Ever Smaller

Check out 80's guy with his rad collection of electronics. Believe me cuz I was there, and all that stuff was rad, back in the day. Yo! But all of that and far more (the Internet) can now be found on a pretty little thin slab of black glass.

Like everyone here has, except that dude. The world in our palms, like some Star Trekkian perversion.

F that S says Queen Nadia, beatbox of the desert. Gonna kick it old school. Cut this rug!

DL's down wit it.

iClothes

So, I guess this was a thing?

Ah, the 1980's. In retrospect, not that far removed from the late 60's/early 70's, thus, the weird fashions. Hippie sensibility fused with Mall culture.

Who the hell would wear computer clothes in the 80's? No one, I assume, except these models and a few fat proto-nerds. I'd rock a "Wang" T-Shirt, though, I suppose.

Be pretty Hipster to wear some of these Apple clothes today, walking into an Apple store, rocking the Genius Bar.

Black Ships in the Harbor

This is a detail from an 1854 scroll that was sent around Japan following the arrival of the American Commodore Perry and his fleet of Black Ships (Japanese term). It's satire, poking fun at Perry and the American war ships. Here's a more artsy, realistic version:

Here's an actual picture:

And here's a classy American drawing of ships (steam powered paddle boats, with sails - it was a confusing time in war ships) of the Fleet entering Tokyo harbor:

Perry's visit to Japan was all about whaling - rescuing lost sailors, buying coal and provisions, a little bit of trade with the whalers. Seems like no big deal, right? But aha! Cuz one thing led to another and here we are today:

Modern Japanese culture. Crazy in so many different ways, some good, some not. And it's all thanks to American influence. Japan was an ancient traditional culture pre WW2, and especially before 1854 - the American visit. But like with the rest of the "Western" world since WW2, America infected Japan with 1960's Hippie Power, and nothing's been the same since.

Sorry Japan.

Gone Bad

Bananas go bad. It's always sad, because you were going to eat that banana, but got distracted, then the next day you missed your alarm, then the next day you went out for breakfast, then like suddenly! Bad. Life of banana crime. Pickle Police had to put this one down - off to the bakery with him. Tragic.

Meanwhile, in Japan...

Buy Dole Bananas! Or else.

A Meme is Born!

Verily, no sooner did the Internet gaze upon Henry and his Rasta Banana than in an instant, a meme was born. How could it not be so?

A cool celebrity jumped on board early. Snoop's the best, by the way.

Who doesn't like happy life sized Rasta Bananas? No one, that's who.

A rocket to the top! Everyone loves Rasta Banana!

Maybe a little too much. You know what, this Rasta Banana meme is kinda old and played out. Next!

Old memes lie abandoned in the wastelands of our Internet streets, forgotten and swept up along with all the other trash. So long, Rasta Banana, you were funny for a little bit!

Adventures with White Folk

A man goes to the carnival and tries his hand at bucket toss, and keeps trying, and keeps trying - you can't quit till you win, right? This is America!

Yup, he bet everything on his skill at a carny game, and lost. Out of sympathy, the kind hearted carny gave him the Rasta Banana for his troubles. But Henry here instead is outraged and gets the cops involved, on the poor, hardworking carny - he was cheated! No way he coulda lost that many times in a row! No police investigation is underway at this time, however.

And so instead Henry tries to cash in on his temporary Internet fame as a schmuck, trying to sell the Rasta Banana to the highest bidder. Once again, America!

Also too:

Hey lady, I done just threw this truck up yonder tree, and now I stand here barechested askin' for your hand to dance.

Tune in next week for another exciting Adventure with White Folk!

Reverse Racism

Oh yeah! We're goin' to the zoo! That's right! Gonna see a lion! Oh yeah! We're goin' to the zoo! That's right! Gonna see a cheetah!

Oh, sorry white people! Negroes only at this zoo. Find another.

LOL white people.

But seriously, if you just HAD to racial profile, then white people are your primary group to watch, white males specifically. Who else has caused and is causing more death and destruction, more suffering world wide than white males? No one, that's who. Hitler. Stalin. Lenin. Marx. Ayers. Vikings. All white guys.

Not that I'm condoning racial profiling (I'm not!), just asking questions, ya know?

White Power

Intro - The Swastika.

The Swastika was a very popular symbol around the world in the early 1900's, before the NAZI's ruined it. But even more so, the swastika is a very old symbol from India, dating back over 6000 years at least. It had nothing to do with white people, or a supreme race. For eons it was a positive symbol of good luck, fortune, life, and happiness. It had entirely positive connotations for its entire history, until the NAZI's. Boy did they suck - and they were so weird! Influenced heavily by the occultism of the late 1800's - early 1900's, such as

The Thule Society. Heck, the Thule Society birthed the proto-NAZI party. And it was with the Thule/NAZI's and the subsequent Holocaust which ruined the symbol. Such that now, if you you want to prove how bad and dangerous you are, how much into "WHITE POWER" you are, just whip it out.

Gay NAZI weddings are the best NAZI weddings, none of which these days are very good, but if you had to choose! What a cute wedding cake! And soon enough, more GAY NAZI BABIES!

A whole basket full of white supremacists from Florida. How come white supremacists never seem very superior?

Powerful pic of an EMT who just got fired due to his activities in a Skinhead group. Being a Skinhead is frowned upon in polite society these days, and that reality is a fact that agitators use to rile up the dumber, more hateful white people into mutual interest clubs. White Power! When it's obviously a defense mechanism, a herding of people who feel threatened by a multicultural world, who don't have much and only a dim anger as to why. "The Other"! say the Rightwing hatemongers, and so we have Skinheads and White Supremacists.

But rest easy, Skinhead! White People still have plenty of power, don't you worry!

Racism was essentially invented in America and has been used since our founding to keep poor white AND black people at each other's throats. Racism is a powerful tool of the "Divide and Conquer" trade, and it's the primary tool these days of the twisted Republican Party.

Take heed!

Not Illegal Yet

Babs is going to have a talk with the usher during intermission - how did a Negro get seated in her section?!

Not yet, but soon. Once the FEMA camps are running and the Death Panels adjudicated.

Yes, being white is not illegal yet, thanks to the tireless efforts of Freepers and other armchair warriors. Behold, their Leader!

Jim Robinson, founder and Grand Poobah of freerepublic.com, a terrible, evil website of old cranky white people revealing their inner most evil, Republican thoughts. Fun fact - JimRob raises more than 300K a year to run the site. The internet detectives figure it costs about 15K a year to run the website, and thus.... a 285K salary for JimRob, and son. Nice grift, right? But this is what Republicanism is all about these days: The grift. Of people, of a nation, of the world.

Not grifters, but like remora, legions of grifters follow in their wake, suckling on the power. So much power - too much?

Don't worry - it's diluted more each and every single day.

Never give up!

It's not that the Republican "brain trust" hasn't been trying to create the next Reagan. W. was a real serious attempt - witness the phony ranch in Crawford - but alas!

The incompetence was too great for even the Media to spin as a success, and apart from the 27%, Bush is widely seen as a tremendous failure. But you don't quit the game! You keep playing!

Palin is a more organic (that is, from the Teabag bottom up rather than from the elites on high) version of the same phenomena, but even somehow more incompetent, and thankfully we still reside in a reality where competence counts for something.

A pic from the governor's meeting with then President elect Obama. Oh, how she must have burned!

Again, the horizon seems free of anything approaching charismatic base competence in the Republican future, in terms of both leadership and ideas. This is all they have left:

Mockery and bad memes. And this is their version of a LOL meme now - posing with an empty wine glass. Ha!

Gay Republicans - is there anything funnier?

Lessons from St. Ronaldus

I just finished the book Nixonland and highly recommend. Kinda scary. But relevant to our times, for we are living in the reality of the true Revolution of the 1960's, and that was the Conservative (Wingnut) Revolution. The Triumph of the John Birch Brigade. Three men were in large part responsible for this Revolution - Goldwater, who was rightly considered the loon he was; Nixon, of course, who was a grab bag of resentments and hypocrisy, and good old St. Ronnie, who coulda run for President in 1968 and probably won. What Reagan gave us was the victory of the actor.

 An actor with little knowledge of the issues but with a good sense on how to move a crowd. An entertainer's skill transferred to politics. The politician as actor, the actor as politician - none of it real, all a facade, an empty chalice in which the Agenda (plot) is poured within. And so today, we have the Republican Party, devoted to the legacy of The Great Man Reagan, giving us

Sarah Palin, defender of Big Gulps and

chewing tobacco. Yay, chaw! Freedom to be fat and get mouth cancer then go die and in the street cuz you ain't takin' no OBAMERCARE! Yeehaw, America!

The Know Nothings are here, and proud of it.

Let us bask in their good natured humor and civic spirit! Cheers!

Have a drink with the Turtle. He'll filibuster his portion of the tab.

If you recall, humor was Reagan's main charm. And he was good at it, relatively. Today's Repukes? Not so much. Do you know of any truly funny right wingers? And for that, again, we should feel blessed with good fortune.