Al-Zawahiri Calls Obama a House Nigger

He tries to pass it off as "house negro," but of course that's not the actual term, is it?

Makes one want to call him a pig.

But one won't do that.

One will instead quote Nargarjuna's wish for the King:

Some beings go from dark to dark.
Some from dark to light.
And some from light to dark.
May you go from light to light.

News Flash: No Blood for Hubris Undergoes a Sudden, Unwitting Sex Change!!!

No, really.

Lookee here.


Www.genderAnalyzer.com, a site which analyzes the gender of blogwriters, scrutinized this here very blog.

And what were the results?

Results

We think http://nobloodforhubris.blogspot.com is written by a man (74%).

Wow. One finds that oneself is a man. Actually.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that. Per se.)

One does of course wonder what criteria Gender Analyzer used to analyze one's gender, does one not?

w00t!?

Miscellany

Anglachel on the stupidity that is Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

Dirty Bush Stuffs Gov't With Dirty Bushists to Continue Failed Bushist Fascist Policies -- Because Bubble Boy Is Still the Deciderer!

Options for shutting down Gitmo.

Iraq Stands Proud and Tall For Fraud

Get Your Church Out of My State

Oh good.

We so like it when civil rights are determined by majority rule, a majority propagandized and hyped by churches pushing specific behavioral agendas.

What's next?

Mosaic Law?

Slavery -- on an up-or-down vote?

Hey, the sky's the limit if you can organize bigots to vote the way your church wants, eh? (Me, I'm pushing the legislative agenda of Buddhists Against Roach Motels).

Mormon interference in Proposition 8 and Catholic interference in the Presidential election do not constitute an exercise in freedom of speech. It is meddling in politics.

If churches want to do politics, fine, but if they do, they must be stripped of their precious tax exemptions.

Which makes the whole thing more about karma, cause and effect, does it not?

No More Mangers: Talibangelicals Celebrate Torture Death of Christ By Selling Christmas-Spirit-y Electric Burning Crosses

You just can't make this shit up.


Hat tip to Balloon Juice.

Closing Gitmo: Inadmissable Evidence, Inconvenient Torturees

Good article from the BBC on issues facing Obama re: closing Gitmo.

"Legal problems

The legal problems involved in trying terrorist suspects have not yet been resolved. Some say that the prisoners should simply be brought before normal US courts. It is thought there are about 50 or so prisoners who might face trial, out of the 255 or so in the camp.

A new system would also come under the close scrutiny of the US courts and a case against it would probably go right up to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality

The problem is that evidence against them might have obtained either through coercion, or even torture, or from foreign agencies which have used similar methods.

Some of this evidence might be admitted in a trial before a military tribunal. So might hearsay evidence, in which someone relates what he or she was told, if the military judge decides that it would have "probative value to a reasonable person".

But neither would be acceptable under the normal rules of US courts.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, for example, charged at Guantanamo with responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, was subject to waterboarding. It is true that he has expressed a wish to die but a civilian court in the US might not admit evidence against him gathered at Guantanamo Bay. Then what happens? It is hard to see him simply being released.

There is also the problem of whether the source of some evidence should be withheld from the prisoner."

And what are they going to do with all the prisoners they've driven mad?

See Torturing Democracy.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Yes.

That is the correct answer.

Bob Somerby Gets It

Three prostrations with folded hands to Bob Somerby. No, really, for Somerby takes media whore media whore misogynists to task at the Daily Howler:

"OLBERMANN: Wow. I mean, to what degree is that the other prominent Republican governors who got some passing mention during this campaign, with an eye towards 2012—Jindal, Pawlenty, Crist? Is there any sense that any of them are forming a power base behind Palin? Or are they intending to, you know, cut her up like a Roman dictator and smuggle her out under their robes?

CARLSON: Ha, ha. Well, they only say that quietly, Keith."

Sorry, but that’s very strange. A few months ago, Olbermann apologized for picturing Hillary Clinton getting beaten up by a bunch of goons behind locked doors. This week, he was picturing Sarah Palin getting cut up into pieces.

Within moments, he mockingly compared her to Lindsay Lohan—then, to Dizzy Dean.

It’s always surprising to see the way such fellows discuss the women they hate. They seem to find it hard to do so without picturing violence or turning to overt, gender-based derision. In our view, Palin is a remarkably underwhelming figure, in ways which are quite easy to define. You don’t have to compare her to Lohan, or picture her being killed—unless your skills are remarkably weak, or you simply enjoy hating women. But MSNBC has trafficked, for many years, in weird, remarkable woman-loathing. And when it comes to their new uber-star, it seems he’s gotta have it.

But then, [t]here’s Archie Bunker—sorry, Josh Marshall—letting us know, just yesterday, who the latest “dingbat” is. Without even bothering to report what this new “dingbat” actually said!

But so it goes as progressive intellectual standards spiral steadily downward. Olbermann’s performance on Wednesday’s show was an unfortunate case in point. He performed in ways which used to define the woeful standards of pseudo-con talk. . . .

What can you say about a guy who can’t lay out Palin’s obvious weaknesses without resorting to gender-based trashing? But most strikingly, Olbermann’s instinct for violent imagery doesn’t seem to want to quit. This is bad for progressive interests, and it’s bad for young men and young women. We’d have to say it’s just plain bad for the world in which we all live.

Can someone explain why “progressive” leaders can’t seem to quit this kind of talk?

Anglachel's Journal: Women They Love To Hate.

Perhaps more to the point, why don't we have more men like Bob Somerby unflinchingly calling out the misogyny of people like Olbermann?

Hmm. I don't know why we don't.

Why don't we?

Election Euphoria Over, Back to Samsara As Usual

Lee couple arrested on charges of child abuse after boy's ear partially detached.



[Mom and] Teen [BF] Charged As Adult In 2-Year-Old's Beating

New details are coming out about the mother and teenager arrested in a horrific case of alleged child abuse in Pahrump that left a 2 - year - old boy in critical condition.
28 - year - old Michaele Griffin is facing felony child abuse charges.
Her 16 - year - old boyfriend, Danny Linville, was booked on attempted murder. Linville is being charged as an adult.

Daycare Provider Charged With Child Abuse

A day care provider in Rugby is accused of striking, kicking or throwing six children in her care.

Afghan Schoolgirl Attacked With Acid for Daring to Attend School Will Return to Classes

KABUL (Reuters) - A victim of an acid attack on schoolgirls in Afghanistan said Saturday she was determined to stay in school and finish her education even if that meant risking death.

The girl, who gave her name as just Shamsia, was the most seriously injured of a group of girls attacked outside their school by unidentified men in the southern city of Kandahar on Wednesday.

"I'll continue my schooling even if they try to kill me. I won't stop going to school," Shamsia said from her bed at Afghanistan's main military hospital in Kabul.

A Shout-Out "w00t!" to Americans United for the Separation of Church & State

One is seriously considering metaphorically renditioning Talibangelical pin-up gov and cheeky, winky ex-Trophy VEEP Sarah Palin forcibly metaphorically to induct her into Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a fine bunch of separationists who organized a fab blogger meet-up in DC recently, at which many fab bloggers actually met up (including the divine Flying Corrente Brothers VastLeft and Lambert, BlueGal, Dr. Zaius, PZ of Pharyngula, tristero, Ed of Dispatches from the Culture Wars, the divine Jesus' General, et al.) to frolick and to gambol, to say the least. It was inspiring.

Many many thanks to Beth Corbin and AU.

Bush Admin to Obama: Shutting Down Gitmo "Won't Be Easy"

Not as easy as leading the US into moral and fiscal bankrupcty, anyhow.

Bushist Fascist Operative Compares Palin-McCain Infighting to "Middle School Girls' Clique"

Bet them operatives don't recognize that as a sexist frame, either, do they?

Not that one minds. "Circular firing squad" works, too.

"Sarah Palin is sorting through her luggage working out what clothes belong to her and what do not, her spokesman said yesterday. [hey shouldn't that be "spokeswoman"? Or "spokesmodel"?]

Meg Stapleton added that the Alaskan governor was coming under unfair attack from a 'firing squad' of anonymous John McCain staffers in a frenzy of finger-pointing.

'It’s a circling firing squad,' said Ms Stapleton.

In a string of damaging briefings, it was claimed that Mrs Palin had spent 'tens of thousands' more on her clothes than budgeted for, that she once met McCain aides dressed in nothing but a towel and that she did not know Africa was a continent.

She was also unable to name the nations in the vitally important North American Free Trade Agreement. There are only three - her own, its northern neighbour Canada and its southern neighbour Mexico. "

Hat-tip to reader AT.

News Flash: God To Show Palin "The Way"

Hmm.
Didn't He do that last Tuesday?

Rightwing Culture War To Die Terrible Death

Republican Party Sees Some Kinda Light: MUTATE OR DIE.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

"The Republican Party must abandon its 'stringently right wing' positions on gay marriage, abortion and immigration or it could be banished to the political wilderness by the American people for decades, says the deputy director of a conservative think tank.

As the recriminations over the Republicans' defeat in last week's elections continued, the deputy director of the Hoover Institution, David Brady, said the party had moved too far to the right, leaving behind a significant proportion of its supporter base, and that more would leave unless the party returned to the centre.

"In order for the Republicans to win again they have to drop the anti-gay, anti-immigrant, strict pro-life, no-abortion social positions they have taken," said Professor Brady, who is in Australia as a visiting fellow at the United States Studies Centre at Sydney University.

"They have to drop those things and move to the centre where the American voters are. Look at gay marriage - support for gay marriage in America is going up; it's not going down. It's a similar situation if you're pro-life. The majority in America has been pro-choice for a while, and it's not moving anywhere."

Using a series of internet surveys to determine voter preferences, the Hoover Institution found that 8 per cent of the Republican base had [already] shifted towards the Democratic Party since 2004."

Obama, Lama

As is said:

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

May all beings never be apart from the great happiness that is free from suffering.

May all beings remain in the great evenness of mind free from passion, aggression,and ignorance.

w00t!


hat-tip for pic to The Out of Joint Times.

US Votes To End Bush Nightmare

"Americans, frightened and frustrated, have rejected the party of George Bush and have made a leap of faith with Barack Obama, writes the Herald's Political Editor Peter Hartcher. . .

Today, the US has voted to reject the nightmare of George Bush's America and has elected . . .[the] fairy tale.

Americans are more pessimistic today than at the time of any election in four decades. . . .

The economy was the dominant issue for 63 per cent of voters, according to exit polls.

The Bush Administration has given the US two recessions now, and two unfinished wars.

Of a panel of 100 US presidential historians, 61 have voted Bush as the worst president in 2¼ centuries.

He is the most unpopular in the history of US opinion polling.

Americans have rejected the party of Bush and embraced a candidate who, in many ways, is his exact opposite.

He is not only youthful and black, articulate and cosmopolitan, he's also well to the left of Bush on many key issues.

'Bush and the economy were the fundamental dynamics of this election," observed the commentator E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post.'"

Must be the right day to quit drowning government in Grover Norquist's bathtub.

Update, via Talk:Left: A Few More Election Results




Why Sarah Palin May Be the Last In a Line of Culture Warriors, via the Sydney Morning Herald.

US Votes to Reject Bush Nightmare, Via the Sydney Morning Herald.

Praise from around the world.

Election Day -- So Far, So Good. (Or Maybe Not)

So I was at the local polls at 7:10 AM, and the line of voters snaked all around the building. It took me an hour to vote, and it usually takes five minutes. Town clerk is expecting 100% turnout of registered voters in this tiny village of 2,212. I was looking around the line to see who was coming out -- seemed like lots of golfers and construction workers. Hm.

Friend T in DC arrived at his polling place at 6:40 AM, and it took him an hour to vote. He said the mood was upbeat there.


We'll see.


-----
Update:

Hat-tip to Kvatch: Election Protection has received >50,000 calls as of 4:29 PM EST complaining of problems with voting in multiple states. See also OurVoteLive.

My favorite so far:

UPDATE (4:05 p.m.): Heather Smith of Rock the Vote reports that youth voters have received the following deceptive text message:

Due to long lines today, all Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday. Thank you for your cooperation.

Then there's this, out of sight, out of mind ballots for New englanders.

And from Hominid Views:

Probability of Obama winning 100.0%

Probability of McCain winning 0.0%

Recovery from Bushist Fascism: An Anecdote

From reader AT:

"Anecdote for you.

I told you I was going to phone bank today -- out in Bethesda. The headquarters was overflowing so much that by 1 PM, both the HQ and the first two satellite locations were full and they had to open a third satellite -- and by 4 PM, that one too was overflowing. This, btw, in Maryland -- which is not a swing state.

O'Malley, the Governor came by -- and walked around the room and shook hands with maybe 100 people or more -- wearing a tee shirt and jeans and a leather bomber jacket... and afterwards gave a 3 minute speech

Now, I'm a cynic..., but even I was taken by it....

He said this thing's not in the bag yet -- that we're only up four points in PA and four in Ohio -- but how proud he was of Maryland -- that of the 1.4 million calls made into Virginia, 385,00 came "from the Free State of Maryland...!" -- and that "we would take our country back, not to be proven right..., but to be proven worthy of our citizenship...." -- it was really electric.... And so we spent the hours calling into Virginia and Ohio --

Of course..., I'll gladly take 52-48 in both PA and OH....:

So here's a tune to give us luck in Ohio.

"


P.S. I (NBFH) would also like to add that fully 99 44/100% of my closest friends are and have been seriously involved this year on some level, most of them actually phone-banking and/or canvassing door-to-door for the Democratic ticket, an experience I have never ever had in prior elections. So something's definitely up. And not necessarily all about Obama, but about us.

Quoth Preznit Toad-Exploder's Toadies: All Those Things That Were His Fault Weren't Really His Fault

" . . . [I]nside and outside the administration . . . upbeat talk masks disappointment and frustration among many White House staffers, who believe Bush's reputation has been unfairly maligned for a series of calamities -- from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to the financial crisis -- that were beyond his control and which he handled well. GOP nominee John McCain's escalating attacks on Bush's tenure have added to irritation, these people said.

Ha.

The fault lies not in the stars, but in George Bush.

To wit:

9/11 (for ignoring Clinton's warnings)

Fiscal bankruptcy (for pissing away the Clinton surplus, then drowning the budget in Grover Norquist's bathtub).

Moral bankruptcy (starting a war based on lies about WMDs in the service of an Oedipal conflict between Dubya and Dubya's Daddy, making torture patriotic, killing a million people, ignoring habeas corpus, stuffing government with Talibangelical crazies, etc.).

Etc., etc., etc.

Cowboy up, George. It really is all your fault.

Another Reason Why One Loves Robin Morgan

Sarah Palin a feminist? Palin being supported by feminists?

Oh, puh-leeese.

It's as laughable as Elizabeth Hasselbeck using the word "sexist" in a sentence (coughchokecough) recently. Yuh, and Limbaugh's a feminist, too. Yikes.

"Spalinists traipse around with their candidate, grinning and applauding her, sometimes getting paraded out to take a bow at a rally. They sound off about how she’s the target of sexism. (She is. D’uh. But being a victim of misogyny does not necessarily a feminist make—or we’d never have had Liddy Dole. Or Britney Spears.)"

Robin Morgan.

Yep, what she says.

Somali Rape Victim Stoned to Death for Having Been Raped

Yes, it is samsara as usual.

Oh, and it turns out that the rape victim who was stoned to death for having been raped was 13 years old.

Official No Blood for Hubris Mental Health Interlude

Mm. Maybe it's pre-election nerves/anticipation, maybe it's a whiplash injury following being rear-ended a while back, maybe it's an anniversary reaction to a death threat at work this time last year, maybe-who knows-maybe, but one finds oneself in an odd, bardo-like subjective space. Time to change the subject and perhaps one's mood?

Thus:

"Today, John McCain campaigned in the Ohio town of Defiance. Next comes Anger, then, finally, Acceptance." --Jay Leno

"And McCain says he's ready for Halloween. McCain says he's going to wear a Barack Obama mask and go as a socialist." --Jay Leno

"And a lot of juicy gossip on the campaign trail. Insiders of the McCain campaign say that Sarah Palin has gone rogue. Republicans are complaining that she's not listening to their advice, she's not taking their notes and she's going off on her own and saying whatever she wants. And then when the campaign was asked what they like best about her, 'She's a maverick!'" --Jay Leno

"And Republicans now say that the $150,000 worth of clothes they bought for Sarah Palin will probably go to a charity. Charity, is that a good idea? Isn't that kind of counterproductive? I mean, you're going to give a homeless woman your spare change when she's wearing a Dolce & Gabbana jacket and Jimmy Choo shoes, you know?" --Jay Leno

"It’s a little cold and windy outside, isn’t it today? It’s so cold today that Sarah Palin was putting ChapStick on a pit bull." --David Letterman

"John McCain was on Larry King’s show last night, and it got kind of awkward when Larry had to tell John McCain that 72 percent of his ex-wives were for Obama." --David Letterman

"And have you seen Sarah Palin and John McCain. I mean if you look at them, it’s kind of interesting. He looks like the elderly husband who would have her followed by a private detective. A little bit, don’t you think?" --David Letterman

"But here's what I like about John McCain. He's an optimist. Always sees the glass as half full of his teeth." --David Letterman

"And how about last night, when Barack Obama had his half hour infomercial TV special. I mean, thank God! It’s about time this guy got some media coverage, don’t you think?" --David Letterman

"But I thought it was one of those heartwarming infomercials. It had a wonderful ending. In the final scene Barack Obama is adopted by Angelina Jolie." --David Letterman

"This week out on the campaign trail, John McCain called Barack Obama a socialist, and President Bush defended Barack Obama. But see, again, I don't think President Bush really understands. Like, he told McCain, he said, 'When you're president, you get a lot of visitors to the White House. You have to be a good socialist. It's good manners'" --Jay Leno


------
Non sequitur: Even At Costliest School, Unease Over Downturn.

Oh And BTW The Clintons Are Racists, Etc.

When Windmills Attack, Is It Quixotic to Notice?

Not to mention Anglachel on Losers.

Sarah Palin Creatively Re-Interprets The Constitution

What would one do without Sarah Palin? I mean, really. What would one do?

Here, she asserts her newfound right to attack Barack Obama without fear of vicious horrid reprisals from the media in the form of them daring to question her wisdom in attacking him.

That's pretty creative.

Glenn Greenwald calls her assertion "so dumb that it hurts."

She's quite the fascist, really, is she not?


Growing Doubts On Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds.

Mainstream Media Finally Notices Stealth Talibangelical Palin

Better late than never?