There's a long and proud science fiction tradition of humanity being subjugated by alien creatures able to infect us in a way that forces us to their will.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers comes to mind as a staple, but the celluloid closet is full of similar examples.  Not all these imagined alien takeover attempts flourish, because there is often some subtle clue, an inappropriate mannerism or reaction, that betrays the aliens, and allows the unaffected a means by which to sort the good guys from the bad guys.

Watching the mindless (positive) reactions to Bush and his thugs early on was somewhat understandable, given the public confusion planted by the criminals in charge directly after TWO terrorist attacks (9-11 and anthrax, both 'unsolved').  As time wore on, and lie after lie was exposed, and the press (blogoshpere) made it possible to see just how deeply corrupt and illegal the Bush administration had become, my reactions to those still supporting same have wavered from total befuddlement, disappointment, outrage, and despair.  These bastards started a fake war and tortured kids for chrissakes!  How hard is that to 'get'?

There are entirely too many people who still are enamored or fooled by the remaining coterie of Republican asshats, that any rational explanation can account for.  That's why I'm asking everybody to keep an eye out for the possibility that we've been surreptitiously overwhelmed by a vast alien cadre, using a virus more sophisticated and advanced than our feeble brains can imagine, to infect us with a combination of arrogance, greed, pride in ignorance, and disresprect for the common good.

If such a thing were occuring, how would we identify it?  Would we even be aware such a dangerous contagen were amongst us?  I'm clearly NOT saying that such a thing is happening, because to do so would bring immediate suspicion as to my motives or state of mental health.  This is purely a thought exercise for those around here who like to think.

Do you suppose we might be able to identify the aliens in our midsts if we could, like in some science fiction examples, find an unusual tick or behaviorial malapropism that would immediately expose them?  This is what we need to keep an eye out for.  Just to be on the safe side if you know what I mean.

If we were being invaded/infected by aliens, and were looking for something to point at that was both statistically unassailable, as well as obviously out of the norm of human behavior, I might be tempted to point at this:

A nearly $820 billion stimulus package passed the House of Representatives Wednesday without a single Republican vote.

How freaking weird is it that the party that just suffered the worst defeat and lost so much political power would continue singing the same songs of failure?  How alien is that?   It's something most normal HUMANS would have enough sense to realize was a lost cause by now.  It's almost as if they've been taken over by some unexplainable mass delusion, something very alien to most of our natures.   Hmmm.

Enjoy.

At the outset, I'll admit I have never experienced the services of a paid sexual escort.  I've no moral problems with people who do so, and think it ought to be legal everywhere, like in Amsterdam or Nevada.  The idea of paid sex isn't attractive to me, but that's likely a result an innate conversational talent and enchantingly blue bedroom eyes.  I am aware of many awkward men (and women) who would likely benefit from such encounters.

That said, if I were forced to pay for a good screwing, I'd expect my money's worth, because the free sex I've had my entire life has been, on average, pretty fantastic!  With my luck, I'd pay top dollar to some high class call-girl service and end up with some skeezy meth whore sporting spooky dentition.

And on the subject of overpaid whores why are we all paying top dollar to the largest financial corporations in the world?  Isn't it because we were told they are in DIRE circumstances?  

They've gotten huge amounts of money, the likes of which would fund all manner of community good and social need.  We're watching OUR money being  pissed away to pay the crooks who ruined our economy in the first place.  They're giving THEMSELVES HUGE bonuses for what they no doubt perceive as a job well done.  New corporate jets and vacations to the Bahamas are making headlines.  Concrete solutions to the problems that got us here in the first place: "....."it's all so freaking complicated"....,..."we're hopeful that throwing money at pirates will avert disaster"..."continuing to study the underlying issues......

I've got your solution right here.  Regulate the markets like we did after the Crash of '29.  We'll all still suffer greatly, because the bourgeoisie have stolen so much of our public money, but at least the FOUNDATION will be solid again. 

Give me a break.  This ISN'T rocket science.  It's simple accounting.  There's no 'debating the argument' here.  We've been there, done that already, and if schools were as interested in teaching history as some are at teaching creationism, our government would not be able to get away with aiding and abetting the crooks.  We are witnessing the economic equivalent of the lawlessness that led our nation to accept illegal torture.  Denying the obvious isn't going to change the fact that it's happening.



Enjoy.

This is how we treat the old and the the poor in America.

BAY CITY, Mich. - A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

How ironic is it that this fellow lived through the first great depression only to be killed by the second one?  They cut people off basic utility services all the time here in Jackson, regardless of the weather.  It's a huge cause of house fires and carbon monoxide deaths.  Too bad there isn't a simple solution to this problem.

Enjoy.

Reign in the gestapo!

This really chaps my ass:

There may be a new president, but in DEA-land, it's still business as usual -- at least for the time being. On Thursday, just two days after President Barack Obama was sworn into office, DEA officials raided the office of a California medical marijuana provider, as well as two medical grow houses in Colorado.

Let's "free the weed" and end the 'war' that is raging in our neighborhoods.   The illegal INDUSTRY focused around this benign plant is killing more people DAILY than the drug has ever killed in it's entire history of consumption.  This is madness,  and Obama owes it to the community to stop the reckless law enforcement of a substance that both he and his predecessors in office are quite familiar with.   Does it even matter that the people of California have overwhelmingly voted to approve the use of this miraculous medical herb?

Just yesterday I posted a story of two fifteen year old kids caught up in a bad drug deal.  One of them shot the other one to death.  I posted about it on my blog, though it's a common enough occurrence that I forgive you if you don't follow the link.

When a young neighbor of mine came home from Kuwait after running Saddam out of there on the first go-round, he got shot and killed by a young street thug who was pretending to sell pot.  Jason survived the war and then got killed here in Jackson trying to buy a little weed.  Having just returned from my first visit to Amsterdam, and seeing how well they handle the sale and distribution of the stuff,  just made my heart all the heavier.  Those who knew Jason will remember he was always a free spirit and an honorable soldier on behalf of us all.  He deserved better.

I watched in horror as the government killed Peter McWilliams a few years ago.  Deprived of the only medicine able to help with the severe nausea his AIDS medications caused, he ended up choking to death on his own vomit.  I was blogging back when Mario Paz was killed by the cops about ten years ago:

The El Monte Police Department has no evidence that anyone in the family of Mario Paz -- a 65 year old man fatally shot in the back by and El Monte officer during a search of his home Aug 9 -- was involved in trafficking, nor did officers when they shot their way into the house in the nighttime raid, a senior police official said.

Enjoy.