A great big double-sized helping of stupid.

Ludacris: “Obama Is Here.”
NOTE: Offensive material here.
Even while basking in the (slightly clouded by morning fog) sunshine here at the Jersey shore, it’s come to my attention that some on the Right are absolutely apoplectic over hip-hop artist Ludacris and his new song and the above video which includes the following, [...]

“I am a Unitarian.”

NonnyMouse, guest-posting over at Crooks and Liars, posted a very beautiful and heart-felt commentary on the mass shooting at a Universalist chrch in Tennessee over the weekend,  killings carried out by yet another sick individual with too-easy access to firearms, one who apparently had it in for “liberals” and who specifically targeted this church because of [...]

Happy (rock & roll) birthday.

Happy 50th birthday to my favorite female musical artist of all time, Kate Bush, born July 30, 1958.

“Cloudbusting“: my favorite Kate Bush video.

Greetings from the Jersey shore.

Yes, the wireless network thingy on Mrs. Agitator’s new corporate laptop works here.  Huzzah!  So I can check my email, add your insightful and delightful comments to the posts I prepared, and do a post today when I should be working on my manuscript (which has suddenly taken off, thanks very much). 
I appreciate y’all stopping [...]

I got tagged!

Terry at Urantian Sojourn  tagged me with this thing that’s been going around lately.  I rarely get tagged, so here goes…
1. List these rules on your blog. (Okay, done.)
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog. (Okay.)
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their [...]

The Costs of War: “Iraq Soldier’s Mother Talks About Son’s Suicide.”

From The Huffington Post:

A Veterans Affairs emailed leaked to the public reported that an estimated 1,000 suicides attempts per month were being reported at VA medical facilities by Veterans. After tours of duty in Iraq and earning countless awards, life went terribly wrong for Marine Corporal James Jenkins. In the aftermath of his suicide, Cynthia [...]

Caption this photo.

Beach reading.

My whole summer reading list got shot to heck, because a couple of those choices didn’t pass the 50 page test.
What’s in the backpack for the shore this week:
Brideshead Revisited  by Evelyn Waugh.  Never read any Waugh.  Never saw the old BBC series. Emma Thompson’s in the new movie.  I {{heart}} Emma Thompson.  So.   (Set [...]

The heat is on.

On Michael (Weiner) Savage, that is.  As of this morning:
- WHK AM/1420, the only Cleveland-area station carrying Savage’s radio talk show, is breaking its contractwith Savage’s syndicator, Talk Radio Network.
- An editorial from Newsday.
- Mike has “savaged” kids with autism before, it seems.
- Surprise!  Savage is “at odds” with science!  Who woulda thunk it?
- Are [...]

Cool summer sounds, vacation edition.

Sheryl Crow: “Soak Up the Sun.”
The Agitator Gang, plus extended family, will be spending some time together at the Jersey shore this week, starting today.  I’m excited, because even First-Born Son has the week off.
Thanks to the miracle that is WordPress, I have some scheduled posts in the queue, so things here won’t [...]

ACTION ALERT!: “Why does the U.S. keep poisoning our children? “

From the United Farm Workers:
Deadly pesticide endosulfan banned in the European Union and 20 nations, but in the United States the EPA allows its continued use.
The UFW and a broad coalition of farm worker, public health, and environmental groups just filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the continued use of [...]

Friday peace blogging.

Kids from Iraq.

Feisty American kids (note the attempt at presidential censorship).

Mini-movie review: “The Dark Knight.”

On Saturday night, Mrs. Agitator, The Liberal-in-Training, and I, along with some members of the extended family, braved the hordes and went to see the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight.  Yes, we braved the crowds, and managed to get into a dinner-hour show, as every other showing of the movie (they were running every [...]

“Clueless and cruel.”

The Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer  gets it.
July 24 – Talk-radio host Michael Savage told millions of his listeners that he’s discovered the cure for autistic children: They shouldn’t sit there “crying like idiots.”

“In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out,” Savage said. [...]

This week’s outrage from Darfur: 9/24/08.

“There’s no peace for us to keep” by General Martin Luther Agwai, the Force Commander of Unamid
(Mail & Guardian Online/South Africa) July 23 - With the world fixated on recent events at the International Criminal Court and how they will affect the situation in Sudan, it is important to remember what is happening in Darfur today.
As [...]

Sign the online petition to fire Michael Savage.

UPDATED:  It’s kind of interesting that I received an email reply to the message I sent to Michael Savage (see below), stating that its reception would be “delayed.”  When I tried to resend it, I received another message stating that my emails would be permanently blocked  by that recipient.
What a manly man that Mike is!  [...]

My letter to Michael Savage.

Sent via email on Tuesday.

Dear Mr. Savage:
 
Media reports have disclosed the comments you made last week regarding your belief that, amongst other things, autism is not a real medical condition, but a “fraud.”  A story carried by the AP [Monday] night seemed to indicate that you were backing off a bit from your position, claiming “hyperbole,” but [...]

The Costs of War: “Soldier in famous photo never defeated ‘demons’.”

PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) July 20 – Officers had been to the white ranch house at 560 W. Longleaf many times before over the past year to respond to a “barricade situation.” Each had ended uneventfully, with Joseph Dwyer coming out or telling police in a calm voice through the window that he was OK.
But [...]

Michael Savage “stands by” his hateful words.

I stand by my call for him to be fired.
From Media Matters:
After Media Matters for America documented comments made by Michael Savage on his July 16 radio show, on which Savage described autism as “[a] fraud, a racket,” Savage said on July 18 of the organization he called “the homosexual mafia group Media Matters”: “They’re a [...]

Pushing my buttons.

I’m reading the newspaper today over my usual healthy breakfast (and single cup of coffee for the day: yes, I have fallen off the wagon), and I come across the following in the lead paragraphs of an article about how the two presidential contenders view immigration issues:

At a recent John McCain town-hall meeting in Bucks County, a [...]