Tuesday, April 28, 2015

What the Teacher Saw: Baltimore Cops Created the Riot. Pass it on.

"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery."– Malcolm X
The only questions I have are:

Did they do what the Teacher describes below because they are stupid, paranoid and cowardly?

Or did they do this to make noise loud enugh to obscure and cover up their torture and murder of Freddie Gray?

I say "they" because the cops are a gang of thugs. The many act as one. The good cops cover for the bad cops. Therefore there are no good cops.
Meghann Victoria Harris

A clear narration of what my students and I just saw (and please SHARE this so people know the story): we drove into Mondawmin, knowing it was going to be a mess. I was trying to get them home before anything insane happened. The students were JUST getting out of Douglas, but before that could even happen, the police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers. Then, Douglas students, in huge herds, were trying to leave on various busses but couldn't catch any because they were all shut down. No kids were yet around except about 20, who looked like they were waiting for police to do something. The cops, on the other hand, were in full riot gear marching toward any small social clique of students who looked as if they were just milling about. It looked as if there were hundreds of cops. So, me, personally, if I were a Douglas student that just got trapped in the middle of a minefield BY cops without any way to get home and completely in harm's way, I'd be ready to pop off, too.
I hope everyone's kids are getting home to them safely tonight.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Democrat Dom Costa wants to make yelling at the police a crime. Dumbass.

Wherein I sing Dom Costa a SONG.

PA Lawmaker Wants to Make it a Crime to Taunt Police Officers Because Feelings May Get Hurt

"Also taking part in today’s meathead intellectualism de jour, was former Pittsburgh Police Officer and current House member Dom Costa, who proposed that taunting cops should be a crime because feelings may be hurt and egos may be bruised. At the press conference, Costa said:
This nonsense that is going today on where police officers are being taunted by people and being provoked, lets face it we’re all human beings, and eventually that emotion will break. And that’s what they’re trying to do. So, what I’ve talked to some of my colleagues and the senator [Senator Rafferty] is that we have a bill about taunting a police dog. It’s illegal. There should be out that you can’t taunt a police officer because you’re going to get those emotions up. I myself and Representative Vereb are looking at that bill to put it forward in the House, and I am sure the Senate will follow. Or at least support that bill. - Rep. Dom Costa"
Read more about it at Raging Chicken Press - a first class Pennsylvania politics blog. 
Oink oink at you from Philly, Dom Baby. 

You know, where the cops were investigated by the FBI for not pursuing rapists.

Where the cops grab your tit while invading your home on a bogus drug bust and tell you "Too bad Lady, nobody is going to believe you." 

Where the police assaulted Rev. Clarice Harris for asking for a badge number while they were beating someone.

The Pennsylvania State Police are no better. Some of their handiwork ------------>.

Dom Costa is an Oinker. Come onna my house, Costa. Soooo Eeeee Pig Pig Pig.

Now come and get this Old Lady. Arrest me. I hope you put aside the money it is going to cost the State of PA when the ACLU comes for your ass. I am a cute Old Lady. We will make you famous.

Dumbass. I could care less you are a Democrat. I am a nonpartisan scoffer. You are a dumbass. Dumb is you, Dom.



Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Warm and Tender Love

The great Percy Sledge has died. Rest in Love and Music. 



Thursday, April 9, 2015

Donald Trump Redux at Nick's Place


There once was a blowhard named Trump
Who had a skull as thick as his rump.
But that thing on his head
That we weren't sure was dead
May've been the brains of the bunch.

by Nick Vanocur



Caricature of The Donald from FreakingNews.com. You want to go there for superb photoshop Art. 

Okay, Scotty. Show us on the doll where the big nasty Koch brothers touched you.


BuckeyeB says "The thumb marks the spot."

You think this Walker guy is juiced? Look at his eyes. Look at his puffy face. He looks higher than the birds to me. And trust me, I know about get high. Cocaine maybe? He looks anesthetized.

Guy looks higher than Steve Cantaloupe Calves King. And that is saying something.

Sydney suggests that if we listen quietly, we can hear the marbles rolling around in Walker's head. I have seriously funny friends.

I take this occasion to present a petition to the White House. Past time to regularly and randomly drug test Congress - House and Senate. And a few Governors as well. What is sauce for the Working Man must be sauce for The Suits.

Please GO HERE to sign the petition.

Arrange to randomly and regularly drug test Congress - both House and Senate.

We can see drug and alcohol impairment of several members of Congress - both House and Senate. This petition is an intervention.
Published Date: Apr 09, 2015

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Sign of the Month - April 2015 - STFU David Brooks

David Brooks wants Gay Rights Advocates to "Go Gently"with their opposition

Remember Matthew Shepherd?
When was the last time LGBTQ activists tied a fundy Xtian to fence, beat the Xtian bloody and left him to die?

Remember the Upstairs Lounge arson?
When was the last time a LGBTQ activist set fire to a Xtian Purity Ball and murdered 30 people.

Remember Eric Rudolph?
When was the last time a gay activist was responsible for a series of anti-Xtian motivated bombings which killed two people and injured 111 others.

Who is David Brooks and why should we care? You think he is married? 

David Brooks needs to STFU. He is a bigot and a paid professional liar and obfuscator. No LGBTQ activist is killing and maiming and torturing Xtians for shitz and giggles. No LGBTQ activist is calling for the execution of Christians. The same cannot be said of fundamentalist Christians.




Saturday, April 4, 2015

Tom Wolf wants to liberate LGBTQ folks in PA. We can help.

lgbt-pa-flagI love my new Governor. I am so glad I cast my vote for Tom Wolf. First, he starts to work on the death penalty and now he is working on civil rights for sexual minorities.

I feel like singing Dayenu and I am not Jewish. If Tom Wolf only rid us of the death penalty and created peace for LGBT, it would be enough.

As we sit around our feast day tables, we give thanks and we remember that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, TransGender and Queer folks are our Family, Friends and Colleagues and we love them.

Everything else Wolf might do is lagniappe. Way to go, Governor. What an excellent gift to all of us in Pennsylvania for Passover and Easter.

Now claim the gift, fellow Pennsylvanians, and sign the Governor's petition HERE.
PA-Gov: Wolf Denounces Indiana Bill, Calls for New Legislation
Governor Wolf is pushing for Pennsylvania to become a more inclusive place.In the wake of the controversy over Indiana’s anti-LGBT legislation, Wolf is asking the legislature to adopt a non-discrimination law in PA.
“I simply don’t understand what the Governor of Indiana was thinking when he signed a bill that allows discrimination against people based on who they love,” Wolf wrote in an email to his campaign subscribers. “It’s not only wrong on a human level, but also ill-advised for attracting businesses and creating jobs in today’s global economy.”
“But we have some work to do here in Pennsylvania as well,” the Governor continued. “Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is the only state in the Northeast that doesn’t prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression — and that needs to end.”

Listen to the Philadelphia Biblical University Institute of Jewish Studies class of 2000 music team beautifully perform the popular Passover song Dayenu. Happy Pesach! Happy Easter! 




Wednesday, April 1, 2015

OMG GOP WTF? - Klingon Shit Happens - UPDATE

UPDATE: Rev. Klingenschmidt rides again!

I knew before he was elected that KlingonShit was going to be popcorn worthy. I love it when subsequent events prove my wisdom. KlingonShit has been removed from a committee by the Republican party. You voted for him Colorado. I iz laffing.
Last week, a pregnant woman in Colorado was attacked by a stranger who stabbed her in the stomach and cut her baby out of her womb, and Republican state legislator Gordon Klingenschmitt is attributing the attack to God's curse upon America for the sin of legal abortion. - Right Wing Watch
It's Colorado rocky mountain high.
I've seen it raining fire in the sky.
Friends around the campfire
And everybodys high.
Rocky mountain high ...
- John Denver
The Republican Party candidate for State Representative from El Paso County Colorado is Rev. Gordon James Klingenschmitt.  Rev. Klingenschmitt is an Evangelical Christian who has a daily religious program carried to a number of outlets by Direct TV.

Are Colorado Republicans insane? This is the guy who preaches that the FCC is allowing demonic spirits to "molest and visually rape your children." And preaches that Obamacare causes cancer. And homosexuality is a sin and a "foul cancer." 

I do not think insanity or Republicans are the reason this guy won his primary. "What is the reason?" I ask myself and I answer thus:

I think stoners are doing a takedown for shitz and giggles. Confess. How many stoners registered Republican just so you could vote for this guy? How many trekkies think I should apologize for the Klingon joke?

My evidence for a charge of stoner and trekkie hijinks? "Gordon does not speak on behalf of the Republican Party. To suggest otherwise is inaccurate and dishonest," said Ryan Call, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. The Navy did not want this guy either so they canned him.

Stoners and Trekkies look sharp. Caveat emptor! This twatwaffle is serious as a heart attack. And like the Tundra Twat, he sounds sane enough at first look to get elected. All this sanctimony is giving me serious agita.



Sunday, March 29, 2015

Marijuana - The Devil's Flower



I thank The Execrable Bede and Mr. Sunshine for this moment of Moral Edification and Attitude Adjustment.



Sunday, March 22, 2015

Rain and Gardens


Spring is here. I am ordering Herb Seeds and plotting Flowers. I am planting Milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies this year. I am getting that Happy Green Feeling in spite of the cold outside.

I have learned you can make that boggy place in your yard a thing of beauty and help clean and conserve water by planting a Rain Garden. 

Once planted, such a garden is maintained with little to no effort. And that is good news. Gardening can be hard work.

The woman in the photograph is teaching a class in Rain Gardens and you can see the perfect sort of location. Find out all the particulars at the link.
"To select a location for a rain garden, begin by observing your yard during a good rainfall. Notice where water is flowing. Rain gardens should ideally be located between the source of runoff (roofs and driveways) and the runoff destination (drains, streams, low spots, etc.)."

The photograph on the right is a rain garden in Philadelphia, designed by Edgar David.
"Rainwater that flows from the house roof to the stone cistern is used to irrigate an intimate collection of woodland plants."
You can read more about this interesting garden HERE. 

The Philadelphia Water Department has some excellent information about making Rain Gardens. The PWD also has a rain barrel program for those of us who do not have a boggy spot and still want to utilize and help manage rain water runoff. And now it is time for a Spring song by The Velvet Fog.


Saturday, March 14, 2015

De-evolution of the Republican Party

This cartoon is so good I just had to post it. Enjoy. This post has musical accompaniment. See below.

I cannot find the artist for attribution or a better copy. If anyone has information about this cartoon, please share.
I'm an apeman, I'm an ape, apeman, oh I'm an apeman
I'm a King Kong man, I'm a voodoo man, oh I'm an apeman
I don't feel safe in this world no more,
I don't want to die in a nuclear war.
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an apeman
Songwriters: DAVIES, RAY
Apeman lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., ABKCO Music Inc.



Todd Starnes the Cherry Picker - Asshats on Parade

"Isn't it wonderful that we are all so queer." - Minnie Jane Hamm at Trenton Friends Meeting.
Todd Starnes conflates homophobia with Christianity. As does a beleaguered Navy Chaplain named Modder. Fundamentalist Christians use Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 to condemn and vilify gay people. Chaplain Modder uses the Biblical rules to shame people who have premarital sex. The Asexual and biblically stunted must not make rules for the normally sexed. 

Leviticus 21:16-22 says that no man with a defect, specifically of his genitals or his eyes, may as much as approach the altar. Some how and some way Fundamentalist Christians ignore the rules when the rules do not suit them.

So if your pastor wears glasses, has only one testicle, prostate cancer or psoriasis, he may not go near the altar to preach, bless or pray. That means Chaplain Modder. That means you Todd Starnes. You wear glasses. You cherry pick the Bible at will, Todd, when it is your ox being gored. 
Todd Starnes
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Say to Aaron: "For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 19 no man with a crippled foot or hand, 20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.
Ever hear these phony religionists mention these verses? They lie by omission. Lying is a sin. Do these folks not realize that Gays and other Queer Folks are our family, our friends and our colleagues that we respect and may love dearly?
Matthew 5:22 - He who beats his brother must answer for it to the court; he who sneers at him will answer for it in the fires of Hell..
How can Fundamentalist Christians ignore Jesus this way and feel honest? It is time for the US military to hire only those folks with real expertise in counseling and human behavior to be Chaplains. It is time for the US Military to retire Modder. Past time.


I am so queer. I fantasize egregious sexual assault. I have been so hurt by sexually bent religous authoritarians. I am for it, but I am not going to do it. Jesus told us not to do that revenge stuff. I have to find a way to love these guys. God help me.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Laughing at Libertarians

 "Libertarians believe they are the 'principled' members of our political family and yet when push comes to shove the only principle most of them really care about is the one that says they shouldn't have to pay a dime toward the greater good." - Digby at Hullabaloo
This is a Barry Deutsch cartoon. You can get it and lots of other cartoons on a Tshirt if you ask nicely and wave money.

I am declaring this Make Fun of a Libertarian Day in honor of Rand Paul. Because the Aqua Buddha offends me.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Bug Off Container Garden

Water is the universal solvent. Chemical pest control eventually ends up in our water supply. I try never to use manmade pesticides. Those Frankenstein concoctions are killing our bees. I am always looking for natural solutions to environmental problems.

Rob Sproule of Salisbury Greenhouse writes excellent garden articles. He is doing interesting work in the community with school gardens. Teaching children gardening is one of the better things one can do with one's time. 
“Mosquitos are a fact of life in Canada, but dousing our skin in DEET doesn’t have to be. This container, though non-edible, is perfect to grow on your patio, in your gazebo or anywhere you like to sit and unwind in the evenings. You could also break it up into smaller pots to create a scented perimeter.” – Rob Sproule





Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Cher Readers - Announcement


Google has backed down from their new Net Censor mode. Yes!

TALK ME DOWN. I AM FREAKING OUT.

I have been told by google that if I have graphic nudity on my blog, my blog will be marked PRIVATE whether I like it or not.

That means you cannot read or post here unless I put your screen name on a list of regular readers. Evidently you would have an extra step to access the blog. You will get an 'adult content warning.'

If the nudity is for educational purposes, it is kool evidently. Is Mapplethorpe educational or cultural?

EVIDENTLY TOADYS AND PEARL CLUTCHERS CAN REPORT ME. I would like to keep my PUBLIC status. I might have to take down the cock pictures.

I am not sure what to do to preserve my blog as it is. If there are more sophisticated NET consumers than me, and that is not hard, please give me any ideas about how to deal with this. Do I need my own domain to preserve content and ease of access?

Adult content policy on Blogger

Starting March 23, 2015, you won't be able to publicly share images and video that are sexually explicit or show graphic nudity on Blogger.
Note: We’ll still allow nudity if the content offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts.

Changes you’ll see to your existing blogs

If your existing blog doesn’t have any sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video on it, you won’t notice any changes.
If your existing blog does have sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video, your blog will be made private after March 23, 2015. No content will be deleted, but private content can only be seen by the owner or admins of the blog and the people who the owner has shared the blog with.

Settings you can update for existing blogs

If your blog was created before March 23, 2015, and contains content that violates our new policy, you have a few options for changing your blog before the new policy starts:
If you’d rather take your blog down altogether, you can export your blog as a .xml file or archive your blog's text and images using Google Takeout.

Effect on new blogs

For any blogs created after March 23, 2015, we may remove the blog or take other action if it includes content that is sexually explicit or shows graphic nudity as explained in our content policy.

Monday, February 23, 2015

I am coming out of my closet. I have a role in this video.

This video is one of the funniest things my friend Beefy has done. Our scene is extemporaneous. We created it on the spot in my back yard and my parlor.

Beefy is a comedy genius and it was an honor to work with him. This is what a genius can do with no money. Imagine what he could do if he had some bucks.

This underground video sold like condoms in Philly. I thought I hated rap. I did not understand it. Some superior poetry in these raps.








Sunday, February 22, 2015

Sign of the Month - February 2015

Turkish men have donned miniskirts to denounce violence against women at a protest in Istanbul after a 20-year-old student was beaten to death after trying to fight off a man assaulting her. Video at the link above.

I respect men who love and protect women. For more photographs of these amazing men go HERE. 

Tanrı bu adamları korusun. God bless them just standing there in their socks. If my Turkish is poor, cher Readers, please correct me.

See more at: https://twitter.com/hashtag/ozgecanicinminietekgiy

The Men's Mini Skirt Action



Saturday, February 21, 2015

World Food Day Posters 2014

Congratulations to the winners of World Food Day Poster Contest 2014 entitled ‘Family Farming’.

I present my favorite posters  because the children's art is so amazing and energizing. 

Go to the link to see all the posters in the contest and the names of the artists and their ages. You can also find out how to enter your child or your class in next year's contest. 




Friday, February 20, 2015

Paying attention this time, Hillary? Big Dog and the Repubs did this. - UPDATE


UPDATE: Hillary needs to do something about economic populism and it seems she knows it.

Hillary Clinton Had A Private Meeting With Elizabeth Warren
"... and if you want to improve, you have to recognize where you are. We live in a white patriarchal society and if you are a woman, a child or a minority, you are fucked." - Bob Earll
"Too many women are forced to abort by poverty, by their menfolk, by their parents ... A choice is only possible if there are genuine alternatives." - Germaine Greer:
You can buy the cartoon below on a Tshirt. Barry Deutsch is the artist.

We’re Arresting Poor Mothers for Our Own Failures

You’ve probably heard the name Shanesha Taylor at this point. She’s the Arizona mother who was arrested for leaving her children in the car while she went to a job interview. 

In the mid-1990s, President Clinton signed welfare reform legislation into law that changed welfare in America profoundly. One of the major changes welfare reform brought about was the work requirement. Now, even women with young children were required to be working, or looking for work, in order to receive benefits. In a radio address after signing the bill, Clinton promised that if poor people went to work, “we will protect the guarantees of health care, nutrition, and child care, all of which are critical to helping families move from welfare to work.” THAT SUPPORT NEVER MATERIALIZED. 
Read more at The Nation. 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

So glad I voted for Tom Wolf. Way to go, Governor!

“The State is not God. It has not the right to take away what it cannot restore when it wants to.”
- Anton Chekhov
Governor Tom Wolf expanded Medicaid in our State. I cheered. That makes a big difference in my daughter's life and the lives of many young people just starting out in life.

So, I was congratulating myself for voting for him. 

And then I read the article below and I got even more proud that I had the good sense to vote for this good thoughtful man. The American Civil Liberties Union position on the death penalty can be read HERE. 

Courthouse News Service
Execution Moratorium Imposed in Pennsylvania
By DAN MCCUE
Pennsylvania's newly elected governor imposed a moratorium on the state's death penalty Friday, declaring it "anything but infallible."
Governor Tom Wolf's decision surprised many in the state capital of Harrisburg, as capital punishment had not been an issue in his 2014 gubernatorial campaign to unseat the incumbent Tom Corbett. In fact, his campaign website, which is still active, focuses mainly on the state's economy, job creation and education.
Wolf said as currently wielded, the state's capital sentencing system is "riddled with flaws, making it error prone, expensive and anything but infallible." He said the moratorium will remain in effect at least until he receives a report from a legislative commission that has been created to study the administration of the death penalty in the state since 2011.
Read more HERE...

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

STFU Star Parker. Just STFU right now. - Asshats on Parade

"I will kill your Sisters." My Stepfather on my 13th birthday. Little did I know they were told the same thing.
- 21 Men Holding Signs Quoting Their Rapists. 
After rape, men commonly insert foreign objects into the vagina: sticks, sand, rocks, knives, burning wood or charcoal, or molten plastic made by melting shopping bags. Killing the rape victim by firing a handgun or rifle inserted in the vagina is a common practice; some victims have survived.
Mass Rape in the Congo by Ann Jones



Star Parker asserts that a spoken sentence about the history of religious terrorism is the same as rape of a person with a penis or a broken bottle or a gun.

A sentence uttered, however much it may discomfort one, is not a violent crime. Only rape is rape.

Is it important to say here that I am a Christian? Maybe. This woman claims to speak for Christians. I hope I make it clear she does not speak for me.

I am getting really tired of Authoritarians of the religious and secular persuasion who trivialize rape. And then set out to stick things up my vagina for Jesus, family values, my fetus and the American Way. Tired down to the ground.

I am a rape survivor. Only rape is rape.

I am weary of extremists - whatever their ethnic, political, sexual or religious persuasion. Helpless anger is the feeling I get. I do not like feeling this way. I am writing about my issues. I tweeted this woman a link to this article. It is not enough.


Sunday, February 8, 2015

The Ties that Bind Us

Thirty years ago women focused on equality in U.S. church and society. Today that expectation remains largely unfulfilled around the world.
The institutional Roman Catholic Church is widely seen as the epitome of male privilege run amok, covering up some of its leaders’ criminal sexual behavior and illegal financial dealings by focusing on the perceived shortcomings of women.
I fear this current discussion of women, and even the seemingly helpful efforts to eradicate sex trafficking that are being discussed in Rome this week may be more smokescreens than picture windows. I long to be proven wrong. - Mary E. Hunt
Venere Restaurata - Man Ray
The quote above is the closing paragraph in Mary E. Hunt's article Vatican Council on Women Would Be Funny Were It Not So Insulting. The article is a thoughtful analysis worth reading. I think I can support her scepticism graphically.

The Pontifical Council for Culture in Rome, presided over by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and made up of cardinals and bishops who are all men, discussed “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference” from February 4-7, 2015. The council chose Man Ray’s Venus Restored 1936 as the cover illustration for its study document in preparation for the meeting. 

Mary Hunt is a respectable lady and I am not sure she would feel comfortable being quoted in Plum Land. Hat tip from me but no apology. I am underscoring her sense of the absurdity of it all. Not one woman was allowed to speak at that council. 

Tell me, Cher Reader, would you illustrate the cover of a conference on say Men's Cultures: Equality and Difference with this image? And then not allow men to speak about their reactions to such? You think that might cause a wee problem?

At least this image has arms and some fooking clothes on. How tone deaf is the Roman Catholic hierarchy? Catholic women are the church. Why do these celibate men disrespect and marginalize us? What revolting narcissism. 

Bound Man (Hombre atado)

Mexico, 1930
Woodcut on colored tissue paper
The Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art


Saturday, January 31, 2015

Vaginal Probe Keychain - Magic Google Finger


My friend rg9rts coined the phrase 'vaginal probe keychain.' I never heard of such. I asked what it was. Rg9rts allowed as how it was made up. So creative. We were discussing the War on Women.

I thought it was a euphonious phrase, so I googled it. I did that once before with interesting results. This is the result of my google, The best attributions I can find are below or on the images.:


http://atheistuniverse.net/photo/vaginal-probe







During the height of last year’s outcry over the GOP’s “War on Women,” transvaginal probes became one of the most recognizable symbols of the Republican Party’s overreaching anti-abortion policies. Particularly when Virginia pushed forward with a controversial measure to require all women seeking abortions to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound, women’s health advocates decried the practice as “state-sponsored rape.” Read more at Think Progress.
I do not mean to diss those who enjoy electro sex. It is a shame that the dirty filthy GOP taints all that is good and creative. You can get the bumper sticker below for $1.00 American.