More Music for a Sunday: RIP Gary Moore

Others eulogize his Thin Lizzy days; I’ll cry over this one today. Goodbye to a great bluesman, gone much too soon.

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Music for a Sunday: Possibly the coolest anti-racism song ever

In honor of Black History Month, I present to you an old fave of mine:

Here’s Martha Johnson’s explanation of what it refers to:

I was driving around in the band van listening to some pop radio station when I heard the DJ introduce the song “Brown-Eyed Girl” by telling the listeners that when Van Morrison had originally written the song it was titled “Brown-Skinned Girl”. He had been strongly urged to change it as his record company at the time was worried that the title and interracial theme might offend some people and hurt his chances of having a hit with the record.

I thought this story was so ludicrous until I started thinking about here we were in 1984 and not much had changed as music was still segregated into black music stations and white music stations. I remember it was still an issue at that time whether Michael Jackson would be played only on the black stations!

Of course, the station where I first heard this song–1050 CHUM–was not one of those segregated channels. It played everything, from old Motown right up to the latest British Invasion/New Wave pop I loved so much. Michael Jackson was very much on the playlist, both solo and with his brothers. And of course, the station broke ground for a lot of great Canadian bands, including this one.

The silliness of the persistent racism of the times (on some stations, anyway) gets a light-hearted send-up in this video. Everything is a play on the black-and-white theme. And there are some seriously cool effects, too: the dancing-on-the-ceiling scene is not a trick of editing. It was shot upside-down. They’re actually dancing around a light-fixture on the floor, while the black man looking “up” at them is “sitting” at his table suspended from the real ceiling!

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Wankers of the Week: Ronald Reagan memorial edition

Crappy weekend, everybody! Yes, this is another special tribute edition of Wankers of the Week. This week’s wanker is Ronald Fucking Reagan, who would have been 100 this week, had he lived that long. And if you need more evidence that he had dementia during his reign, well, there’s the photo above. Those dudes in the turbans are the same mujahideen he and his crew wasted a fortune on training to fight and kill godless commies for Jeebus. They morphed into the Taliban, who are now the west’s mortal terrorist enemies onaccounta they don’t believe in Jeebus. But gee, didn’t they look cute sitting there in the oh-so-whitey-white White House?

And let’s not forget all the other lovely legacies St. Ronnie left us: Reaganomics (still as much an Epic Fail as ever, and yet still no one has the nerve to demolish it); the AIDS epidemic, which he left to fester because it was thought at the time that it was “only a gay plague” anyway, and that government should not be in the business of helping people protect themselves; Saddam Hussein, whom Ronnie sent Donald Fucking Rumsfeld to cultivate (and sell weapons to); and so on. I could go on forever, but since our wankapedia is fairly long this week, I won’t. Here, with no further ado, are the rest of this week’s dregs of humanity:

1. Roger Fucking Stockham. I knew it could only be a matter of time before a US mosque was targeted by a home-grown terrorist of the far right with a raging anti-government hate-on. And lo and behold, guess who obliged? Yep, one of those. Who, incidentally, idolizes Tim Fucking McVeigh. The saga just about writes itself, no? PS: A repeat offender? You don’t say!

2. Jack Fucking Kingston. Dude, I don’t know if you came from God (and if I were God, I’d be mightily embarrassed of a job so poorly done). But damn straight you didn’t descend from monkeys. They’re much smarter than you!

3. Peter Fucking Heck. And speaking of embarrassments to God, how about this one? Yup, he trots out the old abortion-equals-slavery canard, just like all his stupid co-religionists, in time for the annual anti-Roe hate-fest. And even worse, he turns it into a racialized attack on Barack Obama! Someone please remind him that in Germany, less than a century ago, his co-religionists were forcing women to get and stay pregnant for the sake of creating a Master Race. Now, THAT was slavery.

4. Chris Fucking Barron. Those who fight for gay rights are “the American Taliban” and “hateful, angry and dumb as shit”. Meanwhile, what is he, for licking the boots of the very homophobic Andrew Fucking Breitbart? I leave it to your imagination, gentle readers.

5. The Fucking Freeptards. Newsflash: Egypt isn’t “burning”. And I’m pretty sure that Barack Obama isn’t ignoring what’s going on over there, either. I think the real thing that’s got all these right-wing bloomers in a bunch is the simple fact that he hasn’t sent the US Air Force in to crush the protests and set Egypt on fire for realz. You know, “light up some ragheads”? Like Dubya “liberating” Baghdad? That sort of thing.

6. Sarah Fucking Palin. Yeah, she’s a MILF, all right–if MILF is short for Major Idiot Lying Frequently. I’m sure little Trig must enjoy being not only her main fashion accessory but the butt of her dumb jokes as well. And of course, she is all for the “right” of crazy people to own guns. How much is the NRA slipping her on the side, do you think? Crazy gun buyers are their bread ‘n’ butter! Oh, and don’t miss this. We all knew she was only out to cash in on her name, and she is. So’s Bristol, apparently. Like mother, like daughter… PS: Ha, ha.

7. Glenn Fucking Beck. The Egyptian revolution is the work of Islamists and communists! Yeah, the fucking fucktard actually went there. We knew that he would. Now all we need is a loopy Nazi reference, and the Becktardery will be complete.

8. Tom Fucking Brokaw. MSNBC “will be all right” without Keith Olbermann. Yeah, only its most-watched (and best) newsman. What could possibly go wrong, eh Barky?

9. Lila Fucking Rose. It’s confirmed: She and her professional misogynist antichoice mafia WERE behind that “child prostitution ring” scam trying to shut down Planned Parenthood. When is someone gonna “gotcha” them? Oh, yeah. I forgot. Our side has much more class than Madam Lie-là and her wingnut welfare pimps.

10. John Fucking Bolton. Oh look, the Sheepdog is barking AGAIN this week! And this time, the tune is “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran”. Where have we heard THAT one before? Someone please muzzle this mutt before he unleashes another international catastrophe.

Also, he looks really effin’ dorky in a yarmulke. All that’s missing is the propeller.

11. Tim Fucking Hudak. Scaremongering about sex-ed? For shame. Tim, has the phrase “age-appropriate” ever crossed your radar? Or do you, like all wingnuts, simply assume that “sex education” means “teaching kids how to have sex”? And what is this stupid shit about banning chocolate milk? It hasn’t happened. Jayzus.

12. Rocco Fucking Rossi. A SupposiTory after all? Color me SO not surprised. All his godbaggery in the last Toronto city hall race told me just what bag this one comes out of.

13. Shawn Fucking Begolly. He wants his assault weapons back, since they were “not used to commit a crime”. Um, dude, your son’s been arrested as a domestic terrorist. Isn’t it HIM you should be worrying about? He had access to your shit, after all.

14. Ann Fucking Coulter. Guns and bibles are better than health insurance? Well, Annie, why don’t you ditch your gold-plated wingnut-welfare plan and see how far it gets you when you finally shoot yourself in the long, skinny foot. I hear you haven’t darkened the door of a church in, like, forever. Do you think you’re still golden with God? If so, you really are the world’s craziest whited sepulchre.

15. Richard Fucking Cohen. I think I’ve listed him before; Quasimodo’s face rings a bell. Well, if he’s a wanker, chances are he’s a repeat offender. And his offence this week? Moaning about the peaceful pro-democracy protests in Egypt. What part of it bugs him so much? Is it the fact that, as Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports on Democracy Now, garbage is finally getting cleaned up in Tahrir Square? Or how about those 15-year-olds doing a better job of directing traffic than Mubarak’s cops? Is it the women and girls, out kicking tyranny’s ass right alongside the men? Or the Muslims and Christians defending each other at prayer? Or how the Muslim Brotherhood is really not all that much of a “threat”, because pluralism is more popular in Egypt than Islamic militancy–even within the Brotherhood itself? Oh, I know–it’s the DEMOCRACY, stupid! Cohen doesn’t like it when other countries show signs of being able to govern themselves. Makes pundits like him look rather useless, worthless, and silly. (Not that they don’t already, it just makes the fact so painfully obvious.)

16. Hosni Fucking Mubarak. Do I really need to elaborate on this one? Didn’t think so.

17. Mike Fucking Huckabee. A presidential contender, he ain’t. An ethnic cleanser, he is. Right-wing Israelis might love him, but nobody else does.

18. Charlie Fucking Sheen. Apparently, $1.8 million per episode means you can do no wrong. Even when everything you’re doing, especially with members of the opposite sex, is wrong. Twenty years ago, weren’t people saying the same things about Axl Fucking Rose? I seem to recall that they were…

19. Mark Fucking Sanford. Yay, he’s on the Appalachian Trail again. Whoopdeefuckingdoo!

20. Christopher Fucking Monckton. Who’s afraid of a little tweetybird? Climate-change denial’s biggest professional chickenshit, of course. Buk buk buk b’kawwww!

21. Jon Fucking Entine. Speaking of people in denial (and who are undoubtedly funded by Big Oil), one of the AEI’s special guest shills decided to defend poor widdle ChevronToxico–er, sorry, TEXACO–against big bad Ecuador and its mean-ass environmental protection laws. Awww, how touching. Next time there’s a coup, we’ll at least know who’s to blame for the foregoing volley of crapaganda against Rafael Correa, eh? Meanwhile–cha-ching!

22. Chris Fucking Brown. Rihanna’s abuser wants the restraining order against him “modified” because he’s inconvenienced? Motherfucker hasn’t learned a goddamn thing. Dude, it’s there for a reason–think about it. Your presence is a lot more than a mere inconvenience to her, trust me.

PS:

HA ha!

23. Thomas Fucking Friedman. His prose, with all its inept analogies, is like a long, unrefreshing drink of raw sewage. Why is he being paid for it?

24. Donald Fucking Rumsfeld. Defender of the constitution. Yes, really. Stop laughing.

25. Phyllis Fucking Schlafly. Domestic violence doesn’t break up marriages–false accusations do! This from a woman who probably has zero contact with her own family, owing to the fact that she’s a full-time professional asshat coated in head-to-toe shellac and all. Maybe her absence from the family home is what’s saving her so-called marriage?

26. Doug Fucking Godbee. I’m guessing by his mugshot that quid pro quo is probably the only way this prizewinner could get laid.

27. Thomas Fucking Euteneuer. An anti-choice, anti-birth-control, anti-gay priest, who also purported to be an exorcist, has stepped down as head of an anti-choice, anti-birth-control, anti-gay organization…over sex. But hey, at least he was messing with a grown woman. Whom he was supposedly exorcising. How convenient: The devil made him do it.


28. Billo Fucking Reilly. Doesn’t know shit about al-Jazeera. Or the Moon, come to that. Thinks the one is run by Osama bin Laden, and the other is made of green cheese. Fortunately for Billo, knowing shit is not a job requirement at FUX Snooze.

29. Robert Fucking Benmosche. Liberals are deadbeats. So says the CEO of a company that used its bailout money on expensive spa vacations and other non-essential shit. Pray tell me, Bob: Why are we supposed to fork our hard-earned money over to the likes of you, again?

30. Rush Fucking Limbaugh. The Pigman is a wanker every week. This week, he’s a wanker with two faces…and approximately seven chins on each.

31. LaVar Fucking Christensen. “Married heterosexual families are the fundamental unit of society”? Funny, I thought it was the individual person. It would have to be, since I’m not married and not planning to be anytime soon, my own heterosexuality notwithstanding. Dude, if you hate gay people, why don’t you just come out and say it, instead of trying to legislate your theocratic prejudices as normative? That just makes you look like a big fat sissy.

32. Diane Fucking Finley. One question, minister: IF YOU BELIEVE IN FORCING CANADIAN WOMEN TO STAY HOME TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN, WHY AREN’T YOU THERE NOW?

33. Bobby Fucking Franklin. Rape is not a “real crime”? Well, I guess, by that token, Bobby must not be a real fucking idiot. Ha, ha.

34. Ann Fucking Buerkle. If you’re going to repeal public healthcare in the US, you might first want to remember whose taxes are paying for YOURS, madam Representative. (Hint: It’s the same people who can decide to stop paying your salary as a US Representative, simply by voting you out next election for being such a fucking dumbass.)

35. Bob Fucking Vander Plaats. Being gay is harmful “like secondhand smoke”? So says the purveyor of holy smoke, the shit that rots yer brain and stunts mental growth.

36. Silvio Fucking Berlusconi: Hosni Fucking Mubarak is “wise”. This from an old fool who’s into autocracy, too-tight facelifts, and paid sex with underage girls. Bet he’s hoping Italy doesn’t catch this pro-democracy fever that seems to be making its way around the Mediterranean.

And finally, to all the paid thugs who’ve been taking baksheesh from Hosni Fucking Mubarak and other oligarchs to “demonstrate” their “support” for him via violence and attempted censorship. Thanks to your attempts to beat up journalists from networks all over the world, the whole world finally knows what’s the matter with Egypt. They also know what bag Mubarak really comes out of. And now they can all see why the popular groundswell is against him. But hey, keep it up…all you’re digging is your own damn graves. And all for just thirty shekels! Yeah, that’s gonna go a long way toward alleviating your economic woes, eh?

Good night, and get fucked!

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Oh, those classy Venezuelan oppos!

Such dignity. Such style. Such grace…

Photo tweeted by waraira65. The woman’s shirt reads “Hugo, I shit on your revolution”. Her flag appears to be the old one, too–the horse on the coat of arms is looking backwards.

Always nice to see the upper class in Venezuela demonstrating why their superior ilk just keeps winning those elections, eh?

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Need a little inspiration?

Then take a gander at this lady:

That is Nawal el-Saadawi, Egyptian feminist, human-rights activist, author and shit-disturber and just plain ol’ all-around badass, talking about why she’s in this fight. For those of you who think the Egyptian democratic people’s revolt is just some “youth” thing, consider this: She is over 80 and still kicking butt. She didn’t have to do this. She could have gone back into exile and been safe and cozy praising the feisty kids from a distance, but she’s out there in Tahrir Square with all the rest of the ass-kickers, shit-disturbers and badasses. She is not content to let the young–or the men–suffer the throes of revolution alone. And that’s the whole point: that this is a revolution for all of Egypt, not just a certain sector of the population.

Proof, in case anyone out there needs it, that age does not necessarily make you more conservative (which is the political way of saying “complacent”). If you think you’re too old to kick ass, you may as well pick out your gravestone. She’s not ready for that yet.

We could all learn so much from her!

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Just a bunch of crazy Germans, doing squat

Trust a German to come up with a sport involving sitting on a stool. (Beer is optional.)

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Festive Left Friday Blogging: Terrific tweeps. I haz them.

And some of them have had their picture taken with some pretty damn terrific people. Like, oh, say, Chavecito:

That little guy under Chavecito’s hand? That’s Fidel Palma, who tweeted this pic, taken 15 years ago. Back then, Chavecito was newly out of jail, touring Venezuela to hear what the people really wanted, and getting together what would become a winning presidential campaign platform. One of the biggest things people dreamed of? Public education, especially at the higher levels. Fidel is now at university, along with thousands of other young Venezuelans, thanks to the efforts of their president–who happens to be the son of two schoolteachers himself.

And that black squiggle on the guy on the white shirt, holding the microphone? That’s Chavecito’s autograph.

A photo to be treasured, for sure. Fidel, you’re one lucky muchacho.

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Short ‘n’ Stubby: Ms. Manx supports Egypt

Being a kitty, Ms. Manx absolutely adores Egypt. A land where cats were revered in honor of the Goddess Bast is her kind of place. And why not? Cats rule. And since Ms. Manx also rules around here, here’s what she meowed at me to include in today’s roundup:

First off, a very helpful guide on how not to say stupid things about Egypt. Since those who don’t really want Egypt to have democracy are full of Teh Stoopid, and projecting their own ignorance onto the very un-ignorant people of that long-historied land, the Stumpy Cat thinks this is a very helpful corrective. You’ll probably need it to undo the nonsense you’re probably absorbing through your telescreens right now. (She’s well aware that the Chicken Noodle Network had one of the sons of the former Shah of Iran on today, trying to compare the two countries and their very different situations. Dumb-dumb-dumb-DUMB. It seems to be a particularly dumb trend on the web, too, if this is any indication. Ironically, the same website has this helpful backgrounder on the Muslim Brotherhood–the same that the dumbass wants you to panic about.)

If you want to be smart about Egypt, our stump-tailed friend thinks you could do no better than to watch al-Jazeera’s live feed from there, or, if you don’t have that much time to sit and follow along, go to Democracy Now and look for the reports filed by their producer, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who is Egyptian himself. You can also follow his tweet-feed here.

Another good tweeter to follow is Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian feminist and journalist. Her blog is here.

Who haz Teh Stoopid the most about Egypt right now? Who else but Hosni Mubarak, who doesn’t want to leave, even though the calls for him to do so could not be louder or clearer. His non-resignation speech today struck all the sourest notes. More protests, it seems, are now in order. Here’s the Angry Arab’s take on what could be in store.

And finally, this excellent video…on how to do the smart thing when it comes to Egypt, and do it simply:

Any questions?

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Cholera outbreak in Venezuela. Usual suspect blamed

“You know why people from our class came back with cholera from the Dominican Republic? Because Chávez infiltrated the party with caviar from Mercal!”

(Mercal is the government-run chain of low-priced grocery stores. Its mission is to make sure people with low incomes get good food at affordable prices. Naturally, rich Venezuelans hate it. Some of them are grocers who like to jack up their profits by ripping poor folks off. During the Caracazo, that didn’t go over too well. It still doesn’t today.)

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In Egypt, people worshipped the cat…

…and the cats still rule:

Hail Bast! (Twitpic by Muslimerican.)

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