One of the most horrifying and wasteful events Alan and I have been covering over the course of MoPod has been the forlorn War on Drugs in Mexico. Last week, a piece in the NY Times (Archibold, R. (2012, Jan. 19) "Mexico Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought Safe") reports that the violence and carnage in Mexico not only is failing to stop the drug trade, but is spreading to parts of the country once though insulated from it. In other words, typical of the times in which we live, everything continues to get worse.
Originally, the article states that violence was concentrated around border areas. Now it has seeped into the heart of the country, including posh areas in Mexico City. An estimated 47,000 people have been killed since Mexico officially declared war on its drug cartels in 2007, upon orders of then Northern Hemisphere President George W. Bush, and continued, of course, under President Obamacon (whom Alan has delightfully nicknamed George Bush III).
Mexican Government officials predictably endorse the chaos and bloodshed, despite acknowledging "violence probably would not decrease significantly for five more years." Just as U.S. officials said of the bloodshed in Iraq after declaring "mission accomplished" Mexico's Public Safety Secretary, Genaro Garcia Luna, says, "You have to give the process more time to measure its efficency." This absurd statement basically says we have to wait and wait and wait while more mutilation and killing go on before we can "measure" something that already has been declared as "efficient," in spite of the fact it obviously is the complete opposite thereof.
The most disturbing part of the report, though, is that instead of getting sick of the incessant violence and wanting the Drug War to end, Mexicans are "worried but growing accustomed to the gruesome violence." Well, how about that. I can't think of a more noble or worthy mission of government than to condition its citizens to perceive "gruesome violence" as normal, an obviously pathological, if not outright savage mindset. Says Jasia Grinberg, 65, who works in an upscale shopping mall recently strewn with human blood and body parts, "We are living in a terrible situation, and meanwhile getting used to it" (emphasis added).
The "getting used to it" is the final stage of cultural amnesia and the onset of a Dark Age. Societies always have problems, but in more enlightened times the problems actually bother people, to the point where corrective, stabilizing measures are taken to deal with the problems. Instead, the collective mentality moves toward acceptance of what normal human psychology would never find acceptable: "living in a terrible situation."
That, I am afraid, is the agenda of governments all around the world: to persist with agendas that serve to do nothing but perpetuate "terrible situations" for its people until the living memory of times when things were not so terrible is lost through the eventual death of the older generation, leaving only a population whose apparent legacy to future generations will be that they got "used to" the "terrible situations" that surround their everyday lives.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thinking for Yourself in the Age of Mental Illness
In a media-saturated age, what does it mean to think for oneself? Is it even possible? Has introspection become obsolete, if not cognitively incompatible with the deluge of media that we assume--mindlessly--empowers us? Might these questions be worthwhile at a time when one in five adults have been clinically diagnosed as mentally ill--with the greatest number of those between 18 and 25, the most media-immersed of the adult population (Ogre-oid, 2012, January 20, LA Times)?
Sure enough, this focus on mental illness in our society has been reinforced by yesterday's reports that 49ers receiver Kyle Williams received death threats for his fumbles in Sunday's NFC Championship overtime loss to the NY Giants. And, quite interestingly (for me, anyway) Williams cites the availability and influence of digital media for what is obviously a psychotic, anti-social reaction to an athlete making a mistake that allegedly "cost his team the game."
Says Williams: "People just write blindly and I guess that's to be expected with how open Twitter is and how open Facebook is. Again, there's a line and some people cross it and some people have respect for it (ESPN.com: NFL, 2012, January 24). The article contextualizes Williams' statement by prefacing that the receiver "talked of the imaginary 'line' that exists between athletes and fans, one that has become blurred, especially in the age of social media.
What "line" is this? And how does it figure into mental illness? I would say the line is the same line of which the prominent psychiatrist R. D. Laing writes in his book The Divided Self, the line between the human as person and human as mechanism. Back in 1969, Laing argued that the blurring of this line has lead to the methodological problem of conflating the human as person with the human as mechanism in order to study mental illness. In the context of psychiatry, humans exist as mechanisms, or "it-processes" from a biochemical and physiological standpoint. Psychatrists identify chemical imbalances in the brain, for example; but this "it-process" is the human as mechanism, not the person. Laing argues that while it is obviously crazy for humans to see themselves as machines or animals (characteristic of schizoid and schizophrenic personalities), it is equally crazy for psychiatry to study humans by conflating the person with the mechanism in precisely the same way the mentally ill do.
In the age of digital, (anti)social media, humans exist as mechanisms in many ways: Facebook photos and posts, data-bits or "cookies" compiled by computers about their spending habits, political views, and other behaviors, as well as other files such as credit history, criminal records, scholastic transcripts, etc. But none of these things is the actual person, of course. I would argue that what Laing was saying about psychiatry in 1969 applies to society in general in the 21st century: a scholarly problem has become a popular one. Laing argues it is impossible to understand anyone as a person by depersonalizing them into "it-processes" and assuming that the human as mechanism is the human as person.
Obviously such conflation is at work when sports fans threaten to kill another human being for fumbling twice during a playoff game. Kyle Williams the person is nothing more than Kyle Williams the mechanism: the media transmitted unit that exists to do nothing but perform an athletic function. If these people knew Williams as a person, if they interacted with Williams face-to-face and knew him as someone with feelings, a family, someone who exists to do more than be watched on TV playing football, it seems unimaginable people would threaten to kill him. In turn, the availability of digital media of which Williams speaks makes possible the communication of severely mentally ill intentions: to kill another human being because he failed to hold on to a football.
While I haven't received any death threats for reporting that I went to see a film about the Sept. 11 attacks that questions the official story of why the twin towers collapsed, the vitriolic, ad hominem attacks I received from my MoPod colleague are expressions of mental illness. I am reduced to the vocal transmissions via a digital network that constitute part of a podcast. Because I found the arguments made by the filmmakers to be compelling, I am now a creationist, and someone in denial of climate change. My colleague knows good and well I am neither of these things. So why his reaction?
My guess is that digital media occupy so much time and attention from people that are making all other forms of intelligence vital to effective communication--particularly interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence-- obsolete. Knowing how to use the media is the only remaining knowledge domain.
There is nothing wrong with going to see a film that questions the official version of what happened on September 11. Why was Mayor Guiliani evacuted from Tower 7 after being told the North and South Towers were going to collapse when the people in the towers themselves were not only told not to evacuate but to return their offices after they had left? I remember that day vividly and I know the footage of Guiliani saying to the media that he had left Tower 7 because he had been told the towers were going to collapse is credible and not doctored with a voiceover or digital alteration. There is other testimony from people while the buildings were smoldering but still standing that they assumed there was no way the buildings would fall. And here's the thing: one the first tower was hit, if in fact the authorities knew that building alone was going to collapse, not only would the people in the other tower been evacuated--there would have been an evacuation of lower Manhattan. Why protect Guiliani and let a herd of spectators waiting for a swath of falling skyscraper devour them? While there may be flaws in the film, this one observation alone makes the chilling prospect that our government and military wanted as many people in those towers to die. I don't want to believe that, and more investigation needs to be done before I would unequivocally reach such a conclusion, but if there still is such a thing a thinking for yourself, this matter is one for which I shall continue to do so, even if it means other people will insist I think God created the Earth in the year 1776.
Here's the point: with such an extraordinary, bizarre, "how-in-the-fuck-could-this-happen," horrific event such as September 11, the normal assumptions we have about who to trust and what to believe go out the window. It may be that the claims made in this film are not credible, but the only credible way to dispute them is through empirical demonstation that shows why the version of events the film offers is not scientifically explainable while the version of events according to the official version offers a satisfactory explanation. As for me, a decade after the attacks that led to erosion of our civil liberties, two wars and occupations, and soaring debt that is a significant factor in our continued economic malaise, the official story falls well short of offering a satisfying explanation. The personal insults I incur from my colleague simply because I found the film to be compelling and worthy of inquiry are expressions of cowardice, a childlike inability to fathom that Mom and Dad and Big Brother not only aren't perfect, but capable of evil as any human is.
Here's one rhetorical problem with Alan's opinion on the matter. Alan claims that Bush-Cheney, et al. knew something was going to happen but didn't work all that hard to stop it. But that doesn't mean that they "let it happen." Yet I remember President George W. Bush specifically saying "If I had known there was going to be a terrorist attack on this country, I would have done everything I could to stop it ." Bush said this after "conspiracy theories" began to gain some crediblity. Well, if Alan is right, then Bush is lying. Furthermore, Alan's position is a distinction without a difference. If our government knew the country was facing an imminent terrorist attack and did anything less than everything it could to stop, that is treason--that is unforgiveable evil. The sinister agendas that have been in place since those attacks: war, occupation, wire-tapping, torture, strongly suggest that the sources of the official version of the attacks--the media and government--are not trustworthy.
In any case, it seems that asking questions and expressing that one has doubts about the official version of a national tragedy is in the spirit of a democratic society and intelligent, educated, civil discourse, whereas berating someone for doing so reflects the anti-social, pathological behavior typical of tyranny, and, sadly, our 21st century society. The availability of digital media not only aren't serving any constructive purpose--we've seen no improvement in our economy, our education system, or our mental health since digital media have become entrenched in everyday American life; they appear to exacerbate anti-social tendencies that may be in all of us but are being socially reinforced as admirable, or at least acceptable behavior. Our obsession with digital media conflates our Facebook pictures, tweets, comments, and the data they in turn generate about us with who we are as actual persons. That's the best explanation I can give for why people would want to kill another human over fumbling a football or insisting that someone is a complete buffoon because he feels the agony and misery countless people suffered on September 11 is worthy of continued study and discussion, rather than being an obedient automaton and passively accepting what mainstream media claim is what happened that day.
The cumulative effect of these reports about mental illness, and persistent reports of anti-social behavior via digital media empirically demonstrate that we have begun to internalize the same perspective the corporations and government have had for us for some time now: as disposable, interchangeable parts, mechanisms that can be discarded without a second thought, not as persons "endowed with reason" and worthy of rights, liberties, and respect.
Sure enough, this focus on mental illness in our society has been reinforced by yesterday's reports that 49ers receiver Kyle Williams received death threats for his fumbles in Sunday's NFC Championship overtime loss to the NY Giants. And, quite interestingly (for me, anyway) Williams cites the availability and influence of digital media for what is obviously a psychotic, anti-social reaction to an athlete making a mistake that allegedly "cost his team the game."
Says Williams: "People just write blindly and I guess that's to be expected with how open Twitter is and how open Facebook is. Again, there's a line and some people cross it and some people have respect for it (ESPN.com: NFL, 2012, January 24). The article contextualizes Williams' statement by prefacing that the receiver "talked of the imaginary 'line' that exists between athletes and fans, one that has become blurred, especially in the age of social media.
What "line" is this? And how does it figure into mental illness? I would say the line is the same line of which the prominent psychiatrist R. D. Laing writes in his book The Divided Self, the line between the human as person and human as mechanism. Back in 1969, Laing argued that the blurring of this line has lead to the methodological problem of conflating the human as person with the human as mechanism in order to study mental illness. In the context of psychiatry, humans exist as mechanisms, or "it-processes" from a biochemical and physiological standpoint. Psychatrists identify chemical imbalances in the brain, for example; but this "it-process" is the human as mechanism, not the person. Laing argues that while it is obviously crazy for humans to see themselves as machines or animals (characteristic of schizoid and schizophrenic personalities), it is equally crazy for psychiatry to study humans by conflating the person with the mechanism in precisely the same way the mentally ill do.
In the age of digital, (anti)social media, humans exist as mechanisms in many ways: Facebook photos and posts, data-bits or "cookies" compiled by computers about their spending habits, political views, and other behaviors, as well as other files such as credit history, criminal records, scholastic transcripts, etc. But none of these things is the actual person, of course. I would argue that what Laing was saying about psychiatry in 1969 applies to society in general in the 21st century: a scholarly problem has become a popular one. Laing argues it is impossible to understand anyone as a person by depersonalizing them into "it-processes" and assuming that the human as mechanism is the human as person.
Obviously such conflation is at work when sports fans threaten to kill another human being for fumbling twice during a playoff game. Kyle Williams the person is nothing more than Kyle Williams the mechanism: the media transmitted unit that exists to do nothing but perform an athletic function. If these people knew Williams as a person, if they interacted with Williams face-to-face and knew him as someone with feelings, a family, someone who exists to do more than be watched on TV playing football, it seems unimaginable people would threaten to kill him. In turn, the availability of digital media of which Williams speaks makes possible the communication of severely mentally ill intentions: to kill another human being because he failed to hold on to a football.
While I haven't received any death threats for reporting that I went to see a film about the Sept. 11 attacks that questions the official story of why the twin towers collapsed, the vitriolic, ad hominem attacks I received from my MoPod colleague are expressions of mental illness. I am reduced to the vocal transmissions via a digital network that constitute part of a podcast. Because I found the arguments made by the filmmakers to be compelling, I am now a creationist, and someone in denial of climate change. My colleague knows good and well I am neither of these things. So why his reaction?
My guess is that digital media occupy so much time and attention from people that are making all other forms of intelligence vital to effective communication--particularly interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence-- obsolete. Knowing how to use the media is the only remaining knowledge domain.
There is nothing wrong with going to see a film that questions the official version of what happened on September 11. Why was Mayor Guiliani evacuted from Tower 7 after being told the North and South Towers were going to collapse when the people in the towers themselves were not only told not to evacuate but to return their offices after they had left? I remember that day vividly and I know the footage of Guiliani saying to the media that he had left Tower 7 because he had been told the towers were going to collapse is credible and not doctored with a voiceover or digital alteration. There is other testimony from people while the buildings were smoldering but still standing that they assumed there was no way the buildings would fall. And here's the thing: one the first tower was hit, if in fact the authorities knew that building alone was going to collapse, not only would the people in the other tower been evacuated--there would have been an evacuation of lower Manhattan. Why protect Guiliani and let a herd of spectators waiting for a swath of falling skyscraper devour them? While there may be flaws in the film, this one observation alone makes the chilling prospect that our government and military wanted as many people in those towers to die. I don't want to believe that, and more investigation needs to be done before I would unequivocally reach such a conclusion, but if there still is such a thing a thinking for yourself, this matter is one for which I shall continue to do so, even if it means other people will insist I think God created the Earth in the year 1776.
Here's the point: with such an extraordinary, bizarre, "how-in-the-fuck-could-this-happen," horrific event such as September 11, the normal assumptions we have about who to trust and what to believe go out the window. It may be that the claims made in this film are not credible, but the only credible way to dispute them is through empirical demonstation that shows why the version of events the film offers is not scientifically explainable while the version of events according to the official version offers a satisfactory explanation. As for me, a decade after the attacks that led to erosion of our civil liberties, two wars and occupations, and soaring debt that is a significant factor in our continued economic malaise, the official story falls well short of offering a satisfying explanation. The personal insults I incur from my colleague simply because I found the film to be compelling and worthy of inquiry are expressions of cowardice, a childlike inability to fathom that Mom and Dad and Big Brother not only aren't perfect, but capable of evil as any human is.
Here's one rhetorical problem with Alan's opinion on the matter. Alan claims that Bush-Cheney, et al. knew something was going to happen but didn't work all that hard to stop it. But that doesn't mean that they "let it happen." Yet I remember President George W. Bush specifically saying "If I had known there was going to be a terrorist attack on this country, I would have done everything I could to stop it ." Bush said this after "conspiracy theories" began to gain some crediblity. Well, if Alan is right, then Bush is lying. Furthermore, Alan's position is a distinction without a difference. If our government knew the country was facing an imminent terrorist attack and did anything less than everything it could to stop, that is treason--that is unforgiveable evil. The sinister agendas that have been in place since those attacks: war, occupation, wire-tapping, torture, strongly suggest that the sources of the official version of the attacks--the media and government--are not trustworthy.
In any case, it seems that asking questions and expressing that one has doubts about the official version of a national tragedy is in the spirit of a democratic society and intelligent, educated, civil discourse, whereas berating someone for doing so reflects the anti-social, pathological behavior typical of tyranny, and, sadly, our 21st century society. The availability of digital media not only aren't serving any constructive purpose--we've seen no improvement in our economy, our education system, or our mental health since digital media have become entrenched in everyday American life; they appear to exacerbate anti-social tendencies that may be in all of us but are being socially reinforced as admirable, or at least acceptable behavior. Our obsession with digital media conflates our Facebook pictures, tweets, comments, and the data they in turn generate about us with who we are as actual persons. That's the best explanation I can give for why people would want to kill another human over fumbling a football or insisting that someone is a complete buffoon because he feels the agony and misery countless people suffered on September 11 is worthy of continued study and discussion, rather than being an obedient automaton and passively accepting what mainstream media claim is what happened that day.
The cumulative effect of these reports about mental illness, and persistent reports of anti-social behavior via digital media empirically demonstrate that we have begun to internalize the same perspective the corporations and government have had for us for some time now: as disposable, interchangeable parts, mechanisms that can be discarded without a second thought, not as persons "endowed with reason" and worthy of rights, liberties, and respect.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Linky Dinks 1/21/2012
Things I think you should read [AM]:
Recent political cartoons, pictures, and videos.
Not a single Wall Street banker has gone to prison for the fraud that went into the collapse of the world's economy. Either the investigations will begin or they'll all remain rich and in power. Let Obama know what you want.
Kentucky Gov. Cuts Education Funding While Preserving Tax Breaks For Biblically-Themed Amusement Park
Obama surprises with SOPA veto threat.
Romney Reveals his Tax Rate is 'Probably Closer to 15 Percent'
Recent political cartoons, pictures, and videos.
Not a single Wall Street banker has gone to prison for the fraud that went into the collapse of the world's economy. Either the investigations will begin or they'll all remain rich and in power. Let Obama know what you want.
Kentucky Gov. Cuts Education Funding While Preserving Tax Breaks For Biblically-Themed Amusement Park
Obama surprises with SOPA veto threat.
Romney Reveals his Tax Rate is 'Probably Closer to 15 Percent'
MOPod episode 87
This week starts Saturday night with football and the NDAA and then moves into Dave's sudden plummet into the conspiracy world after seeing a WTC movie. Just as Alan was talking sense into Dave the phone died. They continued Sunday afternoon and ended with Dave realizing he is an idiot. Also this episode sounds like crap because Dave can't walk and chew gum without fucking up someone else's life.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Linky Dinks
Yeah, I suck. I promise to at least update this weekly.
I mean, what's the point otherwise, huh?
So here's what I've found link worthy in the last week-ish:
"Everything has changed, but not the Democrats. They've always been slower than the GOP to recognize the shifting winds of American politics, slower to respond, inept when they try."
Pot smoking, other drug use not tied to middle-age mental decline
NYC Moves Ahead With Prohibition
Occupy Wall Street Comes Home
Now US Bankers Are Planning To Sue Or Walk If Bonuses Are Too Low
Pot smoking, other drug use not tied to middle-age mental decline
NYC Moves Ahead With Prohibition
Occupy Wall Street Comes Home
Now US Bankers Are Planning To Sue Or Walk If Bonuses Are Too Low
MOpod 86
Dave bitches and gripes for another half hour about the NDAA, the NFL, UK, and other abbreviated things.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
MOpod
Dave finally sends in a rant about how it sucks to have to learn something and bureaucracies suck.
He also made the delicious argument that "error based learning is better than non-error based learning," this from a man who is as resistant to doing anything at which he might fail as a rock is to bending. He did come up with the latest Ogrefest t-shirt theme: "Stagnant and Redundant: Ogrefest 2012"
He also made the delicious argument that "error based learning is better than non-error based learning," this from a man who is as resistant to doing anything at which he might fail as a rock is to bending. He did come up with the latest Ogrefest t-shirt theme: "Stagnant and Redundant: Ogrefest 2012"
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Obama-con's war on California
In the last two months, President of the Banks of America Obama-con has made it clear his number one domestic priority is to go to war against the state of California, largely because it has been the cultural leader in ending Prohibition through its medical marijuana (MMJ) program. After telling the country in 2009 he had no problem with MMJ as long as dispensaries complied with state law--consistent with an adherence to the 10th Amendment and States' rights--he then did a 180° on his policy and has vowed* a culture war against the state. Since then, a NY Times editorial reported earlier this month (Nov. 2011) that in order for California to continue to receive federal funding** state regulators had to promise to end their investigation of the state's banks. Of course, as the editorial points out, without a complete investigation, there is no way to know accurately just how many laws the banks have broken, and continue to break--fradulent lending practices, selling high volatility risk packages, robo-signing (a form of forgery wherein bankers sign someone else's name to loans without even reading them and making a sensible assessment of loan-seekers personal worth***). My digust with Obama-con has reached a boiling point with his oppositon to Occupy Wall Street, the obvious co-ordinated, nationwide shut down of the protests, punctuated with pepper-spraying of protesters sitting in a park. Make no mistake: it is no coincidence the pepper-spraying occured in California and it was a directive that came from the Justice Department. Obama-con hates Occupy Wall Street, loves the banks, the oil industry (remember his 58 days of silence during the Gulf oil disaster of 2010), and the other uber-rich industries that use government force, not successful free-market competitive strategies, to stay rich and get richer.****
This is Obama-con's America: defend and coddle the banks and Wall Street which brought the nation's and world's economy to the brink of collapse, then attack the one developing industry that could infuse life back into California's--and other states'--economies. The state of California is broke. Contrary to the dull-minded Obama-con, a successful economy does not depend on long-entrenched, super wealthy organizations like the banks, but on creating new industries that promote developmental work, like the MMJ industry. Without new industrial development, there is no way an economy can grow. The banks of today are merely products of economic creativity in the past: once upon they, just like the automobile and oil industries, did not exist. The result is Obama-con reinforces his disdain for free market values, making sure the banks can never fail no matter how sloppy, irresponsible, and illegal their operations, while being hell-bent on perpetuating the lies and hysteria over what much of the nation has realized by now is a mostly harmless drug - especially when compared to the legal opiates the pharmaceutical companies hawk that have led to more drug overdose deaths than car accident deaths for the first time in the nation's history - that offer adults much needed pain relief and mood elevation.
If this were the sixties, Obama-con, half-black, would be ordering the beating of blacks. The pepper-spraying incident at UC-Davis is as revolting as any betrayal of civility and 1st Amendment rights since the Kent State shootings of May 1970. What good are university campuses if they are not a place for free expression and challenging the status quo? Why do we need universities to promote ideas and ways of doing things that are already entrenched? The public should hold Obama-con accountable and demand that he resign. He is a stooge of the rich and a traitor of the rights of non-priviledged citizens that are the bedrock of this nation's identity.
* [lack of statement does not equal a vow. -ed]
** [funding for what?]
*** [see? you explain things here]
**** [the other half of MOpod divorces himself from such a direct connection, though not saying that an elastic connection exists]
This is Obama-con's America: defend and coddle the banks and Wall Street which brought the nation's and world's economy to the brink of collapse, then attack the one developing industry that could infuse life back into California's--and other states'--economies. The state of California is broke. Contrary to the dull-minded Obama-con, a successful economy does not depend on long-entrenched, super wealthy organizations like the banks, but on creating new industries that promote developmental work, like the MMJ industry. Without new industrial development, there is no way an economy can grow. The banks of today are merely products of economic creativity in the past: once upon they, just like the automobile and oil industries, did not exist. The result is Obama-con reinforces his disdain for free market values, making sure the banks can never fail no matter how sloppy, irresponsible, and illegal their operations, while being hell-bent on perpetuating the lies and hysteria over what much of the nation has realized by now is a mostly harmless drug - especially when compared to the legal opiates the pharmaceutical companies hawk that have led to more drug overdose deaths than car accident deaths for the first time in the nation's history - that offer adults much needed pain relief and mood elevation.
If this were the sixties, Obama-con, half-black, would be ordering the beating of blacks. The pepper-spraying incident at UC-Davis is as revolting as any betrayal of civility and 1st Amendment rights since the Kent State shootings of May 1970. What good are university campuses if they are not a place for free expression and challenging the status quo? Why do we need universities to promote ideas and ways of doing things that are already entrenched? The public should hold Obama-con accountable and demand that he resign. He is a stooge of the rich and a traitor of the rights of non-priviledged citizens that are the bedrock of this nation's identity.
* [lack of statement does not equal a vow. -ed]
** [funding for what?]
*** [see? you explain things here]
**** [the other half of MOpod divorces himself from such a direct connection, though not saying that an elastic connection exists]
Monday, November 21, 2011
Wow. Just Wow.
Michele Bachmann makes herself subservient to all the men on the stage. I'm speechless.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
She's Back! And Bat Shit Crazy As Always
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Correction
Last week we posted this picture from the internets:
We have since found that the numbers are suspect and have to admit that the definition of "job creation" is a bit vague. From PolitiFact:
We have since found that the numbers are suspect and have to admit that the definition of "job creation" is a bit vague. From PolitiFact:
If you look at alternative job-related subject headings, the number of bills offered by lawmakers from both parties actually exceeded most of the social issues listed in the blog post. We rated the claim Pants on Fire.We continue to agree with the spirit of the photograph which is the GOP has done everything it can to avoid improving our situation in this country and are busy dicking around with stupid shit that will never get through the Senate or past the President's veto pen. We regret the errors made by the person that made the picture and wish we had been the one to catch them. On the other hand, we are more opinion than journalism here at MOpod, similar to Fox News except we will admit when a mistake has been made.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Linky Dinks!
Marijuana Cures Cancer!!! ...and our government has known about it since the seventies.
That's right, even a Koch funded study finds that the climate is changing as fast as scientists have been saying it is."A single winter storm does nothing to disprove that the planet is getting warmer, but that doesn't stop scientifically illiterate pundits from hi-fiving and telling nonsensical jokes about Al Gore every time it snows. ""Richard Muller, a physicist at University of California, Berkeley, announced the results of new research from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project affirming that the planet is getting warmer and confirming the accuracy of several other existing global temperature recorOh yeah, feel that sweet liberal bias... oh wait... ABC Still Fumbling Green Car Story | Media Matters for America ds... One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation"
Oh yeah, feel that sweet liberal bias... oh wait... ABC Still Fumbling Green Car Story | Media Matters for America
In case you weren't paying attention, Pat Buchanan is still a horrible piece of shit.
"Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from ‘data’ … Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for THIS?" - George Will"Not data?!!!Yes, data. Conservatives don’t like Romney in part because he lets facts and events influence his views."Who would want a President that pays attention to reality? Not Republicans, apparently.
Hey, what's wrong with violating Federal laws for your boss?
Iraq War Vet Hospitalized with Fractured Skull After Being Shot by Police at Occupy Oakland Protest
No! There's not endemic racism in the GOP?!? That's can't be! That whole "Southern Strategy" thing is a liberal myth, right?
"NASA experienced two suspicious events with the Terra spacecraft in the summer and fall of 2008." - Of course with the new GOP (aka Teabaggers) we will soon have no functioning satellites of any kind and our life will be so much more exciting as we'll have no way to track hurricanes or other severe weather.
Some pictures, graphs and other videos (had to post Herman twice).
That's right, even a Koch funded study finds that the climate is changing as fast as scientists have been saying it is."A single winter storm does nothing to disprove that the planet is getting warmer, but that doesn't stop scientifically illiterate pundits from hi-fiving and telling nonsensical jokes about Al Gore every time it snows. ""Richard Muller, a physicist at University of California, Berkeley, announced the results of new research from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project affirming that the planet is getting warmer and confirming the accuracy of several other existing global temperature recorOh yeah, feel that sweet liberal bias... oh wait... ABC Still Fumbling Green Car Story | Media Matters for America ds... One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation"
Oh yeah, feel that sweet liberal bias... oh wait... ABC Still Fumbling Green Car Story | Media Matters for America
In case you weren't paying attention, Pat Buchanan is still a horrible piece of shit.
"Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from ‘data’ … Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for THIS?" - George Will"Not data?!!!Yes, data. Conservatives don’t like Romney in part because he lets facts and events influence his views."Who would want a President that pays attention to reality? Not Republicans, apparently.
Hey, what's wrong with violating Federal laws for your boss?
Iraq War Vet Hospitalized with Fractured Skull After Being Shot by Police at Occupy Oakland Protest
No! There's not endemic racism in the GOP?!? That's can't be! That whole "Southern Strategy" thing is a liberal myth, right?
"NASA experienced two suspicious events with the Terra spacecraft in the summer and fall of 2008." - Of course with the new GOP (aka Teabaggers) we will soon have no functioning satellites of any kind and our life will be so much more exciting as we'll have no way to track hurricanes or other severe weather.
Some pictures, graphs and other videos (had to post Herman twice).
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Obamacon 101
Obama's inexplicable and unreasonable policy reversal on medical marijuana (MMJ) betrays him as a cold-hearted political con-man who views the Presidency as a pulpit from which to lecture the populace about the law, i.e. "federal law trumps state law" in the name of using government force to protect the profit interests of the pharmaceutical industry and criminal justice system. While this is true, it is a rigid, academic oversimplication that ignores context, as well as the 10th Amendment, which grants states rights that the federal government cannot violate. The supremecy of federal law over state law was established in the 1848 Supreme Court decision of Marbury vs. Madison in which the court ruled S. Carolina didn't have the right to secede from the Union. It is beyond me how anyone--much less a so-called legal expert--could equate medical marijuana use with seceding from the Union; thus the parallel is irrevelent because the contexts have nothing in common. First, to give the go ahead to MMJ and then reverse policy two years later is sinister, deceptive, and politically dysfunctional. Obama should be focusing on the debt, the never-ending wars, and the stagnating and possibly collapsing economy. Juveniles are kept in isolation cells for three days longer than the law states they may kept in these facilities. What is Obama doing about that? What is he doing about mountain-top removal? What has he done to punish the investment banks and their treasonous ruining of the economy for the indefinite future?
Obama's policy reversal on MMJ also shows that like every President since Carter, he sees the Federal government as serving no purpose other than to beat down the people and keep the rich insulated from worldwide financial turbulence. His presidency has been about giving billions more to business owners while unemployment remains stagnant, keeping the wars going, and then sticking it to the people after having done nothing to help them find work or keep their homes for the last three years (Yeah, I know, it's the Republicans, blah, blah, blah). Our credit has been downgraded for the first time in the country's history.
Obama's policy reversal on MMJ is based on the allegation that the MMJ industry has been hijacked by for-profit organizations. Well, no kidding. This is America, and our economy is driven by profit. MMJ operations are expensive and owners invest as much as half a million dollars to start dispensaries and keep them in operation. Meanwhile, our military has been hijacked by for-profit organizations, as has our criminal justice system, and our health care system, but Obama coddles these profiteers, whose agendas have led to a trillion dollar deficit, rising health care and education costs, and economic stagnation. Finally, Obama's 180 on MMJ shows he has no interest in making policy based on reason or empirical evidence. To say, for example, the accident rates in MMJ states is significantly higher than in non-MMJ states, or that opitate use has soared in those states, or high school students are flunking out--e.g. MMJ states live in a "pot haze"--might make for reasonable grounds to revisit MMJ policy. But none of these things has happened and that's exactly why MMJ threatens the status quo: it works perfectly well, and has shown that legalization is the next best move. The states that have the worst opiate and prescription drug addiction--Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, etc. are ones that remain in a prohibitionist dark age. But Obama wants to keep things the same. One has to wonder where "Obamacon"--who is half African-American--would be if that had been the mentality of the country's leaders since 1848.
Obama's policy reversal on MMJ also shows that like every President since Carter, he sees the Federal government as serving no purpose other than to beat down the people and keep the rich insulated from worldwide financial turbulence. His presidency has been about giving billions more to business owners while unemployment remains stagnant, keeping the wars going, and then sticking it to the people after having done nothing to help them find work or keep their homes for the last three years (Yeah, I know, it's the Republicans, blah, blah, blah). Our credit has been downgraded for the first time in the country's history.
Obama's policy reversal on MMJ is based on the allegation that the MMJ industry has been hijacked by for-profit organizations. Well, no kidding. This is America, and our economy is driven by profit. MMJ operations are expensive and owners invest as much as half a million dollars to start dispensaries and keep them in operation. Meanwhile, our military has been hijacked by for-profit organizations, as has our criminal justice system, and our health care system, but Obama coddles these profiteers, whose agendas have led to a trillion dollar deficit, rising health care and education costs, and economic stagnation. Finally, Obama's 180 on MMJ shows he has no interest in making policy based on reason or empirical evidence. To say, for example, the accident rates in MMJ states is significantly higher than in non-MMJ states, or that opitate use has soared in those states, or high school students are flunking out--e.g. MMJ states live in a "pot haze"--might make for reasonable grounds to revisit MMJ policy. But none of these things has happened and that's exactly why MMJ threatens the status quo: it works perfectly well, and has shown that legalization is the next best move. The states that have the worst opiate and prescription drug addiction--Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, etc. are ones that remain in a prohibitionist dark age. But Obama wants to keep things the same. One has to wonder where "Obamacon"--who is half African-American--would be if that had been the mentality of the country's leaders since 1848.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Linky Dinks
Hoft Criticizes Obama's Call For 9/11 Community Service As "Socialist"
The common trope (from the right, of course) is that the Democrats have gone as far to the left as the GOP has gone to the right. Simple scientific examination shows that this is, as expected, utter bullshit. Dems vote moderate to conservative most of the time and have voted more conservative over the last couple of decades while the GOP has rocketed to the far right extreme.
"...the amount of money each survives with on a weekly basis, around $300, is probably what Paul Ryan spends on a bottle of wine every night."
Vaccinate your children. Not doing so is stupid.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Linky Dinks
Class Warfare according to the Daily Show... note the $700 billion figure that keeps popping up.
Fukushima is still a disaster.
We're so pathetic in this country we can't even properly dispose of poor people that die. How about we ask GE to foot the bill since they paid NO TAXES AT ALL last year?
SURPRISE!!! Anti-gay Republican politician caught paying a young man for sex! This is SO unusual!
Fukushima is still a disaster.
We're so pathetic in this country we can't even properly dispose of poor people that die. How about we ask GE to foot the bill since they paid NO TAXES AT ALL last year?
SURPRISE!!! Anti-gay Republican politician caught paying a young man for sex! This is SO unusual!
Modus Operandi Podcast episodes 70 & 71
Because you should be able to figure this out (and because I'm tired of the extra work) I'm only going to post download links going forward. Links to the parts of each episode can be found on our Facebook page.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Our Relentless Commitment to Professionalism
In keeping with the spirit of our increasingly dysfunctional society, Alan and I are happy to report that two new podcasts are now available for your listening pleasure. Actually, I must say it is quite amazing that we have now done 69 podcasts, for the most part one a week, despite my excursions with mysterious women in Vancouver and spontaneous roadtrips out west (which is now where I live). In this era of fluff and appearance over substance, our lack of professionalism is exactly what gives us credibility. Thanks for listening!!!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Toothpaste for Dinner
Harry Potter and Cultural Malaise
Apparently the last of the countless Harry Potter films is soon to be released, meaning maybe I will finally get a break from a sad cultural trend that has turned the art of fiction into more pop culture mindless fluff. I will tell unabashedly up-front that I haven't read the books or seen the films and will criticize them anyway. Here is my reason: the real measure of fiction--as well as art and music--is not the subjective reaction of the mediocre majority, but the zeitgeist out of which they come and to which they contribute. These are dreary times we live in. People are obviously uninspired, feel hopeless and helpless, and are incapable of organizing and intervening in their own lives and communities to make things better. And what does Harry Potter afford? The chance to turn reading fiction into a day-after-Thanksgiving stampede to get the latest book? To watch Daniel Radcliff turn into another overpaid alcoholic actor? These are boring times we live in, hardly magical or adventureous. Go ahead and criticize me for criticizing books and films I haven't read or seen. It may make you feel better but it will not improve your life, just like going along with the mindless herd behind this ridiculous craze of idol worship. I don't plan to anytime soon either--like between now and when I die. I want to re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the poetry of Whitman, Keats, and Plath, the proverbs of Blake. I want to re-read John Ashbery's Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. For people who really like to read, and appreciate literature as an art form rather zealously obsessing on one series of books like a religious fanatic, that is the kind of material they read. Literature is supposed to challenge people intellectually and emotionally, not just entertain and serve as a mindless, momentary escape from the malaise in which we know we live. Having caved in and joined the world of Facebook and been as understanding of my fellow humans and their frailty as I can, I know there are people out there who agree with me, I know I'm not alone in my convictions . . . but I am alone in my lack of complacency and disdain for conformity.
The Audacity of Obama
While I was getting the latest on our do-nothing worthless federal government about the "dead end debt ceiling" talks, a CNN poll showed that Obama's approval rating had dropped to an all-time low of 45%. The main reason: a drop in liberal support. Again and again, Obama panders to conservative interest, alienates his liberal base, does nothing to improve the economy while banks make record profits, and somehow remains convinced that he can gain the support of conservatives who would rather see the national and world economies collapse than meet him halfway on any political conflict. In addition to continuing the incredibly expensive, unfunded, forlorn wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is spending a million dollars a day to bomb Libya--without Congressional approval, using his cryptic, wraped, legal mind into rationalizing we are not in a conflict with Libya, only at war with them. Had Obama ended the wars immediately on entering office and spent money subsidizing business at every level to put people back to work, he would have nothing to worry about. Instead, he remains convinced that as long as he stays in good favor with Wall Street, the money will be there for him to win re-election. Like so many Americans, the sad truth about Obama is that he only cares about himself and his money.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
News Item: Obama to Double Down on Pot Enforcement
NPR did a story today on the Obama administration's new push to enforce Federal cannabis laws. One official was quoted saying pot is "addictive" which is patently untrue in the physical sense. Marijuana is less physically addictive than chocolate. Anyway, the gist is they're going to go after Federal pot offenses including medical dispensaries because they have to fight the war on drugs. All I can say is, "What the FUCK?!?"
Let me quote the President himself for you:
“When it comes to medical marijuana, my attitude is if it is an issue of doctors prescribing marijuana, I think that should be appropriate. Whether I want to use a whole lot of political capital on (this) issue; the likelihood of that being real high on my priority list is not likely.” - President Obama 2011
“The war on drugs has been an utter failure. (W)e need to rethink and decriminalize our (nation’s) marijuana laws.” -Barack Obama, January 2004
"When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point."
- Barack Obama quote on Marijuana
I agree with that guy, except on being willing to fight to change the law. We're spending a fortune jailing people that have only bought and sold pot. Never threatened anyone, shot anyone, stabbed anyone, ordered the assassination of anyone, sent an army into senseless wars, approved the use of torture, no REAL crimes (other than possibly tax evasion which is kind of unfair when you can do time for having the business for which you are avoiding taxes...) were committed. So many women are in prison as accessories to the felonies that their husbands/boyfriends committed but got off on by ratting on associates. These laws are part of what is destroying this country, so why would Obama want to increase the resources in enforcement?
Here are my guesses:
1. Local police departments need an excuse to pull (mostly dark skinned) people over and search their cars.
2. The Feds apparently need something to do since there's no crime on Wall Street, in our banks, in our Defense procurement, in lobbying, or in the illegal sale of firearms.
3. The DEA, rather than admitting they've been spewing bullshit propaganda about pot for almost 80 years will do anything to keep lying about the effects of recreational drug use, especially marijuana.
4. Big oil does not want hemp to be a common crop because the oil from the seeds and the fibers from the stalks can replace many petroleum products.
4. Big Pharma does not want a powerful and effective pain killer and mood enhancer that people can easily grow in their back yards to be legal.
I don't remember voting for George W. Bush III. Damned shame that's what I got.
Let me quote the President himself for you:
“When it comes to medical marijuana, my attitude is if it is an issue of doctors prescribing marijuana, I think that should be appropriate. Whether I want to use a whole lot of political capital on (this) issue; the likelihood of that being real high on my priority list is not likely.” - President Obama 2011
“The war on drugs has been an utter failure. (W)e need to rethink and decriminalize our (nation’s) marijuana laws.” -Barack Obama, January 2004
"When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point."
- Barack Obama quote on Marijuana
I agree with that guy, except on being willing to fight to change the law. We're spending a fortune jailing people that have only bought and sold pot. Never threatened anyone, shot anyone, stabbed anyone, ordered the assassination of anyone, sent an army into senseless wars, approved the use of torture, no REAL crimes (other than possibly tax evasion which is kind of unfair when you can do time for having the business for which you are avoiding taxes...) were committed. So many women are in prison as accessories to the felonies that their husbands/boyfriends committed but got off on by ratting on associates. These laws are part of what is destroying this country, so why would Obama want to increase the resources in enforcement?
Here are my guesses:
1. Local police departments need an excuse to pull (mostly dark skinned) people over and search their cars.
2. The Feds apparently need something to do since there's no crime on Wall Street, in our banks, in our Defense procurement, in lobbying, or in the illegal sale of firearms.
3. The DEA, rather than admitting they've been spewing bullshit propaganda about pot for almost 80 years will do anything to keep lying about the effects of recreational drug use, especially marijuana.
4. Big oil does not want hemp to be a common crop because the oil from the seeds and the fibers from the stalks can replace many petroleum products.
4. Big Pharma does not want a powerful and effective pain killer and mood enhancer that people can easily grow in their back yards to be legal.
I don't remember voting for George W. Bush III. Damned shame that's what I got.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Delay
For reasons beyond the control of the producer there was no podcast recorded this week. The co-host Dr. David Overbey vanished after calling in to set up the recording session. The producer and other co-host was left with a couple of ruined hours in his evening.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Modus Operandi Podcast episode 64
A live* telephonic** connection between Colorado, Kentucky, and THE WORLD.***
*while it was being recorded
**Dave was talking through a telephone
**Dave was talking through a telephone
***if you define the world as the dozen or so people that listen to this podcast
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Modus Operandi Podcast episode 63
The first show since Dave has moved to Colorado featuring a long and rambling sports section and the usual insightful and delightful examination of the world and stuff.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
"More Dead Thugs"
BOORTZ: You know what? I, for one, am tired of putting up with this crap. And you want to know why I moved out of Atlanta and only spend a couple of weeks a year in this town? That's one of the reasons. Carjackings, violence, people getting shot. It's ridiculous. This city harbors an urban culture of violence. And I want you to look around. You drive into the city. The railroad overpass is on the downtown connector covered with graffiti. And that-- That is just an advertisement for everybody coming into this town that we really don't give a damn about those who would screw up our quality of life around here. We really just don't care. We don't care enough to paint over graffiti on the overpasses that come into our city, advertising welcome to Atlanta, here's some of our finest graffiti, from some of our finest urban thugs and their little gang signs. And pick up the paper tomorrow morning. Read about all the carjackings. Read about the innocent people shot for the pure de-hell of it.So what exactly does it take to convict someone of incitement to murder in this country? If this doesn't qualify as a broadcaster telling his audience to kill people, what the fuck does?
This town is starting to look like a garbage heap. And we got too damn many urban thugs, yo, ruining the quality of life for everybody. And I'll tell you what it's gonna take. You people, you are - you need to have a gun. You need to have training. You need to know how to use that gun. You need to get a permit to carry that gun. And you do in fact need to carry that gun and we need to see some dead thugs littering the landscape in Atlanta. We need to see the next guy that tries to carjack you shot dead right where he stands. We need more dead thugs in this city. And let their -- let their mommas -- let their mommas say, "He was a good boy. He just fell in with the good crowd." And then lock her ass up.
And racist? How dare you even think it? He's a Republican, they get away with condoning murder and prejudice...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Modus Operandi Podcast episode 62
[Sorry for the incredibly late upload. I have no good excuse. -A]
Recorded a few days before Dave's move to Colorado as Alan drops by to yell at Dave some more about how lame his packing/cleaning is. Once again recorded on the video camera so the sound is kind of awful.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Shhhhh!!! Quiet.
The MOpod has been quiet of late as Dave finds a place to live that has cell phone access. We will return shortly.
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