BY WILLIAM C. HENRY “We must slash entitlement programs in order to reduce the national debt and restore fiscal sanity to the budget process.” Where have we heard that before? Well, no matter how often or how loudly the right wing regurgitates it, it will still be the same excremental lie it has always been. And, yes, you can indeed thank America’s mainstream media, those constitutionally vested stewards of liberty, those incorruptible, inextinguishable lodestars of enlightenment whose number one reason for being is to expose lies and disseminate truth to the American people, for perpetuating the deceit. Alas, with […]
BANKSY: Syrian Rebels Shoot Down Dumbo
NEW YORK TIMES: The British street artist Banksy is apparently among the millions watching Syria’s war from afar, through glimpses of the fighting recorded on video and posted on YouTube. His latest video work is a brief parody of one of those clips released on Sunday as part of a series of works produced during a monthlong residency in New York that started last week. An excerpt from the video, showing actors dressed like Syrian rebels aiming a shoulder-fired missile at the sky, was uploaded to that Instagram account on Sunday, with a note reading: “I’m not posting any pictures […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Day Democracy Died
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY So it will be if the President and the Senate capitulate to the right wing Republican terrorists holding the House of Representatives hostage in their crusade to destroy the current American Presidency. Never before in our history has a radical political faction shown itself to be more gutless, duplicitous or traitorous. Let me repeat that: Never before in our history has the nation and its Presidency been forced to endure a more cowardly, deceitful or subversive reactionary political coterie. Or a more racist one. Period. Exaggerated? Hardly. What we are witnessing is an attempt by […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Real Reason Why The Affordable Care Act Scares The Tea Party Shitless
WBUR: Of course, there are ways to eliminate a law you don’t like in this country. You can gather the votes to repeal it, for instance, or challenge it in court. Conservatives have failed at both approaches. So they are now in the “shut down the government” phase. If you’re like Ted Cruz, someone whose credibility depends on vilifying this law, the signs are not good. If you step back from the situation for a sec, it’s a pretty brazen precedent. What’s next on the conservative repeal-or-we’ll-shut-the-government-down list: the New Deal? Civil Rights? Freeing the slaves? But here’s the thing […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: “A Nation Of Sheep Begets A Government Of Wolves.” — Edward R. Murrow
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY This past May an American patriot by the name of Edward Snowden presented the mainstream media with one of the most startling exposés of government betrayal in our nation’s history. Since that time said Fourth Estate have shown themselves to be some of the most complacent, intimidated and/or ungrateful blockbuster news recipients in the annals of American journalism. So, the question becomes: just whose freedom are America’s vaunted “free press” protecting these days, theirs, ours or the federal government’s? We’ve read and heard reports about unconscionable domestic spying, but where’s the mainstream media’s unyielding denunciation […]
BEING THERE: Hillary, Now More Than Ever
Photo by RORY MCGLASSON BY AMY Z. QUINN For the record: At no time during Tuesday night’s Liberty Medal festivities did Hillary Clinton announce, or even mention, running for or even wanting to be president. Actually, there was no need, since longtime pals and political boosters Mayor Michael Nutter and Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania and honorary rich white dude, did plenty of that for her. Even Jeb Bush, son of current Bill Clinton BFF George H.W. Bush, said he figured Hillary was headed for Des Moines next week. For her part, Clinton was doing that “I’m […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Boehner Kill
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Question: How can you tell if the Speaker of the House is speaking the truth about America’s fiscal situation? Answer: His mouth is closed. Recently, the House of Representatives’ head cockroach hissed that without significant cuts to entitlement programs, negotiations on increasing the debt limit will go nowhere. Although typical of Boehner’s callous, intransigent, extortion-centered, wealthfare approach to governing, John-Boy’s latest nugatory jaunt into the wasteland of Republican recourse is far more enlightening for what it doesn’t say than for what it does. To wit, here’s a partial listing of truly deserving chopping block candidates […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: O Captain, My Captain?
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Whatever happened to the man I voted for? Where did he go? Did he morph right before my ears? Or, has he simply been a sheep skinned Canus lupis all along? Damn, talk about your “quick change” artists. This guy has made Brachetti look like a full-body tattoo. From “equal” justice, to “open” government, to domestic spying, to whistleblowers, this “alchemistical” President of mine has got me to wondering if my rationale that “he’s probably better than the alternative” is anywhere near good enough. Here’s what I’m talking about: EQUAL JUSTICE: If my President is […]
EXCERPT: A Confederacy Of Dunces
Artwork via CARGO COLLECTIVE PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE: Reader commenting on Philly.com has also been around since the late ’90s, but it wasn’t until 2008, following years of internal deliberations and successive regime changes, that the site went all-in and began allowing readers to talk back at the bottom of every article. “Journalism had been a one-way conversation for too long,” says one Philly.com staffer. “It was a good idea to open the door and allow the public to start commenting on our work.” Well, on paper, maybe. In practice? Not so much. There was some recognition from the get-go that there […]
SMUS: Michelle Bachmann’s Greatest Sh*ts
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY As you’ve no doubt heard by now, The Bogeywoman of Minnesota is giving up the Washington ghost. Good riddance! Don’t let the door smack you on the ass on the way out, Michele! Wait a minute. Is it possible that her pending departure isn’t such great news after all? I mean, could we actually find ourselves missing her? Just think, no more exulting in such divinely inspired declarations of humaneness and tolerance as: ”Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of ‘The Lion […]
RAWK TAWK: Life According To Brother JT
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Garage-punk savant, drone-rock wizard, acid-dazed psychonaut, human ouija board, holy fool of the Internet — Brother JT is a man of many hats. He’s been a puppet, a poet, a pirate, a pawn and king. He’s been up and down and over and out — and he still really likes the LSD thing. (SEE Trippin’ Balls With Brother JT, his lysergic talk show on Scrapple TV) He’s come to tell us all that the emperor has no clothes, the sky is falling, God is great, we’re already dead, and yet despite all that life is beautiful. He’s […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Bad Shepherd
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Should we be overly concerned about government surveillance and secrecy? After all, history shows that such CYAs and free speech damping devices have served and sustained despots and dictatorships exceedingly well for millenniums. One of the most proficient in their use was a chap by the name of Mohammad Rez? Sh?h Pahlav?, better known as the Shah of Iran. I like to use him as an example because for decades he was America’s man in the Middle East. As a matter of fact, he would never have been able to maintain one of the scariest […]
NSA WHISTLEBLOWN: America Just Swallowed The Red Pill, About To Learn How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes
THE GUARDIAN: The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell. The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection […]