Sapere Aude!

After the Collapse, I Will Be In Charge

Remember that Russian professor that predicted the fragmentation of the US from a while back?

After, I will probably be installed as the official political and legal authority in the area since Texas is taking over here.

Sometimes It Slips Out

All Angry White Men are the Same, Right?

I guess, they are all the same in regard to age and ethnicity.

This is the modern face of cable television news: angry, emotional, mouth agape in the midst of some hateful monologue. Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, the worst purveyors of cable news rage are all white men over 40. The era of the angry white man is officially here.

There’s Bill O'Reilly, commanding "bad Americans" to "shut up" or shoving his index finger into people's faces and yelling, "Bull!" There was Sean Hannity, accusing guests of saying they would "stand by" while women around the world were raped. And over there was Glenn Beck, dousing a staffer in pretend gasoline before hovering a match over the pleading young man's head—conveniently, Beck's horror show was passed off as a metaphor for the way Barack Obama was going to incinerate America, instead of what it actually was: a gruesome theater spectacle that belonged not on a news network, but in an old-timey street revival.

Fox News gets credit for perfecting this particular brand of madness, but they certainly didn't monopolize it. Eventually, the spittle-flicking caterwauling entered and corroded each of the top cable news networks.

On CNN, the station's local anti-immigration zealot, Lou Dobbs, was caught saying that economists who support immigration are "jackasses," while curmudgeon Jack Cafferty designated  all Chinese goods "junk." Over at CNBC, in a now-famous screed from the Chicago Stock Exchange's trading floor, business reporter Rick Santelli proclaimed that people who can't pay their mortgages are "losers." His “populist rant” caused an eruption of cheers from the brokers on the floor. Then there's Keith Olbermann, the most infamously angry newsman not on Fox, and also FNC’s mortal enemy. Every night, the MSNBC host blasts someone as the "Worst Person in the World" and once advised President George W. Bush to "shut the hell up!" If nothing else, at least anger is bipartisan.

The author goes on to point out that these voices dominate political commentary in the MSM to the exclusion of black men.  Fair enough, there are a lot of angry white men in the media, but are they really the same?  Is ranting for years about a doctor that performs legal procedures you disagree with near the point of inciting violence the same as getting mad about violence inciting rhetoric? 

Texas Tech Hires Alberto Gonzales

Texas Tech has a new faculty member: the torture defending Alberto Gonzales.

Alberto Gonzales, who resigned as the Bush administration’s embattled attorney general nearly two years ago, has lined up a fall-semester teaching spot at Texas Tech University, the university confirmed today.

Gonzales, who was Gov. George W. Bush’s lawyer, Texas secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice before joining Bush in Washington, will be working as an visiting professor in the political science department, teaching a “special topics” course on contemporary issues in the executive branch, according to Dora Rodriguez, a senior business assistant in the department. The university later said it will be a junior-level course.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what "special topics" on the executive branch he'll teach?  I think "How to Shit on the Constitution" would be a good course title for him.  And, I hope he manages his classes better than he managed The Department of Justice.

WASHINGTON — Former Justice Department officials broke the law by letting Bush administration politics dictate the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, according to an internal investigation released Monday.

For nearly two years, top advisers to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discriminated against applicants for career jobs who weren't Republican or conservative loyalists, the Justice report found.

At times, their search for GOP activists delayed filling judgeships and threatened to clog immigration courts, the report said.

The federal government makes a distinction between "career" and "political" appointees, and it's a violation of civil service laws and Justice Department policy to hire career employees on the basis of political affiliation or allegiance.

Yet Monica Goodling, who served as Gonzales' counselor and White House liaison, routinely asked career job applicants about politics, the report concluded.

I wonder if there will be an ideological test for students in his class as well?  I know I should not worry though because David Horowitz will surely keep an eye on him to make sure those students get a fair and balanced education.  Meanwhile . . .

Is the Internet Ruining Porn?

Some porn-stars are worried about the decline of their craft.

The actress known as Savanna Samson once relished preparing for a role. “I couldn’t wait to get my next script,” she said.

There’s no reason to look at them anymore, she said, because her movies now call almost exclusively for action. Specifically, sex.

The pornographic movie industry has long had only a casual interest in plot and dialogue. But moviemakers are focusing even less on narrative arcs these days. Instead, they are filming more short scenes that can be easily uploaded to Web sites and sold in several-minute chunks.

“On the Internet, the average attention span is three to five minutes,” said Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment. “We have to cater to that.”

Vivid, one of the most prominent pornography studios, makes 60 films a year. Three years ago, almost all of them were feature-length films with story lines. Today, more than half are a series of sex scenes, loosely connected by some thread — “vignettes” in the industry vernacular — that can be presented separately online. Other major studios are making similar shifts.

So, wait, the internet is ruining porn?  That's a new one.

Sarah Palin, Still Popular with People Just Like Her

Although she has continued to drop in popularity with pretty much everybody else, Republicans still really like Sarah Palin.

WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin's bombshell that she is resigning as Alaska governor actually has boosted her a bit among Republicans, a nationwide USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, though it also has dented her standing among Democrats and independents.

Two-thirds of Republicans want Palin, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2008, to be "a major national political figure" in the future. Three-fourths of Democrats hope she won't be.

[ . . .]

When it comes to a potential presidential run, the USA TODAY Poll displays Palin's strength in the Republican base and weakness among swing voters, who traditionally decide national elections. Republicans by 71%-27% say they'd be likely to vote for her if she ran for president in 2012, while independents by 51%-44% would not.

And, just who is in that Republican demographic these days? 

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of self-identified Republicans are white conservatives, while the Democratic Party includes more moderates, liberals, and minorities.

Sarah Palin is popular with people just like her, but that is not enough to win a national election.   I hope the GOP keeps doing what it's doing.  Even though the country is supposedly more conservative, the decline of the GOP seems to continue.  In other words, conservatives have a problem winning the approval of conservatives in an increasingly conservative country.  That's got to sting a little, huh, Repubs?

Is Greed the Engine of Capitalism?

Maybe not, logically speaking.  But, is it crazy to think that capitalist practice and institutions may very well encourage greed.  Do you really think that paying young women to not get pregnant really sends them the right message?  Doesn't that sort of thing instill in kids the idea that things are only worth doing if you get paid for it?  Is that greed?  So maybe greed is not the engine of capitalism, but a bi-product that poisons these institutions from within leading to their eventual corruption and downfall.

Michael Jackson Was Probably Not a Child Molester

I always thought that given his childhood and repeated accusations of impropriety probably meant Jackson had some inappropriate contact with kids.  The fact he settled with his first accuser out of court did not look good to me.  But, today I read something that changed my mind.

I was told last week that he had recently begun a relationship with a male artist. However, Jackson was afraid of being revealed as gay, believing many would view this as confirmation of the false allegations made against him that he was a child molester.

During my investigation into Jackson's life, I discovered a disturbing new twist to the infamous allegations that first emerged in the early Nineties. It may explain the star's increasingly fragile state of mind.

When Jackson settled out of court with his first accuser, Jordan Chandler, for more than $15million in 1994, his career went into a rapid decline from which he never recovered.

Jackson had not wanted to settle the case. I have obtained legal documents proving that his insurance company forced the settlement on him against his will.

The documents state: 'The [1994 Chandler] settlement agreement was for global claims of negligence and the lawsuit was defended by Mr Jackson's insurance carrier. The insurance carrier negotiated and paid the settlement, over the protests of Mr Jackson and his personal legal counsel.'

Jackson was said to have almost collapsed as the settlement was forced upon him. His aides insist this marked the beginning of his mental and physical breakdown.

Now, I do not feel bad about enjoying the music, and feel a lot worse for Michael Jackson.

If More People are Conservative Why is the GOP a Wreck?

Polls keep indicating that a lot of Americans consider themselves conservative, and that more people are becoming more conservative than they are liberal.  So, if that's the case, then why is the GOP is such a shambles politically speaking?  They do not seem to have much of an any traction outside the white male demographic.

Sarah Palin: Pitbull or Poodle?

During the 2008 campaign Sarah Palin clearly had no problems playing the political game.  She repeated some of the worst charges against Obama by trying to paint him as a terrorist sympathizer and stroke the flames of xenophobia by painting him as an unknown Other.  Remember this stuff?

She was a pitbull on the campaign trail.
But, now we see that Palin seems to have trouble taking the negative attention and criticism that unfortunately goes part and parcel with politics. She cites it as a part of the reason for her resignation.

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Now, she comes across more like a poodle that we're supposed to feel sorry for because it has been kicked by the media. Also, this thing where Republicans try to paint themselves as just a bunch of regular Joes is really getting on my nerves.