fitz

fitz?

Mary Anne => Comstock LOL!

Valley Girl! Christy, Jane, Pach, Trex, et alia!!

I love Tim O’Brien–did a long interview with him when I was in grad school. But to your point, what I find uglier than the women you cite is that they have a willing audience. People choose to listen to them and read what they say. Have they ever been publically ridiculed, Live, on t.v.?

There is something wrong with these women, that they can so casually talk about murder.

Party of Life, but only for themselves. They think they are above everyone else, why is this necessary?

I’m gonna go for warped childhood plus your man’s woman theory. Then they are reinforced by the right wing media “Look, it’s a dog standing on its hind legs!” and off they go.

Honestly, I’m having a hard time getting worked up about these women. Is “pathetic” the word I’m looking for? Yes, I think that’s it.

Just pulled this off Red State:
“I’m not Ann Coulter’s biggest fan, but the NY Post piece referenced below goes a bit too far. It accuses the right-wing firebrand of plagiarism for allegedly purloining quotes from the Planned Parenthood website, the Heritage Foundation and the SF Chronicle. The accuser is a Berkeley PhD who accuses Coulter of not abiding by the standards of academic integrity. Again, I am as strident as any in my criticism of Coulter but this seems to be more smoke than fire.”

“baby Defarges” — one for the record books, fer sure.

Yeah, I know that girl. I also found out she crumpled pretty easily from one little ole bitch slap, like most bullies do. They dish it out but can’t take it.

Another most excellent post, TRex. Worth waiting for.

I gotta go with B. They’re simply batshit insane. You could argue that Jesse’s pulling Malkin’s strings, but who would be pulling Coulter’s? And I really don’t see Malkin as a big sports fan. Coulter, maybe…

hmmm . . . a woman friend who was VP for Human Resources at a major bank told me that women in her position had to work twice as hard as men, just to have a seat at the table.

Female executives in general become tougher than their male counterparts. But when the distaff execs reach a majority, they revert to a less macho and more nurturing approach.

One shudders to think what kind of vile things this group would choose to nurture . . .

TRex administers a world of hurt.

among the definitions for “distaff”:

distaff: (Heb. pelek, a “circle”), the instrument used for twisting threads by a whirl

let’s give it a whirl in this thread.

One shudders to think what kind of vile things this group would choose to nurture . . .

We’re soaking in it.

It’s one thing for them to say something hateful in the privacy of their caves, but appalling that they do so in public as if such hatefulness is even interesting, much less entertaining. They have nothing else going for them to attract attention. It’s just outrageousness for it’s own sake. How embarrassing to make money this way–how pitiful. And those who invite them–even worse.

Madge!

let’s give it a whirl in this thread.

That is sew not happening.

Or were you trying to say that Coulter is as crazy as a loom?

spindle whorls!!!

Ok, now what do we do…. is there something we can cook up thatq will have an effect?

AirportCat, IMHO, they do a lot of damage. First they “suck valuable oxygen” out of a news cycle that is already ignoring an avalance of stories that need to get told.
Second, the traditional media uses them, like they used Drudge wrt Monica. Once they make these sub human comments, it “sets the margin” on the political right. Their comments allow all the other neocons to set up about an inch to the left and then appear “reasonable.” Nixon used Spiro Agnew in this way.
IMHO, as long as the traditional media are willing to print their delusions, we have to respond. We cannot “leave them in possession of the field,” unchallenged, because they destroy the possibility of civil discourse.

Yeah, but according to Ben Stein, Republicans don’t have any hate in them, they love all Americans who are inside the law.

Harpies like Coulter and Malkin are to punditry what Marilyn Manson is to music, freak shows for shock value — “Look at me, or I’ll die”. The best thing we can do is ignore them.

They surely feel they are being clever, and like to hear their words magnified and repeated like a little kid with a microphone.

I imagine if you asked them point blank why they support murder, they would deny advocating it. They just refer to it or say someone else might kill this person. Then they smile and hope someone applauds their heinous spew.

Well that should put me in a good mood for sleep, so long and thanks for the zero comment once again. Seeya in the a.m. Wait…it is a.m. here.

Harpies like Coulter and Malkin are to punditry what Marilyn Manson is to music, freak shows for shock value - “Look at me, or I’ll die”. The best thing we can do is ignore them.

No, the best thing the *media* can do is ignore them. But they never will.

Then they smile and hope someone applauds their heinous spew.

Every time Ann Coulter smiles a puppy dies.

Every time Ann Coulter smiles a puppy dies.

She doesn’t *always* smile before she eats them.

Maybe we could needle them relentlessly at their looms.

And to respond to your question, TRex, I *do* know “that girl.” And I learned early on never to trust women who don’t like other women. Or anybody who gets off on bashing their own kind. I’m not sure exactly what kind of soul-sickness motivates that — it’s twisted in so many ways — but I know to stay the hell away from it.

You’re getting into some very deep psychological issues with these right wing female pundits. The same goes for right wing male pundits. I think it would be interesting to see the Jungians hold a major conference on the subject, exploring the anima/animus conflicts in these deeply disturbed people. Coulter, Malkin, and Morgan are just calling on their inner John Waynes.

Nothing that a few decades of therapy couldn’t help. Maybe.

Maybe we could needle them relentlessly at their looms.

We can try, but I’m afraid they’ll never weave.

Sorry, that should be “a-frayed”…

My brother was married to one of Those Girls. Ye gods.

She learned not to tread on the bond between twins, though. As you may gather, she’s not around anymore.

Or anybody who gets off on bashing their own kind. I’m not sure exactly what kind of soul-sickness motivates that %u2014 it’s twisted in so many ways %u2014 but I know to stay the hell away from it.

The closet cases really are going to kill us all.

My brother was married to one of Those Girls. Ye gods.

The Liking Sports part sounds good…

No therapy helps narcissists much, if at all. I’ve known enough of them, and I stay the hell away from anyone who seems to show the telltale signs of the disorder–just as I stay clear of the women who don’t like women. Destructive people.

No therapy helps narcissists much, if at all.

Wouldn’t it require them to admit they were imperfect first?

What do you call a boatload of right wing pundits at the bottom of the ocean?

A breath of fresh air . . .

not so OT: hey folks, don’t forget the Malkin rap-a-thon contest from a couple Late Nites ago. Still open for entries, I believe.

In the last thread I did not understand why Joe Klein’s status as a Democratic concern troll and goof was being questioned by anyone. Here are a few Kleinisms:

“What can the Democrats do? They can play politics or be responsible. The political option is to embrace “cut and run”; call for an immediate withdrawal, as Kerry did; and hope the public is so sick of Bush and sick of the war that it will punish the G.O.P. in the fall.
But embracing defeat is a risky political strategy, especially for a party not known for its warrior ethic. In fact, the responsible path is the Democrats’ only politically plausible choice: they will have to give yet another new Iraqi government one last shot to succeed.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerrepo...../7726.html

Frothy on Bush
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com.....9383035704

Klein on Iran from This Week ~4/17/06:
Klein: And so, yeah, by all means, we should talk to them, but, on the other hand, we should not take any option, including the use of nuclear….tactical nuclear weapons off the table.
Stephanopoulos: Keep that on the table?
Klein: It’s absolutely stupid not to.
Stephanopoulos: That’s insane.

In a May 2 washingtonpost.com chat, Time magazine senior writer and columnist Joe Klein denied he had ever said that “the left hates America.” But in an April 14 entry on the Huffington Post weblog, Klein stated that the “left wing” of the Democratic Party has a “hate America tendency

http://mediamatters.org/items/200605040006

I did not enable this link in order to avoid (hopefully) moderation.

John Casper @21, I was reacting more on a personal level, and partly still bummed out that VG is gone. I agree, it is necessary to say (about Malkin, Coulter, and the rest of that ilk) “this is unacceptable behavior, why do we tolerate this in our public discourse?”

I would also like to point out, that this beyond-the-pale hatefulness is by no means limited to these women. I try never to listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, and that bunch, but are they not just as hateful? Is it somehow more grating or shocking that we hear such foulness coming from women, that we expect it from the right-wing nutcase men and so are not as shocked and appalled?

I try never to listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, and that bunch, but are they not just as hateful? Is it somehow more grating or shocking that we hear such foulness coming from women, that we expect it from the right-wing nutcase men and so are not as shocked and appalled?

They’re pretty horrible, but I don’t think they go as far as advocating harrassment, much less murder/assassination.

Not that they’d ever actually, y’know, like, denounce it or anything…

Yeah, Eli, they may never weave, and that’s what’s scawy. I keep thinking of Rumplestiltskin, reading this thread. Maybe it’s more “rumpledforeskin”–

John Casper 10:06 p.m.

Redstate: “Again, I am as strident as any in my criticism of Coulter”

Huh? Is that true? WTF?

What amazes me is that they are completely blind to the irony of their own behavior. They’re turning Bill Keller into Salman Rushdie because Malkin and the PowerTools declared a fathwah on the Times.

How can they not see the inherent hypocrisy?

AirportCat at 10:30 pm

All of the right wing pundits are vile, but Coulter and Malkin seem totally unrestrained when it comes to eliminationist rhetoric.

Jonah’s fat wad

Yeah, Eli, they may never weave, and that’s what’s scawy. I keep thinking of Rumplestiltskin, reading this thread. Maybe it’s more “rumpledforeskin”%u2013

Well, darn. I hate to be a crochety knitpicker, but I was hoping we could make Coulter and her purls of wisdom into some kind of thimble of all the right-wing hate that’s out there.

They’re knitwits, Eli.

neurophius,
I was just quoting what I pulled off of Red State.
I didn’t write it.

They’re a spool or two shy of a sewing basket.

They’re knitwits, Eli.

You’re being too kind to those stitches.

These women are on the winning side(for now). How many corpses would they want from a losing position? No more Tweety TV for this pup. Inviting that sort of evil back only days later with no apologies.
Now back to making TRex a chandelier from rose colored champaign glasses.

OK, I defer to the superior wisdom of ck and Eli on the relative viciousness of the right-wing punditry — y’all must have really strong stomachs — so my next question is: how is it that these people get so much airtime? Is it simply a “ratings” game, the political equivalent of Jerry Springer and Geraldo?

They’re a spool or two shy of a sewing basket.

That’s why they’re such lousy spinners.

Jane at 10:17 p.m.

“I learned early on never to trust women who don’t like other women. Or anybody who gets off on bashing their own kind.“

About 23 years ago I attended a continuing legal education seminar on employment discrimination law. It was kind of a high-powered seminar, and one of the speakers was the Chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”). He made a shockingly hateful speech that was basically an attack on the civil rights movement and efforts of blacks to seek legal redress for racial discrimination. He was an African-American man. His name was Clarence Thomas.

Is it simply a “ratings” game, the political equivalent of Jerry Springer and Geraldo?

I’m convinced that that’s bullshit, an excuse, a smokescreen. If it were just about ratings, Jeff Gannon would have been huge news. The Watergate hookers would have been huge news. Jack Burkman would have been huge news.

Oh, and let’s not forget all the molesters at DHS…

Is it simply a “ratings” game, the political equivalent of Jerry Springer and Geraldo?

DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING!!!

You are correct.

Liberals need to learn to be good TV. Exciting, pulse-quickening TV. Right now, most liberal pundits come across like bowls of day old oatmeal on camera. It’s pathetic.

Ohhhh, just let me in. The punditocracy would never be the same.

John Casper 10:39 p.m.

I know you didn’t write it. Sorry if I implied that. I was just expressing my dismay that RedState would say such a thing. Are they really Coulter-critics?

The moral rot of the Republicans extends beyond “mere” money and power, and I’d love to see the Dems actually point that the *Republicans* are the party of moral degenerates.

Liberals need to learn to be good TV. Exciting, pulse-quickening TV. Right now, most liberal pundits come across like bowls of day old oatmeal on camera. It’s pathetic.

It’s not because liberal pundits are lame. It’s because any liberal pundit who could make their point articulately and charismatically would never be allowed anywhere near a mic or a camera.

I think I read earlier today that Malkin’s blog gets more traffic than the PowerTools. Is that true? I have visited both (out of morbid curiousity, I suppose) and must say that (short impression only) I thought Malkin was really vapid, I just couldn’t see why she would draw much traffic. The Tools at least make some effort to be clever or thoughtful, but Malkin’s blog put me in mind of that head-spinning “you mother sucks cocks in hell” scene from the exorcist.

If it’s a ratings game, those ratings have been falling lately from what I’ve read. In some ways, these spinfraus are less dangerous than the more reasonable-sounding, right-wing punditry who leave out crucial facts or misrepresent the facts. They’re not as transparent. Different threads but from the same loom.

If you’re GE, which would you rather have: a perpetual corporate-friendly Republican government, or slightly higher ratings on MSNBC?

AirportCat at 40:

Is it somehow more grating or shocking that we hear such foulness coming from women, that we expect it from the right-wing nutcase men and so are not as shocked and appalled?

Methinks its akin to softcore porn for the male red-meat red-staters.

Kinda fits with TRex’s 3rd choice too!

Hearing it from women is titillating and ego-stroking for that good ol’ manly-man.

You know, those pudgy ol’ white boys with their dreams of Rambo-in’ all the females within eyesight hot babes.

TRex, the political version of the chainsaw-wielding Weird Al Yankovic singing “Like a Surgeon”?

TRex, the political version of the chainsaw-wielding Weird Al Yankovic singing “Like a Surgeon”?

My hair is much nicer than his.

Jeff Gannon I have heard of, but I had to Google to get much of the story. The Watergate hookers I read about on FDL. I’ve never heard of Jack Burkman (must google, back soon).

Okay, kids, I’m stepping away for a bit to get something to eat. I’ll check back in before bed.

TRex, don’t forget olives–the big fat ones.

It’s typical primate behavior.
A lot of the things that get people really bent out of shape are perfectly ordinary mammal behavior—like when men hit their girlfriends or kill their babies.
I’m not condoning such behaviors, but I’m just saying there’s nothing to be surprised at. It takes a lot of hard work to be civilized, and not much work to undue that civility, as Man Coulter amply demonstrates.

neurophius,
thanks.
BTW, I appreciated your Keith Moon story, prior thread, thanks.
When I commented the Red State quote, I was just trying to give the thread a feel for how the right was reacting. I didn’t realize it would turn out to be as relevant to some of the issues raised here. IMO, fighting the neocon spin machine is like peeling back layers of an onion. The first layer is probably Coulter and Malkin types. The next layer, for example, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush, than say what that Red Stater said, “I think Ann goes too far, but ….” And then the second layer lines up about an inch to the “left” and say basically the same things, but it “sounds” more reasonable, because they distanced themselves from the absolutely subhuman.

I’m currious to know what these people are like ‘off-camera’ — is Coulter’s on-air personna merely that, an on-air personna, or is it just an intensification of an already rather rotten one or, heaven forbid, is she like that all the time? If there was a candidate for option two, I’d say she’s it.

As for the others, I really haven’t had the pleasure of seeing them in action. Malkin’s shillery, from what little I’ve gleened, could simply be an “it’s a living” deal — sort of what someone who couldn’t make it as a model or an actress could fall into, because really, the skill set required isn’t all that different.

If someone could capture one of them in a more unguarded moments, I think that would go alot farther to answering the basic premise of your question ,which is what motivates someone to say such awful things without compunction?

In the same way that Republicans get off on hearing Clarence Thomas bash the civil rights movement, the red-staters wank off to Michelle talking trash about anchor babies. Also, they’re waiting for the ping-pong balls.

(”The female of the species is deadlier than the male…”)

TRex, dabbling in Kipling, schticks it to ‘em in their rude yard

I never go to Red State, so I’m not really that familiar with their dogma. I just assumed they would support Coulter regardless of the facts. I guess they are doing that in a backhanded sort of way, trying to appear to be “reasonable” conservatives, thus hoping to lend a bit of that aura of respectibility to Coulter at the same time they are saying “I’m not Ann Coulter’s biggest fan.”

I wonder how the real batshit crazies (Malkin?) are going to respond? By claiming that a rabid Markos ordered Coulter’s publisher to insert plagiarized passages into her work without her knowledge in order to destroy her credibility? Or are they going to go after that liberal Berkeley professor?

I think it is a strange thing, these venomous women. Especially when placed in a juxtaposition with the “ideal women” in the right wing, Christian-Republican frame.

Coulter is the one they love the most, but who is also the furthest from that ideal. Single, childless, a lawyer, smoker, allegedly libidinous.

Not a real family values type of gal whatsoever.

But, I stopped trying to apply any real logic to contemporary right wing rhetoric. It boils down to mostly “I’m right-ism” and the belief that there is a small chosen elite that is the vangaurd of the “I’m rightists”.

Or as Bob Deniro would say: “Fuck me? Fuck you!”

-GSD

neuro

My bet is they will go after that liberal Berkeley professor. He is just asking for it, him being a liberal Berkeley professor and all. (sarcasm off)

Trex:

I think you are extrapolating wildly from your brother’s experience.

Some of us strong women are feminists. I was born a doormat and told repeatedly that I wasn’t good enough because I was female. I was denied jobs, loans, promotions. I was sexually harassed and sexually attacked. My kidsister was murdered by a MDSO. I learned to survive, and that has left some rough edges on this sweet Victorian lady.

Some of us naturally like rock-climbing, model-building, animating, and other “male” activities. Some of us have a brain (my LSAT score was a hundred points higher than my ex-husband’s). I carry steel crochet hooks as well as a computer case. Perfection matters.

I’m not maternal and flee from a roomful of women talking about baby formulas, but rescue wounded animals and have compassion for the underdog. I have friendships with both men and women going back to the sixties. Good friends, with people who are intelligent, creative, gifted, unusual. Gender isn’t as important as the quality of mind.

Some of us strong women are complex.

If you bitch-slap me, I’ll cold-cock you or find some other way to take you down. No man hurts me and gets away with it.

If you call me “girl” or call other women “girls”, I won’t trust you or like you. If you are female and call other women “girls”, I’ll regard you as part of the problem… especially if you are in a position where your voice matters.

Women wouldn’t have to fight so hard for a shred of respect and equality if other women didn’t discriminate in their choice of words. Words matter.

“I just assumed they would support Coulter regardless of the facts.”
I did too.
I was actually googling on “Coulter,” hoping the WaPo or New York Times had picked up the story. Google listed the Red State diary and there isn’t much else out there about it.

OK, Jack Burkman is lower than slime mold.

Bobdog @73, I suspect that it really is NOT an “act” with Coulter and Malkin, that they are probably every bit as horrible in their non-public selves as they are in public. But I’m not willing to make the effort to find out for myself.

My guess is that Rove has opened a lot of media doors for both Coulter and Malkin and I bet his decision had a lot to do with their gender.

can you say lyndie england? does her behavior sound familiar in action, what coulter, malkin, et al. do with words.

TeddySanFran @74, ping-pong balls? Are you talking about what I think you’re talking about (something you might see in Tijuana)? Oh, my. (sound of brain cells frying)

Well, I’m off to dream about something other than raving right-wing lunatic harpies. Anything but that.

AirportCat, I think it is a ratings game.
Who can say the most ugly, vile thing? Tune in! And profess to be a nice Christian Republican girl at the same time. Ah, let the money flow in.
Actually it sort of reminds me of someone who runs a sex call-in business, where you talk dirty to someone for money. Except I see the sex phone women as having more of a moral sense.

neuro, think of the beautiful birds that grace the top of the Sunday Talking Heads threads … peaceful dreams to you …

trex - great and insightful post.

Margot, when I was in college, a young woman wrote a full-page article in the yearbook about her experiences as a “phone sex worker” (or whatever you call it). It was, as you may imagine, quite controversial, but I thought it was a very insightful and interesting piece. The young woman was working a job — and it really came across that it was just that, a job — to put herself through school. Like picking up the garbage, perhaps, a necessary function in our society? I don’t know, but I would definitely say she was morally far, far superior to the likes of Coulter and Malkin.

Could just be the money.

‘Ann don’t surf’

;>)

Welcome to the jungle

Re-reading, I have to go with TRex’s 3rd choice. I think if that’s not it, it’s at least awfully close.

Ah, darkblack, it was the mention of Vietnam, wasn’t it? “This is the end … “

“The horror! The Horror!”

OT
Roger Ebert is very ill following surgery…sending prayers his way.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....ebert_dc_1

nicely done Trex … as always!

the appeal does have a pornagraphic tinge … sorta pundit bimbo mudwrestling
and imagine the ratings when you can be guranteed that Coulter will say something outrageous that everyone will talk about

so the ambitious ladies like Melanie figure out it’s an easy way to land a frequent spot if she can out coulter coulter which does take some doing

and you are also right that we have all known them … I think they first hit their stride in junior high and never quite evolve

Can’t quite get into more Coulter and can’t get inspired to come up with something for the Malkin slam. I’ve been reading a heap of poemas de Pablo Neruda, trying to find the three best for some songs. He reaches such heights! Almost impossible to come down from the Andes into the sewers of the Bronx to even contemplate where people like Coulter, Malkin, O’Reilly, Savage sludge along. Harder yet to contemplate what has happened to our media which gives these sluts and their pimps front page coverage and prime time interviews.

On the one hand, to object, like late night fdl folks helped me do a week or so ago, to Coulter’s enabling by the media, we continue to keep her name visible. On the other hand, like Jane said here this morning - “ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK…….ATTACK!!!

I saw “Deadlier than the Male” at a movie house in Norfolk, VA in late 1966 with my best friend. He was a musician in the Navy and I as training to be an aircraft electrician in the Army. 19yo horny me couldn’t get Elke Sommer out of my mind……..

“Israel is now openly engaged in infrastructure warfare, the wanton destruction of the basic platforms of human survival. The bombing of the electric power plant has thrust the world’s most densely populated area into darkness; cutting off the vital flow of energy to hospitals, assistance centers, and the pumping stations which provide the city’s water. At the same time, Israel has bombed large sections of the main roads, government buildings, water lines and bridges. The Associated Press said, “Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed the Gaza Strip and began razing farmland east of Khan Younis”.

“Razing farmland” is critical in understanding the real motive behind the current aggression. The attack is directed against Palestinian civilians, not terrorists and not Hamas. Israel is purposely destroying the means for continued human survival in Gaza.

We can now see that the practical application of the Israeli axiom, “to destroy the terrorist infrastructure” actually means the gratuitous decimation of civilian life-support systems.

Officials from the World Food Program, which feeds 600,000 people in the West Bank and Gaza, have warned of an impending humanitarian crisis saying that Palestinians are already living on one meal a day and that there has been a steady increase in malnutrition, anemia and kidney problems from poor nutrition.

At a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, Dr. Riyadh Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, said that the Israeli invasion “was clearly premeditated and planned” weeks if not months before the capture of the Israeli soldier. Mansour added that the bombardment and military assault were clearly designed to “punish and terrorize the civilian population.”

Members of the Security Council quickly moved to pass a resolution condemning the Israeli invasion but were blocked by the United States. As long as the US occupies a place on the council, Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians will go unpunished.”

http://www.informationclearing.....e13817.htm

Well…

My lovely fiancee can spout baseball stats much better than me, and I played the damn sport and love it. She will not, however, stoop to the level of parroting my opinions on much of anything. It would sort of freak me out if she did.

But that’s obviously beside the point. The point is that I haven’t read “Things They Carried” in so long that I’d forgotten about that particular bit of imagery. Jaheezus.

In other news …

according to Al Jazeera, the power plant in Gaza which the Israelis blew up - dooming Palestinian children to dysentary and likely outbreaks of cholera - was apparently insured by a US company via a US govt. program and now we will get to reimburse the US insurer to the tune of $48 million.

Israeli tanks have entered northern Gaza and Israel is planning to put the 1/3 of the Palestinian cabinet who they have kidnapped on trial. Meanwhile Gush Shalom is calling for talk not guns.

Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace group, is holding almost continuous demonstrations:
http://gush-shalom.org/pics/kirya-28-6-06/

Re Melanie Morgan of the “Sisterhood of the Bloodthirsty Shrew,” who called for Bill Keller’s execution in a gas chamber…

Wow with such a ferocious solution, has she fine-tuned the most sadistic details of her violent fantasy, even down to the type of gas — Zyclon B? [A good nickname for her.]

Well, it’s where my thoughts go when “people” start calling for others to die in gas chambers — flooding the mind with the ghoulish stage props of Auschwitz and Schutzstaffel, the elite unit which maintained the political power of the Nazi Party. [The SS was given authority to establish and run the secret police organizations, the Gestapo and the Sipo, effectively putting the SS above the law - hmmm, sound familiar?]

Sadism is a peversion, and torture is always at the top of the gang’s list, whether at Abu Ghraib or Guantanimo or an underground of ghost flights, black-site torture prisons in which to hide secret detainees.

Surprise, surprise. All this fevered talk of torture is just their foreplay. Here’s an excerpt from THE LITTLE FASCIST: What Do You Say After You Say Hello? [1971] by the late Dr. Eric Berne:

A fascist may be defined as a person who has no respect for living tissue and regards it as his prey. This arrogant attitude is no doubt a relic of the prehistory of the human race, still surviving in the gusto of cannibalism and the joys of massacre. For carnivorous anthropoids on the hunt, ruthlessness meant efficiency and greed was motivated by hunger. But as the human mind and brain evolved through natural selection, these qualities were not bred out. After they were no longer necessary for survival, they became detached from their original goal of bringing down the dinner meat and degenerated into ends in themselves, luxuries often indulged in and enjoyed at the expense of other human beings. Ruthlessness developed into cruelty, and greed into exploitation and theft. Since the prey, the flesh itself and especially human flesh, was largely replaced by more compliant stomachfilling commodities, it began to be used to satisfy psychological hungers. The pleasures of torture replaced or preceded the pleasures of eating, and “He He” took over from “Yum Yum.” It became less important to kill him (or her) than to hear and watch him (or her) scream and grovel. This became the essence of fascism, a roving band seeking male or female prey to torment or deride, whose art lay in probing for the victim’s weakness.

There are two by-products of the grovel, both of them advantageous to the aggressor. The biological effect is sexual pleasure and excitement, with the victim available to indulge even the most ingenious perversions… The other by-product is a purely commercial one. The victim always has valuables which can yield a profit.

Our soldiers in Afghanistan and especially in Iraq, are coming home with serious cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Like no era since the Civil War. They are deployed again and again - and, fucking AGAIN! I know soldiers on their third fucking deployment. I talk to serving enlisted men and women on a weekly basis. They are LOYAL to this country. A year ago they were loyal to the regime in power here. This is changing. Not organizationally, but individually, as they and their families are tested, and they see little help coming for fellow soldiers, marines and airmen who have had traumatic experiences or who know they have been exposed to DU over long periods of time.

But our soldiers are adults, and are trained superficially to deal with it, even though, when it happens, they are discouraged from following their earlier training and seeking help - end of career, dude or babe.

Imagine, though, you are an eight-year-old, living in Rafah or Gaza RIGHT NOW:

AM - Monday, 3 July , 2006  08:08:00

Reporter: David Hardaker

03ELIZABETH JACKSON: To find out just what it’s like for the Palestinians in Gaza David Hardaker spent the night in the home of a Palestinian family to file this report.

(Sound of artillery fire)

DAVID HARDAKER: This is the sound of Gaza by night: first the dull thud of distant artillery fire.

(Sound of artillery fire)

At 2am, the beating blades of an Israeli Apache helicopter.

(Sound of helicopter)

This is the one which destroyed the office of Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

An hour later, some close Israeli shelling.

(Sound of shelling)

But none of this disturbs the sleep of the Ishanti family, who live on Gaza’s coast.

(Sound of a child speaking)

Indeed, it’s only in the morning, as the family is having breakfast, that the truly terrifying sound arrives.

(Sound of a sonic boom)

That’s a sonic boom, created by an Israeli jet speeding overhead.

Karam Ishanti is the head of the house. His wife Rheem has been comforting their one-year-old daughter and Karam has been holding their three-year-old son Basil. He’s been telling him the noise is nothing more than a big balloon.

KARAM ISHANTI: I became shaking. The child beside me immediately hugged me. She became frightened. I tried to (inaudible) her despite the fact that I myself was shaking.

DAVID HARDAKER: This has happened at 8:40 in the morning. Is that unusual?

KARAM ISHANTI: yeah, it’s… really, it used to happen in the early morning at three o’clock or four or five. It’s a call for us to get up, a call for (inaudible) to be afraid in the morning.

DAVID HARKER: And as the family is recovering from the first, five minutes later another one comes along.

(Sound of another sonic boom)

KARAM ISHANTI: You can’t hear the voice of the plane before the sonic boom happens. It happens suddenly, so as an old man you will be shaking. We are lucky now that the rest of the children are sleeping. They didn’t get up.

DAVID HARDAKER: That’s two sonic booms in the space of 10 minutes.

KARAM ISHANTI: Yeah, exactly, that’s right.

They used to shoot a lot of sonic booms. Within five minutes you can have five sonic booms.

DAVID HARDAKER: Sonic booms have not only been terrifying Palestinians, they’ve been smashing the windows of houses and in some cases causing rooves to collapse.

(Sound of children speaking)

That’s the story here in the Shaati refugee camp.

A sonic boom in the middle of the day brought the roof down in these cramped quarters, home to three generations of Adnan Abu Jazia’s family.

(Sound of Adnan Abu Jazia speaking)

“A roof 10 by 13 metres collapsed and fell over our heads,” he says. “My cousins were coming to help me paint the house because of my wedding in the next few days. Two of them were injured and we took them to the hospital.”

What was once the family’s living room is now a junkyard of metal beams, plastic sheeting and smashed brick.

Already in this home electricity is on again and off again and running water is scarce, but none of this makes Adnan Abu Jazia believe that the Palestinians should return the kidnapped Israeli soldier.

(Sound of Adnan Abu Jazia speaking)

“What is the fault of the people here?” He asks. “Are we to be blamed for the kidnapped soldier? We should be safe in our house, because we don’t have any relationship with the kidnapped soldier.”

Karen Abu Zeid is senior UN official in charge of the agency’s relief effort in Gaza.

KAREN ABU ZEID: Well, especially on the children, and some of the adults that say the same thing, what a real psychological terror it is for them. And, you know, they just can’t understand what the point is, except to frighten them, and I think that is all the point is.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Karen Abu Zeid, a head of the UN’s refugee agency in Gaza. David Hardaker with that report.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1677042.htm

hey, siun!! love ya!

siun, Ed*ard Teller - someone’s got to say it: this is a pogrom

AirportCat @ 94:

Ah…you know how it is.

;>)

punaise,

I gotta be ca