Hometown, USA

Should Assange Hunt Down Palin?

2011-02-06T06:58:00.001-05:00

Sarah Palin says the Obama administration must tell Americans what it knows about who will be Egypt's next leader.

In a Christian Broadcasting Network interview released Saturday, the 2008 vice presidential candidate says the administration should level with the American people on what it knows about the Egyptian crisis.

Sarah Palin on Julian Assange:

Sarah Palin, who is widely tipped as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2012, has said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be hunted down in the way armed forces are targeting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

We can only hope she finds the information the Obama Administration possesses, releases it and calls for the armed forces to hunt herself down.

More Sanity From the Right

2011-01-14T08:43:00.001-05:00

Both of these stolen from Salon.

A bullet scarred billboard:

And a clip that reminds me, at least, of Jason or Freddie Krueger or something that goes bump in the night:

Also note the reflection of teleprompters that have been inserted by the lamestream media to make Sarah Reagan look Obamaesque.

And since I’m pillaging Salon here’s an interesting article from Peter Kramer who’s a professor of psychiatry at Brown. I don’t believe the right is directly responsible for Jared Loughner. Maybe there are some who do. I do believe there are those on the Right who have created a poisonous atmosphere with conspiracy theories, slurs and veiled (and not so veiled) threats.

Respected colleagues and columnists have been quick to say no. Shall we give Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and the others a quick pass? It is true that the biology of mental illness has its own imperative. But along with most other people, I do imagine that in a general sense social forces can mute, inflame or redirect impulses. That's what the time in the clinical office is about, in part: the use of interpersonal influence to moderate or channel emotions. Much political speech has the same aim.

The work that I do makes me suspect that creating a hysterical political environment has its costs. Many writers have commented on the corrosive effects of casual references to violence, along with the demonization of public figures and the glorification of gun ownership. I want to add a further consideration, implicit in the others, but worth separating out: tolerance, in the public sphere, for paranoia itself.

Eat the Rich

2011-01-04T09:18:00.001-05:00

Apparently the socialists took over on New Year’s Day. Things are looking good for William Ayers primary challenge against President Obama.

Most Americans think the United States should raise taxes for the rich to balance the budget, according to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released on Monday.

In addition to asking those who, like Paris Hilton, have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to become wealthy these turncoats are suggesting surrender to our enemies.

The next most popular way -- chosen by 20 percent -- was to cut defense spending.

At least the right and the left can probably find common ground on this opinion.

Asked which part of the world they would fix first, the largest proportion of respondents -- 36 percent -- chose Washington, compared with 23 percent who picked the Middle East and 14 percent who chose Haiti.

Ayers/Chomsky 2012

Black Friday Music

2010-11-26T20:02:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving’s over. Break out the Gene Autry:

Al Franken Gets Kinetic

2010-10-28T09:16:00.001-04:00

I’m Mad Too, Carl

2010-10-25T12:52:00.001-04:00

OK, not really. I’ll be a little disappointed in a week when the big top comes down on Carl “Clownshoes” Paladino. In the meantime, here’s some Rachel Maddow:

Mad does mean crazy as a loon, right?

New Blog to my List

2010-10-22T08:18:00.001-04:00

Adding a blog I never read, but should have been because they seem brilliant at any meal anytime. Loved this post proclaiming Americans as idiots. That seems a little harsh. But, I’m an American, and an idiot. Some of the folks in this piece live on rungs lower than I, though.

So let's see...they like Social Security and Medicare, but they want spending cut to the bone. They want Washington to be involved in schools, but they want Washington out of their schools. They want Washington to help reduce poverty, but they don't want social programs for "Those People."

These are the people who think they are well-informed because they watch Fox and listen to Beck, Limbaugh and Savage.

Here is the brilliant rant that led me from Tbogg over to Brilliant at Breakfast:

We are a profoundly ignorant. People don't know anything about their own religions. We know little of our own history, let alone our history in context with the rest of the world. We worship sports heroes who torture dogs, but we point at scientists and laugh. A profoundly messed-up woman like Christine O'Donnell can run on a platform of "See? I can't manage my finances either. I'm you." We had eight years of a dry drunk as president because people thought he was the guy they'd want to have a beer with -- as if that were ever going to happen. Now there are people who would vote to give the nuclear codes to an aging high school mean girl because they'd like to fuck her -- as if that's ever going to happen. Smart people are regarded with scorn as "elites." Ignorance is regarded as a virtue.
This is how an empire dies. And we are going to be around to see it.

And from Tom Engelhardt:

If you had told me then that we would henceforth be in a state of eternal war as well as living in a permanent war state, that, to face a ragtag enemy of a few thousand stateless terrorists, the national security establishment in Washington would pump itself up to levels not faintly reached when facing the Soviet Union, a major power with thousands of nuclear weapons and an enormous military, that “homeland” -- a distinctly un-American word -- would land in our vocabulary never to leave, and that a second Defense Department dubbed the Department of Homeland Security would be set up not to be dismantled in my lifetime, that torture (excuse me, “enhanced interrogation techniques”) would become as American as apple pie and that some of those “techniques” would actually be demonstrated to leading Bush administration officials inside the White House, that we would pour money into the Pentagon at ever escalating levels even after the economy crashed in 2008, that we would be fighting two potentially trillion-dollar-plus wars without end in two distant lands, that we would spend untold billions constructing hundreds of military bases in those same lands, that the CIA would be conducting the first drone air war in history over a country we were officially not at war with, that most of us would live in a remarkable state of detachment from all of this, and finally -- only, by the way, because I’m cutting this list arbitrarily short -- that I would spend my time writing incessantly about “the American way of war” and produce a book with that title, I would have thought you were nuts.

And just to make sure future opponents are well armed:

The Obama administration is laying out a new multiyear, multibillion-dollar military aid package for Pakistan as it presses the Islamabad government to step up the fight against extremists there and in neighboring Afghanistan, U.S. officials say.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were to unveil the plan Friday at the end of the latest round of high-level U.S.-Pakistani strategic talks here, the officials said.

What could go wrong?

Pakistan shut down the Torkham border crossing, the most important NATO supply into Afghanistan, on Thursday in apparent protest of a NATO helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers on the frontier. It was the third such incursion into Pakistan in less than a week.

The other NATO supply line through Pakistan remained open — the Chaman crossing in Baluchistan, where it seemed likely the tankers were heading.

A lengthy closure of Torkham would place intense strain on the US-Pakistani relationship and hurt the Afghan war effort. But a long shutdown continued to be seen as unlikely.

In spite of our country being geographically challenged we have somehow stumbled into the appropriate region.

Who Knew?

2010-09-13T09:46:00.001-04:00

Walking is good for you.

Beyond the snarkiness, it is a good article and important research. I’m sure there are many worse ways to spend research dollars. SDI, anyone?

Research shows that walking can actually boost the connectivity within brain circuits, which tends to diminish as the grey hairs multiply.

"Patterns of connectivity decrease as we get older," said Dr. Arthur F. Kramer, who led the study team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

I’ve been sans automobile for going on two years and can say that part of that connectivity building is just trying to remember the bus schedules.

"The aerobic group also improved in memory, attention and a variety of other cognitive processes," Kramer said. "As the older people in the walking group became more fit, the coherence among different regions in the networks increased and became similar to those of the 20-yr olds," Kramer explained.

And here I was attributing these improvements to the tai chi. But, I do hope this is so, as I hope to be trying to assimilate to a new culture and language soon and will likely need all the cognition I can muster.

The findings come as no surprise to Dr. Lynn Millar, an expert with the American College of Sports Medicine. She said while walking might seem like a simple activity, the brain is actually working to integrate information from many different sources.

"When we walk we integrate visual input, auditory input, as well as input that's coming from joints and muscles regarding where the foot is, how much force, and things like that " said Millar, a professor of Physical Therapy at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

I’m usually just trying to keep from being run over, as Queensbury is not the most pedestrian friendly town. I do have new sidewalks between apartment and work, though. Occasionally during the winter they remove the snow from them as well.

"It's that old concept: if you don't use it you lose it," she said. "In order for something to be beneficial we need to do it repetitively, and walking is a repetitive activity."

Millar, author of "Action Plan for Arthritis," said while some changes are inevitable with age, they don't have to happen as quickly as they do in some people.

This was a big motivator for me. I had blood clots in the summer 2008 and have had arthritis in my left knee and hip for five years or so. Walking was said to be good for both and, of course, I’m a cheap bastard and could save money. But, I think if you keep doing something then you keep being able to do it and I want to be able to keep walking. The Lord helps those who help themselves.

A pedometer helps quantify things. Otherwise, I think it’s likely to exaggerate how far you think you walked. This is mine and it’s fairly cheap. And this is a really cool site to record steps on, even if they are a day ahead of me.

Don’t click the video unless you like cheesy 80’s music as much as I do:

The Cronkite Moment

2010-08-29T09:30:00.001-04:00

Will there come this moment for the Afghanistan War? There doesn’t seem to be a journalist with the gravitas of Uncle Walter. Certainly Katie Couric will not cut it. Maybe just for shock value we could have an O’Reilly or Hannity or Beck declare the conflict lost. That would just be for partisan advantage over a Democratic president, though. Hardly heartfelt.

The events there seem to be more ever-present lately. Maybe it is just a shift of our media collective toward presenting it for the clusterfuck it is and laying aside the support the troops (and the war) at all costs.

Seven U.S. troops have died in weekend attacks in Afghanistan's embattled southern and eastern regions, while officials found the bodies Sunday of five kidnapped campaign workers for a female candidate in the western province of Herat.

Two servicemen died in bombings Sunday in southern Afghanistan, while two others were killed in a bomb attack in the south on Saturday and three in fighting in the east the same day, NATO said. Their identities and other details were being withheld until relatives could be notified.

I recognize the geo-political reality that Afghanistan is right next door to a nuke wielding Pakistan. I realize that women are brutalized by religious zealots stuck in medieval times. I salute the bravery of these campaign workers who surely must have known they were placing their lives in danger to work for the election of a female candidate.

When I enter a search for “India Pakistan Peace” I don’t find much in the way of organizations working toward that goal. If we turned our time, efforts and resources away from Afghanistan and toward resolution between these two nations and eventual de-nuclearization of them it would likely solve a number of our problems.

Whatever Afghanistan is going to become, it is going to become with or without our troops there. Opium production has increased exponentially since our involvement. We have placed a former CIA asset and kleptocrat in charge of their country in the form of Hamid Karzai. Can things get worse? Probably for awhile. Are they going to get better with tens of thousands of US troops there? Probably not.

I’m just an average schmuck with a laptop and a broadband connection. My opinion could be wrong. I figure I have about a 50% chance. Stay or leave. Those are the options.

UPDATE: FWIW, saw this piece at Newshoggers about the Chinese moving into Kashmir in a big way, ostensibly to improve their shipping times.

Now, China isn't exactly a U.S. enemy and if they want a base in the Gulf then they're legally allowed one if the host nation (Pakistan) will co-operate - but many analysts have written about China's maritime expansion in worrying tones, seeing an eventual confrontation with the US as more possible because of it.

We are hardly in a position to get confrontational with the Chinese for any number of reasons. And since they are still willing to exchange dollars for treasuries it’s likely they don’t want to be either. Jon Huntsman seemed like a capable choice for ambassador to China when he was chosen. Hopefully, that is so and we will find a way to make lemonade out of this situation.

The Last Sane Republican

2010-08-23T20:41:00.001-04:00

Yes, I realize there are a few others who have come out on the side of the angels in the ~~mosque~~ Islamic community center debate. But Ron Paul is higher profile. He seems to be the most principled politician on either side of the divide. I know there have been charges of racism and that libertarianism deep down is crazy, but moments like this are likely the reason he inspires the devotion that he does.

Ron ripped into opponents of the Cordoba House project, saying that the rhetoric taking on the plan is clearly "all about hate and Islamaphobia."

And:

"The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims," Ron wrote in a statement to RonPaul.com "This is like blaming all Christians for the wars of aggression and occupation because some Christians supported the neo-conservative's aggressive wars."

And no, I don’t give a rat’s ass about his unprincipled kid.

Classic Ron Paul:

Why Small Investors (and pigs) Get Slaughtered

2010-08-22T06:34:00.001-04:00

The psychology of investing leads people to invariably jump in and out of investments at the wrong time. Been there, done that.

Investors withdrew a staggering $33.12 billion from domestic stock market mutual funds in the first seven months of this year, according to the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund industry trade group. Now many are choosing investments they deem safer, like bonds.

The recipe for loss, or at least middling returns, is to sell on type of investment on the downturn and buy another when it’s ascending. Put simply, we sell low and buy high. These people are buying into bonds as they are riding high.

Take free advice for what it’s worth, but the Occam’s razor portfolio would likely beat any managed mutual fund over the long run. It will 3 ETFs and 10 minutes of work a year.

Put 40% of your money into BND which is a total market bond ETF. Put 30% of your investment money into VTI which covers the entire US market from low to high. And put the remainder into VEU which is an index that invests in the whole world excluding the US. Choose a brokerage with cheap commissions which will re-invest dividends for you. Rebalance back to the 40-30-30 split once a year and Bob’s your uncle.

When it comes to investing, I’ve done all the dumb things.

Oswald and Hinckley Get a Pass

2010-08-14T01:52:00.001-04:00

I can see not putting Lee Harvey on the list because he only killed a Democrat (sic) president. But WTF, John Hinckley tried to kill Saint Ronnie. Good God, Conservatives are stupid SOBs.

23) Saul Alinsky (7)
23) Bill Clinton (7)
23) Hillary Clinton (7)
19) Michael Moore (7)
19) George Soros (8)
19) Alger Hiss (8)
19) Al Sharpton (8)
13) Al Gore (9)
13) Noam Chomsky (9)
13) Richard Nixon (9)
13) Jane Fonda (9)
13) Harry Reid (9)
13) Nancy Pelosi (9)
11) John Wilkes Booth (10)
11) Margaret Sanger (10)
9) Aldrich Ames (11)
9) Timothy McVeigh (11)
7) Ted Kennedy (14)
7) Lyndon Johnson (14)
5) Benedict Arnold (17)
5) Woodrow Wilson (17)
4) The Rosenbergs (19)
3) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (21)
2) Barack Obama (23)
1) Jimmy Carter (25)

Nixon was kind of a shocker, too. He’s tied with Chomsky, Reid, Gore, Fonda and Pelosi. I would have expected John Dean in his place. Tricky Dick we hardly knew ye.

Apparently, pseudo professor Don would put Kennedy on the list, but not the guy who shot him. And he would put Kos and Howard Zinn on it, but not the guy who shot Reagan. I’m surprised he didn’t defend Nixon since he’s such a big fan of enemies lists.

I'd add some commie academics and bloggers, like Howard Zinn and Markos Moulitsas, although, yeah, no need to inflate the importance of dolts like that on the left. (I need to think of some others ...) And notice how John F. Kennedy doesn't make the cut. Something about the post-1964 Democrats that really brings out the neo-communism in American history.

Obama Says, “Piss Off, Xenophobes!”

2010-08-14T00:49:00.001-04:00

Close enough, anyway.

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."

Good for him. And in a spirit of bi-partisanship, I actually think either of the Bushes or Reagan would have said essentially the same thing.

This Too is Because of Obama’s Socialist Policies

2010-08-09T07:07:00.001-04:00

The rich are becoming richer. And I wouldn’t have a problem with that if I was rich. Maybe that attitude is the heart of Obamism.

Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product, or the value of all goods and services produced in the nation. And spending by the rich now accounts for the largest share of consumer outlays in at least 20 years.

According to new research from Moody's Analytics, the top 5% of Americans by income account for 37% of all consumer outlays. Outlays include consumer spending, interest payments on installment debt and transfer payments.

Unfortunately for the US economy, even if I was rich I would likely still be the cheap bastard that I am now. Yes, Warren Buffett is my idol. I have his poster in my bedroom.

By contrast, the bottom 80% by income account for 39.5% of all consumer outlays.

It is no surprise, of course, that the rich spend so much, since they earn a disproportionate share of income. According to economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, the top 10% of earners captured about half of all income as of 2007.

The GOP, of course, says let the poor and middle class eat cake. Someone else said that too. Let’s see, what happened to her?

The data may be a further sign that the U.S. is becoming a Plutonomy–an economy dependent on the spending and investing of the wealthy. And Plutonomies are far less stable than economies built on more evenly distributed income and mass consumption. "I don't think it's healthy for the economy to be so dependent on the top 2% of the income distribution," Mr. Zandi said. He added that, "In the near term it highlights the fragility of the recovery."

Anyway, I’m sure wingnut geniuses are tying the enrichening of the rich to Obama’s socialist policies. Probably something to do with Bill Ayers and ACORN.

More Liberal Use of You Tube

2010-08-07T23:03:00.001-04:00

Thanks, Mr. Tbogg for the reminder.

Everybody’s Talking

2010-08-04T22:34:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite songs and I think I’ve put this up before because I love the Beautiful South as well, and the Housemartins which they were before that. But, I’m starting to feel like backing off of that northeast wind and sailing on a summer breeze. And, it’s my blog:

Happy Birthday Lord Obama

2010-08-04T13:48:00.001-04:00

Hat tip to our nihilist friend at American Power. I had not realized it was the Obamessiah’s birthday today. I will spend the afternoon scourging myself as punishment. Thanks Donihilist!

Don’t click on the link, Truth.

Tin Soldiers and Obama’s Coming?

2010-08-02T08:30:00.001-04:00

Maybe a few of these Keyboard Revolutionaries should be incarcerated to test their mettle. It’s easy to foment revolution sitting in a lazy boy. Thoreau was a martyr next to them. And he actually had a worthy cause (possibly opposite theirs).

Another Breitbart Apologist

2010-07-27T08:54:00.001-04:00

Jeffrey Lord, in what I assume is not parody, attempts to excuse Breitbart with this twisted (in all senses) logic:

It's also possible that she knew the truth and chose to embellish it, changing a brutal and fatal beating to a lynching. Anyone who has lived in the American South (as my family once did) and is familiar with American history knows well the dread behind stories of lynch mobs and the Klan. What difference is there between a savage murder by fist and blackjack -- and by dangling rope? Obviously, in the practical sense, none. But in the heyday -- a very long time -- of the Klan, there were frequent (and failed) attempts to pass federal anti-lynching laws. None to pass federal "anti-black jack" or "anti-fisticuffs" laws. Lynching had a peculiar, one is tempted to say grotesque, solitary status as part of the romantic image of the Klan, of the crazed racist. The image stirred by the image of the noosed rope in the hands of a racist lynch mob was, to say the least, frighteningly chilling. Did Ms. Sherrod deliberately concoct this story in search of a piece of that ugly romance to add "glamour" to a family story that is gut-wrenchingly horrendous already?

This is in reaction to Shirley Sherrod’s story of a relative, Bobby Hall, being lynched. This is the account from the Supreme Court documents:

This case involves a shocking and revolting episode in law enforcement. Petitioner Screws was sheriff of Baker County, Georgia. He enlisted the assistance of petitioner Jones, a policeman, and petitioner Kelley, a special deputy, in arresting Robert Hall, a citizen of the United States and of Georgia. The arrest was made late at night at Hall's home on a warrant charging Hall with theft of a tire. Hall, a young negro about thirty years of age, was handcuffed and taken by car to the courthouse. As Hall alighted from the car at the courthouse square, the three petitioners began beating him with their fists and with a solid-bar blackjack about eight inches long and weighing two pounds. They claimed Hall had reached for a gun and had used insulting language as he alighted from the car. But after Hall, still handcuffed, had been knocked to the ground, they continued to beat him from fifteen to thirty minutes until he was unconscious. Hall was then dragged feet first through the courthouse yard into the jail and thrown upon the floor, dying. An ambulance was called, and Hall was removed to a hospital, where he died within the hour and without regaining consciousness. There was evidence that Screws held a grudge against Hall, and had threatened to "get" him.

See, no ropes involved. From American Heritage dictionary:

Lynching: To execute without due process of law, especially to hang, as by a mob.

Not solely by hanging.

Somehow the Supreme Court came to the same conclusion as Lord:

It is said, however, that petitioners did not act "under color of any law" within the meaning of § 20 of the Criminal Code. We disagree. We are of the view that petitioners acted under "color" of law in making the arrest of Robert Hall and in assaulting him. They were officers of the law who made the arrest. By their own admissions, they assaulted Hall in order to protect themselves and to keep their prisoner from escaping. It was their duty under Georgia law to make the arrest effective. Hence, their conduct comes within the statute.

Beating a handcuffed man to death with a tire jack is apparently an acceptable way to “make the arrest effective.”

This more than makes up for the previous post from the American Spectator that had some sane moments in it.

Bloomberg Refudiates Palin

2010-07-20T10:39:00.001-04:00

In a welcome display of Republican sanity, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has told Sarah Palin to piss off.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg "could not disagree more" with Sarah Palin's criticisms of the Ground Zero mosque, he said Monday.

Bloomberg said the $100 million mosque and community center is " a great message for the world that, unlike in other places where they might actually ban people from wearing burquas or building a building, that's not what America was founded on nor is it what America should become."

It’s alright Sarah, even Shakespeare in his prime had detractors. If those slings and arrows ever bug you and you’re wondering whether to be or not to be, please come down on the side of the latter.

Mark Williams chimed in with bits of insanity which can only be interpreted as attempts to make Palin look reasonable.

In other Ground Zero mosque news, Mark Williams, a Tea Party leader who called Borough President Stringer a "Jewish Uncle Tom" for supporting the project, has been kicked out of the National Tea Party Federation for making separate racially charged comments.

The Tea Party Federation also booted Williams’ Tea Party Express group after Williams wrote a mock letter from "the Colored People" to President Lincoln saying emancipation was a mistake.

Williams wrote an anti-mosque blog post in May saying that Muslims worship a "monkey god."

More Bloombergs, Fewer Palins!

Leftwing Slurs

2010-07-18T09:07:00.001-04:00

Don Douglas gives us this disgusting bit of correspondence sent to Michelle Malkin. I am denouncing it, by the way:

You are a shitty Filipino prostitute, your only hope is to marry a white man. you are cheep and ugly. When I look to your ugly Filipino eyes , I feel ,I want to throw up. You want to be white but you are not. You are a shitty Asian horn and you will be for the rest of your life. Clean your rotten cunt before you write Filipino monkey.

I feel dirty just putting it up here. And Don goes on to say:

These are the kind of slurs I get routinely from Repsac3's merry band of haters.

As has been said so many times, put up or shut up. You know how to copy and paste, Don. Let’s see the slurs from the merry band of haters that approaches the bit above. I apologize for fat neocon hobo. You’re not a hobo, you just dress like one.

Might as well do a PowerMad roundup. Here’s another posting about a nut who attacks a group of DLI students. Included is this editorial comment:

Remember my comments about Repsac3's merry band of extremist henchmen? "I expect physical threats to my safety as forthcoming ... so always remember --- leftists are pure evil..."

Of course, my brother went to DLI and I would have myself if I hadn’t chosen another career field. I believe Don, along with Dick Cheney and most other neocons had other priorities while I was keeping Plattsburgh safe from the Rooskies. Love “extremist henchmen,” though.

In this posting, Don takes some really nice photos of some really lovely people. I’m sure the Department of Homeland Security under Lord Obama appreciates the quality. Names would nice, too. Probably not necessary, though.

What really struck me though is, why the Hell is the price of gas so high there?

That’s probably 40 cents a gallon more than it is here. Of course I don’t drive, so like I give a rat’s behind. Just curious.

Happy 4th to the Left from Johnny Pod

2010-07-04T20:11:00.001-04:00

No, I’m just kidding! BTW, the column is called “Patriotic Opposition.” Just trying to remember if John would have called any dissent against George Bush, “patriotic opposition.”

How are those of us who stand in opposition to the domestic agenda and foreign-policy views of President Obama and his administration to think about this country in 2010 as we approach the nation's birthday on Sunday?

Or, to put it another way: How should a self-described patriot think, act and talk about the United States if that self-described patriot believes the elected leadership of the United States has led the country into a ditch that threatens to expand into a bottomless chasm?

You could just STFU. I believe that was the message to all who disagreed with the marvelous adventure in Mesopotamia.

Does the fault lie with the president and his party, or does it reside in the electorate that installed them? If it resides in the electorate, what does that say about the condition of the United States?

The third option, of course, is that it lies within you and the other idiots whom the GOP has yet to see fit to send to a desert island somewhere.

Conveniently, this kind of focus on Obama personally exempts the rest of the country from any blame, except for being so foolish as to fall for Obama's patter: The fault lies not in ourselves but in our leaders.

But for those who are unsatisfied with this, the blame attaches not to Obama himself -- after all, he really did tell us what he intended to do, by telling Joe the Plumber he wanted to redistribute wealth.

Rather, the blame attaches to the electorate for its foolishness in believing the hype, or for falling for the siren song of the European social democracy that Obama is eager to impose. So the root question here is: Have the American people changed?

So, we the American people are to blame for Obama? Even if his premise is correct and we are suffering buyer’s remorse, he never mentions John McCain in this column. Obama wasn’t elected in a vacuum. Maybe Pod thinks we should have all written in Joe the Plumber.

The body politic is not panicking, even though the news is dire -- because it knows, somehow, that this too shall pass. America has faced worse times and weathered them. Even within our memory, it has had other leaders who also misunderstood their mandates and offered solutions to the nation's problems that only exacerbated them.

The body politic learns from its mistakes and uses its power to correct them. Taken as a whole, this bunch of rubes and dupes and boobs shows a remarkably commonsensical approach to these things by saying, in essence:

Nothing is irreversible. Change is possible.

Once again, this requires that the right actually put up a candidate that a majority of the United States citizenry will vote for. Don’t see that right now.

The Mass Transit Diet

2010-06-30T21:36:00.001-04:00

In what comes as little surprise to me, since I’ve dropped 20 plus pounds after going car-free:

When cities create or improve light rail public transit systems, citizens' waistlines may benefit, a new study shows. By getting people out of their cars and having them walk to and from transit stations, calories get burned, the researchers noted.

Help the environment, save money and lose weight. What more do you want?

The researchers found that, on average, a typical 5-foot-5 commuter who used the system to get to and from work lost an average of 6.45 pounds over 12 to 18 months. Moreover, people who used the LRT had an 81 percent lower risk of becoming obese than people who did not use the system.

I doubt that my favorite pseudo professor from Long Beach spends much time perusing my little waste of time here. But, in case he does I’ve gone to the great trouble of a several seconds web search to find that the city of Long Beach does have a mass transit system.

Who knows, Don, you might lose some weight along with that hobo look?

"The Dutch are Known in the Norwegian for Dikes"

2010-06-15T22:47:00.001-04:00

Hasn’t this idiot used up her 15 minutes yet?

Democracy Dies in Japan

2010-05-28T07:12:00.001-04:00

Our current imperial government under Barack Obama has apparently strong-armed the Japanese government into keeping the military bases at Okinawa.

Hatoyama came to office last September promising to create a "more equal" relationship with Washington and move the Marine base off the island, which hosts more than half the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a 50-year-old joint security alliance.

Fortunately, Washington was able to use the conveniently well-timed incident between North and South Korea as a bludgeon.

The joint statement appeared to highlight rising tension surrounding the March sinking of a South Korean ship blamed on a North Korean torpedo. "Recent developments in the security environment of Northeast Asia reaffirmed the significance of the Alliance," it said.

This will not end well.

The United States is on the verge of permanently damaging its alliance with Japan in a dispute over a military base in Okinawa. This island prefecture hosts three-quarters of all U.S. military facilities in Japan. Washington wants to build one more base there, in an ecologically sensitive area. The Okinawans vehemently oppose it, and tens of thousands gathered last month to protest the base. Tokyo is caught in the middle, and it looks as if Japan’s prime minister has just caved in to the U.S. demands.

Let’s go back to using the United States military for the defense of the United States rather than as centurions pissing off people in the far flung reaches of the American Empire.

From 1950 to 1953, the American bases in Okinawa were used to fight the Korean War, and from the 1960s until 1973, they were used during the Vietnam War. Not only did they serve as supply depots and airfields, but the bases were where soldiers went for rest and recreation, creating a subculture of bars, prostitutes and racism. Around several bases fights between black and white American soldiers were so frequent and deadly that separate areas were developed to cater to the two groups.

The U.S. occupation of Japan ended with the peace treaty of 1952, but Okinawa remained a U.S. military colony until 1972. For 20 years, Okinawans were essentially stateless people, not entitled to either Japanese or U.S. passports or civil rights. Even after Japan regained sovereignty over Okinawa, the American military retained control over what occurs on its numerous bases and over Okinawan airspace.

The bases in Okinawa were used to support two wars we should not have been involved in anyway. Good enough reason to close them before we get involved in another. Declare victory in Afghanistan and Iraq while we’re at it.

Bring the military home, make it a Memorial Day to remember!

Meet the New Hegemon

2010-05-27T18:40:00.001-04:00

China showed more evidence today that they are the new hegemon on the block. Instead of spending a vast proportion of their wealth on military gizmos that likely have no use and are defective for their intended purpose, they have quietly amassed huge amounts of European and American debt.

Stocks had another turnaround Thursday and rocketed higher after China reassured investors it doesn't plan to sell the European debt it holds.

China's show of confidence in Europe let the market resume a rally that stalled late Wednesday following a report that the Chinese government was considering cutting its European debt holdings. If that were true, such a move would have signaled that China didn't think Europe would be able to contain its debt crisis. The agency that manages China's $2.5 trillion in foreign reserves denied the report.

Let’s hope they are as benevolent when it comes to our debt.

In Which I Side With Glenn Beck

2010-05-19T18:48:00.001-04:00

I gotta say that Rep. Anthony Weiner really should back off on this. Anything that separates Tea Party dumbasses from their money is alright with me. It’s just less they have to contribute to any candidates who might have a chance of winning. And Goldline likely isn’t going to financially back any candidates because they’re just in it for the dough. A win-win.

Fox News host and conservative talker Glenn Beck is firing back after New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner issued a report critical of Goldline International, a gold retailer and one sponsor of Beck's cable show.

You go Glenn, and you too, Goldline!

The report says the gold retailer has entered "an unholy alliance with conservative pundits" — among them Beck, Fred Thompson, Dennis Miller, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham — to "promote Goldline by playing off the fear of inflation."

"What we have found, by looking through the public records, is that very often they use their public programs to advocate purchasing gold, and then immediately, advertisements begin for Goldline," Weiner said in a news conference Tuesday.

A fool and his money and all that. Fuck it, I got some magic beans I’ll sell them. I’m not trading for a cow, though. Cash or their overpriced gold coins, it’s one or the other.

Career Opportunities

2010-05-03T22:48:00.001-04:00

Apparently, Jonah Goldberg has been doing some thinking about his career:

Now, I must go change my name and become an assistant manager at a Footlocker in the Midwest, to escape the wrath of the suits who are undoubtedly cross with me for revealing even a glimpse of our proprietary stats.

Well, maybe if Lucianne pulled some strings again. Otherwise, I don’t think Jonah would be starting right in at assistant manager. I mean, what the fuck does he have for experience?

Gaijin Go Home

2010-04-25T07:39:00.001-04:00

The average citizen of Japan certainly does not want our military bases in their country. The average US citizen likely does not want to spend the money to maintain military bases in Japan. Maybe the Tea Partiers do, but they’re below average.

Nearly 100,000 demonstrators attended a rally on Okinawa Sunday to demonstrate against a US air base in a row that is dominating Japan's national politics and souring its ties with Washington.

Okinawan's are at the lowest rung of the ladder in Japan which is why their island has been cursed with the presence of our bases.

"Okinawa has suffered the overwhelmingly heavy burden of US bases since the end of the war" in 1945, he said. "Today, there are few traces of the war in Okinawa. But US bases still remain in front of us. This is so unfair."

Many of the islanders resent the heavy US military presence on Okinawa, a legacy of Japan's defeat in World War II, and complain of noise, pollution and friction with US soldiers.

Chalmers Johnson is required reading on our occupation of Okinawa. The long version is here. And a short version here.

It’s likely that if we don’t change our imperial ways soon the Japanese will be able to foreclose on our bases, at any rate.

The failure to begin to deal with our bloated military establishment and the profligate use of it in missions for which it is hopelessly inappropriate will, sooner rather than later, condemn the United States to a devastating trio of consequences: imperial overstretch, perpetual war, and insolvency, leading to a likely collapse similar to that of the former Soviet Union.

Shout out to the American Empire Project.

Althouse Says No to Piss Off a Muslim Day

2010-04-24T21:26:00.001-04:00

It seems that maybe the female contingent are breaking away from the Borg continuum. First it was Debbie Schlussel telling us all that Great American Sean Hannity screwed the troops over. And yes, I’m grateful for an excuse to remind everyone that Sean Hannity screwed the troops over.

And now Ann Althouse has broken with Reynolds and most of the rest of the right wing blogosphere:

I have endless contempt for the threats/warnings against various cartoonists who draw Muhammad (or a man in a bear suit who might be Muhammad, but is actually Santa Claus). But depictions of Muhammad offend millions of Muslims who are no part of the violent threats. In pushing back some people, you also hurt a lot of people who aren't doing anything (other than protecting their own interests by declining to pressure the extremists who are hurting the reputation of their religion).

Needless to say, most of her commenters are not so sensitive toward the feelings of the followers of any religion other than Christianity (and Judaism when it leads to killing Muslims).

Good on ya, Ann. Stand firm.

One More Conspiracy Theory

2010-04-24T09:22:00.001-04:00

I would like to suggest the possibility that the Tea Party loons are really being backed by the White House. Upon reading Ambinder’s piece, which seems to be required posting, this occurred to me.

Can anyone deny that the most trenchant and effective criticism of President Obama today comes not from the right but from the left? Rachel Maddow's grilling of administration economic officials. Keith Olbermann's hectoring of Democratic leaders on the public option. Glenn Greenwald's criticisms of Elena Kagan. Ezra Klein and Jonathan Cohn's keepin'-them-honest perspectives on health care. The civil libertarian left on detainees and Gitmo. The Huffington Post on derivatives.

Can anyone deny that having crazies running around babbling about birth certificates, shouting Socialist at the drop of a hat and repeating whatever Glenn, Rush and Sean tell them isn’t distracting the left from holding Obama’s feet to the fire?

Maybe some of the proposed actions by the president are insane. I don’t know. But when the opposition is led by Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Victoria Jackson, who the hell would notice?

Rahm are you running the Tea Party program?

Thank You, Mr. President

2010-04-16T20:04:00.001-04:00

The Tea Party folks aren’t going to do it, so I will. Thank you Barack Obama for cutting my taxes. I could afford to pay more, but who really wants to if they don’t have to. The Tea Party folks think they are paying more, but they are quite possibly cretin idiots.

"In all, we passed 25 different tax cuts last year. And one thing we haven't done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year -- another promise that we kept," he told supporters at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. "So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you."

The president argued that America is on the road to recovery and headed in the right direction -- something an overwhelming number of Tea Partiers disagree with.

The Tea Partiers don’t want to see us on the road to recovery. Fuck them and their willful ignorance.

Seeking a Fat, Boring, Albino Adulterer

2010-04-11T22:04:00.001-04:00

The Republican Party having decided they hate everything about Barack Obama has gone in search of his antithesis.

Southern Republicans wrapped up a three-day meeting in New Orleans on Saturday unified in fervent opposition to President Barack Obama, but wide open at this early stage about whom they want to challenge him in 2012.

They have yet to find a candidate who combines all the qualities they feel will be needed to successfully challenge his Obamaship in 2012.

But they also readily volunteered objections to the same names: Gingrich has personal baggage, Palin's too inexperienced, Romney pushed Obama-like health care while governor of Massachusetts and Pawlenty lacks charisma.

If only they could find someone who combines the serial adultery of Gingrich with the tedium of Pawlenty and the pasty whiteness of Romney along with that deer in the headlights vacuousness of Sarah Palin.

I’m going to go out on a limb and give a big thumb up and Hometown boost to Haley Barbour. He’s white enough, he’s sleazy enough, he’s boring enough and with the endorsement of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s incredibly tone deaf proclamation: he’s proved he’s stupid enough to be the Republican nominee.

This is not Haley Barbour:

Accept no imitations!

And yes, carrying the concept out, I realize they would be looking for a fat, boring, albino, adulterous, woman since Obama is a man. But, this is not a serious blog. Please see LGM, Balloon Juice, Duck of Minerva or elsewhere for serious discussions. It’s seat of the pants all the way here.

Happy Days Are Here Again…

2010-04-09T07:59:00.001-04:00

Well we can hope anyway. And it’s hard to write that as I sit looking at the rain come down. Recessions make us pessimistic and always doubtful that the end will come. And of course are particularly hard on those who are out of work. But, they do end.

The American economy appears to be in a cyclical recovery that is gaining strength. Firms have begun to hire and consumer spending seems to be accelerating.

That is what usually happens after particularly sharp recessions, so it is surprising that many commentators, whether economists or politicians, seem to doubt that such a thing could possibly be happening.

If I had the time to waste I’d go over to AmPow and see how the polymath from Long Beach College is applying his great knowledge of economics to this to determine that it is bad news for Obama.

it is normal for recessions to make people pessimistic. “Go back and read what people were saying in 1982 or 1975,” said Robert Barbera, the chief economist of ITG. “Nobody was saying, ‘Deep recession, big recovery.’ It is quite normal to expect an abnormally weak recovery. It is also normal for that expectation to be wrong.”

I’m perfectly happy to hear the wingers keep saying we’re on the road to ruin. They can keep saying it right through the next few elections and look even more foolish.

In 1982, Democrats scoffed at a surging stock market and thought a severe recession would last for a very long time. They were confident that the economy would doom Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984. All they had to do was make clear they offered a stark alternative to the failing policies of the incumbent

Change a few words (Reagan to Obama, Democrats to Republicans, 1984 to 2012) and you have an accurate description of the current political climate. Could the Republicans be as wrong now as the Democrats were then?

That’s the secret, get the recession out of the way early in your presidency. Dubya fucked up. He had one early and one at the end.

But Can They See Russia From Their Porch?

2010-04-08T21:24:00.001-04:00

President Hussein goes with the opinion of a couple of unseasoned rookies over the firsthand experience of a woman who has been on the front lines of the post-Cold War.

President Barack Obama on Thursday made clear he was not going to take advice from Republican Sarah Palin when it comes to decisions about the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

"What I would say to them is, is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin."

Mmmm, authentic frontier gibberish!

Grand Old Party’s Over

2010-04-05T20:45:00.001-04:00

Chris Currey writes today as another member of the GOP who no longer feels at home there. I’ve said before at this blog that I welcome a Republican Party that comes back to sanity and back to Conservative principles. May they soon shed the Neo-cons and the Cheney-ites and all the other Bush League players.

I know that without a strong opposition party, the Dems will soon become as stupid and venal as the GOP has. No good to try to have a yin without a yang.

I grew up with -– in fact voted for the first time for –- Eisenhower. In 1956, he ran a campaign of dignity. A campaign that acknowledged that there are certain projects better suited to be handled by the government. See, business thinks in the short term, as he said. That’s the imperative of the marketplace. I invest and I expect that in a few quarters, I garner the fruits of my investment. Government, on the other hand, has the luxury to wait a few years, maybe decades, for a return on a given investment. As a former businessman, I know that first hand. Am I a Marxist for thinking that?

Yes, I’m afraid that you are now an official DFH.

I did not like Medicaid and Medicare when they were passed. I was opposed to them. Maybe I was too young, too strong, and too ideologically confined. Yet, over the years, I saw how Medicare helped millions of elderly Americans. I saw how Medicare helped my mom in her final years battling emphysema caused by years of smoking. You have to be blind to oppose those programs. You have to be blind to wish for the suffering of millions of Americans just because you believe in personal responsibility.

This contains much of what I don’t understand about the opposition to, basically, all government by the right wing yahoos today. Are they just so confident that they will never need help? Are they confident that the government will always be there to give them that hand up despite their opposition? Medical bills are a very quick route to bankruptcy. Has there been a call on the right to bring back debtor’s prisons? Only a matter of time.

During the fight over the impeachment of President Clinton, the ugly face of the Republican Party was brought to the surface. Empty rhetoric, ideological intolerance, vengeance, and religious zealotry became the common currency. Suddenly, if you are pro-choice, you could not be a Republican. If you are for smart and sensible taxes to balance out the budget, you could not be a Republican. If you are pro-civil rights, you could not be a Republican.

It started with minorities: they left the party. Then women; they divorced the GOP and sent it to sleep on the couch. Then, the young folks; they left and are leaving the Republican Party in droves. Then, someone stood up and told my niece and my grandchild that they are not fully Americans — just second class Americans because they are homosexual.

Turn out the lights, the Party’s over:

We shrank it by kicking out those who believe that an $11 trillion economy, like ours, needs a strong government, not a government that can be drowned in a bathtub. We shrank it when we sanctified Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, and canonized Sarah Palin. These are the leaders of my party nowadays. How did we go from William F. Buckley to Glenn Beck? How did we go from Eisenhower and Nixon to Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann? I do not know. What I do know, however, is that these leaders remind of me of the leaders of the Whig Party. And if they continue on their nonsense, they will bring the collapse of the GOP.

Not that he’s going to see it, but I want to wish Mr. Currey the best of luck in any and all efforts to bring sanity back to his party. It needs to be there as a counterbalance, not a laughingstock.

Mel Brooks, Prophet?

2010-03-30T10:48:00.001-04:00

What did you expect? "Welcome sonny," "Make yourself at home," "Marry my daughter." You've got to remember, that these are just simple farmers, these are people of the land, the common clay of the new west. You know . . . morons.

The only way Obama is going to win over these people is if Mongo comes to town. And I hope that doesn’t metaphorically happen.

President Barack Obama says he believes the Tea Party is built around a "core group" of people who question whether he is a U.S. citizen and believe he is a socialist.

Apparently he feels there are some in the Tea Party who are sane. We can only hope.

But beyond that, Obama tells NBC he recognizes the movement involves "folks who have legitimate concerns" about the national debt and whether the government is taking on too many difficult issues simultaneously.

Please excuse all the verboten cut and paste.

Where Have All the GOP Leaders Gone?

2010-03-28T07:26:00.001-04:00

Frank Rich in the NYT recaps some of the descent into chaos of our fellow citizens on the right end of the spectrum:

But the laughs evaporated soon enough. There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. And as the week dragged on, and reports of death threats and vandalism stretched from Arizona to Kansas to upstate New York, the F.B.I. and the local police had to get into the act to protect members of Congress and their families.

How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht.

He notes the reaction to the passage of this bill as compared to the passage of Medicare, Social Security and the Civil Rights Bill:

But there was nothing like this. To find a prototype for the overheated reaction to the health care bill, you have to look a year before Medicare, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both laws passed by similar majorities in Congress; the Civil Rights Act received even more votes in the Senate (73) than Medicare (70). But it was only the civil rights bill that made some Americans run off the rails. That’s because it was the one that signaled an inexorable and immutable change in the very identity of America, not just its governance.

And of course, the gutlessness of those in the Republican party to do anything to tamp down emotions, in particular the most recent candidate for the Oval Office:

After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, some responsible leaders in both parties spoke out to try to put a lid on the resistance and violence. The arch-segregationist Russell of Georgia, concerned about what might happen in his own backyard, declared flatly that the law is “now on the books.” Yet no Republican or conservative leader of stature has taken on Palin, Perry, Boehner or any of the others who have been stoking these fires for a good 17 months now. Last week McCain even endorsed Palin’s “reload” rhetoric.

Are these politicians so frightened of offending anyone in the Tea Party-Glenn Beck base that they would rather fall silent than call out its extremist elements and their enablers? Seemingly so, and if G.O.P. leaders of all stripes, from Romney to Mitch McConnell to Olympia Snowe to Lindsey Graham, are afraid of these forces, that’s the strongest possible indicator that the rest of us have reason to fear them too.

Go. Read.

And if you want to, and I wouldn’t recommend it, go from the sublime to the stupid head on over to powerline. They haven’t quite claimed that John Wilkes Booth was a Democrat, but give it time.

Will There Be Dental Care?

2010-03-27T20:11:00.001-04:00

Robert Stacy McCain showing those ~~pearly whites~~ nicotine stained grays. Hopefully under Obamacare he’ll be able to get those choppers cleaned up a bit. Until then maybe he can keep his mouth shut.

Castaway Conservatives

2010-03-25T19:33:00.001-04:00

David Frum joins Bruce Bartlett as one of the Conservatives whose name must no longer be mentioned.

As some readers of this blog may know, I was fired by a right wing think tank called the National Center for Policy Analysis in 2005 for writing a book critical of George W. Bush's policies, especially his support for Medicare Part D. In the years since, I have lost a great many friends and been shunned by conservative society in Washington, DC.

Now the same thing has happened to David Frum, who has been fired by the American Enterprise Institute.

The real money quote is:

Since, he is no longer affiliated with AEI, I feel free to say publicly something he told me in private a few months ago. He asked if I had noticed any comments by AEI "scholars" on the subject of health care reform. I said no and he said that was because they had been ordered not to speak to the media because they agreed with too much of what Obama was trying to do.

White Wheat Flour

2010-03-24T21:00:00.001-04:00

It’s been ages since there’s been a post even tangentially related to baking, so here goes. I’ve been using this flour for some time and finally looked to see what it is. Apparently it is as healthy as regular wheat flour, and makes a much tastier bread.

Think I had hesitated because I was afraid to see that it wasn’t as good for us as the normal brown wheat flour, but:

Confusingly, it's called "white wheat," made from a naturally occurring albino variety. But the resemblance to typical bleached flour stops there. Fans say flour made from white wheat has all the nutrition and fiber of whole wheat without the taste that some find unpleasant.

Tannins and phenolic acid in the outer bran of the red wheat commonly used to make whole-wheat flour can give it a bitter taste. White wheat doesn't have those compound.

I’ve been using it half and half with white flour with good results. Now if I can find a white brown rice and fruits and veggies that taste like burgers I’ll be eating as healthy as I should.

Feel the Power of the Fang

2010-03-24T18:33:00.001-04:00

I realize it’s all fun and games until someone goes full metal McVeigh. I can’t help myself. All afternoon I’ve been all, “Feel the power of the fang” and variations on it.

I’ve been enjoying the works of Bob Lonsberry since my sojourn at SUNY Brockport. Like many of his ilk, he seems to be slipping the bonds of sanity over the health care bill. This, of course, is someone who absolutely no problem with a needless war fought in Iraq or the spying done by the NSA on Americans wherever they might be.

Suddenly the right is re-discovering their libertarian roots, though. Big government declaring war and saying fuck your privacy is not a problem. Big government trying to do something about the 45 million Americans without health insurance is a call to arms (literally?).

For the last two days, I’ve worn the same shirt. Tomorrow I will wear one like it.

It’s yellow, with a rustic drawing of a rattlesnake, and a line of text below: DONT TREAD ON ME.

And when I can open my mouth, I will. And when I can’t, my shirt will speak for me.

Don’t tread on me.

That is a warning the Obama Democrats chose not to heed.

And now they will feel the fang.

No idea what feel the fang means. Wingers have a bad habit of talking in code. If he has only one fang, Obamacare may help. I trust there is some dental coverage included.

Hopefully some psychological coverage as well. Lighten up, Bob.

All you wingers make sure you take the Tea Bagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge. Hat Tip to Parsley’s Pics.

What a Wonderful World

2010-03-23T17:49:00.001-04:00

No special reason for this. Just feeling good today. Don’t feel like pissing anyone off. And everyone knows that I’m a glass three quarters full sort of person, when I’m not being nihilistic anyway. And the more the tea party folks piss and moan the better I feel.

Armstrong could sing about it being a wonderful world after the life he had growing up and the tea party folks can gripe because of their imaginary concerns over health care reform? WTF? Maybe I don’t mind if I piss someone off.

Tea Party Know Nothings

2010-03-19T16:49:00.001-04:00

DFH Bruce Bartlett has an article up in Forbes suggesting that the Tea Partiers might not be the sharpest tools when it comes to actually being aware of any facts about how much Americans pay in taxes. They likely don’t even have a good idea about how much they themselves pay. For the record, mine were actually pretty low this year. Hail Obama!

Tuesday's Tea Party crowd, however, thought that federal taxes were almost three times as high as they actually are. The average response was 42% of GDP and the median 40%. The highest figure recorded in all of American history was half those figures: 20.9% at the peak of World War II in 1944.

Automatons that they are the Tea Party folks seem to think that because Obama is a socialist Democrat liberal tax lover then taxes must have gone up since he was inaugurated.

Tea Partyers also seem to have a very distorted view of the direction of federal taxes. They were asked whether they are higher, lower or the same as when Barack Obama was inaugurated last year. More than two-thirds thought that taxes are higher today, and only 4% thought they were lower; the rest said they are the same.

And:

According to the JCT, last year's $787 billion stimulus bill, enacted with no Republican support, reduced federal taxes by almost $100 billion in 2009 and another $222 billion this year. The Tax Policy Center, a private research group, estimates that close to 90% of all taxpayers got a tax cut last year and almost 100% of those in the $50,000 income range. For those making between $40,000 and $50,000, the average tax cut was $472; for those making between $50,000 and $75,000, the tax cut averaged $522. No taxpayer anywhere in the country had his or her taxes increased as a consequence of Obama's policies.

Bartlett refrains from saying it, so I will, “Get a clue, morans!”

Whatever the future of the Tea Party movement in American politics, it's a bad idea for so many participants to operate on the basis of false notions about the burden of federal taxation. It only takes a little bit of time to look at one's tax return to see what one is actually paying the Treasury, calculate the percentage of one's income that goes to taxes, and compare it with what was paid last year and the year before.

Et tu, Wall Street Journal?

RIP Fess Parker

2010-03-18T18:01:00.001-04:00

OK, all the cool kids are posting RIPs for Alex Chilton and well he deserves the remembrances. Luckily, I waited until late in the day so I could have Daniel Boone for my own (or Davy Crockett, if you want to back a bit further). Fess Parker, and Ed Ames as Mingo, were a much bigger part of my childhood than Chilton could ever have been. They were on TV.

Moral lessons were learned. Like not hating on Mingo just because he was an ~~Indian~~ Native American. Thanks Fess for being the great role model that you were.

Obligatory You Tube clip:

It’s Over

2010-03-18T08:12:00.001-04:00

I’m afraid the neocon crush on General David Petraeus is likely to come to a crashing halt. I seems the general is just not that into Israel. God, I love realism!

In a lengthy statement offered to the Armed Services Committee earlier this week, Petraeus ticked off a long list of problems in his AOR -- AfPak, Iran, Iraq, Yemen -- and then turned to what he called the "root causes of instability." Ranking as item No. 1 on his list was this: "insufficient progress toward a comprehensive Middle East peace." Petraeus continued:

The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.

If only the neos could discover reality and get their heads out of Israel’s butt. No entangling alliances.

And whether she was right or wrong, Rachel Corrie deserves to be remembered.

Congratulations CNN

2010-03-16T17:38:00.001-04:00

I’d like to post this little clip in order to honor CNN for their heroic decision to hire Erick Erickson. May his star burn as brightly and as long as Savage’s did at MSNBC:

Looking at and listening to the Weiner, I can’t help but think he might be Erickson’s dad.

For a more thoughtful take than my BS please see Steve Benen:

This is the same Erickson who recently called retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter a "goat f--king child molester," referred to two sitting U.S. senators as "healthcare suicide bombers," praised protesters for "tell[ing] Nancy Pelosi and the Congress to send Obama to a death panel" (he later backpedaled on that one), and described President Obama's Nobel Prize as "an affirmative action quota."

Another quote from Erickson:

"At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?”

And here we have the village ~~idiot~~ neocon from Long Beach weighing in:

Check Benen's post for a long hissy fit on how awful is Erick Erickson. Gee, he said bad things. Can you say extremist? Wake up, Steve Dunderhead.

He abhors irrationalism in debate. Can you tell? He and Erickson both seem to be cut from the Savage cloth.

Hometown Blues

2010-03-14T21:35:00.001-04:00

Saw Jeff Walton perform last night while imbibing several pints of Davidson’s fine Irish Red microbrew. Thought I’d give him the Hometown USA bounce that is sure to send his career into the stratosphere:

Apologies for the lack of Hendrix.

In other Hometown news, this coming Saturday will be the first (and possibly only) annual mini golf fundraiser at the Crandall. Tiger has already sent his regrets.

Yes, believe it or not, there is a company Library Mini Golf.

When Will We Ever Learn?

2010-03-12T13:23:00.001-05:00

It’s inevitable that come the 2070’s or 2080’s this will be happening here.

VIENNA – At least two mass graves containing dozens of people killed by the Nazis have been found on property used by the Austrian army, government officials said Friday.

You say it can’t happen here? Well, Sinclair Lewis already told us it could. But did we listen? No, we elected the commie Nazi Muslim no birth certificate guy.

BTW, I can’t foresee having a lot of use for that “Mass Graves for Wingnuts” label. But, who knows?

And I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the misspelling of welcome on the cover because in addition to being a regular Nazi Obama supporter, I am also a spelling Nazi.

Al Gore Loves This

2010-03-05T16:35:00.001-05:00

And I love the bus, too. For more and more.

Over at American Hooked on Phonics

2010-03-03T14:14:00.001-05:00

DD manages to spell the name of the National Enquirer wrong despite a screen capture of the front page of the paper directly below:

At National Inquirer, "GRAND JURY TO INDICT EDWARDS."

On the positive side, “inquirer” is actually a word and he has learned about the use of adjectives, or else that whole “Democrat” without the “ic” thing has finally run its course.

Typical Democratic sleazebag.

Now that Donald’s use of the English language is showing improvement maybe we can work his logic. As a smear piece this posting was really some weak tea. Maybe he’s finally getting that therapy he has needed for so long.

UPDATE: Oops, I guess it’s not just Dems who are sleazebags. That didn’t take long. And Don, he’s only 136 miles away. Maybe you guys could hook up and be “friends.”

The Fifty isn’t Big Enough…

2010-03-03T09:01:00.001-05:00

After what he did for our national debt. Let’s make a trillion dollar bill and put him on that.

Borrowed from LGF

2010-03-02T22:08:00.001-05:00

Big thanks to Charles Johnson for turning me on to this guy. I dug up my own clip anyway. The one he has posted is wicked cool, too.

Don’t know his name or what he’s singing about, but he’s fun to listen to and watch.

Oh, Professor…

2010-02-27T16:33:00.001-05:00

Is there any word you can’t put neo in front of?

As long-time readers know, I'm highly critical of the neo-declinist school in international political economy.

BTW, according to my spell check and my American Heritage, declinist is not a word with or without the neo. But, you can take that up with them. The only question is whether William Safire would kick your ass harder for the disrespect toward Conservatism or the English language.

Anyway, the rest of his post is just some blah blah about how America is not declining because we are not exactly the same as Imperial Rome. I believe it may be because we don’t wear togas.

There is a link to some twaddle by Niall Ferguson because neo-conservatism with a British accent makes it so much more palatable.

There is also a link to a series of paintings by Thomas Cole who apparently had a series of 5 paintings depicting the life cycle of a city. His theory seems to be that cities go from pastoral to desolation. It doesn’t make much more sense than anything DD says. But, his paintings aren’t bad. Cole’s, that is. I doubt Douglas has any talent.

PS: Don’t be afraid to click on the twaddle link. I love the synonyms for it.

Those Were the Days

2010-02-27T10:07:00.001-05:00

In reading about Jenny Sanford being granted divorce from Mark “Last Tango on the Appalachian Trail” Sanford, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia. If not for those pesky liberals, Mark could have had Jenny committed to an institution (i.e. lunatic asylum) such as the one pictured above.

"In 1872 . . . if [a married woman's] husband had a mistress or if she had inherited money . . . he could bring her here," Lamb tells her guests. "He could sign her in and leave her until he decided to come back and get her -- or until she died, whichever came first."

These are the kind of conservative, Republican family values we need to return this country to. Jenny would have received the best of care at the ~~lunatic asylum~~ institute. And if Mark ever grew tired of playing gaucho on the pampas and came back for her, she would be the perfect wife.

Dr. Walter Freeman told her to wait; he just needed a few minutes with the patient. The young nurse had no idea that the doctor was the famous -- some would say infamous -- lobotomist who traveled around the country using an ice pick or similar tool to damage the brains of thousands of patients.
"She brought back the perfect patient. He would feed himself, dress himself [and] go to the bathroom by himself, but he would never have any emotions again."

Vote for liberals! The alternative could be an ice pick to the brain. You’re welcome, Jenny.

Former Abramoff Lobbyist Convicted

2010-02-26T21:32:00.001-05:00

OK, it’s just for a DWI. But, if there had ever been a chance that John Sweeney would ever be my congressman again, I think it’s gone out the window. Being the wussy liberal that I am, I generally am sympathetic toward those who have fallen victim to their vices.

Sweeney was one of Jack Abramoff’s lobbyists giving sweatshop owners free rein in the Marianas. I’ll make an exception for him and feel just a bit of schadenfreude.

American officials and human rights advocates testified before congress that workers, 91 percent of whom were immigrants from China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, were working below the CMNI minimum wage ($3.05), often seven days a week and up to 12 hours a day, and living in shacks behind barbed wire and without plumbing. Many workers also paid $5,000 to $7,000 in "recruitment fees" to gain employment, often with money borrowed from loan sharks who took all of their wages until the fees were paid back.

Congressman Kickass in happier days:

And here are some of his greatest hits:

In addition to his two DWI arrests, in September it was revealed that federal investigators are exploring Sweeney’s dealings with an Albany lobbying firm after the four-term congressman was appointed to the powerful House Appropriations Committee in 2001.

A 2005 domestic dispute led to a 911 call and seven years ago Sweeney crashed his car and knocked out power to a Washington County ski area, which resulted in no tickets.

Song for Truth101

2010-02-26T16:56:00.001-05:00

This post is inspired by my friend Truth. Sometimes we just get too focused on the negative events of the day. Life really is wonderful and is to be celebrated. Any day that your name doesn’t turn up in the morning obits is a good one. Everyone sing along!

UPDATE: I feel I may have misjudged the tone of my friend Truth’s blog of late. But, I haven’t been spending a lot of time in the tubes lately. In any case, I’ll post another clip and just assume there is a song somewhere between Lesley Gore and Patti Smith that would be perfectly appropriate. Just not sure what it would be. Once again, feel free to sing along.

Dumped (with a capital D) from Richard’s Friend List

2010-02-24T08:48:00.001-05:00

That’s gotta hurt!

Have you no shame Senator Brown. What good is it going to do to retake the Congress if you just fill it with RINOs?

Hat tip to AmPow. Thanks for the blogenfreude, “professor.”

Rightwingers are Liars, and I’ll Show You…

2010-02-21T00:04:00.001-05:00

If You Feel Like…

2009-08-20T21:26:00.001-04:00

Bringing your ~~manhood~~ gun to an event where the president will be speaking, take a tip from The Police (the band, not the guys in blue):

Do you really need to put your hand in the air like the other, well you know? Besides, you don’t want the left to unleash these guys, do you?

Cheerfully Stolen from Tbogg

2009-08-19T07:36:00.001-04:00

Who stole it from Wonkette.

UPDATED: I need to apologize to any Republicans whom I may have, at least, mentally associated with this woman. Apparently, she is one of those Lyndon LaRouche Democrats.

A Lazy Sunday Morning

2009-08-16T09:22:00.001-04:00

And I feel like wallowing in the mud a bit. So, at American Sore Loser, we have Don Doug firing the opening salvos in what he hopes will be a blog war with Meghan McCain:

I didn't know Meghan McCain was a genuine skank.

And then he posts an image of her saying motherfucker because only a skank would say that. But, what really sticks in Dr. Don’s craw is that:

Yeah, I'm up on Ms. McCain's wars with everybody who's somebody on the conservative right today

And she’s not at war with him, or at least it’s a cold war. And just to establish that he truly is second-rate, even beneath Robert Stacy McCain (a butt boy to, some might say):

I'm sending this post to Robert Stacy McCain (The Other McCain) to see what kind of fisking he'll work up (if any) on Meghan's lastest splash in the news.

And with luck he’ll link to American Power.

An aside, it’s too bad computers don’t have some sort of spell check thingy that could tell Herr Professor that lastest is not an actual word. But, word meanings and spelling don’t matter to him because:

P.S. Folks know I have something of a bad-boy rep on the right, but boasting my mofo creds on Twitter isn't part of my repertoire!

That’s right! He bad! This is a link to the post, but please don’t go there because he hates getting a lot of web hits. I try to minimize my own visits. Besides, I’ve cut and pasted every word of his, the rest was just his own cut and paste.

Drinking Away the Guilt

2009-08-15T19:18:00.001-04:00

My former congressman, and proud participant in the Brooks Brothers riot, continues to try to drink away the guilt from having been a part of inflicting George Bush upon the nation. If he does receive his much-deserved jail time from these several drunk driving offenses, I wouldn’t worry about his safety in the clink. This is the man Bush deemed Congressman Kickass.

Sweeney's lawyer, E. Stewart Jones, said the indictment was disappointing and unnecessary. "John is paying a heavy price for who he used to be and who he no longer is," Jones said.

Yeah, it sucks to no longer be a congressman and be able to just make those DWIs go away. If I see John at a Phantoms game this winter, I’ll be happy to buy him a couple of rounds, though. No hard feelings.

Bruce Bartlett: Shouting into the Wind

2009-08-14T21:56:00.001-04:00

Another reasonable Conservative writes a piece suggesting steps the GOP needs to take to become a viable political party again. Unfortunately, the insane base of the Republican party will never listen. Lines such as:

According to the CBO, federal taxes will amount to just 15.5 percent of GDP this year. That’s 2.2 percent of GDP less than last year, 3.3 percent less than in 2007, and 1.8 percent less than the lowest percentage recorded during the Reagan years. If conservatives really believe their own rhetoric, they should be congratulating Obama for being one of the greatest tax cutters in history.

Would surely get him hanged in effigy. Or in fact:

Where is the evidence that everything would be better if Republicans were in charge? Does anyone believe the economy would be growing faster or that unemployment would be lower today if John McCain had won the election? I know of no economist who holds that view.

I suspect if Professor Clownshoes has read it, he has thoroughly debunked it(in his mind) and removed Bartlett from his Christmas card list for good measure. I’m not going over to find out because he hates to have a lot of traffic. Best of luck to Bruce Bartlett, though. Those town hall protesters might be a hard sell.

Addendum: Steve Benen corresponds with Bartlett and determines that the GOP has just adapted a new form of IOKIYAR.

Peas in a Pod

2009-08-13T07:08:00.001-04:00

Sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley is the sports equivalent of the town hall protester.

A Chicago Cubs fan hit Phillies’ outfielder with a cup full of beer during last night’s game in Chicago.
The ugly incident came on an ugly night for the Cubs, who were losing another game when the fan doused Victorino as he was catching a fly ball.

In Chicago, you have Victorino being literally doused with beer as he tries to do his job for the team he represents. In town halls around the country, you have United States congressmen being figuratively soaked with beer while trying to do a job for the people of the United States, whom they represent.

Poor sportsmanship and sore losers abound.

Glenn Beck Goes (Farther) Awry

2009-08-12T21:44:00.001-04:00

This clip is stolen from Little Green Footballs. I cannot understand why anyone who is as obviously insane as Glenn Beck has a show on a network that purports to be a news provider. Lord help us that there are people who actually watch this and believe it.

Lucky We Don’t Live There

2009-08-12T19:34:00.001-04:00

McClatchy

A Clip for Truth

2009-08-12T19:14:00.001-04:00

Because he doesn’t see the value in being a sheep.

Want a Job? Elect a Dem.

2009-08-11T16:29:00.001-04:00

But then, numbers do have a liberal bias.

Who’s Afraid of Rush Limbaugh?

2009-08-11T11:43:00.001-04:00

We’ll see.

Laughs at American SoreLoser

2009-08-11T01:06:00.001-04:00

Sorry, I guess that’s actually American Power. I won’t bother linking because he hates to have a lot of traffic there. Anyway, this is the type of hilarious graphic I go there for. He drew me in with the “Tbogg is a racist post,” but I stayed for the people’s cube idiocy. Beyond the ludicrous idea that the White House wants to stop capitalism there is the image presented. Doesn’t the strong, virile protagonist in the poster represent the forces of anti-capitalism? And the sickly capitalist is the character who is only represented by a hand with a dollar sign? He also seems to have a sallow color. I suppose they are saying this is what the WH would put out. In that case, why help them?

Maybe Professor Clownshoes hasn’t looked at the market lately. My portfolio is certainly perking up. Hope his is.

Obama’s Death Panel

2009-08-10T08:38:00.001-04:00

Here we see several members of the president’s death panel reporting for duty:

On a side note: I think I’ve found my Halloween costume.

The GOP’s Crabgrass Roots

2009-08-06T08:20:00.001-04:00

Lifted from Firedoglake. Thanks!

Pretty as a Picture

2009-08-04T13:16:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Instaputz!

Wingnuts Looking for a Leader

2009-08-04T10:49:00.001-04:00

These are the people who are comparing Obama to Hitler and Stalin. But now, Liz Cheney feels he is not a strong enough “Commander in Chief.”

BTW, he is only a CinC to those who are actually serving in the military. That does not include Liz “deferment #?” Cheney or her chickenhawk father and their followers.

"Now as a veteran of the State Department, I can tell you that effective diplomacy is not about appeasing your enemy. It’s not about unilateral pre-emptive disarmament. America has to negotiate from a position of strength. To survive as a nation, our president can’t function as a disinterested international arbitrator. He can’t attempt to stand above America and our enemies. In other words, America needs a commander in chief, not a global community organizer."

No, none of it makes any sense, but she was talking to the Red Staters. So, it only matters that she was dissing Obama.

A Dream Come True

2009-08-01T17:56:00.001-04:00

For Rich Lowry and every other red-blooded, cheeto-munching wingnut, their fondest desire has come true. Sarah Palin is back on the market.

Sarah has recently purchased land in Montana and is considering moving the family there. Sarah Palin is originally from Idaho.

No word on the dental floss seedlings or the pygmy pony:

In Keeping with the Beer Theme

2009-07-29T21:26:00.001-04:00

Had a few Magic Hats after the races in Saratoga Springs today to drown the sorrow of losing horribly and reinforcing the reasons I don’t gamble. Anyway, I felt a lot more liberal after a few and apparently they worked wonders for this guy, too. I’m thinking of sending a case of #9s over to American Power.

Adding Brewer to the Résumé

2009-07-27T21:45:00.001-04:00

Preparing to transfer a batch of wheat beer to the secondary fermenter where the apples await. I’m fairly new to the brewing, so I hope my Apple Wheat will turn out better than the strawberry and raspberry did. I used extracts for those. Extracts are the pits. Real fruit now. Was going to use blueberries, but the cost was prohibitive. I chopped up 2 and a half pounds of apples and threw in a can of Old Orchard Apple Raspberry concentrate for good measure.

BTW, if the prez is in the Glens Falls area, he can stop in for a homebrew and home baked bread anytime.

The Answer

2009-07-23T22:56:00.001-04:00

Not to be confused with the Truth.

They Like Us, They Really Like Us

2009-07-23T16:49:00.001-04:00

Well, more than they did anyway. Sorry if it pisses off the neocons, but most of the sane people in the US actually care if we’re respected and looked up to by the rest of the world.

Improved attitudes toward the United States were most marked in Western Europe, but also evident in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as some predominantly Muslim countries.

In Indonesia, where Mr. Obama spent part of his youth, no fewer than 73 percent of those polled said that his election had directly improved their opinion of the United States.

But the survey, taken among more than 26,000 people in 24 countries, plus the Palestinian territories, found that anti-American animosity remained high in places like Pakistan, Turkey and among Palestinians.

Europeans, in particular, seemed to be responding positively to Mr. Obama. The number of Britons saying that they trusted the American president to do the “right thing” in world affairs soared to 86 percent this year, under Mr. Obama, compared with just 16 percent last year, under President George W. Bush. The increase was slightly larger in both Germany and France.

The right thing numbers also jumped in all Middle Eastern countries surveyed — except Israel, which saw no statistical change.

If Obama can follow through on Iraq and solve the Afghan quagmire, he’ll be up 100% internationally. Obviously, we have a solid 15% in this country that are not happy if we are not involved in a clash of civilizations somewhere.

RIP Gidget

2009-07-22T21:41:00.001-04:00

Hope you enjoyed that last run for the border.

Grand Old Birther Party

2009-07-21T23:08:00.001-04:00

The mainstream of the Republican party is now a group of conspiracy theorists who cannot even accept the fact that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and that by 1961 it was part of the freakin’ US.

(T)he Right Wing of 2009 is rapidly embracing a wild-eyed, media manipulated, and self-destructive "conspiracy theory conservatism."

If there are people in the GOP who are actually not insane, I believe it would behoove them to try and curb this inclination toward finding a conspiracy under every rock. I don’t even see what the upside is to promoting the crazy. Unfortunately, anyone who mutters a discouraging word is labeled a liberal or RINO or whatever.

Barack Obama says he is a Christian, but he is really a Muslim working with a secret group to fool the public and take over the American government.

Barack Obama says he is a capitalist, but he is really a socialist working with a secret group to fool the public and take over the American government.

Barack Obama says he is American, but he is really a foreigner working with a secret group to fool the public and take over the American government.

It’s amazing that a small cadre of crazies can influence the entire party to adopt the lunacy. Well, it’s fun to watch anyway. Lucky that only a select few of us loyal libs know that Obama is secretly a Romulan out to destroy the Federation of Planets.

“I want my country back.” What the Hell does that even mean? Your candidate lost the election. Suck it up!

Compassionate Conservatives, No More

2009-07-20T22:51:00.001-04:00

Shorter Jim DeMint: “We don’t give a rat’s ass about people without health insurance.”

Yes I do, Moran

2009-07-19T06:45:00.001-04:00

Who knew Paris Hilton was a teabagger? Not that kind.

The One

2009-07-17T18:32:00.001-04:00

It’s funny, I like hearing Julian Bond use the term more than I do hearing wingnuts use it.

Hopefully, we are moving toward a more “color blind” society spurred by education and demographics.

The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

And I Thought My Blog was Lame

2009-07-16T07:24:00.001-04:00

Michelle Malkin, top o’ the line wingnut blogger attempting, well I’m not sure what.

On a completely unrelated note: a snippet of a comment at American Power reads:

According to my research and notes following a multitude of fincail gurus not interested in politics

Apparently his research and notes didn’t extend into the spelling of the word, financial.

The Saddest Propaganda Ever

2009-07-15T16:08:00.001-04:00

From “Dr.” Long Beach City College. Is this just the saddest piece of propaganda you’ve ever seen? Good Christ, are you people even trying anymore? Do you think all you have to do is throw out the names Kevorkian and Mengele? Where have all the smear merchants gone, long time passing?

I’m not even going to bother with a link to the post, “Obama to Ration Health Care” which could have at least tried tried to tie it to euthanasia for the Kevorkian link.

And Mengele, who the Hell knows how he fits in?

I expect more from a pro-victory professor.

Oops, here’s an American Power post that got by me that deserves some attention. It concerns Hilzoy’s retirement from blogging. It’s got a variety of wingnuttiness. There’s the misogyny of Douglas’ commenters who likely haven’t taken a hard look in a mirror lately. Douglas himself is certainly no candidate for any female blogger’s rule 5 blogging, if you know what I mean.

Then there’s:

Perhaps Professor Bok needs to spend some time with her colleagues in the Department of Psychology!

You can cut that irony with a knife. But, perhaps Long Beach has no department of psychology.

Then there’s the out of left field attacks:

And here's an interesting piece of related trivia: Conor Friedersdorf, the eminent "conservative" and now Atlantic blogger/Andrew Sullivan colleague, was a student of Professor Bok's at Pomona College in the 1990s. And being the idiot that Friedersdorf is, he refuses to address her by her real name after he found it published at Wikipedia.

The only idiotic thing Friedersdorf has done is go over to Don’s place and play on his field. It’s likely that Don’s trying to bait him into doing so again, as he does with Sullivan, Greenwald and others.

And here’s the wingnut as victim:

UPDATE: I love it! Personal attacks in place of argumentation or refutation! From the very first comment:

Your jealousy is showing, Mr. Long Beach City College.

He doesn’t mention the personal attacks on Hilzoy in his comments section. But, I can see why there aren’t many female commenters at AmPow. And once again pointing out that, “Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor”:

Actually, that would be "Dr. Long Beach City College."

Leave Daddy Alone!

2009-07-14T12:00:00.001-04:00

Liz “Spawn of Satan” Cheney defends the Dark Lord:

Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Liz said Tuesday she doesn't believe her father did anything wrong in connection with a secret CIA operation that officials have said was designed to capture and kill al-Qaida figures.

I think that I, along with my America hating leftist buddies, were assuming that we were trying to capture al-Qaida operatives. Capture and kill sounds like summary executions, though.

Asked directly on MSNBC whether her father directed the CIA not to keep Congress fully informed about the secret program, Cheney said, "This is a classified program and he doesn't talk about classified programs."

He especially doesn’t talk about them to Congress. Keeping Congress informed is so pre-9/11.

Liz Cheney, a former principal deputy secretary of state for Mideast affairs during George W. Bush's presidency, is helping her father write his memoirs. She aggressively defended him in Tuesday's nationally broadcast interview while declining to say point-blank whether he had violated any law or rule.

The closest she came was in declaring, "There's no evidence of that."

And here I expected her to say, “Damn straight he did, he was vice-president of the United States which we all know is the highest elected office anywhere.” And I’m sure it’s always a surprise to these news programs that invite her on. Who could anticipate that she would defend her father so vehemently?

Cheney said she didn't think Democrats were "up to handling national security" and that she thought they were trying to cover themselves on classified they agreed to support "when it was politically expedient."

Blah blah blah, because her daddy is such a man’s man despite the 5 deferments during the Vietnam War, one of which is her.

"People had different perspectives about when Congress needed to be briefed," she said. " ... I think we've got to go back to, how have we been so successful in protecting against attacks to the homeland?"

Yes, because it’s always a good idea to put unlimited power in the hands of a few incompetent schmucks and not have any oversight on them. Worked out well for the Romans.

Going Nut Picking

2009-07-14T09:39:00.001-04:00

Perusing the offerings at American Power, it’s so hard to make a choice. Think I’ll go with “Obama Gets Thrill With Gaddafi Handshake!” with obligatory exclamation point. Yes Libya, under Gaddafi, has funded terrorists. But then, technically so has the United States under a variety of presidents from both parties. This includes anyone called a freedom fighter and a number of state terrorists. Yes Gaddafi is probably insane. But, if he is no longer funding terrorism and a handshake will help insure that he continues in that manner, what’s the harm?

Then there’s the fact that under George the Lion-Hearted, we made nice with Libyans.

Gaddafi and Bush do apparently see eye to eye. On Monday, Gaddafi accomplished one of history's great diplomatic turnarounds when Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice announced that the U.S. was restoring full diplomatic relations with Libya and held up the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as "a model" for others to follow. Rice attributed the ending of the U.S.'s long break in diplomatic relations to Gaddafi's historic decision in 2003 to dismantle weapons of mass destruction and renounce terrorism as well as Libya's "excellent cooperation in response to common global threats faced by the civilized world since September 11, 2001."

It’s convenient for the “professor” to climb into the time machine and go back to the 80’s and resurrect Gaddafi as public enemy number one in order to hit Obama over the head with him. Of course, the 80’s was when Saint Ronald was not only shaking hands with terrorists, he was selling military spares to the same Iranians that held Americans hostage for 444 days. And then, he took the profits to arm the terrorist Contras in Nicaragua. But, at least he didn’t shake hands with terrorists. He sent Rumsfeld to do that.

From Herr “Professor”: By now there's no doubt that President Obama gets a thrill up his leg when he's pressing the flesh of the world's most brutal dictators.

I suspect, though, that it doesn’t compare to the thrill that Douglas gets when Obama shakes the hand of Gaddafi or Chavez. If it was Castro there’d be something running down his leg.

And this from an AmPow commenter:

We, as Americans, Lefties included, need to examine our complaisant (sic) fantasies and realities in this country. We have enemies. Obama is dragging his entourage of adoring press, that influences the public zeitgeist, with him in confusing surface friendships with opportunists -deeply soulless dictators. They will take all of your American comforts, and turn them into ashes. And they will not care if you are sympathetic to their causes. You, my leftist friends, are their enemy, too.

See, the problem is that we just don’t have enough enemies. Despite the fact that we (during the Bush II administration) re-established diplomatic relations with Libya that is no reason to act diplomatically toward them.

The Latest GOP Candidate for Ex-Communication

2009-07-10T20:09:00.001-04:00

Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin:

In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. She experienced criticism as both partisan and cruel because she could see no truth in any of it. She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm.

In another age it might not have been terrible, but here and now it was actually rather horrifying.

And after eviscerating the myths of Palin:

The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can. And so the Republican Party should get serious, as serious as the age, because that is what a grown-up, responsible party—a party that deserves to lead—would do.

It's not a time to be frivolous, or to feel the temptation of resentment, or the temptation of thinking next year will be more or less like last year, and the assumptions of our childhoods will more or less reign in our future. It won't be that way.

We are going to need the best.

Burn the ~~witch~~ RINO!

UPDATE: They are now gathering the kindling* at right wing sites.

*Truth warning-do not click this link.

Mistressing is Good Work if You Can Find It

2009-07-09T18:49:00.001-04:00

In GOP sex scandal news, attention turns back to John Ensign who has been thanking ~~Allah~~ Jehovah for Mark Sanford, Sarah Palin and Michael Jackson.

Nevada Sen. John Ensign has acknowledged that his parents paid his mistress and her family $96,000 in April 2008, according to a statement made by his attorney moments ago.

It’s not a pay-off or anything like that, though.

"After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time," said Paul Coggins, counsel to Ensign.

Thank You, Jimmy Carter

2009-07-07T22:13:00.001-04:00

Just finished bottling a batch of Raspberry Wheat Ale and am currently relaxing with a Strawberry Wheat. Thought it appropriate to thank the men who made these homebrews possible. Thanks Mr. Jimmy and Rep. Barber Conable.

The American public had decided it liked its beer cheap, bland, and less filling, and the industry—which, after decades of consolidation, consisted of a mere 44 breweries in 1979—was happy to oblige.

Three decades later, the U.S. boasts 1,463 breweries, including 975 brewpubs.

Most microbrewers started out as homebrewers, So, if you ever find yourself enjoying a beer above and beyond the mass-produced Budweiser quality, raise one for Jimmy and Barber.

The End is Near

2009-07-05T20:19:00.001-04:00

On July 30, conservatives are 'going Galt,' named after Ayn Rand's famous character John Galt from her novel Atlas Shrugged, and thus refuse to show up for work. They plan to 'call in conservative.'

How will the republic survive without conservatives for one day?

If this means businesses lose billions of dollars on that day, fine. If this means that travel will be disrupted, good. If this means communication systems are crippled, so be it.

Feel the sting of “John Galt.”

No doubt employers and business owners will threaten employees with termination if they 'call in conservative' on that day. Don't let them intimidate you. They need conservative employees, who tend to be the most reliable and conscientious. And, it must be stated that some will probably lose their jobs.

It’s like Nathan Hale, only,“Give me the day off or give me termination.” If they get fired for one call in, doesn’t that kind of quash the idea of how indispensible they were in the first place?

Your country and its rule of law--The United States Constitution--need your help at this critical time. If multi-millions of citizens participate, there is no way Washington can ignore us. And if they do, the next step may not be so pretty.

And, if no one notices will you STFU about it?

Belated Advice to Sarah Palin

2009-07-05T19:16:00.001-04:00

Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.
Douglas MacArthur

I'm quitting the business today. I'm going to open up an appliance store, I've always really been into toasters. I'm giving it all up.
Dane Cook

If either player abandon the game by quitting the table in anger, or in an otherwise offensive manner; or by momentarily resigning the game; or refuses to abide by the decision of the Umpire, the game must be scored against him.
Howard Staunton

Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter.
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.
Lance Armstrong

Quitting doesn't enter my mind.
Jimmy Buffett

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.

Napoleon Hill

Most people who succeed in the face of seemingly impossible conditions are people who simply don't know how to quit. ~

Robert Schuller

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit. ~

Conrad Hilton

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits. ~

Napoleon Hill

No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind. ~

Napoleon Hill

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits. ~

Richard M. Nixon

Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit. ~

Vince lombardi

When faced with a mountain, I will not quit! I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath - or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine, with God's help! ~

Friedrich von Schiller

It's always too early to quit.

Norman Vincent Peale

Please don’t go away, Sarah!

Taking Back Religion

2009-07-04T18:20:00.001-04:00

The religious left has a long tradition of activism on social issues, including the civil-rights movement. But for the past quarter century, faith-based politicking has been dominated by the religious right, which built a powerful army of activists -- and a formidable fund-raising machine -- on the strength of leaders such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority and radio host James Dobson of Focus on the Family.

The religious left's re-emergence as a strong voice -- with the financial backing to make aggressive media buys -- is a "seismic shift," said D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University who studies evangelical politics.

If the Republicans don’t even have religion to fall back on anymore, what do they have?

A religious coalition called the American Values Network spent nearly $200,000 placing the global warming ads. Some political analysts credit the campaign with boosting support for the Waxman-Markey climate bill, which narrowly passed the House last week.

As opposed to the right wing religious view that God gave us the planet to destroy as we see fit.

Democratic lawmakers representing conservative districts say such efforts help them make the case to skeptical constituents that they aren't simply toeing the party line -- or turning into bleeding-heart liberals -- when they support President Barack Obama's calls for health-care and climate-change legislation.

Maybe Obama knew what he was doing when he was “palling around with Rick Warren.”

Of course, as any good pro-victory associate professor of polisci will tell you, left wing types can’t be religious. They are all atheistic nihilist scum from the fever swamp or something like that.

Andy Griffith as Sarah or Todd?

2009-07-03T22:11:00.001-04:00

How long will the act continue to play to the marks?

Scared? You Betcha!

2009-07-03T18:46:00.004-04:00

It's become a truism among those on the right that we libtards are scared of Sarah Palin. Well, now with her resignation with two years remaining in her term as Alaska's governor, I'm absolutely petrified. The only reason I've come up with is that someone made her an incredible offer to star in a reality TV show, "The Wasilla Hillbillies," or some such. Off to American PowerMad to find how this is still "all good."

UPDATE: Winners never quit and quitters never win. And yes, the rubes at AmPow are ready to send all their money to you, so just give them the address Sarah and Todd.

Congratulations Senator Franken

2009-06-30T18:44:00.004-04:00

I believe I'll have a couple of homebrews to celebrate tonight. Meanwhile, others have opened a case of whine*. And just to be gracious in victory, thanks to Norm Coleman for only being enough of a sore loser to stretch it out for 8 months.

(W)ith Franken, we're seeing the acccession of the most disgusting fever-swamp partisanship to Capital Hill.

Keeping it classy, Don.

* Truth 101 warning-Do not click!

Stolen from bjkeefe

2009-06-30T08:50:00.002-04:00

for no particular reason other than I like lolcats. And who doesn't? Thanks Brendan.

Another Case of Left Wing Extremism *

2009-06-28T21:20:00.002-04:00

I'm sure the pardons are in the mail for these left wing white supremacists, since they are so obviously working hand in hand with the Obama administration:

federal prosecutors in Arizona announced that Mahon, 58, and his twin brother, Daniel, had been indicted in the 2004 mail bombing of a Scottsdale city office that promoted racial and cultural diversity.

Also involved was a major Obama campaign contributor:

Also Thursday, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched the Warsaw, Ind., home of Tom Metzger, director of the White Aryan Resistance and an associate of the Mahons.

I'm sure the ATF was just there to cover up any evidence that might have been used against Metzger. I've heard he's tight with ACORN, as well.

*In case Don shows up. This is sarcasm, it may not rise to the level of satire.