Proliferate this

So THE directory of National Security for Non-Proliferation of weapons at the White House spent his off-time trolling twitter to castigate his fellow officials or other adversaries?

As far as we know even Paul Wolfowitz never did that.

What an asshole.

That worked out well

In Virginia prior to the shutdown things were not going well for ultra-conservative oral sex hater Ken Cuccenelli, but when your ideological kinsfolk put a half-million Virginia Federal Employees out of work that coffin in nailed shut.

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has jumped to a 17-point lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia gubernatorial race following the federal government shutdown that hit Northern Virginia hard and Hillary Clinton’s weekend visit to the state.

For anybody to be nearly 20 points behind Terry McAuliffe is a tremendous feat, but Ken Cuccenelli is the kind of politician that plans on losing for as much as possible, no matter how uninspiring the alternative. Behold the secret plan.

Rick Santorum is signing up volunteers for a “strikeforce” to help Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in his bid to become governor of Virginia.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Oh good plan!

Good job, great effort:

In a sign of the political hangover congressional Republicans are suffering in the wake of the government shutdown, three-quarters of Americans in a new national poll say that most GOP members of Congress don't deserve to be re-elected.

A Decade's worth of stupid

Hey remember the perverse stupidity that was (is) Jonah Goldberg's foreign policy advice circa 2003?

"The United States needs to go to war with Iraq because it needs to go to war with someone in the region and Iraq makes the most sense." Elsewhere, he writes: "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show we mean business."

Oh the inanity managing not to eclipse the sheer cruelty. Turns out, that ACTUALLY was the policy.

A book written by New York Times reporter Peter Baker reveals the take of a senior official from former President George W. Bush's administration, who is quoted as saying that America went into Iraq to 'find somebody's ass to kick'.

Well, that's comforting...knowing your most bitter cynical assumption about the Bush Administration turned out to be right. The rest, not so much.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

A-Yup!

Sociopath

How do you identify one?  Like this, for example:

For example, on March 28, 2001, Vice President Cheney wrote a “pending” letter of resignation because he suspected he might at any moment become incapacitated by health problems. This was surely a surprise for those affiliated with the Bush campaign who had vetted Cheney’s health before asking him to run. But Cheney's cardiologist was a big fat liar and told the Bush campaign cardiologist that Cheney “was in good health with normal cardiac function.”

When Gupta asked Cheney to explain the doctor's false claims, Cheney responded, “I’m not responsible for that.” Gupta answered, “But sir, you saw it.” And then Cheney, refusing to address the lie, dug in: “Listen to me, I think the bottom line is: was I up to the task of being vice president? And there's no question. I think based upon the fact that I did it for eight years that they were right.”

What the author forgot to note is..."Who was in charge of vetting VP Candidates for the Bush Campaign?"

Oh, yeah.

Richard Cheney. How was Richard Cheney expected to know that Dick Cheney had a serious heart problem?

And this guy pretty much ran things...

I'm starting to wonder if Boy Blunder at least may have actually managed to keep shit from getting even worse.

Though this sounds like a joke, former Vice President Don Cheney and his doctors were legitimately scared about him getting assassinated via terrorists hacking into his defibrillator and causing a heart attack. So they turned off the wireless feature so nobody would kill him via heart hack.

Remember this is the same genius who during the First Gulf War tried to send military strategy tips to to his generals by sending tapes of Ken Burns' The Civil War.

Another day, er, hour, another classy statement from a FoxNews pundit

FoxNews is already your television home for Assholes...which is really quite the proclamation when you think about it...deep pool.

But they cannot just be assholes, they have to be the biggest possible assholes.

A Fox News guest said that a Missouri teen who says she was raped by a classmate was asking for it by going out late at night. He also accused her of lying. 

“What did she expect to happen at one in the morning after sneaking out?” attorney Joseph DiBenedetto said on Shephard Smith Reports. “I’m not saying — assuming that these facts are accurate and this did happen — I’m not saying she deserved to be raped, but knowing the facts as we do here including what the prosecutor has set forth, this case is going nowhere and it's going nowhere quick.”

Shep Smith immediately jumped in and refuted his claims.

“What you’ve done, Joseph, is taken an alleged victim of rape and turned her into a liar and a crime committer,” he said. “That’s a far jump from a 1,000 miles away."

And at FoxNews you have a feeling it is Shephard Smith that will be getting the write-up.

While you pat yourselves on the back over the shutdown Conservatives

Here's something for you to keep your policy abuse chubby for at least another four hours:

A majority of students in public schools throughout the American South and West are low-income for the first time in at least four decades, according to a new study that details a demographic shift with broad implications for the country.

The analysis by the Southern Education Foundation, the nation’s oldest education philanthropy, is based on the number of students from preschool through 12th grade who were eligible for the federal free and reduced-price meals program in the 2010-11 school year.

"Schools, who needs 'em, there's poor kids there unable to pull themselves up by their Goodwill-Shoe purchased bootstraps."

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Credit where it's due

As he hasn't had the opportunity to go on "Meet the Press" and demand somebody be bombed the last couple weeks (how long until David Gregory wipes his chin and gets on that?) John McCain actually had time to be pithy, and I admit it worked.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) shrugged off Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) insinuation that he was an “al Qaeda supporter” in an interview with NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams on Wednesday, while conceding to an increasing amount of polarization between lawmakers.

“On that particular issue, sometimes comments like that are made out of malice,” McCain told Williams. “But if someone has no intelligence, I don’t view it as being a malicious statement. You can’t respond to that kind of thing.”

"Lonegan is still going to win Ohio!!!"

Another stunningly accurate prediction from Conservatives.

He gave "Our American Cousin" three thumbs up!

Ted Cruz's PAC must smell like Napalm in the morning.

As CNN’s Dana Bash pointed out to Cruz, he had nothing to show for his efforts — President Barack Obama’s health care reform law had not been defunded nor delayed — after 16 days of a government shutdown. Cruz, however, said that he disagreed: “Months ago, when the effort to defund Obamacare began, official Washington scoffed, they scoffed that the American people would rise up, they scoffed that the House of Representatives would do anything and they scoffed that the Senate would do anything.”

Scoffing's effectiveness has certainly been underestimated.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

As I was saying

From Robert Costa, the "Nutjob Whisperer":

Referring to his plan to preemptively send the Senate a House-passed bill, Speaker John Boehner told his conference this morning that he’d “rather throw a grenade than catch a grenade.” But with his right-wing troops abandoning him again, it was the speaker who was left holding the bomb.

After a day of furious negotiating with fellow Republicans over how to tweak a bill he had unveiled in the morning, it was left to stunned members of his leadership team to confirm to reporters that the vote had been canceled...
 
The canceled vote was no Twilight Zone episode, however, but something far too familiar. Republicans eagerly compared it to the fiscal cliff’s famous “Plan B” episode, when Boehner brought lawmakers into a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement, said the serenity prayer, and told them the vote was canceled.

The Christian rite accompanying legislative chaos today was Florida representative Steve Southerland’s rendition of “Amazing Grace” — “all three verses,” said Representative Michael Burgess (Texas) afterwards in amazement.

But Southerland is an undertaker by trade, and the song is normally sung at funerals. It’s hard not to see’s today’s failure as the death of the House GOP’s role, in at least this standoff.

Well, this has worked out well

Boehner would like to add, he really enjoyed "Our American Cousin".

The office of Speaker Boehner told the office of Majority Leader Harry Reid's on Tuesday night that they would be willing to send them a "message" so that the procedural process of getting a debt limit and government funding bill could move faster. 

The communication between the two was first reported by Salon's Brian Beutler and was confirmed by an aide to the Huffington Post. The aide said that the news was delivered after House Republican leadership failed to move their own bill to resolve the dual matters.

A message is a legislative vehicle that if sent from Boehner to the Senate would allow Reid to skip one cloture vote. This would ensure that if one Senator wanted to gum up the works, he or she could only force 30 hours of consideration.

We have gone past the singularity into the event horizon of full derpitude

I guess even the densest of the right-wing's usual apologist only have extreme irony left.

Yes, of all the people to ask that question. Hard to believe that it took until now for her to ask whether the Party being controlled by a bunch of homophobic immigrant hating creationists who think Obama was born in Kenya have only NOW shut down their brains. But then again, she's Megan McArdle and thankfully you are not.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sad news for her NFL Career

I am the co-habitant of a four legged fuzz ball that has from time-to-time been featured on this here blog.   She's a good ol' mutt who is now over 14 years old -- this weekend she tore her ACL -- ending her season on whatever NFL team a 25-pound long-haired Border/Gordon mix would play for.

She's getting better, but it must be tough to have to give up jumping after all these years.

Always popular at funerals

A Gathering of the Legion of Dumb

Or THE BANQUET OF PLAINLY NUTS...all last night in the basement of a restaurant.
As opposed to where they should all be...the basement of their parent's house.

Sen. Ted Cruz met with roughly 15 to 20 House Republicans for around two hours late Monday night at the Capitol Hill watering hole Tortilla Coast.

The group appeared to be talking strategy about how they should respond to a tentative Senate deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling without addressing Obamacare in a substantive way, according to sources who witnessed the gathering. The Texas Republican senator and many of the House Republicans in attendance had insisted on including amendments aimed at dismantling Obamacare in the continuing resolution that was intended to avert the current shutdown.

Sources said the House Republicans meeting in the basement of Tortilla Coast with Cruz were some of the most conservative in the House: Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Steve King of Iowa, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, Steve Southerland II of Florida, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Justin Amash of Michigan.

The group is a collection of members who have often given leadership headaches in recent years by opposing both compromise measures as well as packages crafted by fellow Republicans. And, it seems, leadership unwittingly became aware of the meetup.

The tortillas were more sentient than that group.

Sums it up well

From here.

John McCain would have remembered it, he lived it.

Oh the things you learn.

You hear a perfect record cited over and over in the debt limit debate: The United States has never defaulted. Better put an asterisk by that. America has briefly stiffed some of its creditors on at least two occasions.

One was in 1979 because of a technical glitch, quick rectified under "History's Greatest Monster", Jimmy Carter. The other...during the War of 1812, or as Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz know it, "the time Roosevelt let the Germans burn down a white house at Pearl Harbor"

Once, the young nation had a dramatic excuse: The Treasury was empty, the White House and Capitol were charred ruins, even the troops fighting the War of 1812 weren't getting paid...

Undoubtedly, this seems like a capital idea for reenacting by the modern Tea Party.

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Well, at least they aren't subtle

What a benevolent sight...where was the wooden cross and lighter fluid so you could REALLY get what passes to you as a point across?

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

I am not the first person to note this

But doesn't Ted Cruz have a striking resemblance not only psychologically but physically with Joe McCarthy?

Oh look "Democracy Fan Fiction"

Congress has probably never been less popular (which is a bit like saying "Syphilis sees popularity dip") but I'm going to peremptorily call bullshit on this one.

Only one-quarter of Americans think that their own member of Congress should be reelected, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. That's a sharp departure from similar polls conducted before the government shutdown.

In the new survey, 25 percent of respondents said they believe the member of Congress from their district deserves to be reelected, while 47 percent said they did not. Another 27 percent said they weren't sure.

It would be nice to think that the crazy party would be replaced by the party of generic kleptocrats but considering past history and the fact that the GOP has twelve and a half-months to get outraged about an African-American guy I'm pretty confident crazy will survive...the rest of us, not so much.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

There are spelling errors...

And then there are SPELLING ERRORS!

Leebus Christ!

Koch brothers must have outsourced for assholes from overseas...

Looks like 'Murica just isn't into teabagging anymore:

The tea party group FreedomWorks has fallen into dire financial straits, and was forced to take out a $1 million line of credit earlier this year, sources close to the organization told BuzzFeed.

Judging by the picture in the story of the wanker who runs it now, Artisanal Hipster is not in fashion.

Derp! Derp!

Uh...derp?

A public hearing for suspended Gliberton, Pa. police Chief Mark Kessler, whose YouTube gun demonstration videos drew national attention, was cut short Thursday night when a man dropped a semi-automatic pistol on the floor, the Republican Herald reported.

An unidentified man dropped the pistol, which the Republican Herald described as possibly a .45 semi-automatic, about 90 minutes into the hearing. The firearm did not discharge and no one was injured.

Behold the genius

I know, hard to believe that this:

According to the Washington Examiner, Ted Cruz held a closed-door lunch meeting on Wednesday during which he claimed that his plan to defund Obamacare through a government shutdown had placed the GOP in a politically advantageous position.

Turns out to be wrong...

The Republican Party has been "badly damaged" by the government shutdown, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday evening, which finds public opinion souring on the GOP and some of its core positions.

Americans blamed Republicans over President Barack Obama for the shutdown by a margin of 22 percentage points, with 53 percent saying the GOP deserved more blame, and 31 percent saying Obama did. Approval ratings for the Republican Party and the tea party were at 24 percent and 21 percent respectively -- both record lows as measured by NBC/WSJ.

Let bygones be bygones...or else

Hard to believe big banksters feel immune from little things...like the law and ethics. Those are for other legal entities that are defined as people, namely the one's that are actually people.

In a March 2012 meeting, a group of examiners at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York agreed that Goldman Sachs had inadequate procedures to guard against conflicts of interest — guidelines aimed at stopping firms from putting their pursuit of profit ahead of their clients’ best interests. The examiners voted to downgrade a confidential rating assigned by the New York Fed that could have spurred costly enforcement actions and other regulatory penalties. It is not known whether the vote materialized in a rating change. The former examiner who pushed for a downgrade, Carmen Segarra, now contends in a lawsuit filed Thursday that just weeks after the vote, her superiors asked her to change her findings on Goldman and fired her after she refused.

One cannot take a few million out of Lloyd Blankfeld's bonus package, it's so unfair, unfairness is for everybody else.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

And somewhere the Koch Brothers are going "what a clever idea!"

Future GOP policy:

Oops: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started

Mmm...mmmm...my Generation!

Is probably the last generation that has a chance to make any positive contribution to prevent catastrophic climate change.

And so far all we've produced is gay marriage and the Tea Party.

 So that's a mixed bag (although let's face it the Baby Boomers own the Tea Party).

So we've blown it...fortunately we have a good shot at being dead before this happens.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting in about a decade, Kingston, Jamaica, will probably be off-the-charts hot — permanently. Other places will soon follow. Singapore in 2028. Mexico City in 2031. Cairo in 2036. Phoenix and Honolulu in 2043. And eventually the whole world in 2047. A new study on global warming pinpoints the probable dates for when cities and ecosystems around the world will regularly experience hotter environments the likes of which they have never seen before. And for dozens of cities, mostly in the tropics, those dates are a generation or less away. "This paper is both innovative and sobering," said Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco, former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who was not involved in the study.

You can see my generation's contributions in the comment section.

Ugh.

A large group of Major Kong Impersonators

They ALL want to ride the bomb down to the ground.

But what Wall Street fails to realize, according to Potomac Research Group's Greg Valliere, is the extent to which the Tea Party just doesn't care. Valliere wrote to clients this morning:

We talked to Tea Party stalwarts last night, and tried to make our best arguments. "Don't you realize the Republicans could lose the House in 2014?" We don't care, they said. "Don't you worry about a catastrophic reaction in the financial markets?" We don't care, they said. "Don't you worry that the Democrats will aggressively play the Social Security card with seniors?" We don't care, they said.

"This is the Alamo, it's Braveheart, battles to the death. These people are on a Mission from God," Valliere says.

It's going to be a long wait for that mortality table to catch up to me. [Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Get the viscous fluids, pullies, levers, and gin ready

Because it's time to try to make "Jism Bob":

After suffering a devastating miscarriage in December 2011, Michelle Duggar is trying to get pregnant again with her 20th child. The 19 Kids and Counting reality TV mom says she and husband Jim Bob Duggar are hoping to be "blessed" with another pregnancy.

For a pair who thinks they hear God telling them what to do, you'd think they might have thought the Almighty was giving one a hint...

Getting to do something Goebbels couldn't do

Because I'm sure that roast would be one of the few to top the appalling sight of this:

Conservatives gathered at the Plaza hotel in Manhattan Monday night to roast the former Vice President at an event where many of the biggest laugh lines touched on the most controversial policies of a key architect of his administration’s War on Terror. At the gathering, hosted by Commentary, figures including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey drew a mix of chuckles and winces with jokes that left few lines uncrossed, according to three guests.

Senator Joe Lieberman “said something to the effect that it’s nice that we’re all here at the Plaza instead of in cages after some war crimes trial,” recalled one person who was there.

No, it isn't.

“There were some waterboarding jokes that were really tasteless,” the guest said. “I can see the case for enhanced interrogation techniques after Sept. 11 but I can’t really endorse sitting there drinking wine and fancy dinner at the Plaza laughing uproariously about it.”

Cheney himself told one waterboarding joke, the attendees said, which he attributed to Jay Leno. It centered on a one-shot antelope hunting contest in Wyoming in which the loser had to dance with an Indian squaw. Cheney’s shot got caught in the barrel, producing a dispute over whether it counted as a hit or a miss — and Leno, according to Cheney, joked that Cheney wanted to go catch the animal with his bare hands and waterboard it.

"Games"manship

Projection has always been a strength of the modern GOP:

Speaker John Boehner rallied his troops this morning at a closed-door conference meeting at the Capitol. Democrats are trying to “annihilate us,” he told his members. “We can get through this if we stick together.”

Yeah, amazing how that 12th dimensional chess works...secret is for Obama not to play it apparently.

And remember, let's see four days ago, when Boehner tearfully proclaimed "THIS IS NOT A GAME!"?

About that:

The Ohio Republican added that a “grand bargain” is off the table. What he wants is something that “builds on the gains we’ve made over the past three years, puts points on the board, and doesn’t raise taxes.”

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Good optics

While engaged in the consumption of great amounts of gin, John Boehner has his other priorities in predictable order during the shutdown.

Head Start programs have been shuttered, small businesses can’t get loans and hundreds of thousands of federal government employees are furloughed. But the exclusive gyms available only to members of Congress have remained open throughout the shutdown.

A House aide confirmed to ThinkProgress that the House member’s gym is open. The House gym features a swimming pool, basketball courts, paddleball courts, a sauna, a steam room and flat screen TVs. While towel service is unavailable, taxpayers remain on the hook for cleaning and maintenance, which has been performed daily throughout the shutdown. There are also costs associated with the power required to heat the pools and keep the lights on.

According to the aide, the decision to keep the gym open — even while other critical government services were shelved — came directly from Speaker Boehner’s office. Meanwhile, the staff gym available to Congressional staff has been closed.

Good choice

If you want to hire a guy to defend your patently racist team nickname as being sacrosanct then you need to hire an asshole with no moral scruples...the kind of guy who will advocate for any third-rate dictator for a six-figure retainer.

Oh, good choice.

Lanny Davis, once a Bill Clinton strategist, a pal of Joe Lieberman and now attorney for the Washington, D.C., NFL football franchise, chastised President Obama Monday for commenting unfavorably on the name of that team.

Whistling past the graveyard...while on the run

How do you know the conservative editorial stooges of the Washington Post don't like the optics?

They write columns like this:

Once again, good job 'the South'

This guy wants to ride the bomb down:

The Post has a profile in motion of freshman House Republican Ted Yoho (FL). The focus is how he's part of the faction who forced John Boehner to trigger the government shutdown and now wants to move along to default on the national debt. How bad will default be? "I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets," Yoho told the Post.

Absorb that for a moment. He's on the team that's driving this bus. What would at best be a huge jolt to the global economy and more likely trigger a global financial crisis and do irreparable harm to the country, he thinks will actually improve things.

Somebody in his family, unsurprisingly, did not know how to spell "Yahoo".

I believed they'd file dissenting opinions

The ol' "some of my best friends are..." gambit.

In an interview with New York Magazine, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said he has friends who are "homosexual."

"I have friends that I know, or very much suspect, are homosexual. Everybody does," Scalia said.

"Very much suspect" ---  surely always the gateway to prevent any sort of understanding or tolerance.

South Carolina, 1832:

The Ordinance of Nullification declared the Tariff of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of South Carolina. It began the Nullification Crisis. Passed by a state convention on November 24, 1832, it led, on December 10, to President Andrew Jackson's proclamation against South Carolina, the Nullification Proclamation of 1832, which sent a naval flotilla and a threat of sending government ground troops to enforce the tariffs. In the face of the military threat, and following a Congressional revision of the tariff, South Carolina repealed the ordinance.

So lost that one. Lesson learned, right? South Carolina, 1860:

We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the twenty-third day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and eight eight, whereby the Constitution of the United State of America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying amendment of the said Constitution, are here by repealed; and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of “The United States of America,” is hereby dissolved

That worked out well, huh? Still, lesson surely learned now right? South Carolina, 2013:

The South Carolina state House passed a bill Wednesday that declares President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be “null and void,” and criminalizes its implementation.

So, hard to believe that South Carolina's "intellectual" legacies would pass up a chance to kill the American government once and for all.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Brainiacs

Geniuses all:

“So what are the tips you need to know, to do it correctly -- you grew up on tacos, correct?” Fox News commentator Brian Kilmeade asked Latina meteorologist Maria Molina during Friday’s broadcast of Fox and Friends. “She Colombian,” Steve Doocy chimed in, also missing the mark. “No, I did not grow up on tacos,” Molina says, laughing. “I’m Nicaraguan, and it’s not a native food.”

Smaller tent, bigger fits

Republican "outreach" continues apace:

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has compared the marriage of same-sex couples to the marriage of a brother and sister during an appearance on a morning TV news show.

Although you have to admit, you would think most Republicans nowadays would at least be more familiar with incest than others.

Consider the Source

This is from the American Conservative...wha????

They are a barking-mad pack of ideologues, is what they are. I haven’t written much about the Obamacare thing because I don’t follow policy closely. As far as I know, Obamacare is a bad idea. But here’s the thing: it’s the law. It was passed, signed by the president, and upheld in the Supreme Court. There is no way the House Republicans, or Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, is going to overturn it. The best they can do is to delay it. And then what? Guess what: the 2012 elections were their last, best chance to overturn Obamacare, and the country didn’t go for it. There are other battles to fight. These guys are taking the government and the economy to the brink of crisis, and for what? For the sake of rebel yells and the Lost Cause?

...and I bet he'll still end up voting Republican.

He may lobby for hobbies, but God Bothering is his passion

I have no idea why anyone would go to Hobby Lobby to get their cheap crap but here you go:

The Hobby Lobby Hanukkah controversy began when Berwitz learned that on a recent shopping trip his wife’s friends could not find anything related to Hanukkah at their local Hobby Lobby store in Marlboro, N.J., though it was stocked with Christmas items. According to Berwitz, one of the women asked about bar mitzvah cards, and a Hobby Lobby salesperson replied: “We don’t cater to you people.” That story prompted Berwitz, who own a market research company and writes the “Hopelessly Partisan” blog, to call the Marlboro store and ask why it seemed to be ignoring Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, which begins on Nov. 27 this year. He wrote that he received the following response: “Because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian, and those are his values.”

They Learned from the Master

Newt Gingrich last seen in a variety of locations from keeping his priorities straight while visiting Auschwitz to violating unenforced CNN ethics rules has ridden to the rescue of all slightly inconvenienced victims of the government shutdown. Meanwhile. [Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Modern Republicans

Death Panels...for real

On your conscience, if you had one, John Boehner:

As long as the government is shut down, the National Institutes of Health will turn away roughly 200 patients each week from its clinical research center, including children with cancer.

 

That's according to Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. He laid out the situation for the Wall Street Journal:

At the National Institutes of Health, nearly three-quarters of the staff was furloughed. One result: director Francis Collins said about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said.

Trying a bit too hard

The ever relinquishing grip on reality of not only the far-right, but establishment conservative media continues to pick up speed. FoxNews reliably chump-enabling.

What the Obama administration is portraying as a "shutdown" of the federal government -- complete with signs posted at the entrances to government buildings, parks and monuments -- is turning out to be more of a "slimdown," as all but non-essential workers reported to their jobs Tuesday.

I suppose the next thing to state is that hundreds of thousands of governmental employees rudely took an indefinite vacation -- just not to a national park. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Neither does oxygen or operating synapses, apparently

Hannity Dismisses Shutdown: "This Doesn't Impact Me Mentally"

Congrats on electing raging alcoholics with gun fetishes!

Thanks again teabaggers.

Rest Easy America

In case America's drunkest legislature insists on shutting down the Federal Government the most important of its agencies will remain as vigilant as ever.

(Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission will remain open for business even if Congress fails to strike a budget deal to keep the government operating, SEC spokesman John Nester said Monday.

So don't you worry Banksters and Hedge-Fund Managers the SEC will be their "open FOR business" as usual, so you'll be able to get away with all manner of crimes as usual. The rest of you 99 percenters can suck it.

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Now he can pair up with Ted Nugent

On Nugent's television show...oh, right I forgot.

NBC Sports Network is dumping the show that featured a guy shooting an elephant in the face. The show—hosted by NRA lobbyist Tony Makris—isn't being canceled for that episode with the elephant shooting, exactly (though that didn't help). Instead it's because Makris compared his critics to Hitler earlier this week. He said of his supposed critics: "And now they're shocked. And they said but they're so big and special and they're smarter. And I went, you know, Hitler would have said the same thing." That didn't go over well.

Of course, given that NBC Sports Network is the home of the English Premier League (up yours Barclays!) they could have given him a competition show where the power of his arsenal is compared to the strength of Luis Suarez's chompers.

Apparently

Being a Republican Politician is the only job one ever willingly enters when you absolutely hate your profession.

Other than National Review online contributor or 18-year old pornstar of course.
 

Do it Again

The Republican Party, now run by the crazy uncle who sends you the emails that keeps Snopes.Com in business, has not yet begun to have a fit.

Undeterred, House Republicans pressed ahead with their latest attempt to squeeze a concession from the White House in exchange for letting the government open for business normally on Tuesday. "Obamacare is based on a limitless government, bureaucratic arrogance and a disregard of a will of the people," said Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.

Another Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, reacted angrily when asked whether he would eventually support a standalone spending bill if needed to prevent a shutdown. "How dare you presume a failure? How dare you? How dare you?" he said.

Well "open meltdown" is an interesting tactic. But I guess it just goes with the program.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wreckin' it Boehner style

He is, after all, their leader:

No right-wing whack-job who advocates war crimes

Ever remains unemployed. 

Elizabeth O’Bagy, the foreign policy analyst who helped convince Senator John McCain to bomb Syria (and was later fired for lying about having a doctorate from Georgetown) has a new job: an analyst for John McCain. Congrats!

If only Hitler had limited his atrocities to people of color (a model Mussolini wanted followed) he'd have had been left alone by the west for a long career as German Chancellor -- and probably have Ann Coulter write a book full of faulty footnotes to praise him.

Good deal

I do not do a whole lot of media commentary, because "who gives a shit, right?" but I'm glad "Bob's Burgers" was renewed for an additional year before this year's season even starts. For those of you looking for a well-written show to binge upon on Netflix, you cannot do much better.

It's 2013...somewhere else

But not in Qatar. Good job FIFA!

Qatar's construction frenzy ahead of the 2022 World Cup is on course to cost the lives of at least 4,000 migrant workers before a ball is kicked, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has claimed. The group has been scrutinising builders' deaths in the Gulf emirate for the past two years and said that at least half a million extra workers from countries including Nepal, India and Sri Lanka are expected to flood in to complete stadiums, hotels and infrastructure in time for the World Cup kickoff. The annual death toll among those working on building sites could rise to 600 a year – almost a dozen a week – unless the Doha government makes urgent reforms, it says.

That's Panama Canal level.

Who could have anticipated...other than everyone?

I guess it stunned somebody that a notorious idiot, would act like an idiot:

Former congressman Allen West, who was hustled out of the military before being hustled out of Congress after one term, is now also leaving his job at right-wing news outlet PJ Media. And this time the tireless Israel supporter is being accused of anti-Semitism. BuzzFeed's Rosie Gray reports that West is out as director of programming for PJ Media's NextGeneration.TV. Gray's sources tell her West was fired after getting into an argument in which he called an employee a "Jewish American Princess" and told her to "shut up."

When you get fired from a "quality" position like PJ Media...

A Cunning Plan

"Hey, America, this is the NSA, remember that time we listened in on you as you called that 900 number and used your passwords to that porn site you like? Yeah, good times right? Remember how we're pals?"

The day before he is to begin a series of public hearings on Capitol Hill, [Director of the NSA General Keith] Alexander said in a speech at the National Press Club: “We need your help. “The American people have to weigh in and help us get the tools we need to defend this country,” Alexander said.

Hey, maybe a new control room that looks more like Joss Wheden's Enterprise instead of Gene Roddenberry's will do the trick? [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Republican "outreach" seems to involve a clenched fist

Something to match their sphincters:

"We have some real opportunities in 2014," Hickey said Tuesday. "This is a great year in an off-presidential election. Seemingly no Democrat on the top of the ticket against [Gov. Brian] Sandoval. No Harry Reid. Probably where we had a million voters turn out in 2012, we'll have like 700,000. A lot of minorities, a lot of younger people will not turn out in a non-presidential. It's a great year for Republicans."

So it comes down to this...fewer voters is better for Republicans.

DEMOCRACY in inaction!

Most projectionist projection of all projections

I'd call it performance art, but that requires at least a modicum of talent.

In an interview Wednesday shortly after his 21-hour talkathon to defund Obamacare had come to an end, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lamented to shock jock Rush Limbaugh that too many lawmakers think their constituents are naive.

"They think their voters are gullible rubes," Cruz said in the radio interview.

And then they hit the cough button had a good laugh and muttered "thank goodness".

And ....who cares?

I remember when I was a kid and they were still stuffy old-money white guys (and Ted Turner) racing in single-hulled ships and people sort of cared.

Now I'm old and I just demand those catamarans get off my fucking lawn (or pier).

Because Sharks are no longer interesting enough to scare us...

We have found a new scary monster!

Although it's native to the Amazon, a testicle-eating fish species called "Pacu" has been turning up in places including Denmark, France and Illinois. 

Now, a large Pacu has been found in northern New Jersey, just more than 10 miles outside New York City. 

Retired bus driver Tom Boylan hooked a 10-inch-long Pacu on Saturday at Third Ward Veteran's Memorial Park in Passaic, N.J., according to The Bergen Record, which posted a photo of the fish.

Pacu have wide teeth shaped like molars and strong jaw muscles that allow them to crack open tree nuts and other tough aquatic foods. Somewhat terrifyingly, however, the fish have been known to mistake human testicles for tree nuts. Two men in New Guinea reportedly died from blood loss after a Pacu chomped on theirs.

Okay, two additional things we've learned from this article:

1.  It doesn't actually eat testicles...deliberately.

2.  The Amazon is so long it not only flows through much of South America...but also half-way around the world, through the Pacific and into New Guinea (logically even were this true,  I have the technicalities of the river's flow wrong, but in the spirit of the article just go with it).

Oh, and a bit of research reveals what the Huffington Post apparently could not suspect well enough (New Guinea and Amazon and no suspicion at all, huh?) that this "testicle-biting" is all a big ole hoax.

Maybe Ted Cruz should talk about it...seems factually accurate enough for him.

Oh well...another year

Another failure to obtain a MacArthur Genius Grant.

Ladies and Gentlemen, YOUR REPUBLICAN INTELLECTUALS

Notice how the attempted Right-Wing meme for outrage wasn't going to be the accuracy of the claim, but that Obama has been given special "Twitter" privileges.

Oh the Wurlitzer.


Via Balloon Juice.

Because "Just like the Holocaust" was just a bit too much to analogize

Our wealthy gamers of the system, always the first to decry "victimology" unless, of course, you are their victim.

The uproar over bonuses “was intended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there with their pitch forks and their hangman nooses, and all that-sort of like what we did in the Deep South [decades ago]. And I think it was just as bad and just as wrong.

Other than lynchings ACTUALLY happening; and being a group of people deprived of political power and wealth it is so strikingly similar.

(pic via monkey_bob99x at flickr.com)

Huzzah!

America has now officially created more Islam espousing international terrorists than Saddam's Iraq, who we allegedly invaded for ties to international terrorism.

Saudi Arabia, having a giggle.

Just add this to the list

Of Tennessee's long tradition of assholery...from making teaching evolution to making particular religions illegal to Instacracker to just being assholes.

Married same-sex couples who live in Tennessee, where gay marriage is banned under the state constitution, are being denied name changes on their driver's licenses, the Tennessean reported Saturday.

But if Riley J. Cornpone wants to change his name to Asshole P. Loudly NO PROBLEM!

What can austerity do for you?

If you are in the country imposing it on others, it can help you get re-elected.

Chancellor Angela Merkel scored a stunning personal triumph in Sunday’s national elections in Germany, becoming the only major leader to be re-elected twice since the financial crisis of 2008 and winning strong popular endorsement for her mix of austerity and solidarity in managing troubled Europe.

But if you are in a country that had austerity imposed upon it...

Golden Dawn, which has seen its popularity soar on the back of debt-stricken Greece's worst crisis in modern times, has not only set up a military wing but is actively training its members in the art of combat. "In Golden Dawn we have an entire military structure with at least 3,000 people ready for everything," one member was quoted as saying by the Sunday Vima newspaper. Pictures of recruits in camouflage and balaclavas conducting night exercises in clandestine camps were published in another leading daily on Monday. The paper, Ethnos, claimed the men, some of who were armed with knives and wooden clubs, were being trained by members of Greece's elite special forces who sympathise with the ultra-nationalist party.

Short-term planning wins again.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

A brave, brave man

But...of course:

George Zimmerman is in hiding now to avoid being served with the divorce papers that Shellie filed -- which is hindering the proceedings and therefore putting a damper on her plans to end their marriage.

Maybe Wayne LaPierre should be the process server?

Get this to the Supreme Court Stat!

They'll keep a company with a long history of supporting/encouraging/covering up human rights abuses without worries.

Faced with potentially billions of dollars in legal liability, Chiquita Brands International is asking a federal appeals court to block lawsuits filed against it in the U.S. by thousands of Colombians whose relatives were killed in that country's bloody, decades-long civil war.

The produce giant, which long had huge banana plantations in Colombia, has admitted paying a right-wing Colombian paramilitary group $1.7 million over a seven-year period. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company insists it was blackmailed into paying or risking violence against its own operations and employees, although in 2007 Chiquita pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges that it had supported terrorists. It paid a $25 million fine.

This is EXACTLY the sort of case the "Corporations are the LOVELIEST PEOPLE in the WORLD" crowd in black robes wish to come before them.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/09/21/2585138/chiquita-seeks-dismissal-in-colombian.html#storylink=cpy

Ivory Tower supported by the Koch Brothers

The Roberts' Court, yet to meet a dollar they did not love more than humanity.

On Oct. 8, the Supreme Court will take up an appeal from the Republican National Committee, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon, who say contributions should be treated as "core political speech." If they win, wealthy Republicans or Democrats could each give as much as $3.6 million total by giving the maximum amount to all of their party committees and candidates. This money could be funneled by party leaders into a close race or races, tipping the balance of power in Congress.

Defenders of the election laws have been sounding the alarm. "It would be terrible for our democracy … if one politician could directly solicit $3.6 million from a single donor," said Lawrence Norden, an election law expert with the Brennan Center, a liberal legal advocacy group in New York. "That is 70 times the median income for an American family. It would mean a tiny, tiny group of donors would wield unprecedented power and influence."

Or, as the conservatives on the Roberts' Court will almost certainly think of it...an awesome idea.

Here's a link to the pending case -- vomit sack not included.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Well, that's comforting

Would have made for a very special episode of the Andy Griffith Show...like when Opie killed a bird.

A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that the US Air Force came dramatically close to detonating an atom bomb over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima.

The document, obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gives the first conclusive evidence that the US was narrowly spared a disaster of monumental proportions when two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on 23 January 1961. The bombs fell to earth after a B-52 bomber broke up in mid-air, and one of the devices behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in warfare: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged, and only one low-voltage switch prevented untold carnage.

Each bomb carried a payload of 4 megatons – the equivalent of 4 million tons of TNT explosive. Had the device detonated, lethal fallout could have been deposited over Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and as far north as New York city – putting millions of lives at risk.

Though there has been persistent speculation about how narrow the Goldsboro escape was, the US government has repeatedly publicly denied that its nuclear arsenal has ever put Americans' lives in jeopardy through safety flaws. But in the newly-published document, a senior engineer in the Sandia national laboratories responsible for the mechanical safety of nuclear weapons concludes that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe".

Of course, if North Carolina residents were able to possess their own nuclear weapons...like the NRA would like, this would never have even been possible.

The Modern GOP

Coincidentally and unironically, full of assholes.

A group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID), has proposed a new bill that would provide a nationwide “license to discriminate” against married same-sex couples. Though Labrador claims the bill protects “religious liberty,” it is nothing less than a blanket invitation to deny benefits to same-sex couples that they are entitled to under law.

It's not gunfire, it's patriotic fireworks in which martyrs are created

Another day another sacrifice on the altar of the NRA:

Thirteen people, including a 3-year-old boy who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, were shot at a Chicago park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Thursday night, authorities said.

I'm sure the Second Amendment being read as expansively as irreality allows was real important to all those martyrs. 

This guy is a remarkable improvement

Have been pleasantly surprised so far...I will certainly enjoy watching folks like Dolan and even further right-wing clerics have to prevaricate now.

Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics. 

In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a “home for all” and not a “small chapel” focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings.

...

This should help in that election campaign

First of all, it is a marvel that Phil Gengry of Georgia HAS employment, let alone this:

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), who's running for Senate in Georgia, complained that while his staff can jump to K Street and make $500,000 a year by lobbying, he's "stuck" in Congress making a bare $172,000 a year.

The comments, relayed by congressional aides to National Review, came during a closed door meeting among Congressional Republicans on Obamacare.

"Just lie back and think of (bombing) England"

Yesterday it was noted that Iran's government was open to negotiations and compromises in its nuclear program vis-a-vis the United States -- this, of course, is potentially bad news to America's only "serious" people -- aspiring war criminals.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday he's working on legislation that would give the president the green light to attack Iran if negotiations over the country's alleged nuclear weapons program stall. Graham, one of the GOP's most prominent hawks, told reporters on Tuesday that he's worried the administration's failure to get congressional approval for a strike against Syria has emboldened Iran.

I admit I haven't reviewed my Hugo Grotius' rules of "just wars" lately, but I'm pretty sure being accused of "feelin' good" is not in there.

 But kudos to Lindsey, he's demanding his happy ending -- even if it is just for him. He's just that much of a "Statesmen" -- or so Chuck Todd will allow.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

"But but, what about our national bombing plan?!"

Oh dear, first we postpone one bombing and now we may have to give up on the biggest neo-Conservative wet-dream of them all.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has given the clearest signal yet that the country's newly elected president and moderate cleric, Hassan Rouhani, has the authority to conduct direct talks with the US and offer compromises in nuclear talks.

I dunno if Bill Kristol, John McCain, or David Ignatius will be able to stand it...the public getting more of this whole non-war policy it seems to favor so sensibly. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

In other news of "awesomeness"

There's this.  Of course, there's always stories like this:

Police in Indiana say a Michigan City man accidentally shot and killed a child in his care while playing a dangerous "gun game" with the boy.

Zachariah L. Grisham, 24, was arrested an charged with neglect and reckless homicide following the death of his girlfriend's son, 3-year-old Lance Wilson, this past Sunday.

According to Det. Sgt. Andy Hynek of the La Porte County Sheriff's Department the "gun game" Grisham would often play with Lance consisted of the boy pointing a finger gun at Grisham, followed by Grisham pointing his real gun at Lance and pulling the trigger.

Grisham told authorities he forget he had loaded the gun earlier that day.

How many layers of asshole are there in this story?

Awesome!

So a guy with a violent criminal history is able to just go legally buy an arsenal.

That worked out well.

Empty words, empty chambers

As we try to sort through the actual biography of our country's latest mass shooter, Aaron Alexis, the fact of gun violence continues to be plain...and plainly ignored.

The largest study of gun violence in the United States, released Thursday afternoon, confirms a point that should be obvious: widespread American gun ownership is fueling America’s gun violence epidemic... ...the authors ran a series of regressions to see what effect the overall national decline in firearm ownership from 1981 to 2010 had on gun homicides. The result was staggering: “for each 1 percentage point increase in proportion of household gun ownership,” Siegel et al. found, “firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9″ percent. A one standard deviation change in firearm ownership shifted gun murders by a staggering 12.9 percent.

Not that we'll ever be allowed to do anything about it...after all the only words in the Constitution that mean nothing are "well regulated". [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

"But they might have worn hoodies!"

One shudders to contemplate...because you know it would have happened...how Bill O'Reilly would have come up with a reason that four girls in a Church...who died in Birmingham, Alabama fifty years ago...would have had it coming.

They were wearing "gangsta poodle skirts" or something.

But...of course

America, fuck yeah.

Nina Davuluri has been hit with Twitter abuse after becoming the first woman of Indian descent to be crowned Miss America. After her victory in Atlantic City, the 24-year-old beauty queen, who was born in Syracuse, New York, and is believed to be a practising Hindu, said: "I'm so happy this organisation has embraced diversity.

But enough about diversity in the objectifying racket, let's get on to what we as a country are really good at, being bigoted assholes on twitter!

One Twitter user, DallasRobinson8, wrote: "I am literally soo mad right now a ARAB won. #MissAmerica"

Jakeamick5 added: "How the **** does a foreigner win miss America? She is a Arab! #idiots"

Emi_adkins said: "It's called Miss America. Get outta here New York you look like a terrorist. #bye #americanforamerica"

And another user said: "Well they just picked a Muslim for Miss America. That must've made Obama happy. Maybe he had a vote."

The really sad thing is that the bigotry is so inaccurate. If you are going to be a bigoted asshole, at least get your slurs right!

"Not that there's anything you can do about it"

I know it is hard to believe but having those who defrauded America get off any punishment as they whine about taxes does not mean they are anyone's heroes...outside of those who theoretically govern them.

The poll of more than 1,400 adults, representing a cross-section of the U.S. population, shows that half of the respondents believe there has not been enough reform to prevent a future crisis. As many as 44 percent of those polled believe the government should not have bailed out financial institutions, while only 22 percent thought it was the right move. Fifty-three percent think not enough was done to prosecute bankers; 15 percent were satisfied with the effort.

Of course nothing will happen to them. Oh sure, they get to pretend that Larry Summers is a victim, so there's that.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sorry light posting this weekend

But I've been assisting several women add up all the reasons Larry Summers should withdraw.

Pay no attention to the facts -- the poor must be beaten!

Funny how the beltway mentality of hating the poor never changes no matter the facts:

New Treasury Department figures confirm what the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected in the spring: the budget deficit for fiscal year 2013 will be dramatically lower than it was the past four years. The government recorded a $148 billion deficit in August, 22.5 percent smaller than in the same month of 2012, and is on track to total a $642 billion annual deficit when the fiscal year ends on September 30.

Nonetheless, the call to cut programs to help the poor and middle class will continue...along with calls for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Because reality doesn't matter.

Oh, now you leave!

A little break from the drumbeat of "who are we gonna bomb next?"...

Back when Jimmy Carter was President (and I remember that) a spacecraft, one of two, was launched to take advantage of the alignment of the solar sytem's gas giants; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The first of those, Voyager I has been determined to have left the solar system. The first human-made object to have done so. In many ways a poignant moment. And, just to let you know the practicalities of space travel...it only took 36 years at 11 miles a second.

Although it will also someday be responsible for a really boring Star Trek film.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Baby steps...

There's still a long way to go, but this is a good first step.

A progressive theological current that emphasizes the Catholic Church’s closeness to the poor and the marginalized but was subject to decades of hostility and censure is now finding increasing favor in the Vatican under Pope Francis.

Francis, who has called for “a poor church for the poor,” will meet in the next few days with the Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian theologian and scholar who is considered the founder of liberation theology.

The meeting was announced on Sunday (Sept. 8) by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, during the launch of a book he co-authored with Gutierrez.

It’s a remarkable about-face for a movement that swelled in popularity but was later stamped out by the conservative pontificates of John Paul II and his longtime doctrinal czar, Benedict XVI.

And delightfully, Benny the 16th is still alive to be aghast.

Is it too much to ask

That Vlad Putin not be made into a hero?

I mean, really.

So awesome folks all-around then

I guess "hey they are eight times more likely to be assholes!" is a kind of argument for blowing shit up...though not the greatest.

At least eight massacres have been perpetrated in Syria by President Bashar Assad's regime and supporters and one by rebels over the past year and a half, a U.N. commission said Wednesday.

The commission's probe highlights the worsening pattern of violence against civilians, including executions and hospital bombings, as the government battles to retake lost territory from the rebels, including Islamist foreign fighters who also have carried out war crimes.

"The perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all sides, act in defiance of international law. They do not fear accountability. Referral to justice is imperative," says the report by the U.N. commission investigating human rights abuses in Syria.

The report updates the commission's work since 2011 to mid-July, stopping short of what the United States says was an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack on rebel-held areas that killed hundreds of civilians.

A sad, sad day for easy comedy

Senor Danger received only 5% of the votes in the New York mayoral primary last night (the five-percent who like their politician's literally pants-less).  It is a tough morning for him, now a metaphorical dick pic forever more, but also for those of us who like to make smart-assed asides without too much intellectual effort.

Oh well, I'm sure Sarah Palin has already said or tweeted a half-dozen stupidities already this morning, so there's still that.

I hope this is a sign of middle age

Because we, as a country, seem to be losing our ability to maintain a war boner.

Or maybe we could attack the curse of nepotism?

Your establishment jackass of the day...and perhaps ever.

This is just weird...

And not really all that comforting. A high ranking NSA official...and serial 4th Amendment violator woos Congress.

When he was running the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Alexander brought many of his future allies down to Fort Belvoir for a tour of his base of operations, a facility known as the Information Dominance Center. It had been designed by a Hollywood set designer to mimic the bridge of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, complete with chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall, and doors that made a "whoosh" sound when they slid open and closed. Lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in a leather "captain's chair" in the center of the room and watched as Alexander, a lover of science-fiction movies, showed off his data tools on the big screen. "Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard," says a retired officer in charge of VIP visits.

Patrick Stewart should kick their asses.