BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Time for a pop quiz. What do Miller v. United States (1973) and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) and have in common? Give up? They’re both landmark U.S.Supreme Court decisions involving obscenity. Whereas the former was a determination regarding obscenity per se, the latter was just patently obscene. In the former, a divided Court set forth ground rules under which the individual states could essentially determine for themselves what constituted obscenity and what did not. In the latter, four right-wingers and a semi-swinger decided that there was nothing whatsoever obscene about corporations dumping truckloads of their filthy lucre into “independent” […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Rep. Michele Bachman officially threw her hat into the presidential ring on June 27. Since then, the Minnesota congresswoman has emerged as a Republican front-runner, riding on a wave of Tea Party support and national media appearances. New Yorker Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza spent four days with Bachmann and her staff aboard their campaign jet in mid-June. On Tuesday’s Fresh Air, he talks about his unprecedented access to the congresswoman, whom he profiles in the Aug. 15, 2011, edition of The New Yorker. The piece looks at the writers, beliefs and books that Bachmann has specifically mentioned as […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: There Will Be Blood
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Well, congratulations to the filthy richest 1% of Americans and their right wing Republican representation in Congress. And, much as it pains me to say it, if you didn’t phone, email or otherwise convey your feelings on the matter to your own Washington reps, you’ve gotten exactly what you deserve. Never before have those representing such a money-gluttonous immoral minority so thoroughly sodomized a moral majority of the working class. Never in the history of the Republic has the majority had to suffer such cowardly leadership on an issue so critical to their and the nation’s […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Tea Party Is A Boehner Killer
[By KAL via THE ECONOMIST] BY WILLIAM C. HENRY “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” If Shakespeare was indeed correct—and I find no “earthly” reason to question his insight—you can expect to find those words displayed in bright neon lights above the graves of Boehner, Cantor & Ilk, followed by a blinking asterisk informing the faithful that there are empty coffins down below. Yeah, yeah, I know the matter has been pretty much ranted (me included) to death, but I thought I’d give it one last semi-comical college try before […]
THE FLOWERS OF EVIL: Crazy See, Crazy Do
THINK PROGRESS: In his manifesto, Breivik cites an assortment of right-wing figures, but a troubling theme is evident in the 1,500 page document. Breivik was directly influenced by the same cadre of American anti-Muslim activists that have gained a powerful following in the contemporary conservative movement in recent years. Many of the leading Islamophobes who inspired Breivik have also been responsible for a rising tide of hate campaigns, from the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” hysteria to a disturbing trend of demonstrations against Muslim Americans across the country: – Breivik cites neoconservative Islamophobe Frank Gaffney on opposition to Turkey joining the […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Destroying America To Save It
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Nietzsche said, “We do not place especial value on the possession of a virtue until we notice its total absence in our opponent.” Oh how I’ve come to revere such virtues as honesty, integrity and fairness since the debt/deficit reduction talks commenced! And, it’s that very reverence that now leads me to wonder what nature of maleficence courses through the veins of a political party/movement that descries patriotism in the destruction of a nation for the sake of affording more wealth to its already wealthiest. What’s equally befuddling is why they would choose to adopt such […]
JUST WONDERING: Where Were The Fiscal Watchdogs Of The Tea Party From 2000-2008?
[SOURCE: New York Times] EZRA KLEIN: What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them. MORE
DIARY OF A MADMAN: Watering The Flowers Of Evil
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: The Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik writes in a manifesto that he acquired some 8,000 e-mail addresses of “cultural conservatives” not just across Europe but North America, Australia, South Africa, Armenia, Israel, and India – ensuring scrutiny of anti-Muslim groups far beyond Europe. Mr. Breivik’s primary goal is to remove Muslims from Europe. But his manifesto invites the possibility for cooperation with Jewish groups in Israel, Buddhists in China, and Hindu nationalist groups in India to contain Islam. “It is essential that the European and Indian resistance movements learn from each other and cooperate as much as […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Abortion Of Justice
[Illustration by IMJUST80] BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” is one thing — not guilty “because I didn’t actually see it happen” is an entirely different matter. More on that later. First, a little background. Why do we seem to be more interested in seating ignorant, uninformed, malleable juries, than in arriving at reasoned, rational verdicts. Why does our criminal justice system place such a premium on seating jurors who know little or nothing about what’s taking place in the world around them? Why does a system that claims to place “fairness” and “equality” on such a […]
ANNIVERSARY: Frank Rizzo Still Making ‘Attila The Hun Look Like A F*ggot’ 20 Years After Death
INQUIRER: The crowd surrounding the Frank L. Rizzo statue Saturday afternoon seemed to be in a time warp, as the former Philadelphia mayor’s entourage and admirers came out to pay their respects. The Quaker City String Band played as dignitaries arrived on foot and in cars, some following the motorcade that came down Broad Street from Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham to the Municipal Services Building, across from City Hall. Saturday marked 20 years since Rizzo died of a heart attack while campaigning for a third term as mayor, a job he had held from 1972 to 1980. Even in […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Above: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law the Social Security Act, BY WILLIAM C. HENRY What with all the fabrication, phoniness, and out and out fiction being farted forth from the mouths of Boehner/Cantor et al. vis-a-vis the budget balancing/deficit reduction stalemate, there couldn’t possibly be a more perfect time for some good old fashioned fiscal “factualizing.” Here we go. R E A D M Y L I P S America: Social Security has never added ONE PENNY to the deficit! Not one fucking red cent! And, ANYONE who tells you that we can’t afford to maintain Social Security […]
PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF: Michelle Bachmann’s Husband Runs ‘Gay Cure’ Clinic With Taxpayer Funds
THE NATION: As Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann has surged in the polls, the spotlight has turned on her husband and main political adviser, Marcus Bachmann, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and owns two Christian counseling centers in Minnesota. There has been a great deal of speculation that his clinics, which have received $161,000 in state and federal funding, try to cure homosexuality—and the chatter has only grown louder since his comments likening gays to “barbarians” who “need to be educated” and “disciplined” surfaced in the blogosphere last week. Marcus Bachmann has denied these allegations. “That’s a false […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Power, Corruption And Lies
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Given the fact that rampant, persistent corruption is one of the sparks that has been igniting bonfires throughout the world recently, e.g., Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Ivory Coast, etc. — and given America’s all-too-prevalent propensity for disparaging such turpitude and the very populations subject to it, I decided to take a closer look our own none-to-exemplary track record when it comes to corrupt high-ranking public officials. Turns out that when it comes to corruption of public officials our much ballyhooed ‘American Exceptionalism’ is but a mirage, mostly fostered by people with something to hide With no intention of writing a […]