Watching the PBS series "Carrier" was a revelation, but not always a pleasant one...

[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]

Just a few darts to launch out into the political world on a blustery winter evening; as always, the primaries creep into the scene.  What can a guy do?  It’s the world we live in.

/*  Mel Gibson has met the terms of his no-contest plea for drunk driving with public apologies (again) for his appalling anti-Semitism, but I noticed very clearly that the part of the episode where he called a deputy "sugar tits" has been left out of the official story of redemption.

It’s not okay to excuse and ignore the sexism and the misogyny.  You’ve got one hell of a long way to go, Mr. Gibson.

So Rocky has endorsed McCain.  

Okay, with Chuck Norris fervently defending the Huckster's corner and the all-important Balboa blessing bestowed, now it's time to round up the rest of the action movie hero endorsements.

Cons as in Conservatives, a strange amalgam of strictured Roman Catholics and pompous Southern Baptists and other Fundamentalist Protestants? Cons as in NeoCons, leaning more to the Judeo side of the Judeo-Christian construct, perchance with ties to AIPAC and dreams of Israeli Empire?

Torture as in waterboarding, simulated murder and rape of loved ones or actual rape and murder of loved ones, the classic scenes of Abu Ghraib, burning with cigarettes, branding with red hot coathangers–part and parcel of loving the sanctity of the fetus–and the spectacle of the abortive coathanger?

Bill O'Reilly, the hate filled bigot and bloviating blowhard on Faux News is a bigot.  He's also an Anti Semite.  While I personally believe that Bill's deliberate misuse and 180 degree twisting of words such as Nazi and KKK is merely an act of Bill O'Reilly projecting himself onto those most dissimilar to him, the proof of O'Reilly's anti-semitism can be found in his own words and his own behavior.  There's no need on my part to dishonestly attribute anonymous quotes from an O'Reilly linked website to Bill O'Reilly himself.  The direct, inferential, and circumstantial proof of O'Reilly's anti-semitism and contempt for most Jews is right there in the open.  It's just a matter of repeating it.  

(Courtesy of CN'ya News)

   As per our breaking stories the last two days on President Bush's full pardon for leading dead Nazis and for various accused traitors or criminals, the President has now pardoned Al Gore III for any prospective drug convictions.
   
    "Hell, we both went to Harvard! And like to have a little fun! And it's the 4th of July! Freedom!!! like my friend Mel Giblet says when he's wearin' that Scottie skirt!!" said the President, "bonging" a large of quantity of "near beer" while in a hot tub with new friend Angie Merkel.

    Mr. Bush, seemingly tipsy, then blamed global warming on the 9/11 explosions, called Al Gore "Al Qaida", and said, "Al! Why the hell can't you be a real American like me or your son there?" before he sank beneath the suds, soap suds or otherwise.

Unfortunately, when it comes to ethnic identity and bigotry my observations point to a very detrimental trend that makes improving the situation much more difficult.  Stated plainly, it is the encouragement in each group of a knee-jerk resentment toward and stereotypical profile of another.

It's the fear of what comes after the doing that makes the doing hard to do.

~Tony Kushner, Angels In America: Millenium Approaches

"My name’s Isaiah Washington and I am a bigot. My epithet of choice. Faggot."

It was perfectly timed. The same day Serena Williams stunned the world Friday, pulverizing the top-seeded Maria Sharapova to win the Grand Slam title in Melbourne, Australia, the decrepit, wheezing, dried-up cocaine addict and radio shock-jock, Don Imus, was wincing irritably over a bad telephone connection to Sid Rosenberg, the gambling crack-addict that was fired as Imus' sports commentator after making the following comment in response to singer Kylie Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis: "She won't look so pretty when she's bald with one titty."

You may recall, Rosenberg – in a comment that did not get him fired -- called Serena and sister Venus Williams, animals, better suited to pose for National Geographic than Playboy.

Yes, it’s an ugly word when tossed as a hateful epithet. And although the word faggot has been around since around 1250 or so, referring to a bundle of sticks, twigs, or branches bound together and used as fuel, and as late (or early) as 1915 was used as a contemptuous word for a female (by Americans, of course), its still a word that is unequivocally acceptable in some contexts and under certain circumstances.
 
Although not according to star of the ABC hit show Grey’s Anatomy, Isaiah Washington.
 
A brouhaha of gargantuan proportions has enveloped Hollywood after the Grey’s Anatomy star, speaking to reporters at the Golden Globes, reopened a wound he had made back in October last year when he referred to T.R. Knight as a faggot.

Inevitably, the subject of Mel Gibson's new movie, Apocalypto, will arise at the dinner table. Here's a short primer on how to be Mesoamerican chic with your adjectives and nouns.

Just to keep tabs on what torture is--and isn't--in the view of the wingnuts.

First, a reminder about what the law
says about torture and suffering:

Article 32. A protected person/s shall not have anything done to them of such a character as to cause physical suffering or extermination ... the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies not only to murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment' While popular debate remains on what constitutes a legal definition of torture (see discussion on the Torture page), the ban on corporal punishment simplifies the matter; even the most mundane physical abuse is thereby forbidden by Article 32, as a precaution against alternate definitions of torture. (See Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.)

Just pulled this off an internet gossip site:

Former boxing champion Mike Tyson is to become a male escort after agreeing to work at legendary Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss' new legalized brothel for women. Fleiss bought 60 acres of land in Nevada, and his work is scheduled to begin on Heidi's Stud Farm.

She has high hopes for Tyson, once heavyweight champion of the world - despite the fact he is a convicted rapist.

She says, "I told him, 'You're going to be my big stallion.' It's every man's fear that their girlfriend will go for Mike Tyson."

Tyson, 40, adds, "I don't care what any man says, it's every man's dream to please every woman - and get paid for it."

24 years and 4 months in prison?!? There is no way that, in that short a time, Skilling will be able to take it up the ass as many times as he gave it in the ass to thousands of people with his "accounting tricks and shady business deals that led to the loss of thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in Enron stock and more than $2 billion in employee pension plans after the company imploded in 2001."

Not to mention, Skilling can get 54 days a year reduced from his sentence for "good behavior" (something the man certainly seems incapable of). Jeffrey was also ordered to undergo alcohol and mental-health counseling. If he does so, a year's automatically dropped from his sentence -- sort of like a "Get out of Jail Free" card.

What's the deal with everyone who does anything wrong these days claiming they had problems with alcoholism? From Mel Gibson to that creepy predator/pedophile Republican Representative that just got his ass busted, thanks to transcripts where he chatted with underage male interns about how hard he was and wondered if he made the kids "horny" (sort of like a really twisted Austin Powers).

A judge postponed the execution of an Ohio death row inmate on the grounds that lethally injecting a person so obese would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. They may have to compromise and strap him to Kirstie Alley...  [] The Florida priest who molested Mark Foley as a youth has stepped forward.   Happened while Tom was an altar boy at Our Lady of Neverland parish near Orlando...   Democrats are poised to take over the House of Representatives. But Nancy Pelosi isn't measuring the Speaker's office for drapes. She plans to save the taxpayers some money by using one of Hastert's old suits...  [] The U.S. population has reached three hundred million. 300,000,001 if you count Madonna's new kid...

More of this stuff awaits below the fold!

Things are happening so fast it's hard for this correspondent to keep up.  But here goes...

[]      The Army has replaced its slogan "Army of One," used since 2001, with "Army Strong."  Complete motto:  "Army Strong...  but commander-in-chief blithering idiot"...  []      Top British general in Iraq says, "We've kicked in the door, now it's time to leave."  He's the commander of the elite 108th Bruce Lee-Tony Lama Royal Cavaliers...  []      U-2's Bono hitched a ride last week with Bush on Air Force One. He was in town to sound mix his latest CD: "He May Be a Douche Bag But He's Our Prez." ...  []      Congressman Bob Ney pled guilty to federal corruption charges and became the fourth Republican to resign in disgrace this year.   On a brighter note, Bob's now in the running with Cunningham, DeLay and Foley for the coveted Richard Nixon Toxic Pond Scum Trophy...  Don't go 'way...  There's more!

From today's Washington Post:

A Secret in the Line of Succession

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) shows no sign of resigning over the Mark Foley-House page scandal. But the mere suggestion that he might do so raises an intriguing political and constitutional question: Who would replace him while Congress is in recess?

The answer, it appears, is on a piece of paper locked away in the House clerk's office.

In a little-noticed action taken nearly four years ago, the House amended its rules dealing with the "continuity of Congress" in emergencies and the succession of speakers. The rule, cited recently in Roll Call, directs the speaker to "deliver to the Clerk a list of Members in the order in which each shall act as Speaker pro tempore . . . in the case of a vacancy in the office of Speaker."  [full text]

[]  The plane carrying Condoleezza Rice was delayed landing in Baghdad due to hostile ground fire.   Seems a couple of our lads whose tour of duty was extended decided that real bullets for the secretary's usual 21-gun salute would be in order... [] Foley's lawyer told reporters that his client is a long-time alcoholic. "Grossly insulting to legitimate alcholics," said Hyman Bloomberg, spokesman for Mel Gibson...  [] Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth stomped on Dallas Cowboy center Andre Gurode's face, inflicting wounds requiring thirty sutures to close. And to make matters worse, he was clearly offsides...  [] Despite being winless since 1995, Patrick McEnroe has been signed to coach the US Davis Cup team for another two years.   Kind of like hiring Rumsfeld to teach Anti-Insurgency Warfare at West Point...  [] Rice claims she "doesn't remember" a pre-9/11 al Qaida warning from the CIA.  And, as a demonstration of her good faith, she's checked herself into lapse of memory rehab... Hey, if you're enjoying this, there's much more on on t'other side!