Call me Rack. Some years ago-never mind how long precisely-having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me at home, I thought I would move about a little and see the political part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off-then, I account it high time to get to my keyboard as soon as I can.

Kick! Making Politics Fun

Each weekday morning we embed the best of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and the Worst People in the World by Keith Olbermann. On Saturday morning we are first with Bill Maher's New Rules and on Sunday's we do any new SNL political skits. There is also The Onion, Funny or Die and most importantly, commentary by Rack Jite and our West Coast Senior Correspondent, Newscat.

Rack Jite is a pen name. When I began online debating back in the 1980's my raspy liberal tone generated not a few "real world" threats to myself and family so I got in the habit of keeping private information private. As should we all.

Though the "we know where you live" threats from the Right have mostly dissipated since now with Facebook everyone knows with 6 inches of where you live, Rack Jite has become too important a keyword for us to change.

The issue that seems to most turn my Republican friends purple is that I am a veteran. A commissioned officer in the US Army from 1966 to 1969.I spent my 13 month combat tour in a trench on the DMZ in Korea. A cold, treeless wasteland of rocks, ice, barbwire and burning sensations while peeing. I hope things have improved since then.

Rackjite - 1. n. A steel pole used to pry and move heavy objects. 2. v. To pry, shift, move or horse a heavy object. 

Purpose

Our liberal purpose here is to clobber Republicans in as many avenues of creative expression possible, keeping in mind that humor, fun and a good wallop are prerequisites in getting people to listen.

Whenever the conservative climate of our times causes a drizzly November in your soul, come by and let Rack Jite ease your pain.

History

This all began in 1993 with a hard copy magazine called The Journal of Hard Response. That generated some radio time at KPFT in Houston which let to a web presense in 1995. We were one of the first liberal leaning websites along with Mother Jones and Turn Left.

rackjite.com

You will see this icon in article titles throughout the talking points area. It is a bookmark link. When pressed, it will bring up your email program with the TO and the SUBJECT boxes blank and the link to that very spot written into your edit window. If you find anything worthy, email it to a friend.

Kick! The Blog

The blog is for you to interact with myself, Newscat and each other. Sadly we are constantly under spam and angst attack - to the tune of about 5000 attempts a day - so you will have to register to join in.

To register, create a user name and password and an immediate email will be sent to you. Click on the link in the email which will bring you back to the blog all registered. Log in using your new name and password. Once registered you do not have to access the registration or login screen again. (unless you log off, toss your cookies or lose your password).

If you were here long ago and have a problem logging in, it is probably best to email us with your user name and we will delete you. Then register again. It is not so much a bug as it is the securtiy software being very fussy about what email address you may have used when registering..