Coultergeist Goes To Pottersville

The other day, I received a rather unpleasant e-mail from someone purporting to 'educate' me and all the other America-Hating Traitors (i.e. Democrats) who, for some unknown reason, take offense at the fascisistic, hate-filled ramblings of Ann "The Man" Coulter.

I have been slack on posting recently because family matters are taking precedence at the moment and I have neither the time or the emotional wherewithal to address this, so I passed it along to some of my blog friends to see if anyone was up to the challenge.

Thanks to Blue Gal passing it along, the redoubtable JurassicPork at Welcome To Pottersville picked up the gauntlet and did a bang-up job of exposing this execrable screed for what it is - mean-spirited wingnuttery attempting to masquerade as 'intellectualism'. Of course, when I replied to his e-mail by asking to be removed from his spam list, his reply was (and I quote:)

hey spam is commercial I am just trying to help you learn to think??

My reply was:

If you would like to help me 'learn to think', learn how to write. A statement is not followed by double question marks.

And, of course, spam is not only commercial - it is any unwanted and unsolicited e-mail. Commas, capitalization and periods would not also be amiss if one wishes to be taken seriously.

So, please stop on by at Pottersville (love that name - and it's right close by Hooterville!) and check out JurassicPork's take on it.

And thanks to those who unselfishly sullied their eyes for the cause...

Worst Album Covers Ever!

If you could use a laugh, check this out.

Income Distribution in the US

The L-Curve is a fascinating site. We know that there is a disparity between the very rich and the rest of us, but it's difficult to visualize just how vast the difference is. The L-Curve lays it out visually in a way that makes it understandable.

Check this out:

We are on the 50 yard line of a football field, representing the median U.S. family income. The income of the "Median Family" is about $40,000. The frame is 1 meter square.(A meter is a little over a yard...a meter is about 40 inches whereas a yard is 36 inches.)

We have zoomed in by a factor of 10. Meet the "Median Family," the family at the 50th percentile, the 50-yard line on our football field.

The US population is represented along the length of the football field, arranged in order of income.

Median US family income (the family at the 50 yard line) is ~$40,000 (a stack of $100 bills 1.6 inches high.)
--The family on the 95 yard line earns about $100,000 per year, a stack of $100 bills about 4 inches high.
--At the 99 yard line the income is about $300,000, a stack of $100 bills about a foot high.
--The curve reaches $1 million (a 40 inch high stack of $100 bills) one foot from the goal line.
--From there it keeps going up...it goes up 50 km (~30 miles) on this scale!

We have zoomed out by a factor of 10, so this frame is 1 kilometer square. A square representing the previous frame is visible. The tree is a Giant Sequoia. A stack of $100 bills 1 kilometer high would be a billion dollars. This country has about 400 billionaires.

We have zoomed out another factor of 10. Squares representing the previous two frames are visible. The mountain in the background is Mt. Everest. Our pile of $100 bills is approaching the $10 billion mark.

Our frame is now 100 kilometers square. The exact height of the top of the curve varies from year to year, but the total amount of money in the vertical spike continues to grow steadily. Bill Gates "wealth" was at one point estimated to be over $100 billion. The red line represents his greatest "increase" in net worth in a year. At 50 kilometers, the pile of $100 bills extends beyond the stratosphere, more than 5 times the height of Mt. Everest. $1 million is the same proportion of this income as $1 to a person earning $50,000 per year.

And these are the people who need more tax cuts...

Check out the L-Curve for yourself.

I Am Afraid

I am afraid. Do you know what I'm afraid of?

I'm not afraid of Iraq.

I'm not afraid of Islamic terrorists.

I'm not afraid of Iran.

I'm not afraid of Osama Bin Laden.

I am afraid that all the information is going to come out, that the truth will be laid bare for all America to see…and it won't matter.

That the ugly reality of what George Bush and his band of verminous cohorts has perpetrated upon us, upon our dead soldiers, upon a country who never attacked us, upon our Constitution, upon our former 'freedoms', upon our very definition of what it means to be an American, will be shown up in broad daylight for what it is…and no one will care.

That the work of people like Greg Palast, who relentlessly and tirelessly exposes the secrets of this grotesque administration both at home and abroad, will be for nothing…because it will be met with indifference.

That's really what I'm scared of.

Because that's what's happened so far.

Every day, fresh hells are revealed. Every day, more horrific abuses are uncovered, and no one seems particularly bothered, except the usual suspects - us shrill, screechy left-wing moonbats.

All along, I've been wondering just how bad it has to get before Americans will get off their asses and register some kind of discomfort with these crimes. I can only conclude that, incredibly, it hasn't gotten bad enough yet.

There was a time when I thought that it was only because we didn't know that we didn't care. I thought that, once the American people had access to the truth, that they would demand a change. That they would stand up and put a stop to the corrupt regime who is decimating our way of life to fatten their bottom line.

But, like alcoholics who stubbornly refuse to see that their drinking is destroying not only their lives but the lives of everyone who loves them, the American people are simply cruising down that river in Egypt, Denial, sipping the Kool-Aid as they float along, comfortably numb.

That is what frightens me to the marrow of my bones.

My Evening With Greg

Since I couldn't attend Yearly Kos, just down the street in Vegas, I consoled myself by going to see Greg Palast speak at a church in Los Angeles tonight. Helen Wheels and I had plans to go together - we wanted to go to the pre-speech dinner, which was cheaper for two, so she was going to be my gay date. We ran into a couple of snags, though - the dinner was sold out, and then her new puppy got sick, and she had to cancel.

I figured I could still go to the lecture, so I headed out there solo. When I got there, a guy at the door told me that I could go to the dinner anyway, that there was some room left. When I got to the ticket table, there was a lady in front of me who was also going to the dinner, but she didn't have enough cash for a meal ticket, and they didn't have a credit card machine. So she and I ended up being each other's date because she had just enough cash for her half of the couple's price, and we both saved money and had some company. Of course, the Greg Palast policy was that no one would be turned away for lack of funds. There's just something nice about progressive people. Somehow I can't imagine that kind of thing happening at an Ann Coulter lecture.

Greg Palast is a wonderful speaker, and very inspirational, as well as damn funny. Most (but not all) of what he talked about was in the book, but what I took away from it was a renewed sense of purpose as a liberal. The facts are depressing; no doubt about it. The vote stealing, the gross indifference to America and Americans, except for the 'base' - the haves and the have-mores; the power of the corporatocracy, the throwing away of countless human lives for nothing more than greed - it's all true. But at the end, he said, "If we march, we win. If we vote, we win. If they steal 5 million votes in 2008, let's register 7 million new voters. It may not be original or exciting, but it does work. And if we don't march, and we don't vote, we don't win."

That's the way I see it, too. Whatever I do as an individual may not be much, but it beats the alternative, which is inaction, and thereby aiding and abetting the thieves. The alternative is not acceptable to me.

After the lecture, Greg stayed to autograph books. He stayed until each and every person who wanted an autograph got one. His energy is amazing. I've been hearing him on every radio show I've listened to in the past couple of days, he's been traveling all over like a madman for this book tour, and yet he was so exuberant and inspirational. I brought my book that I bought the day it came out, and also the book that I got with my dinner ticket. I got him to sign one to me and the other one to Hooterville. I'm going to be giving it away here on the blog, so stay tuned for contest details!

If he's in your city, don't miss him! If not, buy the book! I wish I could have gone with all of you all - we would have had a blast.

Inspiration!

I have the solution!

I've finally figured out what to do about the Coultergeist.

Hook her up with Bill O'Reilly!

Isn't it obvious?

Ann. bless her heart, is desperately lonely and no doubt sexually - uh, under-served, shall we say? She's screaming out for love and attention with her skankulous attire (sorry, Ann, but 45-year-old women, no matter how emaciated, should leave tight little sleeveless minidresses or black vinyl to the younger gals) and her waterfall of peroxided glory which she wears like a thirteen-year-old. Her shrill, screechy, nasally whine will no doubt be a mating call to the ears of a red-blooded he-man like Bill, who is also obviously over-sexed and under-served, if his unwelcome kinky phone-calls to his underling and his pornographic novel are any indication.

Yes, Ann & Bill...a political pornographer and a plain ol' pornographer. What a cute couple they'd make. Bill would make a woman out of Ann for sure. "Oh, Bill, tell me to 'shut up' again!" Perhaps they'd be so happy with each other that they'd leave the rest of us alone!

How 'bout it, y'all?

An Observation

You know what? I just never, ever want to hear the words 'activist judges' come out of the mouth of someone who stole the highest office in the land with the help of 'activist judges'.

I just don't.

The Walk of Shame

I know - I said I was done, but I just had to add this. Our friend kissfan (whose 2-year blog-i-versary I'd like to toast) made the observation that the Coultergeist claims to be from the party of higher morals yet she dresses like she's trolling for action.

No kidding - in she sashays to the Today Show at - what - 6 in the morning? - all skanked out in a skin-tight black minidress. Girlfriend, if you're dressed like that at 6 AM, you're doing the Walk of Shame.

And, come to think of it, she was.

Since she has this idea about liberals being 'loose and immoral', she feels compelled to 'out-slut' them all. And brag about how Christian she is while she does it.

Have you noticed that there is this pathetic sense of 'one-upmanship' that Republicans seem to revel in? "Our women are better-looking than Democratic women" (which is not true!) - as if the only way they can win is for somebody else to lose; as if the life of our country is a game where there are winners and losers - "We won, so shut up and get over it" (even though that isn't true!). As though winning an election (which they didn't actually do) means that the other half of America doesn't exist!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember the Democrats being like that when they were in power. I really don't.

Update: I just e-mailed the Today Show to express my disapproval of their having her on their show; if you'd like to do the same, here's the address - today@nbc.com...

Last Mention

I don't want to give Ann "The Man" Coulter any more cyber-ink, but I'll finish with this:

Yesterday, I went to Borders to get the new Greg Palast book, Armed Madhouse. I was hoping that it would be prominently displayed among the new releases, but, sadly, no. I had to have an employee look it up on the computer and get it for me. But what assailed my poor eyes as I entered the store? You guessed it. Bam! Row upon row of the Coultergeist, glaring belligerently at me, double-dog daring me to walk by her.

What a very sad state we're in.

Ugh.

Autobiography

Well, well…it seems as if Ann Coulter (no, I'm not giving her a link) has published a new autobiography, entitled (aptly enough) "Godless".

This is the latest installment of her self-revelatory tomes:

"Treason"
"Slander"
and, of course,
"High Crimes and Misdemeanors"

Her candor is refreshing.

The Katherine Harris Campaign Video You Didn't See...

Oh, this is classic.

Please watch, won't you?

Mark Fiore - Ethics Liquidators' Congressional Sale-A-Bration!

The unfailingly fabulous Mark Fiore has a new dead-on-hilarious Flash animation out. Run, don't walk, to his site!

Animation here.