One more .... The Gadfly Swears --- This is the Last Post . . . . . Hasta la Vista . . .

Blogster digby -- worth re-printing in it's entirety:

Thursday, March 27, 2014

What's the matter with Kansas? Right now it's catastrophic austerity.

by digby

When right wing ideologue Sam Brownback became governor of Kansas the first thing he did was enact tax cuts and an austerity budget. He wanted to unleash the "job creators." How's that working out for them? Read this report and weep:

As other states consider large tax cuts, they should heed these key lessons from Kansas:

Deep income tax cuts caused large revenue losses.Kansas’ tax cuts this year are costing the state about 8 percent of the revenue it uses to fund schools, health care, and other public services, a hit comparable to a mid-sized recession. State data show that the revenue loss will rise to 16 percent in five years if the tax cuts are not reversed.

The large revenue losses extended and deepened the recession’s damage to schools and other state services. Most states are restoring funding for schools after years of significant cuts, but in Kansas the cuts continue. Governor Sam Brownback recently proposed another reduction in per-pupil general school aid for next year, which would leave funding 17 percent below pre-recession levels. Funding for other services — colleges and universities, libraries, and local health departments, among others — also is way down, and declining.

The tax cuts delivered lopsided benefits to the wealthy. Kansas’ tax cuts didn’t benefit everyone. Most of the benefits went to high-income households. Kansas even raised taxes for low-income families to offset a portion of the revenue loss; otherwise the cuts to schools and other services would have been greater still.

Kansas’ tax cuts haven’t boosted its economy.Since the tax cuts took effect at the beginning of 2013, Kansas has added jobs at a pace modestly slower than the country as a whole. The earnings and incomes of Kansans have performed slightly worse than the U.S. as a whole as well. (An exception is farmers, whose incomes improved as the state recovered from a drought.) And so far there’s no evidence that Kansas is enjoying exceptional business growth: the number of registered business grew more slowly last year than in 2012, and the state’s share of all U.S. business establishments fell over the first three quarters of last year, the latest data available.

There’s little evidence to suggest that Kansas’ tax cuts will improve its economy in the future. No one knows for certain how Kansas’ economy will perform in the years ahead, but it isn’t likely to stand out from other states. The latest official state revenue forecast, from November 2013, projects Kansas personal income will grow more slowly than total national personal income in 2014 and 2015.

Not that there hasn't been ample evidence already that austerity and tax cuts are a lethal, counterproductive combination in an economic slump. Common sense should have told anyone that. But by 2012, there was hardly anyone left who was willing to experiment any more with people's lives. Four long years of recession had left the austerians with nothing more than empty bloviation. But not Kansas. They just kept cutting.

Well, not entirely. There were some people who had to pay up:

I guess that lowest 20% weren't creating enough jobs.

.
digby 3/27/2014 06:00:00 PM

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/whats-matter-with-kansas-right-now-its.html


That is the tragic, yet predictable outcome of conservative governing policies.  They are frauds and liars and really don't give a shit about anyone who doesn't fit within the bible-defined parameters of their confined, extremist world view.

It's only yours and your children's and grandchildren's futures dear readers.  Of what value is that to you?



----TFG

Outta here . . . . . Catch ya' on The Flip-Flop Dear Readers . . . .

You can call The Gadfly The Breeze as of this moment too ..... If The Gadfly isn't back posting in 7 - no make that - 10 days --- somebody start calling the law enforcement detention centers around Clark County Nevada . . .

:)





----TFG

Oh Jeebus - . . . .

[ click to enlarge ]

One of the fellow blogsters who The Gadfly respects and reads regularly concurs with The Gadfly's view of the state of shit we're all in as he analyzes a truly dismal story out of Arizona:

There simply are no breaks when you are poor. Everything is more expensive, and you are in the worst position to deal with the additional expense. If you’re poor, you probably live an area with a depressed economy, which means the schools are subpar. You probably live in one of the grocery graveyards (or whatever they are called), which means you not only don’t have access to a variety of healthful foods, but you are paying double for crap at a convenience store. You probably don’t have access to banking and deal with payday lenders and other frauds. On the odd chance you will get a loan, the APR will be astronomical. You can’t afford to shop ahead and buy things in bulk, because you just don’t have the money for the initial outlay, so when you buy toilet paper, you aren’t hitting Costco, you’re paying triple to quadruple price at a Bodega. You probably have to buy shitty appliances and clothes that deteriorate rapidly, and have to replace them constantly simply because they were crap to begin with, and in the long run, spend more money than if you had the capital to buy something decent.

And I could go on and on and on. But let’s not forget the obvious one- if you are poor, you probably don’t have a support system in which someone can watch your kids while you try to, in the term of Republican Paul Ryan Universe, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. Basically, when you are trapped in this kind of poverty, the only way out is a miracle.

We are a very demented and sad society, and not really very social, but maybe we can help a desperate woman and her kids out. Given how shitty everything is, I’d chalk that up as a win.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/03/27/when-you-are-poor-there-really-are-no-breaks/


And anyone who believes that the Tea Party is the answer --- do humanity a favor --- go play human Frogger in the middle of the nearest interstate freeway at rush hour.



----TFG

"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." ~~~ Matthew 19:24

If you read anything at all of The Gadfly's musings in the coming four or five days, dear readers, read this article in the New Yorker about the issue of income inequality and what it has been doing to the country and what it portends for our national economic future.

For a long time, that debate was almost entirely focussed on what was happening to median incomes. That inevitably led to discussions of globalization, skill-biased technical change, and policies focussed on education and retraining. Now, thanks to Piketty et al., the remarkable gains of those at the very top can’t be avoided. And this means that the issues of politics and redistribution can’t be avoided either.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/03/piketty-looks-at-inequality-in-six-charts.html


The Gadfly knows (and gets it) that most of you are not really in to looking at charts and listening to policy wonkers wonk about policies, but this truly does demonstrate precisely how the 1% crowd has made out like proverbial fucking bandits, not only in the run up to, but also in the aftermath of the 2008 world financial crisis.

And that's not all - it also demonstrates how the American middle class has, for all intents and purposes, been deliberately kneecapped, and if the Koch brothers and the Tea Party get their way, in another decade or so, the U.S. middle class will be an unrecoverable relic of a bygone era -- and we will basically be left with a two class economic system in this country - the haves it all and the have not shit.

It really is fascinating stuff.  The Gadfly only wishes there were a way to make reading this kind of information as appealing as watching a SpongeBob Squarepants episode -- but alas -- it is what it is.

Read it and then ponder the ramifications of your children and grandchildren not knowing what a middle class is when they are of mid-life working age.



----TFG

They Can't Even Ratfuck With Any Measure of Competency . . . . And Yet They Want to Run The Country? . . No Thanks....

The Gadfly is just about to hit the road for his 4 day vagrancy foray away from the reality-based world he resides and plies his trade in dear readers.

However, before he skedaddles off to give his brain the direly needed R&R that has been long overdue in coming, The Gadfly would like to leave you with a couple of posts to ponder.

First up -- this sad. sad, sad bit of business:

After President Barack Obama concluded his joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands on Tuesday, several conservative media outlets noted that his remarks were followed by "awkward silence."

"Some rustling could be heard as people began to leave, but only one person attempted — and failed — to begin a slow clap," the Daily Caller's Danny Huizinga wrote Thursday.

"After giving a transparently disingenuous speech about privacy and individual rights at the Hague, one person is heard giving a very weak clap," a post on Top Conservative News reads. "No one else claps at all."

A local CBS news outlet in Washington, D.C. even picked up the story with the headline "Lone Person Awkwardly Slow-Claps at Conclusion of Obama Summit Remarks."

But as the Daily Caller realized on Thursday, Obama had been speaking at a press availability attended by scores of journalists who do not usually applaud subjects they cover.

And so they issued this correction:

"This article originally reported that the silence ensued after a Wednesday speech. The silence actually ensued after a Tuesday press briefing, where applause is less common."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/daily-caller-obama-applause


The Gadfly mordantly chuckles to himself.  This story, dear readers, sums up the entirety of the intellectual aptitude of the collective fucking right-wing conservative movement in America today.

Unable to compete fairly and honorably in the arena of ideas and vision, they are left to their own childish, ratfucking devices such as this.

They have such a raging, vindictive hard-on for trying to nit-pick everything Obama does or says that they fail miserably to even get the basic background facts needed to support their attacks correct.  And in the end, they simply look like the callow ankle-biters that they truly are.  Just sad and pathetic - and it is why The Gadfly grants no mercy in his on-going observations of them.

Oh -- and btw -- journalists (aside from those listening to their own leaders in North Korea or Iran perhaps), never applaud after hearing world leaders give press briefings -- as such, it is a whole lot less than "less common."


----TFG

Apparently They Must Have Inadvertently Overlooked All of Those Verses in the Bible About Loving One Another . . . . .

The Gadfly will be off the grid for the next four or five days as he spends some leisure time resting his weary soul after wrestling with the challenges of his business startup.  And boy does The Gadfly need this time away from it all.

But before he goes, The Gadfly would like to share this sad spectacle of a story with you dear readers:

The family of Sunnie Kahle, an 8-year-old from Timberlake, Virginia, recently received a letter from her school, Timberlake Christian School (TCS), in which the principal informed them that, “TCS is not the best place for [Sunnie’s] future education,” because her dress and behavior were not feminine enough.

As reported by WSET 13 News, the letter emphasized that Sunnie, who sports jeans, sneakers and a short hair cut, could be denied continued enrollment in the school. According to the TCS guidelines, enrollment at the bible-based institution could be refused to students who live in, condone, or support “sexual immorality; practicing homosexual lifestyle or alternative gender identity; promoting such practices; or otherwise having the inability to support the moral principles of the school.” The letter cited Bible verses, which they say are the basis of TCS’s principles.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/christian-school-principal-says-8-year-old-girl-not-welcome-because-she-dresses-and-behaves-like-a-boy-204748527.html


Sigh . . . . . . . .

The Gadfly, over the years dear readers, has cited numerous reasons (in the thousands, if not tens of thousands) as to why he purposely chose a life of religious non-belief over that of scriptural faith.  This story simply adds to that stack of reasons.

First and foremost, does anyone else besides The Gadfly get the creepy-crawlies running across your skin upon learning that these school officials seem to be obsessed with the "feminine" qualities of an 8-year old girl?  The Gadfly isn't implying anything, but if it were up to him, somebody would be keeping a close eye on the "adults" running that place.

So here we have this 8-year old girl who gets happiness out of wearing jeans, sneakers and short hair, and as such is such a horrifying threat to the Taliban-like leaders of this school, that she is formally expelled for the most trivially moronic of reasons - namely her love of jeans, sneakers and short hair.  Believe it or not though - that isn't even the worst of it.

The expulsion letter sent to the kid and her family insinuates that this cute, innocent, 8-year old child, by virtue of her moral crime of just being a normal, happy kid who likes wearing blue jeans and sneakers and keeping her hair short, is condoning or supporting "sexual immorality."  Not only that - but that this little girl is practicing a "homosexual lifestyle or alternative gender identity" and promoting it with her blue jeans, tennis shoes and short hair.

The Gadfly is not even going to comment further on these administrative "leaders" at this "school" dear readers.  If you have read this far, and yet still are incapable of comprehending the utter wrongness and stupidity and ignorance and hatefulness that these people are teaching the children under their purvey with their actions, then no amount of editorializing by The Gadfly can help you -- and you really should just get up, make a bee-line to the nearest rest room,  dunk your head in the toilet, and pull the flush handle repeatedly.

The larger point that The Gadfly would like to make here is that these are the people who are earnestly attempting to forcefully hijack the political infrastructure of this country.  They are the people who are the driving force behind right wing conservative politics and politicians, and they also are the people who comprise a clear majority of the Tea Party caucus.  The mindset prevalent among the "adults" at the school 8-year old Sunnie Kahle was expelled from is the kind which permeates the medieval society that they aspire to erecting and employing to govern ALL of America and it's citizens, and it should scare the fucking bejeebers out of you dear readers knowing that they are "teaching" armies of impressionable kids to be just as hateful, ignorant, intolerant and stupid as the adults in their lives are.

They are, not to put too light of an emphasis on it, bug-fuck, batshit insane.  They are apocalyptic dead-enders who's vision of a future America ends with the nation being a smoking ruin from world-wide nuclear destruction, which they fervently believe will usher in the rapturous reunion with the depraved and twisted manifestation of their baby Jeebus -- the vindictive, tyrannical Jeebus which has been created in the dark, soulless confines of their own fevered, fundamentalist delusions.

And people had better start wising up to the long-term agenda of these lunatics - for to ignore them is to do so at the peril of yours and your children's future democracy and freedom -- and possibly even -- existence.



----TFG

The Gadfly Has Returned -- Meh . . . . .

Greetings comrades!  (sorry - The Gadfly just knows that will get picked up by the NSA filters as well as pop a few veins in the foreheads of the wing nuts - which is why The Gadfly does it).

The Gadfly has been extremely busy this past week tying up loose ends with his private business venture, so apologies for the dearth of postings.

There - now that the niceties have concluded - let's do some catching up - shall we?

Let's start off with this bit of comical buffoonery:

Creationists are accusing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson's reboot of "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" of being scientifically unbalanced because it doesn't represent their beliefs.

Right Wing Watch posted audio of Danny Faulkner of Answers In Genesis and the Creation Museum speaking Thursday on "The Janet Mefford Show,” in which he blasted deGrasse Tyson for ignoring the creationist point of view.

"Creationists aren’t even on the radar screen for them, they wouldn’t even consider us plausible at all," Faulkner told host Janet Mefford.

"But when you have so many scientists who simply do not accept Darwinian evolution, it seems to me that that might be something to throw in there," Mefford said. "You know, the old, ‘some scientists say this, others disagree and think this,’ but that’s not even allowed."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/creationists-neil-degrasse-tyson-cosmos-unbalanced


Sigh . . . . hey asshole (Danny Faulkner) - the principal reason that Cosmos, a show about science and scientific principles, neglected to devote time to your pet religious project - young Earth creationism - is for the simple fact that creationism is not science - except of course in the fevered and dogmatic minds of you and your zombie-eyed, fellow cult members.

Science, and the principles that guide it, has been around for centuries.  It is man's constant pursuit of knowledge and facts based on the reality based world that we (most of us anyhow) live, and yes, evolve in.  It is, according to The Gadfly's dictionary, "a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws."

The key term in that definition is "general laws."  You want to know what a "general law" is dear readers.  Ok - let's say there is a monkey, we will call him Monkey #1.  Monkey #1 has two (2) bananas.  One of Monkey #1's fellow primates, we will call him Monkey #2, in the exhibit at the Zoo where they are being held hostage, gives Monkey #1 two (2) more bananas.  The Gadfly is pretty sure that most of us would agree that it is Monkey #1's lucky day for now he has a total of four (4) bananas - because 2 + 2 = 4.  That equation, 2 + 2 = 4, is what is known as a general law of mathematical science.  2 + 2 does not = 5, nor does it = 319.

That is science. It is ever evolving, it is ever being challenged.  Is it perfect and unerring?  No - because human history is replete with examples of scientific theories and statements of purported fact that were subsequently proven to be incorrect.  But the difference is - when those corrections occurred, the science and it's practitioners adjusted their views, accepted the new evidence, and moved on.

Creationists on the other hand - have no general laws.  What they have is an ancient religious screed known as The Bible.  A screed that was cobbled together from the primitive mythological and superstitious beliefs of dozens of writers and sects spread across several centuries of time and cultures.  They accept it as being infallible - without question.  They do not pursue, or have any interest in doing so, any knowledge beyond the written pages of that book. If there were a passage anywhere in the book telling them that 2 + 2 = 9, they would be bound to believe it to be true because to admit that their divinely inspired book could contain untruths, would undermine their entire world view as well as the very foundation of the messianic cult for which they have immersed themselves in.

So for this bozo, Danny Faulkner, to go crying to his conservative media friends about how that mean old well-respected and highly honored scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, is snubbing his nose at Danny Faulkner and his Creationism "Science" is some pretty goddamn (offense intended) hilarious shit if you ask The Gadfly.

Oh - and lest The Gadfly allow it to go unnoticed -- that line from Faulkner about how "so many scientists" don't accept evolution -- pure fucking horseshit lying.  There is ample, documented evidence indicating that upwards of, and likely beyond, 95% of scientists accept the Darwinian theory of human evolution - and unless Danny Faulkner has his own version of mathematical science wherein 5 is greater than 95 and can be proven to be so, The Gadfly is well within his rights to label Danny Faulkner a pure, fucking lying sack of horseshit.

Lastly - let us hope that Tyson and the producers of the series 'Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey' don't get all weak-kneed and go apologizing or appeasing these flat-earther denialists.  For that would truly upset The Gadfly, not to mention be a wholly disrespectful slap in the face to the great Carl Sagan.

And that is about all that The Gadfly has to say on this sordid subject dear readers.



----TFG

Girls will be boys and boys will be girls ... Fkn' -- lol ... Wise Up ya Schmucks!!

The Gadfly doesn't know anything about girls who taste like CherryCola, but he sure as hell gets what this song is about ............................. do u?







----TFG

This Could Mean Volumes, or it Could Mean Shit ... You Decide...

While nobody is paying attention ....






----TFG

Have We Learned Nothing? . . . . How Much More Blood? ... How Much?

It ain't me,
It ain't me,
I ain't no Senator's son ....

It ain't me,
It ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate son ....






If The Gadfly had the opportunity to imprison Bill Kristol and the rest of the war-mongering neo-cons in a small, confined area, and force them to listen to one song over and over again at high volume -- it would be this song.

Oh fucking yeah --- this would twist their already twisted minds up ever so much more.



Sigh .... The Gadfly can dream -- can't he?



----TFG

A Requiem for Bloody Emperor Bill ... How Many More Buckets of Blood Will Satisfy Him?...

Esquire's Charlie Pierce doesn't have much good to say about the war and blood lusting of Bill Kristol either ....

Blow me, you monstrous, bloodthirsty fraud, you silly, stupid chickenhawk motherfker who plays army man with the children of people who are so much better than you are, and who would feed innocent civilians in lands you will never visit into your own personal meatgrinder to service your semi-annual martial erection. You and the rest of your cowardly cohort helped prepare the ground for the worst geopolitical mistake the country has made in 30 years. You fought the battle of the Green Rooms and the think tanks while other people's sons and daughters died for your fantasy of how the world would work if you really were the pimply, adolescent Zeus you see when you look in the mirror every morning. The country does not need you lectures any more. The country does not need your counsel. The country does not need your advice. And, as sure as human beings have become dead because of your lectures, and counsel, and advice, human beings about whom you otherwise care nothing, the country does not need your hectoring that it has become insufficiently bellicose to fulfill your newest, blood-drenched fantasies. Even here, even now, you hide behind the skirts of a woman from Indiana who, while I believe her to be wrong, seems to be genuine in her beliefs. You are unworthy of her intellectual camouflage. You should be driven from polite society, consigned to an ideological Molokai so you can no longer  infect the rest of us. People should shun you. You should wear the bell for the rest of your miserable days.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bill-kristol-war-weariness-031814


If you're still uncertain as to how Charlie feels about Bill Kristol after reading that, The Gadfly can only speculate that you are either loaded on Xanax -- or, you are three sheets in to the wind at your local Tequila Bar -- perhaps a combination thereof?

Says it all.


----TFG

The Grand Ol' U.S. of C. I. A. . . . . (You Can File This in The Gadfly's "Subversive Activities" Folder Fellas) . . .

Listen - The Gadfly gets it about the spooks.  He gets it that our enemies, real or perceived, have spooks and that their spooks are spooking on us so we have to have our own group of spooks who will spook on them and, sometimes we even spook on our friends because we found out they were spooking on us.  It's all pretty fucking spooky stuff if you ask The Gadfly.  Basically each side essentially is spooking on everybody else, friend or foe, in order to protect their own fatherland.

The Gadfly gets it -- he thinks it's pathologically insane, but he gets it.

But when you get to the point where these shadowy people have basically created an equally shadowy entity resembling a government infrastructure that is accountable to nobody but the shadowy, spooky figures who run their operations -- well -- that's when The Gadfly starts to wonder if it isn't time to start yanking the leash on Spooks, Inc.

Observe:

Nancy Pelosi Admits That Congress Is Scared Of The CIA

from the well-that's-revealing dept

Over the past few months, one thing we keep hearing over and over again from defenders of the intelligence community is that everything is under control and "legal" because Congress has powerful oversight. We've shown, repeatedly, how that's something of a joke. The intelligence community has lied repeatedly, has withheld documents and is generally nonresponsive to oversight attempts by Congress. And, with the reports that the CIA spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee, we also find out that for all the bluster and talk of oversight, folks in Congress are actually scared by the intelligence community.

In response to Senator Dianne Feinstein's speech last week calling out the CIA for spying on her staffers, Rep. Nancy Pelosi was asked to comment and gave what might be the most revealing comments to date as to why Congress is so scared of the CIA:

Pelosi added that she has always fought for checks and balances on CIA activity and its interactions with Congress: “You don’t fight it without a price because they come after you and they don’t always tell the truth."

“I salute Sen. Feinstein,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference of the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I’ll tell you, you take on the intelligence community, you’re a person of courage, and she does not do that lightly. Not without evidence, and when I say evidence, documentation of what it is that she is putting forth.”

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140317/07441526589/nancy-pelosi-admits-that-congress-is-scared-cia.shtml

Now -- Pelosi is not the only Congress critter or Senator to express these views.  Many have over the years and what's troubling is that the mainstream media never seems eager to follow up on such statements.  Gee - couldn't be because they're scared shitless too of the CIA too could it?

Read this book about one view of the historical legacy of the CIA:

http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Ashes-The-History-CIA/dp/0307389006

How, after reading that book from cover to cover, any rational, thoughtful and contemplative American who values the future of democracy in their country can believe that these spooks are actually fostering a stronger democracy as opposed to slow-motion undermining the tenuous democracy we currently have, is beyond The Gadfly's comprehension.

These guys could be doing a great much more positive and productive work on behalf of America, but all available evidence indicates that they have become a captive tool of the military industrial complex - whose financial and global ambitions are diametrically antithetical to civilian America's desires for peace and prosperity.

Ultimately, Americans need to decide if they truly want their own version of the old Soviet KGB running loose and unaccountable.

----TFG

“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” ― George Orwell, 'Homage to Catalonia'

The War Pigs are agitated.....




The Cheney Neo-cons are going through withdrawal symptoms over the dearth of war, bloodletting and destruction in the world:

Bill Kristol Calls For Americans to be ‘Awakened and Rallied’ to War
John Glaser, March 17, 2014

Bill Kristol is not shy about his fetish for war. His latest piece at the neoconservative Weekly Standard borders on self-parody in the way that it openly longs for a return to a time when Americans were eager to send the U.S. military off on unnecessary, imperialistic adventures.

Kristol is frustrated by the “war-weariness” of the nation. He laments the reluctance on the part of the Republican Party to “challenge” “the idol of war-weariness.”
“A war-weary public can be awakened and rallied,” Kristol cheers. “Indeed, events are right now doing the awakening. All that’s needed is the rallying. And the turnaround can be fast.”

http://antiwar.com/blog/2014/03/17/bill-kristol-calls-for-americans-to-be-awakened-and-rallied-to-war/

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/war-weariness-excuse_784895.html#


The Gadfly has a proposition for the Neo-cons like Kristol who want America embroiled in perpetual war.

The Gadfly will gladly support the wars you pine for - ONLY! -- only if you yourself, your of age children and grandchildren, along with all of the other silver spoon heirs who populate your family tree, are the first warriors drop-shipped in to front line battle once the hostilities commence.

Show The Gadfly that you, the war lovers, have some fucking skin in the game, and maybe we cam arrive at a fair compromise.

And if you're not agreeable to such an arrangement, then The Gadfly would kindly request that you just shut the fuck up and crawl back under the rocks whence you slithered to regale us all of the majestic glory associated with sending other people's children off to kill and die in conflicts which you yourselves are too fucking cowardly to participate in.



----TFG

Is The Gadfly Being Too Subtle? Well Fuck That Shit ........

The Gadfly has lovely grand children . . .

If you have them too ...


Think of your grand kids marching just like these fucking brain-washed borgs .....

That, dear readers is totalitarianism --- it is the Tea Party's wet fucking dream.

Think about it kids ......



----TFG

It's Called Love .....

The first dear reader who claims they've never been caught in an uncompromising position .... is the first dear reader that The Gadfly calls a fucking liar ......





... But The Gadfly still loves u....................................



----TFG

Fooled ya' huh? . . .

The Gadfly is not in inebriation heaven .... he's only the ticket taker at the door ...





And there it is ... The Gadfly is an unrepentant KISS fan.  Torture me.  Please.


----TFG

Oh Yeah ..........................................

e Gadfly formulates his daily life on the concept of good ..vs.. evil.

The Gadfly is confident of his relationship with good.

As to evil .....


You fuckers haven't even accounted for the horror of this:








---- Evil



----TFG

And The Bell Does Toll for The Hater . . . . . .

The Gadfly cannot fathom how anyone can go to their grave with so much hate in their heart.  It just does not register on his humanity and love scale.

Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, known for protesting the funerals of members of the military, is "on the edge of death," according to his estranged son.

Nate Phelps wrote on Facebook Saturday night that his father was not doing well.
"I've learned that my father, Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the 'God Hates Fags' Westboro Baptist Church, was ex-communicated from the 'church' back in August of 2013. He is now on the edge of death at Midland Hospice house in Topeka, Kansas," he wrote. "I'm not sure how I feel about this. Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made."

Nate Phelps then confirmed to Patheos that he had learned from multiple ex-communicated members of the church that his father was not doing well.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-church-near-death

What always intrigued The Gadfly about the Westboro Baptist group was how it was that they were able to reconcile their hatred for selected humans with Christ's teachings to love all, lepers even.  Them's some mighty big fucking hoops to jump through to get to that nirvana.

They are the classic example of insane religious extremism -- only in this case -- they're right here in the good Ol' US of A.

God bless us.  Every one.  [ h/t Tiny Tim ]

----TFG

Tears of Joyous Rapture .....

Watch a Canadian Physician bitch slap a Republican Senator as he feebly attempts to bad mouth the Canadian system of health care as compared to how we do it here in the good ol' U S of A:





And that dear readers is how you deal with con artists.  Pure and simple.



----TFG

Is We Learnin' Froms Ours 'Ignint Behavior? ...............................

How many fucking times ...............

Police and state health officials are investigating the illegal dumping of radioactive filter socks in an abandoned gas station in the tiny remote town of Noonan in Divide County.

“This is a vacant building filled with toxic waste,” said Divide County Sheriff’s Deputy Zach Schroeder, lead investigator, who says the building’s apparent owner is a fugitive on felony larceny charges in Wyoming and so far not traceable.

The building’s contents were reported two weeks ago to Divide County Emergency Manager Jody Gunlock, who said the situation was turned over to the state Health Department and Divide County law enforcement.

Health Department waste division manager Scott Radig said the building contains at least twice as much filter sock material and is more than twice as radioactive as the open trailers loaded with the socks discovered near Watford City three weeks ago.

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/radioactive-dump-site-found-in-remote-north-dakota-town/article_39d0d08a-a948-11e3-8a3b-001a4bcf887a.html



MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is kind of disturbed as well:





When people?  WHEN??????

These fucking corporations are dumping radioactive garbage from their business activities in to American communities.

Tell The fucking Gadfly that IF this shit was being done by some Al-Qaeda connected group that the entire force and prosecutorial and CIA dark money power would not be directed to intercepting and bringing the groups and/or individuals responsible for trying to kill Americans like this to justice ......

Tell The Gadfly that if that were the case, this news wouldn't be on every fucking tv channel night after night after night .. just like the missing Malaysian jet story going on now.

Apparently -- Americans being poisoned with radioactive materials by American corporations is not news!  Imagine that!

And that dear readers is why The Gadfly has zero fucking faith in this country's media to safeguard our democracy and rights.  Not one iota of faith.  They are fucking useless.  They are eunuchs.


So Yeah -- Your fellow Americans are killing us.  And they are immune from prosecution because conservatives believe that business interests and profits are much more valuable than human interests.

Much more.

The Gadfly is growing old dear readers.  He is only writing this shitty little blog because he cares about his fellow species, but he has children and grand children who's future he gives a shit about.

But the more he sees all of you allowing these fucking companies to turn you all in to fucking guinea pigs for corporate fucking gain --- the more he gets enraged and the more he is determined to speak his mind and annoy the sons of bitches who would be our slave masters.

Therefore -- expect even more vicious attacks on the right wingers and the corporate scum like the Koch Brothers in the days, weeks, months to come.  And yes -- that is an admission that The Gadfly will continue his fight ... always.........................


----TFG

For Every One American Idiot, There's 10 Rational Thinkers -- Not That Our Media Reflects It ....

The Gadfly cannot decide whether this is a progressive protest song against the idiocy of right wing America or the theme song for Tea Party rallies ..... hmmmmm





No matter --- the lyrics tell the story:

Don't wanna be an American Idiot
Don't wanna nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind fuck America

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the alien nation
Where everything isn't meant to be okay
Television dreams of tomorrow
We're not the ones who're meant to follow
For that's enough to argue

Well maybe I'm the faggot america
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
Now everybody do the propaganda
And sing along in the age of paranoia

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the alien nation
Where everything isn't meant to be okay
Television dreams of tomorrow
We're not the ones who're meant to follow
For that's enough to argue

Don't wanna be an American Idiot
One nation controlled by the media
Information age of hysteria
It's calling out to idiot America

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the alien nation
Where everything isn't meant to be okay
Television dreams of tomorrow
We're not the ones who're meant to follow
For that's enough to argue

----TFG

The Beauty of State's Rights Are in The Jaundiced Eye of The Beholders .....

Oh lord, please spare us from further dumbassery by these asshats:

The Republican-controlled House passed legislation on Thursday to force President Barack Obama to crack down on states that have legalized marijuana in any form.

Introduced by Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the ENFORCE the Law Act (H.R. 4138) would allow the House or the Senate to sue the president for "failure to faithfully execute federal laws," including those related toimmigration, health care and marijuana.

"President Obama has established a disturbing pattern of cherry picking the laws he wishes to enforce," Issa said in a statement. "The Constitution charges the President with the responsibility to faithfully execute all the laws and not just the ones he supports."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/republicans-force-obama-legal-marijuana_n_4964995.html


Apparently, to conservatives, the hallowed concept of "states rights" isn't quite so hallowed that they themselves are disallowed from cherry-picking certain laws and aspects of the movement to suit their own political and ideological agendas.

There really isn't much more to expound upon on this subject.  It's pure and comically brazen hypocrisy -- and just simply more evidence, heaped on to a growing pile of evidence, that the conservative movement is one big giant fucking con job.

The Gadfly rests his case.




----TFG

America and Russia: Our Commonality of Imbecilic Assholery . . . . .

Something occurred in Russia today dear readers which you likely did not see nary a minute of news coverage of here on American mainstream media outlets, mostly because CNN has temporarily anointed itself the 24x7 Missing Jet channel, Fox is too busy ginning up new Benghazi conspiracy theories, and MSNBC is .... fuck if The Gadfly knows what the hell they're doing over there - they're all over the map on unimportant news stories.

Anyhow here are a couple of pictures of Russian civilians protesting their government's actions in the Crimea and Ukraine today (click pics to enlarge):

Here is a picture of the pro-war, Putin supporting Russians who staged their own counter demonstration:

[ h/t:  http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43173_Photo_Gallery-_Huge_Anti-War_Demonstration_in_Moscow ]


Now - The Gadfly remembers pretty vividly back around 2002/2003 when a bunch of Americans weren't too keen on the plans of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to invade Iraq, especially considering that the justification being shoveled to the populace appeared to be, to those of us who were actually paying attention, just pure out and out lies and bullshit (we've since been vindicated).  In fact though, there were major protests in large U.S. cities that received scant press coverage, perhaps a passing mention on a national news show, if lucky.  And to add tyranny to being insulted, those of us who did not support that war of choice were told by Bush underlings to shut our mouths and subtly threatened by advising us to watch what we say and do.

The Gadfly is only bringing this subject up because here we fucking go again -- only this time, the government ignoring the pleas of their citizenry to reconsider their war mongering, is Russia -- the country which Americans, for a generation, feared as the single sovereign entity in the world that could destroy the United States of America and turn us all in to commie pinko comrades in servitude to the state.

What is truly and deliciously ironic about today's documented evidence that a majority of the Russian people themselves aren't war lovers, is the fact that on this side of the pond, our own right wing warriors have been expressing admiration for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his war provoking actions in Ukraine and The Crimea.  In fact, our right wing loons are so enamored of Putin, that they found it necessary to poll the attendees at their recent annual Monkey Poo Flingathon, er, The Gadfly means CPAC Convention, asking their acolytes who they would rather have as President, Putin or Obama.  Bottom line is - American conservatives appear to prefer a KGB, Communist dictator for their leader as opposed to a moderate American Democrat who just happens to be a Negro.  Observe Jon Stewart address this phenomenon:

The Daily Show
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So basically -- when you get right down to analyzing the nuts and bolts of the differences between American culture and Russian culture -- it's pretty clear that a majority of both country's citizenry are sick and fucking tired of these mindless wars, and that the only assholes in each culture who are still pining for war and aggression are the factions from the hard core right wing of each country's political infrastructure.

And that dear readers is the manifestation for what is so fucking wrong with this world --- right wing conservatives who just cannot seem to satisfy their unending bloodlust for death and destruction while enriching the bank accounts and stock portfolios of their soulless fucking paymasters in the military-industrial complex.

Right wing extremism, over there or right here at home, = an uncertain future for your's and my children and grand children.




----TFG

Things That Make The Gadfly Cringe and Instantly Covet a Copious Amount of Distilled Beverage...

Apparently - Caribou Barbie isn't quite satisfied with the level of noise polluting dumbassery that her cretinous mind already injects in to the national dialogue:

Fox News contributor and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be launching her own digital video channel, tentatively called “Rogue TV,” a source familiar with the project told Capital.

The channel will be available through Tapp, the digital video service founded by former CNN chief Jon Klein and former NBC Universal entertainment executive Jeff Gaspin. Subscriptions will cost $10 per month.

Rogue is expected to launch in April or May, and it would be one of the first of the digital channels offered by Tapp.

Palin’s channel will feature video commentaries from the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, discussing current events and political issues.

“Think of it as a video version of her Facebook page,” the source said.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/03/8541966/sarah-palin-plans-%E2%80%98rogue-tv%E2%80%99


The Gadfly, to his misfortune, has actually visited Princess Sociopath of The Tundra's Facebook page.  The experience was akin to walking around barefoot in your backyard on a hot sunny day and stepping right in to a freshly deposited, warm pile of dog shit that was hidden in the tall grass.  You know - that unsettling, yet oddly stimulating feeling of steamy hot doggy poo oozing through your toes - yeah - that's the feeling.

Anyhow - it's obvious that Palin is going the Glenn Beck route - being that, just like Beck, it has fully dawned on her that the gullible, right wing rubes, who are frighteningly comfortable with allowing their ideological heroes do their thinking for them, are income generating drones who, like sheep being led to the slaughter house,  are utterly predisposed to being financially taken advantage of -- thus the $10 recurring subscription fee to hear her spread her venom and nonsense.

The Gadfly does see a silver lining in it all though -- a full-fledged digital channel of Sarah Palin being --- well ... Sarah Palin --- is going to be a gold mine of comedy material for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  So it ain't all so bad after all.



----TFG

A Comedian's Guide to The Fine Art of Dispatching With Bullies . . . .

When Glenn Beck involuntarily departed Fox "News" to go off and start his own rube-fleecing media empire, Fox replaced him with a guy named Eric Bolling, a loud mouthed, former Wall Street commodities trader whom Fox hired to host a couple of lame finance shows on their equally lame business channel.

Bolling had made something of a name for himself within far right conservative business circles by basically being a major league asshole when it came to his views on issues such as Wall Street excess, income inequality, corporate taxation, minimum wage, etc., wherein predictably he never failed to side with the big wealthy interests over the interests of the peasantry.  And that asskissery didn't go unnoticed by the Fox honchos.

Anyhow, Bolling has fit right in with the other propaganda spewing jackals at Fox and quite honestly, and to his credit, has aspired to being one of the more despicable creatures on that network -- which is quite the feat considering that Uncle Rupert's house of horrors has a bottomless swamp full of despicable creatures.

One of Fox's current obsessions is demeaning poor and disadvantaged Americans.  They do it regularly, replete with embellished stories, and when it suits them, just outright bullshit lies.

And apparently it has gotten so sadistically out of control that Jon Stewart has reached the end of his rope of tolerance with it all.

Observe:

The Daily Show
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The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/03/14/watch-jon-stewart-eviscerate-foxs-poor-shaming/198485


Bolling truly is a loathsome character - even by Fox standards.  He is to ethical and principled journalism what skidmark shit stains are to a brand new pair of fresh, straight out of the package, Fruit of The Loom underwear.

Hopefully Stewart stays in this mode of counter attack, because the filet job he does in these videos on Eric Bolling and Fox are masterful and frankly, in The Gadfly's view, it cannot be done often enough.



----TFG

The United States of Tombstone . . . . .

Might as well get used to it dear readers -- incidents like this are on their way to becoming the norm as opposed to being rare events.  And a lot of innocent Americans are going to lose their lives as a result:

MARCH 14, 2014, 2:50 PM EDT

Dashcam video released this week shows a South Carolina deputy breaking down in tears after shooting a 70-year-old man during a traffic stop last month.

York County, S.C. deputy Terrance Knox fired at Bobby Canipe after mistaking Canipe's cane for a shotgun, according to the Associated Press. Knox had pulled Canipe over for an expired tag, and the dashcam video shows Canipe pulling over quickly after Knox put on his lights and siren. Canipe then gets out of his truck, and reaches for his cane in the truck bed. Knox can be heard yelling as Canipe swings the cane and points the end of it in his direction.

Knox ran up to Canipe after shooting him. According to the Associated Press, another officer arrived a few minutes after the shooting, and at that point Knox began to sob.

"I promise to God I thought it was a shotgun," Knox said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/deputy-shooting-cane-crying



Why does The Gadfly say that events like this will become more routine?

Here's one reason:

Soon gun owners in the state of Georgia may be allowed to pack heat almost anywhere—including K-12 schools, bars, churches, government buildings, and airports. The "Safe Carry Protection Act" (HB 875) would also expand Georgia's Stand Your Ground statute, the controversial law made famous by the Trayvon Martin killing, which allows armed citizens to defend themselves with deadly force if they believe they are faced with serious physical harm.

The bill could pass as soon as next week, before the current legislative session ends March 20. It is the latest effort in the battle over gun laws that continues to rage in statehouses around the country. It is perhaps also the most extreme yet.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/03/georgia-guns-concealed-carry-stand-your-ground



While the gun goons in the NRA will go blue in the face denying it, the tragic shooting of this elderly man is a direct byproduct of conservative, NRA gun-goon legislating that basically has a hard-on for having our entire society armed to the teeth at all times and in all places.  Not only are they making it much easier for private citizens to murder with impunity, they are also creating an environment where law enforcement people need to be suspicious of and expectant that every civilian they come in contact with is packing heat.  And thus you have a trooper shooting a 70 year old man for pulling his walking cane out of his car.

This is the kind of society that the right wants though.  It is a society based on fear, distrust and sociopathy - for the type of people that thrive in such a society are the ones that conservatives can most easily manipulate emotionally and psychologically.  More to the point - the leaders of conservatism cannot compete with sane, intellectual, reason-based thinkers - and so they aim their appeal to the lowest common denominator boors among us.  And unfortunately this country has quite a lot of those types and their gullibility is an inexhaustible commodity.

Frankly, The Gadfly is confident in stating that it truly is just a matter of time before a police officer is shot and the shooter invokes stand-your-ground as a defense.  Yup - just a matter of time . . . . . . Oh wait!! Shit!!  Well - you can't say The Gadfly didn't call it . . . :

Friday, March 7, 2014 13:00 EDT

A Pensacola, FL court is set to decide on Friday whether 24-year-old Keenan Finkelstein is criminally liable for shooting a deputy sheriff in the leg in March of 2013. According to the Pensacola News-Journal, Finkelstein and his defense team are pinning their hopes on the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.

On the night of March 20, 2013, Escambia County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Shedrick Johnson and other police officers were searching on foot for a robbery suspect in the Scenic Hills area of Pensacola. A robbery victim told police that someone from a home located on the 8800 block of Burning Tree Road had stolen marijuana and a handgun from his residence.

Police converged on the home and saw Finkelstein — who was not the subject the police were searching for — emerge from the house’s garage. Sgt. Johnson said that he emerged from a hiding place behind a tree and identified himself as a sheriff’s deputy.

Finkelstein produced a gun and fired, striking Johnson in the leg.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/07/florida-man-invokes-stand-your-ground-after-shooting-sheriffs-deputy/


If you're the Wall Street gambling type, it just might be the opportune time to start investing your money in to death care industry portfolios.  All signs point to the potential of forthcoming and boundless opportunities to make a killing (pun intended).



----TFG

Just a Friendly Souvenir Remembrance of The Asshats Who Aspire to Rule Over You and Your Nation . . .

Jon Stewart gives us the official recap of this past weekend's Monkey Poo Flingathon, er ... CPAC 2014 Convention in Washington DC.  If it weren't for Stewart's ball-busting, humorous take on it all, The Gadfly would not have been able to stomach reliving it.  But it's most definitely palatable in this format:


PART 1:

The Daily Show
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PART 2:

The Daily Show
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The Mitch McConnell and Wayne LaPierre takedowns were simply masterful.  The Gadfly can only dream of some day wielding his neophyte wit with such deadly precision the way Stewart does.



----TFG

The Progress of The Great American Experiment Derailed by Mass Dementia . . . .

[ click to enlarge ]

Esquire's Charlie Pierce echo's The Gadfly's resigned frustration at the phenomenon of conservatives instinctively slamming the door shut on reality and facts when they don't conform to the misinformation bubble of existence which they have imprisoned themselves in:

This may be the saddest quote I have ever seen in a newspaper.

When advised of the details of her Blues' plan, Boonstra said the idea that it would be cheaper "can't be true." "I personally do not believe that," Boonstra said.

Even granting that the administration did a rotten job selling and/or explaining the Affordable Care Act -- Get Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick started on that sometime -- this quote is immeasurably tragic. It represents a kind of final victory for mean-spirited and uncharitable propaganda over reality, a triumph for misinformation, sabotage, and arrant bullshit in the service of a cruel ideology and faceless oligarchy. It is a measure of the failure of all of our institutions, which definitely includes my own, which allowed charlatans and frauds to hijack too much of the public debate.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/cost-of-health-care-031114


The Gadfly talked about the delusional woman that Pierce is referring to here in an earlier post - the one who had to go out on the ACA exchange because her insurance carrier's plan was substandard.  She ended up with an equal or even stronger plan, at a much cheaper yearly, out-of-pocket cost, and yet she refuses to believe it simply because Obama is Satan and ... FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!! or some such other cockamamie lunacy.

Pierce is asking the same question that the The Gadfly has been asking for years -- how do you have a rational, productive debate with people who just flat out and out reject facts and reality and have hitched a ride on the Crazy Train Express to paranoid schizophrenia?  How does the country move forward when a lot of the people that Julie Boonstra, and those who think like her, elect to Congress - are just as equally unhinged as they are?

It's a conundrum in dire need of a solution.



----TFG

If The Right's Humor Didn't Have The Stench of Death Attached to it -- It Too Just Might Be Funny . . .

Oh for fuck's sake:

Right-Wing Media Indignant Over President Obama's Funny Or Die Interview

Right-Wing Media Criticize Interview As "Inappropriate," "Gross," "No Joke"

Fox & Friends: President Obama's Interview Was "Inappropriate" And "Tragic." Fox & Friends hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Brian Kilmeade attacked president Obama's interview as "so inappropriate" and "pretty tragic." Hasselbeck said, "Some would argue that it's inappropriate for the president of the United States to be advertising a law, an insurance plan":

KILMEADE: It is so inappropriate... for the president of the United States to be sitting down for an interview that's a mock-up
[...]
HASSELBECK: Some would argue that it's inappropriate for the president of the United States to be advertising a law, an insurance plan.
[...]
KILMEADE: I think it's pretty tragic. Whoever recommended that he do that show should be fired. [Fox News, Fox and Friends, 3/11/2014]

Fox's MacCallum Questions Whether Obama's Interview Was "Appropriate." Fox News host Martha took to Twitter to ask whether Obama's appearance on Funny or Die was "appropriate":

http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/03/11/right-wing-media-indignant-over-president-obama/198442



Ok - so basically, the President, as American Presidents in this modern age are wont to do on occasion, does a little parody bit with comedian Zach Galifianakis, and during the bit gets in a hokey plug for the ACA's health care sign up website.

Horror of horrors right?  Well yes -- apparently so if you are a concern troll who works for Fox "News."

Ostensibly, Obama's appearance was so disturbing that the right-wing media hyenas, as they are wont to do, coordinated their outrage fainting spells today over the deal - labeling it as "inappropriate" and "tragic."

Well -- The Gadfly recalls a comedy routine by our previous President which received nary a peep from the wingnut hyenas, and the subject matter of that routine was nothing near as innocuous as Obama's banal plug for a health care website.  Remember this humorous bit of frivolity dear readers:


)


Oh yeah -- that's Emperor Dumbass joking at the White House Correspondent's Dinner about his and his administration's inability to locate Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction -- you know -- the ones which we were told, were being imminently readied by Saddam to create mushroom clouds over American cities, and which of course turned out to be nothing more than Bush and Cheney lies to the American people as being their justification for invading Iraq?    Pretty funny shit huh -- considering it only cost America around 5,000 U.S. soldier's lives, 70,000 or more Iraqi civilian lives, around $4 trillion in U.S. taxpayer money, and a tarnished reputation among our longstanding allies around the world.  Nothing "inappropriate" and "tragic" about that kind of humor - huh dear readers?

So once again -- we see the abject failure of conservatives to conveniently ignore the gross and unmistakable leadership fuck ups of their own kind, and give them a free pass in the accountability department, yet they scream like stuck pigs when a completely harmless, albeit corny, act is committed by the other side.

If you ask The Gadfly -- he will take Obama's lame joking around any day over the right's macabre wisecracking about their "leader's" actions which only succeeded in filling a shit-load of body bags and draining the national treasury.

Idiots.



----TFG