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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "BJWest" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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04:52 pm
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Just about sums it up...
Found this in a newspaper at the aiport:
When exactly did Democracy become an ongoing struggle between facism and socialism?
Current Mood:  cranky
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08:11 pm
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*Do* let the door hit you on your way out...
Goodbye George. Get your sorry ass the hell out of town already. Take every last one of your evil, scheming cronies with you. You've sucked America dry, nearly to the point of death. I really hope there is some sort of universal justice, call it karma, call it comeuppance, call it whatever you want to, that makes certain that you pay some kind of price that makes you as deeply, personally, intimately miserable as you have made this once-proud country.
Tomorrow, we begin a new era. We don't even have to have much faith in Obama, a Jack Russell Terrier would be a huge improvement over what we've suffered under for the last eight years. A ceramic ashtray would do less damage to the country, arrange more world peace, create more jobs and cost fewer lives.
But we don't have to settle for a ceramic ashtray or a Jack Russell Terrier. We don't even have to settle for the lesser evil, for the first time in my life. We actually got our choice, the right man for the job. And I hate to sound un-PC, but I don't even give a rat's ass that we have the first African American president in U.S. history. I mean, that's neat and all, and I'm all for the social progress and yada yada yada. But to me, that's gravy. It's a mere footnote. I'm not going to dismiss the significance of that fact, but next to the sheer magnitude of the fact that for the first time in eight years we have a grown-up in the oval office, that for the first time since Carter we have a president that might actually care about the general populace of the United States, that for the first time since F.D.R. we have a president willing to roll up his sleeves and work his ass off to fix the gargantuan problems we are currently facing, and has the skills needed for the job and the wisdom to surround himself with the best-and-the-brightest, regardless of political leanings, regardless of popularity, regardless of race, creed or color, well, anything else is merely cool.
So, out with the old and nasty, in with the new and nifty. The next year or two are still going to be rough, but we'll all sleep better knowing that the people at the helm are there for us, and not for the welfare of the military industrial complex, and are working for peace and prosparity rather than the siphoning of the public coffers.
Long Live Barack Obama. May George Bush and all his heinous associates rot in hell -- but I'll settle for prison.
Current Mood:  giddy
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11:21 am
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Awww, Hell Yeah.
More justice for Bush war crimes!
Blackwater charges: 14 counts of manslaughterBy LARA JAKES JORDAN and MATT APUZZO WASHINGTON (AP) — Blackwater Worldwide security guards used machine guns and grenade launchers against unarmed Iraqi civilians, some with hands up and others fleeing, prosecutors said Monday in announcing manslaughter indictments against five of them.
A sixth guard admitted in a plea deal to killing at least one Iraqi in the 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square. Seventeen Iraqis were killed in the assault, which roiled U.S. diplomacy with Iraq and fueled anti-American sentiment abroad.
The five guards surrendered Monday and were due to ask a federal judge in Utah for bail.
"None of these victims was an insurgent, and many were shot while inside of civilian vehicles that were attempting to flee," prosecutors wrote in court documents. "One victim was shot in his chest while standing in the street with his hands up."
In addition to being charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, the five guards also face 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. They are also charged with using a machine gun to commit a crime of violence, a charge that carries a 30-year minimum sentence.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtLfZVVNZF72Pzftxt21yza9lVwAD94ULSEG1
Current Mood:  satisfied
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12:20 pm
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Happy Thanksgiving!
that stern and
rockbound coast felt
like an amateur
when it saw how grim
the puritans* that
landed on it were
--archy
*Puritan
n. A righteous person who lies awake all night, deathly afraid that someone, somewhere, might be having fun.
Current Mood:  thankful
Tags: puritans
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10:04 pm
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That's enough.
Allright, that tears it. Everybody knock it off. I've had it up to here with you people.
What is up with all the petty in-fighting about who is responsible for Prop. 8 passing, and who is or is not doing enough to combat it? When did civil rights activism become a competition event? What gives one person the right to say that they are doing the right thing to fight back against the forces of intolerance, and that someone else is not?
You are all acting like annoying school children ganging up on each other; Whites being angry at Blacks for the 70% who voted for Prop. 8 or Blacks being angry with Whites for comparing a relatively minor injustice to two centuries of life-or-death struggle. Legal folks who say that the place to battle the madness is in the courts, or protesters who feel that anyone who didn't show in the streets is an apathetic traitor to the cause.
Well, guess what -- it's all bullshit, and it will cost us any hope of victory.
I understand that we're all angry and hurt. Having such a huge number of our fellow Americans rise up against us in such a hateful, intolerant, 15th century way is an affront so heinous that we are all still utterly gob-smacked. Of course we are indignant. Of course we are motivated to rise up in a righteous backlash. And we should be.
But if we start pointing that frustration at each other, we will only tear down our own resolve, and diminish our chances of turning this madness around.
We are all working for equality and tolerance in our own ways, to the best of our abilities, within the constraints that each of us face in our own lives. I didn't make it to the big protest march here in San Francisco this weekend. I wanted to, but unfortunately, some things came up that I had to deal with. It's not anyone's place to judge whether they were more important than marching or not. It doesn't mean that I don't care about the issue, it doesn't mean that I'm not working to make a difference in another way that you might be completely unaware of.
But the important thing is this; getting angry with someone because they aren't participating in the struggle in the way that you think they should be is counter-productive. There's a difference between reaching out to others to get them motivated and active, and wagging your finger at someone for not doing what you've suggested.
This isn't just a fight, it's a war. It's been brewing for a long time, and it won't be over any time soon. We need to keep our eyes on the big picture -- and it's vastly larger than just gay marriage -- and pace ourselves for the long haul. Prop. 8 is just the current battle front, and even that won't be resolved until it's been repealed, challenged, counter-suits are filed, and the whole thing climbs it's way up to the Supreme Court.
As the founding fathers said, "United we stand, divided we fall." I know that we liberals are all about individuality and that we are about as easy to herd as cats. The opposition, however, is ruled by unthinking conformity, and as such will be marching in lockstep against us, and absolutely crystalline in their organization. Regardless of the righteousness of our cause, we have to overlook our differences of approach if want to have any hope of prevailing.
We can have solidarity of purpose without having a consensus on how best to pursue it. We can all be on the same team, even if we aren't playing the exact same game.
So get off of each other's backs already. Every second we spend fighting with each other is a generous contribution the theocrats, and they are tickled pink to accept it.
Current Mood:  Fed up.
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03:01 pm
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Just because it's so fucking awesome...
Current Mood:  mischievous
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02:16 pm
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Mark Morford on Prop. 8
It's God's fault
The cruel success of Prop. 8? Not Newsom, not gays. Blame You Know Who
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Michigan just legalized medical pot. Liddy Dole is gone. John Sununu is gone. The Dems picked up at least six Senate seats. North Carolina went blue for the first time in more than three decades. A teen girl in California, for the third time now, won't be forced to notify her parents if she wants an abortion.
South Dakota easily beat back, for the second time, the most repellent anti-choice legislation in the nation. Colorado was close behind, trouncing an insidious proposition that would've deemed a zygote a whole little person. California will get high-speed rail. The smart black dude actually won.
It's almost a grand sweep. It's almost the most forward-thinking, thoroughly stunning election in American history, so much dead wood and so many old evangelical poisons swept from the national dialogue, it's as though we just swallowed a grand emetic of possibility, and purged like never before.
Almost.
Amid the glory and the disbelief and the Obamapalooza, the thorn. The nail in the pudding. The kidney punch during the massage.
( Read more... )
Current Mood: cranky
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09:01 am
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Keith sums it up.
Current Mood:  sad
Tags: prop 8
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09:03 pm
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Back where it belongs...
My new girlfriend, Rachael Maddow, just pointed out this lovely tidbit, highly indicitive of the radical difference between the incoming administration and the miscreants we've been suffering under for the last eight years.
On the web page for the Obama transitional team, they include this organizational chart of the U.S. Government:
Note that not only do they acknowledge the very existance of the Constitution, but they put back in it's rightul place, at the very top, above even the president. The entirety of the government exists only to serve it.
Not only that, but the office of the Vice President has also been restored to it's rightful place, clearly within the executive branch, and subservient to the president.
Wow. How refreshing. Politicians who not only passed their civics classes, but took them to heart.
Current Mood:  hopeful
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01:22 pm
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Prop 8: What just happened?
BOYCOTT ORSON SCOTT CARD!
Current Mood: Furious
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11:23 am
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Topsy Turvey
In a stunning reversal of politics-as-usual, I am swelling with pride in my country, and utterly ashamed of my state.
Obama's landslide victory tells me that there is hope for America after all, that you can't fool all of the people all of the time, and that the healing can begin.
But in direct opposition to this surge of reason, California passes Prop. 8, the most vile piece of legislated discrimination I've witnessed in my adult life. It's as though a huge contingent of red state theocrats snuck across the border into my homeland and started trying to rot us from the inside. The cultural civil cold war has come home.
If America is going to survive and live up to it's promise as the "land of the free," we are going to have to beat some understanding into would-be theocrats. Sure, they are free to believe whatever nonsense they want to, and worship whatever petty god makes them happy, and live according to whatever joyless dogma they choose -- but only as long as they afford the same tolerance to those of us who don't share their beliefs. If they keep trying to force their bitter morality on the rest of us, maybe it's time we start taking away their religious freedoms.
The god-damned puritans came to this continent fleeing religious prosecution. As a result, the founding fathers built religious tolerance into the ideals our country. The get of the Mayflower need to be reminded that this religious tolerance applies to everyone, and that if they are going to tear it down with hateful gestures like Prop. 8, our obligation to tolerate them goes away too.
Quickly, angrily, loudly.
It's time to take off the gloves. It's the fucking twenty-first century, for crying out loud. Most of us are trying to build a brave new world, but we won't be able to do it as long as we are hindered by culturally retarded zealots intent on dragging us back to the 15th century.
So, for starters, would someone remind me exactly why do churches have tax-exempt status? If they are doing so well that they can fund hugely expensive political actions like Prop. 8 that affect more than just their own flock, it might be time to revisit that...
Current Mood:  confused
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04:40 pm
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Ah, if only it were so...
This is making the rounds via email tonight. I'm not sure who wrote it, but it's funny enough to pass along...
--------------------------------
Dear Red States:
We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.
To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma, and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals.
With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias, and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech, and MIT.
With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson, and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred -- unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent think that Saddam was involved in 9/11, and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.
Peace out,
Blue States
Current Mood: giddy
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10:19 am
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Barack Obama on Reason over Religion
If I wasn't already voting for him, this would have been the clencher.
Current Mood: pleased
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11:53 am
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Because, it's funny, right?
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10:42 am
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Hey! Politics in terms I can understand!
From the New York Observer:
Be Logical, Captain!
It’s Kirk vs. Spock in Weirdest Presidential Race of 21st Century: McCain Looked Like He Was Battling Klingons at Des Moines Register; Says Leonard Nimoy: Obama ‘Has an Intellect That Works for Him’
by Jason Horowitz
http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/be-logical-captain
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12:05 pm
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NO ON 8
This image popped into my head a few days ago, and I had to whip it up for a window sign:
Click on the image for a larger version, suitible for printing.
Feel free to use either version of the image in any way you like.
Current Mood: cranky
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09:10 pm
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A matter of perspective
After watching tonight's VP debate and hearing Sarah Palin's continual bleating about her "executive experience" as Governor of Alaska, I was curious if there was any way to put any kind of objective measure to what that was worth. Here's what I found:
ALASKA (STATE)
Population (Est. 2007): 683,478
Gross State Product(2005): $39.9 billion
Per-capita GSP(2006): $43,748
Homicides (2007) 44
Rapes: (2007) 529
SAN FRANCISCO (CITY)
Population (Est. 2007): 764,976
Gross Domestic Product: $242 billion
Per-capita GDP: $58,000
Homicides (2007) 98
Rapes (2007): 94
So, to me, this suggests Sarah Palin has less "executive experience" than our Mayor, Gavin Newsome.
And hey, what about all her puffing about being in charge of an "energy producing state?" Alaska is an oil-rich place, right? Sure, but 65% of Alaska is owned and managed by the U.S. federal government including much of the oil producing areas, so I'm guessing that Sarah wouldn't even have much involvement with that business.
And how intriguing that Mrs. Palin disagrees with McCain's desire to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, but is just as eager to drill off the coasts of California and Florida. I guess she subscribes to the "not in my back yard" doctrine...
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11:09 am
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Sarah Palin
Dear America,
Listen up: If you saddle us with this religious extremist, this lipstick wearing pig, if you force me to listen to her constant lying to the people she is supposed to represent in that horrid, whiny, nasal voice, I swear to God I will burn you to the ground.
Love,
Beej
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10:37 am
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Eine Kline Memeage...
What Planet Are You From?
this quiz was made by The Autist Formerly Known As Tim
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05:39 pm
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Exactly what I was talking about.
Police: Man shot churchgoers over liberal views
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An unemployed man accused of opening fire with a shotgun and killing two people at a Unitarian Universalist church apparently targeted the congregation out of hatred for its support of liberal social policies, police said Monday.
Associated Press
There are nutjobs on both ends of the political spectrum, but when a liberal nutjob goes off, they climb trees and live in them for a year, they chain themselves together, they write their congressman and become a general but harmless nuisance. When a conservative nutjob goes off, the guns and explosives come out, buildings are torched, and people die.
So you tell me whose mode of thought is more toxic? The godless heathen who strongly gravitate towards gentle kindness, or the Christians who are ready to condemn and destroy anything they don't agree with?
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