The Colonel's Bling

Again, glued to Twitter and livefeeds on Libya.

Had to share this.




ADDED: Gaddafi's Hat haz Twitter account.

Meanwhile, back in the US ...

religious rightwing nutjobs make these demands:

To Obama & all the immoral, ungodly heathen progressive Demoncrats.

To the Party That Says Stay Out of Our Womb*

We say stay out of our pants.

Stay out of our homes.

Stay out of our cars.

Stay out of our refrigerators.

Stay out of our medicine cabinets.

Stay out of our TV's and radio's.

Stay out of our Church's.

Stay out of our kids schools.

Stay out of our Military.

Stay out of our doctor's office.

Stay out of our bank account.

It appears this group's name is "God Bless America 1776" and all the spelling and grammatical errors are their own. This blog pops up when those terms are googled.

Is it Boston? One interesting observation: the crowd control cops wear helmets tagged with what appears to be their badge numbers, in the photos posted here.

*womb, not the evul uterus word. I'm surprised it didn't say "our baby-making lady part".

Making Sense of Libya (and making fun of wannabe despots)

I spent yesterday glued to sweetie's computer, watching developments in Libya on Twitter and livestreams.

In particular, it was amusing to watch pendants pull screeching 180s on their positions. From 'It's a US-European colonial war' to "Thank gord for NATO'. From 'It's a civil, tribal war' to 'It's a popular uprising by an oppressed people'. From 'It'll be a long bloody struggle' to 'The revolutionaries are meeting no resistance'.

Anyway, there was and still is a ton of bullshit being spoken, written, and tweeted about it, most of it splendidly kicked to the curb by Juan Cole in Top Ten Myths about the Libya War, a blogpost from today.

The Libyan Revolution has largely succeeded, and this is a moment of celebration, not only for Libyans but for a youth generation in the Arab world that has pursued a political opening across the region. The secret of the uprising’s final days of success lay in a popular revolt in the working-class districts of the capital, which did most of the hard work of throwing off the rule of secret police and military cliques. It succeeded so well that when revolutionary brigades entered the city from the west, many encountered little or no resistance, and they walked right into the center of the capital. Muammar Qaddafi was in hiding as I went to press, and three of his sons were in custody. Saif al-Islam Qaddafi had apparently been the de facto ruler of the country in recent years, so his capture signaled a checkmate. (Checkmate is a corruption of the Persian “shah maat,” the “king is confounded,” since chess came west from India via Iran). Checkmate.

Then there's this one from him yesterday.

As dawn broke Sunday in Libya, revolutionaries were telling Aljazeera Arabic that much of the capital was being taken over by supporters of the February 17 Youth revolt. Some areas, such as the suburb of Tajoura to the east and districts in the eastrn part of the city such as Suq al-Juma, Arada, the Mitiga airport, Ben Ashour, Fashloum, and Dahra, were in whole or in part under the control of the revolutionaries.

Those who were expecting a long, hard slog of fighters from the Western Mountain region and from Misrata toward the capital over-estimated dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s popularity in his own capital, and did not reckon with the severe shortages of ammunition and fuel afflicting his demoralized security forces, whether the regular army or mercenaries. Nor did they take into account the steady NATO attrition of his armor and other heavy weapons.

This development, with the capital creating its own nationalist mythos of revolutionary participation, is the very best thing that could have happened.

If you read only one (or two things) about yesterday's extraordinary events, read one of these.

After all, Cole has been speaking sense on the 'Middle East' for so long that George W. Bush tried to get the CIA to discredit him. (And of course you can follow him on Twitter.)

I'm still decompressing, but I admit I'm absurdly elated at the thought of all the world's despots and wannabe despots crapping their pants.

Oh jeez, look. There's an opening for a cheap shot at our own wannabe despot.

Hey, whaddaya expect? DJ! lives for the cheap shots.

Adieu, Jack.

« Si le rire sacrilège et blasphématoire que les bigots de toutes les chapelles taxent de vulgarité et de mauvais goût, si ce rire-là peut parfois désacraliser la bêtise, exorciser les chagrins véritables et fustiger les angoisses mortelles, alors oui on peut rire de tout, on doit rire de tout : de la guerre, de la misère et de la mort!

Au reste, est-ce qu'elle se gêne la mort, elle, pour se rire de nous ? Est-ce qu'elle ne pratique pas l'humour noir, elle, la mort ? Regardons s'agiter ces malheureux dans les usines, regardons gigoter ces hommes puissants, boursoufflés de leur importance qui vivent à 100 à l'heure. Alors ils se battent, ils courent, ils caracolent derrière leur vie, et tout d'un coup, cela s'arrête, sans plus de raisons que ça n'avait commencé...

Alors le militant de base, le pompeux PDG, la princesse d'opérette, l'enfant qui joue à la marelle dans les caniveaux de Beyrouth, toi aussi à qui je pense et qui a cru en Dieu jusqu'au bout de ton cancer... Tous nous sommes fauchés un jour par le croche-pied rigolard de la mort imbécile, et les droits de l'homme s'effacent devant les droits de l'asticot. »

Pierre Desproges, dans Le Tribunal des flagrants délires réquisitoire contre Jean-Marie Le Pen (28 septembre 1982)

"If the sacrilegious and blasphemous laughter that bigots of all religious dogma claim to be vulgar and in bad taste, if that laughter might desecrate stupidity, exorcise genuine grief and castigate mortal anguish, then yes: one can, one should laugh at everything: war, misery and death!

After all, does Death hesitate to laugh at us? Is Death not a practitioner of black humour? Look at those unfortunate people stirring in the factories, look at men of power swollen with their importance who scramble to live at full throttle. So they fight, they run, they prance behind their lives, and all of a sudden, it stops, with no more reason than it had started ...

So it is for the activist, the pompous CEO, the princess of operetta, the child playing hopscotch in the gutters of Beirut, and you too who believed in God until the end of your cancer ... All are mowed down eventually by death's imbecility, and the rights of men give way to the rights of the maggot."

Someone on Radio-Canada observed that Jack Layton was a ferocious negociator. Who knows what deals people make when they learn that insidious, merciless cancer is raging within them? When my sister fought ovarian cancer, she confided in me that she *asked* for two years. And she lived, in the time left, to the fullest.

From Joan Baez:

"You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now."

De-placing the product.

Product placement has a long and venal venerable history.

There is also an opposite movement, one in which a corporation, an organization or a political party attempts to distance itself from an individual or from an event because of concerns that such association will damage their *brand* or image.

Boycotting products is a strategy used by a number of groups across the ideological spectrum to exploit this vulnerability.

This appears to be an unusual step, given the clash of *values* in conflict.

A clothing company is offering money to Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and his fellow “Jersey Shore” cast members — so they’ll stop wearing the brand on the show.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. says in a news release posted Tuesday that it’s concerned that having Sorrentino seen in its clothing could cause “significant damage” to the company’s image.

Abercrombie says a connection to The Situation goes against the “aspirational nature” of its brand and may be “distressing” to customers. The Ohio-based retailer says it has offered a “substantial payment” to Sorrentino and producers of the MTV show so he’ll wear something else.

"Aspirational nature"? Mmm. Perhaps "aspiration" is what a Republican wanna-be political operative is expressing, by deploying this unusual - though not surprising - tactic.

Politicians have long used popular songs and the artists who produced them to enhance their image - until they get a nasty cease-and-desist letter from their lawyers.

Perhaps it's time for ordinary and decent Canadian citizens to sue the Conservatives for attaching their party logo to Canada. It is distressing to the majority of Canadians that our country is held in contempt and derision in the US, in Europe, in Africa and now in South America because of actions taken by Stevie Spiteful, Cashmere Tony, Jason Kenney and other Con jobs.

Or we can follow Michaela Keyserlingk's example and use the Contempt Party logo in the context of all their shameful, corrupt and authoritarian actions.

Evidence that some cops are indeed pigs.

A woman who was bound and sexually assaulted by her then-neighbour, Col. Russell Williams says the police left her tied up for five hours after responding to her 911 call.

Laurie Massicotte says Ontario Provincial Police officers told her they had to leave her in the harness, fashioned by Williams, until an OPP photographer arrived to take pictures of her in the restraint. [...] "Five hours, no medical attention. I was in total shock. I didn't know what the heck was going on." The OPP, she said, treated her like a criminal in the early hours of the investigation.

One officer told her neighbour, Massicotte said, that police suspected she was trying to "copycat" what happened to another sexual assault victim in Tweed, Ont., 12 days earlier.

From here.

Remember, the police did not release to the public any information or warnings with regard to the break-ins and sexual assaults to which women in that area had been subjected.

So how could she "copycat" those crimes? Instead of treating Massicotte like the victim of a crime, the cops assumed she was a perpetrator or complicit.

How many times does police malfeasance need to be proven before the criminal justice system expels these incompetent, sexist, brutal cops?

RWNJ see more signs of the Rapture

Honestly, is it any surprise that extreme religious zealots, climate change denialists and rightwing nutjobs flock together to shrieeek batshit craziness?

In fact they often behave like the insects of *Bugnado*, swarming in clouds of synchronized frenzy.

None of these folks have been to Gimli Manitoba, North Bay Ontario or the Tisza River in Hungary during shadfly breeding season, it would seem.

Maledict's Spanish Tour

Meanwhile, the Poop is spreading joy in Spain. ^NOT

Violence flared last night as a demonstration against the Pope's arrival in Madrid turned ugly.

Anti-Pope protesters marched on the Spanish capital's central Sol plaza to voice their concerns about the 50 million euro price tag of the four-day trip.

But what was being billed as a peaceful protest changed when marchers began taunting the thousands of pilgrims who were congregating in the area.

Yeah, spending 50 million euros on a visit by a corrupt enabler of child abuse when 40 percent of people under 25 are unemployed is a grand idea.

And it's not like there isn't other trouble in the world.

Best protest sign (from Twitter).

Spin, Timmie, Spin

Let the attack ads begin!

Specifically, attacking unions, 'union bosses' who get 'fat raises' and 'lavish benefits' all paid for by us poor tax-payers who get nothing -- like education, health, safety etc -- in return. McGuinty is 'beholden' to those unions.

Then there this totally lame and really annoying effort from Hudak's astroturf group, fronted by a Dominionist nutbar.

This is what he says about his communications *cough* company:

Brazen Communication is all about offering clients a bold way to express their complex ideas, services and mission

If that vid is any indication of quality, I think Tristan should stick to god-bothering.

Speaking of complex ideas, Lloyd Brown-John writes in the Windsor Star about 'catchphrase politics'.

Election campaigns often demand of electorates a level of credulity that tends to border on wishful thinking.

For example, a promise by Ontario's Conservative Leader Tim Hudak to reduce regulation by 30 per cent.

. . .
Reducing regulation by 30 per cent raises a multitude of questions, one of which is simply, how did Hudak and his policy team arrive at 30 per cent? Precisely, 30 per cent of what?

Indeed. Good questions.

30% of water safety regulations?

30% of abortion regulations?

30% of food inspection regulations?

30% of building regulations?

30% of mining regulations?

Sure, a lot of people would suffer from poisoned food and water, unsafe healthcare, collapsing buildings, and dangerous workplaces, but at least around 30% of them would be evil fat-cat union members.

Hmm. 30 per cent again. Maybe Hudak just wants to eliminate 30 per cent of Ontarians.

Bonus! Today's Con stunt event is literally all spin.