Idiots

Thers is right and Susie Madrak's point is patently obvious -- which is why our geniuses in Congress never even contemplate it as an argument -- because the notion never occurred to them:

I just got off a conference call with Arlen Specter where I asked him why the Democrats don’t talk about the wave of entrepreneurship that would be unleashed if people knew they could leave their jobs, start a business and still get affordable health coverage for themselves and their families.

He was surprised, said it hadn’t occurred to him...

Priorities

Unemployment, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Banks, the Markets, let alone health care reform and whether we pesky liberals managed to get a public option into it -- just more grist for the mill. B-O-R-I-N-G!

What is the most important news story? Certainly not the current situation in Afghanistan, a discussion of which was interrupted by this CNN-proclaimed "BREAKING NEWS"...

A white man being deprived of his alleged inalienable right to own whatever property he desires by his fellow white men.



Attention Accomplished! The Blog-o-lution shall not be (only) twitterized!

I shall now alert CNN the next time I discover a place of business does not accept my American Express card.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Looks like they hired the teabaggers' accountant

I thought Enron put Arthur Anderson out of business, but I guess not:

The Chamber of Commerce regularly brags that it has more than 3 million members. But as Mother Jones reports today, its actual number is closer to 200,000.

Bonfire of the Inanities

I will let you all discover the "awesome" inaneness of this gathering of the twitterati for your own jaw-dropping bemusement.

Future leader of the Republican Party. I remember when you used to have to have had your photo taken with someone who had at least bombed another country or repressed colonial subjects of a different hue in order to make your way up the GOP ladder, but we live in a new age.

Thanks to Watertiger for alerting me so I could take the proper precautions in advance.

In the blogging world I have two modes

Which, I guess, makes me kind of a temperate person in the blog world.

I have the occasional rant...but mostly I'm just popping one balloon after another, or trying to use my limited skills to craft something somewhat humorous. I'm certainly no leader of any movement, let alone this piss-ant therapy session I have everyday (or the occasional moment I resent my compulsion to post something).

So I'll just say that I agree with some of this, but at the same time I think it is both more than fair and very necessary that Obama have feedback, especially negative feedback, from the left.

It isn't easy to be in Obama's position, no doubt, but if the left isn't demanding a public option and raising holy hell (and not just in regard to the White House but toward Congress), isn't it pretty likely that issue would be dead by now? For an example of the "Village Wisdom" of just over a month ago, see here.

Obama may "wish" to get rid of DADT, but if he doesn't have critics, even critics that go over the top, demanding it, does he even place it in the middle of the priorities list?

There's nothing wrong about letting the Timmy Geithner's of the world know they are being watched and viewed skeptically.

It's not really the progressive blogger's duty to fall in line behind the "leader", if that was our primary job, we'd be Republicans. Progressive bloggers are frequently social agitators, rather than small-dicked action junkies claiming a devine right to bomb foreigners rather than giving their neighbor (the one outside the gated community) a chance at a better day-to-day life.

I'll take the agitator every time.

Keep saying it and eventually it will become true

The race isn't really over -- Who will die first, Michael Ledeen or Khamenei? But one thing is certainly correct, some day the latter will die -- he is, after all, old. And Michael Ledeen, shall he outlive him will declare victory.

But in the meantime, for what seems like the 38th time in the last 10 years...

Profound Twit of the Day

Pity the poor unpaid and naive research assistant (does NRO have any other kind, paid or unpaid, of employee?) that had to turn in the Wikipedia synopsis in this instance:

KKKlassy

Certainly not as offensive to Howard Kurtz as the possibility of NOT being able to obsess about David Letterman's penis:

During the October 13 edition of his radio show, Glenn Beck likened the Obama administration's treatment of Fox News to Nazi persecution of Jews

If FoxNews had existed in the late 30s, they'd be cheering for the horses Jesse Owens was forced to run against in match races.

Shocking

Racism displayed at a country club, who'd have thought that possible?

FAIL-shizzle

Can somebody add a flying shoe gif?

"Llllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaddiieeeeeeeees"

Hubba Hubba -- the Birther Cruise has speakers that are as charismatic as any George Clooney or sane Baldwin brother you can name (granted that last one is a toughy)







Yes, I can feel what a dynamo he is.

Birth of a Vacation

Delusional, just out of rehab, looking for you and 100 fellow right-wing crazies to hang out with the 1,400 collective voices in your 104.5 heads?

Well, look no further than the BIRTHER CRUISE, where you can sail the Caribbean looking for Somali Pirates holding Obama's Kenyan Birth Certificate hostage.



Passports optional, birth certificates mandatory. No gays, seriously, no gays.

If I -- or more likely someone wittier than me --

...were to name a blog salvo that GOP Pseudo-Honcho Michael Steele would call his own so that it would essentially define "Black Republicanisity" to its base alloy, lack of self-awareness, it would be a little like it actually is.

Orronic

Irony in an Orrin Hatch world. The ever reliable prig just stated...

...the committee process has been a sham and that the real bill is being written right now behind closed doors.

Hatch, of course, was among the committe of 3 Republicans, 3 Democrats plus Chair Max Baucus that essentially wrote the bill while the other members of the Finance Committee were such out -- as well as the rest of the country.

It's almost worthy of a shitty country and western tune, Orin is more than capable of producing one of those.

Really?

There's nothing I despise more than blowhards just bullshitting because they can -- without consequence -- and then pretending they are laying it "all on the line". And nobody does this more -- and more stupidly -- than Jim Cramer discussing unemployment with Chris Matthews (oh, so sad I missed this while it was happening):

I think we are at the peak or within .1 [of the peak]. We are not going to breach 10%. I have my neck on the line on that.

Really, you have your neck on the line?

If it breaks 10% will you be fired? Because, I have a feeling you don't even know that's what that figure means (being a TV financial guy and all).

Is this a promise you will string yourself up if it crosses 10%?

I bet all you'll do is move on and just cheer on the stock market like the glorified aluminum-siding salesman you are (my apologies to actual aluminum siding salespeople).

AMERICA'S CONCERN TROLL™

Richard Cohen, granted he isn't very smart -- but he makes up for it in unerring stupidity and bad writing.

You see, if you take every right-wing slander and treat it as gospel you'll find a way to blame Obama for people liking America and that's all his fault for doing nothing by doing everything for nothing. Therefore, Richard Cohen is the real Nobel Prize Winner.

KKKlassy

Sadly, No finds a real white-robed knee slapper:

Next up, tar-babies and a wacky name for brazil-nut.

News Stories that sound like Silent Film Skits

Or, Worst Gilbert & Sullivan Ever!

French soldiers chase Indian Ocean pirates

My Senator

Chuck Grassley, the Republican allegedly working for compromise by, well, not compromising on health care reform using such strategies as saying health care would kill anyone from Grandma to Ted Kennedy, is my Senator. It's not like I've voted for him, but I apologize anyway.

Oh Chuck is a guy who not only believes in gutting health care reform, he also demonstrated yesterday he believes in education the same way -- the Grassley way:

WASHINGTON-In an effort to promote early literacy in young children, Senator Chuck Grassley read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a group of preschoolers in Washington, D.C. Grassley read the popular book by Eric Carle through the Jumpstart program’s Read for the Record.

“I enjoyed reading to the preschoolers. Their curiosity about the book was great to see,” Grassley said. “Literacy is very important."

Yes, literacy is important:



Have I apologized enough?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

All this complaining from the Right Wing is ridiculous

And petty. So Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, you didn't hear those of us on the left whine or utter one world of "what has he ever done?" when George W. Bush won a Golden Raspberry.

And don't worry, if Stephen Baldwin ever gets an acting job again, I'll be very happy for him when he gets one of those.

Good moments in being a guy

I didn't come up with the way the world works, but I do benefit from it. There are some great things about being a guy.

First, you can be both a moron and an asshole and get by in the world, occasionally thrive. Women usually don't get this option (not saying it's fair or I don't agree with it but there you are).

Second, you can spell when you pee. If you're a woman and you can do this, you are probably Ann Coulter (and maybe Lady Gaga).

Third, you can go the weekend without shaving and make Monday a little bit better with a nice smooth shave...uh, on your face.

Shocking, I know

The Washington Post, not content to have the important battle of Howard Kurtz versus other men's penises be their only theme, has opened its front-page so facilitate a last desperate stand against health care reform so as to keep insurance companies even richer. The WaPo and CeCi "have a Salon With Me" Connelly are there to repackage their talking points and transmit them uncritically in the same fashion FoxNews does it for the GOP-brand.

Brave, brave, Washington Post.

Exactly

Yesterday, I posted about "President" McCain being on a Sunday chat show YET again. Of course, I'm hardly the only one or the first one to notice this. Noticing things first is not my style. If I was an impala I'd have been lion-food some time ago.

Still, this, from Atrios sums up the state of the Sunday Chat Show perfectly:

[McCain's] standing Sunday show gig is also a symptom of another problem. So often watching these shows I feel like I'm trapped in a previous decade, with the same idiots (I'm looking at you George Will) telling me what I'm supposed to think about things that were doing so 10-15 years ago.

In 2050 one gets the feeling Cokie Roberts will still propped into a chair and scolding anyone to the left of Mitch McConnell 2.0's turkey-waddle.

You can literally tell he's masturbating

Howard Kurtz's obsession over David Letterman's sex life is becoming far creepier than the subject matter. John Ensign sure appreciates the lack of attention though.

MATLOCK!!!!

Republicans have been blowing their base as they falsely accuse Obama of being a Muslim (and treating it as a slander), a terrorist, a socialist, a marxist, a dictator, a black militant, a racist, a foreigner, etc. Many have called for a coup or revolution. They've been playing the race-card repeatedly. Much of this thuggish behavior is reported (somehow) on the front-page of Broder's own paper this morning.

Yet what causes Broder to put down the Ensure and take notice? A Democrat made a fat joke and it is all Obama's fault.

Not fucking kidding.

If at first, or first thousands times, you don't succeed -- repeat same mistake again

Oh thank God, I was worried that President John McCain would have a Sunday without an appearance on a Sunday Chat Show. But, like Pavlov's Dogs, a microphone in which he is treated as a wise old sage without either actual wisdom -- or as far as I know -- sage is irresistible to the Ancient Plane Crasher.

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain said any added military deployment in Afghanistan less than the 40,000 troops reportedly requested by the top U.S. commander in that war-torn land “would be an error of historic proportions.”

I believe reality has now endorsed an opposite conclusion, but thanks for your low-risk to yourself endorsements Villagers.

Atta J. Turk's (slightly more) Trusty NFL Picks

Much to my relief I had a 5 and 1 week after two bad weeks in a row. For the season I am now 13 and 11. If I keep this up I shall be over-qualified for ESPN and will never get my shot at that "Ditka money".

Oh well, blogging is where the real money is anyway.

Have you looked at most of the games scheduled this week? Oh many, talk about a match up of Good team versus shitty teams.

But you know what this means to a quasi-prognosticator needing to fill up column inches?

A good shot at another high-percentage week:

Oakland at New York Giants: If the Giants don't win this by two touchdowns then that dinosaur-killin' type of asteroid must have hit the earth. I don't mean to pick on a guy making a paltry $10 million or so a year, but let me describe just how bad Jamarcus Russell is.

In 2001 the Minnesota Vikings had a really shitty year. The coup de gras to their shitty year was having to start their third-string QB because of injury. The name of this starter was the immortal Spergon Wynn. A QB so outmatched by NFL defenses that he has become a two-word joke to Viking fans and the teams who faced him. Spergon Wynn's stats in three games, 48 of 98 49% 418 yards 1 TD and 6 interceptions. Jamarcus Russell, 43 of 108 39.8% 506 yards 1 TD and 4 interceptions.

Dear Oakland Raiders, you are paying $9,750,000 more for Spergon Wynn, than you would for the actual Spergon Wynn.

Pittsburgh at Detroit: This game is a rare sell-out in Detroit. I'm sure some of it has to do with the fact that the Lions actually managed to win a game this year, meaning they have already met this seasons only goal. But the other reason for the sell out is that there will be a ton of Steeler fans in Detroit this weekend. I hope they put the words up to "Gridiron Heroes" on the big screen enough for the Steelers fans to be singing it when the Steelers score the last of their five touchdowns. Steelers win.


Minnesota at St. Louis: Rush Limbaugh wants to buy a share of the Rams, which will clearly make the Rams a real desired target amongst its two-thirds population of African-Americans and Latinos. I'll let Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka sum it up: "I love Spags [his old D-coordinator and Rams coach] and would play for him in a heartbeat, but under that situation ... obviously trades you have no control over, but if it was a free-agent thing, I wouldn't care if I only had one offer on the table, I would rather stay a free agent." Unless the NFL wants to make the modern Rams into the Redskins of the early 60s, they'll tell Limbaugh to go buy a hockey team.


Cleveland at Buffalo: Oh can you contain your excitement? The Browns have managed to trade their only offensive skill players of any appreciable talent (underachieving as it was) and now they go and play the dullest team in the league. I predict periods of one team being overwhelmed, followed by much whelming. Buffalo will win, probably breaking a scoreless tie with a safety. And then Buffalo residents will do what they have done for so many years after a Bills victory, the annual reenactment of the assassination of McKinley. What? Too soon?

Atlanta at San Franciso: Remember when these two teams for some reason both belonged to the NFC West? Remember when nobody gave a shit? Well, now they each belong in logical divisions. Nobody still should give a shit even though it appears they are both now decent. But you have better things to do than care about this don't you? I mean you have far more important things to do, like read a blog entry about how you shouldn't care. God bless you well-prioritized citizen.

I predict the 49ers will pull this one out -- I also predict I'll credit this as a win no matter what the hell happens because, as I said before, nobody gives a shit.

New England at Denver: The fact that Denver is one of the few remaining undefeated teams after four weeks is a sign of something, though I don't know what it is -- so I'm going to see it's further ratification that Matt Millen still sucks and Eric Mangini still blows. I know neither of these guys have anything to do with Denver, but would you rather I make jokes about John Elway's teeth?

This will be a real battle of the hoodies and I'll take the old slob of a master over the young prim acolyte. And why, because as bad as Belichek will look in his ripped up ugly-ass gray hoodie, the Broncos will be wearing their "throw-backs", their monstrous 1960 brown uniforms with the vertically stripped socks [and today in Kansas City, the Cowboys will play the "Dallas Texans" (the KC Chiefs in their original outfits)]. Patriots will win somehow.

Look upon them and dispair.

The things you see on TV

I was exercising my "remote" hand when I went by Telemundo and saw a World Cup Qualifier between Mexico & El Salvador in Mexico City. The reason I stopped for a few minutes is that the game was delayed by...I kid you not, swarming bees.

After about 15 minutes the game resumed but Bees are still swarming in a stadium of more than a 100,000 people.

Obviously, they look like this:

Unleash stupid and prick like Drudge headline

Well, it's October 10th and it is snowing in Des Moines.

"I am the Greatest"

I resent Silvio Berlusconi saying this before Newt Gingrich had a chance:

"I am, and not only in my own opinion, the best prime minister who could be found today," he told a press conference. "I believe there is no one in history to whom I should feel inferior. Quite the opposite."

(pic via here)

Banned Words of 2010™: 'Neath the Cover of October Skies Update

Had to update the list again, because the blogs and media have a new favorite word that is really starting to annoy me. We've got to nip this baby in the bud before things get out of hand.

Because it's never too early to put the world on notice...

As always, new items in BOLD. Add your suggestions in comments. We'll cull this list to ten in December.

1. Gamechanger
2. Recession
3. Sausage grinder (re the legislative process)
4. Gunman
5. Bonus
6. Teachable Moment
7. Lockdown
8. Too big to fail
9. Octomom
10. Toxic assets
11. Stress Test
12. Obamism
13. Color Story
14. Green shoots (re the economy)
15. Temperament
16. The New New (or The New Normal)
17. Twitter
18. Bánh mì
19. Swarovski crystals
20. Empathy
21. New media, including but not limited to "Social Networking"
22. Tablescape (Cut it out, Food Network!) (h/t pal Sexy Pixie)
23. Closely watched yardstick
24. Compromise/Bipartisan
25. Emboldened
26. Cougar
27. Serious
28. Walk back (As in "Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is walking back his comments about party boss Rush Limbaugh."
29. Baby Bump
30. Fascism
31. Statement Jewelry
32. Perfidious (This one is Steve Simels' fault.)
33. Gang of [INSERT NUMBER OF SENATORS HERE]
34. Socialism
35. Digital
36. Czar/Tsar
37. Devastate/Devastated/Devastating
38. Post-Racial

Because you can never have enough old creepy old men pawing at objectified women

I hope he and Trump have to sit next to Paris Hilton:

The Miss America Organization (MAO) announced today that Rush Limbaugh has been named as one of the national judges for the 2010 Miss America Pageant, which will be held at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 30 and broadcast live on TLC.

Mission Accomplished

It will take scientists a few weeks to conclusively determine whether there is enough water on the lunar surface for humans to make use of it.

If there is, we can fulfill our Nation's long-time dream of one day going to the Moon with Tang.





...oh wait.

America's Right Wing and the Taliban

Birds of a Feather, Squawk Together:

I guess today is the day

The GOP says "big deal" some ditto-head nominated Rush Limbaugh for the Nobel Prize too.

Yeah, poor Rush, he's such a contender for a Nobel Prize yet someone says they nominated him every year. He's the Susan Lucci of the Nobel Prize.

Well, here comes your Right-Wing Apoplexy

Start STROKIN' OUT BOYS! Give Glenn Beck a vat of Vap-o-Rub, Rush Limbaugh meth and viagra and watch their heads blow:

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

Obviously Krauthammer is right and the man has lowered the opinion of the United States internationally.

And in case there was any doubt...

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.

"Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play," the committee said.

So really this was the "Nobel Prize for not being a DICK"






(as in "Cheney")

Glenn Beck's gonna need more Vap-o-Rub

Here we go:

The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a report Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind.

Still about half-a-billion behind Christianity and it's popular "cafeteria" plan.

Although if Charles Krauthammer had his way...it would be 1.49 billion.

Well, you could knock me over with a feather

Who could've antipated?

The CBO’s score of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform bill isn’t winning over any converts. After a year of building up the budget office’s ‘bipartisan’ credibility– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has repeatedly equated the CBO with ‘God’ — Republicans are now dismissing the office’s politically inconvenient conclusions.

I'll believe it when I see it

Rachel Maddow opened her show last night with this claim:

We can report exclusively tonight, that two major power brokers on the left have told MSNBC that they are encouraging a Senate strategy now, in which the leadership would revoke chairmanships and other leadership positions from any Democrat who sides with a Republican filibuster to block a vote on health reform.

Well, first, I'll believe it when I see it. After all, there's Joe Lieberman still chairing Homeland Security and what did he do? Oh yeah, run against the Democratic primary winner after losing a primary, whored for war as no war whore as whored before, endorse the Republican nominee for President, and appear at the GOP Convention to bad mouth the Democrats and their nominee. So clearly, this is a Caucus historically determined to enforce party discipline.

Second, how crappy and gutted and like Max Baucus bill will the product of their determined enforcement be, should they actually be so inclined?

I sure would like to be pleasantly surprised.


[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Keep on digging that hole

John Derbyshire, one of National Reviews "brightest" lights thinks the hole is yet to be deep enough:

HARTMANN: Did you not say to, for example, my colleague Alan Colmes that women should not be allowed to vote, that it would be a better country anyway if women were not allowed to vote?

DERBYSHIRE: Well, you know, my mentor Paul Buckley used to say, he who say a must say b. And the logic of that chapter, that chapter five in my book, rests on the proposition that women voting is bad for conservatism, and as a conservative, of course, I think that’s bad for society.

HARTMANN: So therefore if women were not allowed to vote it would be a better country in your opinion?

DERBYSHIRE: I think as a hypothetical I think that’s arguable, yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Oh look, he's dug so deep he's getting his ass kicked in China (striped shirt):

Well this is tragic

I believe in the 2nd Amendment -- especially the opening clause (the one gun-nuts pretend doesn't exist). In order to maintain a well-regulated militia, obviously is consistent with the interpretation of the right-wing that gun ownership should be un-regulated.

That's the kind of brilliant scholarship Tony Scalia is famous for.

Nevertheless, there's tragic irony in the murder-suicide of one of last year's "internet sensations" the pistol-packing soccer mom.

Meleanie Hain, the pistol-carrying Lebanon mom who received national attention for taking a loaded gun to her daughter’s soccer game, was shot to death Wednesday night with her husband in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

I know there are some internet points to be scored by the pro-regulation crowd, of which I'm one. But I'm pretty sure that while carrying a loaded gun to a soccer game is both in poor taste and really, really stupid, being shot or shooting someone with a handgun in your own home is a use of firearms that is going to be hard to regulate out of existence.

Rising Hegemon A-D is back

And for good reason -- apart from the fact Chinese people (or maybe Japanese people) had taken over the comments section.

Can't see Bush even contemplating this

He was, after all, the Paul V of Presidents:

The White House has announced that on Wednesday, after honoring 13 of the nation’s top innovators and inventors, President Obama will host an Astronomy Night on the White House South Lawn.

OSTP is a proud co-organizer of the event, which will bring the President together with 150 local middle-school students and two students (a middle-schooler and a high school student) who have already made notable astronomical discoveries. The event will highlight this Administration’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education...

...The event at the White House will include more than 20 telescopes set up on the White House lawn focused on various objects. There will also be interactive dome presentations and hands-on activities including scale models of the Solar System, impact cratering, and investigating meteorites and Moon rocks.

That's pretty awesome.

But, um, can we have a public option now?

Surely, a proud moment for your entire family

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The shining beacon bacon on the hill

Who needs health care?

Many Americans have been putting off doctors' visits, forgoing medical tests and taking expired medications to save money over the past year, according to a new poll by Consumers Union.

The survey by the nonpartisan organization found that 51 percent of Americans have "faced difficult health care choices in the past year."

Yes, Americans have had to cut back on health care as it gets more expensive and the economy struggles.

But, wait, my fellow citizens, there is good news. You may not be able to afford health care, but a few bucks can assuage those feelings (temporarily) because this is, we are always told so it must be true, the greatest nation on earth:



[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

A stuck clock is right twice a day...

But Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) reminds us that a cuckoo clock chimes up to 180 times a day.

He opposed the repeal of the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy with this pristine logic:

Some day, some court, he said, and “I hope this doesn’t offend,” is going to say, “If you’re oriented toward animals, then that’s not something that can be held against you. . . . toward corpses, toward children . . . .”

And that's when you can begin your skull-fucking in public Louis.

Any more crazy you wish to add?

It should also not be lost, that when we talk about protected classes, “every country that has adopted laws like this it has had an extremely chilling effect.” It leads to economic instability, which led to “that guy with a little mustache.” And, with Hitler, we have reached it all.

And the cuckoo chimed...

GODWIN! GODWIN! GODWIN!

The very heights of garish faux patriotism

Saw this on Wonkette, unbelievable -- and just full of righteous dick-a-tude.



Comes with HTML explanations of their symbolism and they are, well, they are.

Notice Lincoln singing lead in a performance of "Mammy" with John Adams and Alexander Hamilton as his "Pips".

Notice the American Soldier on the right with the gratuitously symbolic name of "King" as in "Martin Luther King" unknown until now as a well-known advocate of exerting our military strength...um...yeah.

Check out the black guy on the left, holding a copy of Glenn Beck's favorite crazy, racist, Mormon historian. There are, all told by my reckoning, four black people in the whole painting (Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Tubman pushed -- ironically -- way in the back) ...one gratuitous "F-16 Pilot", and only one other non-white person of indeterminate origin (lower left) described...shockingly...as an immigrant frightened or something of all our religious freedom (as long as it involves Jesus of course).

So dense, and well, dense.

Capitalism: A Shrug Story

I admit I'm a big ol' liberal (a bold admission here I admit), or as it is known on FoxNews -- a Socialist Marxist Kenyan Born Commie Pinko with a choice seat on grandma's death panel. Despite this, I'm not against capitalism, it is just, like most people who weren't already born fabulously wealthy, I'm really bad at it.

I know as a "patriot" I am not supposed to not listen to Michael Moore because he's fat. However, in modern America that would mean I can't listen to hardly anyone, including the voices in my own head. So I shall be going to Capitalism: A Love Story where I can find out about lovely things like "Dead Peasant's Insurance" and other things that make being an American so awesome.

So let's not change things too much. I'll just be stressed-out and relatively unsuccessful in America until I have that bypass that will finally bankrupt me -- or my estate (in which case, woo hoo, suck on it, capitalism!). Our blessed capitalist system has allowed us to progress to the point where we can finally bomb the Moon -- that'll learn those lunar evildoers USA! USA! USA! -- something that has previously only been the stuff of science fiction.



Why change anything now, it's going so well?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I'm not positive about this...

But I have a feeling that Howard Kurtz once broke into David Letterman's house and pretended to be his wife. I wonder if twittering is covered by restraining orders?

Matthew 21:12-13 in the New Conservative Bible

If I knew how to use Twitter like DeDurkheim I'd post my twitters here, where concerned citizens are writing the Conservative Bible so Conservatives don't have to.

Why bother when it's already been written for you?

As mentioned below, some conservatives are going the Fundamentalists one better and just re-writing the Bible to get rid of all that commie-lib stuff like forgiveness, charity, and turning the other cheek.

I do hope they remember when they get to the New Testament, Al Franken (now known as the Hon. Al Franken beyathchez!) already did the heavy-lifting.

America's Concern Troll

Why doesn't he just volunteer to go over there and punch somebody, root on their torture, or knock them over with his highly-self-regarded sense of humor?

The war in Afghanistan is eminently more winnable than was Vietnam.

Especially when you don't have to worry about fighting in this one huh Dicky?

Richard Cohen, ladies and gentlemen, never met a war he wasn't willing to enable so as to metaphorically enhance the size of his package, as long as his own ass isn't in any danger.

The Washington Post where good taste (and regular flossing) goes to die

Orly Taitz gets put on the front page -- without noting she's evidently insane.

By the way, in this picture who is more insane, Lady Dye-Job or the person (also with frightening hair) that would let her perform dental work upon them? It's like reenacting a scene from Marathon Man.



And we learn a little about who is helping her write her crazy (with a "K") briefs:

It's a lot to take on, but she has help; assisting with her legal filings is Charles E. Lincoln III, a disbarred lawyer and self-described "anarchist."

So, she asked at least two questions then?

Sotomayor's first day on the Supreme Court:

In just an hour, the court's newest justice asked more questions than Justice Clarence Thomas has asked over the course of several years.

Civics 101

If you are going to take part in the political process as a candidate, especially for a major office like, say Governor, voters might want you to have some experience in governing on a low end.

Say, like voting. Ladies and Gentlemen, former E-Bay executive and GOP candidate for California Governor, Meg Whitman:

Whitman sought to explain her spotty voting record for the first time after delivering a speech to a Republican women's group.

"I was focused on raising a family, on my husband's career, and we moved many, many times," she told reporters. "It is no excuse. My voting record, my registration record, is unacceptable."

As even she knows, explanation fail.

The Bible 2.0, now with more smiting!

So I'm working on the post for the morning during tonight's Favre-o-palooza and I admit, I'm tapped out on ideas. Well, thank goodness there's always a new ride on the right-wing crazy train.

Conservatives have launched a project to edit the Bible (again...no, again, no again, no this time) to get rid of all that inconvenient forgiveness, charity, and other liberal bullshit.

Seriously, look at the first of ten guidelines for the new and de-secularized Bible:

1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias

It'll just be begetting, beholding, enslaving, and smiting.

But my favorite of the ten points is this one which just admits how this decision was made and will be applied:

6. Accept the Logic of Hell...

Oh, shine on you crazy diamonds.

(pic from here)

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

But he's a fat, fatty, fat person

Behold the alleged box office failure:

Debut (general): October 2, 2009: Cost a couple million to make (its a documentary); first weekend box office -- $4,85 million on 962 screens, $1,680 per screen.

VS







Debut: October 3, 2008: Cost $20 million to make; first weekend box office -- $3.66 million on 1,639 screens, $744 per screen.

We hath confirmed who the worst person on the internet is...

And, it is no surprise.

I understand Dan Reihl likes flesh-colored polo-shirts, eating paste, and masturbating to pictures of ground beef. And it must be true, he has a boring hair-style and is a conservative blogger.

I don't know about you...

But I'm not a big fan of letting doctor shopping, pill-popping, abusive, thrice-divorced, women-hating, America-failin' cheering, race-baiting radio blowhards owning an NFL-team and detracting from my Sunday afternoon quasi-fascist, militaristic, physically abusive sport cheering. Especially when the race-baiting extends to the sport he intends to try to buy into.

If I were you, I'd let the dictatorial, union-busting, Commissioner of said quasi-fascist, militaristic, physically abusive sport hear about this.

And go Vikings.

The Village -- Let's just lynch everybody

It's bad enough to read America's Concern Troll list the people he wants to punch in the face as hard as he can (sounds completely harmless), but Cokie Roberts is determined to one up everybody in the screech wars:

"Roman Polanski is a criminal," Roberts said on ABC's "This Week." "He raped and drugged and raped and sodomized a child. And then was a fugitive from justice. As far as I'm concerned, just take him out and shoot him."

I really don't give too much of a shit what happens to Roman Polanski -- now a very old man -- but I don't quite consider him an escaped Nazi war-criminal (a treatment which is also quite tasteless) except that it should follow due process and not the dictates of pundits determined to show of their fake righteousness.

Doing more than just cheering against America

Those brows are made for bombin'.


Many of us have now seen or heard the cheers of various right-wingers over the United States losing out on the Olympics to Brazil. They reserve their patriotism for when it can lead to bombing things.

As always, what Digby says:

Just as a successful universal health care system would doom the Republicans, a successful negotiation on nonproliferation would doom the neocon vision that you cannot talk to adversaries and only force is advisable and just.

So, naturally after the U.S. and our european allies obtain a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran comes the lying and the pleading for war. The more ridiculous the claim the better. Take it away Elliott Abrams.

People used to say that — that if there’s an attack on Iran, you know the population is going to get patriotic. But that’s what Americans would do. I don’t know that it’s what Iranians are going to do, considering the way that regime is hated in Iran.

Yeah, what's an unpopular regime compared to the thrill of being bombed?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

New GOP talking point:

"Oh, what do the Greeks know about democracy anyway?"

Greece's opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) has won the country's snap general elections.

That's about right

Krugman is underestimating:

“Cheers erupted” at the headquarters of the conservative Weekly Standard, according to a blog post by a member of the magazine’s staff, with the headline “Obama loses! Obama loses!” Rush Limbaugh declared himself “gleeful.” “World Rejects Obama,” gloated the Drudge Report. And so on.

So what did we learn from this moment? For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old.

I think he gives them about 9 years too much maturity.

But he is appropriately shrill on this score:

But more important, the episode illustrated an essential truth about the state of American politics: at this point, the guiding principle of one of our nation’s two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they’re against it — whether or not it’s good for America.

And who has your 'Dead Peasant' policy?

As predictable as the sunrise they cannot help themselves.



Oh, that's witty, It never dawned on me that the guy is "fat", thanks so much for pointing that out. Never trust a guy who is fat...oh wait.

Meanwhile, in reality:

Finally, the Michael Moore documentary Capitalism: A Love Story expanded to almost 1,000 theaters, earning $1.5 million in cold, hard capital for seventh place.

It'll end up making about $4,000 a theatre, about $4 million over a weekend. Which is damned awesome for a documentary. Name one that's done as well that doesn't involve Michael Moore or Penguins? Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, in actual reality:

The heavily pushed 'American Carol' which was a parody of Moore opened last October to a brisk average of $750 a theatre.

Whatever.

UPDATE:

Oh wait, there's more:

Capitalism set a 2009 record for per-theater ticket sales last weekend. It went wide on Friday, and both the Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap indicate it did $1.5 million (not $1.3 million) for the night. The Wrap predicts it is "on pace for a $5 million weekend," while Nikki Finke pegs it at $5.5 million.

Sicko, released in 2007, is the fourth biggest grossing documentary of all time. In its first weekend of wide release it did $4.5 million.

Ironic that celebrating the failure of the marketplace occurs once again for the right-wing when it comes to y'know Capitalism.

Atta J. Turks trusty NFL Picks

Well, 2 and 4 again last week makes me 8 and 10 for the year. Straight up. I'm not even picking point spreads just winners. Embarrassing. And yet, ESPN hasn't called me.

I'm determined to break my streak (actually I don't care I'm just filling up post space) so this week, I'm definitely going to go at least 3 and 3.

Detroit at Chicago: Mission accomplished Lions you won. Your year is already a success. Now start living like me and don't get too ambitious. Win or lose you're still going to get paid. Just don't get anyone hurt. The Bears will win big.

Cincy at Cleveland: I told you I'm determined to go at least 3 and 3 this week. After this pick I'm almost a certain 2 and 0. Now I can start picking games as if I'm the Lions and not get too ambitious. I hear that the start of the 2nd Half will have another QB change for the Browns as they are bringing back Frank Ryan -- that guy's a real mangenious.

NY Giants at Kansas City: Oh my, the Giants will kill them and just like that I'm 3 and 0. The Giants could wheel out Charley Connerly armed only with Hank Stram's toupee to play QB and they'd still win going away. I've seen two of the Chief's games this year. I'll say this, they're better than the Browns. Congratulations.

Baltimore at New England: Well, now I'll start picking tough games, games people give a shit about. Baltimore is undefeated and two of them were decisive and against the dregs of the league. There's no glory in beating the Browns by 31. That's like Shakira vs. Tom DeLay in a booty-shake off. The Ravens are a good team, while the jury is kind of out on the Patriots, but I think this is the week the Pats play like the Pats for the second straight week and pull this one out.

Tampa Bay at Washington: Well we picked a good game between two really good teams, lets pick one that features two pretty awful teams in a game that will be decided by field goal kickers. Tampa Bay will unleash it's secret weapon a quarterback who isn't Byron Leftwich. I've never had anything against Mr. Leftwich, he throws a pretty ball, has a lot of zip, is pretty accurate, seems like a nice guy. But he has a windup that last longer than a drunken soft-ball pitcher. That fact alone will make Tampa Bay a touch opponent to handle. However, I swear that Jim Zorn maintains a well-hidden secret agenda of being a serial killer. Just look at the guy, he's hard-core. So I'm taking the Buccaneers in an upset.

Green Bay at Minnesota: Okay, here it is, I'm watching college football at this moment and early in the 3rd Quarter Brent Musberger has dropped about two-dozen plugs for the game. If you don't know Favre is playing against his old team on Monday Night by now, I question your were born in this country and challege you to produce your birth certifcate.

For the rest of you, just mindlessly chant Favre, Favre, Fav-er-ty, Favre over and over again and prepare to ascend into heaven upon Favre's large ebony steed.

Or just vomit, pause, and vomit some more.

Oh, and Vikings win.

Oh, I'm sure this will help

A section of Orly Taitz's response to the court's threat of sanctions in her latest nutty case:

For example, on page 6 of the Court’s September 18, 2009 order, Judge Land refers again to the undersigned counsel as “a leader in the so-called “birther movement.”” (Footnote 4). Since the undersigned certainly did not invent or ever adopt the term “birther”, awareness of this label is a pejorative appellation (often coupled with even more colorful epithets such as “batshit crazy”)

She goes on to accuse this Bush appointee as being pretty much a Klansman.

Yeah, it's about that level of logic all the way through.

I have to say it's several pages of nutty and nonsense citations. It's written in a parallel bizarro universe of legal writing. So at the very least it's entertaining.

It's also contempt and ol' Orly is looking at a nice big sanction, the loss of her license, and possibly some jail time.

(pic from here)

Let me be the 3 millionth blogger to say

What Digby says.

And let me say how awesome it will be when Sally Quinn passes judgment on the morality of sleeping with your boss. Because I am sure as fuck-all it is coming.

It's not a book jacket

It's a feminine hygiene commercial:



"Sarah's Eve" -- the douche you cannot dispose of so easily.













via Watertiger

While Republicans are cheering against America

In regard to the Olympics because according to them this nation's a shithole, especially Chicago [awesome patriotism there boys and girls] their dream of making Tehran glow is dying.

"Obama WH already got more from one buffet lunch with Iran than Bush WH did in 8 years of saber-rattling."

Glenn Greenwald has more.

And as any day ending in "Y" Chuckles Krauthammer picked the wrong day in which to give up sanity.

Just wondering...

If John Derbyshire has written any defenses of Roman Polanski yet?

Today's story of inspiration and hope

Comes from Arizona, congratulations:

The New York Daily News is reporting that Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams' severed head was mistreated at an Arizona cryonics facility, according to details from a new book.

In "Frozen," Larry Johnson, a former executive at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., writes that Williams' head, which had been severed and frozen for storage, was abused at the facility. Johnson claims a technician took baseball-like swings at Williams' frozen head with a monkey wrench.

Glenn Beck's "intellectual Guru" about as nuts and racist as you'd expect

It's well-known that Glenn Beck's world view was shaped by a mormon "historian" named W. Cleon Skousen.

And no wonder as ol' Cleon had so many "pleasant" and "intelligent" things to spew. Pam Spalding has a run down, but a few lowlights:

“White schoolchildren would ‘envy the freedom’ of ‘colored playmates.’ Slave food, even if monotonous, was plentiful. Corn bread and bacon were the mainstays, with plenty of fruit and vegetables in season. In hog-killing time, countenances were unusually greasy.”

Whites hated slaves for their freedom!

Um, yeah...although a phrase like that would come into vogue during the Bush II years -- about hating people for their freedom -- and it was pretty much bullshit then too.

But, wait there's more:

”The tendency was to sell families as units, if for no other reason [than] to keep the slaves contented. The gangs in transit were usually a cheerful lot, though the presence of a number of the more vicious type sometimes made it necessary for them all to go in chains.

Apparently this guy though the most common slave names were Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, Sneezy, Happy (the most common) and Doc. Oh, and of course, Glenn, er, I mean Dopey.

Pauline Kael with more tears and a better tan

John Boehner ladies and gentlemen:

Boehner claimed, with a semi-straight face, that he has yet to meet a regular "American" who favors the option -- despite polls showing that a majority of voters support to the idea of having the choice of a government plan.

[Basis for title here - even though unlike Boehner's statement, it's a myth.]

Patriotism

I remember, especially when it comes to wearing women's headgear in foreign lands that it was the height of treason to have any a modest disagreement with the President oversees. But I forget my place and how that only applies to Republican Presidents.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has announced that he is heading down to Honduras to encourage those who helped fund and supported the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to resist American pressure to return Zelaya to office.

The US Department of State has begun to revoke the visas of wealthy supporters of the military coup.

In other words, Jim DeMint is acting on behalf of, in cahoots with, and against the foreign policy of the United States of America in encouraging post-coup Honduran government officials defy the United States. He is encouraging a political leadership which has no legitimacy and which not recognized by other democracies in the region -- while the ousted President makes cell phone UN General Assembly statements from a couch-bed in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.

Of course, military coups and their possibilities are like catnip to the conservative mind.

Well, that and projecting fantasies of nazism.

The important things in Glenn Beck's world

Oh no...oh, wait, no I don't care.

Commence the national "conversation" about shiny objects, while stuff like this goes on (oh, and pretend I'm not a hypocrite too with this post, that would help).

And again, I don't really care. Until...









Yeah, you tell 'em:







[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Good thing SHE has a public option

Amongst the wealthiest people in the Senate, she's not sure YOU deserve a public option but you are providing her excellent health insurance.



Twit (and twitterer) extraordinaire Chuckles Grassley with the commentary.

Dear Newsmax

Found here:

Just an unpaid blogger that has been with us for a decade and was a long time editor

Oh, Newsmax, don't let your lack of understanding of what makes America great be limited to the ability to bomb the shit out of brown people:

In a blog posting to Newsmax John Perry wrote about a coup scenario involving the U.S. military. He clearly stated that he was not advocating such a scenario but simply describing one.

After several reader complaints, Newsmax wanted to insure that this article was not misinterpreted. It was removed after a short period after being posted.

Did not advocate? That must be because this wasn't actually written:

Military intervention is what Obama's exponentially accelerating agenda for "fundamental change" toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama's radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don't shrug and say, "We can always worry about that later."

Damn me and my lying eyes (and lying cutting and pasting).

Yes, Newsmax, sponsored by the Republican Party.

Hey, media, commence your two-week litany of stories about the GOP and Newsmax like you did Move-On and a submitted Hitler ad in 2004.

What, your too busy ignoring the GOP to condemn Alan Grayson?

MEANWHILE, Newsmax moves right-along to this:

Media phenomenon Glenn Beck recently sat down with Newsmax for an exclusive interview offering his take on everything from President Obama, to the threat to talk radio and even a worry that our Constitutional government may disappear after a “Reichstag” event takes place.

Can the media handle...

A Democrat with both a spine and balls?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Such people are normally required to be destroyed by the likes of Lilliputian Giant George Stephanopoulos.

But, but, the GE Handshake?

From one conglomerate to another:

NBC Universal executives declined to deny a report Wednesday night that Comcast, the cable giant, is in talks to buy the television and movie company from General Electric.

Comcast also did not deny the report that bankers for the two sides discussed a possible deal Tuesday in New York.

Look what we spend to keep James Inhofe neck deep in crazy pills

While Congress sleeps with the Health Care Industry to screw you over your ability to have affordable health care coverage:

This fall while members of Congress toil in the U.S. Capitol, working to decide how or even whether to reform the country's health care system, one floor below them an elaborate Navy medical clinic -- described by those who have seen it as something akin to a modern community hospital -- will be standing by, on-call and ready to provide Congress with some of the country's best and most efficient government-run health care.

Formally called the Office of the Attending Physician, the clinic -- and at least six satellite offices -- bills its mission as one of emergency preparedness and public health. Each day, it stands ready to handle medical emergencies, biological attacks and the occasional fainting tourist visiting Capitol Hill.

What Digby says Benen says:

Keep this in mind the next time you hear a member of Congress complaining about the nightmares of government-run, taxpayer-subsidized health care.

God forbid Americans who aren't owned by the insurance companies have such a plan, or any plan at all.

Talk to the tiny hand!

That way George Will can continue to write idiotic columns on global warming where the format is this:

1. It does not get warmer every year (Will must love those Drudge headlines when there's an occasional snow-storm in April).

2. Here's a guy from AEI who says limiting carbon emissions is too big a bother for our modern carbon emitting lifestyle.

Conclusion,

So, we are doomed. So, why try?

Required action:

America needs a national commission appointed to assess the evidence about climate change.

Yes, appoint yet another one -- and make sure it's made up of one blue dog Democrat, one James Inhofe and one Marc Morano. They'll get to the bottom of this skulduggery.

Yes, huzzah and harrumph and all that. I congratulate George Will on evolving from global warming denier to laughingly shrugging your shoulders.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

(pic via Truthdig)