Did Glenn Beck Lie about "Attack" in NYC to Drum Up Publicity for New Show?

Why not? He lies about everything else. Following up on Fixer's post:

AlterNet

With his Fox News show down to its last few days, and about to embark on a risky and probably unsuccessful attempt to replicate his cable success on pay-to-view Internet broadcasting, a desperate Glenn Beck cooked up a transparently phony publicity stunt that began to fall apart within hours.

Beck claimed on his radio show this morning, and then later (at great length) on his TV show, that he and his family were victims of an evil liberal mob in a New York park:

Liberal mob. Yeah, they probly blinded him with rainbows and did unspeakable things to his anus with unicorn horns. Go read.

GOP is like little girls...

...except little girls are cute and have actual value. Politico, links at site:

One of President Barack Obama’s 2012 themes will likely revolve around what his aides call “the contrast” — a portrayal of Obama as a responsible, moderate adult harassed by infantile Republicans who favor the wealthy.

And your point is...?

During his East Room press conference Wednesday — his first since the kickoff of the 2012 Republican campaign — Obama drew that comparison in the starkest terms to date, likening veteran politicians in their 40s, 50s and 60s to his young daughters, Sasha and Malia.

The difference between Repug pols and Sasha and Malia is, of course, that the young ladies will eventually grow up and be productive members of society.

The mindless hysteria of right-wing sheep

Gene Lyons in Salon:

Politics makes people stupid even in good times. Fear provokes irrationality. Given the parlous state of the U.S. economy, it's no surprise that the national conversation has grown shrill. Even so, the level of vituperation and unreason comes as a continuing revelation.

Not that I'm complaining. As a native of New Jersey, the Insult State (official motto: "Oh yeah, who says?"), there's no level of invective to which I can't sink. Anybody who writes provocatively shouldn't complain when readers are provoked. Besides, it's less the anger than the sheer, boneheaded illogic that amazes me.

No shit. How can people be so stupid?

That is, I favor raising marginal income-tax rates on millionaires from 35 to 39.6 percent. Therefore, I must be a communist who advocates the abolition of private enterprise, the confiscation of private property, and the redistribution of wealth to lazy people who won't work.

"Do you get paid under the table by the Democrat Party to spew your hatred of capitalism," asks one fellow, "or is it that you have some deep-seated psychopathic (sic) scars based on the choices you made that limit your economic achievements?"
...

"Good work, comrade," I responded. "Your regurgitation of party dogma is letter-perfect. In the USSR, they actually got to the point of declaring people who failed to conform 100 percent mentally ill."

The irony was most likely lost on him.

Then there's the argumentum ad populum, another favorite of talk-radio fans: somebody with a big audience must be correct. Furthermore -- motive again -- I must be jealous of their success.

That's pretty much like saying Rush Limbaugh's jealous of President Obama. You buy that?

Look, these guys are playing you for suckers. They're reading scripts written to trick you into believing that the bigger Scrooge McDuck's bullion pile is, the better it is for you. Take away the call screeners and the mute buttons, and most of them wouldn't last two weeks. Talk radio is the political equivalent of wrestling.

Gee, Gene, thanks for the visual of Rushbo in speedos and skin all oiled to a glistening sheen. Runnin' low on bleach again...

Mark Halperin calls Obama a ‘dick’ on live TV

Raw Replay, with video.

Washington Monthly‘s Steve Benen noted that the Morning Joe crew was probably upset that Obama didn’t appear “docile and conciliatory” towards Republicans in Congress.

Yes, not being "docile and conciliatory" to those poor dear sweet Repugs who would never say anything bad about the President. My ass.

“Halperin’s credibility as an objective observer of political events has long been dubious, at best, but this morning’s little stunt should remove all doubt,” Benen wrote.

No shit. Halperin's been a Repugsymp for a long time. Who's the dick?

Assholery ...

Secaucus Fats has it down to an art form:

One would think that now that New York has legalized gay marriage and the world hasn't ended, New Jersey would be the next likely place for equality to take place. Unfortunately, we have a governor who thinks that just because HE is a Roman Catholic (and frankly, a church hierarchy that has harbored and protected child molesters for decades ought to have no moral authority over anything), he, not the voters, gets to decide whether everyone in the state should have this right.

...

Addendum: And if, as Fats has been saying all along, he "wants to lure businesses across the Hudson", he should very much get behind gay marriage. NYC and Long Island wedding halls, bars, hotels, and a whole lotta other businesses are gearing up for a flood of same-sex marriages come next month. A big hall out here on the Island is having a mass wedding (several hundred couples) on 24 July, the day the law goes into effect. The gays might be icky to you, big boy, but us NYers know their money is as green as the straight couples'.

Like our treasure Yogi Berra says: "They give you cash, which is just as good as money."

And you wonder ...

Why the deficit is so high? None of these fucking wars were on the books until Obama took office:

US spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has already cost at least $3.2 trillion, and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion, far higher than previous estimates, according to a new study released by Brown University.

The study tries to account not just for the direct costs of the war, but for indirect expenses such as ongoing medical care for wounded veterans. It was carried out by Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies.

The findings contrast with the much lower estimate of war spending offered by US President Barack Obama during his address on Afghanistan last week.

...

So, as we take away grandma and grandpa's health care, tell me again why Bush and Cheney shouldn't be swinging at the end of a rope?

Great thanks to They Gave Us A Republic for the link.

"Welcome to the Big Apple ...

Ya fuckin' fuck." Heh ...

So tell me ...

Why we have to jack up an old lady in a wheelchair :

Destin - Transportation Security Administration workers made a 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman, with terminal cancer, remove her adult diaper during a search.

...

When a guy from Africa can fly cross-country on a stolen boarding pass and have the opportunity to do it a second time?

(LOS ANGELES) -- The Transportation Security Administration is facing many questions Thursday after a Nigerian man was arrested for getting past security and onto a flight at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with false documentation.

...

Transportation Security is a fucking joke and just another form of corporate welfare. We're as safe today as we were on 10 September 2001.

Arrest Made in Cattle Drive Hit-&- Run

Following up on last week's post:

On Friday June 24th at about 11:30 pm, two Sierra County deputy sheriff’s located and made an arrest on the suspect who struck five cows, ran over a cattle dog and threatened to run over several riders on horseback during a cattle drive last week in Pike City.

The suspect remains in custody in the Sierra County Jail in Downieville. Bail is set at $100,000. The suspect is 19 year-old Justin Philip Lombardobarton of Camptonville. His current charges are: P.C. 245 (a)(1) Assault with a Deadly Weapon, P.C. 597(a)(1) Animal Cruelty and P.C. 594(b)(1) Vandalism of Property. Additional charges may follow.

Additional charges may include Being An Asshole, with priors.

Maggie the cattle dog is on the mend (conehead photo), and I was wrong about Sierra County not having its own jail, but apparently it doesn't amount to much although this is heartwarming:

Click to embiggen

I'm sure Maggie will be glad to clean up after her attacker drops through the trap door.

You can read the plaque here.

Hell's Barbie

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford:

...she wants people to understand she is very serious about this campaign thing and is definitely not as totally loopy bats--t crazy as your demented Aunt Sylvia with the twitchy eye, 23 parakeets and the addiction to little tubes of Oscar Meyer bologna wrapped around a fistful of oxycodone.

Except, of course, that she totally is.

Yes, Michele Bachmann is running for president. Michele Bachmann, fundamentalist Christian zealot, paranoid isolationist, lowbrow conspiracy theorist, heavily shellacked automaton, anti-choice anti-gay anti-everything neo-Stepford throwback and easily the flat-out nuttiest female ever to raise a hugely depressing $13 million for her clumsy campaign launch, Michele wants to lead us all to salvation.

Well OK, not all of us exactly, mostly the whites and the rich and people who collect colorful black-light posters featuring sweaty, bare-chested Jesus riding a T-Rex into the Castro to smite the gays. But you know, that's nitpicking.

But let this not solely be a column detailing the well-documented and -- let's just admit it -- hugely entertaining insanity of Michele Bachmann. I don't nearly have the space, and Matt Taibbi's fantastic Rolling Stone piece, combined with Mother Jones' disturbing three-page list of assorted Bachmann bombs, does a far better job of cataloguing her big box of crazy than I ever could.

Bachmann's big box? Gee, thanks for that visual, Mark...

No matter how you slice it, it's guaranteed to be a stretch of political theater so wonderfully absurd and surreal, so brazenly insulting to history, grammar, science, logic, sexuality, common sense, gender and fundamental human progress itself, well, you'd have to be crazy not to watch it.

It's like watching a volcano erupt and hoping the lava flows toward someone else. Go read the rest.

A Boston Story

William Rivers Pitt, a Bostonian, on the Stanley Cup and Whitey Bulger:

The story of Whitey Bulger is a Boston story, right down to the roots, but it is also an American story, one that has been repeated ad nauseam through the years. Criminal acts are committed, nests are feathered, and the occasional body thumps into the bottom of an unmarked grave. Instead of justice, however, there are backroom deals, payoffs, and cover-ups. It is the story of Congress, of the courts, of corporate America, of a political and legal system that has been utterly corrupted by those with no honor or decency, who are motivated by greed and a lust for power, and who operate beyond the reach of the law because they are protected, coddled, and insulated from justice.

Compared to the criminals and confidence men who rule this country, Boston's Whitey is less than a cipher. He killed nineteen people, while the powers-that-be can lay claim to corpses beyond numbering. Whitey ripped off drug dealers, while the powers-that-be rip off every single breathing person in the land. Whitey is is jail, while the powers-that-be who outstrip his bloodthirstiness by orders of magnitude walk around free and easy. Whitey's version of "organized crime" is a child's game compared to what these people do, day after day, without any fear of ever being brought to justice.

But in the end, Whitey Bulger is a metaphor for all that ails America today, and it will not be changed unless we the people change it. More than a million people took to the streets here to celebrate the Bruins. Imagine what might happen if crowds of that same magnitude took to the streets of Washington, New York, of every major city in this country, to demand that the Whitey Bulgers who are the real power in America be brought, at last, to true justice, and that the John Connollys who protect and enrich them are chased from their cozy positions and run out of town on a rail.

Gee, sounds like a revolution! Didn't one of those start around Boston once before?

History ...

Is what you make it.

Oliver Willis:

You knew it was going to happen at some point. Here are the edits some Bachmann fan attempted to add to Wikipedia in order to prove Bachmann’s false allegation that the then-child John Quincy Adams was a founding father. They were soon reverted with an admonition to "Please don’t edit an historical article based on current events."

...

Din't the Soviets (you know, Socialist Commies) do this shit too? Just askin' ...

"If the most heavily guarded ...

Hotel in Afghanistan comes under attack, what does it say for security in the region?" - George Alagiah of the BBC.

...

Nato helicopters were called in to kill three militants to end a five-hour clash by suicide bombers and gunmen on a hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, frequented by Westerners, left six more attackers, two police and 11 civilians, including a Spaniard dead.

A security official said the militants may have exploited renovation work to gain access to the high-security hotel.

...

Beeb story here.

It says, 10 years on, that even in Kabul, security is a most tenuous thing. Is this where Obama and his Corps of Ass-Kissers generals say "never mind" on the troop withdrawal or will it be the next incident that gives them the opportunity to say "we'll have to stay longer because Af-Pak is still a haven for terrorists"?

The only people who've benefited from this war are the American Military Industrial Complex, Hamid Karzai and his 40 Thieves, and the Pakistani government (who are playing both sides for profit). The rest - American soldiers, Afghan and Pakistani civilians, and the American people - are all paying the price in one form or another.

None of us can afford to pay any longer.

Fairy tales ...

Echidne has one with no fairies and it ain't much of a tall tale either:

Once upon a time there was a country where the peasants and serfs did fairly well. They had to work hard, true, but they got to keep at least a portion of their own harvest and the annual days they had to work for the feudal lords were bearable in number.

When they got old and sick the feudal lords and ladies brought them doctors and baskets of food. In some towns the children of the poor even had schools paid by the towns or the feudal lords. They were taught to read and write and to do simple sums so that they could work in the workshops of the wealthy.

...

You know how it goes. We saw it before, when there really were feudal lords and wealthy merchants.

...

The stories told of those events depends on the teller. But what we know is this: The feudal lords suddenly had their bards sing about the ungrateful and lazy peasants, the great expense they had to keep the system going, the unfairness of having to care for the sick and infirm servants after they no longer could serve.

...

Think about reading this one to your grandchildren in 20 or 30 years. It's about the time it should change from "fairy tale" to "history".

Christine!

A woman I've been fond of (smart, independent, beautiful) for the better part of 20 years (who would run a close second to Mrs. F) has been named head of the IMF, replacing the alleged rapist.

The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board selected Christine Lagarde to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the post of Managing Director and Chairman of the Board for a five-year term.

With the former French Finance Minister taking the top seat, the IMF continues its tradition of European leadership, relegating Mexican Central Banker Agustin Carstens who didn’t manage to win the support of fellow emerging market economies Brazil, Russia, and China. Lagarde will become the first woman to head the Fund since its inception in 1944. (Read Emily Lambert’s analysis of Lagarde’s fashion sense, The New IMF Leader And The Leather Pants).

...

Pic from here.

La bonne chance, la belle fille.

GOP Survival Suit

Click to inflate

Thanks to YubaNet.

Hot God Sex!

Last part of a post by The Rude Pundit. The first part made me blush!

It was helpful that your aide clarified what you meant. "Conservatives believe rights are granted by God and it is the responsibility of government to aid in protecting them" is what communications director Steve Taylor said. And "Liberals believe rights are granted by government...Congressman Akin believes those two concepts define the basic debate between the two ideologies."

That's fucking great. Welcome to the Bachmann School of American History. So essentially, your ideology says that kings and tyrants are more powerful than God. Or that God is such a cunt that he doesn't care if some people get to use the rights he grants while others have those rights cock-blocked by other people. That's the follow-through on Akin's conservative belief, no? Whereas god-fearing liberals believe that people take care of people shit and God takes care of God shit and thus God can just stay above it all. Like a good grandmother, not a molesting uncle. (By the way, atheist politicians of both parties don't give a fuck, but mostly they have to pretend that they do.)

So, sure, Toddster, if you're going to say that liberals hate God, then, fuck, have your God do something about it. Or is he just that much of a pussy?

God don't give a shit. He was invented to scare and suppress people millennia ago. Some people still fall for it. Too many.

Ship starting to sink, rats starting to flee

WSJ

KABUL—Afghanistan's central bank governor has left for the U.S. and isn't expected to return because he fears for his safety after investigating fraud allegations at the country's largest lender, according to two Western officials.

Bank Governor Abdul Qadir Fitrat left Kabul for the U.S. about 10 days ago, one of these people said. Last year Mr. Fitrat opened an investigation into Kabul Bank, which nearly collapsed amid public allegations that its owners used it to make favorable loans to themselves and politically connected associates.

Most of that money is ours anyway. Never fear, it will return to the U.S. and Europe by the suitcase-full when the rest of the rats leave Clusterfuckistan one step ahead of the new Taliban regime after we leave. Or whenever it looks like we'll leave.

Governor Abdul is well placed to greet them.

Headline of the Day

Tom Petty reportedly issuing cease and desist letter to Bachmann

Also see:

"Wingnut Cooking With Hot Air And Bat Shit"

Quote of the Day

Mr. Philadelphia:

I give it about 2 days before Republicans start screeching about how Democrats want to cut defense money while our heroes are in harms way, blah blah blah.

Translated: "Heaven forbid we cut back on the corporate welfare for the Military Industrial Complex."

Busy, busy ...

I got 3 days until our friends Chris and Terry get here from England (unless Queen Mary 2 hits an iceberg or encounters a U-boat) to spend the July 4 holiday with the colonists (us) and the Mrs. is away on business until tomorrow night (the Dingo Sisters are no help whatsoever, heh ...). I'm busier than a 1-armed paperhanger.

See yas when I see yas.

For Soccer (Football? I'm so confused...) Fans

In Gold Cup final, it's red, white and boo again

On a balmy early Saturday summer evening, the U.S soccer team played for a prestigious championship in a U.S. stadium … and was smothered in boos.

On a street outside the Rose Bowl before the Gold Cup final, Sanchez was hanging out near a motor home that was hosting 17 folks — 15 of whom were Mexico fans. Inside, that ratio held, there seemingly being about 80,000 Mexico fans among the announced crowd of 93,420.

This was Staples Center filled with Boston Celtics fans. This was Chavez Ravine filled with Giants jerseys. This was as weird as it was wild and, for a U.S. team that lost, 4-2, it had to be wearisome.

Well, where the hell d'ya think you are? It's LOS ANGELES fer chrissake! 'English as a second language' is not a class in school!

How many places are so diverse that it could fill football stadiums with folks whose roots are somewhere else? How many places offer such a freedom of speech that someone can display an American flag on their porch one day and cheer against the flag the next?

They weren't cheering against the American flag except in the limited sense of wanting to see their original country's team kick our ass. There's a lot more soccer on Telemundo than on Wide World Of Sports. Most Americans are a little scared of soccer, if they even know it's played in this country, because of its furrin commie popularity. I think the writer is a little over the top there.

I hated it, but I loved it. I was felt as if I was in a strange place, and yet I felt right at home.

Certainly, for the U.S. team, it undoubtedly stinks. But then, well, to be honest, the team stinks.

Ah, Grasshopper, perhaps enlightenment dawns! Heh.

Rita Moreno reflects on 'quite a life'

I ♥s me some Rita Moreno!

LATimes

With a one-woman show and a role on TV Land's 'Happily Divorced,' the Oscar-, Emmy-, Tony- and Grammy-winning Moreno remains a creative force at 79.

Rita plays a Jewish Mother. Oy. 'Happily Divorced' comes on right after 'Hot In Cleveland'. I'm glad HIC's a summer show because I watch it with my pants around my ankles...

Good article about this talented and lovely lady. A Boricua for the ages.

Sic 'im!

International Court issues arrest warrant for Kadafi

No mention of a bounty. Never mind, Dog.

Headline of the Day

Pat Robertson warns God will destroy America over same sex marriage

God is currently destroying the Bible Belt with tornadoes and floods. They must all be homosexuals.

Supreme Court: Violent video games may be sold to children

Raw Story

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a proposed California law that would have banned the sale of violent video games to minors.

In a 7-2 ruling, both liberal and conservative justices agreed that the video games qualify for First Amendment protections.

"Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas-and even social messages-through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player's interaction with the virtual world)," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the court's majority opinion (PDF).

Violent video games for children are valuable to the right-wing agenda. They want those kids in the right frame of mind when they reach military age and want to kill for real in The Endless War For Profit.

SCOTUS may revisit this when some game company comes out with a first-person shooter graphically and gleefully depicting the killing of wingnuts and Supreme Court Justices.

¡Chinga La Migra!

Raw Story. Interesting.

Computer hackers with the group 'Lulz Security" have unearthed a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) intelligence assessment of Barry Cooper, the former Texas narcotics officer who turned against the drug war and began setting up hidden camera stunts looking to catch corrupt police in the act.

The FBI's "Situational Intelligence Report" on Cooper is marked "unclassified," and recipients were specifically instructed to take "precautions" to prevent it from falling into the media's hands. It came to light after hackers stole a trove of documents from police in Arizona and published them online in an operation they called "Chinga La Migra" (or "Fuck the Border Patrol").

That's a very loose translation but it gets the point across.

Mr. Cooper apparently caught a few corrupt cops in the act and is currently awaiting trial.

Georgia immigrant crackdown backfires

Following up on last week's post. These articles actually predate the one I used, so they knew this was going wrong before the failed solution was made public. Heh.

Politico

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s program to replace fleeing migrant farmworkers with probationers backfired when some of the convicted criminals started walking off their jobs because field work was too strenuous, it was reported Wednesday.
...http://www2.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

In a story datelined Leslie (read this - G), in rural south Georgia, The Associated Press writes of convicts calling it quits at 3:25 p.m. — more than 2½ hours before the crew of Mexicans and Guatemalans they replaced.

“Those guys out here weren’t out there 30 minutes and they got the bucket and just threw them in the air and say, `Bonk this. I ain’t with this. I can’t do this,’” said Jermond Powell, a 33-year-old probationer working at a farm in Leslie. “They just left, took off across the field walking.”

Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, on her blog, compared the practice of sending probationers to work on farms to an earlier practice of Southern police departments arresting black men on dubious charges and sentencing them to work on local farms that needed the labor.

Hey, you cracker farmers, how's that wingnut goobernator you helped elect workin' out for ya? As ye sow so shall ye reap? No, no, no, not this year, more like 'ye sowed, now watcheth it rot and be careful what thy wisheth for, for thee might getteth it back many fold'. Up thine ass and thee deserveth it, I might add.

By the way, we have a few field hands out here in California. We also have 100+° heat for them to work in. I get tired watching them from inside an air-conditioned truck.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Republicans End Debt Talks with Democrats
Begin talks with Fox News.

President Says He's Withdrawing 33,000 Troops From Afghanistan
Hiring 33,000 mercenaries to replace them.

Experts: Oceans Heading For Mass Extinctions
First sign: H. Salt Fish & Chips now H. Salt Chips.

Japanese Shocked to Learn Pop Star Actually Computer Generated
Shock compounded when she releases sex tape.

"Yew mean mary-ju-wanna?!"

I don't get Current TV but I want to! From RawReplay. Clip contains the three most stereotypical movie portrayals of mota it is possible to find!

Note: I removed the video because it started up by itself every time the Brain loaded and it was a PITA. Here's a link to it.

We Invent Enemies to Buy the Bombs

Common Dreams, from The Guardian/UK.

It is not democracy that keeps western nations at war, but armies and the interests now massed behind them. The greatest speech about modern defense was made in 1961 by the US president Eisenhower. He was no leftwinger, but a former general and conservative Republican. Looking back over his time in office, his farewell message to America was a simple warning against the "disastrous rise of misplaced power" of a military-industrial complex with "unwarranted influence on government". A burgeoning defense establishment, backed by large corporate interests, would one day employ so many people as to corrupt the political system. (His original draft even referred to a "military-industrial-congressional complex".) This lobby, said Eisenhower, could become so huge as to "endanger our liberties and democratic processes".

I wonder what Eisenhower would make of today's US, with a military grown from 3.5 million people to 5 million. The western nations face less of a threat to their integrity and security than ever in history, yet their defense industries cry for ever more money and ever more things to do. The cold war strategist, George Kennan, wrote prophetically: "Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial complex would have to remain, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented."

It's the Bottom Line.

Goin' ridin'

Going today to ride the Hard Rock Trial put on by SactoPITS. First time out this season, may produce comical results. Saturday is always 'Vintage - Beginner' day and I qualify on both counts. See yas.

Headline of the Day

Did Bachmann "Win" the GOP Debate by Not Spewing Vomit as Her Head Twisted Around?

That guy must not have been watching. She spews colorless, odorless vomit every single time she opens her mouth.

To all my ...

Gay and lesbian friends. I expect invitations. Heh ...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- At New York City's Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village pub that spawned the gay rights movement on a June night in 1969, Scott Redstone watched New York pass a historic same-sex marriage law with his partner of 29 years, and popped the question. "I said, 'Will you marry me?' And he said, 'Of course!'" Redstone said he and Steven Knittweis walked home to pop open a bottle of champagne.

...

For the first time in 235 years, the New York State Legislature did something really good. It's a great day in New York.

Update:

And nobody says it better than The Rude One:

...

And if the New York Senate passes the gay marriage bill? By implication, it must mean that God says, "Oh, suck my sacred sack" to evangelicals.

Update: And, lo, God presented his balls and said unto the fundamentalists, "Yea, place these hairy orbs into your mouths and wash 'em real good."

Indeed. And, on the Eighth Day, God said (quoting that hack Tom Friedman) "Suck. On. This."

Update II:

And, as I'm watching the local news, you know what's pissing me off? The amount of black folks out protesting against gay marriage. Religious beliefs aside, a lot of other-than-black people (including many gay people) put their ass on the line with you in the 60s and early 70s in the South when you were fighting for your civil rights at a time when they were institutionally denied. Woulda been nice of you to pay that back this time. At the very least, if gay marriage bugs you so much, stay the fuck home.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Emmylou Harris, Born To Run, Admiralspalast, Berlin, 08.06.2011
Emmylou Harris in Berlin, ein Superereignis.

I don't know what 'Superereignis' means, but I bet it's something good!

Thanks to fanal63, Germany.

Coupla 'toons

From YubaNet.

I'll buy the gas!!

Road to Ruin

Last night on Charlie Rose

There were two very interesting segments on Charlie Rose last night. Go see, if these topics interest you. They did me.

One was on the arrest of Whitey Bulger. Some about him, but a lot about how the FBI's account of his capture doesn't pass the smell test amongst other law enforcement and Those In The Know and that a lot could be gained by having some agency other than the FBI conduct his "debrief". Interesting. We have not heard the end of this story by a long shot, and the FBI might be sweating bullets over what might come out on their complicity in his crimes. I would say that a mass exodus of retired FBI agents to countries with no extradition treaties with the U.S. is not out of the question.

The other good segment is an interview with Richard Stengel about his upcoming article in Time magazine about the Constitution. I paraphrase a memorable comment:

"The Constitution is not the yellow line in the center of the road. It's the guard rail."

I like that!

Private Prisons Love Mass Incarceration Dollars

Locking up our fellow citizens is good for the economy. We're not buying as much stuff as we should because we're being careful with such money as we've got, but fear not, we still pay our taxes and the Prison Industrial Complex prospers on them.

TPMMuckraker

Report: Private Prisons Love Mass Incarceration, And Want Politicians To Love It Too

Private prison companies have helped fuel government policies which lead to an increase in prison population and boost their profits, according to a recent report.

The private prison population has grown 353.7 percent in the past 15 years, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute. Major private prison companies have an incentive to encourage policies which keep that number on the rise.

"Steady increases in the number of people in private prisons, especially those coming from federally contracted beds, translate into increased revenues for private prison companies," the report says.

"With most states and the federal government operating under record deficits and decreasing budgets, private prison companies have a growing desire to establish influential connections with policymakers, with two goals: pitching private prisons as a lower cost alternative to building or maintahttp://www2.blogger.com/img/blank.gifining state facilities; and fighting policies that might reduce the use of incarceration," the report states.

The report also points to the revolving door between the private prison companies and the government agencies that have a say in their spending.

Naturally we're not going to buy prison sentences for ourselves, and they make lousy gifts, but we seem to be quite happy buying them for 'other' people such as minorities and minor drug offenders. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for incarceration of real criminals and am happy to pay for locking up murderers, rapists, arsonists, and especially Wall St. and corporate executive thieves and their political enablers. We don't lock up near enough of the latter, and they're too in cahoots with private jailers to go to private prisons so they should go to government-run ones. Gitmo is very nice for that, and when it gets too overcrowded maybe we can make a deal with the Frogs or their successors and lease the Îles du Salut. Even more of a tropical paradise for our finest class of criminals!

When the GOP doubled down on crazy

Good article in Salon by Gene Lyons:

"Defending the American Dream," they call it.

Granted, it's hard to feel sorry for gullible listeners who hear Beck ranting about how Armageddon approaches, so they should hoard canned goods and buy gold. This on a program sponsored by Goldline. Somebody's going to con them out of their savings, so it may as well be Beck.

Shoot, they can always fall back on Social Security until President Michele Bachmann does away with it.

I call that last line "When right-wing delusional dogma ate us old folks' store-brand cat food".

[...] "If the grass roots found out that these guys were getting paid seven figures a year to say this stuff, it might leave a bad taste in their mouth."*

I have every confidence, however, that the grass-roots talk radio audience can rise above such niggling concerns -- and for the same reason that a failed "end of days" prophet's deluded followers patiently await his recalculations.

*Like store-brand cat food?

After the catastrophic Bush presidency, the Republican right had two choices: rethink or go crazy. A disturbing number chose to double-down on dogma. As a consequence, the estimable Fareed Zakaria argues in Time, the GOP has become as dependent upon abstract ideology as its worst enemies.

"They resemble the old Marxists, who refused to look around at actual experience," Zakaria writes. "'I know it works in practice,' the old saw goes, 'but does it work in theory?'" [...]

I heard that somewhere before. Hmmmm... Mr. Lyons must be very smart!

No more "compassionate conservatism" for them. The GOP candidates competed to describe an imaginary paradise of sweeping tax cuts, vastly reduced spending, an end to government regulation, the bolstering of state's rights, and burgeoning prosperity for all. It's as if the presidency of George W. Bush never happened.
...

Never mind President Barack Obama. The real class enemy is Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Back to the Roaring '20s!

Swell. Rigid frames, flimsy wheels, and brakes and lights that let you think you can see and stop until you actually try to. That's what the Repugs want. Thank you, but no.

Clarence Thomas Must Go

William Rivers Pitt:

For the sake of full disclosure, I will tell you that I do not like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In my opinion, he has no business sitting on the high court after the reprehensible treatment he forced Anita Hill to endure, and has been a disgrace to the bench lo these last twenty years. Anthony Weiner, one of Clarence Thomas' most ardent critics, was just run out of Washington DC on a rail for behavior far less offensive; Mr. Thomas is lucky there was no such thing as Twitter when he was sexually harassing Hill, or he'd be chasing ambulances outside of muni court like the hack he is. He sits up there like a lump, never speaking or offering questions to petitioners, and has not had an original thought since his shameful Senate approval.

But his vapid intellectual presence on the bench is only a small part of the story. Mr. Thomas has, by all appearances, turned his position on the court into a license to print money for himself, his family, and a few choice friends.

Conservative corruption is nothing new in Washington, but Mr. Thomas has taken the practice to bold new heights, and finally, people are beginning to sit up and take notice. Thomas has been playing fast and loose with judicial ethics for a long time now, and though Supreme Court Justices are not technically beholden to judicial rules of ethics, his behavior has become so egregious as to warrant deep attention, and in my opinion, removal from the high court.

Details follow. To his credit, Mr. Pitt never uses the term "affirmative action hire" with regard to Thomas. He doesn't need to. Unethical partisan behavior is independent of being hired by a gross political mistake-on-purpose. Replace Thurgood Marshall Thomas most certainly has not.

Given the simple, unavoidable fact that Mr. Thomas is bereft of both shame and a code of personal ethics, it is highly unlikely he will resign, especially if his wife is raking in the cash thanks to his decisions. In that event, the final remedy of impeachment must be deployed. The Supreme Court must not be a place for partisan political fundraising or friendly-donor back-slapping. It is the place of last recourse in our system of laws, and must be as far above reproof as can be humanly managed. Clarence Thomas is an embarrassment to the ideals of our system of government, and must go. He can choose to leave, or be removed by Constitutional remedy, but his time on the bench must be concluded.

Indeed.

Listen up, kid ...

Professor Myers writes a beautiful, open letter to a little girl:

...

Another problem is that if we can only trust what we have seen with our own two eyes in our short lives, then there's very little we can know at all. You probably know that there are penguins in Antarctica, and that the Civil War was fought in the 1860s, and that there are fish swimming deep in the ocean, and you also believe that Jesus was crucified two thousand years ago, but if I asked you "Were you there?" about each of those facts, you'd also have to answer "no" to each one. Does that mean they are all false?

Of course not. You know those things because you have other kinds of evidence. There are photographs and movies of penguins and fish, there are documents from the time of the Civil War, as well as the fact that in many places you can still find old bullets and cannon balls buried in the ground from the time of the war, and you have a book, the Bible, that tells stories about Jesus. You have evidence other than that you personally witnessed something.

...

Joke of the Day

Like Mitt Romney, Governor Goodhair of Texas only has a sense of humor if it's politically expedient. Also, like Mitt Romney, he can't tell a joke or read his audience:

Perry reportedly joked that he liked how a man named Jose Cuevas had been appointed to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission because his name sounds like Jose Cuervo, a brand of tequila. The joke fell flat.

Dipshit. Oh please, please, please run for President. There's a couple more spots left in the Republican Clown Car. If anything, it's gonna be entertaining*.

*And not because of the jokes ... or maybe more so.

Finally ...

Somebody's growing a set:

All I can say is it's about time some of the Democrats are calling out Republicans for something that's been obvious to me for some time, their willingness to wreck the economy for short term political gain.

...

It's been obvious to most of us since 20 Jan 2009. It's about time the Dems realize that the "collegial atmosphere" in the Congress is bullshit and the Rethugs are dealing in bad faith. I once thought (before the Bush years) that the Rethugs actually had the nation's best interest at heart, with merely a different way of getting there. I realized a while back that they don't care what happens to this nation because there is always some profit in it for them, whether the economy takes off or circles the bowl. They don't give a shit about anyone or anything except their "contributors" and their own careers.

False Alarm!

Colorado To End Medicaid Coverage Of Circumcision

Tamron Hall of MSNBC just said MediCARE coverage of circumcision had been eliminated! Whew! Glad I looked it up. Don't worry, my turtlenecked Alternate Brain, I'm not planning on that! You can come out now...

I bet that long line of old grey heads at the bris clinic evaporated in a hurry, though. Heh.

Desperadoes Waiting For A Train?

Going through old family photos is a trip! I have no idea when or where this photo was taken. Coulda been when my dad was in the Indian Service amongst the Assiniboine Sioux on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana in 1914 or twenty years later around my uncle Gordon's placer claims near Bumble Bee AZ. I tend toward the latter, but ¿quien sabe?. Thanks ta the interwebs I getsta look lotsa stuff up!

The sign in the upper left says 'Western Union - Telegraph - ?' I can't make out the 3rd line. Could these gents be waiting for a telegram to come in hopes one of them will get to ride the bicycle?

Click to make-um big

Mormons At The Door

Click to embiggen

Thanks to YubaNet.

Stems and seeds

Fixer's other garden

Raw Story

Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) will introduce legislation on Thursday to the U.S. House of Representatives that ends the federal prohibition on marijuana.

There's more, but 'Frank and Paul' is all you have to read. Nice try, gents, but that's the end of that. The two libs (-eral and -ertarian) don't have a snowball's chance in hell against the liquor, pharmaceutical, and prison lobbies.

Poof!

GOP magic trick: Making George W. Bush vanish

The way to do that is just hide him. Behind steel bars until his bones turn to dust.

Quote of the Day

Fareed Zakaria hits the nail right on the head in "How Today's Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality":

[...] We need more market mechanisms to cut medical costs, but Republicans don't bother to study existing health care systems anywhere else in the world. They resemble the old Marxists, who refused to look around at actual experience. "I know it works in practice," the old saw goes, "but does it work in theory?"

In theory, you can't get your head up your own ass, but in practice it sure works for Repugs.

Headline of the Day

Buy a half-gallon of sugar water at KFC, give a dollar to diabetes research

Say WHAT?!!

Digby's right ...

We can heap on the brown people all we want, but the truth of the matter is Osama bin Laden could have been hiding out here for all we knew:

In all seriousness, it is terribly ironic that [wanted murderer "Whitey"] Bulger was referenced by the Pakistanis as evidence that it's entirely possible for a notorious criminal to hide in plain sight and, lo and behold, it turns out he was doing just that.(Coincidence?)

...

This guy was on the lam 6 years longer than Osama and the FBI couldn't find him, though he was sunning his ass (and getting regular ass) in Santa Monica.

Maybe we should just shut up about "American Exceptionalism"; ya think?

Georgia is short 11,000 farm workers

Slippytoad at Kos pulls no punches:

I can't be condescending enough about the emerging economic clusterfuck in Georgia.

Arizona's massively racist immigration laws were seen to be a major political bonanza, and states across the nation have rushed to emulate it based on the fake popularity of the teabagger movement (and its inherent racism). So in 2010 Georgians voted in a raft of racist, stupid teabaggers to their statehouse. That racist teabagger government promptly wrote up and passed a racist immigration law that in no way, shape, or form took into account reality. Us stupid hippies on the left kept saying that the problem can't just be solved with a stroke of the pen, and that a lot of economic activity is predicated on the cheap illegal immigrant labor. And we were routinely mocked and ignored by right-wingers with partisan blinders stapled right the fuck over their corneas.

Well, as events have now shown, Georgia's farm economy faces a crisis of 11,000 laborers short and food is rotting in the fields. Nathan Deal, who looked like such a smug asshole a month ago as he signed the new racist immigration law now looks like a fumbling imbecile who will probably never hold public office again since he just deliberately derailed his states' economy.
...

I can't make it any clearer. I'm not happy that Georgia's farmers are currently hurting because they elected a racist fucknut to their Governor's office who then signed legislation that fucked over their economy. I'm just pointing it out for those who refuse to make the connection that these people are getting EXACTLY. WHAT. THEY. DESERVE.

I have zero sympathy for Georgia farmers. I hope it fucking hurts like hell, guys. You BLOODY WELL ASKED FOR IT.

It's almost too easy, but as ye sow, so shall ye reap. If there's little brown people to do your reaping, that is. The white farmers'd all have heart attacks and keel over in their fields if they tried doing that. I hope I am proved correct.

GA guv Fuckwad's got it all figured out:

Georgia authorities say there are about 100,000 people on parole in the state, of whom about 8,000 reside in the heavily agricultural southwestern portion of the state.

A quarter of the parolees in southwestern Georgia are unemployed, according to the governor.

Deal said that allowing parolees to replace the missing immigrant workers is an alternative which could at least partially solve the labor shortfall problem being faced on many Georgia farms.

"I believe this would be a great partial solution to our current status as we continue to move towards sustainable results with the legal options available," he said.

"Legal options available"? What? Round up parolees for forced labor at minimum wage or less if they can get away with it "legally"? I wonder what color the draftee farm workers will be?

And if the parolees don't wanta go, they can bust 'em for violating parole and put 'em back in the hoosegow. Then the state and private prisons can rent 'em out to the farmers at the minimum wage, pay the inmates a buck a day and pocket the difference. Sooner or later even the dimwit Georgians'll figure out how to skip the parolee middle-man. Look for an upswing of convictions for minor crimes come each harvest time.

There's an upside to this tho'! Good ol' nigger work songs!

Big deal ...

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats are leading the criticism of President Barack Obama’s troop withdrawal plan from Afghanistan, arguing that his timeline for bringing 33,000 U.S. troops home by next summer isn’t fast enough.

An initial drawdown of 10,000 troops is expected to take place in two phases, with 5,000 troops coming home this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year. An additional 20,000-plus are to follow by September 2012.

...

So what.

15 months to bring a third of our troops home? That's nothing and can easily be "surged" back when some ass-kissing flag officer decides we're "losing" again. The only thing I'll be satisfied with at this point is if the President comes on the TV and gives a firm date for all of our troops to come home. Fuck Karzai and fuck the Afghans. It's almost 10 years; if the Afghans wanted to "build a nation", they'd have done it by now or at least been well on their way. Another 5 years ain't gonna make a damn bit of difference one way or the other.

Achtung und Vorsicht!

Der Kommissar geht 'rum:

Republican/Teabaggers have long been known for their contempt for democracy. When the Republican/Teabaggers took over all three branches of the Michigan government, one of the first things they passed, after tax cuts, was a law overturning democratically elected city and town governments in favor of a Commissar with Plenary powers appointed by the governor. This was only to be done in emergencies, a common ploy of power grabs by tyrants, with the governor determining what is an emergency. Now a group of Michigan citizens have filed a law suit to declare this law unconstitutional and regain their democracy.

...

What's happening in Michigan is a little Fascist's wet dream.

A little musical accompaniment:

Falco - Der Kommissar (German)

Equivalence?

I think not.

(h/t Scout)

Up from the memory hole

Sarge's comment at this post reminded me of a heartwarming little poem, author unknown:

We shot the Krag at San Juan Hill,
The ought-three at Verdun,
The M-1 when there was killing to do,
The carbine just for fun.

Grrr...

Heads had better fucking roll over this.

Click 'toons to embiggen

Thanks to YubaNet.

Senseless, Reckless Driver Injures Cattle Dog, Animals, During Cattle Drive

Not as bad as the incident in Fixer's post but horrible just the same. This one happened in the next small and rural county north of me.

Maggie working the herd

YubaNet

June 21, 2011 - We started out the day on our annual cattle drive into the mountains with family and friends, and also celebrating Father's Day. This annual trek to the mountains involves about 200 head of cattle, a pilot car with signs and flashing lights, many riders and the cooperation of nearby residents.
...

The people living along the approximately two-mile stretch of road (Alleghany, Ridge Road east of Hwy 49 above North San Juan) bring their families to watch the cows go by, set up chairs roadside, take pictures and wave to us as we go by each year. It's usually a special event and most people love to watch it.

About 40 minutes into the event, an individual drove his car into the herd at high speed.
...

We all screamed for the driver to stop and spare the dog. He accelerated right into our dog and ran over her twice, then sped away at high speed on a rural road in Sierra County. Witnesses further down the road saw the driver racing along the road at extreme speeds.

The vehicle has been identified and the name of the suspect has been provided to Sierra County Sheriff and to CHP. This person is still on the loose and has not been apprehended yet. It happened Sunday on Father's Day about 9 am.

Editor's Note: According to the latest update, Maggie is doing better. Her owner, John Reader, hasn't been able to visit his dog yet as they have been in the mountains trying to find the hurt cattle from the incident.

There's a lotta meth out in those hills and I suspect it is involved here. I hope the bastard tries to escape and the cops have to shoot him. Not to kill him, just to cripple him.

By the way, Sierra County is so small and lightly populated that it doesn't have its own jail. It has one flashing red traffic light. There aren't many cops either, sometimes no backup at all. You don't fuck with 'em.

Hummmmmm...

If it's Wednesday it must be Morford. Links.

A mysterious throb deep in your bed

I get that too, but it stops if I don't put quarters in it...

We think we know so much. For every answer and breakthrough, a hundred more questions unpeel and spin off into the ether, beckoning us to follow. Maybe the Hum is just the Earth itself, doing what it's always done, vibrating low and deep, singing its timeless tune, occasionally reaching a pitch baffled bipeds can barely hear. Maybe it's the shift of the planet itself, the poles calmly realigning for the giant 2012 metaconscious whoopjamboree. Maybe the great goddess left her vibrator running. Again.

Creepy. Fascinating and entertaining too. Enjoy.

"one of the scariest sights in the entire American cultural tableau"

Opening ¶s from a piece by Matt Taibbi on the Crazy White Woman in Rolling Stone:

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and, as you consider the career and future presidential prospects of an incredible American phenomenon named Michele Bachmann, do one more thing. Don't laugh.

It may be the hardest thing you ever do, for Michele Bachmann is almost certainly the funniest thing that has ever happened to American presidential politics. Fans of obscure 1970s television may remember a short-lived children's show called Far Out Space Nuts, in which a pair of dimwitted NASA repairmen, one of whom is played by Bob (Gilligan) Denver, accidentally send themselves into space by pressing "launch" instead of "lunch" inside a capsule they were fixing at Cape Canaveral. This plot device roughly approximates the political and cultural mechanism that is sending Michele Bachmann hurtling in the direction of the Oval Office.

Go.

One more:

In modern American politics, being the right kind of ignorant and entertainingly crazy is like having a big right hand in boxing; you've always got a puncher's chance. And Bachmann is exactly the right kind of completely batshit crazy. Not medically crazy, not talking-to-herself-on-the-subway crazy, but grandiose crazy, late-stage Kim Jong-Il crazy — crazy in the sense that she's living completely inside her own mind, frenetically pacing the hallways of a vast sand castle she's built in there, unable to meaningfully communicate with the human beings on the other side of the moat, who are all presumed to be enemies.

Shorter: Batcrap crazy and no joke.

I don't care where, just hope it's soon...

Crazy White Woman announced her candidacy at the tiny-brained forum, er, 'Repug debate' the other day but nobody was watching so she's going to do it again this coming Monday in Waterloo IA in hopes someone other than the Dead End Quarter will notice. Or give a shit.

I offer her this classic old country song. I think it would make a nice campaign theme:

Thanks to rflowers57.

Took 'em a couple days ...

But they got this cocksucker:

Suffolk police Wednesday morning arrested a Medford* man in connection with the quadruple murder at a Medford pharmacy, according to a source familiar with the case.

Police took David Laffer, 33, into custody three days after the murders at Haven Drugs on Sunday, the source said.

...

Bastid killed 4 people, including a 17 year old girl, in cold blood in a pharmacy on Sunday for prescription drugs. Good on the Suffolk County PD. Times like this I like the death penalty.

*About 6 miles from my house.

Quick, fast ...

Trying to get shit done before it starts raining. Later ...

Dirt Bike Shootout!

Last week I posted on the non-ridin' puke playing Jon Huntsman in a campaign video. Santorum's fighting back. At least he got an actor who can ride. Probably had to pay him extra to take a dive as Huntsman at the end.

By the way the correct "Frothy Mixture" for the Huntsman/Santorum motorized turkey slap should be about 32:1. Heh.

TPMDC

Thanks to RickSantorum. No link for you.

On a personal note...

I was going through some old - and I mean old - family photos and ran across this one of my dad, Harley Atkins Moore, receiving a military education at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Missouri, in 1910. That's him in the center. I think he's just made a strategic rollout and the other cadets are straining to see his point...

Click to embiggen

One more. Here's dad, center, eight years later at the United States Army School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois in Champaign IL in 1918. He went on to be a Jenny pilot at Chanute Field, Rantoul IL. Air Force weenie, my ass. State of the art though they were, it took a pair to go up in one of those crates!

I don't know who the gents flanking him are, but at least they don't have MP armbands.



The white hat bands signify Aviation, but the other UofI students told the local girls it meant they had a venereal disease.

Pullin' The Dwarf Train*

Thanks to YubaNet.

*If you don't get the reference, ask.

Rabid Dog Mistaken for Tea Party Candidate

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (The Borowitz Report) – A rabid Doberman Pinscher jumped on stage at a Tea Party rally in Missouri on Labor Day and barked at the crowd for nearly twenty minutes before people realized he was not a candidate.

The dog, later identified by its owner as “Mister Buster,” held the crowd spellbound as he barked, growled, and frothed at the mouth, eventually receiving a standing ovation for his exertions.

“I liked what he had to say,” she said. ”He reminded me of Glenn Beck, only furrier.”
...

“I liked the way he bit off that guy’s hand, and the way he did his business in the middle of the stage,” she said. ”We need more of that in Washington.”

An understandable mistake, given the tone of the 'Bagger candidates and the intelligence of their supporters.

I wonder if he got road rash?

Think Progress

Prostitute Enthusiast David Vitter Continues To Be Embraced By GOP Leadership

I have nothing against enthusiasm for any particular activity of choice. I'm a Motorcycle Enthusiast, but I don't do it in diapers. Heh.

Question of the Day

When Did the US Begin Sacrificing Freedom and Democracy for Corporate Governance and Wealth as a Sign of Virtue?

Short A: The day Ronald Reagan got inaugurated.

Headline of the Day

Missing Iraq cash 'as high as $18bn'

AlJaYeesh...

Senator Arrested After Alleged Drunken SUV Joy Ride

Gawker

Idaho potato John McGee, who boasts on his website that he's the youngest member of his state's senate, celebrated Father's Day by engaging in some youthful indiscretions that he probably now very much regrets, as he sits in his Ada County Jail cell.

Seems McGee — state senate GOP Caucus chairman, a past "Republican Legislator of the Year," and a self-described advocate of roads and bridges—allegedly ended up driving along one of his beloved motorways last night after one too many rounds of drinks (and perhaps one too many rounds of golf, the sport of sin and scandal) (they forgot "boredom" - G):

According to the Ada County Sheriff's Office, McGee started the eventful night Saturday drinking in a golf course clubhouse. McGee left the clubhouse and began walking before coming to a Ford Excursion with a trailer hooked up. The SUV was unlocked with the keys inside. McGee got inside and drove away. At some point, McGee tried turning the vehicle and trailer around in a driveway near Overland and Victory in Boise. McGee was unsuccessful at turning around and the Excursion and trailer jack-knifed. McGee then exited the vehicle and walked back and forth a few times before climbing back in and going to sleep. Two witnesses in a nearby house were watching all of the events transpire and called police. When police arrived McGee told authorities he was on his way to Jackpot.

His BAC was .15. Speaking as a former professional drunk driver, that's almost twice the legal limit but barely a good buzz. Amateur Hour. It's always fun to see a Repug get busted for doing something illegal he's no good at.

Especially if he's a Ford guy. Heh.

Full Bras, Empty Heads

Think Progress

Newly Crowned Miss USA Was One Of Only Two Contestants Who Believe In Evolution

A California Girl, I am pleased to add!

It figures that most of the contestants believe in bullshit. Those beauty pageants are a throwback to the Good Old Days that never were and I'm sure appeal most to social conservatives, i.e. wingnut retards.

My idea of a Miss USA we can be proud of is more along the lines of Rachel Maddow.

"...the sure-to-be stupid fucking documentary about Sarah Palin"

First and last coupla ¶ from El Rude-o on the poster for Snowbilly Snooki's direct-to-the-tiny-brained movie (Fantasy).

First of all, the name of the sure-to-be stupid fucking documentary about Sarah Palin is utter horseshit. In 2002, she lost the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Alaska. And, well, also as the vice presidential candidate. So "The Undefeated" is correct only if you disregard her, you know, defeats.
...

Let's not even get into the clip art flags. Or the listing of Mark Levin and Andrew Breitbart as appearing (which makes this movie about as appealing as going down on a porcupine's twat).

But there's all the nation needs to know about its idiot queen. Oil. Power. Despoiled nature. Lies. America. The hagiography of the mascot of our descent into the mad dry heaves of this wretched century.

John Wayne's ghost oughta sue her over the filched title and odious comparison. Nah, he probably likes her.

Comment on a post at On My Mind.

I think "Self-Defeated" might be more appropriate..

There's a good chance of that and she has a track record. Let's hope she quits before she destroys all those awful and un-American windmills things like facts, truth, science, and reality.

I know a guy ...

In Germany who, around November every year, gets himself arrested so he'll have a warm place to sleep in the winter. Looks like people gotta do it here to be treated for their illnesses:

A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he had a gun, according to the police report.

...

Thanks to Susie for the link.

Back to the home ...

Grandpa; you're babbling again. God, what a pandering idiot:

The former Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been accused of "scapegoating" Mexicans over comments he made linking wildfires in his home state of Arizona to illegal immigration.

The issue ignited over the weekend when the US senator said there was "substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally. The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border".

...

In a sane world, they'd have thrown a net over this old fool when he chose Snowbilly Snooki for a running mate. In our world, he gets to mumble incoherently, like a crazy homeless guy in NYC having a conversation with a sewer drain, on every Sunday morning 'news' show and is taken seriously.

What a country!

Quote of the Day

Our pal Montag:

...

Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between a US corporation and an enemy combatant. And we might all be better served if they were both treated the same way.

I'll drink to that.

Happy Summer!

And, right on cue, the humidity is cranking up here on the Isle of Long. I'm gonna be schvitzed all day.

At least ...

We won't have to turn the light on* when we go to the bathroom in the middle of the night:

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.

Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews. [my em]

...

It's just a mater of time until something not good happens. When the bottom line is involved, safety is the first thing to go out the window.

Update:

And it ain't just the nuclear industry**, it seems:

Wondering whether natural gas and oil transportation pipelines are safe? Why not ask a neutral objective party -- like, say, the pipeline industry? The federal government’s Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is supposed to study and regulate pipeline safety. But as the San Francisco Chronicle discovered, in practice, the agency tends to hand that responsibility back over to the pipeline industry.

...

*Thanks to Chris for the link.

**Thanks to Blue Girl for the link.

Obama lookalike Kicked Off Stage At Repug "Leadership" Convention.

Crooks and Liars, with video.

I tell you, Klassy with a "K", these GOPers:

Three K's, Nicole.

Brown took the stage to laughter a few shouts of "Where's your birth certificate?"

Hoo! That's a knee-slapper there! Hey, remember when liberals couldn't criticize the president in a time of war because that made meant the terrorists won?

Some of the jokes were actually pretty funny. Good jokes are rarely in good taste, however.

More videos at YouTube, Part 1 and Part 2. The jokes that got his mic cut off and got him asked to leave the stage start at about 6:00 of part 2. Everything was going along OK until he started in on the Repug presidential candidates and the last straw was when he started in on the mental midget from Minnesota,

IOKIYAR to say any vile and untrue thing about Obama/Dems/liberals on F** or in Congress - our house - but to kid them in their house is beyond the pale. Thin skinned bastards when the joke's on them. They can kiss my ass.

Note to Mr. Brown: Gettin' kicked off the stage is the best thing that ever happened to your career! You got the Repugs nose outta joint and they've made you a star! You've got your 15 minutes. Run with it!

Joke of the Day

Mitt Romney is reported to have actually told this joke with a camera present:

Q: Why should you eat Eggs Benedict off a hubcap?

A: Because the best plate is chrome for the Hollandaise...

I think I tell it better.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Planeloads of Cash Sent to Iraq Missing
Those with knowledge of the missing $6 billion urged to call WeTip.

Workers' Share of National Income Hits New Low
Better to quit your job and inherit a fortune, say experts.

Japanese Researchers Synthesize Meat From Human Excrement
Goes great with bottle of recycled urine.

Big whoop. McDonald's has been doing that for years.

Study: Magic Mushrooms Could Have Health Benefits
Much more testing needed, say subjects.

Where do I sign up?!!!

Playboy Puts Entire 57 Years Online
Hailed as nostalgic stroll down mammary lane.

Oh boy! I don't even have to hold it up with my other hand now! Ain't these interwebs great?

And you thought I was kidding ...

About having to do yard work on Father's Day.

I got to play tree sturgeon.

Quote of the Day

Digby on the media concerning Washington sex scandals:

... The juvenile glee with which they pore over the most salacious details is best described as Beavis and Butthead go to Washington.

...

***

Cable guy's supposed to be here between 8 and 11 because the TVs in the bar and the Mrs. office have gone schizoid. I'm pretty sure it ain't my system (the TVs in my office and the bedroom are fine) so we got the tech coming. If I had any time, I'd take the two boxes to the cable store and swap them out but I figure I pay them enough every month, they can come out to me for once.

Took the day off

That says it all. Happy Fathers Day.

Being we spend so much ...

On our defense budget, you would think we can afford not to buy shit:

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Well, it turns out these ships are rusting faster than a '70s Datsun in New England.

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To all the dads out there ...

Happy Father's Day!

Now, go mow the fucking lawn. Heh ...