Republican Hypocrisy

Potential Pumpkin Perturbation ?

Could last year's melee in Keene happen at the Circleville Pumpkin Festival ?
People have said the agitators in Keene were from out of town. Could it be a rival fall festival group? Should the Circleville Heat be on the lookout for angry Waynesvillians reeking of pickled cabbage ?
I'm steering clear...

Campaign Against Sex Robots

So some group in merry olde is campaigning against sex robots.
Here's why:

"I propose that extending relations of prostitution into machines is neither ethical, nor is it safe,” the paper read. “If anything the development of sex robots will further reinforce relations of power that do not recognise both parties as human subjects."

It's because they are human?
People are strange...

The Bag (factory) Lady

Actual Google Street View imageA chick works at the bag factory down the street from me. For years, every morning, I would walk up the street to the bus stop and pass her as she was walking from the bus stop. She would frequently cross the street to avoid me but, probably because she was only half awake, she did not. I would say "hi", "good morning" or something and she would just walk past in silence.
In the afternoons, when she was more alert, she would always cross the street to avoid me as we passed on our reverse routes.
One day, there was some street closure and our mutual bus stop was cut off and the bus was detoured about 3 blocks from the south & 2 blocks from the north. As the bag lady and I approached I crossed the street to tell her that she would have to change her plans. She looked at me in a subdued panic & after I explained the situation to her, she mumbled an "oh, thanks" turned her head down & walked on. In probably 10 years that was the only time I ever heard her voice.
Anyway, now she is blurrily immortalized temporarily in Google Street View at the bus stop.

Reasons to Commit

Eye Opening has a collection of photos from old mental institutions. Some of them are of people suffering mental illness & being restrained, etc..
This one caught my eye as a list of actual reasons for admission into the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum from 1864 - 1889.

A few of these seemed kinda strange like Novel Reading?
Over Study of Religion - like the clergy?
Tobacco & Masturbation - since masturbation is also listed, I guess this was a popular fetish at the time?
Politics - well, yeah, most politicians should probably be committed
Bad Company - is this about politics again?
Shooting of Daughter - because everybody can relate to killing a son
Excessive Sexual Abuse - as opposed to Acceptable Sexual Abuse

Kinda strange. Probably stranger to just throw mentally ill people into prison nowadays, tho.

The Blind Rage of the Tyrant

While Cincinnati city hall hemorrhages talented staff due to Cranley's maniacal hamfisted antics, he is threatening to 'clean house' at SORTA, too. Seems he's pissed about their offer to handle the streetcar operating costs.

Absolutely we’re going to expect changes on that board
The fact is they were willing to cannibalize bus service …

Of course they weren't going to cannibalize bus service - that's just more of Cranley's paranoid fantasy world. But what the Business Courier dug up was interesting - that the majority of the appointees voting for supporting streetcar operations were chosen by Hamilton County commissioners.
Cranley can only exact his revenge on a minority of his SORTA enemies.
sigh
Can we expect a return of Tom 'We don't have signs' Luken to the SORTA board as Cranley desperately tries to turn back time?

Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth

ya know?

Can You Spot the Difference ?

Torture 101

Torture is primarily a psychological thing. Beating the crap out of somebody is less effective (& a lot more work) than slugging somebody a couple times and threatening to beat the torturee to a pulp. Ultimately the torturee needs to think he can gain freedom by cooperation. If he believes he is doomed he might lie, clam up or try something heroic. You don't even need to use violence on the torturee. You can tell him he is about to be released and, at the last minute, tell him things didn't work out - can you offer this one bit of info, please?
In the end, the torturer has to expect to free his prisoner and must decide what message he wants to send. Does the prisoner go free looking healthy and unharmed or does the torturer want to send a message to other would be opponents and release the prisoner crippled with a noticeable injury, a limp, a missing eye or finger.
We can expect to see how John Cranley will handle that last part in the coming weeks & months.

Cornered Rats Don't Run

If you are a streetcar supporter heading down to the Cincinnati City Council meting Wednesday, 12/18 @ 1:30 PM, watch your back.
Streetcar foes, like the union thug presidents might get hauled out screaming & cursing or senile old politicians might stage a sit in. People might make throat slashing gestures or certain councilmen might lunge at his opponents. Or maybe a CO   er might think someone is standing too close and freak out on him.
We will see which city employees are dedicated to the city & it's peoples and which are bowing to their union bosses.
These are an irrational, angry, unpredictable lot with violent tendencies and Cranley is pleading with that thuggish horde to show up in force. Believing the fix to be in, they have not shown up at council meetings since the latest junta.
Cranley certainly doesn't have a good reputation for keeping control of his meetings and now that there are "no rules", who knows what bedlam might occur.
Remember, this isn't about money - it's about class warfare, nativism & political control. These people are beyond reason. Due to recent events they will be like cornered rats.
Watch your backs.

The Boy Just Can't Help It

It Wasn't Obamageddon?

The Fishwarp reports the 10 most discussed topics on American FaceBook were;

• 1 Super Bowl
• 2 Government shutdown
• 3 Boston Marathon
• 4 Syria Crisis
• 5 Harlem Shake
• 6 Pope Francis
• 7 George Zimmerman
• 8 Royal Baby
• 9 Nelson Mandela
• 10 Presidential Inauguration

On my feed #1 would have to be some form of Obama, Obamacare, Impeach Obama, Obama Traitor, The End of The World, The Sky is Falling or something. Maybe I just have the wrong friends...

Read more on the hottest topic of the day here

Is John Cranley Even Lying to Himself ?

Bad to BizarreAs Cincinnati's mad mayor had to get even with councilmemebers who called out his gangland style leadership during his first week in power, he as one might expect, lied through his teeth.

And we opened up government. People could be heard. Speakers were not limited as in the past and I listened carefully to everyone. Council members could freely express themselves, and actually introduce motions that will get a full hearing.

Seriously? Every public speaker was limited to 2 minutes & council members, if agreeable, had 6. Of course if you didn't agree with the mad king…Cranley's description stands in stark contrast to how other people there saw it.

Cranley’s first week lacked structure, included attempts to purposefully silence the voters of Cincinnati and elected members of council

Is Cranley capable of telling the truth? Is he even lying to himself?

Scopophobia

I really wonder about people who are freaked out about surveillance cameras like Dale Mallory, the NA CP & CO   . I mean, I don't want drones hovering outside my bathroom window, but when I'm out in public? Who cares if somebody is looking at me with his naked eyeballs or through a lens? People who have conversations & pose for pictures while wearing sunglasses is more bothersome for me but that's just a politeness thing.
Seriously, what are these weirdohs like at home?

Victimhood - A Tea Party FortéAn article over at the Wall Street Journal traces the political usage of the IRS through history. It's a Republican slanted article that only cites one Republican president as abusing the authority of the agency, Richard Nixon. That seems to be the MO of a lot of right wing mouthpieces nowadays, using Nixon as a scapegoat to make it look like they are being nonpartisan.
Anyway, it points up the willingness to use the agency for political gain. The FBI has used the IRS a lot, too, for criminal investigations & prosecutions.
As far as proving you're a non-profit, hell, PayPal raked me over the coals when I set up an account for a neighborhood non-profit that was completely above board - something the tease certainly are not.
But this "scandal" gives them their time in the spotlight, wailing and gnashing their teeth over being poor defenseless victims. It gives them more "links" to the Marxist, Muslim, terrorist Kenyan. Nothing new, just another day on the schoolyard.

School DangerHow dangerous are America's schools? Do we need assault teams mounted atop the schoolhouses? Armed teachers? WCPO reportsCincinnati Public schools has decided to go ask ALICE.
Looking at the numbers, however, your kid has about a .0001224899598% chance of getting murdered at school & a lot of that has to do with the recent horrific massacre in Newtown. Taking that out of the equation your kid has a .0000702811245% chance of not coming home.
But getting to school? On a bus your kid has a .0002307692308% chance of dying. That's about twice as likely as a murder but doesn't take into account car accidents & those deaths are probably all operator error and not due to anger, jealous rages or mental illness.
So, by all means, let's arm & train our teachers (& pay them accordingly for their new skills & responsibilities), make schools more like prisons than they already are, employ more armed guards & make our kids utterly paranoid so we can create more mentally ill people who might go out & massacre folk.

John Boehner's Identity Crisis

What the hell is up with Republicans and cake?The Fishwarp reports the RNC sent the DNC a cake (which nobody ate). Republican goonsquad COA T famously decapitated a cake with fellow Republican Jean Schmidt's head on it.
Seriously - this is some weird shit.

That was then
This is now

Is John Kasich Suffering Dementia?

In a recent AP article, Kasich's erratic and often contradicting habits are discussed.
His animated mannerisms sound ominously like Sillyman's. Gayle Channing Tenenbaum's description, "it’s a rare day when Kasich doesn’t say something that surprises" is the kind of thing echoed by nurses in nursing homes full of Alzheimers patients. "It’s interesting to watch him because you just don’t know what particular thing he’s going to be grabbing onto at that particular moment".
The article further points out irrational, conflicting behavior, "He is candid yet secretive. He is acerbic yet personable. He quibbles over media access yet is omnipresent on Twitter and Fox. He’s made a cause of taking on public workers after spending most of his life as one". Compounded with what the article describes as a constantly manic demeanor, a disheveled appearance and not caring about personal consequences, it kinda makes a guy wonder if the new sheriff might just be suffering schizophrenia.