perfidy

The Treasury Department has unveiled the design for the new $US 20. What a piece of poo! Not that I have any specific problems with a re-design, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assert that PEACH and LEMONY-FRESH YELLOW are two colors that should never be associated with the United States of America. Green, yes. Silver, oh sure oh sure. Bloody-red? Why not, hey! But peach? Peach? Peach is for handbags, not what goes in 'em.

Have a problem with the gendered speech inherent in the above? You can bite my shiny metal ass.

Regarding Amina Lawal's impending execution, it is in fact set for 3 June. She was sentenced 19 August 2002. My apologies. In other words, she doesn't have much time.

Over at ESPN, Brian Murphy has observed that the unthinkable could happen: Roger Clemens could win his 300th game at Fenway. From the Murphy's mouth:

Holy looting mob, that will be an unforgettable experience.I was at the '99 ALCS Game 3 when Clemens got rocked at Fenway, knocked out in the second inning as the Red Sox destroyed their former hero turned Benedict Arnold. What a day. The Sox fans were maniacal, foaming at the mouth in their desire to take out the Rocket. . . .[A]fter that game, the fans turned into something straight off the pages of "Frankenstein." Missing only torches, they actually tore down the banner commemorating Clemens' 20-strikeout day in '86.

I remember that day. I was driving from Washington to Baltimore to see the future Goodwife Two-Cents, and with every humiliating pitch of those first two innings, I drove faster and faster, beating my fist in ecstasy against the roof of the car like it was being mouthy and needed a fresh one. That was one of the best things I've ever heard on the radio, made all the better because, since it wasn't the teevee, I could imagine for myself the humiliation clouding those piggy little eyes of his, the saddlebags of flopsweat coming through the pinstripes, the cotton holding back his Boomer-like gut like Size-00 support hose on Divine as his shoulder slump in abject defeat. In my head, it was AWESOME. And I hadn't even realized my true calling as a Sox fan at the time and was still attached to the Cleveland Indians, the team of my hometown.

Please give due attention to Windy City's post below about Amina Lawal. I mean, what the hell? Some places just have things too ass-backwards to be believed, and don't you lay any of your culturally-relative sensitivity bullcrap on me about it. I'm so angry about this, I shit in my own Wheaties this morning.

Those IRA dudes are totally screwed. Seriously. As are, I'm sure, several highly placed members of the British intelligence community.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The unmasking of a British double-agent who penetrated to the heart of the IRA guerrilla army in Northern Ireland has given rare insight into the twisted and murky world of high-stakes espionage. The agent known by the codename "Stakeknife" was paid $128,900 a year by Britain and is suspected of killing 40 people in operations authorized by his handlers to protect his identity. With his name printed in at least four newspapers during the weekend, the blow to future undercover operations is massive, said former British SAS soldier and author Andy McNab. . . .The existence of a highly placed British mole within the IRA has long been suspected, but at the weekend he was identified in British and Irish media as Alfredo Scappaticci.

Holy crow! This is as bad as/much worse than the whole "FBI/Whitey Bulger let-the-innocent-die-it's-ok" flapdoodle of recent years.

On 19 August, Nigerian citizen Amina Lawal will be stoned to death for the crime of adultery. She has recently given birth, and her accusers claim that the baby is evidence of the adultery. The Spanish chapter of Amnesty International has provided an Urgent Action electronic petition here to request that her death sentence be rescinded.

My initial impressions, gathered over almost a week, is that fatherhood involves taking naps whenever the baby is asleep, and doing whatever Mrs. Buckethead tells me to do. Occassionally, I get to hold the baby. The only problem arises when I am instructed to do several things, but given no guidance on how to prioritize these tasks. Nevertheless, I am adapting. When I pause for a moment to consider the glories of fatherhood, the sublime joy of holding my son, I am usually interrupted before I get too sappy about everything. This is probably for the best.

The details:

John Christian was born at 12:37pm on Sunday, May 4 (Quatro de Mayo! Yeah!) and on arrival weighed in at 7lbs, 12oz. He is 20 inches long. If you need metric, screw you, I'm busy. After a remarkably easy labor (Mrs. Buckethead's first comment after JC arrived: "That wasn't so bad.") John slid into the world; messy, purple and coneheaded. These problems soon corrected themselves, and now my mom says he's cuter than I was. Obviously, mom is adapting to grandmotherhood with frightening speed. Since getting home from the hospital on Tuesday, we've been in a fugue state, never quite aware of the time or date, and all activities subject to the whim of my son's digestive system (inbound or outbound or both.)

Nevertheless, I can report with absolute confidence that my son is remarkably advanced; mentally, physically and spiritually. My baby can kick your baby's ass. No, seriously. Belinda will probably not be happy with that last thought, so I will sign off before I get in more trouble. I'll will return to a semi-regular posting schedule as a return to work middle of next week.

In the meantime, here are some thoughts on the last week's posts:

Smoking bans suck, and are completely unjustifiable on any grounds. However, if you smoke around my baby, I'll kick your ass.

Johno is correct in his assessment of the RIAA. If they crash my computer while I'm trying to bid on a Baby Bjorn baby carrier (porta bebe in spanish. heh.) on Ebay, I'll kick their ass.

Ghoulardi broadcast from Cleveland, CBS channel 8. Disagree, and I'll kick your ass.

Johno's biography would run to 37 pages, double spaced in 16 point courier new. Mine would be 42 pages. But that's only because I'm older. Mike's would be 142 pages, but only because he's got to fit all that Marxist dialectical bullshit in. I won't kick his ass, because I can't.

Looks like the NYT has gone through a typical learning curve on the Museum looting. They did a similar phreak out on the melting polar cap a while ago. "Its gone!" "Well, a lot of its gone!" Well, Its not really gone at all, sorry." I should kick their ass.

I want the military to return to its proper research direction - more than lethal weapons. Then they can kick ass.

France. Oil. Heh.

Minutemen kicked ass, that's why PC brigades (brigades - what a military term.) are afraid of them. How about another contest: Most unPC team mascots. You must connect your mascot to a specific college or high school. It must offend at least one protected victim group, preferably all. (Like the "Nuke a gay whale for jesus" bumper stickers.) It should make full use of stereotypes, slurs, and slander. Bonus category: make unPC mascots for groups not necessarily considered victim groups. These should follow the same pattern as the regular entries. Prize is getting your ass kicked, and a lollipop. Heh.

In all likelihood, people associate Massachusetts with political leaders who publicly advocated, worked toward, or voted for initiatives that were left of center. John, Robert, and especially Ted Kennedy advocated or actively supported, at least publicly, civil rights legislation. Ted Kennedy, for example, incensed people in Southie, traditionally Democratic voters, when he supported public school integration. To put it simply, while the people of Southie, in general, did not support integration initiatives, their political representative did. While John and Robert Kennedy were virulently anti-Communist, Robert softened his stance in the late 1960s, and both did publicly support civil rights legislation. In other matters, Ted Kennedy has consistently voted for left of center legislation in the Senate. To mention them here would belabor the point.
Other Massachusetts politicians have similarly advanced left of center policies. Mike Dukakis, the last gasp of the left in the Democratic party, was very left of center publicly. While he was also an elitist who did not support public higher education, he was by and large left of center, and certainly more so than any other candidate to run for President on the Democratic ticket since. Machine Democrats such as Curley were also economically and politically left of center in an American New Deal sort of way, despite the racism inherent in Machine Democrat practices. Bear in mind, by the standard of the times, prior to the 1960s or even Seventies, a politician could be left of center but not a 1990s style diversity advocate. As a side note, advocates of diversity tend to be hypocritical because they don't really advocate diversity, just argue that if it's not white male it's good. But that's another post perhaps.

Beyond politicians, however, the general populace has also demonstrated left of center leanings. In 1972, Massachusetts was the only state McGovern carried. He was also very left of center, certainly by American standards. I wouldn't dismiss the labor aspect of Massachusetts. Labor is the heart and soul of the economic left. Of course, the new faux left doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about economic or political issues; it's all about wearing helmets and not saying bad things that hurt other people's feelings for them. In other words, if labor has remained important to Massachusetts, then the state is truly more left of center than people who think culture is the be-all-end-all of human existence.

In other words, I don't think that Massachusetts has been associated with Communism. I think it's been considered more liberal by the modern American definition. Of course, some John Birch types and other right of center folks did call modern American definition liberalism Communism. But they were wrong. Know why? Everyone I've mentioned above, including McGovern, was still a capitalist and an upholder of American representative democratic governmental systems. But even those MADLs of Massachusetts were from urban Massachusetts. There has been an urban/rural divide in American society pretty much from the get-go, and everywhere in the western world urban areas tend to be more progressive and rural areas conservative or reactionary. Therefore, it's mostly urban Massachusetts where MADLs can be found. So, as you correctly point out, the characterization of Massachusetts as Communist is way off the mark, but there is some justification for looking to urban Massachusetts for left of center politicians, and in some cases, populace.

Mike, here's a case in point about the PC brigades, and it involves Amherst, Massachusetts. Convergence, yes!

From the Amherst Republican (which I have never heard of, and I used to live there, so this may be total hearsay... which won't stop me), comes this story:

"By September, the UMass Gray Wolves men's and women's teams may be charging onto the field, while the gun-toting, single-gender Minuteman - a UMass symbol since 1972 - is sent to the showers for good...."Am I for the change? I'm for the process," UMass Athletic Director Ian J. McCaw said. That process began with the hiring of Phoenix Design Works of New York City, which introduced the Gray Wolves to eight focus groups involving 85 people.... Gray Wolves would be unique in Division I college sports, and it's indigenous to the area," McCaw said. "The design company expressed some concern with the single-gender ethnicity of the Minuteman, and the fact he's carrying a firearm (in the logo) is also a concern." McCaw said social and practical reasons exist for change. For one thing, the women's teams are called the Minutewomen, even though no colonial Minutewomen ever actually existed.

OH FOR CRISSAKES. If I had money, and I ever gave it to my alma mater, I'd stop doing that. I am ever so incensed! Some effing marketing team from New Effing York City thinks they know Massachusetts well enough to capture its essence in the beautiful and majestic Gray Wolf.

Luckily, some people get it. Also from the article:

According to Springfield Republican outdoors writer Frank Sousa, however, the portrayal of a cuddly wolf is ridiculous. "Wolves attack only the sick, injured and helpless," said Sousa, one of the region's foremost outdoors spokesmen. "Besides, the last gray wolf sighting around here was in the late 1890s, in a barrel outside Thompson's Clothing Store in Amherst after being shot in Northampton," Sousa said. "And those were skinned."

As Glenn Reynolds might say: Heh.

I'll be away for the next few days, at a wedding in the Berkshires. We're all going to dance barefoot under the moon and give thanks to the Earth-Spirit. No, no, no, we're going to sip champagne cocktails and look through our monocles at each others' Bentleys.

Actually, neither of those. I'm going to have a bitchen time with some friends, and they're going to get married. It'll be cool as hell.