death of andrew breitbart, and there was a "bomb-scare" at the limbaugh compound in palm beach.

or maybe they weren't so isolated at all?

johnnyP: WWBBD? (what would breitbart do?

do you think he would have remained silent about the BC after arpaio's press conference?

what did he mean when he said "wait 'til march 1st"?

ml/nj: breitbart gave an interview to jerome corsi the night before his passing. the march 1st comment was for the arpaio press conference revealing fraud and forgery of birth certificate/selective service. also there were other revelations of a witness that heard of bill ayers mother saying obama being a foreign student, there is a "person of interest", there is a criminal investigation ongoing etc.

butterdezillion: [the media has] been threatened. i feel like a broken record because i keep saying this, but the claims of doug hagmann have been corroborated. the only reason it hasn't broken into full view is because the story IS real and the witnesses thus far, while willing to give their evidence to PI's and LEO's, are still in danger if their identities are known.

the very fact that "conservatives" have not mentioned [joe arpaio and worldnetdaily's march 1 birther press conference] — even though this report is by a sconstitutionally-assembled law-enforcement body that originally intended to put the "birther nonsense" to rest — tells you that their refusal to report it has nothing to do with the credibility or authority of either the claims or the people making them. the reason they are not reporting it is because they were told by the head of their media company (fox and the radio companies) that if they or any of their guests discussed this issue, their career would be over and their lives and the lives of their family members were questionable.

the death of andrew breitbart the same day as the [arpaio] press conference was not lost on the media members. and [jerome] corsi's revelation at the press conference, that the last interview breitbart did was with sheriff joe just hours before breitbart died, is not wasted on any of them either, i'd bet money.

armourup: LOOK.....
brietbart took down ACORN, BeHO's baby.
ACORN was BeHO's own private army.
there is a lot of high tech ways to make someone "die of natural causes".

today BeHO killed 3 birds with one stone.
1. killed the guy who killed ACORN.
2 took sheriff joe's BC new conference out of the press.
3. sent a message to sheriff joe.

i am too much of a conspiracy nut to not think the two were connected.

joe arpaio is old enough i don’t think he could be intimidated by threats to HIS life... but he has family.

... BeHO’s startin' to play HARD BALL boys and girls....

chrisnj: i bet hannity will be ordered NOT to air breitbart’s [alleged obama college] tape!

they are getting desperate and onto a killing spree!

kjo: i still think it’s more than strange that brietbart died just as he announced at CPAC that he was going to vet obama. maybe it’s a coincidence...but don’t think the government doesn’t have ways to make people suddenly die. we’ll never know for sure.

d'oh! of course the gov't has ways to "make people suddenly die" — just ask osama or terry mcveigh. but breitbart? not my idea of a "high-value" target ... but maybe that's just me.

andy from chapel hill: as far as threats of assassination go, i doubt that the [intelligence community] told anyone that the IC might kill a blabbermouth. more likely, the IC has told folks that there are other countries involved and these countries have agents here in the USA who have orders from home to kill anyone who gets too close. i would be much more afraid of the KGB or mossad that i would be of the IC.

butterdezillion: i suspect that the death of andrew breitbart right after he dared to interview arpaio - as if he was actually entertaining the idea of reporting on this issue - is not coincidence but a reminder to the rest of the media that soros' threats are not in vain.

w.w. smith: this go’s beyond fear of being called names or losing advertisers. this is in the realm of "you talk and you and yours all die and there is not enough security to prevent those deaths.

we must remember that the hard line leftists will lie, cheat, steal or murder to advance their agenda. for those of us that think "no way, they couldn’t manage that", there are more than enough like van jones, jarrett, the sunstiens, and the names just keep coming. there are at least one million of these dead philosophy zombies perfectly willing to threaten someone with death and carry it out when the threat does not work.

i fully believe that the time has come to kill or be killed.

bluebird singing: we shall see, if and when the breitbart video of obama/ayers/college days are released. the domestic terrorists put on suits and infiltrated our governmental institutions. the obama/ayers connection is an example. i disagree with you, i think obama was groomed for exactly what is happening now.

butterdezillion: the media have just had a reminder that young reporters in their prime of life who have just interviewed joe arpaio can all of a sudden have a heart attack and die.

expect them to hysterically try to silence the facts. the "threats" theory predicts that to happen. now everybody observe what happens. one of the big measures of a theory is whether it accurately predicts what will happen.

hmm ... i have a feeling that whatever happens, butter's gonna be sticking with that so-called "theory".

kjo: anybody that brings up obama's phoney LFBC/draft card...will be history.

the only guy who would not back down from the threats was brietbart. his death is a cautionary tale...think tucker carlson and others who were close to andrew haven't noticed?

tapes of obama in college were to emerge on march 1, the day of brietbart's death...today's the 3rd...nothing yet...think folks arent' thinking about the implications?

flotsam_jetsome: the breitbart death serves the "obama" team on several levels:

1. it disrupts the news cycle (as did the bomb scare at limbaugh's house) so that the media talking heads have something, anything to report other than the findings of sheriff joe's cold case possse.

2. gets rid of a (from their perspective) persistent threat.

3. sends a very clear and chilling message to any journalists out there contemplating reporting on the issue of "obama"'s background, including eligibility ramifications, with the seriousness it surely merits.

a colleague of mine and i were discussing the day before the press conference what big news event would take place that would distract from reporting on the cold case posse investigation results. bam! right on schedule.

little jeremiah: and the fluke/slut nonsense has absorbed limbaugh for days, no mention whatsoever of arpaio's report.

romney's new pitch?

with his once all-but-assured nomination now severely in jeopardy, how can squishy mitt romney hope to steal the hearts of GOP voters away from ultra-hardcore social conservative rick santorum?

(from "heavy metal: the movie", 1981)

wow! hard to find a more hardcore campaign slogan than that! i can already hear the applause ...

love story

as an ice age crept upon them thousands of years ago, neanderthals and modern human ancestors expanded their territory ranges across asia and europe to adapt to the changing environment. in the process, they encountered each other.

although many anthropologists believe that modern humans ancestors "wiped out" neanderthals, it's more likely that neanderthals were integrated into the human gene pool thousands of years ago during the upper pleistocene era as cultural and climatic forces brought the two groups together, said arizona state university professor c. michael barton of the center for social dynamics and complexity and school of human evolution and social change.

(art by gary larson)

from hero to zero ... once more with feeling

on january 20 birthers found a savior in georgia deputy administrative judge michael malihi, who rebuffed obama's lawyers' attempt to quash their "subpoenas" and who invited all to make their cases in open court. it was not the first time birthers thought a true liberator had come:

"god willing nobody gets to this judge, as they did with judge carter."
— orly taitz, co-counsel for the plaintiffs (malware alert!)

"LOL. the chances of [obama] showing are nil but i admire this judge."
— paul51

"i think it is turning out that an honest judge is the biggest problem for obama. that, and his hubris."
— pa-river

"pray for him. with god's help, this will cause a tidal wave to sweep obama out."
— pray4liberty

"the good people of GA need to find and fund professional personal security folks to insure this judge does not fall victim to an "accident" or other means of demise...."
— manly warrior

"god bless the great state of georgia! this is one judge that intends to uphold his sworn oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states of america."
— godebert

"OH *U** YEAH!

oh I LIKE this judge! he is following the LAW!!!! who knew! RIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh it's a good friday now, even if i don't have my chemistry homework done!!! WOOT!!!!!"
— danae

"gingrich/mahili 2012."
— churchillspirit

"i am beginning to wonder if this judge mahili may just go down in history as one of the many people who saved this great republic."
— nesnah

a week later on january 26 birther fortunes only soared higher when obama's team boycotted the hearing; the cowardly usurper had ceded the field, both legally and morally, to america's protectors:

"we have won our case. the judge is going to declare a default judgement against obama."
— david farrar, plaintiff

"now we're merely awaiting the publishing of this judge's ruling which, as previously stated, will be a default judgment.

in other words ... we won."
— carl swensson, witness for the plaintiffs

"the "birthers," who have been ridiculed if not ignored by the media and much of the american public for the past three years, have officially been vindicated today."
— floyd brown

"bring it to 'em, judge malihi!"
— backwoods-engineer

"i grilled steaks tonight and we're getting ready to eat pineapple cream pie and coconut cream pie here at our house — to celebrate that there is still apparently one honest judge in the country.

wish i could treat all my fellow patriots here."
— butterdezillion

"georgia does not play!!!! finally a judge with courage!"
— julie

"not showing up makes the judge's job real easy... facts/evidence is undisputed. bamm! (gavel cracking judge's bench)"
— freepersup

"remember to pray for this judge, he has a lot of eyes looking at him and weighing a judgment in this case is going to be a heavy decision."
— an american!

"lord, give the judge and the SOS the courage to do the right thing and keep this miserable spawn of hate off the georgia ballot."
— enterprise

cruelly, even unfettered and unopposed testimony on the record in open court proved insufficient to keep afloat their savior, who delivered his judgment on february 3:

"this behavior of judge malihi was so outrageous, that not only his advisory opinion needs to be set aside, as not grounded in any fact or law, but state and county grand juries and the attorney general of georgia need to launch a criminal investigation into actions of judge malihi ..."
— orly taitz, co-counsel for the plaintiffs (malware alert!)

"the question remains, who got to him or was his mind already made up before the hearing. his ruling is NOT written in his usual style and the ankeny case he cited was provided by someone. who, we may never know but FOGBOW and or perkins cole are the prime candidates."
— carl swensson, witness for the plaintiffs

"i guess bath-house barry could walk into this bastard's court, piss in his face and malihi would just apologize for not helping barry lower his pants."
— mortrey

"UNBELIEVABLE! THE VERDICT IS IN! THERE ARE ZERO GOVERNMENT MEMBERS WITH INTEGRITY."
— anonymous

"TRAITORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
— kenyanBornObamAcorn

"may he die in his sleep tonight, and all other traitors of the USA"
— margie urban

"all of this is not surprising that the "evil ones" would place a muslim judge to again squash any dealings in a court of law. the "evil ones" planted a seed of hope for us folks that possibly, just possibly, there might be a person of character and a noble and honest judge who would find the answers. then they dashed everything, as part of the plan to again destroy any evidence."
— betsy

"i believe the judge was threatened. most of these people in bench positions, have gotten cushy in their lives, and have "strange skeletons" in their closets. some skeletons they would rather sell america up the road than have exposed. ...then remember that 2 of the supremes are o appointed. and of course, roberts is tainted, having sworn the "illegally sitting resident" into our whitehouse. i am praying hard for our military, and hope they will step in."
— true patriots, navy vet

"i suspect this ruling was not written by judge milihi. ... in his final ruling he makes several constructed opinions based on assumptions ... completely contrary to what he wrote several days earlier. i swear this ain't the same person"
— p5151

"that is what happened in the california case with judge carter. remember the bauer law firm in seattle sent a law clerk down to work for carter and then the case went south from there. i wonder who wrote judge malihi's so called decision."
— iontheball

"that really sucks that the judge caved. i guess the chicago muslim mafia convinced him that was the best way to keep himself and his family breathing."
— hm

"it is a significant number of cowards who fear to stand up to power. the fix is in, IMHO. its gonna take some stones to do the right thing. Beyond the every day set of stones that is. we have not seen a judge with a set yet."
— danae

"just saw the ruling from malihi. there is no other rational explanation than the obama thugs got to him or he saw the gravitas of his decision and he HID HIMSELF like a frightened child."
— dr. david earl-graef (malware alert!)

""we" were defeated because a craven judge decided he would like to live to see his children and grandchildren grow up."
— hinckley buzzard

"judges are the most pusillanimous and obsequious of the entire political class. you will not find a courageous judge, it is essentially an oxymoron."
— hinckley buzzard

"he is iranian for sure. i have somewhere a printout of his background info. his parents names, last names, all iranian

god knows, what kind of a deal was done there

... this judge belongs in prison in the best caes scenario, he should be sharing a cell with obama"
— orly taitz, co-counsel for the plaintiffs (malware alert!)

"well, what scares me is what's coming in november. now that we know that judges can't be trusted to support and defend the constitution, i'm betting that we'll see a very strong showing by the republican nominee (probably mitt romney) and that somehow, the courts will deny him the presidency. once that happens, obama will be in complete control and the increasingly rapid strangulation of our once free country will commence. i foresee that this november will probably be our last free election—unless the bravery of real americans waters the tree of tyranny with the blood of traitors. i haven't fired a weapon since 1974—i came back from viet nam sick of violence (hell, i just a medic), but this bullsh*t makes me so angry i'm going out tonight to cabelas to see what they've got in the way of a nice warm rifle. it's clobbering time!"
— ralph swain

"in the interest of public safety i would like to request of all who are aware of this stinking rotten judge's actions, to please refrain from mugging the low down lying cockroach, throwing rocks at this dog's house, slapping this treasonous corrupt scoundrel's children, spitting on this disgusting animal's wife, to just go directly to the whorse's mouth. give him a call or stop in to see him, for a polite civilized discussion, on why he chose to turn his back on the country that provided the means for him to be in the position he is in.

i am sure that he would want to hear from the people who pay his salary, who put food in his family's stomachs and puts clothes on their backs. naturally, he would want to thank you personally.

for conversing, socializing, bonding with his neighbors and undermining the american legal system, he lists his address as: [redacted]

or, people always love a good fax
why not? he faxed us good."
— mark mcgrew

but let's not judge the judge too harshly, folks:

"all through the past three years there have been judicial decisions wrought with errors ... like breadcrumbs along a trail. one suspects the decisions to have been done purposefully in an effort to propel this issue to SCOTUS."
— satinDoll

see? these so-called traitor judges are really just helping birthers — if the lower courts ever let them win a case, the issue would never make it to the supreme court! just a matter of keeping their powder dry for them ...

(photoSnark via verbalobe)

see also:

"from hero to zero"
"certifigate: from hero to zero, in under 60"

a newt gingrich presidency

because we know he can never have just one ...

see also:

"a rick perry presidency"
"a michelle bachmann presidency"
"a herman cain presidency"
"a mitt romney presidency"
"a rick santorum presidency"

visual of the day

speaker of the house john boehner (r-OH) addressing anti-abortion demonstrators yesterday at the nation's capitol, on the 39th anniversary of roe v. wade, speaking into a microphone that looks like ... wait for it ... a coat-hanger.

ill adjudication

in a surprise to no one but a birther, alabama tells a "tired old man" not only that the kenyan usurper will stay on the state primary ballot but also that everybody's day in court will be on his dime:

judge in obama citizenship lawsuit orders man who sued to pay democratic party's lawyer, court fees

birmingham, alabama — the jefferson county judge who dismissed a luverne man's lawsuit to block president obama from alabama ballots today also ordered him to pay the state democratic party's court costs and lawyer fees within 45 days.

lawyers for mark kennedy, the state party chairman, sought the sanctions in a motion his lawyers filed last week filed last week in the suit filed by harold sorensen. but one of the lawyers said during a hearing today that party officials would not try to collect if sorensen does not file any similar lawsuits during the 2012 election cycle.

"the democratic party has no desire to chase after a retired military man to collect," barry ragsdale, one of kennedy's lawyers, told circuit judge helen shores lee.

ragsdale then turned to address sorensen. "but if i read you're bad-mouthing the court and this decision, you will feel the full wrath of me."

sorensen told lee he cannot afford to pay the court-ordered costs.

ragsdale said sorensen's suit in jefferson county is the second one he has filed challenging obama's citizenship and right to serve as president. a montgomery county judge in 2009 dismissed the other sorenson suit, which also challenged then-republican nominee john mccain's citizenship.

"this needs to stop, mr. sorensen, and it needs to stop today," ragsdale said during the hearing.

ragsdale also criticized a request sorensen filed last week asking lee to step aside from his case. the motion, which sorensen filed without counsel, cited "racial bias, lack of judicial discretion as well as lack of knowledge of the u.s. constitution, article ii, section 1, clause 5," court records show.

"this is scandalous," ragsdale said to sorensen during today's hearing. "it's uncalled for and you owe this court an apology."

sorensen apologized. he told lee he did not seek a new judge because of the black judge's race.

"after watching you in court and observing you last week, i felt i would not have a chance with you in court," he said.

sorensen was referring to a hearing last week in which lee dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by birmingham resident albert e. hendershot.

the suits contended obama is using a forged birth certificate and fake social security number. they said he is not a natural-born citizen and is not qualified to run and serve as president.

lee explained in detail to sorensen today why she dismissed his suit, citing the state law that strips courts of jurisdiction over election-related challenges unless another law specifically grants the courts that power.

"the court has no jurisdiction to hear this matter," she said.

sorensen, who sought to have his case dismissed before tuesday's hearing, said he was trying to exercise his rights and duties as a citizen.

"i just want to go back home and go to bed," sorensen told lee. "i'm done."

more to read: the hendershot lawsuit

motion to dismiss suit

judge's ruling dismissing hendershot suit

attorney barry ragsdale, in an as yet unsourced report:

the hearing was mostly a non-event. sorensen filed a motion to dismiss his case (without prejudice) first thing this morning and was planning on skipping the hearing. judge suggested he stick around.

judge lee then announced that after reading all the motions, she was dismissing the case, not on sorensen's motion, but on our motion under the "jurisdiction stripping statute." she indicated, however, that the dismissal would be WITH PREJUDICE and that she was awarding us all costs and attorney's fees to be paid within 45 days. i thought sorensen was going to pass out and he was audibly distressed when she awarded us fees. i was actually afraid that he would have a stroke.

sorensen then told that judge that he was "a retired senior citizen, who has no money." i then reminded the judge that mr. sorensen had filed a motion for recusal which i thought needed to be addressed on the record. the judge asked sorensen to stand and explain his recusal motion. sorensen said that he was "not feeling very well" so judge let him speak seated at the table. sorensen said that the recusal was "certainly not about race" but was based on his observation of judge lee during the hendershot hearing. he said that after watching judge lee, he knew that he "didn't stand a chance" if she was the judge. he also said that he was just "an old man" who was tired of all of this and wanted to go home and never deal with this again.

i then said a few things. i demanded that sorensen apologize to judge lee for his recusal motion, which he did (albeit, accompanied by a short speech about why the citizenship of the president's father meant that the president was not a NBC). i also said that if mr. sorensen was truly sincere about quitting this nonsense, that we would forego attempting to recover fees and costs, but if he filed another case or even collaborated with the filing of another case, or even got on the internet and complained about judge lee or how she handled this case, then we would come after him for the full amount. judge lee will enter a formal order later today.

from sorensen's motion for recusal directed against judge lee:

harold sorensen ... respectfully believes that circuit [judge] helen shores lee recuse herself from this case on the following grounds: due to racial bias, lack of judicial discretion as well as lack of knowledge of the U.S. constitution ... additionally, judge has violated her oath of office under the alabama constitution ...

"respectfully" ... heh.

---

[1] actually, almost 100 cases, for a birther batting average of .000

a rick santorum presidency

see also:

"a rick perry presidency"
"a michelle bachmann presidency"
"a herman cain presidency"
"a mitt romney presidency"
"a newt gingrich presidency"

much more than flesh and blood

prayer war•ri•or |pre(ə)r 'wôrēər|
noun
a person who thinks that sitting at home wishing really really hard for rainbows and ponies and a white christian republican president deserves more honor and respect than those who actually serve, suffer and die on a battlefield.

the most critical people of all are the prayer warriors, IMHO. our battle isn't against flesh and blood, and we're going to need much more than just flesh and blood (or brains and stamina) to stand against that giant.

the art of the backdown

gop presidential hopeful newt gingrich, riding the tiger on dec. 1st:

i’m going to be the nominee ... it’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high i’m going to be the nominee.

dec. 12th ...

i'm now, i think by a big margin, the front-runner.

dec. 22nd ...

i never said i’d come in first in iowa.

jan. 2nd, on the eve of the iowa caucuses:

i don’t think i’m going to win. i think you look at the numbers.

quote of the day

via twitter:

PIGS Y U NO FLY? AWESOME SHIT WILL HAPPEN WHEN U FLY.

one-way trip

from dc comics' wasteland #1 (1987), artist david lloyd, who, with writer alan moore, gave us "v for vendetta" and who will literally blow your mind with the dopest dope you'll ever toke ...

... or so they say.

(story by john ostrander and del close, art by david lloyd, color by lovern kindzierski)

the art of the backdown

(former) pastor melvin thompson:

the parents wanted to know exactly who had a problem with their future son-in-law.

"me, for one," thompson replied. he added, "the best thing [stella] can do is take him back where she found him."

i do not believe in interracial marriages, and i do not believe this [ban] will give our church a black eye at all.

an eastern kentucky church under a firestorm of criticism since members voted to bar mixed-race couples from joining the congregation overturned that decision sunday ...

... thompson has said he is not racist and called the matter an "internal affair."

thompson has since been replaced with a new pastor who said that everyone was welcome at the church.

see:
"kentucky church votes to ban interracial couples"
"ky church overturns ban on interracial couples"
"pastor nullifies church ban on interracial couples"

enemy of the taitz

this assistant sec of state, attorney general, sec of state and 5 appointee puppets on the committee are nothing but lying traitorous scum, which will be standing trial for fraud, forgery and treason. as a reminder, penalty for treason — is life in prison or death penalty. that what all of them deserve together with obama, pelosi, onaka, fuddy and a few corrupt judges.

— birther "queen" orly taitz
(malware warning)

birtherism died, along with donald trump's always-dubious presidential ambitions, a very public death on the last week of april 2011, when a visibly-irritated president obama made public his "long-form" birth certificate, quelling pesky doubts about his right to hold office. birtherism's coffin was sealed days later with obama's announcement of the dramatic death of osama bin laden, firmly establishing without further question who indeed was wearing the pants in washington.

so if birtherism is dead, why are we talking about it? well, i'm glad you asked ...

on friday november 18, the new hampshire ballot law commission entertained a challenge to obama's inclusion on its primary ballot from none other than moldovan energizer birther "queen" orly taitz. given that birthers have never won anything but ridicule in their three years of tireless and tiresome attempts to unseat the kenyan usurper, the commission's ruling against the worst lawyer on the face of the planet was of course a foregone conclusion — as was, to those who've been keeping score, the birther reaction, captured in rare public display:

"traitors!" shouted one woman. "spineless traitors!"

"saying a treasonous liar can go on our ballot?" yelled state rep. harry accornero, a republican from laconia. "you're going to have to face the citizens of laconia. you better wear a mask."

... [the commission's] response to the testimony during the hearing angered many of those in the room, including state representatives.

"unbelievable," fumed state rep. susan delemus, a republican from rochester, walking around the room during a break in the hearing, before the commission took its vote.

"let's just bury the constitution now and have a funeral," delemus said. "it just makes me want to throw up."

the situation was "getting ugly," mavrogeorge said, so he suggested to his client, assistant secretary of state karen ladd, that they walk to the state house to prepare for the subsequent hearings. but mavrogeorge said they were stopped in the hallway by delemus and rep. harry accornero of laconia, who promised to follow them across the street because accornero said they were "demanding answers to why this liar was being allowed on the ballot."

"at this point i knew there was no way that we were going to be able to leave the legislative office building without having an angry mob following us to the state house," mavrogeorge wrote.

looking to his left, mavrogeorge said rep. al baldasaro of londonderry was silently "staring at me with an angry look on his face."

"i did not know what these people were capable of in the state of mind that they were in at the time," mavrogeorge said.

mavrogeorge recalled ducking into a nearby room with ladd and calling delaney's office and state house security for help. members of the crowd yelled and banged on the door, he said."

... "they showed a complete lack of respect for me as an assistant attorney general and as a human being," he wrote. "yesterday was the first time in my professional career that i felt that my safety was in danger."

colin manning, spokesman for gov. john lynch, said the "disgraceful" conduct at the hearing deserves investigation.

"a line has been crossed in terms of civility and decorum that cannot be tolerated," he said."

... rep. al baldasaro, an o'brien leadership team member, is visibly amused and comfortable with the proceedings documented in the video, and in fact goes on to highlight how he and other birthers can work with the speaker to pass legislation barring president obama from the ballot.

birthers behaving badly after losing badly ... again. so what? birtherism is still dead. who cares? well, i'm glad you asked ...

after the 2010 midterm "tea party revolution" a soon-to-be-discovered number of sore losers and obsessed crackpots gained elective office across the country and they are committed to preventing the marxist muslim imposter from stealing another term in their white house. new hampshire was only the first salvo:

the OBAMA STATE BALLOT CHALLENGE 2012 is what is going to stop obama from taking office again in 2012. obama’s name on the ballot will be legally challenged in every state. the evidence of a forged birth certificate on whitehouse.gov and the evidence that he is using a connecticut social security number that does not belong to him, will be submitted in each court. ... this is where you come in. we need people to contact their states secretary of state and find what the rules are for challenging a candidate ...

so get ready for a bit of loud, pointless, protracted and divisive mischief coming soon to a state legislature near you, inspired by orly taitz, tireless defender of the freedom to persecute anyone and everyone that gets in her way: (malware warning)

i am in process of writing to the speaker of the house of representatives of NH as well as the supreme court of NH, seeking emergency hearings. house of representatives can recall the sec of state who is committing elections fraud and treason. supreme court can stay the designation on the ballot. we have to fight for every inch of the terrain. we can’t let thugs rule. keep in mind, you are fighting not just for yourselves, but also for your children and granchildren against this criminal enterprise, that took over this nation. sooner or later we will try for elections fraud, forgery and treason all of the involved individuals, all of the corrupt officials and all of the corrupt judges, who are involved.

will you be the next enemy of the taitz?

the republican problem

as framed by nobel prize-winning economist paul krugman:

i have a structural hypothesis here: you have a republican ideology, which mitt romney obviously doesn’t believe in. he just oozes insincerity, that’s just so obvious. but all of the others are fools and clowns. and there is a question here: maybe — my hypothesis is maybe this is an ideology that only fools and clowns can believe in. and that’s the republican problem.

can't be too picky

i'm hopeful that this entire scandal will fade, but i'm also braced for the worst: i don't care much about any kind of sexual misdeeds myself at this moment:

STOP THE RAPE OF THE TAXPAYER! STOP THE RAPE OF THE BORDER! STOP THE RAPE OF OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM!

i don't think perry or romney are all that concerned about the BIG rapes of our entire freaking NATION! so even if cain were a serial rapist, i'd still support the man. heck! no brainer so far as i'm concerned. we can't afford to be too picky when 90% of our political pros prostitute themselves.

quote of the day

via hardcore conservative watering hole free republic, "attorney for cain accuser says ‘series’ of incidents prompted complaint":

every male i've ever worked with could have a sexual harassment suit filed against him. Every Single One....

except me....