RIP - Studs Terkel (1912-2008)

The world is a poorer place today.

Author-raconteur-activist-radio host (and documentarian of Chicago and working-class America) Louis "Studs" Terkel has died at 96.





He was truly one-of-a-kind.


Read his obituary in the Chicago Tribune here.

The Tali-BornAgain Have Officially Jumped The Shark

From the nutdish we find this gem (kudos to Right Wing Watch):

Vote For Obama-Go To Hell

The Fanatical Fundie Freaks are in full-blown freakout mode at the prospect of losing their grip on power now that their bogus "culture war" isn't getting any traction with the electorate these days.

Apparently their god takes Tuesdays off....

The coming political enema that flushes these superstitious medieval cretins into the dung-pit of history can't come soon enough.

Perhaps the Republic has survived their duplicitous reign of terror after all.

Chuck Norris Is A Washed-Up Asshat.

I wish I could take credit for that title, but I can't. (Credit goes to Blue Texan over at Firedoglake.)

The aforementioned washed-up asshat is shilling for the NRA:



Nothing like ratcheting up the fear for the "God, Guns and Gays" crowd, who are scared out of their proverbial wits that Obama is cleaning up in former Repuke strongholds like the South and the Rust Belt. Now that Reaganomics is officially dead, the usual GOP xenophobia isn't working, and the debacle in Iraq and Afghanistan has finally become self-evident, fear is all they have left.

Even Daddy Dobson and the rest of the Fundygelical lunatic fringe are getting in on the fearmongering, envisioning the End Of Days that they fear, yet still lovingly long for.

Such complete idiocy.

I'm really starting to enjoy watching them soil themselves.

Nashville, IL 12:25PM


Stopped for a quick break on the way home and a check of the news. I think this tops the Ron Howard video. It touches on some of the worst low points of what has become one of the darkest periods of recent history.

First, for context, here is the original:




Now here's the update on where the "Wassup!" guys are now:




Get to the polls, folks.

I don't think we'll last another 4 years to try again.

Salisbury, NC 5:58 PM

Parked at the Derrick truck stop here. Not a bad little cafe on the premises, either. It's home-cooking (well, close anyway...) and relatively cheap. Wow...Two hot meals in two days; that's rare for me out here... Usually it's cold stuff out of the mini-fridge for days on end.

I came across probably the best campaign video I think I've ever seen. And it's true to it's author's nature--it's not mean-spirited or nasty and very creative.

Check it out. It put a big smile on my face:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

I'll be glad when the fourth of November finally gets past. It's been a looooong campaign season.

Let's hope it turns out well for all of our sakes.

Bracey Junction, VA 7:50 PM

Parked here for the night...just checking the news and blogs and such. I just had to share this bit of wisdom I came across--

One of my fellow DU'ers, a poster called GTRMAN, put this account up of an encounter he had at the local grocery store:

"I used my lunch time to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things. I was standing in line behind what I assumed were a mother, daughter and grand baby. The daughter had a baby about 18 months or so I'd guess, and was pregnant again.

They were talking about the election and lamenting that it was going so badly for McCain and the repugs, and talking about how bad things would be with the "awful Democrats" winning and "damn liberals" running the country and blah, blah blah. As we got closer to the register, I saw the daughter pull out an Access Oklahoma card, which is our electronic version of food stamps. Then I heard her mom tell her they would have to pick up her WIC at another store since the one we were in didn't do WIC vouchers or something like that.

It was at that point that I said "excuse me, I don't normally butt into other people's conversations, but I'd just like to say *You're Welcome*..." They shot me a puzzled look and after a pause, I said, "I'm sorry, I thought I heard you say *thank you*.."

The mom looked real puzzled and asked "why would we say that?" I said "because I'M one of those *DAMN LIBERALS* and *AWFUL DEMOCRATS* that has voted and fought damn hard to make sure you have the government food benefits you're so happily spending right now, among other things. If everything were left solely up to the tender mercy of the ultra conservative idiot republicans, you'd be in a world of hurt trying to find something to eat today!"

The mom just looked at me and sort of stammered and said "sorry, I didn't mean anything bad by what I said" I said "the hell you didn't, you just didn't think there were any of us *godless liberals* within earshot, or none that would have the guts to speak up. Next time you start running your mouths, don't be surprised when someone calls you out on your bullshit. Fact is, what your family is enjoying in benefits, which by the way I'm happy you have, is the result of my Democratic, union-man Grandfather voting for FDR in the 30s, and my Democratic Teamster Father voting for Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson....and God willing Barack and the Democrats will win two weeks from now and set about saving the day once again from yet another godawful mess the damn republicans have created.Something to think about before you go into the voting booth."

I shut up and the two of them just sort of looked down at their feet as the checker finished ringing them up and they got out of there. As I was checking out, my checker was grinning and a teenaged girl in line behind me said "you're awesome....and you don't even look like a Democrat!"

Now I just wonder, what the hell is a Democrat supposed to look like? "

Well said, sir!

Virginia Beach, VA 12:15 PM

Well...here I sit.

Freight's slow today and Huey (our inbound dispatcher) has the day off so they're shorthanded back at the office.


This doesn't happen very often, so I really can't complain.

Hate At McCain/Palin Rally

I'm speechless....

Folks, these are our fellow Americans.



Such mindless vitriol and pre-programmed hate (courtesy of the sanctimonious right-wing gasbags of talk radio) awash in a cesspool of misguided nationalism masquerading as patriotism.