Monday Morning Mutterings: Teh Stupid exists on both sides of the pond..

The head of the UK Government review has said that climate change should be removed from the British school curriculum. Of course it should, why would we need to educate the very people that will be most affected by it over the next 50 years how we destroyed their atmosphere, poisoned their water, and laid the soil to waste...

But sure, let's start teaching Algebra earlier....

THIS is why politicians shouldn't be allowed anywhere near schools...

Have a good week y'all!!

Friday Follies: Yet more proof that republicans are screaming hypocrites...

Yes, I know that saying that is like saying water is wet, or that bovine droppings are olfactorily offensive, but whilst the corporate media continues to fellate itself over the Weiner scandal, not one of those incurious presstitutes has thought to deal with the staggering double standard on display, especially when considering the case of Senator David Vitter (R-Weirdo). Here's a guy that admitted to using the services of prostitutes (clearly illegal) and used to like wearing diapers (clearly bizarre) whilst doing whatever it was they were (illegally) doing to each other. Amazingly though, none of the hierarchy in the RNC called for him to resign, none of his fellow Senators or Congressmen called for him to resign, and no-one suggested that they launch an ethics investigation into the matter, it simply faded into history after one very brief and extremely uncomfortable press conference. That isn't the case with Congressman Weiner though. Nope. He's a Democrat, therefore he has to be publicly flogged, and then hung, drawn and quartered for his icky, yet totally legal, behaviour.

So, to sum up, admit to weird fetish sex with a known prostitute = "okay" if you have an (R) behind your name, but tweet a picture of your meat and two veg to some chicks = "you must resign you filthy fucking pervert" if you have a (D) behind your name.

Yeah, anyone besides me see a problem with that?

Oh, and what damage did the hooker/diaper/prostitute scandal do to Senator Vitter's political career?  Absolutely none, he was comfortably re-elected in 2010.

So much for republican 'family values'...

FCC finally makes it official - Fairness Doctrine is killed

In a move that struck no-one as either surprising or very shocking the chairman of the FCC officially announced the death of the Fairness Doctrine this week. For those of you that are too young (or foreign) to know what that is (and why would you, I mean how the fuck would that hate-filled nest of right-wing propagandist vipers known as Fox News exist in a world that required fairness as a reality, rather than part of a bullshit slogan?), it was a Federal regulation that required broadcasters to present opposing views of controversial issues.

You know, exactly the way Fox News doesn't.

The rule came into existence in 1949 but the FCC ceased enforcing it in 1987 under Ronnie Raygun (big fucking surprise there, I know) and this week's action (at the request of yes, you guessed it, the republicans) merely made official what has been long known by all and sundry, namely that the right-wing is scared shitless of opposing views to their radical agenda being broadcast over the airwaves.

Personally I feel rather ho-hum about this. Not because I don't care that it moves us ever-closer to the totalitarian abyss that is Total Message Control by the Corporate Media Machine, but more because it hasn't been enforced in an age and it was therefore essentially dead anyway. But what I do find discouraging, and really quite disheartening, is the Orwell-speak used by the FCC chairman in his justification for stabbing Fairness in the heart. In the letter he wrote back to his repulican masters confirming his fulfillment of their wishes, he said that the rule "holds the potential to chill free speech and the free flow of ideas, and accordingly, was properly abandoned". Excuse me? On what fucking planet does the requirement to show opposing views of an issue either "chill free speech" or restrict the "free flow of ideas"? Look buddy, no-one tried to stop you as you did the dastardly deed, but was it really necessary for you to tea-bag it afterwards as well?

All I can say is thank (god/allah/buddha/flying-spaghetti-monster - delete as appropriate) that the FCC doesn't regulate the internet...otherwise we would ALL be well and truly fucked..

Dear Congressman Weiner, people in glass houses should not take pictures of their junk and then tweet them...

As the lapdogs in the corporate media drool all over themselves in their prurient and salacious 24/7, wall-to-wall (perhaps 'ball-to-ball' would be more accurate) coverage of a NY congressman's staggeringly poor method of trying to pick up a bit of fluff on the side (by sending them twitter pics of his John Thomas), I just sit here and shake my head in weary disbelief.

I mean, don't these idiots ever learn? Has everyone forgotten the names 'Bill Clinton' and 'Monica Lewinsky'?

Look, Anthony Weiner is (was) one of the 'good guys'. Apart from his knee-jerk defense of Israel and it's anti-arab policies, there were very few things I disagreed with him on. He didn't take any of the right-wing shit that was thrown his way, he wouldn't tolerate the hypocrisy of the rethuglican noise machine, and he was one of the few Democratic members of Congress that would actually go onto the floor of the House and call out the bought-and-paid-for corporate prostitutes that are the modern republican party. His take-no-prisoners attitude pissed off alot of republicans. That made him a target. And he knew it. Did it stop him from acting like a randy teenager? Hell no.

Elliot Spitzer was another Democratic pitbull. When he was New York's Attorney General he want after corporations and banks that got too big for their britches. That made him a target. And he knew it. Did it stop him from acting like a randy teenager? Hell no. After he was elected Governor of the State of New York it came to light that he liked to bang a very expensive (and admittedly highly tasty) escort on the side. In this case "escort" meant high-priced prozzie, i.e. she has all of her own teeth, an expansive collection of expensive lingerie, and has had the word 'no' surgically eliminated from her lexicon. End result? Spitzer resigned in disgrace and she did a spread in a skin-mag, which meant that just for once she took her clothes off and he got fucked..

Anyway, those are just two of the most recent high-profile Dems that have been hoisted on their own petard. Yes, there are a shitload more that are republicans, John Ensign of Nevada and David Vitter of Louisiana come to mind as two of the most recent misogynistic "family values" politicians caught with their members in someone other than their spouses, but then again I always expect a republican to lie. The fact that these two particular republicans were caught bumping uglies with members of the opposite sex rather than yet another 'closeted gay republican scandal' came as great relief to the religious right who sponsor their party, but I digress.

Here's the bottom line, I don't care if you cheat on your wife or partner, that's between you and them, but do me a fucking favour, if you are in the public sector, and you want to represent me, for fuck's sake keep it in your pants, yes? I mean really, what are you, an Inbetweener? Oh, and if you absolutely must screw around with someone other than your betrothed, you might want to consider doing the decent thing like serial-adulterer Newt Gingrich did, at least he wound up marrying the women he was cheating with...

Both of them...

Monday Morning Mutterings: When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour..

Remember that famous toga scene in the classic comedy 'Animal House' when John Belushi's character attempts to give an inspirational speech but gets his historical references all wrong? It appears that Sarah Palin also learned her history at Faber College. Caribou Barbie said that Paul Revere's famous midnight run warning the Yanks about the advance of the Brits, was actually all about the 2nd amendment. The fact that the second amendment didn't exist at the time doesn't seem to faze Snowzilla, who has also forgotten the old adage that when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging. She has now doubled down and said that not only was she right, but everyone else is wrong. Even when presented with the facts.

That kind of wilful ignorance makes my head hurt. To call her an idiot, as an insult to idiots everywhere....

Have a great week y'all!