Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts

Friday, November 11, 2022

Veteran's Day

The Latin in this poem means: "Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country."
(From Horace, Odes, III. ii. 13)

2nd Lt, Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, 5th Bn. Manch. R., T.F., attd. 2nd Bn.
Awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the attack on the Fonsomme Line on October 1st/2nd, 1918. On the company commander becoming a casualty, he assumed command and showed fine leadership and resisted a heavy counter-attack. He personally manipulated a captured enemy machine gun from an isolated position and inflicted considerable losses on the enemy. Throughout he behaved most gallantly.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!
--An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
- by Wilfred Owen
 Benjamin Britten's War Requiem incorporating the poetry of Wilfred Owen.


Monday, March 28, 2022

Bede's Beat - April 15 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865

In 1942, Aaron Copland's mind was on the past and the present, because he was commissioned by André Kostelanetz write a piece about an "eminent American" for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,

Copland -- like Kurt Weill, who was contemporaneously setting several of Walt Whitman Civil War poems to musical accompaniment -- turned to the figure of Lincoln as a means of explaining to his countrymen precisely what they were fighting for in battle against the Axis.

The result was The Lincoln Portrait a work written for full orchestra with narrator. Over the years, many famous actors and Americans have performed the Lincoln Portrait, including Henry Fonda (with Copland himself conducting), Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Marian Anderson, Katherine Hepburn, Esther Rolle, Vincent Price, Walter Cronkite, Carl Sandburg (in a performance that won a Grammy), Gore Vidal, Margaret Thatcher, Neil Armstrong, Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Adlai Stevenson.

Carl Sandburg with André Kostelanetz conducting the New York Philharmonic [winner of the 1959 Grammy for "Best Performance – Documentary Or Spoken Word (Other Than Comedy)"



Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Comic Relief in the Time of Trump. Hat Tip to Gabriel García Márquez.- UPDATE

UPDATE: Thank you, President Biden for ending forever War. I can take a deep breath now. We can have nice things now. We must clean house now. Remember this: -------------> ----------->

Published 12-26-17
READY FOR WAR? 
I am ready for and need some comic relief. Maybe you do too? So I posted the funny stuff first.

If you have reached peak rage too, just skip the editorial shyte below and stick with the laughs. I am getting so scared and angry that I am too distressed to read more than a few pages at a time.

The first video is just evil. I do not find the pelvic thrust convincing. But videos are like assholes; everybody has one.





US military leaders have sent an ominous warning to American troops to be prepared, saying the enemy is ‘watching you.’ General Robert Neller pointed to the near future possibility of Russia and the Pacific theatre being the next major areas of conflict and said a “big ass fight” was on the way, reports military.com.
Read more by Patrick Knox... 

When have we not been at war since Vietnam? War is why we cannot have CHIPS, speed controls on our trains, decent airports, bridges that are not going to fall any minute.

From Eugene Victor Debs, American Socialist Party candidate for POTUS:
As we have said, the bankers are for bullets—for the fool patriots that enlist at paupers' wages to stop the bullets, while the bankers clip coupons, boost food prices, increase dividends, and pile up millions and billions for themselves. Say, Mr. Workingman, suppose you have sense enough to be as patriotic as the banker, but not a bit more so. When you see the bankers on the firing line with guns in their hands ready to stop bullets as well as start them, then it is time enough for you to be seized with the patriotic itch and have yourself shot into a crazy-quilt for their profit and glory. Don't you take a fit and rush to the front until you see them there. They own the country and if they don't set the example of fighting for it, why should you?
As quoted in "American State Trials: A Collection of the Important and Interesting Criminal Trials which Have Taken Place in the United States, from the Beginning of Our Government to the Present Day", Vol. 13, 1921


Friday, June 18, 2021

"Next time we may have to kill him." - John McGraw, suckerpuncher extraordinaire, on how to handle political protesters.

"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters. " - Donald Trump.
Cartoon Art by Bill Day. Bill Day is a two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning, and his cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. He is currently the editorial cartoonist for FloridaPolitics.com

I am a cute little old Italian lady. I am a lot cuter than John Suckerpunch McGraw or the Drumpfkopf. No one gives me a second thought, tapping around on my flowery cane.

No reason I cannot walk right up to a Trump supporter wearing a Trump button and smile and stick my tiny little Beltrame stiletto right into its balls or ass or thigh.

Stiletto is so sharp I would be doing someone else by the time it is felt it at all. No one would see it, so tiny and sharp. Designed for quiet assassination. They would not know until they saw the blood. Never mistake voluntarily peaceful for weak in this world.

Italians lived a long time under oppressive religious government and the mafia. We developed certain skills. Once the fascist woundings and killings have begun, all bets are off.
“Therefore the best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses they will not save you if you are hated by the people.” - Machiavelli.
The Fascists chased my Nonno from Italy. Nobody is chasing me away. Want to play that game? Trust me, Italians do it better.
"You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second." - Machiavelli

Thursday, July 21, 2016

The Banned Room just sent me this pile of shit.

NebDem and Crazed Ricki, go fuck yourselves with a rusty shovel. 

I do not go to your blog. Do not come to mine. You are nuts the both of you. I spent 5 minutes on your blog and inherited this? I do not know either of you whackjobs. I was invited to come to your blog. The moment I got there I was attacked by Crazed Ricki. I am not going to ban someone here because you do not like something someone said there at BR.

Any further threatening letters you send me will go automatically to SPAM. Cunts. Mortacci tua.
............................................................................................

Re: Disqus User "17"

On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 8:00 AM, Neb and Ricki The Banned Room <thebannedroom@gmail.com>wrote:

Disqus User "17" (hereinafter referred to as "User") is a poster on your blog, Plum Street Chili. As a poster on your blog, he continues to harass, threaten and target, RIcki and Nebdem, both of whom are co-owners of a blog which uses the Disqus commenting system, The Banned Room. User is using your forum as a vehicle to perpetrate his harassment and threats. The Banned Room currently averages approximately 8,000 comments per week, and has a solid base and community.

It has repeatedly come to our attention that User is in continued violation of the Terms of Service for Disqus, specifically, Basic Rules No. 1 and 4, and Plum Street Chili is in continued violation of the Terms of Service for Disqus, specifically, Basic Rule No. 1, which state as follows:

"Disqus doesn't moderate or manage the communities that use Disqus,but using Disqus to do any of the following things breaks our Terms of Service and appropriate action (which can include removing a comment or discussion, resetting a profile, or banning an account) will be taken to enforce them.

Targeted harassment or encouraging others to do so

The targeted and systematic harassment of people has no place on Disqus, nor do we tolerate communities dedicated to fostering harassing behavior.
Direct threat of harm

This covers active threats of harm directed towards a specific person or defined group of individuals."

It appears that Plum Street Chili has not acted in good faith in moderating the comments posted by User. Plum Street Chili has yet to acknowledge the serious nature of User's continual harassment and threats. User has a separate chat page created on Chatzy.com and is using this chat page to slander, harass, threaten and libel, Ricki, Nebdem and The Banned Room. He has solicited other Disqus Users while on your forum, to join him in his vendetta to collect information for the sole intended purposes of slandering, harassing, libeling and threatening, Ricki, Nebdem and The Banned Room, which in turn is having a direct negative impact upon their reputations and brand. User is advertising this chat page on your forum at every opportunity. User advertises this chat page on your forum each and every time he posts as it is provided as a link on his open user profile.

This communication is for the express purpose of putting Plum Street Chili on notice that the blog is fostering the behavior and practices of User and it is unacceptable, and, again, in direct violation of the Terms of Service for Disqus, specifically, Basic Rules No. 1 and 4.

We have every expectation that Plum Street Chili will choose to be in compliance with the Terms of Service for Disqus and will ban User from further engagement on the blog, including deletion of any and all comments by User and any other party regarding same. We would appreciate a timely response to this communication regarding your intentions moving forward.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

The Banned Room

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Third Leading Cause of Death and Misery is Medical Mistakes

I am going to share some of Mike Evans writing today about a mutual concern.

I have been putting the task off because it means ferreting around in the feelings I had when I fell in my garden and got badly hurt. I experience ptsd when I go into my garden.

I am still going to grueling physical therapy twice a week. So trauma is still very fresh in my mind. I could not remember where I put whatever crap I wrote about falling and not receiving proper medical treatment. I am still feeling the results of concussion.

As I find stuff, I will add to this essayette. So Mike and you, Cher Reader, can read them. I might have put it under the label Torture. 

So this is what Mike Evans wrote. He spoke to my condition. You can contact Mike Evans directly with any feedback at:


Art by Favianna Rodriguez.

Philadelphia doctors accused of selling $5M in pills (6abc.com)
Editorial page
commentary by @6abcmember:disqus
posted Fri May 13th 2016

Sorry Jim. But the "ugly truth" and far greater crime behind this story is how the DEA's forcing our nation's doctors (thru intimidation and outright threats) to stop writing prescriptions for painkillers of any kind regardless of a patient's health circumstances and genuine medical need for them.

The untold truth is millions of patients every day are being given no alternative but to purchase whatever they can get off the black market or continue suffering in constant chronic pain. Isn't that a wonderful choice for lifelong decent law-abiding citizens to be forced into having to make?

Why don't you do some genuine investigative research and reporting into that unspoken part of this story rather than simply towing the all too familiar self-aggrandizing government line? "Oh, look at the wonderful deed we just accomplished today. Everyone paste a gold star upon our forehead and pat us on the back for a job well done!"

Our nation's DEA has turned into yet another rogue Draconian government agency that's become totally out of control and now biting the very hands which feed it. Please make a sincere effort to report the hidden truth behind this greatest portion of the overall story rather than parrot the latest stream of Orwellian newspeak oozing from the government pipeline.

The black market for painkillers exists solely because a genuine medical need for them exists. The DEA has artificially and intentionally created that situation to justify its own existence and self-perpetuation. Get off the backs of our medical professionals and let them do their jobs!

The DEA is wholly unqualified to make any such medical or judgement calls thus has no business inserting themselves into our lives as if they did. What PhD's do they hold ensuring they're the least bit qualified to make any medical decisions and judgement calls which profoundly affect our daily lives and physical well being? None, nada, zip!

Get in a serious car accident where you break several ribs and are struggling literally every passing second in agonizing pain with each breath you take as your rib cage expands and contracts worsening the already unbearable pain.

We'll see what you think about the need for any serious kick butt painkillers then. I've been thru that very scenario not just once but twice during the past decade so fully understand their purpose and need.

I've also been in a few car accidents and serious winter season falls which injured my spine and neck. Try sitting at your desk in front of a TV camera doing your job at the 6ABC studios under those difficult circumstances.

An Rx grade analgesic becomes absolutely necessary to reduce the pain level just sufficiently enough to make it thru your workday. I've also been thru that scenario well over a dozen times during the past 59 years. You'll be stunned to discover just how dramatically slower clocks run when under such physical duress.

Not many of us are as fortunate nor well off as you benefit and salary wise where we might have the luxury of taking a day or two off under such difficult circumstances. Many can't afford to take even a single day off without being unable to pay our grocery and other monthly bills.

Without the proper level of pain medication (such as Morphine) when medically necessary given severe injury or trauma a patient will quickly go into shock and die before anything can be done to reverse the situation.

Anyone who's ever served on the battlefield has witnessed and knows this cold hard reality. In fact, it's how most everyone will eventually die. The body lapses into a state of shock for one reason or another and completely shuts down organ by organ like a chain of dominoes in very short order.

Respectfully, Mike Adams

Monday, March 14, 2016

Consciousness

In the morning they are giving me injections into the nerves in my lower spine. The injections do not bother me. The anesthesia that takes away my consciousness scares me. I might not wake up.

I am worrying about the general state of my consciousness for other reasons as well. I am having fantasies in print of stabbing Trump protesters. I am 73 and having a hard go walking at the moment. So while I am serious, the whole plan is silly. At least for now.

So my Shrink has a word for what I am doing at the moment. I cannot remember what the word is. Damn. I have a mood disorder. I once ran someone over with a car. I have to work at living a little differently than others. I have to notice myself.

I am getting caught up in the air of violence coming out of my TV set. Even though they say the steroids into the spine will not make me manic, they are full of shit. Less manic than other forms. Thank God for Ativan.

I started reading about the Shoah and Hitler when I was about 17. I read William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in 1960. I read all the books about Evil and Zen that followed. I am a well read maniac. The Republican Party is scaring the beejesus out me. The Trump rallies are like cruelty parties. I am a Polish Roman Catholic. I know about cruelty parties. I have been in the middle of a mob of good old boys. Scary.

So, wish me luck. In spite of my whining, I will be fine. And my dropped foot and pain will have further improved. And Shrink is calling me tomorrow. I still want to stab people. Thank God for Ativan.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

There is Something Wrong With You


This post has musical accompaniment and a cool recipe below:

"Theodore Shoebat is outraged that a Chick-fil-A franchise was listed as a sponsor of a "faith-based LGBT film festival" in Tennessee and has responded in a typically reasonable manner by demanding that everyone who works at Chick-fil-A be put to death."  - Read more...

I have only one question.  Does this guy own gun(s)?




For those who support our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, really like the sandwiches and are not interested in being shot by a religious zealot, I have a solution.  Here are the directions for making your own southern-style chicken sandwich. I know you can create your own film festival. Ahh modern life. So many Christians. So few lions.


Sunday, October 25, 2015

Remembrance of a Beloved Man

Dear friend,
Would you please consider making the obituary I wrote for Nick included at the bottom of this page available on your blog for his countless friends and followers to read who still may not yet know of his passing. Not a day goes by where I don't encounter at least one of his loyal readers who hasn't. Another, even just yesterday while posting on Raw Story.

Nick and I met at the Philadelphia Inquirer where we both worked during our early 20's while fresh out of college circa 1980. In addition to our other duties we composed literally thousands of obituaries although I never imagined I'd one day be writing his.

Anyone who personally knew Nick would surely agree he deserves and has duly earned all respects including final remembrance.

Gratefully, Mike Adams


VANOCUR, Nicholas (1957-2015) age 58 of Nashville TN passed away Sun August 23, 2015.

Beloved son of Sander Vanocur (born 1928, ret) and Edith C. Pick (1923-1975). The eldest of two children, Nick is survived by his dear father Sander Vanocur of Santa Barbara CA and loving brother Christopher Vanocur of Columbus OH (born 1959).

While an official CoD hasn't yet been determined nor released by Davidson County officials (Nashville TN) it's believed Nick passed peacefully while asleep sometime during Sunday August 23rd due to kidney failure or related complications.

Nick was a lifelong writer, editor, journalist and political humorist enjoying a loyal daily readership and following of national proportion. He attended Sidwell Friends School in Wash DC (class of 1975), UCSD and Temple University.

Nick was a professional staff member of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Phila), Temple News (Phila), The Tennessean (Nashville) and Planet Weekly (Tuscaloosa) newspapers.

He also worked for Sam-Eric Theaters and Universal Studios while a student in California. He was chosen for and served two prestigious internships during his earliest years. One as a US Senate page during 1969 and another with IBM during 1970.

Over his career Nick received two “Best of Gannett” Headline Awards and was mentioned in a book by Joe Calloway entitled “Becoming a Category of One" for his outstanding ability to quickly glean the most strategic facts involved with a story and produce a provocative headline of award-winning caliber.

Nick's professional abilities included Journalist, News Production Editor, News Copywriter, News Story Editor, Press Release Agent, News Blogger and Political Humorist.

Interment and memorial services will be announced by the Vanocur family at a later date as soon as they've been arranged and become known.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Warm and Tender Love

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



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...

Monday, January 12, 2015

Black Gold and Arkansas - UPDATE Aerial View

Renewed Keystone XL legislation made me want to revisit this event. I wrote this April 1 2013. A lot has happened since then.

A woman named Jane Cleeb and a lot of Nebraska farmers have been kicking ass and taking names. I hope the recent approval of the pipeline by the House of Representatives and the Nebraska Supreme Court do not discourage them.

A ruptured oil pipeline destroys a very nice neighborhood. This tar sands stuff does not dissolve and it stinks bad. The oil is corrosive and full of chemicals so it dissolves the pipes. These folks did not know about the pipeline when they bought their houses.

Imagine this crap in the waterways and the Ogallala Aquifer. There is still a coating of oil and chemicals on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico from the BP spill.

You are looking at your future if they build this pipeline. At the time of this writing, Exxon submitted a Bill to the AK legislature that says Exxon does not have to pay you if they destroy your home and neighborhood by spill. How long are we going to allow Corporations to privatize all the profits and socialize the pollution and mistakes?



http://epaosc.org/site/image_list.aspx?site_id=8502

http://m.arkansasonline.com/galleries/16941/album/

The links above will take you to slide shows of the Mayflower Spill. As I looked at all the photographs of the cleanup, the still small voice asked me "Where are they putting the cleanup trash?" I did not like what I heard my self answer "Remember Love Canal?"

This guy has it right.


Friday, January 9, 2015

Je suis Charlie

“The moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it’s a religious belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible."
― Salman Rushdie
[Defend the right to be offended (open Democracy, 7 February 2005)]” 



Sunday, December 7, 2014

Thug is the New @#$%^&

You find that new usage by perusing the contents of this comment thread on PoliceOne.com. Cops are getting fired for using the "N word"on social media. So they have substituted "thug."

It is true I hate the police. You can tell by the street art I chose. Evidently I am not alone in my hatred and distrust. I have never been arrested or charged with any crime. Maybe I am biased nevertheless. You read the comments and tell me what you think.

"PoliceOne.com is a discussion forum for law enforcement officers, and while anyone can access some of the site content, commenting privileges are available exclusively to verified police. The PoliceOne.com staff "confirm[s] the status of all officers registering for PoliceOne by calling that officer's department directly."

Posted by SAPDMAS on Wednesday, December 03, 2014 08:27 PM Pacific Report Abuse
People are sick and tired of thugs. Certain people better wake the hell up and stop supporting the thugs. 2 years 1 month before the head thug gets thrown out and hopefully a real POTUS gets elected.

This is the post that disturbed me the most below. Do you want to be policed this way and with this attitude. In Great Britain the police do not have guns and very few police shootings. In Japan the police help Seniors get their groceries home. American cops are the thugs. And it is not just poor Black folks who are being murdered by the Police anymore. It is the mentally ill. It is upper middle class business owners. It is old women. It is children.

Posted by haziz on Thursday, December 04, 2014 01:01 AM Pacific Report Abuse
President just does NOT understand - it is NOT police who need modify or change their approach to public encounters with blacks, BUT blacks who must not turn almost every encounter with police into a racial incident.
My 5 tips on how black and others can survive a police encounter with police are very simple and if you stop and think about it make a lot of sense:
1.Do NOT under any circumstance ARGUE with police out in the street. You cannot win an argument with police out in the field.
2.2. Do NOt raise your voice, but stay cool and calm. Do NOT make any quick or aggressive movements. Remember the police officer does NOT know you and will react to protect himself or those around him.
3.Police know that hands kill, so always keep your hands in plain sight. Before you move your hands ask permission, officer I need to go into my back pocket to get my ID, is that OK with you?
4.NEVER run from police even if you are innocent. When you run you create a heightened sense that something must be wrong here.
5.DO NOT resist arrest – if you do one of three things is going to happen:
a.You are going to get beat down till you stop resisting
b.You are going to get injured or accidentally killed
c.And you are going to have charges taken out against you

Thursday, October 9, 2014

St. Louis Blues - Sign of the Month - October 2014


Another young black man in St. Louis shot by an off duty white police officer because he was "running like he had a gun." Say what? His name is Vonderrit Myers Jr. 

Seems like a 'pedestrian check' is the St. Louis version of "Papers please." I would run from the cops in St. Louis and I am pink. 
This is the statement from St. Louis PD sent to Buzzfeed reporter Jim Dalrymple:
An officer working department-approved secondary for a security company, wearing a St. Louis Police Officer's uniform was in the 4100 block of Shaw when he attempted a pedestrian check. The male suspect fled on foot. The officer pursued the suspect. The suspect turned and fired a gun at the officer. Fearing for his safety, the officer returned fire striking the suspect, fatally wounding him. The officer was not injured. A gun was recovered from the scene. The officer is a 32-year old white male. He has been on the force for 6 years. The suspect is a black male believed to be 18-20 years old. As is department policy, the officer has been placed on administrative leave. The investigation is ongoing.
This post has musical accompaniment - St. Louis in better days - and we have to go back to 1929 to find those 'better days.' Now that is sad. It is more than sad. It is intolerable. This video is beautiful.



Monday, May 19, 2014

Gun Safety and Gun Nuts

UPDATE:  Gun-rights activists: No more long guns in businesses ... more at the link.

My Dad was a big gun guy. His guns nearly killed my baby brother and, years later, my toddlers. His guns were never of real use. They bagged him a wild boar, a dozen woodchucks and almost 3 children over three generations. In his elder years, Father laid up in the front bedroom and waited with his shotgun and a revolver for the "college boys who are running over my mailbox for fun." In suburban Lawrenceville New Jersey. To be fair, our nearest neighbor was a half acre away behind trees. No other neighbors were near. Good reason to have a gun in the country.

If you have a gun, you have good chance someone around you will be maimed or die. Thank you Gun Nuts and the National Rifle Association for my bad dreams and the deaths of a good many children over the years.



The Gun Nut mofos buy junior rifles for their kids. Pink ones for girls. A toddler bleeding to death from a gunshot wound in the parlor is Gun Nut chic evidently. Doesn't everybody have one?

The picture below of the boy with the gun comes from the Facebook page of Flakoo del Campo a typical Open Carry Mofo. I would not trust this guy to get me a cup of coffee much less trust him with guns or my child. Flakoo got so much flak he removed the picture.

I learned a new word for these Mofos and that word is Ammosexual. Flakoo recently took part in the invasion of a Chipotle restaurant. And what is up with this boys Mother? Is she nuts? Child protective services anyone? If I lived in Texas I would be on the phone ASAP.

The photo below is Flakoo and friend in the midst of occupying Chipotle. How safe do they make you feel? Flakoo is the shorter of the two flakes. UPDATE: Chipotle has since this writing made their restaurants closed to open carry Mofos.



Friday, May 2, 2014

A Vast Wasteland May Be Soon Upon Us

UPDATE: I wrote the original essay below in October 2013. I so hate to be right.

Antibiotic resistance now 'global threat', WHO warns
By Pippa Stephens

We need the Affordable Care Act. Why is the government shut down to prevent us from having health care? I have nothing funny, happy or partisan to say about this debacle. I say this:
CDC Threat Report: ‘We Will Soon Be in a Post-Antibiotic Era’
    The agency’s overall — and, it stressed, conservative — assessment of the problem:
  • Each year, in the U.S., 2,049,442 illnesses caused by bacteria and fungi that are resistant to at least some classes of antibiotics;
  • Each year, out of those illnesses, 23,000 deaths;
  • Because of those illnesses and deaths, $20 billion each year in additional healthcare spending;
  • And beyond the direct healthcare costs, an additional $35 billion lost to society in foregone productivity.
“If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era,” Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director, said in a media briefing. “And for some patients and for some microbes, we are already there.”
WPA Poster

We are in bad shape. We are 37th in health care outcomes among all the nations. And we pay the most for health care. That is bad, it is true. It is worse than folks think. Some Governors are resisting the ACA. Their solutions to these serious disease issues are, for example:
1. Defund women's health clinics which diagnose and treat men and women for STDs;
2. Close the only public tuberculosis hospital in the state and house the contagious patients in an old motel in a large city.

This creates active disease vectors in major population areas. These diseases will bubble upward from the poor, who cannot get medical treatment, to the rich and privileged. Disease is no respecter of gated communities, security guards, or wealth. Everyone has heard of Typhoid Mary, right? As ye sow, so shall ye reap. Do we really want to go back to 1940s? Those who do not remember and learn from history are doomed to repeat it.



Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Fred Phelps is dead and all I got is these nasty pictures. - UPDATE

UPDATE: You can find more photoshop artistry at http://www.freakingnews.com/ You will be amazed and delighted by the work there.


KARMA'S CALLING




FRED PHELPS JUST DIED - FUCK THAT GUY  By Gavin Haynes

THERE IS NO MORE UNCOMFORTABLY BIZARRE SENTENCE AVAILABLE ON FRED PHELPS THAN THIS FROM JON MICHAEL BELL’S ADDICTED TO HATE
You can read the full text of Bell's Addicted to Hate at the link.

“Mark remembers the family coming back once to find Pastor Phelps jogging around the dining room table, beating the sobbing [Nate] with a broom handle; while doing so, he was alternately spitting on the frightened child and chuckling the same sinister laugh so disturbing to those who've seen him on television.”

Monday, October 14, 2013

SuperBugs in Our Food?

“If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era,” Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director, said in a media briefing. “And for some patients and for some microbes, we are already there.”
Some very bad bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics. The Center for Disease Control has released a new report Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States 2013.

A number of these antibiotic resistant bacteria result in food borne illnesses. Antibiotic use in food animals can result in resistant bacteria, Campylobacter for example, that can spread to humans through the food we eat. Remember what Mom told you: Wash your hands! Wash your hands!

The CDC warns us:
The use of antibiotics is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world . Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed drugs used in human medicine. However, up to 50% of all the antibiotics prescribed for people are not needed or are not optimally effective as prescribed .
Antibiotics are also commonly used in food animals to prevent, control, and treat disease, and to promote the growth of food-producing animals . The use of antibiotics for promoting growth is not necessary, and the practice should be phased out . Recent guidance from the U .S . Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes a pathway toward this goal.
It is difficult to directly compare the amount of drugs used in food animals with the amount used in humans, but there is evidence that more antibiotics are used in food production . 
What can you do to help with this serious health concern? The CDC answers many questions HERE. One way, and an increasing popular way to protect yourself and your community from antibiotic resistance, is to become a Vegetarian and/or reduce your consumption of commercially produced meat. The money quotation from the article:

Q: How can I prevent antibiotic-resistant infections?

Only use antibiotics when they are likely to be beneficial
A: By visiting this website, you are taking the first step to reducing your risk of getting antibiotic-resistant infections. It is important to understand that, although they are very useful drugs, antibiotics designed for bacterial infections are not useful for viral infections such as a cold, cough, or the flu. Some useful tips to remember are:
  1. Talk with your healthcare provider about antibiotic resistance:
    • Ask whether an antibiotic is likely to be beneficial for your illness
    • Ask what else you can do to feel better sooner
  2. Do not take an antibiotic for a viral infection like a cold or the flu.
  3. Do not save some of your antibiotic for the next time you get sick. Discard any leftover medication once you have completed your prescribed course of treatment.
  4. Take an antibiotic exactly as the healthcare provider tells you. Do not skip doses. Complete the prescribed course of treatment even if you are feeling better. If treatment stops too soon, some bacteria may survive and re-infect.
  5. Do not take antibiotics prescribed for someone else. The antibiotic may not be appropriate for your illness. Taking the wrong medicine may delay correct treatment and allow bacteria to multiply.
  6. If your healthcare provider determines that you do not have a bacterial infection, ask about ways to help relieve your symptoms. Do not pressure your provider to prescribe an antibiotic.