Too early for Grandpa

No McCain on Sunday chats, but the other President Lindsey Graham is ABC, thus expending the Wank Triumvirates (McCain, Lieberman, Graham) appearance streak to something like 80 out of the last 100 weeks.

Oh, and Karl Rove is ready to lie about bullshit and go unchallenged by his good buddy Dancin' Dave Gregory. I just hope Liz Cheney has given him what questions he is to ask.

Ugh!

Why the hell are we making time switches two weeks earlier than we used to again? I know it was one of Commander Bunnypants' decisions, but allow me to say it sucks.

Dear Modern Basketball Players

At the risk of seeming like I'm telling you to get off my lawn, you do realize the "shorts" you are wearing are now so long they look like you are wearing a skirt (or even a dress) don't you?

What McJoan says

Karl Rove gives an interview in England where he sings the glories of waterboarding and how it isn't torture at all.

So...

Perhaps Rove should have been waterboarded by investigators to determine his role in the Valerie Plame outing. Maybe it's not too late to give that a try. Want to volunteer to be waterboarded, Karl?

How about it Fuck-face?

Keep defending those awesome corporate masters

We've certainly heard hints of how the masters of the universe sucked us all down in the early years of the new century (ah, ENRON, how we nearly forget thee), but the story of Lehman Brothers in the Times really condenses it down to its essence:

While Mr. Fuld and other former top Lehman officials are already defendants in a number of civil lawsuits, the new discoveries by Mr. Valukas have taken even veteran observers by surprise. Chief among these was the revelation of a particularly aggressive accounting practice, known internally as Repo 105, that Mr. Valukas said helped the investment bank mask the true depths of its financial woes...

Over hundreds of pages, Mr. Valukas details the genesis of and the process behind Repo 105. Based on standard repurchase agreements — short-term loans commonly used by many firms for daily financing needs, in which borrowers temporarily exchange assets in return for cash up front — Lehman took a particularly aggressive accounting approach to these transactions.

Here, the investment bank used repos to temporarily park assets off its books to make its end-of-quarter debt levels look better than they did — while calling them sales instead of loans.

The accounting tactic, first used by Lehman in 2001, had one catch, according to Mr. Valukas: no American law firm would sign off on its use.

Enter Linklaters, a highly respected British law firm that gave Lehman the answer it wanted. So long as the repos were conducted in London through the bank’s European arm, and so long as the company took other cosmetic steps to make these transactions appear to be sales instead of financings, Linklaters determined that they would pass regulatory muster.

A spokeswoman for Linklaters said on Friday that the firm was not contacted by Mr. Valukas and that its legal opinions were not criticized in the examiner’s report as wrong or improper.

Not to overly praise the members of my own profession, but once again American lawyers being on the side of the law over what assholes want.

Better throw us fuckers into GITMO, right Liz Cheney?

No need to regulate these businesses, the free market obviously is awesome when left unfettered.

Gearheaded

I follow too many sports -- with varying levels of enthusiasm -- but this is a great turn-of-a-phrase from Charles Pierce and one I can appreciate:

NASCAR's quiet this weekend, so if you need your hydrocarbon fix, it's Formula One's season opener from Bahrain, or the IRL from Sao Paulo. The first five Formula One races this season are in, respectively: Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia, China, and Spain. Must be tough to follow that circuit in your tricked-out RV's.

The things I notice about Formula 1 --

First, there's a hell of a lot less "excitement" in the way of passing in a F1 race.

Second, it's good to see a huge waste of fuel without it sounding like redneck roundtable.

Third, it's a technological marvel -- so how come it is the last sport without being broadcast in HD?

Was it over when America Bombed Pearl Harbor?

Glenn Beck, when crazy and incredibly stupid and ignorant meet profit.

Pearl Harbor bombed "because Woodrow Wilson told England, 'You need to align yourself with us and not Japan' "

Um, yeah. He must have picked that up from a Texas School Board member.

Our Degenerate Senate

It's hard to believe that killing this loophole is even controversial; but we're talking about the U.S. Senate, so actually, it's entirely believable.

What the hell is wrong with us?

School Daze

NYT: Births to Minorities are Approaching Majority in U.S.:

“Will America’s older, largely white population — through the ballot box and collective self-interest — support young people who are now much different culturally from themselves and their own children? Will they vote, for example, to raise taxes for schools that serve young people of ethnic backgrounds different from theirs?"

Hm, let's think about that for a mo... No.

The school situation scares me, and I don't even have kids. You think a bunch of people who see a stealth campaign to raise taxes in the closing of a highway rest stops are going raise taxes on themselves to make sure that black and Hispanic kids have access to a decent education?

I have said this before: the only real shot at serious civil unrest I see in the next few years is going to turn on access to education. Look at unemployment by educational attainment. We wonder, "Iz our children learning"? I don't know, but I know their parents can read that chart.

Update: Another way the school situation is scary.

Not possible

Johnny Weir, too non-macho for the modern Ice Capades?

Yeah, that's likely.

News is presented between 2:03 and 2:09 p.m. Eastern

Today, the Washington Post -- apparently because there were no members of the Kagan family available -- has a Op-Ed from Howell Raines castigating journalists for not calling FoxNews what it is, a right-wing propaganda operation 23:54/7.

This will not set well with alleged media critic Howard Kurtz as it will take away from his Tiger Woods/Eric Massa-related twitter time.

...some say a distinction must be made between Fox's opinion shows (O'Reilly, Beck, Hannity) and its news programming. Just as you have to make a distinction between The Post's news pages and its left-leaning editorial page.

Well, I say this Mr. or Ms. "Some" is a real asshole, which must be why Kurtz respects their opinion.

A distinction between the opinion shows as O'Reilly, Beck, and Hannity and the news programming?

Which is what?

Fox & Friends, where every morning is three hours of agenda setting on right-wing talking points? Where it is a legitimate for interviewees to appear as pimps for faked news stories (no correction for that yet, right?).

Or perhaps it's just the rest of the "fair" and "balanced" "news" programming, like Megyn Kelly's finding a broad swath of the public constituted by four white people at a retirement community?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Y'know

If Red State puts up posts by nut-job conspiracy theories from Creationism to Birth Certificates we mock them.

But Huffington Post is doing the same thing constantly by encouraging people not to be vaccinated using ad hominem attacks, as opposed to actual, y'know science.

It's becoming just as embarrassing.

What has the guy ever fixed?

Now Tiger Woods has hired Ari Fleischer to manage his post-fuckup (and how) re-emergence.

From the Packers, to Mark McGuire, to Tiger sports douche behavior is rewarded with a visit with Ari.

If that won't put peckers back in their pants I just don't know what will.

Next up must be Roerhlisberger.

MATLOCK!!!

Please allow me to undertake part 2010 of my praise for how awesome state governments are (just ask any person in any state and they'll tell you...actually they'll tell you the opposite but not in my world).

Oh, and yes, there is praise for Paul Ryan.

What do I win?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

In addition, no mention of Bush and his wars or his massive tax cuts that are responsible for the lion's share of the deficit -- no somehow that is implied to be the Democrat's fault (also no mentioned, Bush's tanking of the economy which makes up the bulk of the rest).

Pay no attention to the reality behind our embroidered curtain

What Kevin Drum says.

I mean literally, I'll just quote the whole thing:

I'd just like to quickly sum up what we now know about conservative Rep. Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America’s Future":

* It raises taxes on 90% of Americans.
* It doesn't explain what spending it would cut.
* It doesn't eliminate the deficit.

And remember, this comes from the guy who's pretty much the best the GOP has to offer. Pretty impressive, no?

Yet, these three plain facts will NEVER be reported by the modern mass media. No, as Atrios says, it will be called "tax cuts" which equals Republican, even though for most everybody, it is the exact fucking opposite...the only people getting tax cuts are the filthy rich.

Look for Broder to praise it soon.

But it's the Democrats that are encouraging class warfare, while the GOP is plainly just facilitating the disarmament talks and manner of the poor and middle classes execution.

At a minimum

Ben Roerhlisberger's Wonderlich score was not low enough, but Tiger Woods and John Terry have got to be feeling a little better now.

As the investigation regarding the sexual assault allegations against Steelers quarterback Ben Roerhlisberger continues, KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh reports that Roethlisberger admitted to having “sexual contact” with the woman who claims sexual assault, but that there was no intercourse.

The admission came during an interview of Roethlisberger conducted at the scene.

Per the report, Roethlisberger claims that the woman fell and injured her head after the incident. She then went to a hospital and alleged that she was sexually assaulted.

So, you got a blowjob and then she JUST happened to fall over?

How much booze had she been plied with beforehand?

About as scummy as it gets before actual sexual assault...and that may be coming.

(via here)

It's so awesome

That CNN's chief political reporter hates politics so much that everything is just a cynical exercise and discussing things like war is just an excuse for her to talk about teabagging...in its more graphic form.

I think think it is one that — what he is arguing — is that it is one of perspective and [he] obviously believes that Massa’s been given too much attention where the war in Afghanistan is not. You know, we could argue one way or the other, but it is very clear that he –the Democrats in particular and certainly Congressman Kennedy in specific would like the Massa story to go away.

It's okay if you're a Republican part 39,804 squared

Funny that:

Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign's efforts to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles.

Mr. Ensign, Republican of Nevada, suggested that a Las Vegas development firm hire the husband, Douglas Hampton, after it had sought the senator's help on several energy projects in 2008, according to e-mail messages and interviews with company executives.

Wondering ...

...why Andrew Sullivan is obsessed (for days now) with the following question: "How Smug And Self-Righteous Was Mo'Nique?" (during her acceptance speech)?

Thoughts?

What else you have to apologize for old german guys?

Sad to see the guy who enforced silence on allegations of child abuse for the last Pope and then managed to get made Pope has yet another stain on the Church.

...the liaison between Roman Catholic bishops and the German government, also praised the pope's brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, for apologizing to victims on Tuesday for doing nothing decades ago to stop the beating of students.

The Ratzinger Brothers...serving in Hitler's Wehrmacht, beating children, prostitution, silencing those who protested child abuse...always taking the BRAVE and MORAL position no matter the risks ... as soon as it is convenient and if they get caught.

SO SORRY WE DIDN'T DO SHIT, Y'ALL.

That's the moral leadership you expect out of a religious leader, y'know like Jimmy Swaggert.

Awesome.

Good long term plan Republicans

Demographics are a bee-yatch.

Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years.

In fact, demographers say this year could be the "tipping point" when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites.

Not a surprising story, but there's a reason the GOP guts nuttier, while it manages to get Michael Steele and Ron Christie on television so often.

But the article is one thing, please stay and scroll down to see the Algonquin Roundtable that is the comment section on this article. For example:

I do believe we've met the whiniest fucker on earth

No it isn't John Roberts, though it's not a bad nomination. Nor is it Liz Cheney...but Marc Thiessen, who naturally is in league with her.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Marc Thiessen Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Just to add one more thing. Notice when Thiessen quotes people he calls "extremist", he doesn't actually quote them, rather he sticks buzzwords into the quotes to recreate them.

This is the kind of intellectual dishonesty that gets you kicked off junior high debate teams -- but in the modern Village, it gets you hired and feted as a WaPo columnist.

Guess who's President now?

Imagine if some national government went out of its way to insult Bush when traveling abroad (as opposed to letting Bush do that to himself), why Bill Kristol would be for bombing before dawn.

But, of course, Bill Kristol loves some countries and their leaders far more than his own.

They call it Patriotism.

Promises, Promises

Bon Voyage Rush:

Responding to a caller who asked him where he would go for health care if Congress enacts reform, Limbaugh replied,

I don't know. I'll just tell you this, if this passes and it's five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented -- I am leaving the country. I'll go to Costa Rica.

Well, Costa Rica is certainly closer to his supply.

And yes, naturally, Costa Rica has a well-run government funded National Health Care system.

America's Concern Troll

Shorter Dicky Cohen:

I love to talk about ramming things through. I'm very pro-ramming -- a ramming enthusiast. Occasionally, too much.

Well, I guess it's better than his usual masturbation choice

Snuff porn:

Michael Goldfarb...is working for Liz Cheney now...

“I was excited about Palin; I’m more excited about Liz. The same sort of excitement you get when you hear her father, except she’s this petite blonde with five kids … There’s just something about her… You have a little crush on her. It’s hard not to.”

How starbursty!

Maybe Rich Lowry and Michael Goldfarb should contemplate having sex someday...if they look hard enough and have enough booze around, they may even be able to not have to pay for it.

Perhaps if they went out together.

Suddenly

Rahm Emanuel may have his good points too:

The Department of Education “has been conducting a ‘Program Review’ of Kaplan University’s main offices in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., since September...Kaplan is the college loan-shark/test prep death company that makes all of the Washington Post Company’s profits, and now Obama’s Education Department is investigating it for looting the federal government in order to make all of those profits, which are dropping anyway, so that’s kind of funny.

You stay classy

Some FoxNews viewers, cheering for Obama to die, so very patriotic.

It's not McCartyism, if I get to be tailgunner Joe!

The 'liberal Post Editorial Page's' latest hire, Marc Thiessen is out there to prove his hippy punching bona fides by beating up James Madison:

One lawyer in the National Security Division of Holder's Justice Department, Jennifer Daskal, has written that any terrorist not charged with a crime "should be released from Guantanamo's system of indefinite detention" even though "at least some of these men may ... join the battlefield to fight U.S. soldiers and our allies another day." Should a lawyer who advocates setting terrorists free, knowing they may go on to kill Americans, have any role in setting U.S. detention policy? My hunch is that most Americans would say no.

Do other lawyers in question hold similarly radical and dangerous views?

First of all, nice loading of assumptions just before the actual quotes there a-hole. Second, how awful, an American lawyer believing in the American Constitution [Article I, Sec. 9] -- how radical and dangerous! And those known radicals on the Supreme Court have agreed with them.

Surely, only Marc Thiessen understands that "FoxNews Facts" trump the Constitution every time. So bring on the McCarthyism from the man who describes torturers as his real heroes.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Engage the hilarity

Dog-show based humor from Merrill Markoe:

The Grifter Files

Part infinity:

The vocal opponent of health care reform in the U.S. [PALIN] steered largely clear of the topic except to reveal a tidbit about her life growing up not far from Whitehorse.

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," she said. "And I think now, isn't that ironic."

So she got free health care from a country she did not even live in -- some might call it fraud -- only to grow up and deny universal coverage as some sort of sick commie plot.

Please fucking run in 2012.

Ending done ruined and fucked it

For those of you who saw Alice in Wonderland this weekend...and apparently that was an awful lot of you (and me too obviously).

KIND OF SPOILER ALERT...



What did you think of the Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter doing the futterwacken?

I didn't think the movie was all that awesome, but it wasn't terrible, but that part was execrable. Yanked me out of the movie and into "Electric Boogaloo". It was up there with the ending of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" when a movie that was disappointing in that it wasn't disappointing enough so far, reached that hilarious point in it's near ending.

I am speaking, of course, of the "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" moment -- the most I've ever laughed out loud at the trite stupidity of a movie at the moment I first saw it.

Narcissus of the North

Well, here we go...but it's the black guy in the White House who's arrogant:

Sarah Palin came up with a new defense for her conspicuous use of hand notes over the weekend: God did it, too.

To paraphrase William Shatner's greatest film - Star Trek V -

"What does God need with a crib sheet?"

Comment saga updated

JS-Kit is a fucking nightmare.

Sucky old Blogger comment system enabled as it is not as sucky as JS-Kit right now.

Apparently, you click comments, then the post comes up, then you have to click comments again.

Yes, it's just that annoying.

I pretty much missed the Oscars

So I could get up early and entertain America!

Nevertheless, I'm going to guess the consensus is that this was the worst Oscar Telecast EVAH! for the 55th consecutive year or so.

Note: according to Ebert they left Farrah Fawcett out of the memorial clip, (Bea Arthur too) which seems a fairly big whoops. I'm sure they're both pissed.

Oh, wait...

This pretty well does capture "the strategererie"

By cartoonist David Fitzsimmons via Kevin Drum:



Now, if only Democrats can convey a simple message and the GOP-media puke filter allows them to do so.

One awesome thing about Twitter

Is the ability to read Roger Ebert comment on the Oscars as they are going on.

They're pretty sure he's an American

Well, they've captured somebody in Pakistan:

Pakistani officials have contradicted each other on whether the suspect is Adam Gadahn, 31, who has appeared in videos threatening the West. Two intelligence officers and a senior government official identified the detained man Sunday as Gadahn. However, a different official Monday said the suspect was an American, but not Gadahn.

He might be this guy:

American and Pakistani officials said the man arrested was Abu Yahya Mujahdeen al-Adam, who was described as having been born in Pennsylvania

In any case they are pretty confident he's an American because he's overweight, is so certain about everything, doesn't like soccer, keeps complaining about what's available on cable, insists he's just a re-enactor preparing for Comic-Con, and is inappropriately loud when demanding everybody speak English.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Comments down

Sorry, we've alerted JS-kit about the problem for those of you who cannot comment (which as far as I know is everyone).

But don't worry, the low quality of my posts will continue unabated.

The Archives

Whenever I read about betrayal or anger or disappointment on the internet with the Administration I think back to this post, February 12, 2008:

A reader writes:

"Dear Dr. Atta J. Turk,

I am having a tough time choosing between the two Democratic Candidates. On the one hand, I believe that Senator Obama brings a new and profound voice for change and gives me hope. On the other hand Senator Clinton's experience and substance makes me dream she will get legislation passed.

What do I do?

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen"

Well, Concerned Citizen it seems to me you can either have your hopes somewhat crushed or your dreams rather shattered. But at least you can have one or the other.

On the other hand, McCain promises less jobs and more war -- and that is certainly something we can imagine he'll deliver upon -- in bunches.

And she shall be known as a hero

I bet she can still kick his ass:

According to his new memoir, a 9-year-old Rove affixed a Nixon sticker to his bicycle, prompting a leftist girl child to give him a bloody nose.

The Company you Creep

Quite the pair of news items:

The Vatican has been thrown into chaos by reports that one of the Pope's ceremonial ushers, as well as a member of the elite Vatican choir, were involved in a homosexual prostitution ring...

The tapes appear to record Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Nigerian Vatican chorister, about men he wanted brought to him for sexual purposes. Balducci was allegedly paying 2,000 euros ($2,714) for each man he met, according to the Irish Times.

Balducci is recorded describing precise physical details of the men he wanted. The transcripts record that during five months in 2008, Ehiem procured for Balducci at least 10 contacts with, among others, "two black Cuban lads," a former male model from Naples, and a rugby player from Rome.

...and maybe one other kind of "service provider"

Abortion and the Catholic Church: Randall Terry Leads Delegation to Vatican from March 17-24

Participants will ask Vatican Officials: "Do Vatican Officials stand by the words of Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) to American bishops in 2004?"

Apparently, somebody wanted an escort that's a real asshole.

If a white guy from Iowa had flown into the World Trade Center

We'd have about $3 trillion dollars by now.

Take a Deep Breath Before You Read This

Because it's going to piss you off. 

Thank God for Andrew Cuomo.  At least someone at some level of government is trying to make these people accountable. 

How surprising

That Drudgico would peddle the "brilliance" that is the forth-coming Karl Rove Memoir, listed at 500 plus pages, but Rove's math tells him it is thicker than War & Peace and will be thought of more highly among the people that matter -- Sean Hannity and James Glassman.

Though Mike Allen claims to have excerpts, I can tell you that this blog has one...page 313, April 2005:

"I saw him against the moonlight of Camp David, the vibrant Camp Breeze blowing off his, uh, scalp. His six pack abs glistening in the pale light.

As my wife Darby stood nearby he said, 'Karl, look at your woman, now back to me, now back at your woman, now back...to me...sadly she isnt me, the man your woman should smell like'. Shortly thereafter, he showed me his boat and revealed had two tickets to a cockfight/dwarf-toss -- which have always been things that I like.

The next thing you know, Jeff Gannon and I were on a horse."

I believe this is ACTUALLY a Cato-Quote

I saw this at TBogg's place, and in-between basset-posts he informed us that naturally Mr. Cannon previously...

...served as a domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee under Chairman Larry E. Craig

Now that I've spent all this energy on the glories of the American Judicial Tradition

It gets pissed on by both parties.

What a glorious moment for political expediency, long-celebrated by history.

Stephen Colbert doing Howard Kurtz AND Clark Hoyt's jobs

Doing to Hannity what O'Keefe did to ACORN...only more accurately:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - James O'Keefe & Sean Hannity
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Osama Sam Adams

If Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol were around in 1770,

- The Redcoats would have been heroes

- And we'd have 24/7 coverage of dangerous "suiciders" like "Al Patriota" No. 3 (and brown man) Crispus Al-Attucks requiring the King to impose all manner of restrictive laws.

Latest murderous suicidal nut job was... a nut job

Yesterday a demented individual opened-fire at the Pentagon. Not because he was against any particular war/liberation of life project but because he was well ... a nut job.

Like many nut jobs he was not a moron, but rather y'know C-R-A-Z-Y!

Let us parse the elements that comprised his dimentia...

1. He was a 9/11 Truther
2. He was a libertarian
3. Hated the Government
4. He loved his marijuana -- too much apparently.

So left or right, who wins this grudge-match of demented grievances? This guy probably would have been in agreement in some things pushed by the Teabaggers or the Baader-Meinhof Gang, though there's no evidence he had association with either group. Just because some elements of his dementia fall within the parameters of other deluded souls doesn't make him a fellow-traveler -- just a crazy one.

How about we call it a draw because sometimes -- often times -- a nut is just a nut.

But I guarantee there's going to be a need to classify this guy as left-wing or right-wing (Mr. Airplane into IRS building got made into right-wing nut 2 out of 3 falls in large part because right-wing assholes like Steve King happily adopted him, but at heart he was just plain nuts).

Jay Walder Haz a Sad

The MTA is crying "Poverty" once again.  All sorts of doomsday cuts in service and fare hikes are planned.  The MTA finds itself faced with a furious riding public.  The mayor is, of course, silent.   The governor, as is known, has his own problems.  That leaves the MTA chairman to go it alone.

Chairman Jay Walder:

“I’m exhausted right now,” Mr. Walder told a group of advocates for passengers at a meeting at the authority’s Midtown headquarters. “I’m feeling it. I’m emotional about it. But I don’t know what the answer is.”

The chairman, speaking in unusually personal terms, described “turning over in bed” as he struggled with a nearly $400 billion budget shortfall that recently ballooned by an additional $378 million.

“If you ask me now, do I know how to close that new $378 million gap, the frank answer is, ‘No, I don’t,’ ” Mr. Walder said. “They’re broke,” he said of the state. “If you believe that somebody will come to the rescue of the M.T.A., I don’t see it today.”

You need answers, Mr. Walder.  I have some:

1. Go to Albany and lobby for the corporate tax rate be increased.
2. Go back to Albany and lobby for state income taxes on those making more than $250,000/year be increased.  While you're there, suggest a substantial tax on bonus income greater than $50,000/year.
3. Go to Albany a third time and lobby for tolls on the East River bridges.

Except that (and this is where I feel for you, Mr. Walder), New York has a governor who is beyond weak, not to mention the most corrupt state legislature in the country.  And so even if you did those things, I'm pretty sure that absolutely nothing would get done until the governor settles his little problem and the legislature is replaced.  Which leaves me feeling almost as hopeless as you.

Coincidentally

A commenter at Firedoglake reminds me that adding to the outrages of Liz Cheney and the rank stupidity of Wolf Blitzer as described below.

Speaking of the high calling of defending the unpopular against the mob of fear, today is the 240th anniversary of the Boston Massacre.

And John Adams would have quite a thing or two to say about Liz Cheney and her cretinous enablers.

Jay Leno enable Republicans?

The only real question from America's Uriah Heep is, again?

I know sound. And it's my opinion that audio portions of Sarah Palin's March 2nd appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight show were added or amplified, edited before broadcast to make it appear that Sarah Palin was more welcome than she was.

I know. I was there.

I personally am generally in favor of Palin being followed along during all public appearances with a laugh-track -- but not in a fictional matter.

Liz Cheney, "mockingbirds are tasty"

Before the United States was ever born, one principle was clear to John Adams, when as a lawyer, he defended British soldiers in the wake of the Boston Massacre:

"The part I took in defense of captain Preston and the soldiers, procured me anxiety, and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country."

And from Adams, to Clarence Darrow, to the Scottsboro Boys to Stephen Jones defense of Timothy McVeigh right through to the latter's execution this has been a time-honored principle of an idyllic America, whether conservative like Adams and Jones, or liberal like Darrow.

But admiration for an Atticus Finch is no match for the visceral stupidity of Wolf Blitzer and the thuggish politics of a Liz Cheney. No, for them, lawyers following the highest principals of the calling are just another bunch of terrorist enablers.

The daily right-wing slant of FoxNews and it's hourly diatribes are, of course, bad enough, and the determination of every news medium to allow right-wing bullshit to be taken seriously rather than laughed at is depressing. But CNN's Situation Room had all the intellectual acumen of 'The Situation' himself yesterday. It's one thing for Blitzer to be bland and dumb -- because he is -- it's another thing to add kerosene to the fires of undermining the best things about our system of government.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Civil Action

This is interesting:

[The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee] was among dozens of nationwide campuses hit with marches, strikes, teach-ins and walkouts in what was billed as the March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education. Organizers said hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and parents were expected to participate in the demonstrations.

The steep economic downturn has forced states to slash funding to K-12 schools, community colleges and universities to cope with plummeting tax revenue while implementing tuition hikes. Schools and colleges could face more severe financial trouble over the next few years as they drain federal stimulus money that temporarily prevented widespread layoffs and classroom cuts.

In Wisconsin, more than 25,000 students have been put on a waiting list after the state's premier financial aid program ran out of money because of increased demand. 

Recently, I told a friend that I thought any serious and/or prolonged civic unrest in the next few years was going to come from students (and, possibly, their parents) as post-secondary education became less and less affordable.   If you look at the differences in the unemployment rate by educational attainment, you can see why.  If budgets and financial aide are slashed to the point where thousands of students are on waiting lists and/or unable to afford to attend college, they're looking at a future that's potentially not-so-rosy.   I might go into the streets, too. 

Update: I see there were some local protests, too.  GO STUDENTS!

Wondering

If at this moment Richard Ravitch and a couple of advisors aren't at Peter Luger discussing possible candidates for the next Lieutenant Governor of New York. 

The Company You Keep

The List:

1. Candy Spelling
2. Niecy Nash
3. Jason Priestly
4. Sarah Palin

Sounds about right.

"John Kerry on Line One"

Let me get this straight:  

You're running for the junior senator spot from your state and the senior senator of your state calls you and you don't call him back?  

Get your shit together, Democrats. 

(Still want to know where Bob Menendez was in all this.)

h/t jdw

Should Have Been Called a "Grifting Suite"

I'd like to thank John McCain once again for unleashing the Palin Grifter Gang on America. Who are these people? It's like they just won the lottery. Seriously. What was McCain thinking? Thanks to this old fart these grifters will be on the media radar for the foreseeable future and I'll be forced to endure terms like "gifting suite".

For dog lovers

Who liked to be told by the MAN what to buy, this is a pretty well-done commercial...all it's missing in the world of awesome commercials is some guy to say "I'm riding a horse" (sorry ladies) -- so yes, it's very awesome.

Prediction

We will soon discover that the moran who let his kids direct air traffic from the control tower at Kennedy had child care issues. Why else would he take his kids to work on two successive days during a school vacation?

We almost got a national program for child care once. Did you know that? Nixon killed it.

How Dumb is Harold Ford?

This dumb.

You should see his Beach House on Fire Island!

Speaking of curiously homophobic people, Rush Limbaugh's New York home is

F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!


Literally, the Cabana Boy Room.

Once again, the Daily Show does Howard Kurtz's job

Someone might want to tell The Putz that FoxNews isn't straight news except for Beck, Hannity and O'Reilly -- because ol' Howie swallows that nonsense whole.

One might even say, he lets them "shove that monster down his throat".

Oh deary, that's a rotten bit of luck...I feel so sorry for you

...because right now I'm laughing my ass off:

Ashburn, a fierce opponent of gay rights, was fighting marriage equality and organizing anti-gay marriage rallies as part of his "Traditional Family Values" campaign. [ed. as a California State Rep.]

But he hit a bump in the road -- figuratively, not literally -- Wednesday at around 2 AM when CHP officers observed him weaving and driving erratically in downtown Sacramento. After a field sobriety test, officers determined that Ashburn, who reeked of alcohol and had bloodshot, watery eyes, was under he influence of alcohol and placed him under arrest. He was released from jail just before 4 AM.

Initial reports only noted the DWI arrest and Ashburn issued a contrite apology on Wednesday. But late this evening, the CBS affiliate in Sacramento reported that "sources" confirmed that Ashburn had left Faces, a gay nightclub in downtown Sacramento, just prior to his arrest.

Beyond Parody

The Killer Whale must be stoned to death says the group that brought "The War on Christmas".

Because no one could have anticipated a "Killer Whale" could have killed somebody so it must have sinned.

Maybe some Villager should ask the following people, all of whom are chummy with this organization why they associate with insane people...other than the obvious answer that they are also insane:

...the AFA is not fringe in terms of influence. There are many powerful GOP lawmakers and leaders who regularly frequent the AFA radio program and AFA events, such as Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Steve King (R-IA), Trenk Franks (R-AZ), Tom Price (R-GA), as well as Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Mike Johanns (R-NE), and Sam Brownback (R-KS).)

Looking at that list, I think insanity applies.

The Grifter Files

Oh Sarah, don't think you can out-bitch Beverly Hills:

Palin and her entourage were seen partaking in one of celebrity's lushest rituals -- the Oscar gifting suite.

While the group was loading up on freebies, the Los Angeles Times reported that, "Palin's middle child, Willow, got her hair styled, receiving a blowout from Erick Orellana of the Chris McMillan Salon (Jennifer Aniston's longtime hairstylist)."

The Times also indicated that Palin was supposed to donate $1,700 along with all of her gift items to the Red Cross, which is currently helping with relief efforts in Haiti and Chile.

But E! Online insists, "we can assure you she did not give up any of her swag." They quote an unnamed vendor who claims that upwards of 20 people from the Palin camp swarmed the event. "They were like locusts," he told the entertainment news outlet.

Correction "they ARE like Locusts"

Priorities

Sean Hannity must be rubbed!

Bachmann has missed more votes than any member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation in the 111th Congress — even after subtracting votes missed when Bachmann left to spend time with an ill family member. Twenty of the 47 remaining votes Bachmann missed occurred on days when the Sixth District Republican had media appearances scheduled.

In the Village, the Idiots are turning on each other

Oh dear, for a couple weeks Dana Milbank and company have been writing pieces of how poor, sweet, innocent Rahm Emanuel cannot get the President to follow Rahm's brilliant post-hoc advice. The Village shook.

And now it shakes back as Matlock himself unleashes Broderian outrage, to impose social order like Sally Quinn defending her crab puffs from Roger Aisles.

Emanuel, who left a leadership post in the House to serve his fellow Chicagoan, Obama, has worked loyally for the president and is not suspected personally by his colleagues of inspiring these Post pieces.

But, as one White House staffer said to me, "Rahm likes to win," and when the losses began to pile up, he probably vented his frustrations to some of his old pals in Congress. It's clear that some of them are talking to the press.

Oh, I'm sure no one would ever "suspect" Rahm of leaking stuff to the press, to make Rahm Emanuel look better, that would be f***ing retarded. It's nice to see passive aggressiveness remains entrenched within the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- for 8 years I missed the passivity.

I will not take sides in a Broder vs. Milbank battle, other than to cheer on the war. But there is a point in Broder's column when you cannot help but utter the statement, "WELL THAT'S RICH":

From too many years of covering politics, I have come to believe as Axiom One that the absolute worst advice politicians ever receive comes from journalists who fancy themselves great campaign strategists.

That Broder, he's the comeback kid.


[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

The Animals Are Reclaiming Their Territory

Wild turkeys and rabid raccoons in Central Park.

Coyotes at Columbia, in Chelsea, and Central Park. 

And now, seals in Staten Island and dolphins in Newtown Creek. 

When do the bears arrive?

Rest in Peace, Al Weisel

Brings back memories of the passing of Steve Gilliard, terrible news.

I don't know how else to tell you all who love this blog. I am Jon Swift's Mom and I guess I'm going to OUT him. He was Al Weisel, my beloved son. Al was on his way to his father's funeral in VA when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis. He had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke. We, his 2 sisters, his brother, his partner and his best friend since he was 9 years old were with him as he took his last breath. We have all lost a shining start who warmed our hearts, tormented us and made us laugh as he giggled at our pulling something over on us. He passed away on February 27, 2010. My beloved child will live on in so many hearts. I miss him more than I can say. If you are on Facebook, go to organizations and join "Friends of Al Weisel, Unite!" It will give you just a taste of how special he was. Farewell, Jon (Al)

And as he was going to his father's funeral. What a terrible tragedy for that family.

For those of you who never read him, here is the Jon Swift blog. He had not posted for more than a year, and it is ironic what the last post was about.

There is also a Facebook page for condolences.

"I'm just adjusting them to keep them Fair & Balanced!"

Dear Fox News, more often than Roger Aisles sees his own.

From the party that analogized "Welfare Queens and their Cadillacs"

Comes Erick disowned son of Erick asserting yet more stories of how to govern by analogy:

I was talking to a golf course owner the other day who has members of his golf course applying for jobs at his golf course that he knows they are not going to do just because they want to keep getting their unemployment benefits and have a little more vacation.

How many GOP stereotypes can you find promulgated in that little odious paragraph of picking on the less fortunate?

I do believe it's a dense slice of Republican life.

These guys have no problem throwing tens of billions on building the F-22 Raptor a jet this country doesn't need and raise hell when it gets canceled, and are all for throwing down $14 billion on a new aircraft carrier when we already have eleven when no one else has even 2 except the UK, and no nation's single carrier can match one tenth the power of a single Nimitz-class ship. But God forbid we don't build the USS Gerald Ford (just don't name one after the Clenis).

But some poor schmuck get a couple hundred bucks a week when they lose their job through no fault of their own, "Well fuck that guy!"

(pic from here)

America, too busy to manufacture actual revolutionaries

Because we're too busy being a smart ass.

You know who didn't have a sense of humor...

Ha Ha Ha, Toyota owners...I DRIVE AN ALTIMA!

Oh shit:

Japan's Nissan Motor said Wednesday it would recall nearly 540,000 vehicles worldwide, most of them in the United States, due to brake pedal defects and faulty fuel gauges.

To be fair, it hasn't reached their sedans yet, but...

Still, could be worse, I'd rather drive a non-breaking car of death than a Sebring.

For Mickey Kaus

I did some work (well, time wasted really) on a parody for the aspiring Senatorial wanker -- to the tune of this, but you know the thing about parodying rap is -- it is a pain in the ass to read because there's such volume to it -- eventually it just gets exposed for the tiresome high-schoolish juvenile awfulness that song parody is. Plus, I'm sure somebody has already done it, and probably better so I'd get accused of plagiarism all at the expense of sucking.

So in summary, just replace "on a boat" with "in a goat" and you've pretty much got it.

The Party of Noh Theatre

The President makes a soggy stop upon the "Broder Ride" ('ride the Mild Broder!'*) at the Village Amusement Park engaged:

President Obama has sent a letter to congressional leaders outlining four GOP ideas from last week's health care summit that he's amenable to including in the reform bill.

The ideas were all rather minor and some were very petty (they were, after all Republican ideas), but there they were, a sop and grist for the mill and something for the mythical bipartisan pony to neigh about.

And how'd it go? -- like you needed to ask:

...no Republicans are likely to vote for the Democratic reforms, regardless of which GOP ideas are added to the legislation. The unsurprising GOP reaction to Obama's letter can be summed up in three words: Scrap the bills.

Ah, the thee-ate-er -- a performance piece. About as entertaining as Sarah Palin doing stand up.


*I'm sorry, I know many of you were too grossed out to continue reading beyond this point.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Thoroughly Inconsequential Stuff that Drives Me Crazy

People, when it comes to buying, selling, and property taxes, it's a "house", not a "home". "Home" is an abstract concept. The value of your house may have declined, but the value of your home is (a) personal to you, and (b) a different thing entirely.

Somewhere, Paul Fussell is smiling...

When I grow up and need to be tough

I hope I can come through like Roger Ebert and his wife.

Spring, Bitches!

At 5:45 AM this morning, the call of a mourning dove woke me up.

He will be out behind my building through mid-July or so.

"He's a Secret Muslim" AND a "Secret Alcoholic" as well as a "Secret Godless Commie!"

"I heard that Tiger Woods guy has hisself a problem -- he's one of them boozifiers".


(pic from here)

We are moving ever closer to "Zombie Reagan" -- the documentary

I'm also waiting for "The Diary of Teenage Werewolf Anne Frank"

Just a thought

If 30,000 readers makes your a candidate for Senator of California...

Shouldn't Kos literally be the Great Orange Satan?

Shouldn't I, via my not quite 2,000 daily readers, be Earl of Des Moines ... or at least the Duke of Earl of Des Moines?

First thing I do, take out Beaverdale! Replace it with 'Inflatable Beaverdale'!!

Dear NY Times -- that's good "Headlinerin'"

Awe, what a shock to the system

I guess he'll just have to be content with getting $2 million a year for doing nothing.

But cheer up, Harold Ford. There are still 48 other states out there. And I admit, I'd vote for you over Mickey Kaus or Jim Bunning.

The Party of giving you 'the bird'

Well, look who is empathetic now.

Bunning said, 'I'm not talking to anybody.' When Wolf asked him to stay and talk to our cameras, Bunning walked toward the elevator and shot the middle finger over his head."

And unlike John Kyl, the rest of us actually know unemployed people...not the imaginary unemployed people of his mind:

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican whip, argued that unemployment benefits dissuade people from job-hunting "because people are being paid even though they're not working."

Unemployment insurance "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work,"

Yeah, unemployment benefits paying you less than a job are AWESOME and everybody that gets them is taking that $250 or so a week and livin' high on the fuckin' hog.

Douchebag.

A Con Queso Dip of Fail

The Villages' self-appointed enforcer returns to the Twitterati-set after a two week layoff, and off-putting self-embarassment, to do a a touchdown dance:



Because SOCIAL secretary of the District is her job, just ask her...or just wait and she'll tell you.

And guess who wants to go to her parties and toss his keys in the bowl with the likes of Dana Milbank and Richard Cohen? No, not Harold Ford -- but the man who allegedly does far more than stare at goats:

Mickey Kaus took out papers filed to run for U.S. Senate in California, he told LA Weekly. The Venice resident said he'll run this year against Barbara Boxer for her seat.

And before you stop laughing...

And in his Kausfiles blog, Kaus has quite the widely-read bully pulpit, with an estimated readership of as many as 30,000 people daily.

Oh, yes, the all powerful 30,000 visitors a day. Surely, he cannot be stopped!

(actual pic from here)

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Who's Patriotic Now?

I don't have a link, but apparently the U.S. vs. Canada hockey game got four or five times the rating the NASCAR race received.

But wait, aren't those people the self-proclaimed greatest patriots on Earth?

Then why weren't you watching Team USA you traitors?

A tale of two adjoining countries

Canada:

The Canada-U.S. men's gold medal hockey game Sunday was the most-watched television broadcast in Canada history — attracting an average audience of 16.6 million viewers, the CTV-Rogers broadcast consortium announced today.

A whopping 80 per cent of the Canadian population — about 26.5 million viewers — watched at least some part of the game

The United States:

The Canada-U.S.A. gold medal hockey game was seen by a huge audience of 27.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched hockey game on American television since the famous U.S. upset over the Soviet Union in 1980.

That's a huge number for a Saturday afternoon in the United States, just huge. But it's about 8 percent of the population.

50 percent surging up to 80 percent vs. 8 percent* ... that's how much it meant to Canada.


(*note that 8 percent is about 18 rating tuned to the game)

I don't know if any event other than 9/11, the first moon landing, or the Kennedy Assassination had 80% viewership...and, of course, that was spread out amongst several channels, even amongst the older events.

Shitty Messaging, Media sympathy for the Right -- a little of both?

Republicans have already smashed the all-time filibuster record and filed it more since Obama became President than were staged between the First World War and the Moon Landing cumulatively.

That includes it's use on civil rights laws, the central topic that the filibuster was used in that era, it was rarely used otherwise.

Not that the media makes much of it -- though with occasional exceptions I don't see the Democrats or the Administration repeatedly bashing them over the head with the topic.

But when the Democrats used it in 2005-2006, I remember it discussed ad nauseam -- hence the "nuclear option" talk of blowing up the filibuster over a refusal to allow a couple of judicial appointments to come to the floor.

Suddenly, the demand of an up or down vote is the height of un-democratic behavior.

And in the guise of "Terry Baker" ye' shall knoweth him

Not to go all Pat Robertson, but Tim Tebow's 3-cone drill number, sayeth I, is the mark of the beast!

Shatner was awesome

A truly inspired match for inflatable beavers.

But I have to say, though Neil Young was great, I missed the presence of Rush or Loverboy (though they did have Loverboy's natural descendants Nickelback).

In like a Lyin'

Certain Republican Senators have decided to be an asshole and depriving over a million Americans of unemployment benefits starting today. Thank goodness their actions are ignored on the Sunday Chat Shows. That way we can focus on the important things like allowing "President" McCain to reinvent history a couple times a month or White House social secretaries.

Meanwhile, David Sirota, notices something particularly ominous and never challenged (other than by us filthy bloggers of course) from the likes of Glenn Beck:

Beck taught us that a once-principled conservative movement of reasoned activists has turned into a mob -- one that does not engage in civilized battles of ideas. Instead, these torch-carriers, gun-brandishers and tea partiers follow an anti-government terrorist attack by cheering a demagogue's demand for the physical annihilation of those with whom he disagrees -- namely anyone, but particularly progressives, who value "community."

Former FDL contributor David Neiwert recognizes such notions:

It often further depicts its designated Enemy as vermin (especially rats and cockroaches) or diseases, and disease-like cancers on the body politic. A close corollary—but not as nakedly eliminationist—are claims that opponents are traitors or criminals and that they pose a threat to our national security.

Replace 'progressive' in Beck's rants with 'Jew' and you recognize the portent.

Just imagine if Obama really governed as a progressive.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]