Congrats ...

I've been a fan of the Beeb since I first went to Europe 45 years ago. I know, wherever I go in the world, I can catch up with what's going on thanks to them. Happy 80th to the BBC World Service:

The BBC World Service - which marks its 80th birthday on Wednesday - was broadcast only on shortwave back in 1932. Today, audiences on FM, digital radio and the internet are growing fast while shortwave is in decline, but for millions it remains a lifeline.

...

Awww ...

No "navy on wheels":

CODY, Wyoming (Reuters) – In a sign of rising consumer confidence prevailing over go-it-alone pessimism in the Cowboy State, Wyoming lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly defeated a “doomsday bill” to help the state prepare for a total collapse of the U.S. government and economy.

The bill, rejected on a 30-27 vote by the state House of Representatives, would have allocated $16,000 for a panel of legislators and emergency managers to study various measures, including a new state-issued currency, for handling a range of apocalyptic scenarios.

...

I was sorta hoping they would come up with some serious crazy once the bill was passed, and I certainly couldn't wait to see how they would flood half the state so they could build a navy.

Dear Wyoming,

You already have a security force in case of disaster. It's called the National Guard, you twats.

Regards,

Fixer

The Central Scrutinzer ...

A commentary on what the Republicans plan for us. If you read the liner notes for Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage album, you'll find he predicted our current state of affairs quite well. If the GOP and the 'baggers get their way, there will be a "Central Scrutinizer" soon enough. Throughout his life, the people who worried Zappa the most were those like the Frothy Mixture, who think their god is the only god and all of us should live our lives according to his dictates.

"We take you now, to a garage in Canoga Park ..."

The end ...

Of the Frothy Mixture? The farther 'out there' he gets, the closer he gets to handing the nom to the Mittster:

...

That process reached its peak when he told a tea party crowd outside Detroit that President Obama wants to send more kids to college so he could turn them into liberals. The comment went viral, and likely did not do Santorum many favors outside the ultra-conservative base.

The social issues fight has left Santorum severely wounded when it comes to courting independents and moderate Republicans. None of the views he espoused in the run-up to Michigan were new, but they were resurfaced all at once, taking his campaign’s blue collar economic message off track. Now, no matter what Santorum says, he’s the social issue guy.

Then there were Santorum’s on-the-ground tactics. He didn’t have much time to assemble a campaign here, and was notoriously understaffed throughout. Still, his message resonated and polls showed things were very close heading into Tuesday’s vote. Then Santorum decided to pull out all the stops, firing up a robocall effort that appeared to piggyback off the existing progressive effort to get Democrats to crossover and vote for Santorum as a means to hurt Romney.

Though it may have seemed like smart politics, the optics proved hard to swallow even for his supporters.

...

Too bad. All of the entertaining ones have shot themselves in the foot. When even the crazy people think you're too crazy, you got problems. It would be nice if Mitt had a little of that. Ineptitude ain't as entertaining as bug house loony.

Quote of the Day

President Obama:

...

In a boisterous, excited tone, President Obama continued, criticizing Republicans who said “the workers made out like bandits in all of this; that saving the American auto industry was just about paying back unions. Really? I mean, even by the standards of this town, that’s a load of you-know-what.”

...

When Rick Santorum Was a Snob

A college perfesser his own self, Dr. Rude-O lays into some frothy mixture:

The proper response to former Senator Rick Santorum calling Barack Obama "a snob" over the President's desire for every American to get further education (although Santorum seemed to think Obama just wanted everyone to get cultural studies degrees from Ivy League universities or, perhaps, as safety schools, small liberal arts colleges) is, truly, "Why aren't your hands filthy from work, Mr. Coal Miner's Grandson? And who the fuck are you to say what's elitist, Mr. BA/MBA/JD?" (Please note that Santorum has more degrees than Obama. Please also note that it did not turn Santorum into a progressive drone.)

What galled Santorum is the idea that "everyone" should go to college, which is not what Obama said, but, hey, "facts" never get in the way of a good applause line to the yahoos.

The Rude Pundit's gonna pull rank again here. He's a professor at a college where most of the students come from working and lower-middle-class backgrounds. He's been there at graduation and met their parents who never had the chance to get an education beyond high school. They don't ask if what their kids learned was liberal or conservative. They were just glad that, now, all those jobs out there that have a college degree as a minimum requirement were open to their kids. They were just glad that they learned something about the world.

Rick Santorum actually is guilty of the rankest kind of elitism: the kind that says you shouldn't aspire to something more than what you were born into. But, then again, his economic policies pretty much assure that some people, like, you know, the Santorums, stay on top while everyone else takes jobs fixing his cars or plumbing.

One other thing: a motherfucker who says believes that the government of the nation should be following the morality of a certain church really has no business talking about who is indoctrinating whom.

Damn, I hope FM's the nominee! Too bad he won't be.

By the way, Obama's right - 4-year colleges aren't for everybody. I tried it. Twice. It sucked. I spent the better part of forty years doing something I love - being around motorcycles 24/7 - due to a fine vocational education at L.A. Trade-Tech's College Of Motersickle Knowledge. Made a lot of good friends and met Mrs. G while I was there. You could say it gave my life a holeshot down the path I chose.

The beers are on Merkel

Via TPM.



Notice how Ms. Merkel does not seem to notice. Methinks 'twas not her first brauski of the day. Knowing how Germans enjoy their beer, the first of the day was probably the one she brushed her teeth with.

In Santorum's Germany, God forbid, the waiter would be charged with "spilling his seed". Heh.

Chastity Belt Manufacturers’ Association Endorses Rick Santorum

The New York Crank

Washington, D.C.: The American Association of Chastity Belt Manufacturers today endorsed former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum in his campaign to become Republican nominee for the Presidency of the United States.
...

In recent years they had become discouraged until Santorum announced his candidacy. The manufacturers believe Santorum is the candidate most likely to institute government programs mandating the use of chastity belts on women until they are wed, and in some cases well after marriage if their husbands choose.
...

Encouraged by the medieval revivalist atmosphere enveloping Santorum, a few of the chastity belt manufacturers have also begun developing branded new products. Among them are stainless steel witch-dunking stools and fireproof stakes, which can be re-used many times for burning heretics, according to the manufacturer.

"These are the finest new anti-witch devices in eight hundred years," said LaPoubel.

And that, folks, is Conservative "progress". Go read about the new I-belt® smart phone app!

2012 or Never

Never's fine. Jonathan Chait in NY Mag. A 'must read'.

Republicans are worried this election could be their last chance to stop history. This is fear talking. But not paranoia.

The Republican Party is in the grips of many fever dreams. But this is not one of them. To be sure, the apocalyptic ideological analysis — that “freedom” is incompatible with Clinton-era tax rates and Massachusetts-style health care — is pure crazy. But the panicked strategic analysis, and the sense of urgency it gives rise to, is actually quite sound. The modern GOP—the party of Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes—is staring down its own demographic extinction. Right-wing warnings of impending tyranny express, in hyperbolic form, well-grounded dread: that conservative America will soon come to be dominated, in a semi-permanent fashion, by an ascendant Democratic coalition hostile to its outlook and interests. And this impending doom has colored the party’s frantic, fearful response to the Obama presidency.

The GOP has reason to be scared. [...]

4 pages later, the last sentence:

[...] The deepest effect of Obama’s election upon the Republicans’ psyche has been to make them truly fear, for the first time since before Ronald Reagan, that the future is against them.

Kinda makes me wonder if the dinosaurs saw their end coming after the meteor hit.

It's time ...

To retire the Costa Crociere brand.

A cruise ship owned by the same company that operated the ill-fated Costa Concordia has been rescued by a French fishing vessel.

The Costa Allegra is now being towed to the Seychelles.

The ship had been drifting without power since Monday when a fire knocked out its generators.

...

Carnival Cruises (Costa's parent company) share price has fallen considerably since Concordia ran aground and this certainly can't help. At this point, you wouldn't get me aboard a Costa ship and I'm not the only one.

Yes ...

Let's build a navy. Landlocked? Why should that matter?

Sometimes when you start with a good idea it can grow and get wildly out of control. Consider the efforts of Wyoming to set guidelines in the event of the total economic and political collapse of the United States. Being infested with Republicans and Teabaggers, it must seem like a real possibility to the people of the Cowboy State.

...

"Balls, luck, and talent"

There was some racing this past weekend in my neck of the woods too! This is Big Business around here. A little pleasant diversion. Enjoy.

The 2012 Rahlves Banzai continues to deliver and the Feb 24th Banzai at Alpine Meadows did not disappoint, with high-speed, hair-raising action. Tahoe TV was there and caught this...

Thanks to TahoeTV.

Ghastly Old Party

Good read by MoDo.

He said his party is “coming to grips with a weaker field than we’d all want” and going through the five stages of grief. “We’re at No. 4,” he said. (Depression.) “We’ve still got one to go.” (Acceptance.)

The contenders in the Hester Prynne primaries are tripping over one another trying to be the most radical, unreasonable and insane candidate they can be. They pounce on any traces of sanity in the other candidates — be it humanity toward women, compassion toward immigrants or the willingness to make the rich pay a nickel more in taxes — and try to destroy them with it.

President Obama has deranged conservatives just as W. deranged liberals. The right’s image of Obama, though, is more a figment of its imagination than the left’s image of W. was.

We knew that...

The Republicans, with their crazed Reagan fixation, are a last-gasp party, living posthumously, fighting battles on sex, race, immigration and public education long ago won by the other side.

They’re trying to roll back the clock, but time is passing them by.

Faster, time, faster!

Brain Dead at Daytona

Maddowblog

The Democratic National Committee is suggesting that Mitt Romney made another out of touch remark this morning during a tour at the Daytona 500 in which Romney said that while he does not "closely" follow racing he does "have great some friends who are NASCAR team owners."

Update: In case it seemed as if Romney's NASCAR visit wasn't awkward enough, this was pretty remarkable, too: "[T]he crowd initially booed Mr. Romney, who occasionally struck a discordant note, as when he approached a group of fans wearing plastic ponchos. 'I like those fancy raincoats you bought,' he said. 'Really sprung for the big bucks.'"

What a dork, I hope he goes back to Daytona for Bike Week. Let's see how he does with tits and tattoos. Heh.

Bottom Of The Barrel

And beyond.

Thanks to oldfartrants and a tip o' the Brain to deuddersun who may be one and the same.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

After Messy Primaries, Republicans Consider Changing Nominating Process
Nominee would be selected by handful of nation's wealthiest men, behind closed doors, smoking cigars.

GM Now Sells More Cars in China Than in U.S.
As Mao said, “Let a thousand Buicks bloom.”

Seven in Ten Americans Believe Devil is Real
Evenly split on whether he's Democrat or Republican.

Not around here...

Quote of the Day

Mr. Philadelphia:

Decades later, it's amazing how the effectiveness of the strategy, in the US and abroad, of demonizing the poor for getting a few extra bucks per week, while rich assholes take all the money, persists.

Daytona Rained Out

This is more fun than watching all those stinky race cars anyway. Straight from Dom Rep TV.

Yasmina La Reina De La Bachata ~ De Amor No Muere Nadie

Thanks to CongueritoRD.

Daytona Update

Rain delay. With the last minute addition of some frothy mixture it's gonna be a slippery track.

Here's the 26 Ford Fusion driven by Tony Raines:



Article here.

Mr. Raines got the sponsorship at the last minute and qualified 41st in a field of 42. Santorum has about the same chance of being President as Mr. Raines does of winning the Daytona 500. I hope the 42nd car is sponsored by Ron Paul or Neutie. Heh.

A win for the Santorum car – or even a good run – would out-do his Republican rival Mitt Romney, who is expected to attend the race but likely won't be part of the pre-race ceremonies.

Rumor (ahem) has it that Willard pulled out of a Daytona 500 sponsorship at the last minute when he accidentally discovered the car was a Toyota.

Update Update:

I couldn't resist posting this most excellent photo. I think Willard's brain-dead in terms of situational awareness. The photog or interviewer who walked him into that shot is an evil genius. I hope he's on our side. Heh.

Santorum Makes Campaign Swing Through Seventeenth Century

Andy Borowitz used to be a humorist. It appears he's a straight journalist these days.

At the first stop of his ambitious journey, Mr. Santorum restated his reason for seeking the White House: "I am running for President today because the position of Spanish Inquisitor is no longer available."

The former Pennsylvania Senator served up red meat to his seventeenth-century supporters, telling them, "Since we all agree that contraception is a bad idea, it's time to take a harder look at electricity and soap."

Mr. Santorum, who said that in his first day in office he would repeal the Age of Enlightenment, stressed that he had home-schooled all seven of his children: "That means there are at least eight people in this country who don't understand evolution."

In a lighter moment, Sen. Santorum told his audience what he said was his favorite joke: "A Kenyan, a Muslim and a socialist walk into a bar. And then he makes everyone get an abortion."