News of the Restless

Wankers of the Week: Crass Warfare

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Sabina Becker

Crappy weekend, everyone! Wall Street is still occupied, and it looks like that golden calf is definitely ripe for the slaughter. The protesters are there to stay, much to the chagrin of the fuckers within. Well, thank heaven for those stupid old flag-desecrating geezers who mistake capitalism for patriotism (not realizing that it’s out to take away their old-age pensions, their Medicare scooters, etc., etc.) How it must warm the cockles of those stockbrokers. I haven’t seen one jumping yet, more’s the pity. But if any of them do, I hope they land on one of these wanks and take ’em out. In no particular order…

1. Dominique Fucking Strauss-Kahn. “A moral error”, he calls it. “It” being RAPE. Why do I get the feeling the only real error he committed was not getting out of Dodge fast enough? And get a load of his strange notion of “consent” — apparently, it’s something on the order of “She was there, she didn’t get out fast enough, therefore she must have wanted it!” By THAT logic, he must have wanted to get caught by the New York police. PS: The reviews are in. Damage control BACKFIRED.

2. Linda Fucking Harvey. She thinks there’s no such thing as LGBT people? Guess this nonexistent young man got beaten up over nothing, then. And this other nonexistent one killed himself over being bullied about nothing.

3. Andrew Fucking Breitbart. How many death threats does this drunken motherfucker have to utter before he’s finally hauled off to the Big House? Or until a “fan” (who will, no doubt, be characterized in the media as a “lone wolf”) goes on a shooting rampage in a Starbucks somewhere? Does anyone WANT to keep count?

4. Shane Fucking Webber. Worst boyfriend ebber? Well, he’s certainly a candidate. And just think, ladies, he’s single!…AGAIN.

5. Michele Fucking Bachmann. Congratulations, bitch. You just singlehandedly set back preventive medicine by about 20 years with your stupidity alone. I normally wouldn’t wish cervical cancer on anyone, but I’ll cheerfully make an exception for YOU. PS: What’s up with the fake eyelashes? Do you need something extra to bat at the camera, to distract people from your utter cluelessness? Jayzus.

6. Fauzi Fucking Bowo. Meet Indonesia’s answer to Officer Slutty; he prompted a local SlutWalk spinoff by blaming miniskirts for rape. Meanwhile, in other “sluts”-vs.-cops news, the woman the slutty-minded governor blamed for her own rape caught the bastard in traffic, recognizing his vehicle. She set out to do it because no one else would. Never mind the cops, in other words; just call the WOMEN.

7. and 8. Gillian Fucking Michaels and Ann Fucking Coulter. Who’s the more ignorant — the Biggest Loser, or the Coultergeist? Both need educating on the issue of clothing and rape. Because they both Do. NOT. Get. It. (Also, they both routinely dress like sluts just to say dumb, “provocative” shit on TV. That’s another thing they don’t get: the irony of their positions.)

9. Antonin Fucking Scalia. Executing an innocent man (i.e. Troy Davis) is “not unconstitutional”? Funny, but I seem to recall that there is at least one US constitutional amendment saying otherwise. But then again, maybe Hizzoner is referring to the old rule that a black man is only worth 3/5 of a white one, and that therefore, seven out of nine witnesses recanting their testimony against an innocent man CAN be wrong, and that therefore, a lynching can legitimately be wrapped in judicial robes. See how that works?

10. Juan Fucking Aguirre. In a sign of the desperate times, he stole six empty porn DVD cases from a sex shop display. When he wanks, he’ll shoot blanks…

11. Ed Fucking Kowalski. Tony Bennett has nothing to apologize for. His remarks about 9-11, on the contrary, are quite correct. If you don’t want to be the victim of terrorism, STOP FUCKING DOING IT YOURSELF.

12. Keith Fucking Ablow. Somebody please revoke his MD and his licence. This “doctor” has the worst understanding of transgenderism EVER. It’s not contagious, and you can’t get hooked on it simply by being exposed to a transgendered individual. I shudder to think how many “concerned” parents out there are hooked on this fact-free twaddle. Ablow is a professional blowhard, nothing more or less. But hey: At least he acknowledges that Chaz Bono is a man, and has not called him a “chick with a dick”, as others have done.

13. Bill O’Fucking Reilly. Delusions of grandeur, much? You misoverestimate your power greatly, sir…unless you’re talking about the power to make us snicker at you, in which case you may be right.

14. Tim Fucking Hudak. The phrase “voodoo economics” just doesn’t seem right, somehow…mainly because voodoo actually makes sense, and works better than his economics do.

15. Gilbert Fucking Deya. The only “miracle” about the babies this preacher doled out to infertile couples is how he got away with child theft for so damn long. I guess it helps if you steal them in Africa, then import them to the UK.

16. Rick Fucking Santorum. Actions have consequences, and one of the consequences of bigotry is ridicule. Suck it up, Icky Ricky. And next time, think before you open your mouth. Because what goes out, must come in.

17. Paul Fucking Stam. Better watch your closet door, pal…would be a shame if a luggage lifter were to fall out, no? But then again, he’s probably just a “thing” to you.

18. Dan Fucking Gordon. Of course the law doesn’t apply to anti-gay right-wing lawmakers. IOKIYAR, bitches! Only, alas…it does. The question is, how does a man with a rap sheet as long as his arm manage to get his sorry ass elected? Oh yeah…I forgot. IOKIYAR, bitches!

19. Pamela Fucking Geller. A fucking savage. That is all.

20. Peter Fucking MacKay. Talk about entitled! Newfoundland/Labrador has only three search-and-rescue helicopters available, and is located on the ocean, right near the busiest and most disaster-prone shipping lanes. And what does HE do? Commandeers one to ferry him home from a vacation spot. That’s a $16,000 private shuttle trip. And this is the Harper Government™, which prides itself on Fiscal Conservatism™ to the tune of $20 million consultants to help them “save money”? I have a terrific idea for how to trim at least $20 million from the budget, plus the salary of at least one spoiled-brat Conservative MP. But I doubt if Harpo has the guts to do THAT, much less the brains. PS: Being minister of national defence has perks beyond SAR helos, I see. Either that, or Nova Scotian lobster is too tempting for words. Like I said: ENTITLED.

21. Jim Fucking Flaherty. Make that TWO spoiled-brat Conservatives. And no brains there, either. Why pick up a pencil and do your homework when you can pay a private company like Deloitte $90,000 a day, untendered, to fuck the public sector over and cut public services that Canadians need?

22. Ezra Fucking Levant. He whines “Where are the feminists” over the (imagined) Saudi silencing of his fraudulent “Ethical Oil” ads on CTV? Well, this feminist would like to know what’s so fucking ethical about profiteering, pollution, dispossession of the indigenous, global warming, and the use of stolen and falsified photos in your “ethical oil” campaign. And Ezra? Where are you on the issue of indigenous women and girls being kidnapped, prostituted and killed, right here on your own beloved “ethical oil” soil? Are those crickets I suddenly hear? Why yes, they ARE!

23. Rob Fucking Ford. Looks like his private-sector gravy train was derailed…by people power. That’ll teach you to fuck with the citizenry, Robbo. You were only first past the post, and a majority of Torontonians did NOT vote for you, much less a Ford dynasty/dictatorship according to Harpo’s “hat trick” video, the same he’s now trying desperately to suppress (and with no success.) The public is onto you. Good luck trying to ram anything through over THAT.

24. Michelle Fucking Malkin. Can’t that fucking harpy shut her bitch face for just one night, out of respect for the innocent dead? Nope…she just HAD to take a swipe at Alec Baldwin over the corpse of Troy Davis. She is not only an idiotic attention harlot, she’s a fucking ghoul. And she will stop at nothing to score what she thinks are ideological points, but which are in fact nothing but own goals.

25. Rush Fucking Limbaugh. Scared of a woman telling the truth, Pigman? You should be. Nice projection you got going there, too. How many students’ tuition would it take to pay YOUR bloated salary? By any reckoning your pay packet is utterly undeserved, since you couldn’t tell a nickel’s worth of truth.

26. Mark Fucking Davidson. If you’re going to posit yourself as some kind of social media guru, it might be worth your while to write your own tweets. Just sayin’.

27. Levi Fucking Johnston. Srsly, dude, get over y’self. She’s only Sarah Fucking Palin, and you’re not God’s Gift, either. She didn’t have a “cougar crush” on you, she just flirts with everything that has a penis. She will literally do anything for attention. It’s nothing personal!

28. Bristol Fucking Palin. Stay classy, Miss Gaybasher.

29. Albert Fucking Mohler. Black is white, wrong is right, day is night, and the death penalty is “pro-life”. This is what a Ph.D. in theology from a Southern Baptist seminary gets you, kiddies. It’s actually a doctorate of fuck-all, with a major in doublethink and a minor in Newspeak. And it doesn’t even begin to address the sinfulness of putting an innocent man to death over a yet-unsolved police murder, either.

30. Wayne LaFucking Pierre. Speaking of blackwhite, wrongright, daynight, etc., guess what The Peter’s latest NRA lunacy is? Declaring the non-banning of guns to be an evil gun-grabbing conspiracy of the left. Once more through the Looking Glass, my friends!

31. and 32. Peter LaFucking Barbera and Janet Fucking Mefferd. One wishes these two homophobic idiots would just get a room and quit sodomizing our ears with their mental masturbations. Would it scandalize them to know that straight people do all the same things gay people do in bed, and have been since time out of mind? And that straight people are probably doing them more than gays, because there are nine straights for every single gay? Oh, probably. Because they’re both woefully ignorant about sex, for all they obsess over it.

And finally, Mark Fucking Zuckerberg. Facebook is getting worse and worse, but undoubtedly he sees it as an improvement, since his pocketbook will, in theory, be fatter. That is, of course, if there are more eyeballs on all those obnoxious Facebook ads. (I recommend Better Facebook, it gets rid of those. And lots of other stupid Facebook shit, too.) But there’s a groundswell of alienated users out there (i.e., ALL of ’em), and they’re looking for ways out. And since Google+ is now public, they’ve got one. There are others waiting in the wings, too: Diaspora, AnonPlus, etc. And just to throw a real crimp in Fuckerberg’s master plan to take over the entire Internets by out-googling Google, out-twittering Twitter, and out-who-knows-what-elsing who-knows-who-else, there are some folks at Anonymous who plan to hold a real bonfire on Guy Fawkes Day. I won’t be missing a thing that day, since I can’t find a fucking thing on Facebook anymore anyway. Other than annoyance and privacy invasion and broken Java scripts, which were all there BEFORE the latest rollouts, and which have all been left unfixed, natch. Until this week, I never felt like actually taking my aluminum baseball bat and sodomizing somebody with it, but Fuckerberg’s name is written all over that fat bastard now. And I get the strangest feeling I’m not alone in feeling that way.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Posted in Wankers of the Week | 2 Comments

Happy 75th Birthday, Jim Henson

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Sabina Becker

And to show their appreciation, your creations would like to sing you a little song…

“Nothing really matters…(big breath)…but MOI!!!”

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Posted in Artsy-Fartsy Culture Stuff | 1 Comment

Festive Left Friday Blogging: The hikers are home…

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Sabina Becker

…and who do you suppose brokered their release from Iran?

Yup, that evil villainous democratically-elected “strongman”, “dictator”, and whatever other stupid epithet you care to fling at his chemo-bald head. He’s a hero yet again. He did this for a couple of complete strangers in the midst of his treatment for cancer. And he got the idea from a high-profile friend:

Sean Penn played a real-life role in the mediation that secured the release of two American hikers who were held captive in Iran for more than two years.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged his ally, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to release the hikers after the South American leader was lobbied by pals in U.S. “intellectual circles,” Reuters reported.

One of those Americans was Penn, who flew to Venezuela to meet with Chavez and push him to talk to Ahmadinejad.

“Penn was very committed to the case,” a source told Reuters. “He kept on it.”

A representative for the actor confirmed his involvement in the hush-hush diplomacy, but provided no details.

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 29, were released Wednesday from a prison in Tehran, where they had been held since being arrested near the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009.

They insisted they got lost while hiking, but were convicted of espionage and originally sentenced to eight years in prison.

They were released on $1 million “bail” – in what the Iranian Foreign Ministry labeled a show of “Islamic mercy.”

I don’t suppose the right-wing media/blogwhore name-calling will abate anytime soon, but this ought to make it harder for them to do it without blushing and stammering.

¡Viva Chavecito!

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Posted in Festive Left Friday Blogging, Heroes for Today, Huguito Chavecito | 2 Comments

When lynching passes for “justice”

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Sabina Becker

Last night, the world witnessed a modern-day judicially sanctioned lynching.

Troy Davis was executed last night at 11:08 local time, under heavy protest, in the state of Georgia, by a private contracting corporation that specializes in the “care” of prison inmates. (They are said to be currently hiring paramedics and nurses; one wonders for what ghoulish tasks! They are also no strangers to legal investigation of their “services”; interesting.) For a cool $13,000 US, this corporation saw to it that he was strapped motionless to a gurney (like the one in the photo above), with intravenous lines running in both arms, to be injected first with a sedative, and then with the same drugs used to euthanize dogs and cats at the pound.

His last words to his accusers were “I’d like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I’m not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent.” And there is much evidence to back them up.

They say justice delayed is justice denied, but there’s more than one way to deny justice. In this case, even with more than four hours passing between the scheduled execution of Troy Davis and the final completion of the atrocity, there was no delay of justice, but merely a brief stay of a terrible, state-mandated crime. Justice — the chance for a new trial, the opportunity to present fresh evidence, and to discard old false testimonies — was denied to Troy in the hour the punishment fell for a crime he did not commit.

Don’t get the idea that I’m soft on crime. I reviled Tim McVeigh and John Gacy and Ted Bundy, knowing full well that all of them were guilty as charged, and even thought that Bundy’s execution was one of the few that truly merited carrying out. There was no redeeming him. Bundy was an escape artist and misogynist extraordinaire; he was an ongoing danger to society in general, and young women in particular. He bragged that his actual death toll was in the triple digits, and it’s quite possible that he wasn’t exaggerating; there are still a lot of cold missing-persons cases all over the Pacific Northwest, and many of the pictures look like the sort of girls Bundy targeted. He had a definite “type”, and no qualms about seeking such girls out, raping and killing them, and then going on to sexually abuse their corpses. To get rid of him was the only way to make sure he wouldn’t get out and do it again.

I felt, I confess, a definite relief when Ted had his date with Old Sparky; he was now one less horror for us living ladies to fear. (He was a menace to Canada, too; he’s said to have left a trail of unidentified victims in British Columbia, though nothing was ever definitely tied to him.) But even so, I didn’t smile or rejoice. It was merely the final, dreary chapter of a story that should never have begun. At least 36 families out there were, and remain to this day, bereft of a daughter, and getting rid of him wasn’t going to bring those girls back.

Nor, I have come to realize, is execution any serious way of addressing the issues of violent crimes arising from sexism (Bundy), homophobia (Gacy) or racist fascism (McVeigh). It may get rid of an individual killer, but it does not touch on what stops killers in advance — namely, denying them not only the means and the opportunity to kill, but even the motive. Prevention is better than cure, and for all the millions society has spent on executing convicted criminals, it has scrimped on the more critical need to prevent crime and give everyone a more secure world to live in. Apparently it’s more “tough on crime” to make a big show of trials and punishments than it is to create a just society, where crime is rare to nonexistent because no one feels like committing any. We’re expected to work like dogs, to struggle like dogs, to obey like dogs. No wonder Troy Davis was sentenced to die like a dog!

I can think of no better illustration of that mentality than this ballad from a more barbaric time in our past, posted today by a Facebook buddy:

REQUIEM FOR A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD
By Pierre Berton

In Goderich town
The Sun abates
… December is coming
And everyone waits:
In a small, dark room
On a small, hard bed
Lies a small, pale boy
Who is not quite dead.

The cell is lonely
The cell is cold
October is young
But the boy is old;
Too old to cringe
And too old to cry
Though young —
But never too young to die.

It’s true enough
That we cannot brag
Of a national anthem
Or a national flag
And though our Vision
Is still in doubt
At last we’ve something to boast about:
We’ve a national law
In the name of the Queen
To hang a child
Who is just fourteen.

The law is clear:
It says we must
And in this country
The law is just
Sing heigh! Sing ho!
For justice blind
Makes no distinction
Of any kind;
Makes no allowances for sex or years,
A judge’s feelings, a mother’s tears;
Makes no allowances for age or youth
Just eye for eye and tooth for tooth
Tooth for tooth and eye for eye:
A child does murder
A child must die.

Don’t fret … don’t worry …
No need to cry
We’ll only pretend he’s going to die;
We’re going to reprieve him
By and by.

We’re going to reprieve him
(We always do),
But it wouldn’t be fair
If we told him, too
So we’ll keep the secret
As long as we can
And hope that he’ll take it
Like a man.

And when we’ve told him
It’s just “pretend”
And he won’t be strung
At a noose’s end,
We’ll send him away
And, like as not
Put him in prison
And let him rot.

The jury said “mercy”
And we agree —
O, merciful jury:
You and me.

Oh death can come
And death can go
Some deaths are sudden
And some are slow;
In a small cold cell
In October mild
Death comes each day
To a frightened child.

So muffle the drums and beat them slow,
Mute the strings and play them low,
Sing a lament and sing it well,
But not for the boy in the cold, dark cell,
Not for the parents, trembling-lipped,
Not for the judge who followed the script;
Save your prayers for the righteous ghouls
In that Higher Court who write the rules
For judge and jury and hangman too:
The Court composed of me and you.

In Goderich town
The trees turn red
The limbs go bare
As their leaves are bled
And the days tick by
As the sky turns lead
For the small, scared boy
On the small, stark bed
A fourteen-year-old
Who is not quite dead.

That “small, scared boy” was Steven Truscott, who was accused and convicted of the murder of a twelve-year-old schoolfriend. He was accused on the basis that he was the last person seen with Lynne Harper while she was still alive. She was found dead three days later, with no killer in sight. Steven Truscott was sentenced to hang on no more evidence than that he was seen giving his friend a lift on his bike, just before she disappeared.

When the death penalty was abolished in Canada, Steven Truscott’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. But it was still wrong. He spent decades maintaining his innocence, living under a pseudonym, and struggling for a new trial, one that would clear his name and free him. Eventually he got it, but for a price. He grew to adulthood behind penitentiary bars. That world is no place for an innocent boy.

It’s no world for an innocent man, either.

But Troy Davis spent 22 years on Death Row in Georgia. Like Steven Truscott, he maintained his innocence to the end. But unlike Steven Truscott, Troy Davis was not to be spared by a change in the laws, or the passage of time enabling him to seek retrial. The law in Georgia is clear: If you’re convicted of killing a cop, you get the death penalty. No exceptions. Not even if you’re demonstrably innocent. All that matters, as Antonin Scalia said, is the conviction. Even the highest court in the land won’t argue for clemency or a new trial if the conviction stands. And they will not allow it to fall, either. It speaks volumes as to the cruelty and cowardice of the US justice system, which has yet to fully evolve beyond capital punishment, as Canada’s has done.

And yet, Canada has much to teach our neighbor to the south. Think of David Milgaard. Or Donald Marshall. Or Guy Paul Morin. All three wrongly convicted. All three would have spent their lives in prison if not for those who advocated tirelessly on their behalf, getting their convictions overturned, seeking retrial and exoneration, publicly clearing their names.

And they were not the only ones; there are so many cases of probable wrongful conviction in this country that there is an organization to help them. It used to be headed up by Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, also a former wrongful convict. A black man who, like Troy Davis, appears to have been convicted mainly on the basis of his color — and false testimonies.

The fact that we need such organizations is shameful; it is an indictment of the deep streak of criminality in North American society. But they are our best hope of abolishing what should be a rare, or better nonexistent, punishment. It behooves us to get behind them. It shouldn’t be up to them alone to wear away the monolith of injustice, drop by slow, slow drop.

After all, justice delayed is justice denied. And so is yet another judicially sanctioned lynching.

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Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Fascism Without Swastikas, If You REALLY Care, Isn't That Illegal?, Law-Law Land, Not So Compassionate Conservatism, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

Heroes for Today: Talking back to the 1%ers

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Sabina Becker

You heard the lady. Pay it forward, you tax-dodging billionaires.

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Tim Padgett, corruption apologist

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Sabina Becker

Meet Leopoldo López…corrupto, violent agitator, and “popular” politician of the Venezuelan far-right. And apparently, the crushboy of a certain crap “reporter” for TIME Magazine…

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights concluded this week what just about everyone in the western hemisphere already knew: leading Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo López was denied due process of law in 2008, when socialist President Hugo Chávez’s government barred him from running in elections for six years because of an accusation of corruption in his past. The Costa Rica-based court ruled that López should be allowed to challenge Chávez in next year’s presidential race, and Chávez should let it happen – not merely because it’s the right thing to do human rights-wise, but because it may well be the smart thing for him to do politically.

The law that snared López is, admirably, meant to curtail corruption, oil-rich Venezuela’s most chronic plague. But critics say in reality it’s an arbitrary means of keeping opposition candidates off the electoral playing field – especially popular pols like López, 40, the former mayor of the Caracas municipality of Chacao, who represent a threat to Chávez’s bid for indefinite re-election. Since 2007, some 800 Venezuelans have been declared politically “inhabilitado,” or debilitated, and not surprisingly about 80% of them have been opposition figures. More unsettling is that many if not most of those inhabilitados, including López, were never convicted of any crime – which the Inter-American Court said violated López’s rights in his case.

“Never convicted of any crime”? Guess Tim Padgett, the crap-writer responsible for the dreck above, hasn’t heard the news. López is, indeed, a well-known criminal:

Venezuela’s previous Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian (2000-2011) banned Lopez from holding public ofﬁce after uncovering an illegal donation accepted by Lopez in 1998. The donation, worth $160,000, was made out to Lopez’s Primero Justicia Civil Association (ACPJ) by then employer Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The donation, in the form of a check, was signed by Lopez’s mother, who also worked for PDVSA at that time.

Anti-corruption laws in Venezuela strictly prohibit any donation by the publicly-owned oil company to employees or functionaries, direct family members of employees, or foundations or entities related totally or partially to any of the said parties.

Escarra explained that while Lopez cannot hold public ofﬁce for another two years, he maintains his constitutional right to vote, to engage in the political life of the country, and to participate in political debates individually and/or within political parties.

Poor widdle Leo, how his rights have been trampled by that evil, wicked Chávez in an effort to keep rivals from challenging for power!

Of course, that idea only holds water if you discount the fact that it was not Chávez that barred him, but the democratically-enacted laws and constitution of Venezuela, as implemented by the Comptroller General of the Republic, Clodosbaldo Russián.

And it only holds water if you think that a politician getting his own mother to embezzle large amounts of public petro-dollars for his political campaign isn’t illegal or even morally wrong.

And it only holds water if you think a gringo-biased kangaroo court based in Costa Rica should have jurisdiction over a sovereign state…which, the last time I checked, Venezuela was:

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Escarra explained that Venezuela’s ﬁght against corruption “would be left unarmed” if the Venezuelan government allowed an IACHR de cision to override the nation’s judicial authorities.

According to Escarra, theLopez case has gone through the appropriate legal channels, including the country’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), and the nation’s Comptroller General needs “the option” of “administrative sanctions” so as to prevent corruption by public ofﬁcials and to punish those engaged in such illicit activities.

Regardless of the IACHR’s opinion in the Lopez case, said Escarra, “the problems of the Judicial Branch, the internal and structural problems, will be decided in Venezuela and not outside of the country”.

German Saltron, Venezuela’s representative at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), explained that Lopez’s sanction “does not violate Article 23 of the IACHR because he (Lopez) can still exercise his political rights”.

“What he can’t do is nominate himself to a position elected by the popular vote because he has a sanction for acts of corruption”, said Saltron.

“To decide in favor of Leopoldo Lopez is to encourage corruption”, he concluded.

Tim Padgett, why do you love corruptos? And why do you hate the sovereign laws of countries not your own?

Now, as to the notion that Leopoldo López is a popular politician, or even a serious challenger for the presidency (!), here’s what actual Venezuelans have to say:

National Assembly deputy Robert Serra, of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said on Wednesday that the Venezuelan right-wing has always considered Leopoldo López a “loose cannon”, and for that reason, they do not want him to participate in the opposition party primaries.

“Remember that they threw him out of Primero Justicia, he went to Un Nuevo Tiempo, they threw him out of there, he had to arm his own party,” said Serra in an interview with the VTV show Toda Venezuela.

Translation mine.

Whoa. Not one, but TWO right-wing parties kicked him out, because he was a “loose cannon”? “He had to arm his own party”? Totally what you’d expect of Mr. Popularity, eh?

Tim Padgett: Not only totally ignorant about Venezuela, but an apologist for unpopular corruptos who don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hades at the Venezuelan presidency — even without laws barring their candidacy and a popular, incorruptible democratically elected president going through chemo.

Yer Honor, the prosecution rests.

PS: Chavecito has weighed in. Seems the IACHR is a kangaroo court indeed…it never indicted Pedro Carmona for the well-documented human rights violations of April 11-13, 2002. One of which was the kidnapping and near-murder of none other than Chavecito himself. Just one more reason why neither they nor their backers in ANY country deserve to be taken seriously.

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Posted in Crapagandarati, Huguito Chavecito, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Law-Law Land, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

Economics for Dummies: It’s still going on

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Sabina Becker

And it will go on until further notice. (Speaking of which, Wall Street, you are now being put on.)

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Posted in Economics for Dummies, Filthy Stinking Rich, If You REALLY Care, Socialism is Good for Capitalism!, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off

Q. Why are pirates so badass?

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Sabina Becker

A. They just arrrrrr, matey!

Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day! And in other buccaneering news, guess who the landlubbers in Berlin are voting for?

Piracy…it’s not just for the high seas or the Israeli navy anymore, me hearties.

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Short ‘n’ Stubby: Ms. Manx takes on Wall St.

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Sabina Becker

The Stumpy Cat has been rather busy of late, chasing mice, moles, voles and chipmunks out in the garden. But she’s sticking her cyber-head in now to meow at me. Which is a sure sign that she’s found something out there besides rodents. Whatcha got for us, kitty?

First up, Ms. Manx has a Facebook note she wants you to read. Wall St. is being occupied by thousands of protesters. And where is the media? The Manx scornfully notes that cats have an undeserved reputation for sleeping at all hours, but it’s really the capitalist press that deserves the bad rap.

Thankfully, the alternative media is stepping in to fill the gaps, as Allison Kilkenny does, very nicely, at The Nation. Ms. Manx gives her a big paws-up.

And finally (for now, anyhow), the Manx would like to offer, for your perusal, an astonishing Salon piece on how the language of Wall Street has invaded everything, right up to and including our love lives. If ever there were a reason to shut the damn thing down for good, the commodification of sex and love ought to be IT, says the Stumpie.

PS: The Manx just pawed this up (thanks, Antonia Z!):