Motley Moose – Archive

We’re now more than a year into President Obama’s second term and Ted Nugent is still a free man and free to spew crap such as this (h/t Bob Cesca):

I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago communist raised communist educated communist nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama (emphasis partially Cesca’s and partially my own) to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America. I am heartbroken but I am not giving up. I think America will be America again when Barack Obama, [Attorney General] Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, [Sen.] Dick Durbin, [former New York City Mayor] Michael Bloomberg and all of the liberal Democrats are in jail facing the just due punishment that their treasonous acts are clearly apparent.

So a lot of people would call that inflammatory speech. Well I would call it inflammatory speech when it’s your job to protect Americans and you look into the television camera and say what difference does it make that I failed in my job to provide security and we have four dead Americans. What difference does that make? Not to a chimpanzee or Hillary Clinton, I guess it doesn’t matter. (emphasis Cesca’s)

Selma to Montgomery march – 1965

I was re-reading for the nth time Hamden Rice’s powerful piece “Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did“, yesterday, where he describes what his father told him about the importance of Dr. King and the movement he was an integral part of, in making black people unafraid.

When talking about the resistance to Martin Luther King Day, last Sunday, and in reading and commenting in Meteor Blade’s piece on J. Edgar Hoover’s  assaults on Dr. King and the movement, it struck me that some people-imho mistakenly-believe the civil rights movement was ended with the death of Dr. King. That somehow it was buried with him, and is now solely to be honored and respected as “history”, to be dusted off a few times a year. The wikipedia entry gives dates “1955-68”.  

I realized that those of us who lived during those early days have a very different perspective than those who were born later and perhaps got insights from watching series like “Eyes on the Prize” or reading memorial news coverage.

For me, the movement has never ended…yes it has had an ebb and flow, and yes, we have lost leaders and cadres and supporters over the years-to natural and unnatural death-but the reasons we have struggled haven’t gone away, and the reports of “movement’s end”, from my perspective are greatly exaggerated.

In fact, it’s a lie that we cannot afford to buy.

Interrogatories

How much have you, personally, been affected by climate change?

Did you make up secret languages and/or code words as a kid so you could talk in front of others without them understanding? Got any examples you recall?

What is the easiest vice you ever gave up? Why did you give it up?

The Twitter Emitter

I've reached Peak Anonymous Source. Whenever I see one now, I just assume the journalist is lying.

— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) January 17, 2014

The invisible hand of the market won't even give West Virginians a reach around.

— Karl (@JerryMander) January 18, 2014

Whatever happens is God's will. Except when you're brain dead and pregnant in #Texas. Then God is wrong and we'll put you on life support.

— John (@linnyitssn) January 18, 2014

Common sense is so rare it should be considered a superpower.

— Grumpy Cat (@__GrumpyCat) January 18, 2014

Allowing the #fracking industry to do their own testing is like letting a drunk driver do their own sobriety test. http://t.co/3xn5C8U8vv

— TXsharon (@TXsharon) January 20, 2014

The 85 richest people are as wealthy as the poorest 3.5 billion. And those 85 people would like you to stop punishing success. Thank you.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 20, 2014

I’m so glad I don’t write about sports for a living. Too divisive.

— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) January 20, 2014

The same people who say the U.S. is the greatest country on earth hate its President and the majority of its people.

— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) January 21, 2014

I don't think you exist.

— God (@TheTweetOfGod) January 21, 2014

"As long as you tweet a quote from me on my holiday, you can ignore my devotion to social justice." - Martin Luther King Jr.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 21, 2014

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

Interrogatories

What is your favorite melty cheese? What do you prefer in your mac and cheese?

Did you ever have a favorite disc jockey? Who, and what station?

What is your favorite department in the department store?

The Twitter Emitter

Olympic athletes of the world, please turn Putin gay. You can do it.

— josh groban (@joshgroban) January 18, 2014

Call me old fashioned but sex should only be between a man and a woman he selected via a televised cattle call sponsored by car companies.

— Rye Silverman (@ryesilverman) January 18, 2014

I will let you fire me from your tech company for $1 million.

— David Waldman (@KagroX) January 18, 2014

No one says these giant severance packages undermine the incentive to work? Create a culture of dependency?

— David Waldman (@KagroX) January 18, 2014

Las Vegas is what would happen if a spam filter came to life

— Megan Amram (@meganamram) January 18, 2014

Chris Christie reviewing plans to divert the Hudson away from Hoboken.

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) January 19, 2014

Best Ensemble Acting in a Drama award actually should have gone to the 16 Democratic Senators pushing for more sanctions for Iran.

— Greg Mitchell (@GregMitch) January 19, 2014

"I never liked Christie until his scandals showed the media is out to get him." - Actual Republicans

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 19, 2014

Chris Christie is one more scandal revelation from having to start thinking about the name of his Fox News show.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 19, 2014

Bud bowl!!!!! This year it actually means something

— Steve Weinstein (@steveweinstein) January 20, 2014

I'm hearing from sources that Seahawks and Broncos may not be cleared to land at Newark Airport unless they endorse Christie '16

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) January 20, 2014

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr spent a lifetime fighting for working people: for a recognition of the dignity of labor, demanding a living wage to lift all people out of poverty. His cause has become our cause in 2014 as Democrats are fighting for minimum wage increases and our president echoes the words of Dr. King: “… let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty.”

In March, 1968, Dr. King was in Memphis to lend support to the striking sanitation workers. They were striking for better wages and working conditions:

On 1 February 1968, two Memphis garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck. Twelve days later, frustrated by the city’s response to the latest event in a long pattern of neglect and abuse of its black employees, 1,300 black men from the Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike. Sanitation workers, led by garbage-collector-turned-union-organizer, T. O. Jones, and supported by the president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Jerry Wurf, demanded recognition of their union, better safety standards, and a decent wage.[…]

King himself arrived on 18 March to address a crowd of about 25,000 – the largest indoor gathering the civil rights movement had ever seen.  

  Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely. One weekend closer to Spring.

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”.

OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama said 2014 will be a year of action, and called on both parties to help make this a breakthrough year for the United States by bringing back more good jobs and expanding opportunities for the middle class.