Poor Mitt is cranky from having to run against (and away from) himself.

Doing My Part for the USofA

This is a screenshot from the website that monitors the traffic to my blog. This is a slice of how most people end up there. I would like to say that most people that go to AOTL are adoring fans, and there are adoring fans, but they do not make up the majority of click-throughs. Most people who visit AOTL end up there as a result of image searches. It has therefore become key that I keep my posts picture rich.


I know a little something about image searches on the Internet because that is how I get the great majority of photos for my posts. That is how I got the picture for this post here about newly anointed Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (shouldn't his name be Kim Jong Dos?). It turns out I'm not alone in my web search for photos of the Jonger. According to the last entry in the log above, the U.S. State Department did a little search of their own. Or should I say U.s. Department of State, as it registers on statcounter.com. 


This State Department entry opened up the rolodex of questions in my mind. Why would the State Department need to trawl the net for pics of the Jonger? Can't they get some from the CIA? Is the CIA tired of giving pictures of world leaders to the State Department? Isn't the State Department in D.C. as opposed to Arlington, VA as indicated in the log? Is this some fraudulent outfit instead of the real State Department? If it was the real State Department, did they use the picture from my blog? Did they read the post? Did they like it? Did they read other posts? Will they become regular readers? Was it Hillary Clinton?


These questions ran through my mind in the span of a second. I don't want to seem as though I was obsessed. It did inspire this post though. I'm grateful to anything that can add a little levity. Between the deferred justice for a gunned down black teen, and rich Republicans who are beside themselves that they got richer while there was a black Democrat in the White House, levity helps. It's all about the funny, and the State Department checking out my blog for pictures of the Jonger is pretty funny... to me.

From the Darth Vader Tapes

Male Sarah Palin Drops Out of 2012 Race

Sayonara, Santorum!
See you in 2016, but be warned - we will remember you as the same joke we know you to be now. Yes, you will continue to rely on the coalition of support from the ultra-hateful/massively ignorant, but that peculiar niche will never carry you to any success because there are enough people who know just what an unhinged bottom-feeder you are. You spent half your 2012 campaign backing away from/denying either your own inflammatory and antisocial remarks or those of your supporters. What has America learned about Rick Santorum? He's anti-college, anti-birth control, vastly uninformed, and he believes that America should live according to his religion. And the incorrect nonsense. Rick, you have have confidently proclaimed so many untruths in the name of ginning up your torch-wielding, partisans. According to you, the University of California system is so liberal it doesn't even teach history. You pulled from your ass the false claim that it is a requirement of a territory to "speak English" before it becomes a U.S. state.  


You are clearly delusional so I will help you realize something your fantasies prevent you from acknowledging. Repeatedly making up outrageous falsehoods on camera makes you an ineligible candidate for president in the minds of the majority. You are not on the same page as the rest of America. America is not hungry for Rick Santorum. Your party isn't even hungry for Rick Santorum. Your home state isn't hungry for Rick Santorum. But still you imagined that if you beat Mitt Romney for the nomination than the rest of the country would elect you. Rick, you are less likable than Mitt Romney. 


Fact is, my heart breaks that you won't be the Republican nominee. If you were, it would accomplish two things. It would prove to you for once and for all that you are the fringe and not the mainstream as you think you are. It would also make for an easier win for the incumbent, who while not perfect, is far more steady, measured and mature than you are. 


Now off you go to undertake something over the next three years that will make an even more questionable candidate in 2016. What will it be? Lobbying against hate crimes? Establishing an anti-Obama think tank? Hosting a show on FOX? Before that happens, though we have yet to see how you play out the rest of the election season. I can't see any way you aren't a liability to Mitt Romney. If you speak on his behalf on the campaign trail, Romney will inevitably be compelled to dance away from your extreme rants which seem to innately pour out of you. If you find backing the Massachusetts moderate distasteful, many of your dispirited legions may decide to sit out the election, recalling your advice that Republicans might as well vote for Obama in November if they pick Romney as the nominee. Whooops. 

The Social Implications of the Trayvon Martin Case for the Far Right Wing

As we approach week three of the media's full attention on the current events in Sanford, Florida, questions arise as to how the conservative "kill Trayvon" movement will go forward from here. In tragic fits of perversity, SOME on the right have preferred assailing the media and Al Sharpton to joining those ruled by their common sense in concluding that there was much amiss in the initial so-called investigation into Martin's death. The questions that arise are: 

1) What is their motivation in supporting the killing of Trayvon Martin?

2) Will these people ever relent and admit that trying to demonize Trayvon Martin is a mistake?


As for the first question, I know I would be accused of hyperbole. After all, no one aside from the Zimmerman family and Joe Oliver has flatly said that Trayvon Martin had to be killed. No, the conserv-o-boobs instead assail anyone who vociferously defends the call to justice. Hannity has jumped on the Zimmerman family bandwagon to attack the Congressional Black Caucus, and the NAACP. When Barack Obama publicly related to the very common fear among black parents that their sons would one day end up getting Zimmermaned, Newt Gingrich derided Obama for making this a racial issue. Not only was Gingrich late to the event, He denies the event even happening. According to Newt, George Zimmerman may have just as easily gunned down an Asian or white kid and walked away with claims of self-defense. Yeah, right.


Are their denials and attacks any less repugnant than George Zimmerman blowing Trayvon Martin away? I don't think so. If they  are making any calls for the application of proper American justice, those calls are being muted by their louder knee-jerk reactions being made in anger. Without thinking, that sect of the right wing automatically takes any pro-racist position when allegations of racism are made. Instead of ever taking the opportunity of being right and admitting to the existence of racism, the "kill Trayvon" crowd attack the messenger. The "whys" of this are extensive, but I can hit on a few which be familiar to anyone who has read a few other posts from this blog. 


The "kill Trayvon" crowd tends to be in a state of constant resentment. They are obsessed with the notion of loosing control and privilege. These are people, who like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin somehow believe that their whiteness, conservatism, and Christianity makes them more American. They believe they are the guardians of the glory of our past without having to know anything about our past. Their resentment rises when they are forced to deal with the fact that it is more than their consensus that matters. When allegations of racism arise they think it is a slight on their America. They are afraid of ceding control of an issue to people who they see as less American than they are. It is as if their response to anything is "you won your little Civil Rights war, so if anything else happens to you nigrahs, you must have brought it on yourself."


They are somehow convinced that the Congressional Black Caucus and NAACP are race-baiting nags that will be shamed when the evidence comes out that an unarmed innocent kid threatened the life of the armed vigilante who was stalking him. The peculiar part is that no one would be calling these folks racists were it not for the fact that they are so rabidly attacking the people who get the details right.  


Nothing is lining up right for the "kill Trayvon" crowd. Here are the facts as they have unraveled thus far:
- The homicide detective in the case wanted to press charges against George Zimmerman, but he was overruled. 
- The video of Zimmerman arriving at the police station does not show a person who had been beaten within an inch of his life as Zimmerman family members and hangers on claim.
- It was not Zimmerman being overheard calling for help in the background of 911 tapes according to two audio experts. 
- The funeral director who oversaw the burial of Martin saw no signs of a fight, which certainly would have had to have been covered up for the funeral.


Add to this Zimmerman's violent past and it looks more and more like this guy should start deciding what gang he wants to roll with on the inside. Zimmerman deserves a fair trial, but based on the conflicts between his story and the word of others, he is 100% suspect. I describe the conservative behavior in this case as tragic because they have a choice in how they respond to the facts in the case, and they prefer to make all of the wrong choices. 


This is reminiscent of several other cases (click here to read) where "a black guy" or "black guys" were blamed by the perpetrators of past attacks/crimes. The truth came out in those situations as it is coming out in Sanford, but what makes this case so bad is that an unarmed black kid walking down the street is shot by an armed vigilante and the vigilante has so far avoided arrest  by claiming "the black guy did it." 


Will the FOX Crew ever relent in their hopes of finding clues suggesting Trayvon Martin was literally some kind of monster? We have watched as it has become de rigueur for the right to categorically deny anything they don't want to believe. If things don't go their way, they just make things up. To them, the Trayvon Martin case may as well be a hoax dreamed up by Al Gore to make millions of dollars. The truth in Sanford, though is more understandable than the graphs of data being used to prove the earth is getting hotter and the few people who do refuse to give in to proper human reasoning will further isolate themselves in their fantasy world. History shows they would rather do that than ever admit they were wrong. To do that would be to give up control.