The Pope crosses the line - might be going to hell...

Sorry to end 2010 on such a downer, but holy shit New Pope (as opposed to Pope Classic), just what the fuck is wrong with you?

I'm not Catholic (not even close) so I'm in no position to judge, but if I were, I'd be leaving the church over this fucknut's comments.

Being Columbo...

Oh, and one more thing...

And to finish off the year, let me say to the people who think Obama is going to give Manhattan back to the Indians - are you fucking idiots? I'll answer for you; yes. Yes you are.

The year in review (nursing a hangover)

So what crazy shit did I say this past year?

In my first post of 2010 I advocated using torture to stop people from killing abortion doctors, using the same logic some people use to say it is a tool to fight terrorism. I called Pat Robertson false to his religion. I declared my site a Palin-free zone and mostly stuck to it. I also introduced some of you to Marginal Prophets.

In February I listed my favorite albums of all time (as of that moment), proposed that we double the federal education budget, tried to get Glenn Beck back into rehab for his obvious cocaine addiction, and forced you to listen to some John Prine.

In March I was sick for a while, pointed out to a congressman that the harassment he was feeling was nothing compared to what abortion doctors get, demonstrated my pride in my congress critter, pointed out some of the bullshit that the Republicants tried to force into the health care law, called Glenn Beck Adolph Hitler with notes, and introduced you to Hot Chip. Oh, and I coined the word "Republicant".

In April I chided Obama for talking about opening up new oil drilling, referred to the editorial board of the New York Times as juveniles, began to wonder if there would be more integrity if John McCain quit and has him mother run in his place, pointed out that many of the firms that Republicants wanted to use for privatizing Social Security went had gone under in the past year, pointed out to Erik Erickson that both sides misconstrue his words, made fun of the R's for not wanting to let Obama continue a treaty that was forged by Reagan, said goodbye to one of the last thoughtful jurists on the Supreme Court, called for revolution in West Virginia mining towns, tipped my hat to Crooks and Liars for pointing out that everything the teabaggers really want they were already getting from Obama, pointed out on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing that many right-wing columnists (including all of the most famous ones) use the same language that Timothy McVeigh did, called the legislature of Oklahoma rapists, pointed out that politics no longer calls out the best and the brightest, called the state of Arizona a bunch of racist fucks, coined the phrase "Defeat the Stupid", took on a facebook meme, and introduced you to the Marty Paich Quartet.

In May I started pointing out just how fucked the gulf of Mexico is going to be for decades to come, chided people for using the gulf disaster to compare it to Katrina, pointed out that the Dow dropped 900 points over a typo, asked what a "theoretical lesbian" could possibly be and why should we care if she winded up on the Supreme Court, laughed my ass off when Obama told Rush to go play with himself, declared a zone of "so what" when the newly single governor of South Carolina went hiking again, called everyone against Net Neutrality fucking liars, called on Los Angeles Lakers fans to boo their coach, claimed that the country wants to move left but politics doesn't, gave props to Rachael Maddow, and introduced you to The National.

In June I got sick again but got better faster as they knew what they were looking for this time, did some California Primary advocacy, pointed out that I will never apologize for the child molester remark, proved that we would never leave a country (Afghanistan) when there was gold in them thar hills, lamented the loss of being able to watch Keith Olbermann when I get home every day, pointed out that a few states actually have debtor's prisons, gave an elegy for Manute Bol, again talked about how big the oil gusher really is and how we're being lied to about it, pointed out that a lot of this is still President Drunken chimp's fault, and introduced a few of you to The Roots.

July started out with a bang and me chastising so many people that I thought the month would be over before it started, called paying taxes patriotic and called avoidance of them treasonous, Called British Petroleum a bunch of pirates, called the gun nuts hypocrites for saying that immigrants can't buy guns, gave proof that taser lead to an increase in violence, pointed out the lack of education the Republicants seem to have (at least in math skills), gave a pictorial representation of just how pathetic the oil clean-up effort was, called for the murder of Andrew Breitbart but don't take my words seriously (isn't that how Beck and Limbaugh get away with it?), told Obama that he needs to grow a pair, pointed out that BP hasn't actually paid anything yet, called the journalism industry as full of shit as Tucker Carlson, compared people who don't want a cultural center built in Manhattan to the Klan, talked about the modern-day version of ratfucking, and introduced some of you to She & Him.

August started out with me pointing out that Chelsea Clinton and Lisa Simpson got married on the same day, shocked everyone by getting behind a speech by Michael Bloomberg, gave solid argument as to why poor people should hate Republicants, applauded a judge who verified that rights are not subject to a vote, threw down an open challenge to debate any teabagger (the offer has still not been accepted), pointed out that some people - like the founder of conservapedia - should be openly ridiculed in the town square, defended Robert Gibbs and his occasional bitch slaps, gave props to Mother Jones for backing up what I had been claiming for months, waited for the freak-out that didn't materialize because Ramadan ended on 9/11, got a near record amount of hate mail for pointing out that we don't vote on religion in this country - ever, called for the jailing of the leaders of BP, celebrated my wedding anniversary, called a sizeable portion of this country racist, ended the month asking my trademark question and not giving you any music, and introduced some of you to Nick Cave.

In September I promised to donate large amounts of cash to any Democratic politician who used the following phrase, "Well you think that because you're an idiot." and there were no takers, called the governor of Arizona a welfare queen, wrongly predicted the outcome of the November elections, brought up an Iraqi reality television show, used the horrible tragedy of the gas main explosion a few miles from my home to discuss the poor state of infrastructure in this country, remembered 9/11 like it was 9 years ago, predicted the ongoing bloodbath in the Republicant party, called for a quarantine of Delaware, called for the impeachment of Antonin Scalia, commented on God's Zombie, celebrated becoming middle-aged, threw my support behind Orange to Blue, and using Duke Ellington reminded you all of why Jazz is so important.

In October I discounted and discredited the idea that public education can't be saved, suggested that the fire department of Obion County Tennessee will burn in hell, showed that the Muppets have more bravery and common sense than most people, followed every move the San Francisco Giants made, started giving you real numbers about what the US Chamber of Commerce was spending in the election, pointed out that every solution the Republicants offers involves transferring money from the government to Wall Street, called out the 4 dumbest mainstream politicians running for national office (3 of them lost), told people to vote their pocketbooks (they didn't listen), asked if many people who call themselves Christians if they were closer to God or the KKK, was one of the first people to point out that the Republicants aren't interested in doing any real work for the next 2 years, pointed out that the phrase "I'm sorry if.." means you aren't sorry at all, and introduced some of you to The Fireman.

In November I started by saying a few words about Jon Stewart's rally to restore sanity (which I went to), pointed out that the Teaparty gained nothing, decried the death of Net Neutrality, discussed the double-standard of Olbermann's suspension, wrote my annual post about Armistice Day, discussed a possible re-make of Doctor Strangelove, called austerity a lie, called Rush Limbaugh a pedophile, and introduced a few of you to MC 900 Foot Jesus.

And this month I told you of an Arizona legislator who is going to a special place in hell, and echoed the great Frank Zappa by pointing out that the meek shall inherit nothing. I also took some time off.

I also put up tons of links to people who do heavy lifting in matters of politics, entertainment, and other topics. I made fun of a lot of people, got angry at many, swore a lot and probably corrupted a few of your livers with the cheap shots game. I apologize for nothing - not even the stuff I was wrong about. I meant it at the time. You can see it all and point and laugh derisively by going to http://www.whatthefuckiswrongwithyou.org/.

I'm going to take the rest of the year off to focus on some things in my personal life that are long overdue, and then come back at you strong in 2011. There will be some changes made here at what the fuck is wrong with you dot org, also long overdue, and I'm looking forward to the changes. See ya next year!

Oh, and a final cheap shot:

Elton John now has a son. His name is Levon and he was born on Christmas day. So because I love you we MUST finish out the year with an appropriate tribute:

But she’ll never walk the same…

This will be my last major rant for 2010. I'm preparing a year-in-review post for later in the week, and then I'll be back at full strength on January 3rd, 2011.

I have told friends of mine that I expect to not collect Social Security. I turn 67 in the year 2031 and I expect that Social Security will no longer exist by then. We've fought off challenges to the system before, but the first stab in the back came just before Christmas. I just never expected that it would come from a congress controlled by Democrats and a Democratic President.

Along with the continuation of the Bush tax cuts that Obama green-lighted and was passed by congress came a couple of other things. One was a restart of unemployment benefits for a few people. The other was a reduction of the tax on social security that is paid by an employee from 6.5% to 4.5%. Yes, that's a tax cut, and it's designed to destroy social security. Yes, you'll get a little more money in your paycheck - not a lot, mind you - but it's a devastating blow to your retirement.

The total amount of social security tax is 13.5% of the first $200K or so that everyone earns. Half of that is contributed by your employer, but it's still 13.5% of your wages. That drop of 2 percentage points is nearly 15% of all the money that Social Security takes in every year. That's right, Social Security's funding was just slashed 15%. Before this happened, the fund was solvent through 2035. It was solvent for the next 25 years. Now, when you add in the fact that baby boomers aren't going to be contributing to it for much longer and the income is about to drop, we've lost close to 25% of that time. So now it's only solvent through 2027.

Look back at the second paragraph. When do I supposedly retire again?

Now, you might be thinking that I'm being too much doom and gloom here. After all, this social security cut is only for one year. Yeah, right. It's a poison pill is what it is. It's an automatic tax increase for 2012, right in time for the next elections. How much do you want to bet that no one wants to be associated with what will be portrayed as a tax increase?

Even worse, I expect that if the tax does come back, that it will be the perfect time for the Republicants to say "why not take that money and put it into personal accounts instead of the Social Security fund"? This is what they've wanted to do for a very long time - all the way back to the days of Reagan and before - and they now have the perfect opportunity to make it so. And they'll get this passed too - even if the Senate reforms the Filibuster this will pass; too many Democrats cross the aisle regularly and Obama has shown a surprising lack of spine.

Obama kept using the metaphor of having to deal with a hostage situation; that passing the tax package exactly like the Republicants wanted was in fact help release the economic hostages they were holding. Well, one of those hostages was Social Security, and before we got the hostage back they shot her in both kneecaps.

Didn't we used to put people like that in jail?

Cheap shots:

Yet another way we're going to be screwed with instead of helped.

Tell you what. Let's release a small tactical nuke in his shorts. The energy release would be tremendous.

I suppose it's worth pointing out that the states that WON the Civil War aren't so interested in commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the war.

Here's why I rent.

President Cheeseburger has turned vegan? Somebody check the temperature you-know-where…

Looks like we're going to have Newt to kick around for a bit longer…

It's as if millions of nerds suddenly cried out - then were silenced.

"Pole Position"? Or are you thinking of pole dancers?

And this asshole wants to be President.

Is he channeling Edward R. Murrow? Probably not, but still - give the man credit. And to Gretchen over at Fox, we don't consider him a journalist - just a better one than you.

And because I love you, Rush - with what is still to this day my favorite song of theirs. That is the most amazing guitar solo - simple, elegant, and sends shivers down the spine.

For older posts....

My older posts will be kept for now at http://www.whatthefuckiswrongwithyou.org/ See past years of venting!