Dec 242013
 

I’m writing for tomorrow, so I can be awake tomorrow to cook Christmas dinner.  I may also need to warn SantaCat of the locations or Republican dawgs that are trying to shoot him down.  I actually have two articles for you today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:21 (average 4:27).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From AMERICAblog: The nation’s leading closeted self-loathing gay Republican organization is throwing a hissy fit over “Get Enrolled,” an adorable new Obamacare-related Christmas-themed video aimed at getting gays to sign up for health insurance.

The Log Cabin Republicans are particularly incensed that the video, produced by a group called Out2Enroll, contains shots of some rather hot elves, which bring to mind the Kmart Jingle Bell boys we wrote about earlier.  According to Log Cabin, hot elves are as bad as Uganda. Or something.

Here’s the video. You decide.

Once again, we see Log Cabin Republicans, selling out the LGBT community in an attempt to he acceptable to Republican hate mongers. They are fools, because the only way they can become acceptable to the GOP base is to relocate to a Vladimir Putin (R-RU) gulag.

From Alternet: Militant anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd on Monday dismissed as a "sham" Australian government plans to track Japan’s annual whale hunt by air instead of by sea, saying it was a toothless and "cowardly" response.

Australia on Sunday announced an aerial Customs and Border Protection mission to the Southern Ocean as a showdown looms between Japan’s whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd activists, saying it would send a message to both sides that the world was watching.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt had first promised to send a government ship to tail the warring groups but said the Airbus A319 would increase the surveillance mission’s reach and effectiveness.

The Japanese whaling fleet makes $millions from commercial whaling, killing intelligent mammals, under the guise of research. While the Sea Shepherds use aggressive tactics against them, they make no attempt to do physical harm to the whalers. In fact, they spare no effort to avoid doing so.  Conversely, I have seen several films of whalers attempting to kill Sea Shepherds for interfering with their bloody profit. The Sea Shepherds should be put out of business by banning commercial whaling. In the meantime Australia should do more to police the whalers’ criminal behavior toward them.

From Daily Kos: …Republicans balk when one speaks about the Republican war on women, war on the poor, war on the environment, war on gays, war on minorities, and many other select micro wars. They don’t want these wars called out. And the reality is these should not be called wars at all. It is much too simplistic.

It is a war on democracy. How do you win a war on democracy when there are many more subjects than you? You fight many battles. So the battle against the poor, the battle against women, the battle against gays, the battle against minorities, the battle against education, and any other micro battle to keep the subjects occupied is the modus operandi. It does not matter if in the process a few of the battles are lost. After all their eyes are on the ball, the destruction of a functional democracy…

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it hundreds of times. Everything Republicans do, without exception has one of two purposes. One is to transfer wealth from the poor and middle classes to millionaires, billionaires and corporate criminals. The other is to establish a permanent, one party, totalitarian Republican Reich, in which elections exist for show only.

Cartoon:

1224Cartoon

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  21 Responses to “Open Thread–12/24/2013”

  1. I'm so very sorry to hear you have been poorly again TC, and I do hope and pray you will be quite better again soon!  Have a lovely Christmas Day in your new apartment – it will be so wonderful to be able to celebrate without that load of assorted characters you left behind!

    The Australian Minister's idea for tailing the Japanese Whaling Fleet reminds me of a glorious verbal mistake one of our most respected journalists and broadcasters made earlier this year, on the BBC's Today Programme – he unfortunately called Mr Hunt (we have one too) something similar – but accidentally changed the first letter of his name to the third letter in the alphabet…. which in itself made the news for several days!  Perhaps it is only right that when seeing the name of that Tory, I have to say HHHHHHHunt as my subconscious supplies the third letter of the alphabet and I try not to say it.

    Sorry this is inadequate TC – am still v poorly.

    I hope everyone on PP has a lovely and peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

     

     

     

     

  2. 3:16 Oh Dear! Poor Santa.

  3. AMERICAblog ~ I didn't like the KMart Jingle Boys and I don't care for this ad either. I find them both in poor taste. America is obsessed with the human body and gives young people feelings of "bad body image" becaus they aren't perfect like the models. The same idea could have been put across with clothed bodies for both ads.

    Cartoon ~ NORAD will protect Santa.

    • Patty, I totally agree with you.  I found the K Mart Jingle Boys ad to be crass and vulgar.  I would not want my four year old granddaughter to see this ad either.  We have too many ads that cater to physical attributes.  I don't need a sex object to advertise toothpaste for me.  I guess I am branded now as old fashioned, but I think we should be using ads that encourage the brain instead of the hormones.

    • I thought iot was intended as satire and took it with humor.

      Don't be too sure!

  4. 5:30  I -um – got hung up on the GREEN roof.

    Elves – I am torn here.  Patty has a great point.  Although I have never met a man who let "bad body image" get int he was of believing he was "entitled."  I think by and large I am on the "sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" side.

    Sea Shepherd – Calling them a "militant" group appears to do violence to the concept of militance.  Aggressive, yes.  While it is true that one can see a lot wider area from up there than from down here, I certainly have no faith in the Abbott administration's motives.

    War – Maybe we need to resurrect "Don't Be a Sucker" a 1947 US War Department propoganda film. Although the production values suck (pun intended), it doesn't do a bad job of demonstrating what the Rethugs are doing and what it leads to.  It can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/DontBeaS1947 – at least it can until the Rethugs discover and censor it.  Downloading it might be a wise precaution.

    Cartoon – Don't count on NORAD, it is in Colorado Springs, a hotbed of Republicans.

  5. About time you got back in the groove, Tom!  No more excuses, we need you!

    Having that same flu bug myself leaves me with little patience so I will just say I found nothing in the video nearly as offensive as everything the Rethugs do – and the Japanese whalers can simply go where the sun never shines and good riddance to them.  And I do hope they take all the warmongers with them.

  6. Sounds like you're on the mend, TC – and glad to hear it.

    Just a Holiday reminder that things are NOT always what they appear to be:

    http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m335/dmhlt48/GIF%20Images%20Holidays/Santa-Sleigh_Shocking.gif

    And amazing, huge and breathtaking works of art done in snow.  How this guy does it baffles me:

    http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/simon-beck-snow-art

  7. 4:57 – Log cabin Republicans are incensed? Logic 101?

  8. I am so glad you are able to cook Christmas dinner. Enjoy your day.

    I didn't find the Get enrolled video half as vulgar as the KMart Jingle boys.  It was for a select audience, the Kmart ad was for everyone.

    Alternet"  Seems to me that an aerial view will be safer for the Austrailian government, but not much help for the Sea  Shepherds.

    Daily Kos:  I agree, we are being fed what they think will distract us from their main purpose.

     

    cartoon: If they could get rid of Santa, they would!

  9.    Hey, TomCat, Merry Christmas!!! Don't work too hard "cooking". I cooked today my roommate cooks tomorrow. Ham today, Turkey tomorrow. I got the better deal…………. Repubs "Wars"…distractions while the 1% "buys themselves a country….ours….one state at a time….We are not suppose to notice this is happening. I'm going back in time and making my motto for 2014 "Eat the Rich".!

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