Skeletons in our closets

How English sounded 500 years ago.

One of my favorite comic artists Kate Beaton who illustrates and writes Hark! A Vagrant!

Medieval skeleton found when large tree is uprooted in a storm.

Why 80,000 rape kits have been ignored.  A Quaker talks about helping protect those who need abortions.

Homophobia leads to death threats.  I think the gay is buried deep in this one.  And speaking of forced submission and obsession about dominance, this article suggests 43% of Republicans would favor a military coup.

Put solar cells on everything!

Windows 10 is on your computer... even if you don't want it there.

Trying to explain Donald Trump.

When you listen to the voices in your head

And think it's America talking, you look like a massive idiot.

John L. Perry of Newsmax has such a problem:

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.

Um... YOU have a problem with Obama, John.

I admit I did with Bush and Cheney. They misused and broke the military, tossing soldiers into two unwinnable wars and declaring anybody who spoke out against them an unpatriotic American-hating traitor.. who was probably a communist and gay. I advocated a lot of things to do to Bush and Cheney... such as rockets into the sun or tar and feathers, but not a military coup.

As 'civilized' as John Perry dreamily imagines a coup would be, it would destroy the United States and unravel the Constitution in one fell swoop. It would not be clean. It could not possibly be civilized.

The neocons imagined the invasion of Iraq would be clean and civilized. They would pop out Hussein and pop in Chalabi and then be sitting pretty in a functional nation right in the middle of the best oil fields in the world, ready to start the real war with Iran.

Didn't work out that way, did it?

So why on earth do you think all those millions and millions of people who uphold the Constitution, voted for Obama, like the US the way it is, would stand for a coup? You think these citizens would stand by and watch? Really?

And who do you think makes up the military? Professional soldiers? Or citizens of the USA who wear a uniform, who respect their oath to uphold the Constitution, and some of whom actually voted for Obama?

Do you think the military as a whole would support such an overthrow? Really?

Do you really think the military is a monolithic block of obedient cloned soldiers ready to do the general's every whim without question? You don't think the military would fracture into Southern good old boys, white supremacists, fanatical Rapture-ready Christianists, Blackwater mercenaries, and Obama supporting soldiers?

Dream on, John Perry. But next time, keep your stupid masturbatory dreams of world domination and coups to yourself.

Because, sadly, some wingnut with a gun is going to try and do something because of your article.

Which is probably why you wrote it in the first place, isn't it?

Holding Pakistan together with duct tape

The Bush administration supports Musharraf's deportation of Sharif:

The United States has termed the controversy over the deportation of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Jeddha an internal matter of the country as Washington appreciated Islamabad's role in counter-terrorism efforts during a crucial strategic dialogue in Islamabad.

"As far as the issue of Nawaz Sharif, we view it as an internal, Pakistani political and legal matter and it is for the government and people and authorities of Pakistan to decide," said US deputy secretary John Negroponte at the conclusion of a day-long strategic dialogue between the two allies.

"We are supportive of a political process that is peaceful. We look forward to democratic elections being held in Pakistan quite shortly and we think it is important that there will be a smooth and democratic political transition," the top diplomat said.

The BBC:

[Musharraf] has opted for a confrontation with the Supreme Court instead of allowing Mr Sharif, an unpredictable rival, to set Pakistan's political agenda ahead of elections due later this year.

But will this choice make life easier for Gen Pervez Musharraf, the embattled president of the country?

The Supreme Court ruled in July that Mr Sharif could return to the country, ending a seven-year-long exile.

His deportation to Saudi Arabia on Monday, say legal experts, breaches that verdict and constitutes contempt of court.

So what was the government thinking when it decided to exercise this option?

Perhaps the answer lies in the choices Gen Musharraf faces during the next couple of months

Eight years after he toppled Mr Sharif's government in a dramatic coup, Gen Musharraf has lost much of his earlier glow.

[snip]

When Mr Sharif decided to return to the country, one option was to arrest him in connection with some of the corruption cases still pending against him, and put him in jail.

But his continued presence in the country might well have caused the political temperature to rise, especially in the wake of a renewed campaign by the country's lawyers to stop Gen Musharraf from running for another term.

It might also have tempted the PPP to either toughen its demands in its negotiations with the government, or to pull out of the talks altogether, given that PPP leader Benazir Bhutto has been coming in for criticism for trying to reach a deal with the military-led government.

It was therefore imperative, from the point of view of the government, to prevent Mr Sharif from returning and staying on in the country.

And exile in Saudi Arabia was the best option.

[snip]

In December 2000, Mr Sharif was granted a presidential pardon in two criminal convictions and exiled to Saudi Arabia.

The Pakistani and Saudi governments say that as a quid pro quo, he promised not to return to Pakistan or interfere in its politics for 10 years.

His latest deportation to Saudi Arabia means that he could be out of the picture for another three years.

But observers believe the move itself is fraught with several risks.

For one, the government risks a backlash from the lawyers and the opposition groups who view Mr Sharif's deportation as an illegal move.

The Supreme Court, which owes its newfound freedom to the lawyers' movement for the restoration of the rule of law, will be under pressure to hold the government accountable.

A petition against Mr Sharif's deportation has already been filed by his PML-N party.

If the Supreme Court rules in favour of Mr Sharif it will be another blow to the government's credibility.

It would also make it harder for the PPP to continue to negotiate power sharing with a government that is seen to have openly violated the basic rights of a popular leader.

I think this explains why Bush has been so incompetent as president of a democracy

Remember when he said a dictatorship would be a lot easier?:



Blame it on his DNA. Remember his grandfather Prescott Bush? The BBC history radio Document ran this in July of this year:

Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. [snip]

The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy.

Tripped over this information while Googling Prescott Bush. I'll blame Sorghum Crow for mentioning him in comments! How much do you bet we won't hear a peep about this in our mainstream media?

Update: Sorghum Crow has the picture.

You and what army?

And why do you think an army made up of our own citizens would attack? I don't think Blackwater has enough mercenaries on their payroll yet... So who would do the repression? Because this sounds like an invitation as well as a last neocon gasp for help:

The National Review is on a roll. Here’s columnist Thomas Sowell: “When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.” Kevin Drum writes, “in case you’re wondering, there’s no further context. That’s the whole quote. It’s one bullet point in a long series of dyspeptic observations about how liberals have ruined the country.

Update 5/2: fixed link.