Sandy knocked out our power, internet, AND cell phone service Monday night. As a matter of fact, the worst of the storm hit after I went to bed that night. Fortunately, I live on higher ground and was spared the flooding and trees crashing into my building, but I'm sure many weren't so lucky.

Tuesday, there were only 3 diners open in the entire area—20 miles from my house; people were waiting in long lines which snaked halfway into the parking lots so they could have a hot meal and coffee, which was damn near impossible to find because of the massive outages. Only a few gas stations were open, so I saw lines reminiscent of those of 1974.

My power was out till last night; cell phone service was gone till this morning; and I still don't have internet (I'm using the mobile site now).

My cats are still stressed because the aftermath of Sandy disrupted their routine.

An interesting new piece at the Raw Story website confirms that the supposed creator of the anti-Muslim film that has now led to several deaths doesn't really exist. http://www.rawstory.co...

Apparently, "Sam Bacile" (his friends would call him "Im," I'm sure, if he existed.) is a pseudonym, and the vacuous jerks who are perpetrating this mess of a video may very well have committed a fraud when they approached Israelis to finance the film.

http://sulia.com/source/S-30922681/

Identity of anti-Muslim filmmaker called into question


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/12/identity-of-anti-muslim-filmmaker-called-into-question/

So Sam Bacile is a pseudonym. I wonder if his real name is....Im Bacile.

The only thing more revolting than a chickenshit bigot is an anonymous chickenshit bigot.

Author Anna Quindlen has been in the news lately, promoting a new book called Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. She recently spoke with NPR's Terry Gross about a wide range of topics she covers in the book, including her recent decision to leave the Catholic Church. She summarized this decision by telling Gross:

The pedophilia scandals, the church's reaction to them, and their constant obsession with gynecology -- taken together at a certain point, it was probably two or three years ago, I said, 'Enough.' Every time I sit in the pew I ratify this behavior, and I'm not going to ratify it anymore.

I'm sure that Quindlen's words resonated with many. She's a gifted writer, and has undoubtedly put words to what others have thought when they make the decision to leave the Catholic Church. Like Quindlen, many people who abandon their Catholic faith still believe in God and still strive to be good, moral people; they choose to leave because they think that they will find these things they desire -- God, freedom, equality -- outside the walls of the Church. Such a move certainly fits in with popular cultural beliefs. Common wisdom states that the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization that places oppressive, unnecessary rules on its members. The way to find freedom, the thinking goes, is to ditch the institution and create a spirituality and moral code that works for you.

To modern ears, this all sounds right. But is it true?

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jennifer-fulwiler/5-questions-before-you-leave-the-catholic-church#ixzz1wOUO7w9R
*************************************
Funny that she never mentioned the ever-increasing clericalism and outsized influence of batcrap crazy, exclusivist cults like Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ on the Vatican leadership.

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/vaticans-assessment-lcwr-about-fear-not-doctrine

COMMENTARY

The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith's April 18 doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is not about doctrine. It is not primarily about protecting the faith or ensuring an ecclesiology of communion, no matter how many times these terms are woven through the report. It is fundamentally about fear -- fear of the loss of power -- and the willful use of dominative control to defend that power.

The abundance of religious themes and language do not mask this punitive effort to shore up the crumbling authority of hierarchical leaders. Nor does the document hide the anger that roils beneath the protestations of gratitude and concern. The final report of the LCWR assessment reveals a desperate attempt on the part of some fearful and angry church leaders to protect their turf -- to maintain an all-male church leadership, to keep women and laypeople under their authority, and to shield the homophobic-homosexual subculture in the leadership of the Catholic church.

When fear rules

The pattern of using coercive intimidation to control others in one's household is called domestic abuse. Domestic abuse does not need to involve physical violence -- in fact, many abusers never beat their partners. Instead, the threatened person strikes out psychologically to evoke compliance. Public humiliations, corrections, threats, accusations of disloyalty and demands for absolute obedience make up the typical arsenal of the abusive person. In extreme cases, the abuser monitors the actions of the other, keeps a record of his or her transgressions, restricts his or her activities, discredits his or her reputation, takes charge of his or her decisions, and threatens to withdraw support if unquestioned compliance to demands is not maintained.

These abusive acts will sound curiously familiar to anyone who has read the proposed implementations of the Vatican doctrinal assessment.

While females can and do commit domestic abuse, statistically, they do so at much reduced rates, inflict less physical harm and commonly have different motivations than male perpetrators, making domestic abuse primarily a crime against women. Yes, a crime -- like child sexual abuse -- something many bishops, archbishops and cardinals in the Catholic church failed to take seriously until they were forced to do so by lawsuits and public outcry.

http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/vaticans-assessment-lcwr-about-fear-not-doctrine

Mitt Romney: Memories to Last a Lifetime

&context=C457e2e8ADvjVQa1PpcFMxQysk6hF4-A2UbsJGN24MtaoohOjWcBk=

Proof that modern American conservatism is indeed a personality disorder.

especially if you're on the business end of their attitude.

IMO, the DSM's definition doesn't describe the half of what a kid with ODD does to his or her family and others around him or her. It's not just the kids' refusal to comply with the requests and/or demands of adults who have legitimate authority over them, e.g., parents, teachers, nor does it entail a healthy discernment between legitimate and illegitimate authority, reasonable and unreasonable demands made by authority figures. ODD describe an extreme, automatic, knee-jerk kind of defiance, to the point of mental and emotional abuse on the part of the kid towards their families (including, and especially, younger siblings).

To put the symptoms in lay terms:

Defies common-sense regulations (more often seen in the conduct of politicians, banksters, unelected corporate tyrants, and corporate hit men)

Acts like a jerk for no other reason than to piss off the people

Self-explanatory. Rethugs, banksters, and corporate psychopaths have elevated this into an art form.

In other words, they can dish it out, but can't take it. Fits bully-boy rethugs to a T.


Occupiers, progressives, radical moderates, and the people in general have to deal with the Oppositional Defiant Disorder of the organized crime ring better known as unelected corporate rulers; corporate bag men, a.k.a., bank and industry lobbyists; the politicians, regulators, and judges tarnished by dirty money; and the cops whom these international gangsters turned into their own private mercenaries. The authority against which they're rebelling, with violent disregard for any sense of common decency, are the Constitution, the rule of law, and the people as a whole.

So, 1%, who's calling whom oppositional and defiant?

As a former victim of domestic violence, in another lifetime, I learned a lot about the abusive personality. When it was over, and I was out, I became a domestic violence hotline counselor. The classes I took to train me for this job taught me two things. One, that abusers aren’t psychotic but instead have character disorders. And two, the abusive behavior isn’t uncontrollable; it is a learned social behavior.

Enter stage left, the Republicans and their fringe faction that is really no longer fringe, the Teabaggers.

The behavior of the Republicans most recently around the debt ceiling debate, and just in general, reminds me vividly of the abusive personality that I engaged with daily, for years, until my divorce. No compromise was ever allowed, it was his way or his other way. He never talked about the many ways in which he was wrong, it was “look what you made me do.” In his mind, the only one whose behavior needed changing was mine. Any abusive behavior of his was justified because, in his warped thinking, I provoked him. He used bullying, fear tactics, threats and intimidation to get his way. In the end, although never abusive to them directly, he used my kids as pawns in his abusive game. He refused to share responsibility in any part of our relationship breakdown. I owned it, lock, stock and barrel.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/08/02/republicans-a-profile-of-the-classic-abuser/

My idea for political ads: depict Republicans as wife beaters and/or schoolyard bullies.

Remember when Chris Brown was caught abusing Rihanna to the point of biting her? Three years ago, I wrote a parody version of "Umbrella", a revenge fantasy.

Here it is:

"Smack You With My Umbrella" (Rihanna vs. Chris Brown parody, sung to the tune of "Umbrella")

(Rihanna)
You beat me up
You must think you are a pup
Dad might’ve roughed up mom
You think I’m a punching bag
You bit me in the dark
Pit bull chase moving cars
Know why you attacked me, brat
So you can beat me like a kitty cat
Because

(Chorus)
I don’t think we’ll shine together
I’ll send you right to the shelter
Sink your teeth in my again
You’ll get treated like man’s best friend
You will need a leash and collar
While you bark and growl and holler
You’re a dog—you’re not a fella
I will smack you with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Smack you with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Smack you with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh)
Smack you with my umbrella
(Ella ella eh eh eh eh eh eh)


You must think I’m a bitch literally
You act like a savage beast, that’s to say the least
This is war but I shall stand
You’re behavior’s gotten out of hand
If the bite is hard, that’s cuz you’re a canine retard
Because



(Rihanna)
You won’t have much time around
It’s because you’ll get put down
Get away from me
There's no hope for your adoption now
So go on and fly in a rage
You’ll be locked up in a cage
Because

(Chorus)

(Rihanna)
You’re dead meat
Ooh doggie you’re dead meat
Bad dog get far from me
Get far from me
You’re dead meat
Ooh doggie you’re dead meat

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

"Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood," he said.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/low-iq-conservative-beliefs-linked-prejudice-180403506.html

I have one thing to say. Do we need a freakin' study to state the obvious?

Credit to catster.com Cat's Meow blog. The full post is here