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The Kiss Of Death

AP

PHOENIX — John McCain and Sarah Palin will be back on the campaign trail Friday, their first time campaigning together since McCain lost the presidential election a year and a half ago with Palin as his running mate.

Johnny me boy-o, I have senior moments too, but I would have thought you'd have remembered and learned from that experience. Or at least had people to do that for you. I guess votes from the lunatic fringe are the best you can hope for. Maybe you're just plain not naturally wingnutty enough for AZ anymore and have to work too hard to achieve it and need her help.

Hey, if Trailer Trash Barbie works for McCain, great. I'd rather have the vitriolic flip-flopper and disagreeable grumpy old man stay in the Senate than get that RWNJ Hayworth. They've already got Kyl and one of those is too many.

Best case scenario, though a way outside longshot bet at best, is that Rudy Garcia might slip through the cracks in the Repug party and not only put a Dem in the AZ seat, but restore some respect to the name 'Rudy' which Julieannie has singlehandedly made into an object of scorn and derision. Fat chance, but...

Besides, a Latino senator would make AZ Repugs' heads explode. Heh.

Update:

Poll: Majority Favor Earlier Bedtime for McCain

Extremes

Paul Krugman with today's 'must read':

I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law. But a few days later, it doesn’t seem quite as entertaining — and not just because of the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers. For if you care about America’s future, you can’t be happy as extremists take full control of one of our two great political parties.

To be sure, it was enjoyable watching Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican of California, warn that by passing health reform, Democrats “will finally lay the cornerstone of their socialist utopia on the backs of the American people.” Gosh, that sounds uncomfortable. And it’s been a hoot watching Mitt Romney squirm as he tries to distance himself from a plan that, as he knows full well, is nearly identical to the reform he himself pushed through as governor of Massachusetts. His best shot was declaring that enacting reform was an “unconscionable abuse of power,” a “historic usurpation of the legislative process” — presumably because the legislative process isn’t supposed to include things like “votes” in which the majority prevails.

A side observation: one Republican talking point has been that Democrats had no right to pass a bill facing overwhelming public disapproval. As it happens, the Constitution says nothing about opinion polls trumping the right and duty of elected officials to make decisions based on what they perceive as the merits. But in any case, the message from the polls is much more ambiguous than opponents of reform claim: While many Americans disapprove of Obamacare, a significant number do so because they feel that it doesn’t go far enough. And a Gallup poll taken after health reform’s enactment showed the public, by a modest but significant margin, seeming pleased that it passed.

"Pleased that it passed" might not be the right phrase; "relieved that it's over" might be a better choice.

For today’s G.O.P. is, fully and finally, the party of Ronald Reagan — not Reagan the pragmatic politician, who could and did strike deals with Democrats, but Reagan the antigovernment fanatic, who warned that Medicare would destroy American freedom. It’s a party that sees modest efforts to improve Americans’ economic and health security not merely as unwise, but as monstrous. It’s a party in which paranoid fantasies about the other side — Obama is a socialist, Democrats have totalitarian ambitions — are mainstream. And, as a result, it’s a party that fundamentally doesn’t accept anyone else’s right to govern.

In the short run, Republican extremism may be good for Democrats, to the extent that it prompts a voter backlash. But in the long run, it’s a very bad thing for America. We need to have two reasonable, rational parties in this country. And right now we don’t.

No, we damn sure don't and haven't had for a long time, and it ain't nowhere near over. Before anything useful can emerge from the ashes of The Party Of No You Can't, it has to burn all the way to the ground, burn itself out, its ashes cool and settle for a while, and start over, this time with adults at the helm. Said adults might not have been born yet.

Waterloo Too

Obama addresses Congress

Thanks, F-Man. I could watch them Swedish babes all day. I happen to know via my far-flung network of operatives that Fixer is staring up at the underside of one of 'em as we speak. Heh.

Here's the pre-ABBA version:

Stonewall Jackson ~ Waterloo

Thanks to Alabamon.

Who's Waterloo?

Posted without comment:

...

Personally, if this is the tact the GOP is going to take in its insatiable hunger to regain power, I'm all for it. Nothing like positioning yourselves as crybaby, sore-losing, self-serving obstructionist do-nothings hellbent on selling your souls, and the nation's best interests, in order to win a few House and Senate seats. So much for McCain's "country first" campaign promise. As we've seen this week, what truly comes first is the coffers of their fatcat corporate special-interest pals and the personal bank accounts of their rich, tax-loathing constituency. Fuck the poor, the middle class, the sick, the needy, the uninsured. I got mine, now go get yours. At least we know what matters most to these selfish elitists.

Last July Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (SC) arrogantly predicted that health care reform would fail and become Obama's "Waterloo" and that "it will break him." With this week's victory and the political capital its bestowed on the president, even conservatives like American Enterprise Institute fellow David Frum fear that Republicans have not just blown an unprecedented opportunity to help shape major policy, but also served to empower Obama, which is the exact opposite of what they aimed to accomplish. "The political imperative crowded out the policy imperative. And the Republicans have now lost both." He said Obama's health care victory is now the Republicans' Waterloo. "We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat."

...

Abba - Waterloo

Great thanks to Maru for the link.

Up next: Immigration reform from Trafalgar ...

But of course ...

It's Bill Clinton's fault, or some shit like that. Same old song and dance:

I can hardly believe it, but apparently America's wife beaters have actually decided to use the defense that these Democrats are "asking for" death threats from the right wingers because they are "making them mad." I documented Sere and Cantor's warnings this morning, but there are more:

...

Just like the girl who dressed provocatively asked to be raped because she made them horny. Assholes ...

Coyote update ...

The NYPD finally got their man coyote.

TRIBECA (WABC) -- The coyote stalking the city was cornered in an outdoor parking lot in TriBeCa.

The coyote was spotted walking the bike path along the West Side Highway, south of the Holland Tunnel, just before 11 a.m.

Police were accompanying the coyote, which was walking in the bike path along Hudson River Park.

They followed the coyote into an outdoor parking lot, near Watts Street.

Members of the NYPD's elite Emergency Services Unit tranquilized the coyote and pulled it out from under a red car in the parking garage.

...

Gotham is safe once again. Now, if they could find some way to make the Pakistani cabbies stop driving on the sidewalks, we'll be okay.

Music, Food, & Sex

Well, that about covers LIFE!

An enjoyable article in the EssEffChron

There are songs about love, songs about loss and songs about love lost. There are plenty of songs about trucks and trains, moonlit nights and dogs, but most of those are still about love, loss and love lost.

Then there are a surprising number of songs - across all genres - about food.

Apparently, food is the balladeer's perfect muse. Food is life.

"It's sacramental, it's worship, it's celebration and it's human need," says Marsh. Which means it's often a metaphor for sex.

The two are inextricable, he says. "It's the sensuality and carnality of food that makes it a fitting topic."

The Texas Tornados surely had something other than dip on their minds when they sang about "making guacamole all night long."

Food and sex "are the quickest paths to the most dopamine," says Colin Brooks, a member of the Band of Heathens. [...]

You mean to tell me that when I slather way too much guacamole on way too many burritos on All-U-Can-Eat Burrito Nite I'm actually subliminally bonin' on down on Mexican food? I thought that was just for hot dog buns with (mild) mustard.

But, while many food songs are about sex, sometimes a doughnut is just a doughnut.

Oh yeah? Hold the sprinkles...

It's Official!

LATimes

Measure to legalize marijuana will be on California's November ballot

The measure's main advocate, Richard Lee, an Oakland marijuana entrepreneur, savored the chance to press his case with voters that the state's decades-old ban on marijuana is a failed policy.

"We're one step closer to ending cannabis prohibition and the unjust laws that lock people up for cannabis while alcohol is not only sold openly but advertised on television to kids every day," he said.

There was a woman on TV last night who said, and I paraphrase a little, "what kind of message will this send to the children?", which is one of the big anti-pot talking points we're going to hear, no doubt.

Look, lady, if you have kids, set the example for them by NOT smoking dope, drinking booze, snorting coke, or shooting heroin around them, and if you must, at least quit fucking barnyard animals while you're loaded where they can see you. Use a little common sense and take the goats outside. Yeesh.

I've got a hunch that legalization will cause a lot of the kids to lose interest in smoking weed. Just sayin'...

Possession of an ounce or less has been a misdemeanor with a $100 fine since 1975, when Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who was then governor, signed a law that reduced tough marijuana penalties that had allowed judges to impose 10-year sentences.

In case I haven't mentioned that there are good reasons for Moonbeam to be our next governor besides the fact that he isn't a rich Repug CEO with delusions about corporate power translating easily into governing the ungovernable and those who wish to be, there's one.

Just as an aside, he was on TV yesterday with his old '67 Plymouth, talking about how he was glad it had bench seats so Linda Ronstadt could slide a little closer on dates. I'm down wid dat! Heh. I've been looking for the video with no success, drat the luck. I did find this one though. Don't miss!

Where was I? Oh, I remember...

With polls showing that a slim majority of voters support legalization, the legalization campaign will be trying to appeal to a slice of undecided voters who are mostly mothers. "It's always easier for people to say no than to say yes for an initiative," said Mark Baldassare, the pollster for the Public Policy Institute of California.

The informal KCRA poll yesterday was 64% for, 36% against. If that's 'slim', I'll take it!

We will see...

Update:

Good article by Doc Gurley:

SO what do I know about this issue? As the physician and City public health administrator tasked with the initial implementation of Proposition 215 (legalizing medical marijuana) - I learned a lot.

On the data side, I compiled every bit of published research about marijuana (positive and negative) from the previous thirty years, researching every conceivable symptom and/or adverse event. The results were published and widely cited. I also gave talks using this same information about the health implications (and the quality of the data to support or refute claims) to any group interested in hearing it.

So how'd that go? While giving the exact same talk, using the exact same slides, I received impulsive, giddy gifts from both a San Francisco medical marijuana club (an enameled marijuana pin - "finally, a physician willing to speak the truth about how safe marijuana is!") and from the Santa Clara police department (a navy-blue district attorney mug - "finally, a physician willing to tell the truth about how dangerous this drug is!"). I had simultaneously become the unwilling darling of both ends of the spectrum. I learned from this experience two things:

Go.

El Rude-o Corrects

In a post about Catholic Molestation and Republican Tantrums The Rude Pundit included this:

Correction: Earlier this week, the Rude Pundit erroneously called the Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph "staged." However, as several rude readers pointed out, the photographer says it was not, and all evidence points to that being the case. Either way, Glenn Beck is still a motherfucker.

I was one of the 'several'. He even used the link I sent him to his Facebook page. I have, of course, blogwhored this post to him as well. Heh.

Thank you for the correction, Rude Man.

And yes, Glenn Beck is still a motherfucker.

Headline of the Day

Facebook 'linked to rise in syphilis'

Must have something to do with FarmVille...

Outclassed ...

In IQ, coordination, and common sense. The NYPD is on the trail of a coyote and things don't look promising:

Coyote in Holland Tunnel: Didn't Pay Toll

We're told that the NYPD's elite Emergency Services Unit has been called to the Manhattan side of the Holland Tunnel to chase down a coyote initially spotted in the tunnel.

According to the most recent report from the cops, the commuting coyote left the tunnel and was last seen on Varick Street. "It's an ongoing job right now," a police spokesman told us moment ago.

...

And of course, New Yorkers are rooting for the coyote (except those with little frou-frou dogs).



As of 5 minutes ago, Wile E. is still on the lam. Heh ...

Video here.

Can't stand it ...

While Keith and Rachel are must-see viewing in Casa de la Fixer every evening after dinner, neither the Mrs. or I can stomach Matthews (I even concede to watching the Mrs.' HGTV shows during the 7 pm hour). Digby documents his latest jackassery with regard to our hero, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Huge Balls).

Quote of the Day

Maru (who else?):

The syphilitic tranny, warned by the Canadian govt not to use hate speech in her act, cancelled her gig when she realized she would have absolutely no material left.

Heh ...

Update:

Bonus Maru:

Rush Limbaugh, who vowed to leave the country if HCR passed, has gone back on his word. On the positive side, thousands of young Costa Rican boys can now sleep peacefully knowing the odious, Viagra-swilling gasbag won’t be rolling by any time soon.

Heh ... squared.

Health Care

I got this from my old school pal Paul in Hawaii, the lucky bastard. Take it for what it's worth.

[ No matter where you stand on Health Care Reform, it’s a good idea to be aware and informed. Here are the elements as seen from the White House:

Since the House of Representatives voted to pass health reform legislation on Sunday night, the legislative process and its political impact have been the focus of all the newspapers and cable TV pundits.

Outside of DC, however, many Americans are trying to cut through the chatter and get to the substance of reform with a simple question: "What does health insurance reform actually mean for me?" To help, we've put together some of the key benefits from health insurance reform.

Let's start with how health insurance reform will expand and strengthen coverage:

This year, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. Once the new health insurance exchanges begin in the coming years, pre-existing condition discrimination will become a thing of the past for everyone.

This year, health care plans will allow young people to remain on their parents' insurance policy up until their 26th birthday.

This year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick, and they will be banned from implementing lifetime caps on coverage. This year, restrictive annual limits on coverage will be banned for certain plans. Under health insurance reform, Americans will be ensured access to the care they need.

This year, adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool.
In the next fiscal year, the bill increases funding for community health centers, so they can treat nearly double the number of patients over the next five years.

This year, we'll also establish an independent commission to advise on how best to build the health care workforce and increase the number of nurses, doctors and other professionals to meet our country's needs. Going forward, we will provide $1.5 billion in funding to support the next generation of doctors, nurses and other primary care practitioners -- on top of a $500 million investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Health insurance reform will also curb some of the worst insurance industry practices and strengthen consumer protections:

This year, this bill creates a new, independent appeals process that ensures consumers in new private plans have access to an effective process to appeal decisions made by their insurer.

This year, discrimination based on salary will be outlawed. New group health plans will be prohibited from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that discriminate in favor of higher-wage employees.
Beginning this fiscal year, this bill provides funding to states to help establish offices of health insurance consumer assistance in order to help individuals in the process of filing complaints or appeals against insurance companies.

Starting January 1, 2011, insurers in the individual and small group market will be required to spend 80 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Insurers in the large group market will be required to spend 85 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Any insurers who don't meet those thresholds will be required to provide rebates to their policyholders.

Starting in 2011, this bill helps states require insurance companies to submit justification for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in the new health insurance exchanges.
Reform immediately begins to lower health care costs for American families and small businesses:

This year, small businesses that choose to offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help make employee coverage more affordable.

This year, new private plans will be required to provide free preventive care: no co-payments and no deductibles for preventive services. And beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare will do the same.

This year, this bill will provide help for early retirees by creating a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums for employers and retirees age 55-64.

This year, this bill starts to close the Medicare Part D 'donut hole' by providing a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the gap in prescription drug coverage. And beginning in 2011, the bill institutes a 50% discount on prescription drugs in the 'donut hole.' ]

The bill doesn't do everything as quickly as we would like, but these things will help people right away. It's a start, and it's better than what we had, which was virtually nothing.

The black commie Nazi did it!

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford.

Behold, with the astonishing passage of flawed-but-incredible health care reform, we have the concomitant, frightening realization that this remains one of the most acidic, bitter, hopelessly divisive times to live in America and care a whit for national politics while maintaining a shred of morality, hope, a progressive soul.

Like millions, I was fairly convinced it simply could not get much worse or more acrimonious than when Dubya ran the nation into the ground, embarrassing and humiliating us planetwide a thousand times over as the rogue idiot pseudo-cowboy laughingstock war-hungry prick of the civilized world. I was wrong. But not in the way I imagined.

In short, despite all their whining and infighting, the left wasn't pushing HCR because they wanted to stick it to the GOP. They weren't pushing it because they wanted to personally profit from various corporate cronies, though I'm sure some certainly will. They weren't pushing it due to multiple personal agendas. It was an authentic, at least somewhat egalitarian push to advance a basic ideal of the nation. Well, mostly. Which, in politics, is about as good as it gets.

The Republicans, on the other hand, were pure venom. Theirs was a systematic fearmongering, a nonstop bombardment of misguidings and untruths, an acid bath of panic overlaid with a fine sheen of racism and rage. This is turning out to be easily the nastiest, meanest GOP organization in ages, the house that Karl Rove built, a group shaming their own party's once-noble legacy. Even Reagan, who claimed Medicare would destroy the country, would be stunned at this gang's level of savagery.

If Nancy had told him about it...

Verily, health care reform will go down in history for many things -- Catholic nuns kicking ass, Ted Kennedy not having to roll in his grave, Democrats actually vaguely unifying -- but few are as amusing as the creation of the silliest political movement in recent American history, the Tea Party, a group barely cognizant of what it even stands for, with zero grasp of the history it's named after, who nevertheless will doubtlessly grab every tax benefit, housing subsidy, COBRA extension, Restoration Act moneys and (now) health care benefit that evil socialist Obama hands to them and their sniveling home states, even as they spit tobacco juice in his face. Adorable.

Yeah, ain't it just?

Lots more. Go.

Sore Losers Don't Even Know When They've Lost

El Rude-o

What else? Sarah Palin did something retarded, which is a little like saying "Sarah Palin breathed." Her SarahPAC (motto: "You think these hair styles are cheap?") has a poster up on Facebook (of course) that uses gun crosshairs to demonstrate where to target members of Congress for "defeat." Or shooting. Either way. The poster says, "It's time to take a stand," to which one wants to respond, "Um, didn't you already take a stand and lose?"

More offices of Democrats have been targeted by brick throwing idiots. Bart Stupak has received death threats. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and all of their wannabes are declaring Democrats and liberals enemies of the United States. Somebody is going to get fucking killed, and it ain't gonna be Beck, even if he implies Barack Obama wants to shiv him.

We on the left used the rhetoric of battle during the Bush administration. But we used it when people were actually being killed and tortured by our nation. There's a vast qualitative difference to saying you are going to fight against people who lied us into war and saying you are going to take down those who are trying to get health care to poor people.

What this belies is the point the Rude Pundit's been making again and again: not one of these mass actions is going to happen. There will continue to be incidents, yes, and some of them may even veer into what we might call, if we weren't such racists, "terrorism." But mostly, this is done, this health care battle. The last stand happened. The battle was joined. The war was fought. And we won. And you lost, dear conservatives. Now, stop trying to dictate the terms of your defeat.

Yeah, like that'll happen.

Republicans: Stuck Between Their Crock And A Hard Place

The lovely Mad Kane on HCR. Links at site:

Repeal (requiring a veto-proof majority as long as Obama is president) is virtually impossible, not to mention unpopular. But the very GOP lies that came close to blocking health reform have brainwashed the Republican base into demanding its rescission. Consequently, many Republican leaders feel forced to perpetuate their doomsday and Armageddon claims and fight for repeal, even though they know it’s a lost cause.
...

Republicans: Stuck Between Their Crock And A Hard Place
By Madeleine Begun Kane

The GOP base screams “Repeal!”
And Republicans pledge to with zeal.
Cuz they set their own trap
With their factual gap:
Nixing laws that have widespread appeal.

On the theory of in for a dime, in for twenty cents, here's another Mad lim:

How ironic that GOP state leaders are vowing to challenge the Affordable Health Care for America Act in court. For a party that’s always lambasting trial attorneys and activist judges, Republicans sure are litigious:

Republican Trials (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Republicans constantly boo
Trial lawyers. They do it on cue.
For a party that feels
Such attorneys are heels,
The GOP sure likes to sue.

Note to the Repugs: Keep up the good work. Eventually, you'll come to like losing, even look forward to it.

Headline of the Day Zwei

GOP Seeks Federal Mandate: Everyone Must Buy Their ‘Bullshit’

Isn't that unconstitutional?

What they got, nobody wants. Might as well pass a law saying we gotta patronize eighty-year-old hookers. Oh, that'd be redundant, huh?

Green Capitalists

NYTimes

A proposal to put the legalization of marijuana in California to a vote this November is causing some growers of the plant in the state to worry about a sharp drop in the value of their crop if the measure succeeds.

Watch for the Cheeb Lobby to spend millions on this. They need the War On Some Drugs. Another good reason to legalize this lovely roadside weed.

Update:

LATimes

On Wednesday, Los Angeles County elections officials must turn in their count of valid signatures collected in the county on a statewide legalization initiative. The number is virtually certain to be enough to qualify the initiative for the November ballot, according to a tally kept by state election officials.

That will once again make California the focal point of the long-stewing argument over marijuana legalization, a debate likely to be a high-dollar brawl between adversaries who believe it could launch or stifle another national trend.

Dollars again. Yeesh.

California is not alone in weighing legalization. Several state legislatures have considered bills and two other Western states may vote on initiatives. In Nevada, a measure aimed for 2012 would allow state-licensed pot stores. And a campaign in Washington hopes to put a legalization measure on the fall ballot.

I'm down wid Washington! Me 'n David Aquarius have a date for a "beer (ice tea for me, mox nix) an' a legal bong".

The shocker is Nevada. NV looks at pot like CA looks at guns - not friendly at all. I have a friend in Nevada who told me that the one thing he really liked about California was that we could keep our pot on the coffee table. You can still go to prison there for possession. Nevada's a trifle backwards in some respects.

I think it's because it slows the deal. The goal is 90 hands an hour: "Wow, man. Should I hit or stand on 9? Lemme have another toke and ponder it", unlike the effect of the free booze in the 24-hour casinos: "Yahoo! Hit that 19! Come on, two!"

But I digress...

The 10-page California initiative would allow anyone 21 or older to possess, share and transport up to an ounce for personal use and to grow up to 25 square feet per residence or parcel. It would allow local governments, but not the state, to authorize the cultivation, transportation and sale of marijuana and to impose taxes to raise revenues.

That's a lot like prostitution in Nevada: it's up to the counties. In Washoe County (Reno) and Clark County (Lost Wages), prostitution is illegal and hookers and johns are criminals. Just over the county line in the, and I hesitate but not much to use this term, cow counties, heh, they become respected taxpaying citizens and valued customers. Fiscally for business and county revenue, it's the difference between living and dying.

If it's OK for pussy in Nevada, it'll be fine for weed in California. Now we gotta work on this 'transporting across state lines' crap. Both ways. Whee! Heh.

To make the ballot, the measure needs 433,971 valid signatures. By Tuesday, it was just 15,000 short. Los Angeles County, where supporters collected 142,246 signatures, is expected to put it over the top.

Sounds good. Stay tuned in and turned on.

In related news:

Apparently, in Missouri, it's illegal to sell even fake weed. Clear the oregano off the shelves!

The end of The Age Of Reagan? Bring it!

A 'recommended read' in the NYTimes

For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.

Nearly every major aspect of the health bill pushes in the other direction. This fact helps explain why Mr. Obama was willing to spend so much political capital on the issue, even though it did not appear to be his top priority as a presidential candidate. Beyond the health reform’s effect on the medical system, it is the centerpiece of his deliberate effort to end what historians have called the age of Reagan.

"The Age Of Reagan": Weak government lets the Robber Barons roll. It's the American Way!

It's way past time to end it.

Before he became Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers told me a story about helping his daughter study for her Advanced Placement exam in American history. While doing so, Mr. Summers realized that the federal government had not passed major social legislation in decades. There was the frenzy of the New Deal, followed by the G.I. Bill, the Interstate Highway System, civil rights and Medicare — and then nothing worth its own section in the history books.

Now there is.

It bears repeating: "...the New Deal, followed by the G.I. Bill, the Interstate Highway System, civil rights and Medicare — and then nothing..."

The four out of the five that came in under Democrats helped people. The Repug one lets us drive to the poorhouse really fast. Or at least without traffic lights.

Headline of the Day

Ari Fleischer quits PR job for Tiger Woods because his legacy was so bad it harmed Tiger’s rehabilitation.

Bush's flack is making a whoremonger look bad. Oh my sides, they hurt...

Listen up ...

All you conservative 'constitutional scholars':

...

Nowhere in the constitution does it authorize the Federal Aviation Administration or the Center For Disease Control either, so I guess they're out too. The fact that the founders weren't psychics or time travelers is a real problem for us, apparently.

...

And for those who say it's unconstitutional to force people to buy insurance, they do it with auto insurance every day. And yes, I know it's regulated by the individual states, but how do you think the feds got them to comply? By withholding highway funding. Any states that try to opt out of HCR will be pressured by the loss of federal funds they probably can't do without.

Grab 'em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow. HCR is a done deal.

The real deal ...

That would be Joe Biden of course. I heard somewhere, while they call Roosevelt's initiative the "New Deal", they're gonna call HCR the "Big Fucking Deal".



Heh ...

Vid stolen from Adrastos.

Quote of the Day

Our pal David Aquarius in comments on my earlier post:

Expecting cooperation from the Repugs is like expecting Pamela Anderson to get an Oscar.

We have HCR!

And a really good thing about it is that wingnut heads are exploding!

...

This wasn't just a major victory for Obama. This was a resounding defeat for the increasingly marginalized Republican Party and its controlling and now thoroughly repudiated conservative movement.

...

Still decompressing...

...from one helluva case of truck lag. Unloaded the truck and unpacked, still workin' on un-fuckin'-up my gear (military guys will understand that after a change of station), catchin' up on email, snail mail, etc. No energy. All I wanta do today is eat and sleep.

Nothing much goin' on today anyway. In the wake of lyin' & losin' on HCR, the Repugs are redoubling their efforts in doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, vowing to stomp on their weenies even better this time. I suggest cleats or golf spikes - hurry up and get it over with. I haven't heard this much whining from adults in, well, never.

See yas tomorrow.

"... a dick wrapped in a flag ..."

... As someone on the intarweb pointed out, the teabagger party logo looks, appropriately enough, like a dick wrapped in a flag ...

Just go.

Heh ...

Like they cooperated in the first place:

Democrats shouldn't expect much cooperation from Republicans the rest of this year, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned Monday.

...

"There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year," McCain said during an interview Monday on an Arizona radio affiliate. "They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it."

..

.

Shaddap and get back up on the porch, grandpa. Little old dick.

Thanks to Digby for the link.

The Doctor Will See You Now...And Pronounce You Dead

David Frum

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat. [...]

So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.

For once, Frummie, I hope you're right.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

TEA PARTIERS FURIOUS ABOUT BEING FORCED TO HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE
Say they'll move to Canada.

Obama: Congress Must Act on Financial Reform
GOP warns any reform could mean end of free checking.

GOP: Health Bill Rammed Down Our Throats With No Debate
Unlike invasion of Iraq.

U.S. Senate Bill Threatens China Over Currency
If they don’t revalue yuan, we’ll stop borrowing money from them.

The payoff ...

You know Stupnagel didn't come around out of the goodness of his heart. The women got thrown under the bus once more and they're pissed, rightly so:

The president of the National Organization for Women said her group is "incensed" about the impasse-breaking deal between President Obama and a group of anti-abortion Catholic Democrats that seems likely to allow historic health-care reform legislation to pass the House later Sunday night, saying the planned presidential executive order "breaks faith with women."

Other reproductive rights groups, as well as abortion opponents, are also displeased with the compromise.

...

As our pal Creature said:

Maybe one day Americans won't be held captive by another group's religious doctrine, but today is not that day.

Great thanks to Mr. Aravosis for the WaPo link.

Fake Boner ...

Jeez, Skippy, the real one is bad enough. Do we need another dick with hair on its head? Heh ...

For real Stupid Republican Tricks, see Digby.

The Vote on Health Care Reform: The End of the Tea Party?

Here's The Rude One's prediction on Friday before the health care bill passed:

Here's what's going to happen after the vote on the reconciliation bill in the House on Sunday: Almost every Tea Partyer who was out there protesting will go the fuck away. They will devote whatever energy they have left to posting comments on blogs and Facebook pages. Their leaders, desperate to still be relevant and still draw a paycheck, will try to come up with some other phantom issue to whip up enthusiasm. But once it passes, no one will give a shit except the people it helps. The Civil War won't be re-fought. The Constitution won't be shredded. One or two states might try to force their misinterpretation of the 10th Amendment. Soon, Beck and Hannity and Michele Bachmann and Steve King will discover another Republic-ending crisis, probably immigration reform, and we'll start the magical cycle all over again.

Meanwhile, those poor, ignorant bitches and bastards in the photo up there will shuffle home, curse the process, and, like good corporate tools, continue to suck down fast food and sodas and buy shit they don't need because it's cheaply made in China and sold at Wal-Mart and proudly drive gas-devouring vehicles and keep their children stupid and tell themselves that they aren't the problem, no, they are the solution, wondering how to fill the desperate couple of hours between the end of Limbaugh's radio show and the start of Beck's TV rants, despising those who are attempting to do something for them and their neighbors, wondering where their country went, when, after all, this is where it's gone.

For a couple of them, the day will come when they lose their jobs. And the COBRA runs out. And maybe for a moment they panic about where they're going to get health insurance for themselves and their families. And then it will hit them, that "oh, yeah, there's that" and it just might end up okay. But, like the dunces who want the government to keep its hands off their Medicare, they will go on thinking the same, doing the same, never learning, never changing.

We are Americans, after all. Our swinish laziness, blissful ignorance, and blithely cruel selfishness is something our soldiers are fighting and dying for right now.

It's okay. The rest of us will be out here trying to do good, even for those who would like to see our blood discolor the streets.

Note: If the health care bill doesn't pass, then, well, consider the Rude Pundit teabagged.

It passed, RP. Your chin's still a teabag virgin. Don't worry, they'll try again.

Gotta see the orthopaedist ...

From patting ourselves on the back so much.

Just shaddap and get back to work:

...

Can I just say once again how much I hate these little "Mission Accomplished" press conferences? I realize that it's human to want to celebrate the (apparent) end of a hard fought battle and that they all loved to be stroked by each other in public, but it's unseemly.

Instead of telling each other how wonderful they all are, perhaps they could spend time time explaining why the bill is important and thanking the American people for their forbearance. They can give each other big smooches and hearty pats on the back when the cameras stop rolling.

...

Jesus Christ, I do more before 10 a.m. than these idiots do in a month. If I stopped to congratulate myself every time I finished a job, I'd be 6 months behind. Just do what we pay you to do and leave the celebrations for happy hour. And by the way, this bill ain't anything to celebrate over in the first place.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Been busy having fun and it's still barely Saturday out west here!

Emmylou Harris ~ Waltz Across Texas Tonight

Thanks to arthurfromholland, Netherlands.

Another self-serving jerk ...

Who wants to run New York. My county executive is switching parties (D to R) to run for governor in the Rethug primary against Rick Lazio, the schmuck who ran against Hillary for the junior senate seat. The smart money is on Andy Cuomo to win in the end.

ALBANY — Fresh off an announcement that jolted the New York political world, Steve Levy, the Long Island Democrat who abandoned his party to run for governor as a Republican, is working to secure endorsements as he tries to gain an edge in the contest for the nomination.

...

Hopefully, this idiot's fifteen minutes will soon be over.

Charity for me ...

Not so much for thee:

Fux Nutwork host’s military charity a scam

Hey, charity begins at home, don't it?

Iraq?

It's been 7 goddamn years.

The crux of the biscuit ...

Nobody can rant like Athenae (Mr. A must have an ... interesting life) and she boils down the whole opposition to a few sentences in the middle of one of her classics:

...

The entire debate has been about making you afraid of some imaginary (or even real) person who'd make you feel like a fool for trying to take care of him, because that's the real lizard fear of the supposed middle-class, feeling like you got taken. Feeling like you played by the rules and somebody else didn't, and he's better off and you're fucked.

...

Quote of the Day

Jim Hightower

Does the Republican Party have a secret "Stupid Farm" where it breeds and raises senators?

Well, Jim, if they do, and I don't doubt it, it's probably down there in your neck of the woods in Texas.

Balls of steel ...

That would be Lt. Dan Choi:

Lt. Dan Choi, the openly gay Iraq war veteran who has been an outspoken opponent of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, was arrested Thursday after chaining himself to a fence at the White House.

The Advocate reports that Choi, along with former Army infantryman Jim Pietrangelo, was arrested after chaining themselves to the fence following a rally in Washington for repeal of the policy, which bans gay men and women from serving openly in the military.

...

The time is long past to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", regardless of what anybody says, including retired generals.

Late for work, go surf the blogroll. TGIF!

If I can just get offa this L.A. freeway without gettin' killed or caught...*

Following up on my earlier post:

Ah, Grasshopper, does crick embiggen foto?

Lots more stuff to tell ya about but I'm tired again. Two days and I already need to get home from vacation so I can rest. Four days to go. I think I'm toast...

Later on down the road I'll tell ya how to get the voice in yer dashboard-mounted GPS, whom I call Miz Magellan, to cuss ya out and call ya names. Heh.

*Apologies to Guy Clark. While Mrs. G was at her conference today, I ran about 30 miles up the 710, the 10, and the 5 and hung out with my pal Dave. The freeways here move slower than I remember, mostly cuz they're in such bad shape. The only things haulin' any serious ass are Priuses. Heh.

Years ago, we used to call the freeways by their names, not their numbers like they do these days. After typing out the ones above, the Long Beach Freeway, the San Bernardino Freeway, and the Golden State Freeway, I unnerstand why they changed that - slows down the Sigalerts.

Thanks to JAZZCAF, UK.

Nice and neat ...

Time to get on board. There are some good parts of this HCR bill. My pal Creature in toto:

Great numbers all around. Serious deficit reduction. Donut hole closure. Medicare solvency. Bunches of people covered. And, it's all paid for. It's time for Blue Dogs to get off the damn fence and every other Dem to get out and sell this thing.

Bloody twats* ...

Real big hard-hitting interview of the President on Fox yesterday. Even if I'd concede that dork Brett Baier was doing his job, it'd be nice to take a wayback machine to be there live, when they fellated interviewed President Chimpenstein Bush or Vice-President Satan Incarnate Cheney:

...

First off, let's just say that Baier interviewed a president like a president ought to be interviewed, with the news person as an aggressive antagonist and questioner, not taking what the president says at face value. Truly, honestly, Baier was at least in the ballpark of how, say, BBC journalists talk to their leaders. And however irritating Baier's interruptions were, Obama recognized, at the end, that this was the way it's supposed to go. "That's OK. That's your job," Obama told him after Baier apologized for doing so.

Of course, any time a reporter from anywhere dared to question George W. Bush with the same persistence that Baier used with Obama, it was an outrage, like a midget had punched Bush in the nuts. Remember when Irish reporter Carol Coleman took apart Bush and the White House actually lodged a formal complaint with the Irish Embassy? Now, of course, it's totally okay to confront the president repeatedly, and the right will gleefully cheer it on, as if yelping, "Yeah, make him your bitch, Ailes." [my em]

...

To quote the Rude One from four or five years ago (it's in the left sidebar): "The right is nothing, if not filled with liars and hypocrites."

*To be pronounced with a proper Welsh accent. Don't ask, but if you know a Welshman, ask him to say it for you.

Idiots in quantity ...

You know, it really bugs me that people can be so self-centered, and so hurtful in the process:

...

Activists staged "competing rallies" outside of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy’s (D-OH) district office yesterday, in a noisy, often confrontational attempt to influence the undecided congresswoman’s vote. At one point, a man with a sign saying he has Parkinson’s disease and needs help sat down in front of the reform opponents. Several protesters mocked the man, calling him a "communist" with one derisively "throwing money at him." "If you’re looking for a handout you’re in the wrong end of town," another man said. Watch it (at approximately 0:51):

...

Video and links aplenty at Digby's page. As she says:

...

Remember how John Edwards used to say there were two Americas? This is the other one. And they are always pissed off when anybody else gets something they don't have. Even if they don't need or want it. You know the types.

And the conservatives have played these people like a Stradivarius. I have a sticker on my laptop that reads: "Never underestimate the power of idiots in large groups". These people may be idiotic assholes but, sadly, there are a lot of them. That's what makes them dangerous.

Made it

Hi gang. Got in an hour ago, wicked tired, more tomorrow. Nice motel. Mrs. G really knows how to pick 'em. The sign's in Chinese. Heh. I'll get a picture and prove it, but not tonight.

I was gassin' up at Costco in Lancaster and thinkin' about dinner when what did I spy across the street but a joint called Chronic Tacos. Buncha young jokers in there, but they throw together a helluva burrito! Tasty. I'll let ya know how it worked out, or if you don't hear anything from me ever again, that'll tell ya something too...

Better go before I zzzzzzz...

Quote of the Day

Maru on Rep. Alan Grayson:

... Awesome. He’s got brass balls so big, they have their own gravitational field ...

Headin' out...

Me 'n Mrs. G are headin' for SoCal today. Mrs. G has some company business in Monterey Park tomorrow and then Friday we're going to the Central Coast for another of her High School shindigs. If it wasn't for her, I'd never get to go anywhere!

It's funny, but even though I lived in L.A. for 35 years, the only time I've been to Monterey Park was to go to traffic school at East L.A. College. I used to get to go lotsa places for those. Heh.

I'll just leave ya with a 'must read' Mark Morford:

Dear Texas: Please shut up. Sincerely, History

Never doubt America's irrefutable greatness, kids. Our prison system, for example, is the finest in the world. Also, dirty Mexican people had no role whatsoever in the Civil War or U.S. history (except as troublesome immigrants, yuck), hip-hop music is in no way, shape or form to be considered a significant cultural movement -- unlike totally awesome Country & Western, and the War on Drugs is going spectacularly well, thanks to our fine military, numerous Afterschool Specials and the deep love of Jesus -- who, if you look really closely at those old photographs from the Bible, is clearly wearing a U.S. flag pin on his robes to go along with his friendly, competely legal sidearm. God bless America.

These irrefutable facts -- and many more just like them -- are brought to you by the Texas State Board of Education, packed like a jug of rancid tartar sauce with intellectually numb simpletons who smell like ignorance and taste like fear. The TSBE: We make revisionist brainwashing fun!™

Must go now. It's a long drive down our beautiful 'back road' and we wanta get off the road before the wannabe Irishmen get done with Happy Hour.

See yas later.

To my Irish friends ...

Happy St. Paddy's Day! It's gonna be amateur hour today in New York. Oy!

Erin go bragh-less!

Circling the bowl ...

I have the misfortune of having to see Rick Sanchez' show when I get home from work and want to catch up on what went on during the day. They have that other idiot, Tom Foreman, who looks like he's somehow related to Glenn Beck, and Wolfie has this constant deer in the headlights look that makes me wonder why he even bothers to show up; it's not like he actually calls anyone on their bullshit.

So, it's no big surprise they hired this idiot:

(CNN) – Prominent conservative commentator and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson will join CNN as a political contributor, appearing primarily on CNN's new show John King, USA¸ the network announced Tuesday.

...

And don't even get me started on John King, Dick Cheney fellator extraordinaire.

Thanks to Watertiger for the link.

Get out ...

Dirt bag NY state senator Hiram Monserrate (convicted girlfriend beater and all around asshole), who was thrown out of the Senate (if you're bad enough to be thrown out of the dysfunctional NY Legislature, you really suck) was running to get his seat back in a special election. Thankfully, the people of Queens weren't swayed by his argument that he was "one of them".

State Assemb. Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) won a commanding victory Tuesday night for the state senate seat once held by Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled following a domestic violence conviction.

...

Now get out, and don't let the door hit ya in the ass.

An addendum: Monserrate, scumbag that he is, is hinting he might run for Peralta's seat in the Assembly now that it's vacant. Let's hope he gets the same response.

Toyota management is a buncha NUMMIs

The Big Time Back East Media folks are catchin' on to something that's been in the news for some time out here.

Bob Herbert

California has been very, very good to Toyota. It is one of the largest markets in the world for the popular Prius hybrid. Nearly 18 percent of all Toyotas sold in the U.S. are sold in California. The state has showered the company with benefits, including large-scale infrastructure improvements for its operations and millions of dollars for worker training. California is one of the key reasons that Toyota is the wealthiest carmaker on the planet.

Toyota is paying the state back with the foulest form of ingratitude.

The company is planning to shut down the assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., that makes Corollas and the Tacoma compact pickup. The plant closure will throw 4,700 experienced, highly skilled and dedicated employees onto the street during the worst job market since the Depression, and it will jeopardize nearly 20,000 other jobs around the state.

Some o' them Easterners must be a little slow in keeping up on pickemup trucks. The Tacoma used to be a compact pickup, but has only been a mid-size pickup for five years so I guess it's understandable that the media back there hasn't, er, picked up on it yet. Heh.

The Toyota/GM plant, NUMMI, pronounced 'noomy', not 'nummy' as in referring to their management, is where my Tacoma was built. I got my dog Maggie from one of its employees, so I have a personal connection to the workers' plight.

Those who are trumpeting the alleged fact that the recession is over should consider that the unemployment rate in California in January (the last month for which complete statistics are available) was a mind-numbing 12.5 percent. That was the fifth worst in the nation. In eight California counties, the jobless rate — not the underemployment rate, mind you, but the official jobless rate — was higher than 20 percent. Those counties are suffering through a depression.

The human toll behind such data is of no apparent interest to the fabulously wealthy Toyota operation.

Well, Mr. Herbert, you've finally caught on to Big Biz' M.O.

Please read the rest of the editorial. It has a lot in it.

My Tacoma is without a doubt the best vehicle I have ever owned. The brakes work, the throttle doesn't stick, and we installed our own floor mats (where Mrs. G found floor mats that cost a hunnert bucks a set I'll never know, but find them she did!). It doesn't rust, bust, fuck up, or stink in hot weather. I like it a hell of a lot better than I like the management of the company that built it, who have been fuckin' up by the numbers here of late. They probably smell bad too.

That said, I would probably buy another Toyota. We keep our vehicles a long, long time as in 15-20 years, so my money has to go where I perceive the most value. The management of GM, Ford, and Chrysler aren't much better and their products aren't nearly as good, all things considered, and an awful lot of them are already built in foreign countries like Canada, Mexico, and Texas as well.

A Headline of the Day That Boggles The Mind

Rove: Obama ‘let a cowboy president…violate a fundamental principle of the Constitution.’

He's talking about Honduras, but he's very familiar with the concept from eight years of enabling it.

Headline of the Day

Following up on Fixer's post:

Conservatives Who Demanded We ‘Listen To’ And ‘Stand Behind’ Gen. Petraeus Now Disregard Him

The worms turn on their hero when he's right and doesn't agree with them.

Racism is linked to Religious dogmatism

A post you should read at Center For Inquiry.

This study finds that a denomination's demand for devout allegiance to its Christian creed overrides any humanistic message. By demanding such devotion to one specific and dogmatic Christianity, a denomination only encourages its members to view outsiders as less worthy.

--- Let's read that conclusion again: "Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant." Why would religious agnostics be more humanistic and less racist?

Religious agnostics would be people who combine a religious/spiritual attitude in living life with a humble admission that they don't know if their approach is the only right way. Religious agnostics are pluralistic -- they have no problem admiring how different people can enjoy different religious paths. And it is precisely this lack of dogmatism which permits humanistic values to shine through. Religious exclusivism defeats humanistic universalism, but religious pluralism enhances humanistic universalism.

[...] Revere your own religious path, but also respect and revere others' ability to devote themselves to a higher good in their own way. It is precisely that kind of universal respect for all paths which can reduce prejudice.

I do not think the results of that study conflict in any way with what we've been saying around here for going on six years except that we have absolutely no respect at all for religionists whose credo is "my way or the highway".

Finally ...

It looks as if the climate is right for this country to examine the relationship we have with Israel objectively. Greenwald:

... It's rather difficult to maintain the fiction that only fringe Israel-haters see the connection between our support for Israel and Muslim hatred toward the U.S. when two of America's most respected military officials (responsible for U.S. troops in the region) are making that case explicitly ...

I wonder if the conservatives are gonna start calling him "Betrayus" now?

Taint?

Howard Kurtz has an interesting piece today about how some Fox News employees seem to think Glenn Beck taints their brand. Isn't this sort of like the madam in a brothel worrying about her reputation for virtue? The real shock in this story is that there are people at Fox News who still consider themselves "journalists" - funny, considering how they must already work within the ideological confines of Roger Ailes' famous daily memos ... [my em]

No shit. 3 words: Bed. Made. Lie.

Quote of the Day

Alan Grayson. Become a fan at Facebook.

‘Alaskan chillbilly’ smartest GOP leader since W.

He unloads on Moosebreath pretty good, the snarky bastid! Gotta love him!

Texas Legislature Votes To Rewrite Bible

Expanding on my blurb in an earlier post.

CLG. Hey lady, this is good and we plugged you. Leave us alone.

"The good Lord has smiled on us," said Carlton Bolton, the president and CEO of Hallelujah Press, a subsidiary of Halliburton, which received an exclusive no-bid contract to manufacture the new Bibles.

AUSTIN, Texas - (PTSD News) - Fresh from their recent success in passing laws to rewrite school history textbooks to drop discussions of FDR and unions in favor of what they called conservative intellectuals such as George W. Bush, Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber, the Texas Legislature passed a law that all Bibles in the state must be updated.

"The Bible was obviously written by Jewish liberals from New York," said Candace Sue Burnham (R-Plano). "So it's time we Christians take our Bible back to stress true family values such as hating gays, illegal Mexicans, Muslims and especially hating illegal gay Mexican Muslims."

"The current version of the Bible is riddled with communist propaganda about Jesus helping the poor," said Wayne Plugg (R-San Angelo)."That's obviously hogwash because if Jesus loved those poor people so much, he would have made them rich."

"Everyone knows that the gay agenda was to make sure the Bible left out all the gospels that our merciful Lord's greatest pleasure was to smite homosexuals," said Reverend Chuck Amer of the First Church of the Exploding Pentecost of Palestine, Texas. "So we're putting all that stuff back in."

The newly approved Bible, 'Bible: King James Dobson Version,' named after the founder of the popular Focus on the Family broadcasts, also adds the following passages: Anyone voting for Democrats must be stoned to death, global warming is Satan's favorite lie, greediness is next to godliness, people who don't speak English should be banished from the kingdom, and that slavery is not so bad if it can keep those people off the streets.

The hollowed out Bible also comes with a handgun inside.

Jesus weeps.

Headline of the Day

Right-wing blogger Dan Riehl: "Isn't It Time To Euthanize Reid's Wife?"

A new low for wingnut gasbags, and that takes some doing. The guy needs his lights punched out. Go do it, Harry. No jury in the land would convict you.

A right-wing earthquake in the making?

Pretty good short read by P.M. Carpenter:

By 1960 he was insisting that conservatism's traditionalist and libertarian camps were indeed in fundamental agreement, yet each -- and this is the relevant key -- was so self-righteously cocksure of what it alone postured as philosophically "decisive," a self-destructive "distortion" set in; which is to say, each side took its dogma to exclusive extremes, refusing necessary compromise and accommodation -- necessary, that is, if ultraconservatives were ever to gain electoral dominance.

Thus, wrote Meyer, "Conservatism, to continue to develop today, must embrace both: reason [libertarianism] operating within tradition [old-school Burkeanism] ... It can only be achieved by a hard-fought dialectic ... in which both sides recognize not only that they have a common enemy" -- that being modern liberalism, glibly conflated by Meyer with communism -- "but also that, despite all differences, they hold a common heritage."

And achieve it they did; [...]

And now, it's all unraveling -- the primordial fault line between, loosely, conservative traditionalists and economic libertarians has reemerged. A half-century of conservative unification appears shaky at best.

As Politico reported last week, "the evangelical Christian right ... [has] begun to express concern that tea party leaders don’t care about their issues" -- and that, friends, is a colossal understatement. More than "concern," they're at each other's throat, just like the good old days of a half-century past, those conservatively disunified days of self-righteous cocksuredness which denied accommodation's admission.

The right's reemerging divisions range from the delicately stated to the deliciously ugly: "There’s a libertarian streak in the tea party movement that concerns me as a cultural conservative," said Bryan Fischer, of the American Family Association; said another social conservative leader, "As far as I can tell [the libertarian tea party movement] has a politics that’s irreligious. I can’t see how some of my fellow conservatives identify with it" as well as their "incivility" and "name-calling"; and said the ubiquitous Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, "They’re free to do it, but [the libertarians] can’t say [their economic platform] represents America. If they do it they’re lying."

What's more, there now runs a kind of tributary fault line among evangelical Christians, as much a generational as philosophical rift: "I don’t think younger Christians are all that interested in the tea party movement," wrote a "younger evangelical" leader to Politico. Yet he framed his dissent in a most curious way -- one that expresses even greater discontent with his evangelical elders: His generation, he said, is "increasingly dissatisfied by a myopic Republican party that seems unwilling to tackle important social justice issues" (my emphasis). And that's an in-house argument less with the 15-minute-stardom of Glenn Beck than with Tony Perkins.

Can they regroup? [...]

I hope they tear each other's throats out.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Supreme Court Upholds “Under God” in Pledge of Allegiance
Drops “with liberty and justice for all.”

Conservatives on Texas School Board Approve New History Curriculum
Lone Star State third graders will soon learn about American heroes Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy and present-day heroine Ann Coulter.

No, really. See "Texas Board of Education cuts Thomas Jefferson out of its textbooks". Musta been a damn commie. Or worse, a Liberal!

The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”

Except for theirs, of course.

BUSINESS

Toyota Luring Buyers Back With Incentives
Competitors complain offering Chinese “comfort women” goes too far.

Fed Official: Economy Won't Revive Until 2013
According to Mayan Calendar.

Poll: 82% Ask God for Advice Before Making Decision
Then place order for Paris Hilton sex tape.

Looting ...

The evaporation of American dollars into the sands of Mesopotamia (and into the hands of Bush allies) is astounding.

Investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions — involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and even plastic surgery* — made by some of the Americans involved in the nearly $150 billion program.

Some of the cases involve people who are suspected of having mailed tens of thousands of dollars to themselves from Iraq, or of having stuffed the money into duffel bags and suitcases when leaving the country, the federal investigators said. In other cases, millions of dollars were moved through wire transfers. Suspects then used cash to buy BMWs, Humvees and expensive jewelry, or to pay off enormous casino debts.

Some suspects also tried to conceal foreign bank accounts in Ghana, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain, the investigators said, while in other cases, cash was simply found stacked in home safes.

...

As our pal Montag says:

...

Another example of why the Republicans try so hard to remove regulation, oversight and enforcement. With those in place, none of their friends can make any money.

Indeed.

*I wonder how many new sets of fake tits are technically owned by the U.S. government.

Just look at Rome ...

And you'll see the same 'similarity of decline' here as you did in the waning years of the Empire:

...

Such questions are becoming common across the nation as water and sewer systems break down. Today, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data.

In Washington alone there is a pipe break every day, on average, and this weekend’s intense rains overwhelmed the city’s system, causing untreated sewage to flow into the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers.

State and federal studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly. [my em]

...

When a society can't fix its basic infrastructure, the fall is well on its way.

Thanks to Atrios for the link.

Military Wisdom*

*Musta been written by enlisted men.

Got these from my old school pal and retired Master Chief Steve. Some of them are hilarious. They're all true.

· "If the enemy is in range, so are you." — Infantry Journal.

· "It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." — US Air Force Manual.

· "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword, obviously never encountered automatic weapons." — General MacArthur .

· "You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me." — U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

· "Tracers work both ways." — U.S. Army Ordnance Manual.

· "Five second fuses only last three seconds." — Infantry Journal.

· The three most useless things in aviation are: Fuel in the bowser; Runway behind you; and Air above you. — Basic Flight Training Manual.

· "Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once." — Maritime Ops Manual.

· "Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." — Unknown Marine Recruit

· "If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him." — USAF Ammo Troop.

· "You've never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3." — Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot).

· "The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire." —Unknown Author.

· "If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter — and therefore, unsafe." — Fixed Wing Pilot.

· "When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash." — Multi-Engine Training Manual.

· "Without ammunition, the USAF is just an expensive flying club." — Unknown Author.

· "If you hear me yell; 'Eject, Eject, Eject!,' the last two will be echoes. If you stop to ask 'Why?' you’ll be talking to yourself, because you're the pilot." — Pre-flight Briefing from a 104 Pilot.

· "What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies." — Sign over Control Tower Door.

· "Never trade luck for skill." — Author Unknown.

· "Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight." — Basic Flight Training Manual.

· "Mankind has a perfect record in aviation — we have never left one up there!" — Unknown Author.

· "Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it." — Emergency Checklist.

· "The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." — Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot).

· "There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." — Sign over Squadron Ops Desk at Davis-Montham AFB, AZ.

· "If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to." — Sign over Carrier Group Operations Desk.

· "You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal." — Lead-in Fighter Training Manual .

· As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives. The rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?" The pilot’s reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!".

Driving Drunk in Jerusalem

Tom Friedman

I am a big Joe Biden fan. The vice president is an indefatigable defender of U.S. interests abroad. So it pains me to say that on his recent trip to Israel, when Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government rubbed his nose in some new housing plans for contested East Jerusalem, the vice president missed a chance to send a powerful public signal: He should have snapped his notebook shut, gotten right back on Air Force Two, flown home and left the following scribbled note behind: “Message from America to the Israeli government: Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. And right now, you’re driving drunk. You think you can embarrass your only true ally in the world, to satisfy some domestic political need, with no consequences? You have lost total contact with reality. Call us when you’re serious. We need to focus on building our country.”

Sometimes I agree with Friedman since he realized how wrong his stance was on Bush's criminal war in Iraq and wised up a little. Sometimes I don't.

Netanyahu said he was blindsided. It’s probably true in the narrow sense. The move seems to have been part of a competition between two of Netanyahu’s right-wing Sephardi ministers from the religious Shas Party over who can be the greater champion of building homes for Sephardi orthodox Jews in East Jerusalem. It is a measure of how much Israel takes our support for granted and how out of touch the Israeli religious right is with America’s strategic needs.

They don't give a (kosher) rat's ass about "what America needs". Blindsided? I don't think so. The Israelis don't play that shit. It was done absolutely on purpose. They make Machiavelli look like a two-bit con man.

They stuck their finger in our eye. As far as I am concerned, Israel can go get fucked. If I were President, they would be on their own for awhile until they realize that they can't get along without our support and come begging for it.

It's pretty obvious that they don't want peace with the Palestinians unless it's on their own terms, which doesn't involve 'peace with the Palestinians' at all, simply their continued subjugation.

Friedman said once, and I agree, that for Israel and the Palestinians to achieve peace, they have to want it more than we do, and so far they don't appear to.

If Israel doesn't climb down off its right-wing high horse, there won't be an Israel in forty years.

Kooky Kabuki

Set your drink out of reach and go read Will Durst.

This health care thing has driven people crazier than Johnny Depp in a Max Fleischer cartoon on acid. Pro or con, your rhetoric better be cranked up to eleven and soaring past the outer orbit of Neptune, or you're going to be as invisible as a tax collector with a soggy paper plate full of Swedish meatballs sitting next to the deceased at a wake.

Eric Massa, the New York Democrat who admitted grabbing a staffer's staff, embarked on a media based whining tour charging he was hounded out of office by the White House and smeared because of his opposition to health care reform. But even though he was willing to speak ill of the Administration, Glenn Beck washed his hands of Tickle- Me- Eric, after the former Congressman trotted out some intra- personal top bunk Naval snorkeling documentation. When a pissed off Democrat is too far gone for Glenn Beck, things truly have escalated into kooky Kabuki terrain.

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Senator Orrin Hatch railed that if Democrats try to jam a health care bill through Congress it will destroy bipartisanship. Oh no. Not that! They're killing the dodo. Apparently this guy is more worried about a dead fantasy than sick Americans. Then Senator Mitch McConnell ratcheted up the exponential wackiness by warning Democrats they face Electoral Armageddon in the fall, which isn't fair; like regaling 6 year old girls with tales of the hairy spiders that live under their bed before saying "sleep tight."

Obama, his own self, can be found careening around the country like an over- caffeinated Chihuahua engaged in a last ditch effort to sell the bill to what you might call his hesitant posse. Yeah. Recalcitrant Democrats. What are the odds? Like calling a flash flood- irksome. Hell, at this point Obama would be happy to pass anything. Health care. The jobs bill. A hook pattern. Kidney stone. Toyota Prius.

The overwhelming discombobulating apprehension is the President isn't just piloting his own kamikaze fighter into the carrier of health care, he's sending vulnerable troops on the same suicide mission. One that will make Gallipoli look like a weekend pass at an Istanbul brothel. After all, its not his butt on the re- election line this fall, and the GOP strategy to stall proceedings has frothed Democratic incumbents into such a lather, the sweat dripping off their faces is shorting out microphones all across this great land of ours.

Go.

Sunday Psychobilly Redneck Music Blogging

I love this!

Johnny Cash ~ One Piece At A Time

Thanks to Edsell2009.

Justice Clarence Thomas' wife launches tea party group

To quote the headline at BuzzFlash: "So much for Justice Roberts complaining about SCOTUS members enduring partisanship."

The Political Carnival

She said it would accept donations from various sources -- including corporations -- as allowed under campaign finance rules recently loosened by the Supreme Court.

As the Church Lady would say, "how conveeeeenient."

Or is it...SATAN? Pretty close to it, I'd say.

Go read the rest.

The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality

Do not miss Daddy Frank's column today. Nothing we don't know, but tamped into a nice, neat brick.

Now the revisionist floodgates have opened with the simultaneous arrival of Karl Rove’s memoir and Keep America Safe, a new right-wing noise machine invented by Dick Cheney’s daughter Liz and the inevitable William Kristol. This gang’s rewriting of history knows few bounds. To hear them tell it, 9/11 was so completely Bill Clinton’s fault that it retroactively happened while he was still in office. The Bush White House is equally blameless for the post-9/11 resurgence of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Iran. Instead it’s President Obama who is endangering America by coddling terrorists and stopping torture.

Could any of this non-reality-based shtick stick? So far the answer is No. Rove’s book and Keep America Safe could be the best political news for the White House in some time. This new eruption of misinformation and rancor vividly reminds Americans why they couldn’t wait for Bush and Cheney to leave Washington.

I don't need to be reminded, thanks anyway, Pop.

But the old regime’s attack squads are relentless and shameless. The Obama administration, which put the brakes on any new investigations into Bush-Cheney national security malfeasance upon taking office, will sooner or later have to strike back. Once the Bush-Cheney failures in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran again come home to roost, as they undoubtedly and explosively will, someone will have to remind our amnesia-prone nation who really enabled America’s enemies in the run-up to 9/11 and in its aftermath.

Much more. Last ¶:

If we are really to keep America safe, it’s essential we remember exactly which American politicians empowered Iran, Al Qaeda and the Taliban from 2001 to 2008, and why. History will be repeated not only if we forget it, but also if we let it be rewritten by those whose ideological zealotry and boneheaded decisions have made America less safe to this day.

For some reason, Pops left out "and spent us into the poorhouse to do it".

Higher species ...

That would be us. From our friend John Gall via email:

...

The study used a picture-based vocabulary test to estimate the IQ of participating teenagers. Seven years later, the same people were asked about their religious and political beliefs.

People who later admitted to being "not at all religious," and who classified themselves as "very liberal" politically had higher IQ scores as teenagers than those who were "very religious" and "very conservative."

...

Of course they had to use pictures, they were questioning conservatives. Heh ....