Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Mel Brooks, Prophet?

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.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Where Have All the GOP Leaders Gone?

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.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Will There Be Dental Care?

RSMcCain

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. 

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Castaway Conservatives

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.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

White Wheat Flour

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

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.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

What a Wonderful World

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.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Tea Party Know Nothings

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?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

RIP Fess Parker

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

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.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Congratulations CNN

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.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Hometown Blues

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.

Friday, March 12, 2010

When Will We Ever Learn?

obama-as-hitler

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.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Over at American Hooked on Phonics

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…

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

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Borrowed from LGF

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.