Yeah ...

Far be it for a conservative to pay royalties:

The Silversun Pickups have asked Mitt Romney's campaign to stop using their song "Panic Switch" at events. The band has issued a cease-and-desist order and released a statement Wednesday, roundly denouncing Romney and his campaign.

"We don't like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don't like the Romney campaign," frontman Brian Aubert wrote. "We're nice, approachable people. We won't bite. Unless you're Mitt Romney!"

...

They think they have a right to everything for free. Bastids.

GOP lawmaker steps down from leadership following tax vote

EssEffChron

It appears that California Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert (Riverside County), is the latest victim of the state GOP’s intransigent position on taxes.

Nestande surprised his colleagues Monday when he voted with Democrats to close a corporate tax loophole in order fund scholarships for middle income college students. On Tuesday, he announced that he was stepping down as Republican caucus chairman, saying he “decided to take the side of my constituents and California businesses” with his vote Monday.
...

There was no immediate reaction from his GOP colleagues, though Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles — who authored and championed AB1500 — praised Nestande.

“Assemblymember Nestande has been a thoughtful and dedicated public servant throughout his tenure in the Assembly, and I deeply respect the fact that his votes reflect his principles. He took a stand on behalf of tax fairness for California’s businesses and for providing critical relief to California’s middle class families, and I believe this kind of leadership should be practiced by every member of every party,” Perez said in a written statement.

Good on Assemblyman Nestande, but he's doing the next right thing after that right thing - when a Repug pol develops a conscience and does something for someone besides his corporate masters, it's time to go. No worries though, I doubt this will be a trend.

Mitt Romney vs. dead potted plant

If it's Wednesday it must be Morford on Mitt Revulsion Syndrome (MRS).

It is not very easy to care about Mitt Romney.

It’s a bit of a phenomenon, actually. It has proven almost impossible for most Americans to muster interest in this numbly rich, exceedingly bland caricature of a candidate, a man who is almost completely devoid of deep ideas or astute observation, who stands for nothing and says nothing you can ever remember, whose last ten speeches can be rolled into a fist-sized ball of palliative mush, hurled against a wall and then observed to ooze slowly to the floor, ending in a moist, displeasing plop. Fun!

Hell, it’s easier to care about an oil stain or a rash on your toe than Mitt Romney. Even with the addition of Ayn Rand-loving, anti-choice, fiscal extremist Paul Ryan to the ticket, Romney only looks that much more the unlikable sugar daddy. Ryan does add a disquieting jolt of nasty fanaticism, though. Is it enough?

Here’s the fantastic thing: no one on the Right cares much for Mitt, either. There is no passion to be found anywhere (save for the extremists and Tea Party simpletons who adore Ryan). Even House Republicans are bored to death by him. Heartland Christians really want to care, but Mitt’s creepy Mormonism means they don’t know which way is heaven anymore. Only rich Wall Street barons are happy with Mitt. This is because they built him.

It all bodes very well indeed. When a nation is this apathetic and numb to a particular candidate, when they can’t get away from him fast enough, good things happen for the other side. Even Bush was able to galvanize the uneducated, fundamentalist right. Even McCain could leverage his bogus patriotism and Sarah Palin’s ditzy winking. Romney can’t even galvanize your grandmother in Florida. If anything, she’s furious that Paul Ryan wants to kill Medicare. Or rather, she soon will be, once Obama reminds her, fifty times a day, for the next three months.

So be heartened, liberal America. Milquetoast mannequins who inspire no one – not even their own supporters, not even the Christian right, not even House Republicans – never win major elections. They do make comforting footnotes, though. Do you think I should try some basil plants?

Try a pot plant, Mark. They'll grow anywhere.

So will his 'comments' by morning. There are some doozies already. Heh.

Spice Eyes Ryan

I've been ponderin' if Paul Ryan has "Stepford Eyes" and that's pretty close, but it just dawned on me that I've seen Paul Ryan's eyes before. In Herbert's Dune the Guild Navigators consumed vast quantities of worm shit so they could see into the future. That was fiction and it worked for them. In real life, of course, all the worm shit he could ever possibly hope to consume will not do a damn thing for Ryan but I hope he keeps trying.

Note: I think it's the Koch worms' shit he's using. Accounts for the different eye color from the video. Ryan's are kind of a "See-Into-The-Past-Through-Nothingness Blue".

Thanks to leemailme, Canada.

The Pathetic Glory Of Phony War

Think Progress

NBC’s Stars Earn Stripes, a reality competition show in which “stars” ranging from Todd Palin to Nick Lachey complete challenges theoretically drawn from military missions and raise money for military charities when they win, was always going to attract some raised eyebrows. Whether it was the show’s contribution to the growing Palin family reality empire, the involvement of an apparently severely underly-employed Gen. Wesley Clark, or the late-summer cheesiness of the concept, Stars Earn Stripes is perfectly engineered to win news cycles if not fans. But I don’t think NBC anticipated this latest twist: Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a number of other Nobel Laureates have published an open letter to NBC president Bob Greenblatt (who in between this and Sharon Osbourn’s accusations of discrimination is not having a great start to this season) and other executives involved with the show, calling Stars Earn Stripes an ugly glorification of war.

I don’t entirely agree with Tutu and his esteemed company: Stars Earn Stripes doesn’t make it look exciting or fun to fire on live targets, or to expose yourself to real risk. The show is marked by a patent phoniness, whether it’s the cheerful blue and red plastic targets and paint used to mark competitors’ courses, the hay bales that simulate houses, the command center General Clark hosts from that looks like it was sold off the lot of a canceled science fiction show, and the corny, B-movie explosions. This is a rich man’s paintball course, not an effective tool for convincing people to kill in their country’s service. The signatories are right when they say that “Real war is down in the dirt deadly. People - military and civilians - die in ways that are anything but entertaining.” And the show doesn’t actually make entertainment out of those deaths.

I'm not going to watch this show because I think the concept is utterly disgusting. They can hide behind "support the troops" all they want, it's just another phony "reality" show that's relatively cheap to make that glorifies war. Wanta make it more real? Live return fire and real AP explosions. Let's see what a hero Todd Palin is with his arms and legs and face blown off and his guts hanging out and screaming for his mother like a real wounded soldier. Yeah, right. Can't do that because folks would see what war is really like and they might not support endless needless war any more.

Actually, I think me'n Fixer could make this show a lot more interesting. Fixer could channel these clowns in creative ways with carefully placed explosions from IEDs to Claymores to Bouncing Bettys to Schu mines and funnel 'em into a ditch lined with det cord. Nothing new, I saw it in a movie. Then when they're blown into the air we'll see how long I can keep 'em spinning with rifle fire.

To make it even better, scrap the washed-up showbiz and wannabe-hero types and replace them with Repug "heroes" who support war and who never served. That is must-see TV!

Vulture/Voucher vision harks back to the days of Taft

LATimes

The America Ryan longs for seems more like 1912 than 2012. Certainly, it was a simpler time a century ago. The majority of Americans were white, God-fearing Protestants who lived on farms or in small towns. Only a tiny elite went to college. The rich were very rich while the broad working class earned modest incomes through long days of labor in mines, in factories and in the fields. Women stayed at home. Black Americans were kept in their place. Politicians were in the pockets of the wealthy. Only wild-eyed socialists dreamed of helping the elderly with government-provided pensions and medical care.

Over the last 100 years, the planks of the Socialist Party platform of 1912 -- items like a 40-hour work week, a minimum wage, and precursors to Social Security and Medicare -- became mainstream ideas and pillars of American life. During the liberal era, a huge middle class was created as the American economy became the most vibrant and innovative in the world. The income gap between the rich and everyone else narrowed. A college education became the norm. Most people moved to the cities or suburbs. Women left home and went to work. The U.S. became a more equal, multi-racial society.

The core question before voters in this campaign season is which ethic -- conservative or liberal -- will guide our society in this new century. A lot of the folks supporting the Romney-Ryan ticket are shouting that they want to take their country back, but back to what?

Can a 21stcentury nation thrive with a return to the policies of William Howard Taft?

No, and after we repeat the mistakes and corrections of the last century all over again we can do this all over again a hundred years from now.

One difference: English became the common language of the world due to the failed British Empire and then the failed American Empire. In a hundred years, the discussion will likely be in Chinese.

Headline of the Day

Study casts doubt on human-Neanderthal interbreeding theory

They must not have studied the Tea Party and the rest of the Repug "base".

Oh, the irony...

I usually do this on Monday but Ironic Times was late again.

Farmers Report Worst Corn Crop in 17 Years
Many say they'll switch to poppies.

"High Fructose Opiate Syrup" in food and soda will go over like gangbusters! Also, I get a kick outta the idea of the DEA busting Monsanto. Heh.

Oops: Fox Sports Places Baghdad in Iran
Corrects mistake, but continues to place Honolulu in Kenya.

We could be in big trouble after this year's Repug campaigns:

Buttered Popcorn Linked To Alzheimer’s
Based on interviews with people exiting last three Adam Sandler movies.

Or we will blessedly not remember it...

Olympics End
Americans happily return to inches, feet, yards, miles.

The only thing different from yards to meters is you need to change your rear sight adjustment a click or two.

Off his meds ...

Gotta be. Remember, during the primaries, when Rick Perry got all loopy at a campaign stop? That's what I think the reason for this is. Either that or they're gonna take away his GOP membership card in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

This is very significant. In fact, it's downright historic: The politician sticking his neck out to buck the NRA about states having the right to ban guns is... Rick Perry. This is a real "Nixon goes to China" moment, because a conservative Republican (from rootin', tootin' Texas, no less) carries a lot more weight with NRA supporters. It's a damned shame that neither presidential candidate has, to date, had that kind of political courage, but maybe Perry's statement will open the door to an adult discussion:

...

Either that or the NRA will have him killed.

Dear Haters ...

An excellent open letter at Kos:

...

Now, I know you profess to love our country and the founding fathers (unless you are reminded that they believed in the separation of church and state), but I need to remind you that America is NOT what Fox News says it is. America is a melting pot, it always has been. We are a multi-cultural amalgamation of all kinds of people, and yet you still demonize everyone who is not a rich, white, heterosexual christian male or his submissive and obedient wife.

...

It's un-American to hate as much as the American Right does. It'd be nice if they realized it.

Nyah, nyah, we're better than you are ...

The Mittster acts like a child instead of a statesman:

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney continued his tough talk on China Monday, mocking Beijing's plans to send an unmanned rocket to the moon.

At a campaign speech in the southeastern state of Florida, Romney also boasted about the success of the U.S. Olympic team, which finished with 16 more medals than second-place China.

...

I'm pretty sure that after a Romney presidency, we would be as big an international pariah as North Korea or Iran.

Boehner chews through restraints, jumps shark

Kos

Get this. Boehner responded to Obama's criticism by saying the drought is all Obama's fault. Really.
...

Actually, it ended up sounding so crazy that the statement has been edited to exclude all mention of Obama's amazing powers over the weather. Instead, it blames him for "failing to respond to the drought but himself." And now some poor schlub staffer is now taking Boehner's scotch and soda away from him.

This is why we need grown ups in charge.

Sober ones. Or at least ones who don't say totally off-the-wall lame shit for partisan purposes. Hey, it could happen...

When pigs fly.

The Social Terrorist Vision of Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand: Politics of the Anti-Christ

Jeff Fulmer

Last ¶:

Ayn Rand was much more open and honest about her belief system; publically condemning the notion of ethical altruism, preferring her own “virtue of selfishness.” A self-described atheist, she accepted this was contrary to Christ’s teachings to ‘take care of the least of these.” Her religion was capitalism, and she unabashedly wrote that the individual “should exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others, nor sacrificing others to himself.” Of course, Jesus did not “shrug” off the world like the heroes of Atlas Shrugged. Instead, he became the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life for everyone. That’s a very different message than the one you will find in Ayn Rand’s books or Paul Ryan’s budget.

Most people read Rand when they're about college age. A lot of guys read it when I was in the service. It's an attractive notion before your brain is fully formed. Most people grow out of it.

Ryan has said he's denounced Rand. Probably just the atheist part.

Oh, Rand was a Russian immigrant. Like Orly Taitz and Russian mobsters. I think Russia releases people to us they don't want. Heh.

Florida newspapers: Romney is in big, big trouble

Kos

The Florida papers are destroying Paul Ryan. So much so that a distraught and panicked Village believes "Mitt Romney is in big, big trouble" for selecting the man who wants to pull the plug on Grandma.
...

Rolling out your vice presidential nominee is one of the most crucial aspects of every campaign, and judging from the headlines, Romney has completely blown it.

On the evening news, a visibly shaken Chuck Todd reported the 2012 campaign has not touched on Medicare, but now, all of the sudden, it is front and center, and it will be a big part of voters' decisions in November.

Todd is the quintessential political reporter. He phones around Washington and interviews the establishment players, who are largely Republican and then synthesizes their inside views and reports it as conventional wisdom.

The professionals and insiders view Ryan as box office poison.

Sarah Palin without the wit and charm. Or her one saving grace, a nice rack.

Better yet:

This is the perfect wedge issue. This desperate, panicked move by Romney to quell the teabag base has now placed John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and the House in jeopardy.

It unites our side and divides their candidates. Are they going to stand with Ryan and Rush Limbaugh or will they stand with seniors? Are they with them or are they against them? If you pick seniors, the base stays home. If you pick the base, then seniors poke them with a pitchfork.

The entire Republican party faces, yet again, another Bataan Death March. For the next 90 days they're going to be pummeled by either the base or by seniors. It's a lose-lose situation with Team Obama applying relentless pressure, as they did again today, pushing how Ryan plans to kill Medicare, along with Bubbie and Zayde, on all the Sunday shows.

I like the idea of a Repug "Bataan Death March". We could bayonet one of 'em about every ten feet to keep 'em moving. Moving away from us. Maybe down south and then put up a fence.

Paul Ryan's Family Is Rich Because of the Federal Government

The Rude Pundit

In other words, you know how Barack Obama talked about how your business didn't build the roads that allow you to do business? Well, if you are in the Midwest, chances are that Paul Ryan's family did build some of the roads. And they got to be amazingly successful because the federal government gave them six decades of contracts and millions upon millions of dollars to build them.

Are we clear here? We're talking about Paul Ryan, who, with his wife, is worth as much as $7.7 million and "much of the Ryans’ wealth is in the form of trusts and inheritances." For Rep. Ryan, those trusts and inheritances are a result of money that the federal government spent on infrastructure.
...

So, just to get this right, Paul Ryan and his family are beneficiaries of expanded government spending to improve infrastructure. They continue to benefit from government contracts, including state and local ones. That's Paul Ryan, whose budget would inevitably gut most infrastructure spending and who, with Mitt Romney, wants to shrink federal spending to the point where, if the federal government had felt that way throughout a good chunk of the 20th century, his family would not have made a dime and, well, then we would have never heard about Paul Ryan.

That's the depth of hypocrisy in play here.

Government doesn't create jobs. Yeah, right. If there was only some way to get rich on taxpayer money without hiring anyone, that'd be so. Oh, wait, Wall St.'s got that M.O. locked up.

The whole point of "privatization" is to get the tax money direct from us without having to filter it through that pesky federal government with all those laws and regulations that try to protect us.

"...like a condom or a wad of toilet paper"

William Rivers Pitt

The decision to add Paul Ryan to the Republican presidential campaign has, once and for all time, exposed the limp, rudderless vacancy that is the core essence of Willard Mitt Romney. [...]
...

What Romney has now in his running mate is not just a Times Square-sized billboard advertising his fealty to the wildly unpopular social and economic policies of the Tea Party right. Paul Ryan is also a watchdog serving that far-right, a guy in the co-pilot's seat who isn't going to let Pudd'nhead Mitt soil Ryan's conservative credentials with any of the undignified waffling we've seen on a regular basis from the presumed GOP nominee since he first stuck his tepid toe in the political waters back when everyone thought Clinton would be a one-termer, too. These people do not like Romney at all; he is a means to an end for them, like a condom or a wad of toilet paper. They own him now, period, end of file.

Much more.

No surprise ...

At least, I'm not surprised. Five maps showing a pattern of intolerance for just about everything.

I'd say he's eminently qualified ...

Uh huh. So even though Paul Ryan was against a casino project, a large contribution made him amenable enough to the deal that he called the Department of Indian Affairs and told them his constituents were in favor. And when the man who made the contribution was indicted, Ryan quickly announced he would donate the money to the local boys and girls club.

...

As the Mittster's VP pick, Ol' Dead Eyes is perfect. There's nothing he won't do if the price is right.

Bill Maher Thanks Teabaggers and Sarah Palin

This clip is from March 2010, so it's before the "hillbilly half" of the nation took over Congress and several states. Funnier'n shit anyway and I agree with his thoughts on Democrats should grow a pair. Posted today at Liberal Info with Samuel. Thanks, Sam.

Maher noted that Democrats should adopt a tougher attitude in their dealing with Republicans:

“Shut the fuck up while I slap your face for making noise — now pass a cap-and-trade law, you stupid bitch, and repeat after me: ‘global warming is real!’”

You can watch the clip below, followed by the transcript.

Quote of the Day

From an article you should read by Paul Begala:

And so Romney Hood has his Friar Tuck. And somewhere in hell, Ayn Rand is cackling with glee.

Indeed! "Selfishness as virtue" and "I've got mine and fuck you" are now running for president.