So, when does the Administration declare this a win?

All part of their "secret" islamic/socialist agenda...doing nothing and letting Judges do their work for them?

A federal judge in California said Thursday that the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members violates the Constitution, the most recent in a string of court rulings overturning restrictions on the rights of the country's gay men and lesbians.

U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips said the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is a violation of due process and First Amendment rights. Instead of being necessary for military readiness, she said, the policy has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services.

Profile in courage it isn't.

Sucked me back in...

Damn you Vikings, by not getting crushed by 20 points or more, you've sucked me back in.

On to choking in the playoffs again.

Tony Blair double plagiarist

So Tony Blair, having claimed never to have seen the movie "The Queen" manages to include a completely fictionalized scene from the movie in his memoir.

Stealing scenes from the movies and thinking they actually happened, just like Reagan.

Freedom really isn't free

And douchebaggery is EXTRA-profitable.

There is only one thing left to do

Congratulations Geller-nauts, you have managed to go full apeshit...again.

A group led by the father of a Flight 93 victim will be running full-page ads this Friday and Saturday in a Shanksville-area newspaper, criticizing the perceived Islamic symbol it sees in the memorial's Field of Honor — the dirt circle in the top picture that resembles a topographical map.

You know what else is going to be in the shape of the Islamic Crescent on 9/11?

The Moon:



So truly, there is only one thing left to do in regard to this terrorist-sympathizing inanimate object.



To not blow up the moon would offend the sympathies of all those affected by 9/11, especially the ones who are complete assholes.

What Digby said...

As always sums things up summarily about the irony of half-hearted denunciations of book burning:

Boehner basically defines religious tolerance as not inflaming passions on both sides. What that means in practice is that Christians shouldn't burn Korans and Muslims shouldn't build mosques. Can we see what's wrong with that picture?

Totally what the world demands

I've written about this before, but the reality gets ever more unintentionally hilarious:

Actor Kelsey Grammer is an investor and public face supporting a new network that launched Wednesday with entertainment designed to appeal to political conservatives.

Good timing, of course. Kelsey doesn't have a show yet, but you can just see his coming show on Family Values:

"Frasier" and now Broadway Star Kelsey Grammar may have a very urgent reason to force his third wife, " Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Camille Donatacci Grammer to the mediation table. The New York Post broke the story that he has a new younger girlfriend who is pregnant with his child.

Or maybe he can just teach people how to drive?

Our Liberal Media, part infinity...

In a post at Salon, 9/11 widow Alissa Torres relates her feelings on the "not-Mosque not-at-Ground Zero" matter -- and in a movingly written post reveals she's not only not opposed, she favors it. As do many others, not that you ever hear much about that.

She also makes the most relevant statement I've seen on the issue, from the point of personal experience:

...here is what's been lost in this Park51 controversy: We are not experts, we are victims. We deserve to speak up, we need to speak up to acknowledge the pain and suffering, but we were never meant to be leaders in a national debate.

Torres discusses how as a 9/11 victim she belongs to a list-serv maintained for some 5,000 survivors. Back in May 2010, this is how those 5,000 were approached by a reporter on the Park51 project, which started this whole business:

"I'm doing story today about the proposed mosque project at the WTC site. I am interviewing the developers but I am also trying to look for family members who think building a mosque at the site is a bad idea."

So fair, so balanced, so to be ignored by a Howard Kurtz.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Hey look it's the new cast of "Dr. No"

And there will be very much vomit.

Yeah, that's about right

From the Onion:

If you are in the LA area this weekend

You could do worse than go see a large group of blue whales.

Rather, unreported

Well look here:

Republicans and Democrats are tied at 46% among registered voters in Gallup's weekly tracking of congressional voting preferences, marking a shift after five consecutive weeks in which the Republicans held the advantage.

I have no idea what that means.

Although, once again I shudder at the thought of how much the GOP would be winning by if they considered running with sanity?

Now they're unstoppable

I await without much enthusiasm the start of the NFL season (don't know why, perhaps I just think my team is going to have a bad year of unending talk radio laughter -- that's right after 50 seasons I've figured out how it always goes for the Vikings).

But at least in the other football, the one played with the y'know, feet, we have real news stories:

Scotland 2-1 Liechtenstein

and

Republic of Ireland 3-1 Andorra

I don't know how these One-Half and Three-Quarters of a nation (hah, Ireland and Scotland jokes not involving Guinness and Haggis, suck on that one Jon Stewart!) were able to overcome two such powerhouses with a combined population of less than 120,000 people (look it up, Wikipedia never lies!).

The perfect lead in for Sarah Palin's "Reality" show

We interrupt this lengthy and never ending factual-indictment of modern American politics for the truly important news.

Facing criticism that the cable-network once known as "The Learning Channel" had become too dependent on shows about human termite-queens, "little people", and people so intelligent they still didn't know they were pregnant after giving birth, "TLC" has tried it's best to class up the joint.

No, not Sarah Palin's Alaska.

But this, something of a natural pairing with Palin's show, and something she and Glenn Beck can watch together:



Or as it's known at TLC, the other show about "hoarders" -- um, that isn't about Kate Gosselin, the Duggars, or called "The Little Hoarders".

If TLC is able to finding some height-challenged, tattoo-addicted, Mormon-polygamist sect that doesn't know how its very many babies were made, we can finally see who gets raptured around this country.

And now back to your local cross Quran burning, unleash "U.S.A.!" chant.

Justice in 'Murica

The (W)reckoning!

In the deep south it is now okay (actually "still" okay) for a black man to repeatedly be denied promotion and get called "boy" by the decision-makers -- repeatedly over several years -- and have it not be considered relevant evidence of racial animus.

Great Idea -- let's not talk about it

I'm glad Obama finally came out for spending money on infrastructure. But, as this has been pretty much what Atrios and Paul Krugman have been calling for since, well pretty much forever (and they want more spent -- and they are, of course, right), there's no credit for the idea and the timing is late.

Nevertheless, better late than never. Sadly though, John Cole is probably right, the merits and they are plentiful will NEVER EVER be fucking discussed by our awesome press corps.

The same press corps that can never seem to mention how many hundred billion the latest war supplemental is for, will go on and on about how we cannot afford to spend $50 billion on anything that doesn't involve border fences or blowing up brown people.

How Shocking

Tony Blair is still pretending to be a politician of the leftest persuasion and thinks Robert Gibbs is exactly right and the base should never criticize DEAR LEADER ever.

Because that's how an elitist thinks democracy is supposed to work.

Bad Bye

Oh, our ever balanced and temperate Bizarro World of the right-wing. I don't even want to contemplate the parade of bigoted-douchebags that will be on display in Manhattan this coming Saturday, but undoubtedly it will inspired by the same line of idiocy happening in Gainesville, Florida with "Burn a Koran Day".

Not surprisingly, these idiots rare display of originality in burning something other than a cross will have a nasty side effect of getting Americans killed in other places.

Meanwhile, it seems to me that for a "secret Muslim" the President has no problem coupling a professed respect for Islam with a propensity for lobbing a predator missile into the occasional Afghani funeral or banquet. But we cannot even have temperate language now can we?

Chris Wallace: Obama’s ‘Heart Isn’t Really Into Winning The War On Terror’

(pic via Ben Northern at Flickr.com)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Happy Labor Day

To those few of you still employed.

Happy SSDI and Social Security Check Day to all you teapartiers, or as it is otherwise known, this Wednesday.

There's only one thing left to do...

And that's sign him up with TLC:

Nino has just been officially certified as the world's shortest living man by Guinness World Records, measuring 27 inches (70 centimeters).

As I read the Sunday lineups I was getting worried

But like herpes, it keeps managing to come back.

Fox News Sunday: Sen. John McCain, (R-AZ). Tim Kaine, Chairman, Democratic National Committee. Fox News AllStars: Stephen Hayes, Mara Liasson, Chris Stirewalt, Fox News Digital Politics Editor, Juan Williams.

NBC’s Meet The Press: Afghanistan, Middle East, the economy. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). David Plouffe. Roundtable: Erin Burnett, Charlie Cook, E.J. Dionne, Rich Lowry.

Ooh, Lindsey Graham too! So not just Herpes, but a nasty case of Chlamydia as well.

By the Pat Robertson Index

I guess now that Earl deflated into a mere rainstorm, God decided that the Northeast and it's liberal, non-homophobic, elites are doing just fine.

What Booman said...

Every August it always goes the same way, the Republicans latch on to some crazy talking point, it gets amplified by FoxNews, some timid barely Dems cower. Blather, rinse, repeat.

To paraphrase Mark Twain:

A Republican Lie goes around the world, while a Democrat is still putting on their shoes.

You're Welcome Iraq

Surely, we've put the imprint of our culture on Iraq, including our affinity for terrible reality shows and horrendously bad taste:

In Iraq, a reality show puts fake bombs in celebrities' cars, then tricks them into believing they're going to prison for terrorism once they're "discovered" at security checkpoints.

The show, "Put Him in Camp Bucca," has been on the air since the start of Ramadan, according to the New York Times' At War blog, and has since generated lots of criticism from Iraqi newspapers, mainly because it hits so close to home and is also a horrible idea.

Still, sounds better than Leno.

Reefer Blandness

Hardly a surprise:

Whether teenagers who smoked pot will use other illicit drugs as young adults has more to do with life factors such as employment status and stress, according to the new research. In fact, the strongest predictor of whether someone will use other illicit drugs is their race/ethnicity, not whether they ever used marijuana.

The "gateway drug" theory was always laughable for any of us that have grown up with common illicit and casual use of pot. The whole reason it's used by so many American (and other western) kids is that it is just one step up from Cigarettes, a small upward dose of rebellion and commonality -- but not too much rebellion.

It certainly doesn't make you want to take heroin, cocaine or meth. I'd bet alcohol abuse leads to a hell of a lot more of that than pot.

Of course, for me personally, the feeling of inhaling any kind of smoke is off-putting so it's a vice I never had much trouble with.

fez tip Watertiger.

College Football started

How many violations of the rules did Lane Kiffin commit last night?

And so it always goes...

As Alan Simpson is allowed to tell Vets and Seniors to just die already -- and nothing happens (somewhere Shirley Sherrod is shaking her head silently) another recent nightmare of non-accountability raises its head.

Bush-Era Iraq War Architects Emerge To Demand ‘Credit’ For Iraq War ‘Success’

And so it always goes. Jean Juares lies all but forgotten in his grave, shot for trying to prevent World War I, Philippe Petain leads men by the millions to the slaughter, becomes a hero and lives on to eventually betray his country.

And so it always goes...

The men of the Iraq War send others off to disaster, tens of thousands of lives and trillions in dollars later they draw their think-tank paychecks and demand you thank them.

And so it always goes...

As a new documentary makes clear, the men who made Pat Tillman a propaganda tool, sit unpunished and feted despite their lies. Tillman lies dead, like Jean Juares. It is for "only" certain of the living to take advantage.

And so it always goes...



[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Message Received

Hey. House Dems got my message.

Well done!

xxx...res

I feel kind of bad...

Reading this, I think "America" has touched Tony Blair repeatedly...and certainly inappropriately.

Don't sit on Uncle Sam's lap Tony.

Who could not have anticipated

That Meghan "I've earned it all on merit" McCain's campaign bio would be a glory-hole of self-entitlement and vapidity filled with details of petty crimes and other's sloppy seconds?

Honor Restored

Glenn Beck lovers begin process of editing First Amendment.

Via Jezebel (don't read story about Ken Doll -- I'm telling you DO NOT read story about the Ken Doll).

That's nice

Michael Bey is offering $50,000 for information about an animal abuser.

However, he is not offering any kind of compensation for Transformers 2, especially for the scene featuring a robot's balls.

You stay classy

If there's one thing I don't want this blog to become (other than well-written, humorous and insightful of course, but that's not so much don't want, as not capable of being as long as I'm writing here) it's a liberal version of Michelle Malkin's analogy shitfest. "Oh look a liberal did this, therefore all liberals do this". Besides, I'm not an anchor baby so there.

But this pattern is getting ever more disturbing and the Right has to take some ownership of these fuckwads:

A group of teenagers in western New York has been accused of harassing members of a mosque by yelling obscenities and insults during evening prayers for Ramadan, sideswiping a worshiper with a vehicle and firing a shotgun outside, the authorities said Tuesday.

They're fucking over everybody

AmericaBlog makes a very salient point on the Koch Brothers. Not only do they fund -- and successfully control the political agenda from the Right, but they manage to emasculate the left too:

One member of the DLC's executive council is none other than Koch Industries, the privately held, Kansas-based oil company whose namesake family members are avatars of the far right, having helped to found archconservative institutions like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Not only that, but two Koch executives, Richard Fink and Robert P. Hall III, are listed as members of the board of trustees and the event committee, respectively--meaning that they gave significantly more than $25,000.

And thanks to the Supreme Court in Citizens United, it is only going to get worse.

Follow the Money

Did you all read the Jane Mayer's New Yorker article about the founders and funders of the Koch Tea Party?

And yeah, they should be known as the Koch Party going forward.

Soon they'll be playing him on to "CC Rider"

Because the Popenfaust is starting to dress like Elvis...when the red shoes start getting zippers the transformation will be complete.


Image via AP

Being punished for highly edited statements

Is for the little people, and Democrats, especially black Democrats like Shirley Sherrod or Van Jones.

But an old white guy from a true 'murican state like Wyoming?

What's the problem?

Behold the latest nugget from Alan Simpson:

All those Iraq war vets had better shape up or ship out too. We can’t afford to keep supporting people with brain injuries and lost limbs forever. Get a job or be a man and relieve us of the burden of your care. (Oh right, there are no jobs. Well then I guess the decision’s been made, hasn’t it?)

Seriously, if poor, old, and sick people across the board would just do the right thing and die, we could reform the hell out all the “entitlements.” Their selfishness is really brings down the country.

Seriously, it took the Administration like 3.3 seconds to fire Sherrod over something she didn't actually say, yet Alan Simpson gets a free pass from them...and everyone else in the village.

Indirectly correct

Shorter Focus on the Family:

Being anti-bully is being pro-gay.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT....

Letting your son get a good long look at your "manly" full-grown penis is completely AWESOME!!!

Oh your statistics and facts

About how being bigots against all Muslims actually aids terrorist networks.

P'shaw! If there's one thing Americans do well, like every democratic republic, it's scapegoating! (See various periods of French, British, Italian and, of course, German, history). And dammit, Muslims are but a small break from the present war on Hispanics, so just lie back and enjoy the "freedom".

“Where’s my victory parade?”

Though it was hardly inspirational -- in that it wasn't buttressed by Friedman Units -- Obama's speech last night was at least accurate in that, unlike many political speeches, it alluded to a small bit of honesty (amongst the rest of the detritus) in not declaring victory. And AP's Holly Bailey was not amused!

How do you mark the milestone of a campaign promise fulfilled when what has happened in Iraq isn't exactly "mission accomplished"? It was an obstacle that Obama never quite overcame in his 18-minute speech, which was remarkably disjointed for a president well known for his eloquence.

There's no good way to justify a gigantic fuck-up Holly (see this space in about one-year for Afghanistan...and that's being optimistic). Though apparently Ms. Bailey isn't able to grasp reality in nearby paragraphs, after noting Iraq is still not at all safe, nor stable, she makes sure to get in the fiction she's supposed to dispense:

He did not mention he opposed the 2007 troop surge that was widely credited for turning the Iraq effort around.

Does anyone proofread at the AP? -- never mind, they don't care. Here's a clue Holly, ethnic cleansing was the mission of the insurgency and that mission was accomplished by then. I guess they just forgot to rent an Aircraft Carrier to let you know.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

That's JUSTICE Ginsburg!

Best thing I've read today: Dahlia Lithwick on the real mama grizzly.

Only fitting

That if you name a Hurricane "Earl" it heads for North Carolina, it probably is going to get to Category "Dale Earnhardt".

I'd start preparing for next year's Hurricane "Buford" right now Alabama.

If they gave her a Slinky it'd BLOW her mind!!!

The truth inheritor of Bush II's shiny-object fixation:

Palin, who was due to speak at the university in June, has “more demands than an opera diva when she hits the road,” as the New York Post put it. It revealed Palin requires a chauffeured black SUV to get her to and from the airport, first class airfare or a private jet, a pre-approved “deluxe hotel” suite, and two bottles of water placed next to the lectern with “bendable straws.”

The non-regulatory state

Or, as happens, when one company has both parties in it's pocket...

"ATLAS BARFED!"

Investigators began examining conditions at the Wright County operation Aug. 12, the day before the company issued its first recall. Inspectors completed their work at that facility Aug. 30, according to documents released by the FDA.

They found:

•Barns with dozens of holes chewed by rodents that mice, insects and wild birds used to enter and live inside the barns;

•Flies on and around the egg belts and hen feeders;

•Manure built up in 4- to 8-foot-tall piles in pits below the hen houses, in such quantities that it pushed pit doors open, allowing rodents and other wild animals access to hen houses;

•Dozens of hens, which had escaped their cages, roaming freely, tracking manure from the pit to other caged parts of the barns;

•Hen houses with significant structural damage and improper air ventilation systems.

Investigators checked out the Hillandale site Aug. 19-26. Their tests of spent water from an egg wash station came up positive for salmonella, although it was not clear whether that contaminated water had been used to clean eggs, an FDA official said.

How does it get this bad?

Many of the eggs consumers eat are being produced by a shrinking number of farmers. There are 192 large commercial egg producers in the U.S. that control 95% of all the laying hens, compared with 2,500 in 1987

And Iowa, by far, the nation's largest producer of eggs, naturally has this element...

Iowa has far fewer rules regarding regular inspections of either farm or feed operations. That, along with cheaper land, feed and energy costs, explains why much of the nation's cheapest eggs are being produced in the Hawkeye State, food safety experts and industry critics say.

And again, while the "regulation-free" state is the masturbatory dream of the GOP, the money from the DeCosters goes into both parties pockets...

In Iowa on Monday, state Atty. Gen. Tom Miller agreed to return a $10,000 campaign contribution from Peter DeCoster, Austin DeCoster's son, made in 2005, after he was criticized by his Republican opponent.

And naturally, what lessons do conservatives draw from this disgusting and shameful incident?

Look no further than the comments:

BobTheduck at 2:22 AM August 31, 2010

As with most other food products, if you check the people who perform the work that ws not done correctly (cleaning) you will find illegal aliens NOT doing their job.

Douche-chay

This works on one-level, the only dimension either gentlemen is capable of thinking...

Gingrich:

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.

Mussolini:

There will be a mosque in Rome, the Fascist ruler said, only when a Roman Catholic church is permitted in Mecca.

fez tip, Commenter Omen.

The Shrugged Shoulders

Funny how the the White House, which ran a rather impeccable election campaign in 2008 seems to not really even care, or shrugs its collective shoulders, over the 2010 election.

Looking at the latest Gallup latest ballot polling there appears to be a point where the generic numbers really changed in favor of the Republicans. Somewhere around mid-August. Wonder what happened then?

Oh, yeah...

Speaking publicly for the first time since he disparaged the "professional left," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he stands by his comments, has no plans to resign and that he fully expects progressive voters to go to the polls in 2010.

And how is "Beltway Bob" doing on the prediction front?

The newest Gallup numbers show Republicans with a staggering 25% advantage in voter enthusiasm.

I'm sure there is some eleventy-dimensional chess move sure to come. For example, Gibbs will soon announce that Obama has cut the budget deficit by having the Government sign an endorsement deal with Purina Brands. Ladies and Gentlemen, say hello to the "Friskies Debt Commission".

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Can't Buy You Love

But there's a whole host of other things money can buy.

Polling Place

So I received a card in the mail today: my polling place has been moved (yet again). It used to be down the street. Then it was around the corner. Now it's totally out of the damned way -- at least a half-mile from here and in the middle of nowhere.

Not sure who's in charge at the Board of Elections, but if I wasn't so sure that this was related to (still more) budget cuts, I'd wonder if someone didn't want me to vote.

Notes to the Cell Phone Blabber Sitting Next to Me at the Manicure Place

Three Things:

1. I'm pretty sure you have a duty of confidentiality to that celeb client you mentioned over and over and over again.
2. Bleating into a cell phone is not "taking time for yourself".
3. You're loud and dull.

xxx...res

The "Bring Back Marian Anderson" Double-Face Palm

You never know when it will turn up...again.

I hath offended thee

There's nothing I enjoy more than writing a post full of sarcasm and/or attempted comedy and I get this...

Well, I take some time off and I miss the latest boring rally for 87,000 people with the body mass of 174,000.

Fat. The last socially acceptable prejudice? I found your opening to be irrelevant and offensive. I’m a liberal, but I ain’t thin. Michael Moore isn’t exactly thin. Dibgy at Hullabaloo has some curves too.

Hmmmm, I’m guessing far more Christians don’t recognize, among other of Beck’s beliefs, that Jesus came to North America for a Farewell Tour.

Good old religious sectarian squabbles. Let’s see if we can’t drum some up! Wonderful stuff.

I do hope this person doesn't get too offended as I noted later...

Au contraire, as a weight-blessed ‘Murican I reserve the right to a glass house. However, in this same post I also make fun of Mormons, the Cardinals, NASCAR fans…oh, and Nazis.

I’m sure if you check back in the next few weeks, I’ll be mocking Republicans, Zima, and invoking images of John McCain using a clamshell filled with bees to shave (ala Fred Flinstone) — because he’s really, really old.

Quick Question

If Beck thinks he is the inheritor of the legacy of Martin Luther King, shouldn’t we judge him by the content of his character?

And isn’t that character wanting?

Can no one ask this asshole an obvious question

Pasty Anti-MLK Glenn Beck faces a rousing course of non-questions from FoxNews Sunday and his latest hilarious assertion:

Beck: Obama's comments on his Christian faith are "not something that most Christians recognize"

Guess what dumbshit? most Christians don't recognize that Jesus came to North America during the Farewell Tour, which is just one of the things you believe as a Mormon.

Dear Mr. Beck, please complete a sentence using these three words, if you are going to call others religious eccentrics...

"Mountain", "Meadows" and "Massacre".

In the land of Ernest T. Bass, Esq.

Tolerance harder for some in Tennessee to practice, than it is for them to spell, which is really saying something.

Sheriff's deputies are investigating a complaint about shots being fired Sunday afternoon near the construction site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The report came just hours after a fire of suspicious nature damaged construction equipment at the site.

A group of congregation members was at the site looking at the damage done to construction equipment by the fire overnight when they heard nine shots fired from two directions.

Those weren't rally caps

Well, I take some time off and I miss the latest boring rally for 87,000 people with the body mass of 174,000. Say what you will about Nuremberg n the 1930s, but those people did basic cardio (it was all the putsching and pogroming).

It was interesting that Beck picked the Anniversary of the “I have a Dream Speech” and then hid the Lincoln Memorial from spectators so they could more easily reflect in his pasty countenance. I now realize it wasn’t just to give affront to the meaning of the day – it was also scheduled for this weekend because NASCAR Sprint Series took had no race planned.

However, what I understand to be amongst the most bizarre aspects of white people “Reclaiming Civil Rights Day" was one of two members of the St. Louis Cardinals taking the time to give the other an award for Celestial Awesomeness, or staying off the list of PED users or something.
Continuing the legacy of the Cardinals and the Civil Rights Movement:

When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, there had reportedly been sentiment among some Cardinals players that the team go on strike rather than face Robinson.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Summer

After a nice little interlude it's hot again here, but it's fake-hot. Ninety-three degrees on August 29th is not ninety-three degrees on July 3rd, which sucks utterly. The sun's not high enough in the sky to make the heat a real nuisance, and I don't dread this week, which promises 90F+ every day, like I would if it were the second week in July.

Still, just did a few errands outside and everyone in the streets looks weird and/or decrepit. It's as though, as watertiger said, everyone is shedding their summer skins.

Client 9 Taught Me Never to Fall in Love with a Politician Again

So I'm no where near as "Rah! Rah!" about Andrew Cuomo for governor of my perennially-dysfunctional state as I was about The Sheriff of Wall Street. Still, I like this NY Daily News endorsement of Cuomo. And yes, Rick Lazio and the idiotic Carl Palladino have been that awful.

And His Point Is ... ?

A fashion-forward attendee at Glen Beck's I Have a Scheme rally.

By the way, "Mauitania" is due northwest of "Bukina Fatso".

Feminists: I Must Have Have Missed All Your Arguments Regarding Men and Skinny Jeans

You feminists, always with your fashion dictates and your messing up of our menfolk!

Your powers are mighty!

/via Gawker

Dear New Jersey:

Greenwaldesque updates below!

Remember all of you who told me that you were voting for third-party candidate Chris Daggett because you just couldn't bring yourself to vote for John Corzine?

Looks like that was a $400 million Dollar mistake.

At least you've got "accountability" now.

xxx...res

Update: The GC makes a good point when he asks, "Shouldn't Christie fire himself?" Now that would be accountability.

Update: Wow. This is funny. And The GC chimes in again, "Maybe [Schundler] should just repackage his mortgage as a derivative, as he did with Jersey City’s debt. That was his claim to fame after all; he was a pioneer in securitizing municipal debt as a means of “balancing” the city budget."

Run Like Hell

 

(Photo by Jose Luis Magana, AP)

Run Like Hell.

You better make your face up in
Your favorite disguise
With your button down lips
And your roller blind eyes
With your empty smile
And your hungry heart
Feel the bile rising from your guilty past
With your nerves in tatters
As the cockle shell shatters
And the hammers butter
Down your door
You better run
You better run all day
And run all night

(“Run Like Hell”, lyrics by Roger Waters, The Wall)

"Thank you for everything"

So where have I been?

Well, there's no amount of eloquence I can sum up to fully describe her, so it will have to be this...


"Your mother wanted me to call you and tell you to be careful of bedbugs", my dad told me. She could no longer speak at length and it was the last piece of advice, in a lifetime of advice -- some trivial, some profound -- she ever gave me -- albeit by proxy.

Though it wasn't the last thing she actually said to me. That was "I love you."

And when I finally arrived, five minutes before she died -- or let herself die -- I thanked her for everything and said the last thing she ever heard from me, "I love you."




And do be careful of bedbugs.

There's a Reason I've Always Hated HuffPo

Good grief.

A Message From One of the Lesser People

Dear Dems,

If you vote to cut Social Security benefits and/or raise the retirement age (or if you sign legislation to that effect, Mister President), I will never vote for another Democrat ever again.

If you think I'm kidding, bullshitting, and/or trash talking, try me.

xxx...res

P.S. I'm okay with you raising the cap. :-)

We Shall Soon Return to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hegemaniacs,

A few of you have written (to me and in comments) wondering about the whereabouts of our beloved Mister Turk.

Rest assured that he will return shortly, just as soon as he finishes tending to some all-important fez-related program activities.

Thank you for your patience.

xxx...res

Query

How do we all feel about Ken Mehlman's big gay coming out party?

Do we feel any different when we consider that Ken helped organize and operate the most homophobic presidential campaign in history?

Labor Icon finally getting his Due

Labor union legend Staughton Lynd is getting more serious attention now at 80, then at any other time of his life.  Duing a time of neoliberal hubris and all out attack on the middle and working classes, we have the release of  not just one book about Lynd but three.  And many commentators realize that these discussions of meaningful community action and social justice could not have been published at a more critical time.

Forty-six years ago, during the tumultuous summer of 1964, Lynd was invited to coordinate the Freedom Schools established in Mississippi by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The schools were an integral part of the Herculean effort to end apartheid in the United States and became models for alternative schools everywhere.

That August, Lynd stood with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the Democratic Party convention. Led by Fannie Lou Hamer, the M.F.D.P. had earned the right to represent their state with their blood and their remarkable courage….

In early 1965, Lynd spoke at Carnegie Hall in one of the first events organized in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Vietnam. A short time later, Students for a Democratic Society asked him to chair the first national demonstration against the war, where he was again a keynote speaker. That April 17, a crowd of 25,000 that was five times larger than even the most optimistic organizers had anticipated turned out in Washington, and what would become the largest anti-war movement in U.S. history was born.

That summer, Lynd helped organize the Assembly of Unrepresented People at which peace with the people of Vietnam was declared. It proved prophetic, for in a few shorts years, a majority of people in the U.S. had declared peace with Vietnam.

Lynd would continue as one of the seminal figures of the 1960's. He was both a tireless organizer and the author of numerous articles in important movement publications like Liberation, Radical America and Studies on the Left. With co-author Michael Ferber, he documented the movement against the military draft in The Resistance, one of the best books about Sixties organizing.

With the need for revitalization of community and social activism, these books remind us of not only what we are fighting for but that it is possible to win.

Question for the Evening

Let us play the twilight zone game:  If you could remove one Republican member of Congress and thus change American politics, who would you eliminate from politics?  Extra points for explaining your reasoning.  Winners will receive an imaginary Fez delivered by the Ghost of Politics past.

When did the GOP become Grownups?

For the record, when did Republicans become the party of careful  fiscal responsibility?  (see expanded spending under Reagan, Bush I, Bush II)

John Boehner thinks he knows what constitutes being a “grownup?” Sorry Johnny Tan-lately but being an adult normally means using words like, well… adult.

See my big boy grown up face and stuff…

New York, NY: We're (Not Even Close to) Number One!

Congratulations, Cincinnati!

Question for this morning

What bizarre and just shake your head and do a double take statement will the right-wingers make on Faux News this morning?

Here are our guesses:

1. Sarah Palin will tell America that the Democrats better look out for the “Mama Wolverines” – lipstick and claws will become their battle cry.

2. An oil industry consultant will discuss how Barak Obama is the reason for the BP Oil spill because he secretly planted an explosive device.  There will be many charts, graphs, and displays which “will demonstrate how Obama could have accomplished this very simple act.”  The conclusion of the show will feature a re-enactment of how they believed this happened.

3. Bill O’ will attack the rabid scourge of environmental bunny slippers.

4. On Fox and Friends, the Friends will wonder whatever happened to Al Franken’s “funny bone”?  Because after all, he as supposed to bring the fun back to the senate.

5. A member of the Reagan family will show up on Huckabee and decry the liberal state of the GOP.  They will both talk about how so many members of the Republican party are just “too damn liberal.”

6. A concerned group of Tea Baggers will show up on air waving home-made ‘Merican flags and will bring tea kettles to the hosts because we all know that kettles are as American as apple pie, fully automatic assault rifles,  and anti-Obama outrage.

7.  Some financial company CEOs will appear on the network decrying the vicious coverage of the liberal media on the financial crisis.  The discussion will center on how wrong the media has it when they focus on the “irresponsibility” of these very caring and responsible money managers.  At one point, one of the CEOs will break down and talk about how he can no longer afford to jet over to Europe to buy expensive luxury cars.

8. All of the above?

What do you think will happen?

Which is Worse?

Re-electing Charlie Rangel -- or not re-electing Charlie Rangel? If I knew the latter option would result in a Congressman Tasini, I'd be pleased. But I think the actual result would be Congressman Powell, as in Adam Clayton IV, and political pedigree notwithstanding, I doubt that would prove much in the way of progress.

So I ask you again, which is worse: Rangel or not-Rangel?

Short Asshat Doughboy

Racism leads to assimilation and Muslims in the ol’ U.S. of A. are splitting ‘Merica, so they suck as citizens.

Oh dear Douthat…  xenophobia is as xenophobia does.

Read Meerpol’s excellent evisceration of this awful racist, xenophobic crap. 

Odd Moment that made me smile

Standing in the checkout line tonight, I was forced to listen to two angry tea baggers talk about how angry and disrespected they felt because there was no one at their “important” anti-Obama rally today.

Aw, bummer.

But will Johnny McCain read it?

A great read about Nativism, immigration, and more by venerable labor historian, Eric Foner.  Here is a clip:

Adopted as part of the effort to purge the nation of the legacy of slavery, birthright citizenship remains an eloquent statement about the nature of our society and a powerful force for immigrant assimilation. In a world where most countries limit access to citizenship via ethnicity, culture or religion, it sets our nation apart.

Or at least, we used to recognize citizenship as stemming from more than ethnicity.  Today, not so much. 

Here comes the Gerrymandering

As the media keep beating the drums of this supposed GOP take over, we have to wonder whether the head in the oven response that any thinking person will have to the pronouncement of "Speaker of the House,  John Boehner" will be covered as much as “GOP loses demoralize party faithful.”

But while the discussions have focused on useless labels,  and political slogans (such as ‘Mama Grizzlies’ anyone?) we are overlooking the gerrymandering that is scheduled to occur this next political cycle in 2011. 

The long-lasting consequences of the upcoming elections for the Census-based redrawing of the political geography has gone largely unnoticed by the media talking heads.  We need to take a step back and consider the implications of local and state elections for the future control of state legislatures.  And with the media focusing on Tea Bagging, raging bears, and Sarah Palin’s holy anointments, can we expect any real discussion of the inevitable redistricting?

Yeah, I am not going to hold my breath either.

Oh, Hell's Bells

I hate it when I have to agree with, heap even a tiny bit of praise upon, and/or link to Joe Scarborough.

(Is that audio out of sync, does Joe have a cold, or what?)

(Warning: Harold Ford and Mark Halperin are there, too, and there's the requisite bit of "both sides do it!" BS, too.)

Ok, the world is strange

I am just curious about something.  If all of the media outlets assume that the Democrats are going to lose and lose big in a super smashing utterly devastating soul crushing way without any possible hope of a smidge of dignity because the public is so angry about the economy:

Why do they never mention that Bush created this stupendous clusterfuck?!

Just asking.

I Know You Are Experiencing Attaturk Withdrawl

No idea where the gentleman's got off to, friends. In the meantime, you'll just have to content yourselves with little old me. Couple of things ...

This will make you sick. Remember that in addition to the Republicans' Thirty Years War on the economy, the BP spill, the anti-not-a-mosque maniacs, the Blue Dogs, two wars, the lying shitbags at Fox and their despicable friends, Larry Summers and the Wall Street dickheads, ceaseless Birther bullshit, preening and pointless jackasses like Maureen Dowd, Carl Hulse, and Adam Nagourney, and everything and everyone else I've left off the list, Obama has to deal with the Koch brothers and their rancid ilk.

Did I mention that I saw American Idiot -- and that ( (and the two headbanging teens next to me) loved it? And no, I didn't have to pay full price, and neither do you.

Note to the NYT: everyone hates Rick Lazio. That's why he has no money and that's why he's going to get crushed.

This weekend I watched The White Ribbon and it was really good. One of the most beautifully shot movies I've seen in a long while.

One thing that drives me absolutely nuts is when someone at work sends me an email and then immediately trots down to my office to say, "Didja get that thing I sent you?" Why are people still doing this -- and should I just go all Milt Waddams on their asses?

Finally, if you could send one global warming denier on an all-expenses-paid trip to hike the back country of Yellowstone this fall, which one would it be?

NOTICED: NEW NYT Fake Trend!

Tomorrow is Sunday, which means it's time for another edition of the New York Times' odious "Styles" section, and, in turn, another fake trend story courtesy of the NYT's stable of lazy writers.

Let me tell you how this went down. The writer rode the subway and someone asked about his ebook reader. Then, he heard about two other people who were asked about their ebook readers on the train. Voila! An idea was hatched, a "story" was pitched, and another in a long line of New York Times Fake Trends was born!

Love the headline, too. Not "Ebooks Appear to Make Readers Less Isolated." Not "Ebooks Seem to Make Readers Less Isolated". Not "Some Anecdotal Evidence that Ebooks Make Readers Less Isolated." Just "Ebooks Make Readers Less Isolated".

Straight Outta Mein Kampfton

That's our Rudy!

Perpetually Ticking and Reloading Time Bomb

It comes to ABSOLUTELY no Iowan's surprise that the DeCosters would be responsible for managing to be behind a gigantic tainted food outbreak.

FDA officials said this week that the salmonella outbreak could have been averted had the agency imposed new safety rules before last month. The rules include biosafety measures, refrigeration standards and testing requirements for young hens as well as older birds.

But somehow all that money seems to buy them out of long-term difficulties from either Party.

Sorry about the barfing, the sweating, and that day on the crapper -- but we're rich, you see.

Hey, New Yorkers?

I know the site of the former WTC is a very, very large area, so many things are within a block or two of the site.

But I was wondering, how many blocks away is Bernie Kerik's "do it suite" with Judy Regan to the site? I've always pictured it as like right-across from it. Meanwhile, how close is it to the sacred abandoned Burlington Coat Factory?

I just need to keep the location of all these things clear in my mind -- since we're dealing with the new Jerusalem here and all.

Dear MSNBC

I'm glad that you, y'know, reported on the departure of combat troops from Iraq...God forbid FoxNews do it.

But the 50,000 support troops left hardly indicate a withdrawal, nor John McCain do they denote a 'Victory' that any political leader deserves credit for. Nor, MSNBC talking heads are the 50,000 troops left, just like the troops we have left in Germany. The latter can pretty much stroll about Germany on their off-duty hours with their biggest threat being too much sausage and beer -- obviously lacking in Iraq and their LEAST of their worries in the latter.

Explaining how Wolf Blitzer sucked at 'Jeopardy'

via Gawker.

Because the right-wing has ALWAYS been responsible about such matters and never pushed this theme.

What Charles Pearce says...

I'm not a big fan of Roger Clemons, he appears to be a gigantic asshole, but this smells.

It's one thing for Oliver North to lie about misuse of moneys and illegal acts with the power of the government behind him, it's another to give a person the Hobson's Choice of embarrassment and reputation and a few months in jail.

I'm not encouraging people to lie to Congress, but the choices of who gets prosecuted for it stink.

The tell is when there's a Doocy involved

Another awesome takedown of FoxNews:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Extremist Makeover - Homeland Edition
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Some of my most conveniently proclaimed anonymous and unseen friends

are black, says Dr. Laura!

Stripping, too intellectual for Sarah Palin

Finally, some strippers that aren't named Pamela Geller utter their opinions...thanks Wall Street Journal:

But if Ground Zero has been made sacred by tragedy, it’s hard to say the same for the Pussycat Lounge one block south of the site. The front entrance of the strip club and bar, which has been there for more than four decades, offers a clear view of the ongoing construction at the World Trade Center site. There weren’t many customers on Wednesday afternoon, when a television reporter stood in the middle of the street filming a report on the Park51 controversy.

Inside, a bartender who said her name was Dasha offered brief remarks against the proposed Islamic center. She said she’s uneasy about organized religion in general.

But Chris, the stripper who volunteered in the Ground Zero recovery, sat on a barstool in a tiny, shiny red dress and defended Park51. “They’re not building a mosque in the World Trade Center,” she pointed out. “It’s all good. You have your synagogues and your churches. And you have a mosque.”

Chris said she lost eight friends on Sept. 11, 2001 — firefighters from the Brooklyn firehouse next to her home at the time. “The people who did it are not going to the mosque,” she said.

BTW, Palin thinks tassels go the opposite way in Australia.

So, like Rush Limbaugh's liver and conscience?

Astronomers say the universe will likely keep expanding forever. Bad news: it will eventually become a "a cold, dead wasteland."

Well, thank goodness

As already mentioned, Glenn Beck, last seen going into "true archeological" findings related to Native Americans (ask anyone with a seeing stone and a magic hat) is having a rally on August 28th. Specifically held on the same day and in the same place as Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

And why?

To "reclaim the civil rights movement."

Yes, because in the good ol' days of Washington civil rights rallies the original "owners" knew how to march!

But the other news is that now the world's proudest defender of a First Amendment cafeteria plan, Sarah Palin, will be helping Beck (and the NRA, in honor of MLK, of course) reclaim the civil rights movement as it used to be...a place for white conservatives to speak of the joys of saying "N-word", the insensitivity of "Muslims", and talk about the need for funny shows like "Amos-n-Andy" to come back. Hey, while she's at it, maybe Palin can reclaim contralto from Marian Anderson?



[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Just Give Him Money (That's What He Wants)

Work it, Rudy. Work it.

"He's eleventy-one years old" and convinced the Sackville-Bagginses are stealing his spoons

Happy Birthday, John McCain, sorry no money for you, but I did send you a bill for my time in posting this.

Just wondering

Maybe Larry Summers is genetically predisposed to be poor at math?

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Socialism!!!

Outrage as ESPN-UK insists on refusing to force the Godly American-style of sports down limey throats (undoubtedly stopped by room temperature beer and chips!)!



Not one link to Brett Favre on the front page!

All forms of theocratic prophets on a cracker!

What the Republicans have in dishonesty, stupidity and thuggery, the Democrats make up in cravenness and cowardliness.

Howard Dean, go fuck yourself.

I'm generally against mindless worship of the Founders, as it is frankly dangerous to thoughtlessly worship the long-dead and buried.

But I'm sure glad that bunch, as 3/5ths imperfect as they were, came up with the Bill of Rights than to think what the modern cast of imbeciles and ciphers would fashion.

MATLOCK JOHNSON IS RIGHT!

And lo, on this day the 19th of August, 2010 did I, Atta J. Turk, actually pretty much agree with the entirety of a David Broder column.

A Treasury of Republican Tolerance

First Amendment AND Second Amendment Scholarship:

For those scoring at home (and if so, why are you reading a blog?) that's "N-word" use protected speech, "retarded" crime against humanity. And using firearm comparisons again, it's the well-conceived Byron De La Beckwith school of analogies, classy.
And about that First Amendment, for them but not for "them":

Yes, it's totally about slandering a few million Americans (and a billion plus globally), so I can be a flag-waving hypocrite.

But, as Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway once asked, where is the love? Not in Iowa state races it appears:


No confirmation yet over whether Jeremy (and really congrats from Jason) made these posts between large helpings of batter-dipped shrimp from Long John Silvers. Maybe they should ask Newt what Leviticus says about adultery (I'm guessing off on a technicality)?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Snooki, Justin Bieber, Stephen Slater, Gisele Bündchen, Kayne West, Ke$ha, Lindsay Lohan, Peaches Geldof, The Salahis, Joe Francis & Kim Kardashian

Have they weighed in on the mosque yet?

Quick somebody tell Atlas Juggs before the Alimony runs out!

She's probably already doing this to John Bolton for free:

A wacky British-born Internet entrepreneur who wants to be entertained, and perhaps even promote a website, is offering $1 million for someone to flash Barack Obama, on camera. How is this not a great deal?

British billionaire Alki David has one condition for his payout: the word "Battlecam" must be written across the naked thrill-seeker's chest, to promote David's video-sharing website of the same name.

Oh hell, ol' Pam has enough experience in this area to make "Battl-" and "ecam" go in opposite directions, and given the lack of suppleness in space-age polymers this is no mean feat.