Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

Of all the 9 members of the Hutaree arrested for their part in a conspiracy to kill police officers and their families with the aim of sparking a nationwide civil war, Mark Schauer represents the most of any U.S. Representative.

Congressman Schauer had a scheduled appearance in Lenawee County, where most of the arrests were made. His appearance was on Monday, the day after the arrests of the alleged terrorists were made public.

So, what did Schauer do in recognition of the Hutaree arrests? What did he say?

Nothing. In the face of homegrown terrorism centered in his own congressional district, Congressman Mark Schauer was silent. He said nothing. He did nothing. Now, two days later, Schauer continues his path of silence and inaction.

Why was Schauer afraid to speak out against extremism? Is he afraid that he’ll lose the votes of Hutaree supporters?

On the same show of Face the Nation where U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann claimed that some parts of the private economy are not parts of the private economy, Senator Jim DeMint appeared to inform the world that the health care reform legislation just passed by congressional Democrats “mocks Americans”.

How does health care reform mock Americans? I just so happened to walk by the dressing room for recently passed legislation at the Library of Congress the other day, and overheard the following comments:

“Those Americans are so healthy now, they think their shit don’t stink!”

“Anyone can be healthy. It takes style to get sick!”

“Americans these days are a bunch of scaredy cats, needing reliable medical insurance. Oooh, watch out! Cancer’s gonna get you!”

“Is baby feeling sick and sniffly? Go to the doctor, baby!”

“Oh poor me! I have muscular dystrophy! I need medicine!”

See? Jim DeMint was telling the truth. Health care reform does indeed mock Americans, and our obsession with being healthy. Isn’t it just humiliating?

Hey, na na, ho, na na, hey, na na! The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of her…

But hold on – if the Earth is our mother, then who is Mars? Personally, I nominate him for crazy uncle… always rushing off to war, can’t maintain life, in a weird relationship with Phobos… rusty…

If you start looking into the Tea Party protests, you’ll find that there are a few protest sign memes that have spread quite effectively. You see them over and over again, at Tea Party events in places separated by a great physical distance.

One of those memes is the idea that the protester, for the first time ever, is ashamed of the President. In the case of this sign, it’s expressed, “First time in my entire life I’m ashamed of my President!” This particular message is supposed to communicate the profound degree of discontent against anti-Obama activists.

Is the discontent truly so profound? I have my doubts.

The key to evaluating the honesty of this meme is the phrase “first time”. Is it really the first time that these protesters are ashamed of their President, or are they just pretending it is?

10 years ago, the President of the United States was Bill Clinton. As I remember it, a lot of right wingers, the sort of people now populating Tea Party protests, were expressing outrage at Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.

The hand holding this sign certainly doesn’t look very young. Its skin is starting to sag a bit, and is showing signs of mottling. Let’s be generous, and say that the hand is 30 years old. If that’s the case, then the protester was a 20 year-old adult during the Presidency of Bill Clinton. Others carrying similar signs were even older.

Either these people were not ashamed of Bill Clinton, or they’re liars. I’d love to hear from someone who has carried one of these protest signs explain to me which one it is: Does the Tea Party love Bill Clinton, or do its protesters just express outrage at any Democrat who happens to be sitting in the White House?

It just doesn’t sound as persuasive to state, “This is the second time in my life I am ashamed of my President!” It makes the protester sound like a habitual malcontent. That would be a rather inconvenient perception for the Tea Party, wouldn’t it?

All this talk about military robots, and Homeland Security drones sounds like a bunch of science fiction. Even as I write about it, I think to myself, “This sounds like some kind of weird conspiracy theory involving tinfoil hats.”

For that reason, to accompany our articles about the threat of military drones, I think it’s important to offer our readers some simple photographic evidence of what’s going on. Here’s one pixel from that larger picture:

This photograph comes from the White House archives, and it shows President George W. Bush and his Secretary of Homeland Security standing right in front of a robotic airplane. The official seal of the Department of Homeland Security is shown on the robot.

Our Irregular writer Jim is in the middle of writing a series on the problematic development of robots that can fight our wars for us, slaughtering human enemies so that our soldiers don’t have to see the blood firsthand. It will be like they’re just playing a video game, shooting people from a remote location.

This isn’t some kind of Isaac Asimov science fiction ethical thought experiment. It’s a present reality. We have robotic airplanes in the skies, and now, there are robot dogs on the ground, capable of taking a solid blow and keeping on going. There would be little problem equipping these military drone dogs with guns – they could take the recoil with barely slowing down.

The following are some videos of some prototypes of these military robots, walking across any terrain, running, even jumping, with the relentless ability to just keep on coming toward their target with no fear, and no mercy.

2 flavors – 1 bag. That’s the promise.

I opened up a bag of Pizza Cravers / Ranch chips – a Doritos collision medley.

You know what, though? I can’t tell the difference between the Pizza Cravers chips and the Ranch chips.

What a letdown.

But where did he get the gasoline?

What if the Violent Femmes teamed up with the Squirrel Nut Zippers, went acoustic and picked up a banjo?

What if you could dance to it? And what if people did?

The Toughcats sound even better live than on CD.

Irregular Movie Rumor:

The makers of the remake of The Clash of the Titans have added in a backstory for the giant vulture that carries off the princess Andromeda to her accursed suitor’s swampy lair every night: The vulture is girl, and her name is Elizabeth. She likes to be known as Elizabeth The Giant Vulture of Doom, but when she’s not transporting prisoners in magical cages through the darkness, she works as an apprentice to Homer, and hopes to become the poet laureate of the swamp some day.

At the end of the movie, as Perseus and Andromeda ride Pegasus off into the sunset, Elizabeth The Giant Vulture sings a torch song written just for the movie, entitled, How Can I Carrion? The song may only make it into the director’s cut, however.

Of course, it’s just a rumor.