thom think

comosehomo:

…nearly everything was up more than 20% and one department was up 85%…so we’re all like, cool maybe we’ll get bonuses, or a fucking raise.

No.

She plied us with pizza, like we wouldn’t understand the overall purpose of the meeting was for them to once again rain huge piles of shit down on us, and inform us that if we take breaks that are more than two weeks long, we’ve technically been fired and re-hired…and that, oh yeah, even though the store’s kicking ass while we’ve been taking our breaks, they’re cutting down on that next semester.

No breaks for us.

No bonuses for us.

No raises for us.

They wonder why the majority of us could give two shits about that fucking store.

unsolicitedanalysis:

My dad’s a defense contractor.  Yeah, the defense contractor has a banker son.  I’m looking forward to going against the wall with him.

Anyhow, he spends a lot of time in Afghanistan.  I asked him once why he still goes, something that makes my mother crazy with worry - he’s got plenty of work in America, the UAE, other areas - and he tells me “They need our help.”  I’ll throw up some of the pictures he’s given me of the kids, the cities, the homes, and the families.  Afghanistan is a place where human beings live, humans like the rest of us, who want little more complex or extraordinary than a modicum of peace and safety in their lives.

This is true of most people in most places.  Muslim places, Christian places, Buddhist places, Atheist places.

Today, a man with a Muslim name appears to have shot several of his comrades at Fort Hood.  Shep Smith of Fox News has already had the gall to state that

“The names tells us a lot, does it not, senator?”

The name doesn’t tell you jack fucking shit, Shep.  It doesn’t tell you anything but “This is the name of a man who shot a few scores of people at Fort Hood.”  It doesn’t tell you if he was blinded by rage, or grief, or jealousy, or the trauma of long-term exposure to his fellow soldiers’ pain.  It doesn’t tell you if he fired the gun with a wish to kill or a prayer to die.  It doesn’t explain, justify, categorize, or fucking ethnically profile his actions.

But guess what, Shep Smith, names do tell us a lot.  And you just told America that “Shep Smith” stands for “bigoted scum.”

I can always count on @comosehomo to write something insightful and interesting.

comosehomo:

It’s kinda funny how lots of us, when we’re younger, do everything we can to make who we are invisible. We do anything to make out differences disappear, but now that I’ve gotten older, I appreciate how I’m not like you, or you like me:

• I’m a black kid that beat the odds because my parents (Mom and Grandma) beat them first.
• I’m a tall black kid that didn’t play basketball. I was in marching band and made all-state chorus.
• I’m a pretty big mothafuckin’ dork: what’s up video games? Fantasy novels? Shit, any novel!
• I originally locked my hair because it made it easier for me to maintain, but now I think it’s pretty damned awesome and keeps me a little more grounded in my culture, and serve as a big “fuck you” to the establishment. You will hire me, because my afro-centric hair is the shit.
• I’m related to most, but not all, of my black friends…most of my white friends? Well, I go to Appalachian State University. Except I no longer feel like I’m not “black enough” because most of my friends are white. Nigga, please. Suck it middle-school.
• I speak “proper” English (even though that shit techinically doesn’t exist. Dialect in America class will ruin your life!) because my mom and grandma glared the slang out of me.
• I’m a gay kid whose mom was like “duh”, grandma shrugged her shoulders upon finding out (after the initial freak-out) and whose younger 21 year-old brother hugs my girlfriend like she’s family.
• I’m a black kid that loves fried chicken, fried okra, cornbread, fish and grits, and will eat watermelon until I’m physically sick. Even though that has a lot more to do with growing up in the south than being black.
• I’m crazy tired right now. Excuse me. I’m going to nap.

(via skybarn)

trapezemusic:

and choruses of village idiots
loosen my tongue speaking zeros
in the mathematics of being!

and all poetry is dead!

and choruses of village idiots
puncture my ears hearing white noise
in the science of existence!

and all poetry is dead!

and choruses of village idiots
gouge out my eyes flashing absence
in the technology of survival!

and all poetry is dead!

and choruses of village idiots
staple my hands grasping nothing
in the physics of creation!

and all poetry is dead!
and walt whitman is pissing on the grave of t.s. eliot!
and all poetry is dead!
and van gogh is fracturing the skull of jackson pollock!
and all poetry is dead!
and margot fonteyn is dissecting the corpse of rudolf nureyev!
and all poetry is dead!

and all poetry is dead!
and all poetry is dead!
and all poetry is dead!
and all poetry is dead!

[I wrote this on 24 October 1984, after learning of Richard Brautigan’s death. As far as I know, Brautigan left no suicide note. He was simply found dead. I was angry for weeks afterward; I’m not even sure why.]

Thanks for turning me on to Brautigan so many years back.

skybarn:

minou:

misterhippity:

Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims.

“To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as ‘fact’ that Governor Palin resigned because she is ‘under federal investigation’ for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation,” Van Flein said in a statement. “This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation … that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law.”

OH SHIT HIPPITY! For real though, it was on Denton’s site. So, more like FUCK YEAH HIPPITY!

This is how fascism wins. Sue people for criticizing you, or investigating stories. Then you start forcing people to name the names of other people who may have criticized you. Then forced confessions.

trapezemusic:

skybarn:

brooklynmutt:

…but right now, everything out of Iran is devastating.

There are reports of brutal rapes and beatings:

Afshin, a shopkeeper from south-west Iran, alleges that one of his friends was beaten and repeatedly raped after being arrested at an opposition rally after last month’s disputed election. He gave this account to Esfandiar Poorgiv, a journalist and academic. (via Guardian)

One of my favorite Iranian journalists/filmmakers, Maziar Bahari, who has been detained in Iran since June 21 without charges or access to a lawyer, has confessed to participating in a Western media sabotage effort, as reported by an Iranian state news agency. That only translates to Bahari being subjected to extreme torture, and they will most likely make an example of him by execution.

He was recently seen on Fareed Zakaria GPS, and talked to Daily Show’s Jason Jones.

NEWSWEEK strongly disputes that charge, and defends Bahari’s work: “Maziar Bahari is a veteran journalist whose long career, both in print and in documentary filmmaking, has been accurate, even-handed, and widely respected.”

NEWSWEEK again calls for his immediate release.

thepoliticalpartygirl seaofgreen

Hey Media: Please stop saying the words Michael Jackson.

We knew this was coming with the crackdown. Don’t forget the people of Iran.