the king of carrot flowers...

I have a distinct inability to focus on anything as of late...so while the markets are up again and some idiots are applauding because they tell us all is swell again I just need to dump my brain...

watching meet the press sunday - the show's opening segment features a token democrat vs. republican rap session. the democrats get dick durbin, a crook that has represented illinois in the senate for over a decade after being in the house for my entire life. the republicans got newt gingrich...a man that was shamed out of the house of representatives a decade ago. could not have provided a more apt analogy for the parties.

it is amazing how much better horrible policies can sound when they are delivered with elegance...

I'm torn on sotomayor...she has potential to be good, but I see her more likely to be a sandra day o'connor or kennedy (possibly a stevens) than a real mover and shaker. I really hoped obama would go balls to the wall with the courts, recognize it was a fight he couldn't lose and take advantage of it...

not to say I don't understand that he does not believe the courts should have to play a major role in progressive politics or that such a role would be proper for them...but the fact is they can, they do, and they will...

but as far as a political strategy. I have to believe they are hoping beyond hope that the elephants are stupid enough to seriously challenge her and hold the nomination up...because nothing says political wilderness like repeatedly telling the largest growing demographic in america to fuck themselves.

a bit more on sotomayor...she's right, appellate courts make policy. that is what they do. get over it. it has been our system for centuries.

even when obama pisses me off it is hard to be pissed. at least he speaks to me like a grown man and not some frightened child hiding in the closet...

speaking of which...hermione, you can come out from under the sink now. the freaky white t-shirt theiving nutjob isn't coming back...

I wish the california supreme court had decided otherwise...but I haven't read the opinion so I can't really say whether or not they got it wrong. but hell...if iowa and maine are there...its coming.

am I the only professional white male that believes it would be utterly impossible to be impartial if one was incapable of seeing the issue through the eyes of both parties standing before them?

rush, dick and newt see no place for the man that could have been the first black president, an unquestionably talented military mind and diplomat, an intelligent and analytical thinker, in their republican party. they are right...which is exactly why everyone in my generation is fleeing the elephant's tent in droves...

the local school district found $16 million it didn't know it had. will this money be used for: (a) compensation for teachers horribly underfunded; (b) hiring new teachers to reduce class sizes; (c) moving classrooms out of "portables" and into actual schools; (d) providing technological equipment to schools desperately in need; (e) athletic facilities?

kim jong il ain't fucking around anymore. immediately after incinerating some ground hogs, he is threatening an attack on south korea if they mess with his ships. and we are no doubt outraged and will stomp our feet and say boo. and when he does it, we'll send every available man and woman to stop him. all fifteen of them.

although I have to wonder if the best way to get him to do what we want is to simply ignore him like you would a petulant child. bring in those brit ladies from nanny 911 for some tough love lessons.

saw an amusing original production of a local theater company...cat gut strung violin. was about a young immigrant finding his way to america only to be conned into joining the armed forces and shipped off to war, where he then desperately tries to cling to his humanity - in an of itself a ludicrious impossibility. I hear the show will be hitting the festival circuit...if it comes, go.

also had the good fortune to end the weekend with horrible depression after viewing the devil came on horseback. the latest reminder that "never again" will again return as a catch phrase in a decade when we look back on the horror we let continue in darfur...

which makes me think that china learned a very valuable lesson from anglo-style capitalism. seriously...the nation acts like some of the biggest corporations in the world, wealth and power without concerns over things like human rights or basic decency. and now the student has become the master.

if it is true that burris got the senate seat for $1,000 bucks I am pissed off that none of my buddies still in Illinois didn't call me up. I would have thrown in twice that for them to be my puppet in washington.

since it seems to be supported by the same politicians that tell me that if I haven't committed a crime I have nothing to worry about with illegal, unethical, unconstitutional and brutal police and prosecutorial tactics (nevermind that I have something to worry about for precisely the reason that I haven't committed a crime...afterall, if I were guilty I'd be on borrowed time anyways) are the same politicians that want guns in our national parks I have to ask - unless you are using them illegally, why would you possibly need a gun in a national park?

new numbers are out...we pay $25,000 a year to house drug offenders in federal prisons...a damn good number of them low level dealers and couriers. legalize the shit and save $25,000 a person. put them to work in a legit billion dollar business with even minimal earnings and they bring in tax revenues like you would not believe (on their own income, on the business itself, and on the inevitable sin tax). could turn into a swing of hundreds of thousands an individual per year. but how sad that the only argument that may work in the end is the bottom line...what does that say about us as a society?

while you read this another aging sick person was busted for the unspeakable act of growing a plant in their house that makes their life bearable and does not hurt anybody.

I've got a pocket full of nothing and I keep on losing it...

thoughts on and old-fashioned long-distance debate...

dueling speeches. somewhat like a good old-fashioned debate. obama once again showed just how important and powerful it can be to have incredible oratory skills in the white house. cheney once again showed that bigotry and tyranny rely upon fear more than anything to sustain themselves...

nevermind the blatant historical innacuracies that cheney continues to rely upon (sadam's secret love affair with the very groups that wanted him dead and so on and so on)...there is one that pervaded his speech that drove me batty. I think cheney is a smart guy, and would be willing to bet he'd make a great neighbor...and I don't doubt the odd sincerety with which he clings to his idiocy. but at a time like this, when the only ones willing to call bullshit bullshit are "journalists" that couldn't investigate a story or do a legitimate commentary to save their lives (and this holds true for many on both sides of the spectrum), we, as informed citizens need to put everything in context.

cheney played up the fearmonger thing again (as much a tactic of the far left as of the far right) and went into the "our most important job was to protect americans from further attacks and prevent the terrorists from acting again." well, never mind that actually is not, at all, the most important job of an acting executive, his claim that they had done that is just downright false. he said we were all wondering what would come next, when the next big attack would be and they had to do whatever it took to stop it. ironically, he then cited saddam's "ties" to terrorists...apparently missing that because of this horseshit the next "attack" went out better than bin ladin ever could have hoped. eight years later the american economy is devestated, trillions have been pissed away in a far-away land that has killed many an empire, and thousands of americans have been killed with tens of thousands more maimed, physically and emotionally, all while extremists begin to move towards taking over all important pakistan. anyone that was listening when the leaders of al queda were speaking could tell you that this was precisely the next attack. and it worked to a T.

this doesn't mean that I was entirely pleased with obama's address. afterall, he began by citing the same bullshit "my most important role is to protect the american people" line that has been used as an excuse for so many horrific actions done in our name. and I cringed when he said it. because when we disregard the oath that presidents take, which places their most sacred duty not on protecting the american people from attack, but on protecting the constitution and executing the laws of the land, we lead ourselves right into traps that have us debating which un-american actions are appropriate. when we accept that the most important role of a president is to keep us safe, we allow for torture and needless war and death and destruction to become more acceptable...and they begin to be referred to as "misguided tactics" rather than what they truly are - un-american, inhumane, and insane actions that violate the oath of office the president takes.

if there is one thing we should have learned it is that by allowing the debate to become over what is a more effective way to effectuate bullshit, we open the door for fear and emotion to overrule our most basic principles. I had hoped obama would have slammed that door shut...but he just seemed to nudge it closed. a hint of light still peeks through...and that worries me.

its amazing how soon we forget...

this morning I received a forwarded email that claims to originate from an angry guy in california that apparently has been reading letters to the editor from persons with hispanic surnames which must be infuriating in their tone to a true american. (side note - I find it amusing that the pissed off guy has a french surname traditionally associated with rich assholes in that country...five bucks says this guy applauded "freedom" fries and dumped out any french wine he had a few years back). the email claims to include a copy of a letter to the editor which mr. labonte's historically ignorant wife did not get printed (no doubt because the media is overrun by brown people seeking to keep whitey down). below is a copy of the email...and below that, my response.


The Orange County California Newspaper

This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points. For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple. Not printed in the Orange County Paper. Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get published via cyberspace.

From: 'David LaBonte'

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to 'print' it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these first generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan They were defending the United States of Americas one people.

When we liberated France , no one in those villages was looking for the French American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2009 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte



first off, ms. labonte is incredibly historically inaccurate in her claims of immediate, uncoerced and happy assimilation of previous immigrant groups. hell, most of them still haven't thrown off the cultures of their native lands...why the hell does she think every major city in this country has "little italy," "little germany," "little india," "chinatown" etc. she herself probably goes down to chinatown for grub once a week. if we had all assimilated so wonderfully before this, reservations would never have come to be.

the simple reality is that prior immigrant groups underwent the exact same crap with people screaming how they did not want to assimilate and were refusing to "americanize." someone like myself especially remembers that german farming communities in the midwest were looked upon with suspicion while the press was up in arms about how they had no interest in becoming a part of america but were only seeking to form a beachhead for germany to come take over. their true "allegiance" was questioned for generations, particularly when europe exploded into war. hell, just down the river from where my father's family settled a fellow german was throttled to death by a mob for the incredible offense of being german during the first world war.

we know it is an outright lie that former immigrant groups did not retain their language and culture from their homeland. another side note - if anyone bothered to check, second generation hispanics are a hell of a lot more "americanized" then any other immigrant group before them). very few voluntarily changed their names. they were either given new names because the authorities were too lazy to figure out how to spell or pronounce their true names, or they changed their names to avoid the same kind of bigotry that is now pointed at brown people from latin and south america. the same goes for use of language, an important aspect of cultural heritage. in my family, german did not stop being used in the home until the nation really turned on germans during the world wars. it is especially idiotic to make such a claim when it is so evident that the very basis of "our way of life" - the "rule of law" - was retained from the english homeland. hell, the english language itself is called english, not american.

but the problem is, we ran out of european ethnicities to turn our noses up at. we hated on the italians, the irish, the germans...on down the line. only now we accept them as the fabric of the american quilt. so we needed someone else to turn on - enter the asian peoples. only even they brought good things to this country, and soon they became more accepted. and so we need someone else to turn on, especially when things start to go bad. it happens everytime, earlier immigrant groups attack the newest immigrant group harder than anyone. the last immigrant to get shit on by the american public treats the next worse than the rest of us.

ms. labonte hints at the true nature of her rant (economic times are tough, and she is not getting the same life she felt she was entitled to, so she needs a scapegoat) when she implies she wants to go back to the good old days without "free lunches, labor laws, and welfare" to protect the public. never mind that this is a gross misrepresentation of the history of the american state. perhaps she would like to turn her children over for seven 15 hour shifts a week. maybe she would prefer the indentured servitude of company towns. or maybe she just wants to spend her life locked in a filthy factory working for pennies a day in shifts that start before dawn and end at midnight making garments that she can never afford to buy on machines that will inevitably take one of her fingers within the first two years of sleep-deprived, hunger-induced work. maybe she enjoys hordes of neighbors starving and living in squalor. perhaps, like all those immigrant groups she claims so immediately shrugged off their heritage, she just really hated the post-war years and the growth of the middle class, home ownership, standards of living, education, etc. I'm with her in that regard, because man, those "free lunches, labor laws and welfare" really screwed stuff up after WWII when the largest sustained economic growth in history resulted.

the problem with not understanding history and with pushing historical myths that are so far from the truth is we get mired in this ridiculous exceptionalism that has played a major role in bringing down every single major western power since the roman empire. if one never admits their flaws, personal growth is impossible.

ernie lujan had it right...there was a time when we declared to the world "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me." ms. labonte appears to prefer the statue of liberty read "europe sent us their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of their teeming shore. europe sent those, the homeless, tempest-tost to us. we even took a bunch from asia and brought them over from africa. we're all full up on foreigners now. besides, brown people stick out too easily."


now that I've found you, would you object to never seeing each other again?

sometimes bill maher can make you chuckle...

Americans, please wash hands before criticizing Obama

By Bill Maher

Friday, May 8th 2009, 4:00 AM

New Rule: Now that we've answered his call to wash our hands, President Obama must continue to tell us how to live. Last week, when America was faced with the pan-global swine flu omega death plague, the President went on TV and told people to wash their hands, and experts tell us this made a big difference, which augurs well for next month's "National Wipe Your Butt Day." Next week, in a fireside chat, he'll tell us not to put a fork in the toaster.

It's sad that the leader of the free world had to call a live press conference to tell his nation of clueless nitwits that employees must wash hands before returning to work. If that's not the "Forrest Gump-ification" of America, I don't know what is. Feeling wet, America? Why not try new, "Coming in from the Rain"?

You may think I'm blowing this out of proportion, but this plea from Obama - you know, the "Audacity of Soap" - was the first specific thing a President has asked the American people to actually do in decades. Unless you count "go shopping." Hopefully it will open the door to other, slightly weightier suggestions from the President.

So please, Mr. President, tell us to turn the lights off when we leave the room. Tell us not to buy crap we don't need and can't afford. Tell us to lay off the Ring Dings and Cheese Nips, and think twice before dating a stranger we meet on craigslist. For God's sake, tell people to read a newspaper. Not just to save the newspaper industry - though Lord knows I'd miss my Daily Jumble - but because having a public that actually knows something is our best defense against ever again electing a President who knows nothing.

There's a name for people who do the right thing for their country, even if it involves sacrifice. And no, it's not "socialists." It's "patriots." We all know the modern definition of a patriot: It's the person who pays the least taxes and listens to the most A.M. radio. But that wasn't what it always meant.

Patriots want their fellow citizens to be able to go to the hospital. They want to make sure no one sells them bread made out of Chinese skulls. They want a country where the deer and the antelope can still play - and not just so Sarah Palin can shoot them from a helicopter. Patriots want to burn less coal and buy less oil. Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House roof and Ronald Reagan had them removed. You've heard of "opposite marriage"? This is "opposite patriotism."

Rush Limbaugh celebrated this Earth Day by praising coal-fired power plants and the plastic bag, while Glenn Beck cheered a man on while he cut down trees.

During the campaign, Obama suggested that one simple thing Americans could do to help with fuel-efficiency was check their car's tire pressure. And Republicans freaked, because to them, every suggestion for the common good is a direct attack on their personal liberty, and it's unpatriotic to interfere with anyone's God-given right to be big, dumb and selfish.

When the President suggests things that will help the greater good, that's not a slight against your fragile manhood. I know, you're a rugged individualist. But you're not - you're just a schmuck.

Going back to Reagan, all of our leaders have predictably and reliably told us that government is always the problem, never you my precious, perfect American citizen. You are always perfect just the way you are, like a precious little snowflake. A beautiful, precious, 350-pound, pig-ignorant snowflake.

you say that you've got an open mind...but it's your mouth that's open all the time...

courts are supposed to make it up as they go, misused discretion, and symbolic death...

william murchinson is now the latest to join the ranks of historically ignorant fools that espouse what they feel should be the virtues of judges in the anglo-american legal tradition. mr. murchinson, not a lawyer or a judge, but rather a columnist with no real background in anything (which, in the world of commentary makes you an expert in everything) boldly declares that "what judging used mainly to be about" is "looking at the law, going with the intent of those who passed it, leaving it to later lawmakers to change or abandon it." which, as a conservative, he of course thinks scalia does. only one slight problem with this...not only does scalia not do this...but no court ever has in our system. courts are not supposed to do that in our system. the very foundation of our legal tradition is judicially created law. that is what common law is. that is the way it has been for centuries...that is the system we inherited (gratefully so) from the british. our courts make it up as they go along. they allow the law to evolve with humanity, they allow fluidity in the law. if it were not for this the protections of the constitution and our highest ideals would become meaningless hollow pledges with no backing (which is, of course, what fools like murchinson actually want...more for me, less for anybody else). I know I've said this many times before...but it still gives me a chuckle that the same fools that wanted to call french fries "freedom" fries because they hate all things french try and try and try to get us to change our legal system to the french model. so mr. murchinson, if you wouldn't mind, at least do some very basic research on the topics you write about. hell, a simple google search would have clued you in to how very embarrassingly wrong you were.

there was another example of the ridiculousness of bowing to and trusting "prosecutorial discretion" in the news recently. and surprisingly enough, the supreme court told prosecutors to go fuck themselves. for once, they acknowledged that crimes are being overcharged, and fantastically so. this time it was charging immigrants that used false social security numbers, albeit with their own names, with identity theft...thereby grabbing one of those handy mandatory minimum sentences. and so, somebody that was guilty of wanting a job and maybe doctoring some papers was being shipped to prison for at least two years. (thank god our tax dollars were being spent on keeping these most dangerous people in prison...god forbid they are spent on something like providing health care, education, infrastructure, employment, etc...it is much more important that our communal funds be spent putting brown folks looking for work behind bars for years). well, the supremes found a loophole (as courts have done for centuries when the "letter of the law" is bullshit mr. murchison) and declared that using random numbers to give yourself a social security number while using your own damn name is not identity theft. (am I the only one that finds it amusing that using your actual, birth-given name was stealing an identity by prosecutors?) so from now on, prosecutors that consistently violate their most sacred duty and oaths by overcharging every single case because they are too fucking scared to actually go to trial and risk their precious "conviction rate" (cough cough every united states attorney cough cough) will actually have to do what they were hired for. of course this could be a problem...because trust me, not too many of these people belong anywhere near a courtroom, especially on the taxpayers dime.

jack kemp died. how wonderfully poetically symbolic that jack kemp died just as arlen spector left the republican party and the all of the crazies that hated kemp because he wasn't purely conservative enough are the only ones left hanging out under the elephant flag. now jack kemp had a lot of ideas that I do not agree with...but he also was the poster child for what republicans should have been. it was people like him that originally attracted many young people, myself included, to aspects of the party. while his ideas may not have gotten to the end result he desired...at least they had a chance and at least he desired the end result and was hell-bent on getting there. after purging the likes of kemp, republicans tried to claim "compassion" (ironically)...but the world has seen through this sad attempt at false window dressing. and now, while they run around trying to figure out how to become useful again and seem to be drawing further and further into their degenerative shell...one can't help but wonder how helpful it would have been to have a republican party modeled after kemp at this time to actually provide legitimate ideas and help to solve problems he tried to draw our attention to thirty years ago. rip jack...you leaving could not have been more apropos.

the death of a party came as no surprise...

after 29 years you'd think I'd be used to the spin...

maybe its the nyquill and vodka...but the world has my head spinning again...and it is time for a dump...

thomas sowell, another "free"-market-worshipping-milton-friedman-ass-kissing-fool, wrote a column about how horrible it is that obama has indicated he will look to appoint someone with empathy to the highest court. sowell claims this will only take us further and further away from the fabled "rule of law" and towards a court that actually seeks to relieve distress of the downtrodden (I know...shudder the thought). the amusing thing about sowell, and the countless other hacks that are worried about another thurgood marshall showing up on the court...he isn't law trained. he doesn't have a fucking clue what he is talking about. his "expertise" is economics. and amusingly enough, he bought into a theory of economics that has never historically panned out as he believes it always will. so thanks for your insight mr. sowell...but perhaps you should spend your time figuring out why it is that friedman was so drastically wrong.

which also makes me wonder...does sowell and others mocking empathy on the bench realize that a lack of empathy is a sign of pyschopathy?

maine's legislature has approved gay marriage. we've come a long way in my lifetime...when I was first figuring out politics bill clinton was telling me gays were better off in the closet if they were willing to die for my "way of life."

of course there is a bizarre 180 effect...california banning gay marriage while maine and iowa bring it on. huh.

the supremes are looking into whether or not it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life without parole. and before you get pissed and call me "soft on crime"...neither of the cases before the court involve a body. yup...teenagers sent to prison for life without ever killing someone. land of the free indeed.

and while they are sending those kids to prison forever they are sending your money with them. and then they are telling you there is no money to improve your kids' school. but it's worth it...because that scary brown kid from down the street is gone. he was probably a drug dealer anyways.

regardless...I challenge anyone that thinks giving kids life without parole is ok to actually visit a prison and spend some time talking to someone on the line.

I'm told the recession is over. the stock market is being reinflated. and I have to chuckle to myself...because for about 25 years blue collar america has been wondering when the recession is going to end for it.

speaking of chuckling...I get a kick out of Big Business folks telling me that making them pay their fair share of taxes is going to "cripple" the economic recovery in america. because if there is anyone you can count on to make jobs in america...it is the company that has been moving all its operations overseas.

arlen spector swapped sides and then immediately said he would not be a good democrat. but arlen...you've been around for nearly 30 years as a republican...you are the definition of a good democrat. hell, you're practically a clinton.

guess what. the pig flu isn't the end of the world. its the flu. but that doesn't mean we still can't build a wall on the southern border.

tenaha, texas law enforcement officers are in some trouble. they are being sued for highway robbery. seems they took a page out of every other law enforcement agencies book and stopped brown and black people, grabbed their money and "forfeited" it. you'd be amazed at how much law enforcement makes this way.

a bunch of rich fat white guys met in a pizza parlor. see...the republican party is back. they like pizza. they are just like you and me. albeit I can't remember the last time I went to a pizza parlor in a $5,000 suit. not that I wouldn't.

congressional democrats are not giving the administration the money to close gitmo...at least not until there is a "concrete" plan to ship those folks off to some other discreet location. way to go.

ms. california, bless her heart, is not helping her case. granted perez hilton (or whatever the fuck that fool's real name is) is a jackass for slandering her...she doesn't help much by doing naughty photos. mom and dad taught her touching tacos is inappropriate...but apparently they forgot to tell her to keep her ninnies to herself.

is anybody else horrified that we are actually discussing whether or not torture is effective? how did we get past the first question into strategic significance?

a bank in southern california discovered it is cheaper to demolish completed homes in a new development. yup...that's why the free market is so wonderful and I am so glad that we leave important decisions up to the bottom line. tent cities? overpasses becoming overcrowded? who gives a fuck...these perfectly good houses just standing here unoccupied are costing us money...priorities people...

prisons have become our asylums...which has got to be just as cruel, if not more so, as forced commitment. so what the fuck do we do now?

it's cinco de mayo and I have a confession...I hate mexican beer...

I never thought you'd be a junkie cause heroin is so passe...