Party of Lincoln

Who could have anticipated two white Alabama Republicans were racists as a matter of law?

Of course, one look at the various Republican voting restriction legislation around the country demonstrates this as well.

Of course he will

Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford is joining Fox News as a contributor, the Huffington Post has confirmed.

I can hardly wait for him to discuss family issues...and the outdoors with the woodsy Sean Hannity.

Yes, a real intellectual for certain

Vaffanculo!!

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has a vendetta against deep-dish pizza. In January, he told California Lawyer that New York pizza is "infinitely better" than the pizza in Chicago and Washington. Back then, he mentioned that he didn't really think deep-dish pizza should be called pizza, and tentatively suggested "tomato pie" as an alternative moniker.

A-hem,

The Ancient Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs and cheese. In Byzantine Greek, the word was spelled πίτα or pita, meaning pie. The word has now spread to Turkish as pide, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian as pita, Albanian as pite and Modern Hebrew pittāh. The Romans developed placenta, a sheet of flour topped with cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves. Modern pizza originated in Italy as the Neapolitan pie with tomato. In 1889, cheese was added.

Pizza is "tomato pie" you dumbshit.

From the "why do they hate us?" file #37,458

Hey, sorry about that indiscriminate bombing that inadvertently killed so many of you, but y'know our hearts were in the right place and all that shit -- now lie back and try to enjoy this:

Lindsey Graham: There is a lot of money to be made in the future in Libya. Lot of oil to be produced.

Yes, our hearts were pure...pure crude.

Hey, thanks assholes

For wasting several years peddling bullshit, committing petty crimes, and giving talking points to overpaid lying assholes until it was concretized in the mind of the average uninformed voter so that we'll manage not to do anything about it.

Fuckers.

Global warming skeptics suspected climate change scientists were hiding data. So the skeptics paid for a new study to find the real truth. The results are in! And they're identical to previous results: Humans are heating up the earth.

Not that you'll see this reported on FoxNews one iota.

Double fuckers.

I pondered for a moment

The irony of New Republic doing a list of over-rated intellects of the Village when they allow Marty Peretz to write editorials.

But then I realized nobody rates Peretz as much of an intellect, so how can he be over-rated?

Besides, it isn't quite like National Review doing one and not listing Jonah Goldberg as an over-rated sentient being and following it up by asking people to Google stuff for them.

It's quite sad that Republicans now hate America so much

They cannot even praise our given talents.

Like killing people.

Maybe, as Josh Marshall noted, they'll just miss the guy.

How the Village works

You host an NPR show about Opera...that's right, Opera.

You use some free time to go down and take part in Occupy Wall Street. They try to fire your ass.

As James Fallows notes, it's like they tried to blacklist Paul Robeson all over again.

Meanwhile, I image Pat Buchanan just got another raise for wishing their weren't so many "ethnics" outside his gated community.

Oh what could be the motivation?

Why, oh why, would anyone protest the current financial state of this country?

The average individual now has $1,315 less in disposable income than he or she did three years ago at the onset of the Great Recession – even though the recession ended, technically speaking, in mid-2009...the most dramatic drop in the US standard of living since at least 1960? One factor is stagnant incomes: Real median income is down 9.8 percent since the start of the recession through this June

But what of the the 1%?

...median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 [to an median of $9 million]

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Ghaddafi allegedly captured and/or dead

Gruesome picture on CNN right now...which is probably more accurate than checking the spelling on his identity papers -- although I'd find Gene Simmons to see if he's still kickin' it just to make sure.

All Classy and Shit

I know hard to believe, in the wake of finding one or two OWS protestors who want a Palestinian State and proclaiming antisemitism we get this:

The Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI) — a right-wing “pro-Israel” pressure group — attempted to paint the Occupy Wall Street protests as anti-Semitic.

Meanwhile, a board member of the organization, Rachel Abrams (that's right Elliot Abrams' wife -- wonder if they hang out with Clarence and Ginny Thomas?) gets to write all the homophobic and racial rants she wants -- for money.

He out Shat us all

It's clearly Bill Shatner's world and we're just here to say, what the fuck I thought this was a joke?

Nobody could have Super-anticipated?

Undemocratic extra-legislative body comprised of Republicans and Democrats evenly divided is incapable of getting anything accomplished...just like the actual legislative body. Huzzah!

With a Thanksgiving deadline fast approaching, a powerful congressional panel devoted to debt reduction is running in rhetorical circles, unable to break the impasse over taxes that has long blocked aggressive action to tame the national debt.

And who could have anticipated the main hang-up would be the same thing as it has been every time before?

Democrats have argued that the trigger would force Republicans to the bargaining table over taxes because the automatic reductions would fall heavily on the Pentagon. But so far, that tactic has not worked. House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) and other GOP leaders have yet to show any appetite for significant tax hikes in advance of the 2012 election, when they hope to campaign against Democrats on the issue.

I did learn something from this article though, in Village parlance "significant" now means "any".

(pic via mikenitro94 at flickr.com)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I admit I'd relegated him to Guttenberg relevance

But voice artist Michael Winslow found an awesome use of his talent, covering most all of Led Zeppelin.

I have a feeling Mitt Romney can hardly wait

Until he is finally out of the Presidential Race so he can get back to having that undocumented Latina leather slave.

Romney: “You can’t have any illegals working on our property. I’m running for office, for pete’s sake, we can’t have illegals”

DERP DERP DERP

A LARPer and a Fundy?   Can be a bad mix.

According to Elwin, on Saturday night Seay found out that his daughter had gone to a party in Puyallup, and he drove there in a rage and picked her up and took her home. Once at home, Seay allegedly told another girl, his stepdaughter, to go out in the yard and gather up several "willow switches" and bring them to him "so he'd have his choice of weapon." Seay then supposedly beat his daughter on the rear end and legs for quite a while. "He forced her down, sat on her back--the dad is about 300 pounds so she was unable to get out from under him--and proceeded to strike her on her backside and legs," Elwin tells Seattle Weekly. After beating the girl, Seay supposedly upped the ante when he told his daughter "now that you're 16, we can fight. Go put on your armor." The girl and the father then each donned a set of "homemade renaissance armor" and "jousted" in the yard from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. "During this, he's beating his daughter with wooden broadsword," Elwin says. "When she finally comes in she collapses and can no longer stand. She's beat all over her body; her head, arms, legs all suffered extensive bruising. Lots and lots of welts." Seay's wife, Julie Seay, meanwhile, had apparently encouraged the father to "beat the smirk off her face" and supported the medieval battle 100 percent. She was later arrested and charged with being an accessory to the crime. After the girl came in from her beating, her parents allegedly made her strip down to her underwear and then watch a "Sunday sermon" on TV by an unknown preacher. Sometime between the beating and the sermon, the girl was apparently able to reach her friend, who then called sheriff's deputies.

Parents of the Year surely, sick bastards.

The More You Know...

Apparently the reason I, as a liberal, oppose capital punishment is the fact that it doesn't involve either crucifixion or Jesus.

I have to admit, I did not know that.

Thanks, Pizza Man.

"Christian Charity"

I wonder how many people Republicans booed the line at the Soup Kitchen during the Depression?

One more down only 283 to go

I didn't watch the Republican Debate, but I'm guessing this summed it up.

Credit: Walt Handelsman at Newsday pic via Crooks & Liars

We present you with this slap across your wrist

Well, well, what's all this then?

NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna was disciplined Tuesday for pepper-spraying two female protesters in the notorious YouTube video seen around the world. The NYPD found that Bologna violated departmental guidelines and docked him 10 vacation days, or the equivalent amount of pay, police sources said.

Awesome, this guy gets to spend 10 extra days patrolling around NYC being pissed off at protesters that he isn't on vacation. That'll learn him and adjust his attitude for sure. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

A sense of humor and an ability to mock themselves

It's liberalism 101 -- as opposed to being unaware of how stupid you look in a Tri-Cornered Hat.

Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Brainstorm from President Bill Clinton

That's not how we'd do it

The Tour de France said it will get even harder:

Tour de France riders will face steeper mountain climbs and longer time trials, making for a wide-open race aimed to give stars like defending champion Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador plenty of challengers.

Bit of a let down, I'd thought they'd add even more of a Mad Max element like last year.
In America the NRA would insist it be toughened up by adding snipers.

Are thee Pep Boys? Masters of buggy parts and supplies?

The Amish beard cutting-gang may be my favorite crime ring ever.

By the way, the leaders of this group are, seriously, the "Mullets" -- who must be from a Canadian branch -- and their criminal device is...the ELECTRIC hair clipper.

Which seems so wrong, shouldn't all that Amish technology be confined to making fireplaces?

The coming Republican economic plan for the 99 percent has a test run

Jonathan McGowan, 44-Year-Old UK Man, Lives Off Roadkill For 30 Years

No filter, no logic, no chance, no conscience

The Pizza Man is updating his blood libels.

The Jews Liberals killed Jesus.

Well, in his eyes they do make the best companions in the Dominican Republic

Rusty Limbaugh comes out as pro child murder, rape and child armies.

Sounds to him like a dream vacation.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The One-Percenters! No wonder the remaining 99% are so popular.

By a 67 - 23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street protesters and say 87 - 10 percent that it is "okay that they are protesting," according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Agreeing with the protesters views are Democrats 81 - 11 percent and independent voters 58 - 30 percent, while Republicans disagree 58 - 35 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Even Republicans, however, agree 73 - 23 percent with the protesters right to be there.

Sure, you'd think the 99 percent would be get a little higher support, but there's a lot of conservatives self-loathing out there. In any case, it could be a lot worse, it is among the most popular political movements in the country, unlike the least popular, tea partiers But child model Eric Cantor has the solution for what ills conservatives -- more of the same.

The Virginia congressman, the most recent and prominent Republican whipping boy for Democrats, is heading to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to talk about income disparity and how Republicans believe the government could help fix it, an aide said. The speech will zero in on how Washington could help a "a single working mom…a small business owner…and how we make sure the people at the top stay there," the aide said.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I guess it beats Mitt Romney's version of "Puppy Love"

Or Rick Santorum's cover of "Beat It":

Nine-Nine-Nine-strodumbass

Herman Cain's amazing prescience:

The columns ranged from heavy economic pontification to colorful treatises on topics like why Tiger Woods should run for President in 2016. But a common thread running through much of his writing was a startlingly poor power of foresight – and not just about Woods, whose “character, discipline and leadership” Cain lauded in 2006.

In at least one column, Cain seemed to condemn a proposal that is now a pillar of his highly touted 9-9-9 tax plan. On November 12, 2010, Cain wrote a column about rumors that Democrats would propose a consumption tax called a VAT. “The worst idea is a proposed national sales tax,” Cain wrote. A 9% national sales tax is now one of Cain’s three nines. Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/10/16/in-herman-cains-writings-a-startling-lack-of-foresight/#ixzz1b2Y3fEJk The recession officially began in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

But in a Jan. 21, 2008, column entitled, “Recession? Spare us the National Economic Pity Party,” Cain compared fear of a downturn to a Hollywood script, and stated there was only an “economic correction, not an economic recession.” The damage would be minimal, Cain predicted, and would help downsize “overbuilt” portions of the economy while only “some consumers who have spent too much” would feel the pain.

He took a similar tack in a March 3, 2008, piece. “The media’s factually unsubstantiated claims of an impending recession have been going on for over a year now,” he wrote. “Many news journalists hurt people’s outlook about the economy with inappropriate comparisons and sensationalism.”

The men in the White Shirts

No longer just for the outfit your larping buddy wears at Best Buy during the work week. No it is coming to symbolize Bloomberg's Milice Force.

And now a dose of Right-Wing scholarship

Ugh, crafting their own reality now includes plenty of bad-byes -- just sad:

Yes, how dare they accurately portray him.

I thought I was watching the "Walking Dead" last night

But it turns out it was Donovan McNabb.

Rimshot

Golly, why would people ever protests

We have the Marie Antoinette of the Banking industry:

...one longtime money manager...added that he was disappointed that members of Congress from New York, especially Senator Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, had not come out swinging for an industry that donates heavily to their campaigns. “They need to understand who their constituency is,” he said.

In other words, stay bought you fuckers!

Just wondering

We now know Pizza Man Herman Cain is right-wing and crazy. We know the guy who started Dominos is also a big right-wing crazy. Just wondering whether the Papa John guy is crazy too?

So?

What did you all occupy this weekend?

The Whizzinator

While many of us occupied various places around the globe in the name of better government with less influence for people like the Koch Brothers, their chosen candidate spent the weekend making sure his skull was unoccupied. Herman Cain idiocy No. 1: Controlling the U.S.-Mexico border with a fence

“It’s going to be 20 feet high. It’s going to have barbed wire on the top. It’s going to be electrified. And there’s going to be a sign on the other side saying, ‘It will kill you — Warning,’”

Later Cain said this was a joke. He has not said likewise about the following, idiocy No. 2:

“I do not agree with abortion under any circumstance,” he insisted. “Exceptions for rape and incest?” Gregory asked. “Not for rape and incest,” Cain replied. “Because if you look at rape and incest, the percentage of those instances is so miniscule that there are other options.”

"There are other options?" What the hell does that even mean? No explanation forthcoming. And for those wondering why the Koch Brothers love him, listen to idiocy No. 3, his explanation of his 9-9-9 tax proposal:

GREGORY: And you think those people are going to rally around tax reform where the wealthy pay less and middle-class and lower-income folks pay more.

CAIN: Yes.

Good luck with that one Pizza Man.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Well what a surprise

Herman Cain, Kochsucker:

Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

Your FoxNews moment of the day

FoxNews White House correspondent Ed Henry tries out to be Mitt Romney's Press Secretary...in January 2013...at his newly expanded compound in LaJolla.

Another from the IOKIYAR files

Who could have anticipated spying upon this "dangerous" group for the benefit of Mayor Mike's billionaires:

it seems the FBI and NYPD have had help tracking protesters' moves thanks to a conservative computer security expert who gained access to one of the group's internal mailing lists, and then handed over information on the group's plans to the authorities as well as corporations targeted by protesters.

And as Thers notes, conservatives' ability to project themselves upon others never ceases to amaze.

Signs

I continue my trips to Zuccotti Park. As I mentioned last week, there are always a lot of terrific signs. Yes, this one made me laugh, but my favorite so far has been short and sweet. It simply said:

CHANGE
OBAMA

(By the way, in all my visits, that's been the first mention of -- or even reference to -- the President that I've seen.)

On a related note: are there enough unnamed sources in this NYT article for you? I liked this bit, though:

“Who do you think pays the taxes?” said one longtime money manager. “Financial services are one of the last things we do in this country and do it well. Let’s embrace it. If you want to keep having jobs outsourced, keep attacking financial services. This is just disgruntled people.”

He added that he was disappointed that members of Congress from New York, especially Senator Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, had not come out swinging for an industry that donates heavily to their campaigns. “They need to understand who their constituency is,” he said.

Don't worry. The 99% understand who their constituency is.

I suppose they will call him a Communist as a matter of fact

Which would be pathetic, and funny as hell...as well as par for the course -- as Mr. Pierce predicts:

The fact that Lech Walesa apparently is planning to come to New York to visit the Occupy site is just about the coolest thing that's happened since the movement's reach began to spread. I am looking forward to hearing David Brooks and George Effing Will and the rest of the people react to the presence of a genuine hero without whom the likes of Brooks and Will — and just about every conservative on the planet — would not be allowed to lie all the time about Ronald Reagan's having won the Cold War.

Two headers that demonstrate how fucked up things are...and how they got that way

Two posts from AmericaBlog that together explain a lot:

17 million Americans struggled to feed their family last year

And a bit later

Highest CEO pay in US is tied to Big Pharma and Health Care

Old Man yells at Abacus-Shaped Cloud

Oh incontinent & incompetent McCain which Sunday News Show will you be on this week?

We’d love to see, for example, a vote in the United States Senate on a moratorium on Federal regulations, which are coming out by the thousands, costing businesses billions and billions of jobs.

Hmmm, with an adult population of about 200 million, this does seem a real drag on reducing unemployment to -500%

Who could have not realized?

Handy chart of GOP obstructionism via John Perr at Crooks & Liars:

They really got right on that one

Scientists believe they have found the origin of the Black Death in the 1340s at last. It's pretty much what you thought, but it underlies a more recent theory...there was a reason it occurred when it did because people had been made susceptible for the prior century.

Lanny Davis has been renowned the last several years as the "Pat Buchanan of FoxNews", the Democrat Fox drags out to talk on all manner of things when Joe Lieberman is busy. The key, of course, he actually talks as if he was Pat Buchanan. But when not undermining Democrats Lanny has had other employment. Being the virtual Mouth of Sauron in America for all manner of corporate assholes and international human rights violators willing to pay his fees. Ivory Coast, Pakistan, and Equatorial Guinea to name three of the latter. Lanny's Ivory Coast patron is warm and cuddly lover of humanity Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, known even in a continent that included Mubarak, Gaddafi, Gbagbo (Client) and Mugabe as "Africa's worst dictator". It is hard to believe that two such upstanding people as Mr. Davis and Mr. Mbasogo have run into a spot of bother.

Lanny Davis... is suing the Republic of Equatorial Guinea for stiffing him on a legal bill.

I can only assume Mr. Davis will attempt to make up his losses by representing some investment firm and denouncing #OccupyWallStreet as a bunch of dirty hippies for $1,500 an hour. (photo Kvatch at flickr.com) [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Finally a show about Property Law Nuances

I've been watching a bit of Downton Abbey (or as we call it in America "DowntoWn Abbey") on Netflix, because really, who can pull off a better early 20th Century costume drama than the British? It's like Mad Men, only instead of being imbued with the off-screen Kennedy it has the off-screen Kaiser.

Anyhoo, if you've ever wanted to have high-quality dramas about Property & Inheritance Law (and who hasn't am i right?) this is the show for you. I assume first year Property classes in law schools throughout the country are recommending it.

Now we've got the bad Germans

One of the clever remarks I remember from years ago was watching a PBS limited run show called 'Clive James, Fame in the 20th Century' which talked about how the 20th Century was really the dawn of the age of celebrity and went right up through the early 1990s. The show sort of went decade by decade and had a great line about World War II on the subject of Eisenhower...

Even Eisenhower’s name sounded like a reminder to Hitler that the Americans didn’t just have better dance music than the Germans. They had better Germans than the Germans.

Well, no more -- and to think it all centers around not just nationality, but Kansas.

German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because “We Don’t Have the … Koch Brothers”

Awesome person of the day

The Globe & Mail Caption Writer. Go see the whole gallery.

But what about Glenn Beck University

It is a rich-day for statements that make you say "that's rich": Glenn Beck inadvertently endorses staying in school:

We also have the responsibility to understand we are accountable for each of those choices. You go to school, you rack up a lot of school loans, that was your choice. We also have to understand that those choices have eternal consequences. And consequences that ripple throughout society…If you can’t afford to go to college, go to the free public library. I did it. It works.

Um, yeah...

It's not two wet suits and a dildo, but it will do

As a demonstration of wingnut hypocrisy.

Tennessee Sponsor Of Guns In Bars Law Arrested For Driving Drunk With A Gun | In what is almost too predictable to be true, the lead sponsor of a Tennessee law allowing handgun permit holders to bring guns into bars “has been arrested on charges of drunken driving and possession of a gun while under the influence.” Pulled over in Nashville, Tennessee late yesterday, state Rep. Curry Todd (R) “failed a roadside sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer. A loaded Smith & Wesson 38 Special was found in a holster stuffed between the driver seat and the center console.” A spokesman for the House Republican Caucus had no immediate comment on the arrest. Todd, incidentally, is the same official who compared pregnant illegal immigrants to “reproducing rats.”

And, of course, there's a Mug Shot -- and it is like it was choreographed to be as appropriate as possible.

Oh look, the Republicans Job Plan

[Details and/or Plan not available]

Or...

Blame it on the black guy.

53% doesn't mean what you think it means

Oh well, Erick Erickson can brag about his apparent tenured job at CNN all he wants, he's still a hilariously inept dumbfuck*:

Fifty-three percent of self-identified Republicans back an increase in taxes on households making more than $250,000, a sentiment at odds with the party’s presidential candidates, who will meet tonight in a Bloomberg-Washington Post-sponsored debate focused on economic issues.

*I know, I know, as opposed to all the world's amazingly adept dumbfucks


Fez tip AmericaBlog

Breaking News

In order to demonstrate that he, unlike "actual" white guy Barry Obama (he's really Irish you see), stereotype-pizza baron Herman Cain [number nine-nine-nine](suggested soundtrack) and Louis Farrakhan [number 19-19-19] have gotten together and compromised on their particular infatuations and announced the 14-14-14 plan!



Let me know when Mitt Romney undercuts Cain with his 5-dollar foot long proposal.

Who amongst us

Doesn't recall the American Revolutionary Battles that occurred in the 16th century?

Rick Perry does.

Just think, if the Dukes of Medina and Parma had been more proactive we could all be speaking Spanish and dominating soccer under a whole new magical fictional scenario -- I'm surprise Newt Gingrich hasn't written a terrible alternative history book about it already.

(Of course, this could actually be a point of agreement between he and Mittens Romney's magic underwear)

"MMMMM that's good Oxy!"

Limbaugh proclaims #OccupyWallStreet a plot against the Jews. Which is as factual as usual per these guys.

The directors of Ben and Jerry's ice cream have thrown their support behind the Occupy Wall Street movement sweeping the United States, even if they answer to a European conglomerate. In a statement on the company's website, seen Tuesday, they shared the protesters' anger with inequity within the United States ("simply immoral"), high unemployment and unbridled political spending by big corporations. Ben and Jerry's was founded in Vermont by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who sold their company -- built around an all-natural ethos -- to the Anglo-Dutch food and personal care giant Unilever.

I wonder just how much additional self-loathing goes into the already sizable deposits of Rush Limbaugh as he downs another couple pints of Wavy Gravy and Cherry Garcia every night.

"How dare you be intolerant!"

Mitt Romney has declared. "Why can we not go back to hating the Indians Masons Irish Catholics Italians Blacks Suffragettes Wets Evolutionists Socialists Intellectuals Jews Communists India Indians the poor Mexicans Gays, hey did I mention Blacks? Muslims like the good ol' days?"

And on that last note, this looks like a good time for John Bolton (caution link has high "derp" factor) to get back in the race to demand Iran be bombed, it's been like two months since he last demanded it.

Of course, we may have found the ultimate "new hotness" for a potential Republican dream candidate. Literally a 'missing link' that is willing to deny evolutionary theory.

[crossposted at Firedoglake]

(pic via FoggyDave at flickr.com)

Who could have anticipated

That for some reason the shrimp harvest in the Gulf of Mexico is way down?

He was visiting a salsa factory there!

Somebody call Dawg the Bounty Hunter because James O'Keefe might have skipped bail.

(pic borrowed from Quantum Suicide in the linked articles comments)




[link to video if you don't get the joke in the title]

Bow down!

I just required the rights to "Qwikster"! Now to develop the penile dysfunction drug to sell under the name.

The man was plainly born in Kenya and must be deported forthwith

Justice Stevens just wrote a memoir:

Stevens calls the application[By Bush to stop the Florida Recounty in 2000] “frivolous,” and recalls bumping into Justice Stephen Breyer at a Christmas party where the men discussed the application. “We agreed that the application was frivolous,” Stevens writes. “To secure a stay, a litigant must show that one is necessary to prevent a legally cognizable irreparable injury. Bush’s attorneys had failed to make any such showing.” Nonetheless, on December 9, the Court granted the stay by a vote of five to four. On Dec. 12, the Court resolved the 2000 election. As Stevens puts it, “What I still regard as a frivolous stay application kept the Court extremely busy for four days.”

And shortly thereafter George W. Bush was declared the winner 5-4. Thanks again, Supreme Court.

Happy Holiday No One Ever Remembers Until You Wonder Where Your Mail Is Day!

From here.

Leave me alone to eat cake!

Whether it be Tom Friedman or Robert Samuelson, the brotherhood of the pornstache produces some real bullshit.

Fez tip Balloon Juice.

Not even the crazies love the dipshit anymore

Glenn Beck not packing 'em in even at awful right-wing conventions:

Bachmann isn't exactly packin' 'em in either.

Let them eat heavily taxed cake

Herman Cain is just peachy with taxing a poor person's value meal so the cavier crowd can pay lower taxes. Awesome.

The Occupy movement has spread from Wall Street, to D.C. to other areas throughout the country and even internationally. Who could have anticipated FoxNews saying it is getting too much coverage? Yes, but what is really impressive is when a cable news network literally promotes a movement 24/7. That's journalsim something Chris Wallace can be proud of. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I'm guessing it involves fictional people who think JUST LIKE Tom Friedman

Another Sunday, another series of self-important, self-congratulating, self-serving assholes.

Fareed Zakaria – ... “And, how to fix our problems: with Tom Friedman.”

Lukavich!

In related news, I see the more bigoted the speaker, the louder the applause from the right-wing "value voters" -- especially from tri-corner hat guy.

You stay classy

Shouldn't these guys be sleeping through the defense of a capital case?

An assistant law professor in North Carolina has filed an ethics complaint against four Crowell & Moring lawyers who suggested that inbreeding could be responsible for Appalachian birth defects chronicled in a study of mountaintop mining.

Sign Suggestions

Whether you've attended an Occupy Wall Street event or just followed it online, you know there are some terrific signs on display at the various Occupations. They run the gamut from serious to silly, straightforward to sublime, simple to sly, sober to sexy, standard to strange, and everything in between.

If you can't get to an Occupation, but have an idea for a sign, put it in comments. Here's mine:

WAGES, NOT CREDIT!

You stay classy Republicans

Somebody's cult is bigger than someone else's cult

Today at the Values Voters Summit, presidential contender and Texas Gov. Rick Perry was introduced to the crowd by one of his most prominent supporters, Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Jeffress is well-known for his bigoted views about gays, Muslims, and Mormons. During his introduction for Perry, he called Planned Parenthood “that slaughterhouse for the unborn.” Speaking to reporters after Perry’s speech, Jeffress reiterated his well-known view that “Mormonism is a cult”

[Attaturk's theory of theology -- Cult plus time = "Religion"]

Good plan

Fourteen straight months of government job losses. If there had been positive government job growth, we'd actually be reducing unemployment AND generating revenue, plus it would have private sector benefits. But no, we can't have that.

The Ol' Paper Bag

Now that they've given up, for the most part, trying to proclaim Obama the Nigerian-born "other" leave it to FoxNews guest-blonde Laura Ingraham to decide that Barack Obama ISN'T BLACK ENOUGH!

Herman Cain, if he became president, he would be the first black president, when you measure it by — because he doesn’t — does he have a white mother, white father, grandparents, no, right? So Herman Cain, he could say that he’s — he’s — he’s the first, uh — he could make the claim to be the first — yeah, the first Main Street black Republican to be the president of the United States. Right? He’s historic too.

Yes, leave it to FoxNews to implement the "Paperbag Test".

Sounds about right

This seems to be an accurate prediction:

In the next few weeks I am betting that we will see some truly bizarre Draft So-and-So campaigns on the internet and in the media. David Petraeus. Dick Cheney. George Bush the Elder. Jeb (again). Sarah Palin (again). Rudy Giuliani. Katherine Harris. Mike Gravel. Ross Perot. John Anderson. Oliver North. Ted Nugent. Baltimore Orioles OF Luke Scott. Sideshow Bob. Gennifer Flowers. WWE superstar John Cena. This inanimate carbon rod.

via Wolcott

Golly, nobody could have anticipated

Bill O'Reilly likes #occupywallstreet far far less than he enjoys a fine butt-plug. Quelle, surprise?

"Help, help, I'm being repressed"

And not in the way you typically think when it comes to Lindsey Graham:

“Rick Perry is not a racist,” Graham said, saying the Texas governor is the victim of an “intimidation” campaign. “You know if you’re a southern white guy, it is part of your life,” Graham complained.

Yes, pity the poor "Southern White Guy", who has been more set upon in history, amongst at least white men of the South, than the Southern White Male? Just ask them.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I admit, a quick sideways glance at this story

Made me fear that Michael Bey had been awarded the Nobel Prize.

Sorry young assholes

You'll just have to masturbate to FoxNews blondes and buy Lisa Ann videos for a while.

Oh, and in a serenade of tiny violins observe those who against all logic defended the grifter only to discover after she got their credit card numbers that they have been grifted.

Her political action committee, SarahPAC, reported $1.402 million cash on hand in July, the latest records that are available. The report showed that while she spent a considerable sum — $673,000 — raising money, she did little to bolster a staff, instead paying her parents for jobs listed as “correspondence and card mailing.

As the top 1% of the 1 percenters...

Perhaps Bloomberg wants to consider the fact that #OccupyWallStreet only becomes more newsworthy and grows bigger when he has some members of the NYPD go "Tienanmen Light". I'm guessing the white-shirts not only make them stand out in the crowd but probably indicate they are higher-ups in the NYPD...how fitting. They even pepper-sprayed FoxNews for goodness sake.

Worst Parent EVER!

I don't know where it ranks in the list of disgusting, but I'm guessing being a pastor in a Church and telling your congregation to go out in the parking lot and beat the shit out of your gay son and his friend as they arrive for church, is pretty high on the list of awful.

And then back to the living

As many of you know, Steve Jobs died as did civil rights pioneer Fred Shuttlesworth.

Most all of us know the former but if you don't know who the latter is, well let's just say Fred Shuttlesworth was arguably the bravest American of the 1960s.  

There will be a lot of obituaries about Mr. Jobs today. However, the Ms. Shuttlesworth will have some but certainly less prominently. Perhaps the most important remembrance we can give Mr. Shuttlesworth is through noting how easily his life's work is being threatened by the the racist notions of the past creeping back into our discourse (emphasis on "creep"). From laws being passed to restrict voting rights aimed at minority groups and the poor, to modern re-incarnations of Theodore Bilbo (most racist hobbit ever), like Steve King wishing we could go back to the '50s...the 1850s.

As I roll this thing back and I think of American history, there was a time in American history when you had to be a male property owner in order to vote. The reason for that was, because they wanted the people who voted — that set the public policy, that decided on the taxes and the spending — to have some skin in the game.

Steve King looks back fondly to the days when women, the poor and especially people of only one color of "skin" had a say in their government. It would be a fitting tribute to Fred Shuttlesworth if Steve King was no longer part of the government in January 2013.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I....MUST...HAVE

"Oh Tobias, you blow hard!"

AH, everyone's favorite

The non-apology apology:

I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone

I know it's an old story, but if you just leave it alone at the first clause and don't add the second, which puts the burden on the offended person, you are a fuckload better off.

His son Hank the 3rd seems pretty cool though, and also appears to have inherited the talent that clearly skipped the prior generation.

Go Figure

If you come out with even something moderately progressive AND actually fight for it, it is not only good policy it is good politics. IF ONLY WE ANGRY LEFTWING BLOGGERS HAD THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?!!!!

Barack Obama has jumped to a 15-point lead over the Republicans in Congress in trust to handle job creation, a sign the beleaguered president’s $450 billion jobs package has hit its mark in public opinion. Fifty-two percent support the plan – and most say it just might work. Overall approval of the U.S. Congress, meanwhile, has dropped to its lowest in polls back to the mid-1970s. And of the eight in 10 Americans who are dissatisfied with the way the country’s political system is working, more blame the Republicans in Washington than the president. A month ago, Americans divided evenly, 40-40 percent, on whom they trusted more to handle job creation, Obama or the congressional Republicans. Now, after his jobs proposal and ongoing promotion of his plan, it’s 49-34 percent, Obama’s first significant advantage over the GOP on jobs in ABC/Post polling since early 2010.

It helps that even in an environment where the media establish bends over backwards, if not well more than that, to let the GOP argue things like "muslims=bad" "world=flat" "God=Angry" that they are wedded to doing AB-SO-FUC-KING-LUTE-LY-NO-THING about unemployment except make it worse and blame Obama, even the media has caught on to that.

If you are around and available

Occupy Wall Street has more coming around the nation today. As for myself, there was this miscommunication on my part and I spent most of the last week occupying Wall Drug. Ice-water is pretty good though.

Yes, hard to believe

Noted stereotype-enforcing businessman Herman Cain recently proclaimed that African-Americans are brainwashed into voting for Democrats.

because some black people won't even listen to someone who appears to be a conservative or a Republican. I call that brainwashing.

Because it couldn't possibly be a rational individual choice driven by observation.

Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance. “Niggerhead,” it read.

Nope, couldn't be:

Perry Fought To Keep Confederate Symbols Displayed On Government Buildings

Oh, and how could it be a rational choice when the same Herman Cain calls this "insensitive" one day and then the real leader of the GOP sweatily weighs in:

They’re trying to say that Perry’s a racist, and Herman Cain has jumped in and basically joined that chorus — and it is absurd.

So sayeth the man who never engages in race-baiting -- Herman Cain, being a Republican uber alles, is ready for his apology:

“I am not attacking Governor Perry. Some people in the media want to attack him. I’m done with that issue,” Cain said.

Yes, hard to believe so many African-Americans, when even allowed to vote by them, do not choose the leaders of that Party.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

This

Is enjoyable prose:
 

Now, it appears that the Koch brothers also specialized in international bribery, lying about industrial homicides, and dealing with Iran. You have to love the e-mail from the Koch flack that blames "regulatory complexity" for the company's lawlessness. (If only there weren't so many laws, we wouldn't break so many of them!)

Bravo, Mr. Pierce.

When blessings come in a Asshole-shaped package

That horrendous Hank Williams Jr. song is off Monday Night Football for now, thanks to the horrendous Hank Williams, Jr.

It seems Hank got caught in a battle of wits with the crew from Fox & Friends, and when four unarmed people are in a battle there are no winners.  Well, we win, as that awful song won't be played.

Why is it the talented ones always drink themselves to death so their untalented offspring can write awful songs about them?

But the real point is this, other than describing Hank Jr. as an idiot, I really don't see the point of repercussions other than mockery (oh, not hearing that song is a nice bonus though).

Compare this to the reaction of the right-wing to the Dixie Chicks several years ago.   

Democracy (the bombs are just a bonus) for others countries, but not here

It's a Republican Feature.

According to a new report, over five million voters could be denied the right to vote under new laws adopted in a dozen states... ...The Brennan Center wrote that there has been a partisan divide in terms of the new laws, noting that the laws had mainly been generated from Republican-controlled state legislatures and signed by Republican governors.

And naturally,

the new laws will have an impact on minority voters. According to the Brennan Center, African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to register to vote during voter registration drives in Florida, and new photo I.D. requirements in Texas do not include forms of identification heavily used by minorities.

And in about 2014 the NYPD will be paying how much?

Little reported on...except by themselves (and here)...were the arrest of several journalists, including Amy Goodman at the 2008 Republican Convention.

Their crime was committing acts of journalism, which is obviously dangerous within a city block of a gathering of the GOP. Here's the lovely video to remember it by: Well in the name of such dangerous First Amendment practitioners, the law enforcement of the Twin Cities of Minnesota and the Secret Service has to pay out a six-figure settlement.

The settlement includes $100,000 in compensation paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments and the Secret Service. The settlement also includes an agreement by the St. Paul police department to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the First Amendment rights of the press and public with respect to police operations, including proper procedures for dealing with the press covering demonstrations.

Meanwhile the Tea Partiers when not being feted by the cable networks are still demanding justice, or at least a sandwich for Kenny Gladney.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Yeah, that's pretty much it

Lukovich:

via here.

I'm not going to get into all the various obvious reasons

African-Americans overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, other than the fact they have no reason to vote for the Party taken over by southern whites who were Dixiecrats; whose candidates call their property things like "Niggerhead"; like to put on tricorner hats and impersonate the founding slaveholder de jour; who are quick to get the needle ready if the inmates non-white; and love to call any black politician un-American and/or socialist. But I'm going to guess calling African-Americans "brainwashed" isn't going to change the dynamic.

Oh, I heartily approve

Arrested Development limited run and then a movie? It's been a few years, hopefully by now someone in the Bluth family will have seen a chicken. Oh, and btw, to avoid a situation like this in the future start watching "Community" now. That way you won't wish you had when you finally start watching it on Hulu or Netflix several years from now after it was cancelled because you wrongly thought Big Bang Theory was funnier.

"Six seasons and a movie"

That's good Administerin'

Who's bright idea was this one?

ATLANTIC, Iowa (AP) - The Atlantic school district has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed over student strip searches. Settlement documents released by the district show the families of three girls will each get $100,000. Other details of the settlement were confidential. The families' lawsuit had said the girls were strip-searched in a locker room in August 2009 after a classmate reported the theft of $100 from her purse. No money was found. The lawsuit claimed the girls' state and federal rights against unreasonable searches had been violated, as was an Iowa law that specifically prohibits strip-searching students.

Droit du seigneur, Koch-style

For most people -- well, non-Republicans for certain -- funding a right-wing group with your billions and calling it "grass roots" would be a bit rich, and not just as a pun. But not for the Koch Brothers.  

And hell, while we're at it, for most people secretly dealing with the government of Iran is only the province of the Reagan Administration pre-whitewashing. But apparently, it's good if you're the Koch Brothers.

Good thing their name isn't George Soros, or they'd be in real trouble.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

I'm sure it's all a big misunderstanding

Wow, just, wow -- now he's sown up the teabagger vote:

In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance. “Niggerhead,” it read.

In Perry's defense he did insist the name eventually be changed to "Brazilnuthead".

Also he wants to invade Mexico so he can have a ranch called "Wetback Acres".

Naturally

Last month CNN met with leaders of the TeaParty at a Dennys -- which was appropriate because the usual number of attendees at a tea bagger gathering would not fill up a Dennys. Meanwhile 700 were arrested for deigning to step foot on the Brooklyn Bridge (and not for sale purposes) from #occupywallstreet and the coverage on the Sunday chat shows. Why nothing of course. But we get two Cheney's and, of course, John McCain. Oh that liberal media.

Does seem rather dubious

#Occupywallstreet trends everywhere in the world except the United States? Seems rather unlikely. (via the Great Orange Satan)

This will be the rage

Until there's a terrorist warning from Alfred E. Newman.

Conflicted

I respect those who have problems with the extra-judicial execution of an American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, though admittedly I have a little less problem with it than most of those folks. I admit there's some (well, more than some) situational ethics involved but I really don't think I'm as bothered by this one as say the "judicial" execution of Troy Davis, or just the reliance upon death by drone in general. And this doesn't exactly make me feel worse:

U.S. intelligence indicates that the top al-Qaida bomb-maker in Yemen also died in the drone strike that killed radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, two U.S. officials said Friday. Ibrahim al-Asiri is the bomb-maker linked to the bomb hidden in the underwear of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. The FBI pulled al-Asiri's fingerprint off that bomb. Authorities also believe he built the bombs that al-Qaida slipped into printers and shipped to the U.S. last year in a nearly catastrophic attack.