Assistant Quote of the Day

"If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is the ideal time to push through their wish list of pro-corporate policies: privatizing education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over... And there is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it’s a very big thing: the 99 percent. And that 99 percent is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say 'No. We will not pay for your crisis.'"

-- Naomi Klein, speaking at Occupy Wall Street last night

Picture of the Week

Quote of the Day

"Rick Perry is not a racist... he is a good man. (There's) an intimidation factor, you'd better believe it. You know, if you're a Southern white guy this is part of your life."

-- Lindsey Graham on Rick Perry and the hardships of being a white man in the South

Yeah, right. Unless you're Ned Beatty in Deliverance what threats do you really face as a Southern white guy? It's not like you have any natural predators, except for maybe gravity if you happen to be a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Actually, now that I think about it, I do know something that intimidates a Southern white guy: eighth grade.

Let Them Eat Shit

The backlash against Erin Burnett for the painfully smug derision she heaped on the Occupy Wall Street protesters continues with my besty, Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post.

"This is something I've banged on about before -- the signature failing of the media, in the way they've deigned to cover the massive unemployment crisis in America, is that they treat the people who are actually unemployed as abstract concepts. The norm that the media constantly, redundantly enforces is that the unemployment crisis is an event that solely threatens the re-election hopes of politicians, to whom they crave access.

No one craves access to poor people! So they remain in the background, where they can be easily abused. You see this play out when those who are allowed to be newsmakers depict the unemployed as lazy, shiftless and living off government largesse. You need only spend ten minutes on Google to uncover enough material fact to obliterate this notion so utterly that you can objectively state these charges are wrong with a clear journalistic conscience. But you have to be nominally invested in ordinary human beings to do that. It's the desire to serve ordinary Americans with the truth that pushes you onto that task. Without it, the 'unemployed are lazy' lie becomes just one more interesting point of view...

Ordinary Americans have found themselves dropped in a world of stark terms and desperate choices, and those who are lucky to be treading water or doing well are nevertheless just as likely to know someone very dear to them who are in the jaws of this crisis. Faced with this reality, what do you imagine actual people might do to try to cut through the veil and stop getting treated as abstractions? Well, for starters, they might take to the streets. The media is awash in confusion, even now, about what the Occupy Wall Street 'agenda' is, and what the demonstrators are 'demanding.' I'd say their demands begin with 'acknowledge our existence,' and move on to 'make a nominal investment to covering what is happening in our lives.'"

Oh, and here's what that anti-capitalist, liberal rag Forbes had to say in a piece called "Erin Burnett is Vapid, Occupy Wall Street Matters":

"The Erin coup de grace is when she lays into the unemployed software developer and sets him straight on the notion that the Wall Street bank bailouts cost America money. Her crack staff ran the numbers and they determined that taxpayers have made $10 billion to date and should ultimately make $20 billion. 'This was the big issue?,' she asks grinningly. 'Well, we [her staff] solved it!'

You hear that, America? This economy is rocking! Go home.

Erin Burnett was way too dismissive and condescending of these protesters. Who proclaimed that only people who live in caves and don’t use bank machines can show up to protest on Wall Street?

I love capitalism. It’s better than any other alternative system in the world. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t many changes which can be made to fix it."

By the way, if you're interested in seeing for yourself just how -- you know, there's really no better way to say it -- cunty Burnette came off during her report on OWS, go here.

Seriously, CNN should make her jobless. But of course it won't. In fact, it's probably loving every second of the attention.

The Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show 10.7.11

We Talk About My Mom’s Battle with Breast Cancer and My Own Personal Cancer Scare; Steve Jobs and The Apple Revolution; The Occupy Wall Street Movement and Police Brutality; OWS Comparisons with the Tea Party; Sarah Palin Isn’t Running for President; and much more. Brought to you by Bubble Genius.

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Listening Post

Skrillex owns the night.

The diminutive 23 year old ball of pure energy, whose real name is Sonny Moore, is quite possibly the hottest DJ in the world right now, having been anointed as much by established greats like Deadmau5 and Tiësto. He's basically the vanguard of the dubstep movement in the U.S. and he seems to be everywhere you look in pop music at the moment.

And the kid deserves every bit of credit he's getting -- his "drops" are raw, vicious and as powerful as a kick to the chest.

Here's two from Skrillex. Above it's the brand new, totally mind-bending video for First of the Year. Below it's Rock 'n'Roll (Will Take You To the Mountain).

Happy Friday, gang.

Quote of the Day

"Thank God!"

-- Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown's response when it was mentioned that consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren didn't "take off her clothes" to pay for college

Brown's comment came while he was joking around with a DJ during a live call-in to a Boston radio station this morning. While I'm generally the first one to defend someone's right to make a stupid, even offensive public comment in the name of getting a laugh -- or really, just for the hell of it -- there's a caveat to that. You forfeit that right when you decide to become an elected official who ostensibly represents a large group of people who expect you to conduct yourself in a responsible manner most of the time, one befitting the respect your position commands.

In other words, Scott Brown isn't a stupid frat-boy anymore and he damn sure isn't a comic, obviously. Ergo, he shouldn't behave like either; he should conduct himself like a freaking United States Senator, and that means laying off the sexist cracks.

I never gave a crap that Brown posed for Cosmo 30 years ago -- the impetus for this morning's on-air bro-fest between him and the DJ -- but insulting Elizabeth Warren based on her looks is beneath him.

Well, it's beneath his standing -- it's apparently not really beneath him.

Stay classy, asshole.