Republican Jackass of the Week

By now we've all heard the horrific remarks from one of the cast members of a show I've never seen and never will, Duck Dynasty. But he's not the Jackass of the Week.

Yes, in an interview with GQ Magazine, he made some ridiculously racist and homophobic comments. Something about comparing homosexuality to bestiality, and claiming that black people "were pretty happy" and had it pretty good in this country before Civil Rights legislation.

I guess he hadn't heard about segregation, laws prohibiting interracial marriage, separate water fountains, bathrooms, etc; not being allowed to vote, not being served in restaurants, the four schoolgirls who were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama; the "Little Rock Nine" who were blocked from entering an Arkansas high school; the "Bloody Sunday March" in Selma, Alabama; Emmett Till, the kid who was lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman, the shooting death of Medgar Evers (the American WWII veteran turned civil rights activist) killed on his own front porch, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, the civil rights demonstrations and race riots where countless people were killed or arrested, etc.

But it was all good in the Duck Dynasty Guy's cloistered little world.

No, he's not the Jackass of the Week. What would you expect from him? He's an old, grizzled, uneducated, ignorant, bigoted swamp rat. Not that I'm defending him; I'm just saying you wouldn't expect any kind enlightened thought to come spewing from this racist yokel.

The Jackasses of the Week are the blustery rightwing defenders of this sad little person. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and even Alaska's half-term quitter crawled out to defend him, claiming his First Amendment rights were infringed.

Nonsense.

If you work for A&E or any company, and you say such embarrassingly bigoted things as this guy did, the company has every right to fire or suspend you. A&E is a business and doesn't want its image damaged. (Really? Can you damage their brand any worse than putting Duck Dynasty on the air in the first place? Remember when A&E stood for "Arts and Entertainment"? Wow! Things have changed over there! But I digress...)

What Rush, Sean and The Quitter don't understand is that the First Amendment only applies to the government infringing on your speech. And since no government entity has done that, there's no First Amendment violation. It's as simple as that.

Ethel 1996 - 2013

It's the day I've been dreading for a long time.

My Ethel Baby passed away this afternoon. She was 17 1/2 years old.

For almost 3 years she had renal failure. Her kidneys were over 70% non functioning. Since this diagnosis, I've been giving her 3 Azodyl capsules a day, which help remove the toxins her kidneys were failing to remove.

For the last year, she has been completely blind and mostly deaf. For the last couple of months she could barely walk.  A few days ago, she stopped eating. But through it all, as soon as I touched her, she'd start purring.

But I could tell she'd had enough.

Luckily, she hasn't been in any real pain. But she was uncomfortable. Her life just was not enjoyable anymore. How would I know that? I've had her for almost 18 years. I can tell.

With all these problems and her not wanting food anymore, things were about to get worse fast. I didn't want her to endure pain or one organ failing after another. It would have been a fast road downhill. This was the time to give her an easy exit.

1996 - Ethel's & Lucy's first Christmas

When I first got Ethel and Lucy back in 1996, she was small and very scared. The first two days she just hid under a chair. I told her over and over, in a sing-songy voice, "you're gonna love it heeeere!" And she did. I used to hug her and put my mouth right by her head and whisper a secret. "You're my favorite!" And she knew it. They all did. I don't know why I bothered whispering it.


She was the one with the closest connection to me. She was the most special one ever. Mr Dog (Bobby) is like that, too. Very close connection. You either get that or you don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

She knew her place right at the top of the totem pole. Every night she'd jump on the bed and curl up between the pillows right next to my face. Nobody else dared sleep in her spot. Sometimes she'd fall asleep, purring, with her head on my hand. Of course, my arm would go numb but you can't move it when Ethel is sleeping on it!

Sometimes she'd get off the bed in the middle of the night, go to my office at the other end of the house, find a little piece of paper, and carry it in her mouth back to the bedroom, screaming all the way, in that howling/calling voice.

 When she was able to see, I'd put birdseed outside, and then hold her up to the sliding glass doors so she could watch "the birdies!" Her head would dart back and forth, watching them, and she'd do that funny cat chatter at them.

She'd always vocally greet me whenever I walked into the room. She was the softest, sweetest, cuddliest one.

 There are 7 billion people on this planet. I was lucky to be the one to have her. I don't regret, in the least, this decision. The sadness is only because I will miss the thousand unique things that she did like no one else.

1997: Ethel - MaryAnn - Ginger - Lucy

Republican Jackass of the Week

Jeb Bush, former Florida governor and brother of former president Dubya. It's been a long time since this irrelevant Bush relic of the past has been in the news.

"Why would our president close the embassy to the Vatican? Hopefully it's not retribution for the Catholic organizations opposing ObamaCare."

Yep. That's what he said last week.

Two things wrong with that provocative lie.

(a) The US embassy near the Vatican is indeed closing -- but only because a newer, less expensive, more secure one is being built even closer to the Vatican.

(b) The new embassy wasn't initiated by President Obama -- it's been in the works since Jeb's idiot brother was president.

This wasn't just a lie, it was listed as a "Pants on Fire!" lie according to Politifact.

Is he really this stupid? Or is he auditioning for a job enraging low-information viewers on Fox?

Or does has he simply been longing to be honored as the Republican Jackass of the Week?