The facts are painfully apparent. Though hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people in D.C. are professionally paid to pretend these facts require debate and analysis and parsing and speculation and press releases and pithy Tweets and Sunday Show roundtables and C-SPAN symposia and to-camera cable-TV rants and lengthy thousand-page books, they don't require any of that. The facts are simple. The facts are obvious. The facts are undeniable to anyone not paid fistfulls of sweaty money to lie or sensationalize:
1. The Democratic Party shit on its base with its policies, as noted above.
2. This demoralized the Democratic base, which responded by not turning out to vote. As CBS News notes, "Hispanics, African Americans, union members and young people were among the many core Democratic groups that turned out in large numbers in the 2008 elections (but) turnout among these groups dropped off substantially, even below their previous midterm levels."
3. In cause-and-effect style, the result of all this was, as the Washington Post reports, a freshman congressional class that is primarily made up of angry, white, lunatic-conservative assholes.
So yes, all of you who are wasting all of our time pretending this isn't the basic point-A-to-point-B story of the election -- and there are a lot of you out there -- please, if not for me, then for everyone else: Go fuck yourself.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Thank You, Dick Cheney, For Giving Me the Proper Words
From a good rant at the Dems by David Sirota:
False Equivalence
Good post by BruinKid at Kos:
BruinKid makes some good points too;
Then we'd be them. Shudder...
Bill Maher blasts false equivalencies in amazing New Rule
And finally, New Rule, if you're going to have a rally where hundreds of thousands of people show up, you might as well go ahead and make it about something. With all due respect to my friends Jon and Stephen, it seems to me that if you truly wanted to come down on the side of restoring sanity and reason, you'd side with the sane and the reasonable, and not try to pretend that the insanity is equally distributed in both parties.
Keith Olbermann is right, when he says he's not the equivalent of Glenn Beck. One reports facts, the other one is very close to playing with his poop.
Now, getting over 200,000 people to come to a liberal rally is a great achievement, and gave me hope. And what I really loved about it was that it was twice the size of the Glenn Beck crowd on the Mall in August! Although it weighed the same.
BruinKid makes some good points too;
We all get things wrong sometimes. I don't agree with Jon or Stephen or Bill or anyone else 100% of the time. And we shouldn't. If we did, we're nothing more than sycophants or robots, dutifully repeating what we're told.
Then we'd be them. Shudder...
Friday, November 5, 2010
Griftopia
Tristero on Matt Taibbi's book:
It's always been about the money. And power. Progressive ideals will always lose to those willing to do anything to achieve money and power until we realize that kumbaya is sometimes best delivered as a tattoo on our knuckles.
Don't try to get along with bullies. Convince 'em to get along with you. People sometimes act better after you deck 'em. If they don't, deck 'em again until they do. Ganging up on big bullies is plenty OK.
Taibbi’s attitude towards the political landscape of America in the Third Millenium is, in some ways, similar to Thomas Frank’s, that there’s a bait and switch being pulled, that the real action is not the social issues - it never is - but rather the money. The looting of America by the Biggest, Ballsiest Crooks Ever is the only genuinely important story. For Taibbi, the teabaggers’ racism, sexism, xenophobia, libertarianism, and other extremisms seem to serve much the same function as geologists see for trees and grass: sure, it's striking sometimes, but ultimately, it's merely hair that covers the bald truth about the world. I’m not sure I entirely agree - but damn, when you read Matt describe what’s really been going on, without any sugar coating or euphemisms, and with that throat-slittingly sharp style... damn if Taibbi doesn't have a point:
It's always been about the money. And power. Progressive ideals will always lose to those willing to do anything to achieve money and power until we realize that kumbaya is sometimes best delivered as a tattoo on our knuckles.
Don't try to get along with bullies. Convince 'em to get along with you. People sometimes act better after you deck 'em. If they don't, deck 'em again until they do. Ganging up on big bullies is plenty OK.
Keith Olbermann Suspended From MSNBC Indefinitely
Mediaite
Oops...
Blowback to the political donation is immediate, and shocking.
Statement from Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:
I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.
More coming, obviously.
Oops...
The Macaca Awards
Mock, Paper, Scissors
Didn't wanta spoil it for ya. Go see. More. Don't step in the macaca...
We honor all that is appalling in American Politics with the First Semi-Regular MACACA AWARDS.
The first Macaca of the evening is for OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN GRIFTING, and the nominees are:
* Sarah Palin (Mooselini)
* Joe Miller (The Moose-Savant)
* Christine O’Donnell (The Human with the Fully-Functioning Mouse Brain)
Presenting the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Grifting is…
...
…and the Macaca goes to:
Didn't wanta spoil it for ya. Go see. More. Don't step in the macaca...
A Reminder
Excerpts from a speech by my first President, who passed away shortly after I arrived in the womb and hopefully not because of it.
From The Four Freedoms via American Rhetoric:
From The Four Freedoms via American Rhetoric:
The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:
Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory.
The Focus Hocus Pocus
Paul Krugman on Obama's approach to the economy:
Focus Hocus Pocus? More like Moke-y Hokey Pokey. Time ta turn yerself around, brah. We'll see if he's got it in him.
Of course, there’s a subtext to the whole line that health reform was a mistake: namely, that Democrats should stop acting like Democrats and go back to being Republicans-lite. Parse what people like Mr. Bayh are saying, and it amounts to demanding that Mr. Obama spend the next two years cringing and admitting that conservatives were right.
There is an alternative: Mr. Obama can take a stand.
Focus Hocus Pocus? More like Moke-y Hokey Pokey. Time ta turn yerself around, brah. We'll see if he's got it in him.
Friday Monster Blogging ...
The Dingo Sisters behaving because they're half (or completely) asleep.
Da Chooch (l) and Ziva
Dust Howie off ...
And give that idiot Tim Kaine a kick in the ass on his way to the door. Oly Mike:
We had a Dem majority for two years thanks, in large part, to Howard Dean. It's time to bring him back into the fold and let him loose on the Republicans.
...
Now that Rahm and his cohort have run the dem party back in to the ditch, maybe it's time for the dems to apologize and ask Howard if he can do it again. I would understand if Howard told the Obama/Clintonistas to shove it, but it's not his style. He is a true liberal, a progressive committed to public policy that would help the vast majority of [A]mericans and would shrink the gap between the have-mores and the have-nots.
...
We had a Dem majority for two years thanks, in large part, to Howard Dean. It's time to bring him back into the fold and let him loose on the Republicans.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Reference material ...
Since we're gonna have to put up with Boner Boehner and the Rethug House for the next 2 years, our pal Montag has found a study guide for us to use.
It's not 1994 again
Doyle McManus
Might as well have some fun while we're goin' down the shitter. Spark up a fattie and pass the popcorn.
Democrats are apt to prettify recollections of the aftermath of the Republican takeover of the House in 1994. But Obama isn't showing signs of being Clinton, and Boehner's no self-destructing Gingrich.
Obama will also have to find a way to work with Boehner, who is no Gingrich. He's not as brilliant, but he's not nearly as accident-prone either. Gingrich was a messianic insurgent who believed his ideas would conquer the nation; Boehner is a Chamber of Commerce conservative who believes in raising money, counting votes and staying doggedly on message.
That makes him more dangerous to Obama than Gingrich was to Clinton, because he's less likely to self-destruct. Boehner has already said that he's studied the lessons of the Gingrich era; he says he won't even threaten to shut down the federal government in next year's budget battle, let alone actually do it. His message on Wednesday was bland and, except for a promise to try to repeal the healthcare law, almost content-free. "The new majority here in Congress will be the voice of the American people," he said. "This is a time for us to roll up our sleeves and go to work on the people's priorities: creating jobs, cutting spending and reforming the way Congress does its business."
The biggest problem facing Boehner and his Senate colleague, Mitch McConnell, is a potential civil war in their caucuses once newly empowered tea party candidates arrive to begin purifying Gomorrah-on-the-Potomac. The insurgents' floor leader, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, issued their first orders Wednesday in a fiery column in the Wall Street Journal. "Tea party Republicans were elected to go to Washington and save the country, not be co-opted by the club," DeMint wrote. "So put on your boxing gloves."
The only real fun Democrats can look forward to in the next few months is the battle between DeMint and his followers and the old-line GOP leadership. But don't bet against Boehner. He may not have charisma, but he knows how to manage a caucus.
Might as well have some fun while we're goin' down the shitter. Spark up a fattie and pass the popcorn.
CA AG still too close to call
LATimes
Something to consider is that L.A. is heavily Latino and Afro-American and so is the population of our prison system. People are unlikely to vote for the prosecutor that locked up a family member.
I don't like prosecutors very much and wouldn't vote for one for dogcatcher, but that's what we had for candidates and I just want a symbolic clean sweep for Dems, so GO Kamala!
Three hours after the election polls closed, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley strode onto a stage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and gave supporters of his campaign for state attorney general some news to cheer.
"Although my … close advisors think it's a little too early, I'm declaring victory," he said to a roaring crowd.
Early voting tallies showed Cooley with a comfortable lead. But within hours, his advantage had evaporated.
Cooley was widely seen as an early favorite in the race thanks to a history of electoral success in Los Angeles County, where he became the first district attorney in more than 70 years to win three terms.
But in Los Angeles County, Harris led Cooley by more than 14 percentage points. The county has nearly 400,000 uncounted ballots.
Something to consider is that L.A. is heavily Latino and Afro-American and so is the population of our prison system. People are unlikely to vote for the prosecutor that locked up a family member.
"Cooley had everything going for him except for one thing: He had Republican under his name," said Allan Hoffenblum, a former GOP consultant who publishes the nonpartisan California Target Book, which analyzes political races.
Democrats swept to comfortable victories in every other statewide office. And Cooley fared better than the rest of the GOP ticket, notching up more votes than gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina or any other Republican candidate.
In Los Angeles County, each of the other Democratic candidates for statewide office swept aside their Republican rivals by 28 percentage points or more — double Harris' lead over Cooley.
I don't like prosecutors very much and wouldn't vote for one for dogcatcher, but that's what we had for candidates and I just want a symbolic clean sweep for Dems, so GO Kamala!
Canada Reports Huge Jump in Immigration
OTTAWA (The Borowitz Report) - Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since late Tuesday night.
“My only theory is that after the 2010 winter Olympics, the sport of curling is finally starting to catch on,” he said.
In other news, responding to last night’s election returns, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters, “I’m so stoked I just turned the tanning bed up to eleven.”
But former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin struck a more somber note, saying that despite several key victories, “it was a tough night for Tea Party voters because it involved so much math.
Headline of the Day
Obama-Claus steals Christmas in Tea Party children’s book
They liked to get 'em early in the Hitler Youth too. Maybe the Russians'll have to come in and deal with 'em like they did last time in Berlin.
The Hangover
Digby (actual picture of Digby. Be still, my heart!) Damn good read:
Harrumph! Speaking as an 'elderly', I resemble that remark! Ya ain't no spring chicken yerself, kiddo...
Still, she's right: the Repugs bamboozled the shit outta people with lies and made-up shit. Give the devil his due.
We've got two years for the Repugs to tear themselves to shreds while they try to fuck us over. That's something.
The right understood they'd lost the youth vote, the ethnic and racial minority vote and usually the female vote. The only demographic vote they had going for them was the elderly. And they've done a masterful job of making seniors feel like they're doing something for their grand kids by denying them health care and ensuring that there will be no safety net for them when they get old. You have to give them credit for that.
Harrumph! Speaking as an 'elderly', I resemble that remark! Ya ain't no spring chicken yerself, kiddo...
Still, she's right: the Repugs bamboozled the shit outta people with lies and made-up shit. Give the devil his due.
Keep the faith. And anyway, what choice do we have?
Update: Oh, and when they try to blame the bloggers or the liberals, just throw this in their face:
Only 47% of the members of the Democratic “Blue Dog Coalition” won re-election. 95% of the members of the “Progressive Caucus” won re-election. We're divided, but not that way.
And just in case the media hasn't noticed, the Democrats still control one house of congress and the presidency.
We've got two years for the Repugs to tear themselves to shreds while they try to fuck us over. That's something.
"Now, here's my plan..."
I wish I could string words together like El Rude-o in this 'must read':
The overwhelming feeling that the Rude Pundit has this morning is utter disgust with a vast number of the people of his nation, this America, for they have demonstrated, once again, that they are selfish, vain, cruel buffoons who are scared by the wrong things and have decided that the best way to handle it is to say, "Fuck it," build isolated bunkers all over the nation, and tell everyone else to leave them the fuck alone. For what is the end result of the vaguely-conceived ideology that was affirmed last night? It is that each of us should have the right to squat in our shitpiles of ignorance, isolated from one another, coveting our precious money, fellating our guns and fucking ourselves against our 50-inch LED screens in our multi-mortgaged, soon-to-be foreclosed on hovels, and if the world outside our caves goes to hell, well, that's because people don't understand how wonderful it is to engorge your faces with poisoned food and asthmatically heave your chest through polluted air and travel on shattered roads and bridges while picking your unmedicated scabs in order to get to work at Wal-Mart for shit wages but at least there's a wall that keeps the Mexicans and the gays out because that's what pissy God and the screaming ghost of Samuel Adams would fucking want for us. Their ultimate goal is to dismantle society itself in favor of Darwinian anarchy. Thomas Hobbes in action, motherfuckers, the animalistic Yahoos gutting the evolved Houyhnhnms.
We are heading for a dark, dark period. The Congress isn't going to get shit done as now everything will have to be approved by DeMint and Paul, even if the Senate is still in Democratic hands, or Harry Reid won't let the crazy shit passed in the House even come to a vote. There's going to be investigations of every bit of grime that Andrew Breitbart and Fox "news" can scrape from under the fingernails of even the lowliest members of the Obama administration. Impeachment will be on the table. Mike Pence, Darrell Issa, and Michele Bachmann will not be humble and cooperative with victory. They will be mad and drunk and ready for vengeance on the man who did nothing more than try to enact the will of the people who elected him by doing some of the very things he said he would do.
We the people abandoned Barack Obama yesterday. Hate what you will about him and about how he approached governing. The awful frustration of watching him compromise with a majority will seem like a happy vacation compared to what's coming. No, too many people who supported him in 2008 voted against him through their congressional races this year. And it was for the promise of a couple of extra bucks in their shrinking pay checks each week. Hope dies cheaply in this dirty, dead century.
Tomorrow: Enough despair. Let's make a plan, motherfuckers.
Thanks to Shel Silverstein who was way ahead of his time.
Quote of the Day
Last ¶ of a piece by Joe Conason:
It's like buying ammo for someone who is shooting at you. Yeesh.
The voters have told us that they're mad as hell and won't take it anymore. But their madness has ironically guaranteed that they will get more of exactly what they profess to despise.
It's like buying ammo for someone who is shooting at you. Yeesh.
No one but ourselves to blame ...
If you didn't vote (only 45% of us did), you can blame yourselves for the next two years. If you thought the Bush Years were bad, wait until these wackos get sworn in:
And like the people on the government dole who bitch the loudest about said government, the apathetic will complain the loudest when more of their money is given to the rich or just downright wasted by the Republicans.
Glad I lived part of my life when it was a good time to be an American. I won't see those days again.
...
The citizens of this country have been anything but united since 9/11 and the SCOTUS's decision only proves that even 45% of our citizens united with the common desire to vote is no match for a handful of corporations and their political arm in the Chamber of Commerce.
You have only yourselves to blame and I have nothing but withering contempt for every single last one of you.
...
And like the people on the government dole who bitch the loudest about said government, the apathetic will complain the loudest when more of their money is given to the rich or just downright wasted by the Republicans.
...
The same party that started needless and illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to no appreciable benefit to either of our three countries and eventually cost us trillions bloating the military-industrial complex, the party that wanted to deport over 11,000,000 hard-working brown people, wanted to spy on you without FISA court warrants, that strive to make our children more ignorant in schools, to make abortion illegal even in cases of incest or rape, the same party that is bound and determined to remove the very last sinew of regulation on any industry even as they're polluting our ecosystem and killing us. The same party that demonized African Americans after Katrina, wounded veterans when their neglect was revealed and the newly unemployed and homeless when they understandably looked to our government for help.
...
Glad I lived part of my life when it was a good time to be an American. I won't see those days again.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The best thing ...
About the elections being over; no more robocalls and no more ads and no more commercials. Yay!!!!!
Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence
Brrrrr....
I just read my county's election results. Thank God there are 57 other counties, maybe a dozen of which have good sense.
I live in the blue end of an exceedingly red county, almost literally like the county was sitting on its ass in the snow.
I live in the blue end of an exceedingly red county, almost literally like the county was sitting on its ass in the snow.
Letter to a whiny young Democrat
[A big welcome to Crooks and Liars readers. Thanks, Michael! - F]
If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford with a 'must read':
The same kinda thing happened in the '60s too. A lot of youngsters, full o' piss and vinegar, took on the older generation and thought they were going to change the way the world worked.
They did, too. For about ten seconds. And then a shiny nickel rolled by and it was over. The pissed-off old white people gave us Nixon and started our downhill slide.
Not all the youngsters in those days were liberal activists, of course, but boy were the ones who were loud!. Today's youngsters do not have the draft and Vietnam to look forward to, and while a lot of them are liberal, they'll never have to go to war for capitalism and big oil and thus have no skin in the game. They helped elect Obama and Dems. And then a shiny nickel rolled by...
A lot of us didn't change much from back then, but the others are having their turn now and are today's pissed-off old white teabaggers, and boy are they loud!
And the downhill slide continues.
If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford with a 'must read':
Oh, now you've done it.
Check it out, kiddo: This is not just any Republican party you allowed back into power; these mealy folks are not anything like the war-hungry, Bush-tainted army of flying monkeys and Dick Cheney moose knuckles you so wonderfully helped bury in the history books last election.
No, the GOP of 2010-2011 is even weirder, dumber, less interested in anything you even remotely care about; this GOP is infused like a sour cocktail with a bitter splash of the most cartoonish, climate change-denying Tea Party dingbats imaginable -- most of whom think you're an elitist, terrorist-loving, gay-supporting threat to "real" American values, btw -- all led by a guy named Boehner who wears a bizarre, shellacked tan so fake and creepy it makes Nancy Pelosi looks like a supermodel.
And you made it all happen. Or rather, you failed to prevent it from happening, by not voting, by turning your collective back on Obama's tough love, by getting all whiny and dejected like some sort of sullen teen vampire who can't get laid.
Look, I'm sorry. I know I'm being far too hard on you. Of course it's not just you. It's not completely your fault these dimwit Repubs were allowed to ooze back into a bit of power so soon. As many analysts have pointed out, this wasn't a vote for the Republicans, but against the limp-wristed Dems who didn't step up and lead with more authority and clarity of purpose. Truly, libs and independents of every age are frustrated Obama isn't governing with the same kind of magical, balls-out visionary zeal that fueled his campaign.
And let's not forget a shockingly unintelligent Tea Party movement that stands for exactly nothing and fears exactly everything, all ghost-funded by a couple of creepy libertarian oil billionaires -- the leathery old Koch brothers -- who eat their young for a snack. Who could've predicted that gnarled political contraption would hold water? But hey, when Americans are angry and nervous, they do stupid things. Like vote Republican. It happens. Just did.
So here's what you need to know, right now: Barack Obama is, and will continue to be, a bit of goddamn miracle. He's simply as good as we're going get for an articulate, thoughtful, integrity-rich Democratic prez in your lifetime. Period. To hamstring his administration out of spite and laziness is childish and sad. Check the accomplishments. Understand the process. Deal with the messiness.
It will never be perfect. It will never be giddy liberal nirvana, because it doesn't work that way. Politics is corrosive and infuriating, de facto and by definition, even with someone as thoughtful as Obama in the Big Chair. Understand it. Deal with it. Get back in the game. If you don't, we all lose.
Your choice, kiddo.
The same kinda thing happened in the '60s too. A lot of youngsters, full o' piss and vinegar, took on the older generation and thought they were going to change the way the world worked.
They did, too. For about ten seconds. And then a shiny nickel rolled by and it was over. The pissed-off old white people gave us Nixon and started our downhill slide.
Not all the youngsters in those days were liberal activists, of course, but boy were the ones who were loud!. Today's youngsters do not have the draft and Vietnam to look forward to, and while a lot of them are liberal, they'll never have to go to war for capitalism and big oil and thus have no skin in the game. They helped elect Obama and Dems. And then a shiny nickel rolled by...
A lot of us didn't change much from back then, but the others are having their turn now and are today's pissed-off old white teabaggers, and boy are they loud!
And the downhill slide continues.
The Thick Blue Line
From California girl Joan Walsh:
That last sentence gets my "No Shit! of the Day" award!
In California, Democrats win big, showing wealthy Republicans can't always buy what they want
As it often is, my state of California is an outlier. Listening to the sports radio station that broadcast my World Championship San Francisco Giants games all summer (you knew I'd get that in on this sobering night) I got an earful of the GOP strategy for the 2010 elections. Meg Whitman had her harshest anti-welfare ads on KNBR; just today, ran an ad absolutely lying about Brown's (disappointing to me) position on Prop. 13. Only yesterday, I heard an ad attacking Jerry McNerney for supporting "the Wall Street bailout" and "the failed trillion dollar stimulus."
So even though I live in a blue-state, I got the gist of the GOP message that won nationwide -- but was defeated in California. We live in a blue bubble: Whitman lost to Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer defeated failed Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Gavin Newsom is our new lieutenant governor, and even McNerney seemed on the verge of pulling it out early Wednesday morning.
The McNerney ad was a window on the message that worked for Republicans nationwide. They attacked Democrats for Obama programs, and pledged to look backwards – and still they won. Still, 25 vulnerable conservative Blue Dog Democrats lost too. It was that kind of year.
California will have turned out to be the party's thick blue line, especially in the Senate, where Boxer's victory almost assured the Dems would hold that body. I'd like to say that's our superior judgment and better candidates, but I'm not sure. Fiorina and Whitman defeated themselves; they were two wealthy ex-CEOs who thought they could buy their way into office, and who overlooked state voters' hunger for a government they can trust.
There were other bright lights in the darkness: Harry Reid defeating Sharron Angle; Tea Party candidates losing 54 of 89 contests, John Boehner strangely losing his composure even as he became the likely speaker, Christine O'Donnell going up in flames. But the results were bad news for Democrats, and we'll be diving into the details of the results for weeks to come.
That last sentence gets my "No Shit! of the Day" award!
Coulda been worse here too...
My big deals were Brown, Boxer, legal weed, and defeating the oil companies who wanted to end CA's AB32 climate change legislation. Oh well, three outta four ain't bad. Ah-nold damn near made mota legal recently anyway.
The other Props went mainly OK and so did the statewide offices.
The Repug wave crashed on the rocks before it got to the West Coast. A 'sea wall' of sensibility perhaps.
The other Props went mainly OK and so did the statewide offices.
The Repug wave crashed on the rocks before it got to the West Coast. A 'sea wall' of sensibility perhaps.
Headline of the Day
Thank you Sarah and Sharon, and all Tea Party candidates. You just handed President Obama a second term.
Not much meat in the article but I like the headline.
Quote of the Day
Mr. Philadelphia:
Same old song and dance.
I'm reasonably sure that the lessons learned [from the election] will be that we need to cut taxes for millionaires and repeal health care reform, at least all the good bits.
Same old song and dance.
Coulda been worse ...
Dave Neiwart sums up the carnage succinctly:
Finding one gem, I'm proud of my fellow NYers for going "D" in a big way. The Teabaggers got no traction here and that's good. We'll still have major dysfunction in Albany but I give thanks that our senators and governor, and most house seats, remained blue.
...
We'll all talk about this more tomorrow, but I blame the geniuses in the Democratic Party -- both in the White House and elsewhere -- who failed to establish firmly the narrative after the election that needed to be hammered home daily and relentlessly and fearlessly: that Americans had repudiated conservative rule because it had manifestly proven itself a failure. Instead, Democrats thought "bipartisanship" was more important. Sure it was.
...
Finding one gem, I'm proud of my fellow NYers for going "D" in a big way. The Teabaggers got no traction here and that's good. We'll still have major dysfunction in Albany but I give thanks that our senators and governor, and most house seats, remained blue.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Headline of the Day
Johnny Cash’s daughter to GOP chief: Stop using my father’s name, you ‘asshat’
I hope Boner's asshole (redundant, I know) is a burning ring of fire...
Thoughts on election day
Right now whilst awaiting the results, I feel like I've just died and am in limbo waiting to see if the elevator goes up or down. I wonder if I can pay Charon for the boat ride with these cucumber slices on my eyes...
Being pissed off at Obama for not fixing the damage caused by Bush as the final insult of thirty years of Repug greed in two years is like finding a rare old English motorcycle under a rotten 40-year-old pile of hay bales in a barn and being pissed off because you can't ride it the same day. Illogical, to say the least.
Repugs may take control of the House after today. I'm sure thatif when they screw everything up even worse over the next two years, our rocket scientist voters will elect even more of them to fix it even worse. Yeesh. Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results...
Also, if you haven't read "Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party", do so.
Update:
Me 'n Mrs. G voted at 11AM, nos. 109 & 110. We had to stand in line, which is unheard of around here, and people just kept coming.
Our old cardboard-and-trash-bag voting booths have gone the way of the buffalo, replaced with circular booths with red, white, and blue steel poles with blue and red curtains in which maybe four people can vote at one time. The booths are from Ireland. I guess American voting booth jobs have been outsourced.
I used the electronic machine. It's got a wheel that scrolls you from place to place, an 'enter' button, and a printout that appears to let you double check your selections before you cast your ballot. I didn't have my reading glasses with me, so the poll worker assigned nearest the machine, a gorgeous young thing about my own age, loaned me her own bifocals right off her face so I could read it.
As she handed me my "I voted" sticker, I mentioned the turnout thus, "Boy, ya put weed on the ballot, Truckee turns out, huh?". She just smiled and nodded and said "Yeah, they sure do!". Heh.
As an informal poll, I checked bumper stickers in the parking lot. The cars that had them all had Librul-type stickers. I guess Repugs don't like to advertise. There was one contractor truck with Nevada plates with a "Sandoval for governor" sticker. That's his problem. Musta been there on business as our polling place is at the Public Utility District building.
Anyway, I voted straight D and legal weed and yes or no on a buncha other propositions and a few local offices that I gave a shit about. Mrs. G was waiting outside for me after I waited inside for her for a little while.
It's all over but the counting. Seeing as how the 2012 election countdown doesn't start 'til tomorrow, I'm taking the rest of the day off from politics. Unless something interesting pops up, of course...
Being pissed off at Obama for not fixing the damage caused by Bush as the final insult of thirty years of Repug greed in two years is like finding a rare old English motorcycle under a rotten 40-year-old pile of hay bales in a barn and being pissed off because you can't ride it the same day. Illogical, to say the least.
Repugs may take control of the House after today. I'm sure that
Also, if you haven't read "Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party", do so.
Update:
Me 'n Mrs. G voted at 11AM, nos. 109 & 110. We had to stand in line, which is unheard of around here, and people just kept coming.
Our old cardboard-and-trash-bag voting booths have gone the way of the buffalo, replaced with circular booths with red, white, and blue steel poles with blue and red curtains in which maybe four people can vote at one time. The booths are from Ireland. I guess American voting booth jobs have been outsourced.
I used the electronic machine. It's got a wheel that scrolls you from place to place, an 'enter' button, and a printout that appears to let you double check your selections before you cast your ballot. I didn't have my reading glasses with me, so the poll worker assigned nearest the machine, a gorgeous young thing about my own age, loaned me her own bifocals right off her face so I could read it.
As she handed me my "I voted" sticker, I mentioned the turnout thus, "Boy, ya put weed on the ballot, Truckee turns out, huh?". She just smiled and nodded and said "Yeah, they sure do!". Heh.
As an informal poll, I checked bumper stickers in the parking lot. The cars that had them all had Librul-type stickers. I guess Repugs don't like to advertise. There was one contractor truck with Nevada plates with a "Sandoval for governor" sticker. That's his problem. Musta been there on business as our polling place is at the Public Utility District building.
Anyway, I voted straight D and legal weed and yes or no on a buncha other propositions and a few local offices that I gave a shit about. Mrs. G was waiting outside for me after I waited inside for her for a little while.
It's all over but the counting. Seeing as how the 2012 election countdown doesn't start 'til tomorrow, I'm taking the rest of the day off from politics. Unless something interesting pops up, of course...
Exactly the same ...
Just go read Drifty:
Same old song and dance and the sheeple fall for it every time.
...
Because after six years, two failed wars and a smashed global economy later we on the Left are watching exactly the same coalition of intractably ignorant bedwetters, religious bigots and racist yahoos who are still freebasing exactly the same toxic witchbag of Hate Radio and Fox News lies, slander and fake patriotism about to march into the same exactly the same polling places to double down on their democracy-killing insanity and prove once again how proudly impervious to facts and reason they really are.
...
Same old song and dance and the sheeple fall for it every time.
Voting ...
As we've said around here for the last few months, voting for Dems this cycle is generally distasteful, but the alternative is much worse. Get out and vote now.
Update:
Electronic voting machines in NY this year. Don't know if I'm happy about it, but it was a lot less hassle than the old museum pieces we used to have. Once again, the Mrs. and I were #3 and #4 at our local polling place. Gotta start getting up earlier to beat my neighbor there next year. Heh ...
Update:
Electronic voting machines in NY this year. Don't know if I'm happy about it, but it was a lot less hassle than the old museum pieces we used to have. Once again, the Mrs. and I were #3 and #4 at our local polling place. Gotta start getting up earlier to beat my neighbor there next year. Heh ...
Monday, November 1, 2010
Scares me...
Digby
A reader sent in this extremely apt quote for a Halloween night by none other than HP Lovecraft from 1936:
“As for the Republicans—how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical ‘American heritage’…) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.”
Boo.
"...these are cynical, awful times right now"
The Rude One on the Rally For Sanity:
Smart horse.
...it was meant to be a little something for the fans at the end of a brutal, awful campaign season where Hope got raped by Hate
(That sign above was on a park police horse trailer in DC on Saturday. It apparently fell over onto the ramp when the doors opened, and a horse shit on Glenn Beck's face. The Rude Pundit hopes it was a commentary by the cops on the previous rally on the Mall. Tip o' the rude hat to pal Dean T. for the photo [and the weekend lodging].)
Smart horse.
Re-Bush
Tony Peyser
Ex-Girlfriend Of Clarence Thomas: He Was A Mean Dry Drunk Who Exercised Obsessively & Couldn’t Concentrate On Work
...
He’s unfit to be on the Supreme Court
But each & every allegation
Proves that he’s ready for the GOP’s
2012 presidential nomination.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
Bush's Biggest Disappointment: Not Privatizing Social Security
Or the National Guard.
KKK Holds First Public Cross Burning in 50 Years
Anticipating Republican sweep in mid-terms.
Quote of the Day
MoDo on Obama via Mr. Aravosis:
And it'll come back to bite him in the ass tomorrow.
It never occurred to the Icon that such wildness and gullibility would trump lofty rationality.
And it'll come back to bite him in the ass tomorrow.
Accusations ...
Comrade Misfit has a great post up that should be read by everyone before they go (or not go) to the polls tomorrow.
Believe me, I'm holding my nose tomorrow when I vote for some of these characters, but we can't let the Rethugs win. We can't afford it.
I accuse the Republican party of actively working to sabotage the Federal government, including the destruction of Social Security and Medicare.
I accuse the Democratic party of craven collaboration with the saboteurs of the GOP. I accuse the Democratic party of lacking the spine and courage to stand up to the saboteurs.
This is my brief.
...
Believe me, I'm holding my nose tomorrow when I vote for some of these characters, but we can't let the Rethugs win. We can't afford it.
Real simple ...
People who don't have jobs don't give a shit about the deficit. They care about staying in their houses, keeping the lights on and the water running, and not going broke if somebody in the family gets sick. It'd be nice if the talking heads could wrap their brains around that fact.
Whaddaya mean ...
It's dangerous?
It's a bloody cigarette lighter.
Security took this away from me when we boarded the ship after visiting Tsarina Katrina's Summer Palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia. They gave it back when we disembarked in England.
And just a note: If I'da known I'd get hassle over this, I woulda bought the old grenade too. Heh ...
Click pic to change from a 20mm to a 155 shell.
It's a bloody cigarette lighter.
Security took this away from me when we boarded the ship after visiting Tsarina Katrina's Summer Palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia. They gave it back when we disembarked in England.
And just a note: If I'da known I'd get hassle over this, I woulda bought the old grenade too. Heh ...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
A Modern U.S. President
A little Pirates Of Penzance-inspired comic opera frivolity for your Sunday enjoyment.
Thanks to omovies.
Headline of the Day
Why We Filed Racketeering Charges Against Karl Rove’s Election Operations
Because you couldn't declare him an enemy combatant?
Silence Of The Lambs
Good rant at TPJMagazine.
It's working...
Reference is to Isaiah 11:6 - "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb". One of them will always be freshly BF'ed and the other will be well fed.
“To survive, one must be harmless as doves — but wise as serpents.” That was the admonition from Christ to followers, whom he called “sheep.” The instruction is fitting to all humans, regardless of ideology. What if the lambs no longer are informed against the tyrannical wolves about to devour them? What if they are unable to discern between a regular sheep and a wolf dressed up as one of their own? That’s America’s Achilles Heel. If any element takes down this great nation, the religious right it will be… for their chronic naivety and gullibility.
The FOX guarding the hen house is another metaphor apropos, since FOX is the principal right-wing propagandist and the chickens are the naïve, religious right that empowers any scoundrel that mouths their sacred lingo. Satan would be welcome in their churches if only groomed to look like them and coached to speak like them.
Not only have they vowed to tear down government, they’ve promised to take down the President. Republicans will investigate the hell out of Barack Obama, find nothing, but continue probing until he’s out of office. They’re committed to making life miserable in America.
It's working...
Nothing was done by Bush for the public’s welfare and the best long-term interests of the United States. We sit in economic depression as testament to his legacy. Yet the blind sheep still admire the false shepherd that led them over the cliff and are eager to throw the new shepherd to the wolves if given the chance.
A nation that slides backward into Third World governance will soon manifest a Third World economy. That’s the lesson that should have been learned from the Bush years. There is no escaping more national tragedy if the lambs again welcome back the wolves.
Reference is to Isaiah 11:6 - "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb". One of them will always be freshly BF'ed and the other will be well fed.
The Grand Old Plot Against the Tea Party
Daddy Frank on how the teabaggers have been and will continue to be worked like a redheaded stepchild by the GOP elite.
Aw, hell, Pop, tell us something we don't know.
Oh fucking swell. I hope I live long enough.
ONE dirty little secret of the 2010 election is that it won’t be a political tragedy for Democrats if a Tea Party icon like Sharron Angle or Joe Miller ends up in the United States Senate. Angle, now synonymous with racist ads sliming Hispanics, and Miller, already on record threatening a government shutdown, are fired up and ready to go as symbols of G.O.P. extremism for 2012 and beyond.
But whatever Tuesday’s results, this much is certain: The Tea Party’s hopes for actually affecting change in Washington will start being dashed the morning after. The ordinary Americans in this movement lack the numbers and financial clout to muscle their way into the back rooms of Republican power no matter how well their candidates perform.
Trent Lott, the former Senate leader and current top-dog lobbyist, gave away the game in July. “We don’t need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples,” he said, referring to the South Carolina senator who is the Tea Party’s Capitol Hill patron saint. “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.” It’s the players who wrote the checks for the G.O.P. surge, not those earnest folk in tri-corner hats, who plan to run the table in the next corporate takeover of Washington. [...]
What the Tea Party ostensibly wants most — less government spending and smaller federal deficits — is not remotely happening on the country club G.O.P.’s watch. The elites have no serious plans to cut anything except taxes and regulation of their favored industries. [...]
Aw, hell, Pop, tell us something we don't know.
But those Americans, like all the others on the short end of the 2008 crash, have reason to be mad as hell. And their numbers will surely grow once the Republican establishment’s panacea of tax cuts proves as ineffectual at creating jobs, saving homes and cutting deficits as the half-measures of the Obama White House and the Democratic Congress. The tempest, however, will not be contained within the tiny Tea Party but will instead overrun the Republican Party itself, where Palin, with Murdoch and Beck at her back, waits in the wings to “take back America” not just from Obama but from the G.O.P. country club elites now mocking her. By then — after another two years of political gridlock and economic sclerosis — the equally disillusioned right and left may have a showdown that makes this election year look as benign as Woodstock.
Oh fucking swell. I hope I live long enough.
Sunday Homebrew Crazy Redneck Music Video Blogging
Tony Rice is lead vocal on a country version of The Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil" from the CD "Rice, Rice, Hillman, and Pedersen".
Video is southbound on CA SR 267 across Martis Valley.
Thanks to ME!
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