Saturday Open Thread 02-28-15

Good morning 99percenters!

Ever heard of the Internet Cat Video Festival? Neither had I until I saw a reference to a sold out screening at Ann Arbor’s State Street Theater earlier this week.

Put together by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis - which has screened the selections at a popular outdoor event in Minneapolis for the past three summers - the fest showcases about 70 minutes of kittens, cats and boxes, cats and bags, music cats and more, and is billed as "the first offline celebration of online cat videos.”

Yes, America has a fascination with pootie videos.

Gizmo flushing the toilet is among my favorites. This video has had over six million views on YouTube and even appeared on Good Morning America on August 23, 2006.

This is an open thread. Tell us what’s on your mind this last day of February. And yes, feel free to post your pootie pictures and videos.

The floor is yours.

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Big Al's picture

Time to boycott Daily Kos and the Democratic party.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/27/1367464/-BREAKING-Russian-oppos...

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and DailyKos are all quick to jump on the "Putin did it" bandwagon. Last night I was watching PBS and they had a Russian expert on that at least interjected a little sanity into it. She said she didn't believe Putin did it and believes it very possible that a nationalist group did it, with nationalism currently being prevalent in Russia, some groups being very extreme.

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Big Al's picture

called "Putin" apologists by the likes of Lawrence, Radiowalla, FG, Joe from Lowell, Fischfry, Lawrence Lewis,
Tony Situ, etc. There's a whole cadre of them who have either bought or dispensed the propaganda for , or both,
for Syria/Assad, Libya/Gaddafi, Iraq/Saddam, etc. and Ukraine/Russia/Putin. They've used the same terms "gaddafi apologist, assad apologist,
etc. consistently and they pop up in these diaries and dominate the discussion, running off anyone that disagrees, thereby causing
few to voice disagreement. Especially management and the likes of MB, who is an imperialist supporter.
Some of them no doubt are trolls of some kind, the m.o. is too suspicious.

It doesn't matter who did it, who killed this guy. It doesn't take away from the facts of what happened in Ukraine, what's happening in
Ukraine and why it's happened.

I was asking the same question before I left on that blog, give me proof that Russia invaded Ukraine and that was
the aggressor move. They simply can't, unless they link to John McCain and the neocons.

These are the people who are saying the exact same things as McCain and the neocons and DK management has allowed it
to be the dominate theme on the blog, therefore they own it.

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last night when it first came up and there was only a few comments. I didn't go back to read anymore after that because I knew what direction it was going to take. The internet is a great tool for getting the truth out, but on the other hand it's also a great tool for the propagandists. That yin/yang dichotomy is everywhere.

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Big Al's picture

ignorant fools. What kind of people fall for the war and imperialist propaganda EVERY time? It's not just these Daily Kos people,
you'll see the same thing on the other side of the aisle. In fact, that's the incongruity of it all, what you see is these so called
progressives and liberals agreeing with the tea partiers and right wing (and McCain and the neocons) about Putin. And the reason they're agreeing is because
they've been led to that stage by the propaganda and conditioning, which with Putin and Russia, started well before the last Olympics
as you'll recall.

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snoopydawg's picture

Who wrote, "where are all the Putin apologists"?
They didn't learn anything about government lies when Bush lied about the Iraq war. I've even posted that Saudi Arabia and Israel were funding ISIS.
All they need to do is read other websites that clearly state that Putin didn't invade Ukraine. It was another US coup that has killed a lot of innocent people. Again. And ruined their infrastructure. Again.
But Obama can do no wrong in their minds. I find that pathetic. Even when I provide links, I'm still called a Putin apologist.
Obama is killing as many people as Bush did, but they won't hear about that.
Plus, they think Hillary will be a great president even tho she's a bigger hawk then Obama.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

mimi's picture

and European political landscape? Who do you support who is not an imperialist? Basically there are not any ideological differences anymore. I think the only differences that are out there is between those who can decide things due to their financial or military powers and those who can't, which is the 99 percent. And the one percenters have no ideology nor any shame.

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Big Al's picture

U.S. imperialism, it's clearly documented within their platforms and other documents and actions. We can turn to some third
parties against imperialism but doesn't do any good, the system won't allow it.
I think the only way it can be stopped is if individual states demanded to opt out. Perhaps a Constitutional Convention or National
Initiative process.
One thing I know is those that oppose it need to become more vocal because it has progressed to the severe danger level.

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mimi's picture

fact that there is no hope that you can ever get a Constitutional Convention established through peaceful and legal means. State by state putting in a request for an Article V convention have never reached the two third threshold, neither was it possible so far to get both houses to vote for having one with a two third majority in each house. And then you don't even know if they agree on the kind and language of a new amendment. Looks to me as if the American citizens are enslaved by their own constitution, they are stuck in it and can't reform it and themselves.

I wonder how many countries have ever gotten a new or rewritten or better constitution by peaceful means. Seems to me new constitutions get written after a country has been fallen in utter disrepair through civil or other wars. But that's just a guess. I don't know anything about it. I wanted to research this for years and never get to it. I also might not have enough of education to pull that off.

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Shahryar's picture

you know, the kind the postman brings every once in awhile and you toss it immediately.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

protecting DHS funding earlier this week.

Apparently the evil Republicans don't understand how much it endangers us to cut off DHS' funding for even a few days.

The Daily Kos front page is pushing this view. A few years ago, they questioned whether it was justified for DHS to even exist. Now, with apparently no consciousness of irony or admission of any change of mind, they're clamoring for security spending funneled through a dicey agency which has suppressed a movement of peaceful American dissidents in recent memory, and which most often functions as a bargain basement for every police chief in the country to get military weapons.

It's like watching a live version of 1984. Ideas, principles, beliefs, shift kaleidoscopically according to leaderships' wishes and the demands of the moment.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

tell me that the Declaration of Independence is just a declaration of war against Britain. It has "no more legal standing today than the declaration of war against Germany and Japan during WWII."

This was in response to bobswern's diary about the black site that exists in Chicago right now. In reference to that black site, where people are detained without record and tortured, I quoted the part of the Declaration where it said that "when any government becomes destructive of these ends (protecting inalienable rights) it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it."

People immediately told me the Declaration was a legally irrelevant document, and meant no more than any declaration of war by any nation on any other.

Note how everything is immediately taken back to what's legal, not what's right, and questions of tradition, culture, and what America purported to be are deemed entirely irrelevant. Further, and most importantly of all, the fact that the Declaration was held to justify America's existence as a separate legal entity from Britain based on certain value statements is totally thrown out, along with the values articulated there

So we separated from Britain just because we felt like it, and the statements of individual rights and the theories of government espoused by Jefferson in that document are nothing but meaningless garbage-in particular, the one I quoted about how people were justified in changing their system of government if it became abusive of their rights.

All this in the context of a black site being operated by the cops in the middle of America's third largest city.

This just goes to show me that I'm right (if a little late to the game) in my sense of how vitally important culture is. When they called it a culture war, they really meant it. They intended to gut it (mostly done), prevent it from being re-established (in process) and erase its memory from existence (that's the project of the moment.) And these bozos on DK are helping the PTB do just that.

I actually hope they are getting paid for it. It would be easier to understand.

that whenever a government becomes destructive of such ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Roger Fox's picture

on somedays it parallels my Facebook feed. Like folks are taking ideas from their FB feeds and writing diaries on those topics.

20 million un/underemployed, not so much
Renewable energy, not so much

Nimoy, ISIS, the Dress, O'Reily, sure, bigtime.

I only opened 2 dairies today

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FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.

Cordelia Lear's picture

of having original thoughts lately.

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

mimi's picture

of the frontpage made me shake my head. But who cares anyway.

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shaharazade's picture

that was enough. Man who needs to hear boner sucks and Obama care is just the greatest thing ever. It's the freaking Heritage Foundations plan. long live the Insurance Industry monopoly cause they are the only way to access to health care you can get. So pay those premiums and sign up or else you will die. Endless forever war? you betcha it's inevitable. Banksters oh no's we cant stop them or we'll all go over fiscal cliffs of mass destruction. Rand Paul and Dennis Kucinich are both evil dudes just like Putin. They are the enemies of the state of our sick perverted messed up Union. Needless to say I shut the damn thing down and went elsewhere to get my daily dose of fear and loathing. all; things will pass and I hope that dkos and all the propaganda catapulted over the net just gets shot down with a good dose of reality based sane humanistic truth. Hey a woman can dream no?

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snoopydawg's picture

It was a sellout. Too many people can hardly pay for the premiums and then they don't have enough money to see a doctor because of the high deductibles.
Maybe some people were helped out, but many got stuck with higher premiums. And Obama knew that Liz Fowler was from WellPoint when he let Baucus write most of it.
And not putting in provision that states had to expand Medicaid. The Dems let the GOP water down the bill knowing full well that they would never vote for it. 6 months they worked on it and ignored all our petitions and phone calls.
Yesterday there were people stating that they supported Obama trying to fast track the fucking TPP.
There are many good people on KOS, but there are a lot of assholes too.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

It's arguably Obama's only accomplishment other than the big 3 bailout and better CAFE standards.

His list is pretty sparse for a two-term President and Nobel prize winner.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

I've been having a problem with multiple posts. Wonder what it is?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cordelia Lear's picture

female_in_lincoln_park.JPG

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

of home video footage from the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, including a complete dolphin show. I should re-encode some of it, upload it to youtube and post it here.

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Cordelia Lear's picture

who used to drive the tram at Brookfield.

If you have time please bring out some of the dolphins.

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

and actually I have 2 dolphin shows, one from 1989 and the other from 1991, both are about 30 minutes long. I'll re-encode one of them and post it, i won' have time today though. By tram do you mean the train-like long cart that took tours through the zoo. I have a video of a ride on it in '89 with a lady conductor, is that your friend by any chance?

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Cordelia Lear's picture

She took the job after graduation in the mid '70s. The gal was a biology major and wanted to work with bug, or birds (or something) and took the tram job to get on the zoo payroll with hopes to switch jobs later. The last time I saw her was probably '81 at a football game but have no recollection whether she ever got the job she wanted.

That would be a real hoot if it was her though.

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

this was back in '89...

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Cordelia Lear's picture

Isabelle was fairly petite and would have been at least 36,or so, at that point. I also doubt she would have wanetd to drive the tram her whole life. Thanks for posting though. It was fun to look.

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"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." --Paul Wellstone

shaharazade's picture

oh boy... Pooties seem like the only sane thing on the net. Or anywhere. Fly those nationalistic flags the Republicans don't own it. This new reheated cold war thingie is absolutely surreal. Like America doesn't have enough wars of aggression raging globally. Those commie thugs in Venezuelans just better watch it or else we will liberate their asses. dkos is just so sick.

Roosevelt Institute said goodbye, whose left? The pathetic of lefties, left at dkos is now called the 'why do you hate America' Dr. commie rat, crowd. Tony Situ and co. own the place and it a propaganda arm for the neoliberal, neocon oligarchical collectivists. Talk about your delusional misplaced fear. What about the thug's who run our country are they any worse or better then the KGB devil Putin.

Meanwhile Obama is nattering on about investment broker reform cause the middle class investors need to be confident that there hard earned savings are safe. lol. Whose savings are left? After the latest banking revelations starring Loretta, his concern is about bankster's is as believable as the new old cold war revival, the evil empire rises again. Like we don't have enough ongoing preemptive humanitarian wars with evil extremist, terrorist, failed, nation states.

About that huge black hole both in space and in Chicago it's most likely Putin's doings.

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you're back hangin' out, shaz.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

is still going strong; their campus arm won a McArthur award this year.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

shaharazade's picture

The latest FP post ended with 'and goodbye'. I don't think they are going to publish on dkos anymore. I kind of feel guilty as I read their posts regularly followed their links but did not really bother to post very much. On a more rational level I do not blame them or me anymore then I blame any sane liberal who has the sense to see what this site has become. This from a woman who has spent 9 years on dkos. Every liberal sane poster other then a handful has been driven off or departed as it's a really sad hell hole of what's left of the manipulated and manipulator's of Democratic partisans. They seem be into delusional PC self flagellation and fear of the 'other'.

Makes my heart ache as I can disagree politically with people and respect them but I cannot take the twisty cloaked in PC, patriotism, partisanship, name calling, finger pointing and pitting of humans against each other pumped out in this creepy site anymore. I hope this place prevails and offers people of good spirit a place to blog that does not twist our cultural and political differences and experiences in order to shame blame and generally extort our support of a failed party and it's way forward. I know it won't but it is a thin line we all try to keep alive here. so yes the Roosevelt Institution is alive and well they just said goodbye to dkos. good on them.

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Shahryar's picture

dKos people love this country, Obama, the CIA, our military heroes, the good Pope, our beleaguered police departments and so on, and you call it a hellhole?

They celebrate the good news that the Heritage Foundation's RomneyCare is "here to stay!" Yippee!

On a side note....hey, this is a real side note! As I've mentioned before, over there on the side is a photo of me doubting whatever it is I'm being fed (news/propaganda).

But on a different side note, shaz and I were discussing the Heritage Foundation's RomneyCare, otherwise known as ObamaCare and how it's affected people we know. One of our local businesses (New Seasons) has cut back on some employees' hours so that it doesn't have to pay health insurance. "No problem", according to the 'bots. If these people are now part-time then they're entitled to subsidies to get their insurance. Again, yippee! However they now have less income for things like food, shelter and clothing....but they're covered in case of a catastrophe!

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