Happy Birthday, Tambourine Man

70 today.

BTW, the beautiful young woman with him is Suze Rotolo, who passed away in February – Suze

Later,

Apocalypse nyet

Okay, so we’re still here, which is a relief to me, at least. It seems a bit mean-spirited to beat up on an elderly man like Preacher Camping, but I would offer a piece by a friend of mine, a Russian journalist who writes for the on-line Moscow Times. She translated for me. She’s the first one to publish the bit about the pet-sitters, as far as I know, and I love the way she ended her story:

Radio Day
A U.S. radio station promises apocalypse May 21, 2011

By Polina Eremenko

On Saturday, May 21, 2011, at sunrise an earthquake will shake New Zealand. The Japanese cataclysm will be nothing compared to this. By 6 p.m. Moscow time it will reach the Russian capital. At the end of the day it will be California’s turn to suffer. Grocery stores and gas stations will be swept off the face of Earth. Pyramids will fall, the Eiffel tower too. Dead will come out of their coffins.
It’s going to be a good day only for the righteous Christians. They will be taken to a safe area — far away from planet Earth. But there are only 2% of those. All the bad guys stay put. About a billion of them will dye on Saturday — that’s how strong the aftershocks will be. The rest will fade away with the help of infections and volcano eruptions. For 153 days the planet will look like a battlefield. And on October 21 the there won’t even be a crumb left from the Universe.

That’s what an 89 year old Christian Priest Harold Camping is preparing the world for. He spent 50 years studying the bible, 5 of which he dedicated specifically to figuring out his rapture date. 7 years ago he completed his calculations. Then he decided that the world deserves to know. So during his show that he has been airing for half a century on the Christian Family Radio, he started preparing the world for the End. He really took it seriously — the site of the radio is translated to 82 languages. Camping got what he wanted: now thousands of Americans are glued to the Bible, obediently waiting for the end.

“There is no way that his calculations can be wrong”, – say’s Camping old like-minded friend Gunther Harringa in a conversation with MN. Camping himself has stopped giving interviews, cause has to many errands set for the last days. Harring talks about the preceding predictors haughtily: “Martin Luther, Isaac Newton – they were all simply wrong. God deliberately hid the information from them. Therefore, they could not properly read the Bible. But Camping — he managed it. God used him because he has a huge media platform. God knew that he would get the message through”.

Harring himself is not upset that the End is near. His last days are already planned out: he’s giving out interviews till Friday taking breaks only for lunch and Bible-reading. Saturday, he will devote himself to family and try to convince those of his children who don’t believe in rapture to change their mind one last time. He’s not concerned about his wife, for he’s pretty sure that she’s a believer. He is upset about the animals though: “They don’t go to heaven”.

Bart Centre who’s an atheist already had time to think about the pets. Two years ago he opened his business “Eternal earthbound-pets”. For just $135 (two for $155) he’s signs a contract with Christians: on Rapture day members of his crew will come to their houses, pick up their abandoned pets and adopt them. The agreement is valid for 10 years. It can be renewed, but no refund though. “Not everybody trusts us, – says Centre to MN, – some think we’re just going to eat these dogs, cause we’re atheists”. Nevertheless, it works – Centre has 259 clients. During the last few months the demand has risen by 27% which allowed him to raise prices by $20. He considers his business model successful: “Businesweek wrote an entire page about us last year”.

While Centre is profiting from the apocalypse, Harold Camping, in contrast, is saving souls at his own expense. He spends his money on hundreds of billboards across the country: “Have you heard the awesome news? The end is near! The Bible guarantees”. Well-wishers took up the initiative and now there are thousands of billboards across the country – no state snubbed. The number of those who are seriously preparing to ascend this Saturday, is unknown.

Organizers of the Apocalypse do not have time for calculations. Yet the number of volunteers, standing in the bright hats “Christ is coming back!” and posters “Don’t make plans for Saturday” has gone way over a thousand. And that’s if we do not take into account all the buses decorated with slogans about the end of the world strolling down the highways. Camping and his team even decided to go worldwide with the billboards. Now, they can be found in various parts of the world, for example, in Moscow.

This surreal story, surprisingly, is interesting not only for the tabloids. Reviews, columns and commentaries about the end of the world are done by the federal channels and such prestigious issues as The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. However, experts point out that this theme has always received recognition from the readers. Interest in it is supported by the widespread belief among Americans in the Rapture: a Newsweek survey, conducted in 2004, shows that more than half of Americans believe in this phenomenon.

However, people who are accustomed to operate on facts, not blind faith, find this American hysteria absurd. For example, the famous British atheist and scientist Richard Dawkins was outraged when Washington Post asked his opinion about the upcoming end of the world, asking them why such a serious newspaper pays attention to this nut?. An astrophysicist at NASA David Morrison was also not very happy to hears MN’s question: on whether there is anything troubling there in the outter space these days. “I refuse to comment on the religious prophecies,” – he snapped. However, Morrison then relented and explained that there is no real danger plans for Sunday don’t have to be cancelled.

But Harring does not wish to hear about Sunday. Saturday cannot just pass calmly, he is sure: “That’s impossible. And no, do not try to phone me, I do not plan to be here. And don’t forget that on Saturday evening all telecommunications will be severed forever. ”

P.S. Take a look at the post-apocalyptic interview with Gunter Harringa on mn.ru this coming Monday.

Later,

A little update on Amy Myers

She wrote a letter to a wingnut Congresswoman, and the scumbags came out of the woodwork:

Classy bunch, those teabaggers

Later,

9 million people no longer matter to the MSM, apparently

Unemployment? Lost savings/retirements/homes/futures? Who cares? McConnell, Ryan, & Co. say we have a deficit!!

National Journal surveys the Ink-Stained Wretch Universe

So the hypocrites on the Right (remember “deficits don’t matter?”) are winning the framing war, abetted by the Fourth Estate. Is it significant that the Sunday gab shows were all about Ryan, and nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada, about the Progressive Caucus alternative?

Where’s my tylenol?

Later,

This is rather sick, but not surprising

From the Frontiers of Capitalism . . . .
NBC – Disney (a competitor, btw) trying to trademark \"Seal Team 6\"

Later,

Swept in Cincinnati . . . . Life Sucks

Another blown save Friday (their 9th, almost half their losses overall), a broken string of pitching dominance going back nearly five years, and a humiliating weekend for the Cardinals.

Carpenter, his string broken, leaves in the 7th

(AP photo)

Th team blew a 4-0 lead, but was still ahead in the 9th, 5-4, Friday, but Eduardo Sanchez couldn’t hold it. The Reds tied it, and they won in the 10th. They simply got drubbed Saturday, but perhaps saved the worst for this afternoon, when former ace Chris Carpenter, who is off to a terrible start in 2011, lost for the first time to Cincinnati since June 6, 2006. Given the events of last August, especially the cheap shot Cueto took to Jason LaRue’s head, ending his career (why is that asshole still playing, Bud Seelig?), this was bitter.

5 – 6

3 – 7

7 – 9

Later,

Gotta love this

While their media continue to doze, Individual Americans occasionally call out the R’s more often on their distortions, hypocrisies, lies, and general ignorance.

Take this young woman from Cherry Hill, NJ (Via the American Independent News Network) who has challenged one of the front-rank whack jobs, Rep. Michele Bachmann, to a debate –

High-schooler challenges Bachmann to Constitution debate

By Andy Birkey

A high school sophomore from New Jersey is challenging Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on civics and the U.S. Constitution. In an open letter to to Bachmann, Amy Myers of Cherry Hill, N.J., said, “I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted.”

“I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics,” Myers wrote, according to a report at City Pages.

Politifact rated Bachmann’s statements about the U.S. Constitution’s census requirements in 2009 as “Pants on Fire” false. CNN’s Anderson Cooper dinged Bachmann back in January for her revisionist history regarding the U.S. Constitution’s racist past.

Here’s Myers’ full letter:

Dear Representative Bachmann,

My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.

Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.

Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:

I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.

Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.

Sincerely yours,

Amy Myers

You go, Amy.

Later,

Two out of three from the Cubs @ Wrigley . . . Life is good

Garcia delivers (Getty Images)

6-4

4-11 (ugh)

9-1, and another gem by Jaime Garcia (above), who’s now 5-0.

On to Cincinnati for a weekend showdown. Brandon Phillips, you there? August, 2010

And I wouldn’t mind it if Cueto took one in the skull.

Later,

Wow, much more of this, and I might get my hopes up . . . .

My Cardinals had a miserable April, but things seem to be turning around. Despite losing their ace, Adam Wainwright, to Tommy John surgery, and the struggles of their number 2 pitcher, Chris Carpenter, and Hall-of-Fame-bound-and-in-his-contract-year Albert Pujols, the team is now 19-14, on the strength tonight of Jamie Garcia’s near-perfect game against the Brew Crew. Garcia pitched perfect ball for 7 1/3 innings before allowing a walk followed by a single.

But he finished with a 2-hit shutout. He’s now 4-0, and showing great promise.

Perhaps this summer won’t be so long after all . . . .

Later,

On this day, May 4th

Haymarket, 1886

Kent State, 1970

Some things just don’t change.

Later,