The Re-education Camps Can't Come Soon Enough

Have a look at this bit by Cenk and the Young Turks on Neil Boortz and "human debris" and tell me that the world wouldn't be a better place if the loudmouth asshole wing of the conservative movement just sat down and shut up, even if just for a week or two. No one should be surprised that Boortz would say such stupid offensive shit. He has a long, long history of saying stupid, offensive shit. But I am surprised anyone would want to advertise on his program or carry his program on their transmitter.

I believe...in weekend uke blogging!

the original

Not even John Sebastian can look cool playing the autoharp. I used to eat in Chez Piggy, the guitar player's restaurant in Kingston way back when and met him once or twice - he seemed like a pretty good guy.

the cover

Julia Nunes - uke queen of homemade multitrack vocals!

Karmic wheel turns

Oh the sweet, sweet schadenfreude!

Ex-Nova president sentenced to 3 1/2 years for embezzling
OSAKA — The founder and former president of English conversation school operator Nova Corp, Nozomu Sahashi, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and six months in prison without suspension for embezzling 320 million yen in Nova’s employment benefit funds.

The Osaka District Court rejected the claim by the 57-year-old that he is not guilty or should receive a suspended sentence as he had no intention to gain profits nlawfully. Prosecutors had asked for a five-year prison term.The ruling said Sahashi embezzled the accumulated employment benefit fund by transferring it to a bank account of a Nova subsidiary on July 20, 2007.

Sahashi admitted during trial proceedings that he used the money to reimburse language lesson fees people paid before terminating their contracts.‘‘There is no room for leniency in the defendant’s practice of using accumulated employment benefits to address the financial crisis while having no certain prospects of returning them,’’ said Presiding Judge Hiroaki Higuchi.The defense counsel for Sahashi said that the court did not give sufficient explanation against their argument, while declining to comment on whether they will appeal the sentence.

Aside from the criminal case, Sahashi faces several lawsuits that have been filed by employees who lost their jobs without receiving salaries, and students who got no refunds since Nova went bust in October 2007.In the latest case, a bankruptcy administrator filed a damages suit on Aug 19, seeking 2.1 billion yen in compensation for breach of trust, claiming Sahashi purchased equipment used for remote English lesson services against Nova’s business plan.

Coincidently, the sentence is almost the same amount of time I served working for that bent, moneygrubbing, thieving douchebag.
If there is any justice in this world, Sahashi will serve his entire sentence in a 6-foot by 6-foot poorly lit and unventilated glass room furnished with a round table 4 feet across and four folding chairs. A doorbell will chime every 40 minutes and a trio of guards will come in, demand to know why he came to prison, declare that their hobbies are "sleeping, driving, going to shopping and cleaning the room" and then either mutter incoherently, ask deeply personal questions about his sex life or impart deeply personal, often frightening personal information of their own, such as "I strangled my child's pet," "I think I might be bisexual," "I use a mirror to look up high school girls' skirts on the train" and the ever-popular "I've stopped taking the medication they gave me at the psychiatric clinic." At least one of the three guards should have breath that would peel paint and another should be in serious need of a bath. The third should make a point of coughing in Sahashi's face as much as possible. At least once a day, a four-year-old should be brought into cell to punch Sahashi in the scrotum and then scream non-stop at the top of its lungs for 40 minutes.
And he should have to wear a tie all day, every day, no matter how hot or humid it is - and no unbuttoning the collar. Ever.
And even then, the lying, larcenous, smug, arrogant shit-eating weasel still owes me six months as far as I'm concerned. I think everyone who ever worked for Nova or was ever a student at Nova should get a gift certificate good for one free opportunity to kick Sahashi in the yarbles.

(Note: This is a reposting from memory of the original post that was eaten by blogger when I tried to spellcheck it a few hours ago. It may vary slightly from the original posting put up last night)

Only 95 shopping days left!

At last, my worries about what to buy Stephen Harper for Christmas are over! I've finally found the perfect gift - it's something he can use, and you know he wouldn't buy one for himself.


a tip of the Fez to The General.

Pop quiz!

Imagine you work as a subcontractor for a bank. The bank wants photos of a bunch of properties on which it holds mortgages to confirm the properties are being kept up and to check the condition of properties on which the mortgage is in default, so off you go in your car with your trusty camera and start snapping away. One homeowner sees you parked in front of his house taking pictures and gets a bit testy. He marches out to the car and wants to know who you are and what the hell you think you're doing taking pictures of his house. Maybe he even gets a bit irate and slaps his hand down on hood of your car. This is not your first day on the job and probably not your first irate homeowner. What do you do?

1. Laugh at him and drive away.
2. Show him your business card, tell him the bank sent you out to take photos of his house and tell him you'll be happy to wait while he calls your office to confirm your story.
3. Stick your .357 magnum in his face before he scratches the paint on your Ford Escort.

Answer key
1. You are an asshole.
2. You are a professional.
3. You are a Republican


h/t to JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie

if only we could deport Jason Kenney

Red Tory points us to another kick in the 'nads helping hand for immigrants from Stephen Harper and his merry band of vindictive, mean-spirited arseholes charming do-gooders.

(Pardon the bullshit overstrikes euphemisms, but I live overseas, so I don't want to make them mad, they may decide my passport photo doesn't look like me.)

there's crazy, then there's Wingnut crazy

Seriously, Orly Taitz is so nuts, I'd almost (almost) believe she's a plant by the Democrats.

Everytime I hear this kinda weird nonsense I think to myself "Even the republicans aren't this loopy" -- but then DeMint or Palin or Bachmann or some other shinning star of the conservative firmament opens their piehole and out comes a torrent of crazy and I have to admit that "Yep, the Republicans are that cuckoo."

Does Fox news broadcast some kind of James-Bond-Villian-Ultra-High-Frequency noise that turns people's brains into hate pudding or something?

h/t to the Eternal Gaijin

bonus Uke battling!

Oh yeah RossK? Well, take this!

the original

Some sultry samba for hot August nights from samba sorcerer Antonio Carlos Jobim



the cover

some scorching samba by the amazing Canadian uke wizard

James Hill,