Slow Roasted

Headlines

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 15:13:00 +0000

The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. - Leviticus 19:34*

So, my old friend was visiting the family yesterday, and she asked me for some perspective on some of the headlines. (We don't get to discuss politics much in meatspace.)

Gaza - Israel is shooting into Palestine, Hamas is shooting into Israel AND putting their people up as targets; A pox on both their houses. Resolution? Maybe, when they get tired.

Malaysia Flight. A) Stay off Malaysia Airlines, m'kay? b) Probably Russian separatists in Ukraine with a missile launcher and no good sense.

Impeachment. Republicans have no standing, no case, no evidence. They can impeach in the House for shits and giggles, but they will never get a conviction in the Senate. Never. Not even if Dems lose the Senate.

Oh, and the border situation. Don't, I said to her, let anyone tell you that this is anything but a refugee crisis. People, children and families, are fleeing violence, and the US will do what the US has always done for refugees: feed them, clothe them, care for them until they can go home, which may well be never.

This is a refugee crisis, to which America has responded honorably and generously for decades**.

~~~~
* h/t to Tlazolteotl

** h/t to David Derbes

Right wing arguments.

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:42:00 +0000

The good thing is, they make it easier to ~~argue~~ dispute them every day.

George Will's "Coveted Status"? The only reason a man could object to women fighting back against rape would be if he were a rapist himself.

Benghazi? GOP voted to cut embassy security.

Bergdahl? The President brought back a POW from captivity. Period. Why do you hate the troops?

~~~

Magnificent Maleficent

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 17:08:00 +0000

Nearly perfect! Angelina Jolie sold the whole project with her face, every moment, every scene. Many commenters / critics weren't as pleased that it wasn't darker given the events of story, but for a re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty, I thought that they did a fine job expressing the character's rage and need for revenge!

Free-Market Solution

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 27 May 2014 20:24:00 +0000

Free-market solution: Sue the shooter's family, the University, the NRA, the Isla Vista police department, and every single vendor that sold him a gun for damages. Do the same with every mass murder until liability insurance is required for gun ownership. Then let the insurance companies tell gun owners what they can or cannot have.

Looks like Tom Tomorrow called it: "The occasional horrific civilian massacre is just the price the rest of us have to pay. Over and over again, apparently."

Sunshine and Rainbows

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Mon, 05 May 2014 15:29:00 +0000

Supreme Court: Opening prayers at council meetings constitutional

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says prayers at open town council meetings do not violate the Constitution even if they routinely stress Christianity.

The court said in 5-4 decision Monday that the content of the prayers is not critical as long as officials make a good-faith effort at inclusion.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/05/supreme-court-rules-in-favor-prayer-at-council-meetings/

O HAI! I was just reading the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when you came in! Nope, it still says the same thing it always said. [/smdh.]

Again, the SCOTUS wingers are happily pretending that there is nothing but sunshine and rainbows shining out of the asses of everyone concerned (at least on their side), so what's your problem, anyway, hippie?

Certainly, religionists are not going to discriminate against other religions or non-religionists; we don't need affirmative action any more because racism no longer exists; there is no need for campaign finance restrictions any more, because OF COURSE there won't be any corruption!

Naturally, the states won't restrict voting rights in the South because the laws have kept them from doing it for fifty years, so they certainly won't go back to that (now will we? *wink*), so we can just roll back those pesky old laws protecting "voters' rights", right?
~~~

Guess Who's Back?

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 15:47:00 +0000

Please note that I decided it was time to re-activate Slow Roasted. Please hold your applause. Cash is always appreciated.

Unprecedented

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 15:38:00 +0000

Truly Unprecedented :

The deeply personal back and forth this week between Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor over race is without parallel in the court's history, legal experts tell Sahil Kapur.

Part of the reason for that of course is the unhappy historical fact that racial and ethnic minorities haven't had a seat on the Supreme Court bench until the last 47 years. But part of it, too, may have been the calculation by the likes of Thurgood Marshall that a direct public confrontation would not be productive in the long run.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/supreme-court-race-thurgood-marshall

What's truly unprecedented is the repellent racism of the Roberts court. Now I'm sure that Sotomayor went in thinking that it would be all collegial and buddy-buddy, but what she's run smack into is a majority that is ready and willing to turn back any and all legal advances on race (and workers issues, and women, and gays) all the way back to Brown v Board of Education and beyond.

What's truly unprecedented is that she's found herself in the position genuinely having to fight back against these medieval assholes, who have tossed the entire concept of stare decisis out the window because the idea of people, citizens, having to fight for their own rights is truly incomprehensible to them.

It simply wasn't time for Justice Marshall to have those fights back then.

The fact that Justice Roberts is doing his best to mansplain Justice Sotomayor back into her place, while Scumbag Scalia is cussing her out from the side shows that it's more than time for that fight to happen NOW.
~~~

KOCH Whores.

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:46:00 +0000

KOCH Whores: (noun) Public servants and media figures who insist on increasing the gap between rich and poor in America, generally by increasing tax cuts to the detriment of local, state, and federal governments.

Koch Whore
Posted by Murphy On February - 23 - 2011

http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker answers his master’s call

“David Koch”: We’ll back you any way we can. What we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that—because we thought about that…

Feel free to list your favorites here.

Remembering Reagan

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Remembering Reagan...

[h/t to Doug, at Eschaton...]

"Meet RINO Reagan:

This weekend, Republicans marked the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan with speeches celebrating his small government philosophy, anti-tax fervor and hard-line foreign policy. But if Reagan was a GOP candidate today, he would doubtless fall victim to violations of his own 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Because despite all of the right-wing hagiography, Ronald Reagan ballooned the national debt, repeatedly raised taxes, signed abortion rights legislation and negotiated with terrorists in Iran. For those and so many other perceived offenses, the GOP rank and file - and especially its purity-demanding Tea Partiers - would today brand a reanimated Ronald Reagan a Republican in Name Only..."

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/meet-rino-reagan

~~~

I'm a fighting liberal - Steve Gilliard

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:33:00 +0000

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

I'm a fighting liberal

You know, I've studied history, I've read about America and you know something, if it weren't for liberals, we'd be living in a dark, evil country, far worse than anything Bush could conjure up. A world where children were told to piss on the side of the road because they weren't fit to pee in a white outhouse, where women had to get back alley abortions and where rape was a joke, unless the alleged criminal was black, whereupon he was hung from a tree and castrated.

What has conservatism given America? A stable social order? A peaceful homelife? Respect for law and order? No. Hell, no. It hasn't given us anything we didn't have and it wants to take away our freedoms.

The Founding Fathers, as flawed as they were, slaveowners and pornographers, smugglers and terrorists, understood one thing, a man's path to God needed no help from the state. Is the religion of these conservatives so fragile that they need the state to prop it up, to tell us how to pray and think? Is that what they stand for? Is that their America?

Conservatism plays on fear and thrives on lies and dishonesty. I grew up with honest, decent conservatives and those people have been replaced by the party of greed. It is one thing to want less government interference and smaller, fiscally responsible government. It is another thing entirely to be a corporate whore, selling out to the highest bidder because the CEO fattens your campaign chest. They are building an America which cannot be sustained. One based on the benefit of the few at the cost of the many. The indifferent boss who hires too few people and works them to death or until they break down sick. Cheap labor capitalism has replaced common sense. "Globalism" which is really guise for exploitation, replaced fair trade, which is nothing like fair for the trapped semi-slaves of the maquliadoras. In the Texas border towns, hundreds of these women have been used as sex slaves and then apparently killed,the FBI powerless to do anything as the criminals sit in Mexico untouched by law.

For the better part of a decade, the conservatives made liberal a dirty word. Well, it isn't. It represents the best and most noble nature of what America stands for: equitable government services, old age pensions, health care, education, fair trials and humane imprisonment. It is the heart and soul of what made American different and better than other countries. Not only an escape from oppression, but the opportunity to thrive in land free of tradition and the repression that can bring. We offered a democracy which didn't enshrine the rich and made them feel they had an obligation to their workers.

Bush and the people around him disdain that. They think, by accident of birth and circumstance, they were meant to rule the world and those who did not agree would suffer.

Liberal does not and has not meant weak until the conservatives said it did. Was Martin Luther King weak? Bobby Kennedy? Gene McCarthy? It was the liberals who remade this country and ended legal segregation and legal sexism. Not the conservatives, who wanted to hold on to the old ways.

It's time to regain the spirit of FDR and Truman and the people around them. People who believed in the public good over private gain. It is time to stop apologizing for being a liberal and be proud to fight for your beliefs. No more shying away or being defined by other people. Liberals believe in a strong defense and punishment for crime. But not preemption and pointless jail sentences. We believe no American should be turned away from a hospital because they are too poor or lack a proper legal defense. We believe that people should make enough from one job to live on, to spend time on raising their family. We believe that individuals and not the state should dictate who gets married and why. The best way to defend marriage is to expand, not restrict it.

It was the liberals who opposed the Nazis while the conservatives were plotting to get their brown shirts or fund Hitler. It was the liberals who warned about Spain and fought there, who joined the RAF to fight the Germans, who brought democracy to Germany and Japan. Let us not forget it was the conservatives who opposed defending America until the Germans sank our ships. They would have done nothing as Britain came under Nazi control. It was they who supported Joe McCarthy and his baseless, drink fueled claims.

Without liberals, there would be no modern America, just a Nazi satellite state. Liberals weak on defense? Liberals created America's defense. The conservatives only need vets at election time.

It is time to stop looking for an accommodation with the right. They want none for us. They want to win, at any price. So, you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?

http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2003/12/im-fighting-liberal-you-know-ive.html

Still missing you, Steve.
~~~

Craig Ferguson explains "Doctor Who"

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:35:00 +0000

Pajiba: Intellect and romance triumphs over brute force and cynicism.

Craig Ferguson explains "Doctor Who":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9P4SxtphJ4

I just needed to see it written out.

il Prete Rosso

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Just rediscovered this - my favorite since I was 18:

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 3 No. 6 (RV 356)

Antonio Vivaldi

From L'Estro Armonico ('Harmonic Inspiration', a set of 12 concerti published by Vivaldi as his Opus 3.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SIqYp6Ehzo

Interesting thought - since this was first published in 1711, it may well have been first performed by an all-female ensemble!:

"Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for poor and illegitimate children where Vivaldi worked between 1703 and 1740."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi
~~~

Why BLACKS should ALWAYS VOTE:

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:33:00 +0000

By the end of Reconstruction in 1877, with fraud, intimidation and violence at the polls, white Democrats regained nearly total control of the state legislatures across the South. They passed laws to make voter registration more complicated, reducing black voters on the rolls. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from 1890 to 1908, ten of eleven Southern legislatures ratified new constitutions and amendments to effectively disfranchise most African Americans and many poor whites through devices such as poll taxes, property and residency requirements, and literacy tests. Although required of all voters, some provisions were selectively applied against African Americans. In addition, many states passed grandfather clauses to exempt white illiterates from literacy tests for a limited period. The result was that black voters were stripped from registration rolls and without political recourse. Since they could not vote, they could not serve on juries. They were without official political voice.

The ideology behind lynching, directly connected with denial of political and social equality, was stated forthrightly by Benjamin Tillman, governor of South Carolina and later a United States Senator:

"We of the South have never recognized the right of the negro to govern white men, and we never will. We have never believed him to be the equal of the white man, and we will not submit to his gratifying his lust on our wives and daughters without lynching him."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching#United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States

[Most of these are horrible. You are warned.]

http://www.google.com/images?q=lynching

I WISH some fool would tell me that they aren't voting.
~

It Gets Better

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:17:00 +0000

It Gets Better, beloveds. No matter how much it hurts now, yes, it gets better. You find someone to love, you find someone who loves you, you learn to love yourself - it gets better.

Give the world another chance, and find someone to talk to about your pain.

http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject

Tim Gunn's moving message to gay teens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GGAgtq_rQc&hd=1

From chicago dyke's blog at CorrenteWire.com - It Gets Better: Man in a Uniform Ed.
~

Wanda Sykes & Her Wife Alex: Creative Emmys Date Night

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:41:00 +0000

Wanda Sykes & Her Wife Alex: Creative Emmys Date Night (PHOTOS)

Wanda Sykes stepped out with her wife, Alex, at the Creative Arts Emmys on Saturday in LA. Alex gave birth to the couple's twins last summer.

Wanda is nominated for two Emmys for her HBO stand up 'I'ma Be Me.' Her late-night talk show on FOX, 'The Wanda Sykes Show,' was canceled in May after one season. The same month, CBS canceled 'The New Adventures of Old Christine,' in which Wanda played Julia Louis-Dreyfus' best friend.

Hey, Wanda - nice pull. Respect. [fistbump]
~

Men With Style: Alan Cumming at Creative Emmy Awards 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:08:00 +0000

So, no sooner than I create a feature called "Men With Style", than the Fug Girls run this awesome picture of Alan Cumming at the Creative Emmys:

This is probably in the running for the Most Awesome Suit of 2010, with the exception of the gentleman when I met at Costco last week, who was resplendent in a beautiful and classic seersucker suit, perhaps the only sane thing that can be worn in a Houston summer.

Seersucker at Wikipedia

Men With Style: Steve McGarrett

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Help me out here.

So here's Grace Park and some other dudes in the new Hawaii 5-0:

Does she really expect them to ignore that she's pretty much naked? [Not that this is a bad thing - I approve]

Do they really expect us to not notice that these dudes are trying hard [heh] to not notice that she is pretty much naked?

And, by the way, Grace Park in a bikini.

Prediction - the new Hawaii 5-0 will FAIL because the new McGarrett is a slob. Jack Lord, as Steve McGarrett, was never, ever a slob:

Never:

~

Crushes: Bernadette Peters

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:55:00 +0000

This woman:

...is 62 years old and I adore her So. Much.

I could actually go on and on about Ms. Peters and her singular contributions to musical theater, or that she was so awesome that Spielberg designed the role of Rita in Animaniacs just for her to sing on the show. Or the time that I glimpsed her from a distance just shopping in Greenwich Village.

But really, I just think that she is really, seriously cute, and I am so happy to see her newest Broadway appearance be the triumph that it is.

And she is hot.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/theater/16peters.html
~

Peter Fernandez, 1927-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:41:00 +0000

Topless Robot - Peter Fernandez, 1927-2010:

I have never heard of Mr. Fernandez before today. However,

He will be best remembered as the director, writer and voice of Speed Racer, as well as the composer of its American theme song.

Clearly, he is my hero, and I mourn his passing. There are some great memorials of him at the link. Job well done, sir - a job well done, indeed.

~

Doesn't Suck

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:01:00 +0000

Health Plans Must Provide Some Tests at No Cost :

WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday issued new rules requiring health insurance companies to provide free coverage for dozens of screenings, laboratory tests and other types of preventive care.

The new requirements promise significant benefits for consumers — if they take advantage of the services that should now be more readily available and affordable.

In general, the government said, Americans use preventive services at about half the rate recommended by doctors and public health experts.

The rules will eliminate co-payments, deductibles and other charges for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol tests; many cancer screenings; routine vaccinations; prenatal care; and regular wellness visits for infants and children.

Other services that must be offered at no charge include counseling to help people stop smoking; screening and counseling for obesity; and tests for infection with the virus that causes AIDS.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/health/policy/15health.html

One very, very damned good reason why having Democrats in the White House doesn't suck.
~

The Ten Hottest Celebrity Women in their 40s | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:24:00 +0000

The Ten Hottest Celebrity Women in their 40s | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People
I endorse this list.

Cash From Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:37:00 +0000

http://meander61.blogspot.com/2010/04/malcolm-mclaren-dies.html

Missed this a couple of weeks back:

Anarchy rules as Malcolm McLaren funeral draws punk glitterati:

...Joseph Corré, McLaren's son with Westwood, read out a note from Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, who addressed his old adversary directly.

"Dear Malcolm, did you take the money with you? Is it in the coffin? Do you mind if I come back tomorrow and dig you up?" he wrote. "I always had a soft spot for you. You showed me a lot when I was 17 … and I owe you a lot for showing me a different side to life."

.....
Malcolm McLaren's coffin is carried into church at his funeral in north London.

Well-wishers pay their respects as the horse-drawn funeral cortege for Malcolm McLaren passes through Camden.

Adam Ant, who said McLaren was like a father to him, arrives at the funeral.

I don't know if Annabella attended.
~

Another Saturday Night

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:06:00 +0000

Went out on Saturday to our local concert pub. That's what it's called - The Concert Pub.

Cover band in residence - Judith Priest. With a female lead singing (and dressing like) Rob Halford. Awesome Sets. Why they stuck "Another Think Coming" in the middle instead of closing with it is beyond me, though.

I love living in the 21st century. It's like Futurama.
~

Malcolm McLaren dies

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:53:00 +0000

Malcolm McLaren dies aged 64 - News, People - The Independent

Malcolm McLaren, the former manager of the Sex Pistols and impresario, has died. He was 64.
...

McLaren was best known as the manager of the iconic punk band The Sex Pistols. He achieved the notoriety that never left him when The Sex Pistols’ anti-establishment single God Save The Queen stole the number one spot during the Queen’s silver jubilee in 1977.

I think this means that I am now officially OLD.

Bow Wow Wow
Adam and the Ants
The Sex Pistols

Created them, and screwed them, and screwed them all over, rock'n'roll style.

His funeral will be an event.

RIP, you sonovabitch. What I wouldn't have given to have lived the life you did.
~

iPad Alternatives

noreply@blogger.com (Meander) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:44:00 +0000

Over at Open Salon a commenter, mad_typist, wrote:

"I'm hoping someone will make a tablet that lets me use a stylus with it. That opens up several possibilities: doing free hand sketches, hand writing notes on everything from Word documents to e-books, and even marking up maps or other graphics."

I mentioned an excellent alternative to the iPad back when it was announced:

Here, Decisions, Decisions and here, Decisions, Decisions.

The enTourage eDGe™, which runs Android, features TWO screens - one LCD and one e-paper, USB, SD slots, wi-fi and stylus input. At $499, it is the same price as the iPad 8GB.

AND IT IS SHIPPING NOW.

Not some mythical vaporware "someday". No, it does not have 3G but I think that 3G is straight-up Amazon.com marketing anyway. I have LOTS of PDF textbooks and this weighs less and gives me more features than any of them.

Buy me one and I'll write you a review. ;-)