Bolton: If Mubarak falls in Egypt, Israel should bomb Iran

Raw Story

Bolton, a neoconservative, has a long history of promoting military strikes on Iran.

No shit. If that neocon motherfucker wakes up in the morning, Israel should nuke Iran.

Let's hope neither happens.

2012 Republican presidential candidates all have flaws

Besides being Repuglican'ts, you mean? Imagine that! Chris Cillizza lays 'em out:

That's an emerging bit of conventional wisdom about the slow-forming GOP race. And it's right - except that it omits one very important fact: All - that's A-L-L - of the Republicans considering runs for the nomination carry at least one major flaw that could keep them from victory.
...

Let's take a look at the Achilles' heel of some of the best-known candidates:

Yada yada...

"The answer to the riddle lies in the future, not the past," he said. "Who can capture the imagination of Republican primary voters? That is the question."

First of all, if they had any imagination they wouldn't be Repugs.

Second, they don't need imagination. FOXPAC et al will tell them what opinion to have and whom to throw their vote away for.

Headline of the Day

Set your drink down. Just sayin'...

Michele Bachmann Delivers Tea Party Address to Egyptian Protestors

We're Better off Than Egypt -- Right?

RJ Eskow

A tourist who was interviewed last night from Cairo spoke for millions of his fellow Americans when he said he couldn't imagine living a country like Egypt. It is hard, isn't it?

Imagine: A government run by and for the rich and powerful. Leaders who lecture others about "sacrifice" and deficits while cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy. A system so corrupt that rich executives can break the law without fear of being punished. Increasing poverty and hardship even as the stock market rises. And now, a nation caught between a broken political system and a populist movement that could be hijacked by religious extremists at any moment.

No wonder they're upset! Why, we'd be marching in the streets too.

Heh. Americans are waaaay too lazy. A lot of 'em can barely roll off the couch to wave their guns around.

Egypt's been plagued by the same contradictory "cut taxes and reduce the deficit" logic we're hearing in the US. And why not? It serves the same web of financial interests.

Wall Street banks have a record of chronic criminality in the United States, yet continue to maintain a level of political power and influence that would look familiar to any Egyptian.

Egyptians face much greater hardships and dangers than Americans do, and it would be wrong to minimize either their difficulties or their bravery. But while we shouldn't trivialize our differences, it's also wrong to ignore our similarities. If we do, it lets our nation's leaders do far less than they should be doing to create real economic and political change. It allows us to admire the Egyptian people without challenging our own consciences. It lets us admire their activism without seeing the need for action here at home.

Sometimes it's easier to admire courage in others than it is to seek it in ourselves.

No 'sometimes' about it. Always.

RJ waxes a little hyperbolic, but not all that much. Go read the rest.

Me ...

And Dr. Fez:

Joints hurt - check
Back hurts - check
balls hurt - check


Hooray, the Flu has arrived!

Why ...

Are this man and his henchmen still free? Bush and Cheney have as much as confessed to war crimes, yet they're allowed to run around free to make even more money:

...

He followed it up by saying that he was glad the Congress decided to pass The Patriot Act and renew it again no matter which party was in the majority and defended his administration's spying and torture, or as he called it "enhanced interrogation" that he claimed was necessary to keep us safe from terrorism. He also claimed that The Patriot Act assured that civil liberties were not undermined.

...

On right-wing lying and paranoia

Good excerpt from the TPM Book Club.

From the late 1940s to the late 1980s, the story that drove conservative politics was that of the Cold War. It was the story of an epic conflict between the good guys -- the God-fearing, freedom-loving, capitalist United States of America -- and the bad guys -- the atheistic, repressive, communist USSR. Every political event, from antiwar protests to the United Nations to national health care, could be understood within the frame of this conflict.

As the Cold War began to dissipate in the 1980s, a new breed of conservatives sought to replace this story with one called the Culture War. This was the story of an epic conflict between the good guys -- the God-fearing, freedom-loving, capitalist "ordinary" Americans -- and the bad guys -- the elitist, secularist, socialist, tyrannical liberals and their black, gay, and Latino allies. Every political event, from environmental regulation to financial crisis to national health care, could be understood within the frame of this conflict. Many of those promoting this story explicitly compared it to the Cold War.

Yeah, they ran outta commies to blame so they had to make some outta whomever was handy - US.

The Culture War story has been particularly appealing to many conservatives because of the way that it vindicates an American social group that had fallen into disfavor. After the civil rights movement, racial and religious tolerance became preeminent virtues in modern American society. As social barriers from race to gender to sexual orientation fell like dominoes, the media disparaged and ridiculed racists, xenophobes, and religious dogmatists who fought the changes.

The Culture War narrative turns this modern worldview upside down. In this story, white, Christian conservatives are the victims; liberals and minorities are the intolerant bigots who oppress them. That's the reason that Fox News has spent so much time presenting President Obama, Justice Sotomayor, and a host of black, Latino, or gay officials as anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American.

The election of a black president did not create the extreme right-wing backlash any more than the recession did. Rather, Obama's election fit neatly into a narrative that has been steadily gaining popularity for thirty years and thus stoked a fire that had long been burning and spreading through both economic booms and busts. Until the country can shake itself free from this narrative, the paranoia that we have seen the past two years will continue to seduce millions of Americans.

In other words, when pigs fly.

Pay China And Screw The Old Folks

Josh Marshall

This is a fascinating piece about a new GOP plan to avoid raising the debt ceiling. The idea is to pay the Chinese government -- and other foreign lenders -- first and withhold payments to Social Security beneficiaries and other obligations to US citizens.

If passed, Toomey's plan would require the government to cut large checks to foreign countries, and major financial institutions, before paying off its obligations to Social Security beneficiaries and other citizens owed money by the Treasury -- that is, if the U.S. hits its debt ceiling. [...]

The debt won't be all that hits the roof. Watch for a whole buncha gray haired and wrinkled 2d Amendment remedies.

Get Internet Access When Your Government Shuts It Down

PCWorld

Does your government have an Internet kill-switch? Read our guide to Guerrilla Networking and be prepared for when the lines get cut.

Interesting. I'm glad someone's thinking about it.

Should you be interested...

Al Jazeera English

Related:

I Want My AJE

“We’re fairly sure our programming is of interest,” said Stebbins, side-stepping a bit. “We knew that we’d be forced to look for non-traditional means of distribution.”

Indeed. Though approximately 120 million homes from Jerusalem to Jakarta to Germany tune in to AJE every day, the station has been all but shut out of the U.S. market. Unless you live in Burlington, Vt., or Northeast Ohio, where two local cable networks defied the industry by adding the channel to their line-ups, the only way to see the channel’s programming is on YouTube, or by paying for either a subscription broadband service or a satellite dish from French company GlobeCast. In Washington, D.C., a tiny satellite company called Washington Cable has the channel available, but so far, its customers — several government agencies, as well as a small number of apartment complexes, including the famed Watergate — don’t want it.

Though spokespeople from TimeWarner, Comcast, and News Corp (which owns DirecTV) refused to speak in any detail about their decision not to carry the channel, those with knowledge of the industry say AJE never had a chance on U.S. soil.

Makes sense. We might actually learn something about American policy in the Arab world. Best if The Great Unwashed stay ignorant.

"Vitter and Rand would extinguish the welcoming light held aloft"

Mark Karlin

Senators David Vitter and Rand Paul are introducing legislation to deny US birthright status, guaranteed under the 14th Amendment, to children born on American territory to "illegal immigrants."

What's missing from the proposed law - if passed - is that it needs to require the removal of Emma Lazarus's poem, written in 1883, from the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. In "The New Colussus," Lazarus intones:

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In fact, just remove the Statue of Liberty itself from New York Harbor and replace it with a giant "no vacancy" sign.

Nah. That would involve government spending. Just cover the poem with a placard that reads "Whites Only".

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Feds Seize Catapult in Mexico Used to Hurl Drugs Into Arizona
Later seize catapult in Arizona used to hurl guns into Mexico.

Filibuster Will Continue in Senate
After passage of Gridlock & Paralysis Enhancement Act.

Balance of Trade Picture Improves Suddenly
Helped by soaring sales of U.S.-made tear gas canisters.

Utah Moves to Name M1911 Semiautomatic Official State Gun
Mass murderers who don't use it face stiff penalties.

An iconic all-American handgun, and we should feel lucky it only holds 7 rounds.

Fighting back ...

Montag has a good idea:

... This would be a good time for everyone to file an FOIA with the FBI for Rep. Issa's file ...

Quote of the Day

Gail Collins via Maru:

Is Michele Bachmann the new Sarah Palin?

And do we really need a new Sarah Palin? Shouldn’t the first one be made to go away before we start considering replacements?

...

This is why ...

The concept of a "Republican woman" is so alien to me. How can any woman support this:

...

Let me reiterate this: If you were raped and your rapist didn't cut you, shoot you, or otherwise leave marks on your body, then according to Republicans, you were not raped, you only had maybe less-than-enjoyable sex.

When the political party you support marginalizes you (take note, Log Cabin Republicans), it's time to move on. Any group who would force a woman to carry her rapist's child to term should turn every woman's stomach.

Update:

How this shit would work in real life:

...

So if your twelve-year-old is sexually attacked by a neighbor, and her attacker says he'll kill her if she doesn't keep quiet and do what he wants, in Chris Smith's world she wasn't actually raped. And if your twelve-year-old becomes pregnant as a result, and your insurance doesn't cover abortion, and you want to use your flex or HSA money to pay for it, Chris Smith won't let you do that either. Because Chris Smith thinks your daughter is a dirty slut who asked for it.

And this is one of the new GOP Congress' first priorities.

...

Again, I ask Republican/conservative/Tea Bag women; is this what you support? For your daughters? For yourself?

Is this what passes for "family values" nowadays?

Hypocrisy ...

We haz it. The Grumpy Old Man was on TV this weekend, reiterating our support for the Egyptian people and "human rights". Nicole talks about our commitment to ensuring human rights:

...

Yes, let's talk about the importance of human rights when the Egyptians know only too well our killing of hundreds of thousands Iraqi civilians and displacement of a million more; our stealth war in Pakistan, killing wedding parties with drone strikes; our refusal to even count how many Afghan casualties we're responsible for; our blind eye to the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Yemen, etc. Especially since we've been using the repressive aspect of Egypt's government to do our dirty work with rendition and torture, something that is not unknown to the general citizenry. Yup, we're really on the right side of history for this one ...

Yeah, we're all about human rights, as long as they don't stand in the way of our "national interests".

Headline of the Day

California Lawmaker Receives Racist Death Threat Warning ‘Rush Limbaugh Will Kick Your Ch-nk Ass’

Further demonstrating that hate radio has no effect whatsoever on the unhinged.

Walk Like An Egyptian*

*Here.

Mohamed ElBaradei

Then, as protests built in the streets of Egypt following the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, I heard Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s assessment that the government in Egypt is “stable” and “looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people”. I was flabbergasted—and I was puzzled. What did she mean by stable, and at what price? Is it the stability of 29 years of “emergency” laws, a president with imperial power for 30 years, a parliament that is almost a mockery, a judiciary that is not independent? Is that what you call stability? I am sure not. And I am positive that it is not the standard you apply to other countries. What we see in Egypt is pseudo-stability, because real stability only comes with a democratically elected government.

As far as the U.S, is concerned, 'stability' in Egypt is our due, meaning that we've been paying them to be on 'our side' for years, i.e. keep them from causing trouble for Israel.

If you would like to know why the United States does not have credibility in the Middle East, that is precisely the answer. People were absolutely disappointed in the way you reacted to Egypt’s last election. You reaffirmed their belief that you are applying a double standard for your friends, and siding with an authoritarian regime just because you think it represents your interests. We are staring at social disintegration, economic stagnation, political repression, and we do not hear anything from you, the Americans, or for that matter from the Europeans.

Oh, they'll 'hear from us' when this all shakes out. We'll go with the winners, among whom we'll be popular once again as soon as they see the checks still cash. I'm glad this is happening under a Democratic administration. Under the Bush administration we would continue to stand with good ol' boy Mubarak as the legitimate head of Egypt even if he was based in Zurich so he could be near his stash of our money.

Of course, you in the West have been sold the idea that the only options in the Arab world are between authoritarian regimes and Islamic jihadists. That’s obviously bogus. If we are talking about Egypt, there is a whole rainbow variety of people who are secular, liberal, market-oriented, and if you give them a chance they will organize themselves to elect a government that is modern and moderate. They want desperately to catch up with the rest of the world.

When the 'rainbow coalition' is in charge of Egypt, I will gladly make public the video of me doing the Dance Of Joy nekkid in the snow. Won't even have to get cold. I have footage of that in stock. With the 'shrinkage' photoshopped out, of course. Heh.

Big talk, but I won't have to make good on it.

The Tea Party Wags the Dog

Daddy Frank on the Repug responses to the SOTU. Links and a good 'toon.

This time we were spared a “You lie!” But once Obama segued into a rambling laundry list and the “prom night” bipartisan photo ops lost their comic novelty, the night’s storyline inevitably shifted to the reliable diva antics of Michele Bachmann, the founder of the House’s Tea Party Caucus. For all the Republican male establishment’s harrumphing, it couldn’t derail her plan to hijack the party’s designated State of the Union response with one of her own. More Katherine Harris than Sarah Palin, Bachmann is far more riveting television bait than Paul Ryan, the bland congressman officially assigned the Bobby Jindal memorial slot after the New Jersey governor Chris Christie was savvy enough to take a pass.

The G.O.P. grandees’ consternation was palpable. Earlier in the day Bachmann had dispatched an e-mail announcing that her speech would be carried live by Fox News. But when the time came, Fox relegated the live feed to its Web site, forcing viewers to scurry to CNN, of all places, and delaying its own television recap until after prime time in the East. Rupert Murdoch’s other major organ, The Wall Street Journal, toed the same line, burying Bachmann’s speech in a half-sentence in its print edition the next morning. By then, John Boehner, seconding the disdain of Eric Cantor, was telling reporters that he hadn’t watched Bachmann because of “other obligations.”

What were they all afraid of? The answer cuts to the crux of the right’s plight less than three months after its supposed restoration. Having sold itself in 2010 as the uncompromising champion of Tea Party-fueled fiscal austerity, the enhanced G.O.P. caucus arrived in Washington in 2011 to discover that most Americans prefer compromise to confrontation and favor balanced budgets in name only.

Irony ...

Or, "Keep your government hands off my government money":

...

Palin's quirky invocation of the "Spudnut Shop" here in Richland Washington as an example of American "can-doism" is far more ironic than you and most of your readers likely realize.

...

4th Round of the FA Cup this weekend. I might show up later but I never miss a Cup match.

...

The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72, and is the oldest association football competition in the world.[1] Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically win the Cup, although lower division teams rarely reach the final.

...

2 weeks ago, a team from the little town of Stevenage beat Premier League side Newcastle United. Next to the World Cup, in my opinion, this is some of the best football you can watch.

Update:

For those who care: Crawley Town is through to the fifth round. Unfortunately, they drew Manchester United for their next match.