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,

photo of the summer

Someone pin a medal on that man.

weekend uke blogging

Jim Dandy Goodness puts both the Woodshed and the Gazetteer to shame this week with a Canadian ukulele chanteuse who is all of that and the bag of chips, and probably a couple of beers as well.

Genties and Ladlemen, check out Shelley O'Brien.

speling iz imporetunt

As a person who spends a lot of time dealing with the insufficiency of the Roman alphabet in differentiating the subtle shades of pronunciation that can change meaning in a foreign language, I can actually sympathize with the recent error made by the flunky of Prime Minister Stephen Harper who misspelled the name of a town on the PM's itinerary. Mistakes do happen sometimes. But when dealing with a transcription and Romanicization of a language that you are unfamiliar with, surely it behooves (yeah, I said "behooves" and I wasn't calling you "Shirley") the person preparing the document to check with someone who is familiar with the that language.
The names of people (something that doesn't appear anything like often enough in Japanese newspapers) can be written in such a way that there could be several radically different pronunciations and so Romanicizing them is not as straightforward as it might seem. That confusion between "L" and "R" by Japanese that North Americans find so amusing (Yes, Japan will have an erection on Aug. 30 har-de-har-har, you stupid plicks) exists because both sounds are combined in the same character in Japanese.
In translating Japanese to English, place names can be tricky to spell, so we check them. If only the Prime Minister's Office would do the same, then Iqaluit (Village of Many Fish) wouldn't become Iqualuit (Village of People with Unwiped Bums).

tip of the toque to Peterborough Politics, now known as Dispatches by Northwestern Lad

The Guns of August

First this dingbat, now the floodgates are open.

One can only assume that since we are told Obama gets dozens of death threats daily, that this latest effort on the part of the wingnuts to intimidate their political opponenets by bringing assault rifles to demonstrations at appearances by the president is probably causing the Secret Service to have kittens the size of Bengal tigers.

Can you imagine for one second the reaction if someone had showed up with an AR-15 at an anti-George Bush rally? You know, the ones the White House insisted be held in fenced-in "Free Speech Zones" surrounded by riot cops miles away from where the president was appearing. People who protested the GOP convention in 2004 in NYC were charged with carrying concealed weapon for having nail scissors in their purse and held for days in makeshift jails in old warehouses contaminated with hazardous chemicals and these whackjobs are being allowed to walk around with assault rifles?

But we on the left are the angry, uncivil ones because we sometimes say "fuck" on our blogs and we questioned the intelligence and motivation of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Imagine the reaction of the teabaggers and town brawl activists and other Glenn Beck fans if a dozen shotgun-toting neo-Black Panthers came and stood outside the president's next town hall meeting to show support for Obama. The screeching would be deafening.

If these tactics on the right continue, that, sadly, will be the next step in the escalation.

Members of the GOP are encouraging this kind of armed intimidation.

It is only a matter of time before someone starts shooting.

Osama bin Laden must be dying of laughter right now.

Sadly, No puts things in perspective

h/t to Lulu over at Canadian Cynic.

Conservatives getting things done for some Canadians

The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui has it exactly right, Stephen Harper is an embarrassment. Part of the problem in the case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud lies with the Canada Border Services Agency, who have done stupid and embarassing things before, but for Harper to say that it is now his top priority to bring this poor woman home after she's been stranded for three months, coming as it does on the heels of all the other cases of Canadians the government has abandoned abroad, is a bit rich. Obviously, the consular services section of the Foreign Affairs Ministry needs a shake up too, but the problem starts at the top.
It used to be that if one fell afoul of the law overseas (which is not the same thing as committing a crime) and could contact the embassy, consular affairs and the Canadian government would be there for you - finding lawyers, making sure you were not mistreated, protecting you. Now, the government seems to be saying that when you leave the country, the country leaves you - you're on your own and they don't really want you back.
As one of the 9% of Canadians who is outside Canada at the moment, this is a worrisome thing. Especially since I live in a country with a history of xenophobia and a legal system with no presumption of innocence or even right to a lawyer while in police custody.
And it isn't just the unwillingness of the Canadian government to stand up for its citizens like accused child soldier Omar Khadr who are unlawfully being held prisoner by a foreign governerment or the withdrawl of consular services - there are other changes indicative of this distaste for Canadians the Conservative don't feel are Canadian enough.
Both my children and my brother's kids were born in foriegn countries, but can claim Canadian
citizenship is they wish by virtue of the citizenship of their parents. But unless my grandchildren are born in Canada, they will no have that same option. A recent change in the law means that my children are not Canadian enough to pass on citizenship to their own kids should they be born outside the country.
Another comparitively recent change in law means that since I have been out of the country for five years, I can no longer vote in any election in Canada.

I suppose its a matter of self preservation for the Conservatives. After all, anyone who has been exposed to the world outside their provincial little town or who has a stake in multiculturalism isn't likely to vote for Stephen Harper and his gang of isolationist ignoramuses.

Update: Haroon Siddiqui flays another strip off the Conservative carcass and brings up another example of the abandonment of Canadians who aren't in Canada at the moment. So much for Stephen Harper's boast of Canada "returning" to the world stage.

The government also forced a court battle over Ron Smith, the Canadian on death row in Montana, whom it didn't want to help. The Federal Court ordered it to.
Since we abolished the death penalty, governments routinely used to urge
clemency. Not the Tories.
They have also quietly put the brakes on the transfer of Canadian prisoners from abroad to serve out their terms in Canada. Stockwell Day and now Peter Van Loan, as public safety ministers, have been rejecting official recommendations for such transfers. They've done so in about 50 cases, invoking national security or claiming that the person in question "poses a danger to Canada."
Gar Pardy, the retired head of the consular section of the foreign ministry, says that "previous governments used to treat everyone the same. Once all the legal procedures were complete with a Canadian case abroad, we'd ask for transfer and I do not remember a single case of ministerial rejection. Now it's routinely rejected."
Why? "There's no rationality. You can't put a finger on it. With Stockwell Day, it may be a case of ideology or Old Testament righteousness."

"Ideology or Old Testament righteous" you say? To-may-to, to-mah-to. And neither one has anything to do with helping Canadians.

Netroots Nation in Second Life

This is going to be a long post, but bear with me, it's for your own good.

Look, you've been reading this blog for a while and so you probably know I'm involved in Second Life, running movies and DJing parties and generally hanging out. And you know my politics are somewhat to the left of the more conservative parties in North America -- okay, I've jokingly endorsed the hunting of conservatives with dogs, I admit it, and my selection of Pete Seeger as Spiritual Leader of the Moment might have been a bit of a giveaway, but, yeah, I suppose you could say I am "of the left" in the general scheme of things. And if you've been hanging around here, I'm guessing you might be too.

So that makes this weekend a big deal for both of us.

This weekend is the annual gathering of the lefty/progressive/reality-based internet tribes, Netroots Nation! A whole heap of people like Atrios and Jesus' General and a cast of thousands are descending on Pittsburgh to network, party, plot strategy, party, trade ideas, party, attend workshops, party, listen to speakers, party, and generally celebrate the idea that the United States of America is a liberal democracy that is no longer run by fascist thugs. And party.

Netroots Nation started out as the annual convention for the Daily Kos website, or the Great Orange Satan as its known on the right wing blogs and sort of morphed to become the pre-eminent gathering of web connected liberal activists.

This is not just some random coming together of net geeks and professional protestors - two years ago the convention was addressed by all the Democratic presidential candidates, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Last year Nancy Pelosi and Al Gore spoke. This year, in just a few hours, Bill Clinton will give the opening address, so, yeah, its kind of a big deal.

Now, obviously, going all the way to Pittsburgh is a pretty big effort and would cost you a bunch of money for airfare and accomdation and registration and all that, BUT THERE IS AN EASIER WAY!!!!

Thanks to the efforts of a bunch of dedicated net activists (who just happen to be my pals), you can attend Netroot Nation 2009 absolutely FREE through the magic of the intertubes. Just sign up for Second Life (totally free and you won't get a whole bunch of spam, I promise) and get your virtually butt to the Netroots Nation in Second Life island to see the main events live via streaming video, attend special exclusive Second Life panel discussions on net activism and meet and greet all the coolest people on the internet at the evening parties in the Second Life ballroom. Volunteer are standing by to help you get your virtual self together when you arrive and believe me, the folks involved are beyond friendly.

Bill Clinton speaks at 5 pm PDT/ 8 pm EDT on Thurday.

The rest of the schedule is here.

How can this be free you ask? Is it some kinda liberal commie pinko plot? Well, yeah, it is. You see that little widget on the right side of the blog urging you to buy "The Revolution Will Be Streamed"? Among the many, many other people who have contributed blood, sweat, tears and cash, all those musicians donated their talents so that we could raise some cash to pay to bring you Netroots Nation in Second Life for free, so if you don't go, you are going to be scorning their gift, which is really kinda rude. You don't want to be rude, right? You'd like to hear what Jesus' General sounds like in real life, right? So, what the hell are you waiting for? Get inworld now! It is FREE

Special offer: In fact, its even better than free. I'm so sure that you will enjoy the virtual world of Second Life, aside from the obviously super fun netroots nation conference, that I know you will stick around and hang out at my virtual club, the Red Zeppelin. How sure am I? So sure that I will give $100 virtual dollars (Lindens) to anyone who can find me at any of the NNSL events this weekend in Second Life. All you have to do is mention the Woodshed or the Galloping Beaver and I will give you $100, AND I will throw in a package of free virtual stuff like one of the super cool mini-zeppelins seen above. My name in the virtual world is RevPaperboy Boozehound, stop by the Red Zeppelin booth or just look for the guy in the Fez.

Netroots Nation in Secondlife from Shinigamikayo on Vimeo.

he's not sayin', he's just...you know...sayin'

Sure, he's a block away from where the president is speaking, and he's carrying a sign suggesting the need for violent revolution/assasination and bloodshed while packing heat, but it isn't a threat. He's just a patriotic American exercising his legal second amendment rights.

Remember when George Bush was president and pacifist peaceniks were getting jailed for wearing the wrong T-shirt to town hall meetings and protestors were kept penned up in "Free Speech Zones? I never thought that would seem like the good old days. If this guy can get through a 30 second TV interview, he's going to be the new poster child of the gun-toting angry right. Imagine Joe the Plumber with a 9 mm instead of a monkey wrench.

Update (or should I say reload?)

Yup, a gun nut for certain. Chris Mathews, as usual, acts like a dick, rattling on and making the whole process about his questions rather than the guest's answers, but the answers are there. This nimrod thinks people should pack heat at all times. Yeah, that's a good idea, look how well it's worked out elsewhere in the world, like say, Ethiopia or Afghanistan. And notice he has nothing to say about health care. He says he knows history when it comes to assassinated presidents and yet still brought a gun to a public meeting, supposedly to make a point about standing up for people's rights. Funny how no one ever thought to bring a gun to public meeting during the eight years that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were shredding the Constitution.

Until someone finds out that this guy has a criminal record of shooting people or molesting goats or some such crap, I think we can count on seeing him on FOX at least once a week as their new "Second Amendment expert" or some such nonsense.

But can they stop Godzilla?

There a general election at the end of the month here in Japan so the parties are busy running around trying to show how on top of things they are and how they have every possible contingency covered in their little policy books. Naturally, the papers have been full of policy stuff for weeks, much of it pretty vague and dry, but I did find this little nugget of awesome at the bottom of a very long article on defense policy in today's Daily Yomiuri:

One of the major policies proposed by New Party Nippon is to reorganize the SDF and launch a study to establish an organization--tentatively called "The Thunderbird Squad"--geared toward international assistance.

Sadly, the article did not elaborate or reveal whether New Party Nippon is favor of granting the Tracy family Japanese citizenship.

Sure, they are good at international rescue, but can they handle Godzilla?

Maybe they would be better off following the example of the last elected Japanese Prime Minister Junichro Koizumi and Calling Elvis.

The New Know-Nothings

I often think he's a sexist pig and frequently wish he'd just shut up already about atheism and religion, but Bill Maher is right: Americans are stupid. I don't think all Americans are stupid, but there is a vast swath of dumbness that seem to run through the population like a venereal disease.

I give you exhibit A:

In other pockets of the state, the reaction to Democratic proposals has been strong, too. At a recent town-hall meeting in suburban Simpsonville, a man stood up and told Rep. Robert Inglis (R-S.C.) to "keep your government hands off my Medicare."

"I had to politely explain that, 'Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government,' " Inglis recalled. "But he wasn't having any of it."

................. Uh, yeah.

And lest you think it is only the man in the street that is stupid, I give you exhibit B, from the editorial of the very elite, very serious, very important right-wing organ Investors Business Daily:

The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror movie script.
The U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) basically figures out who deserves treatment by using a cost-utility analysis based on the "quality adjusted life year."
One year in perfect health gets you one point. Deductions are taken for blindness, for being in a wheelchair and so on.
The more points you have, the more your life is considered worth saving, and the likelier you are to get care.
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

........Uh, yeah.

And then there's Sarah Palin latest gem about a "death panel" and the twice-elected former President George W. Bush trying to justify the invasion of Iraq through Biblical prophecy, and the birthers and...aw, hell that's just this month and it's only the second week of the month.

John Stuart Mill also was right on the money.

(major tip of the hat to Chet at the Vanity Press, who's leads I have totally stolen, though in my defense, he did steal my post title, which I stole from this guy. As Pete Seeger said, "Plagiarism is basic to all culture.")

the return of the son of Ukulele blogging's revenge - acoustic boogaloo

Just when I thought I was out, he dragged me back in! And it isn't even the weekend!

Just for that - a double shot of sweet, sweet homemade pop goodness. What is it with Sixpence None the Richer and young girls with ukuleles? Whatever it is, it's a good thing. I think I'm starting like this band by osmosis now....

the orginal

The cover

the original

the cover

Watching the Detectives

Join us high in the skies of Second Life for this week's episode of Radio Woodshed and the Glorious People's Cinema Project of the Second Life Marxist Lennonist Party - this week's movie is Neil Simon's tribute to all those great detectives: Murder By Death

The music starts at 5 in the West, 8 in the East ( and 9 am Monday in Tokyo) and the film will roll at 7 pmPDT/ 10 pmEDT

Is Tampa the new Ft. Sumter?

I guess Glenn Beck did his "oh please don't commit any of the violence I've been urging you to commit for the last year" ass-covering episode just in time.

What was intended to be a town hall discussion on President Barack Obama's health care reform proposal dissolved into a shouting match with shoving and scuffles in Ybor City tonight.
The event brought home to Tampa the recent phenomenon of angry opponents of Obama's proposal disrupting town hall meetings by Democratic members of Congress during the August recess.
This meeting was organized by Democratic state Rep. Betty Reed but was to include comments on the proposal by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a strong supporter.
Castor tried to speak for nearly 15 minutes but the crowd drowned her out, chanting, "You work for us,'' "Tyranny, tyranny,'' and "Read the bill." She ultimately left the meeting early, further angering some attendees.
The problems began when a crowd of around 500, many of them recruited to attend by interest groups both for and against the proposal, sought to enter the meeting room. The room, in the offices of the Hillsborough County Children's Board on East Palm Avenue, has a capacity of only about 250.
Several hundred people, mostly opponents, wound up outside or packing a hallway leading into the meeting room. Some scuffled with members of the sponsoring groups who manned the doorway.

The story is a bit misleading in that it blames both sides for the near riot. One group of people came there to discuss health policy and here from their elected representative, many at the behest of the their preferred political party or political action group. The other group was there strictly to shout slogans, disrupt the meeting and prevent reasonable discussion at the behest of those with a vested interest or for political advantage. There is no question as to which group is associated with which political party and blaming both sides is like blaming the bank and the bank robbers.

Not that Beck is the only one to blame, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Mahablog rounds up the usual suspects. One of several groups recruiting and busing people to break up meetings is "American's For Prosperity" - a nasty little conservative mouthpiece for hire group that Desmog blog ran across when they were trying to argue that global warming was a hoax.

Obviously the plutocrats are either worried or getting so overconfident that they cannot be touched, that they aren't even bothering to wipe the fingerprints off the weapons they are using to murder democracy in the United States.

This isn't the first time the right has used mob tactics in recent history, but this time it was regular people inspired by the same hatemongers and professional manipulators behind the "tea-bagger" movement, not a crowd of political aides and party operatives.

In encouraging people to come out and disrupt politcal meetings, a very dangerous line has been crossed here. Is American headed back to the pitched street battles of the early 20th century when the industrial barons of the day hired goons squads to attack and kill trade unionists, break up leftist demonstrations and nearly mounted a military coup?

Big darkness, soon come.