Carry Me Back

We have a governor here in Ol' Virginnie who seems unable to stop paying off on the political favors he thinks he owes to his supporters.

It started early when he stripped out the prohibition of discriminating against LGBT in the hiring decisions of State Government officials.

Then he sent Atty Gen Ken Cuccinelli on a dual quest - to attack AGW and Climate Change researchers at UVa; and to challenge The Affordable Care Act in federal court.

You may have heard about the recent beating he took on the first Anti-Choice attempt to punish women seeking to terminate pregnancies - to the point that he earned the nick name Governor McTransVaj.  He has since been pushing a version of the same bill that's just slightly less invasive, but still intends to put a TheoCon Bureaucrat between women and their doctors.

Well, the hits just keep rollin', because yesterday, he signed a bill repealing a law that restricts the purchase of hand guns to one gun per month.  This was in place for almost 20 years, and was supported by an awful lot of law enforcement organizations, and was recognized as having been fairly effective in cutting down on the supply of weapons for bad guys all along the east coast.  So apparently, since gangs are clever and they find ways around these little roadblocks - and of course, since our politicians and cops aren't clever enough to keep up with them, or something - there's no sense lettin' some other outfit profit from all the carnage; we need to get us a piece o' dat fer our own selves.

From WaPo:

McDonnell, who voted for the purchase limit as a delegate but campaigned for governor on a promise to overturn it, signed the bill just days after participating in a conference call with relatives of those affected by the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. The relatives had urged McDonnell not to sign the bill.

“He said, ‘I have a duty to protect the Second Amendment,’ ” said Lori Haas, a gun-control activist who participated in the call and whose daughter was injured during the Virginia Tech shooting. “The governor’s number one duty is to keep the citizens of Virginia safe. ... Expanding the ease with which criminals can get guns is certainly not going to keep Virginians safe.”

The comments section of the article is chock full of the usual crap about how the VT shooter had two guns that he bought a month apart, and it had no effect on the outcome, so why bother even having restrictions of any kind - everybody's safer if everybody's armed blah blah blah.  It just makes me sad.

Here's the thing:  If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.  Which will then make it a fuckload easier for us - AND THE COPS - to identify them as the bad guys!  What're ya, fuckin' stupid!?!

Some Local Shit

I'm trying to bring my political involvement a little closer to home, so my blogging will include a bit more concentration on issues at the State and County levels - here in Albemarle County, Virginia.

The GOP, having abandoned reason almost altogether; and having lost the issues of Recession and Unemployment; and being in the process of losing on The Role Of Government - the Repubs are reverting to form by whipping the 4 Dead Horses of the Non-Apocalypse: God, Guns, Gays and Gestation, plus 1, GOTV.

Here's the gist of Virginia's Voter Registration setup vs Gun Sales per PolitiFact Virginia via Richmond TImes Dispatch:

Identification
To register to vote, you must present a document that shows your name and address. It can be a valid photo ID, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document.

To cast a ballot, you must show identification or sign a statement -- subject to felony conviction for false information -- that you are the registered voter you represent yourself to be. This requirement is being altered by the General Assembly this year, a point we’ll address later.

To buy a gun from a licensed dealer in Virginia, you must show primary and secondary forms of identification. The primary document must be a state-issued photo ID. The secondary identification just needs to contain your current address and can be a utility bill, voter registration card, bank check or hunting or fishing license.

But in the case of private guns sales -- if you buy a firearm from an individual who is not a licensed dealer -- the identification requirements go away.

Application
To register to vote, you must fill out and submit an application 22 days before a general or primary election. The form can be submitted at variety of locations or by mail.

To buy a gun from a licensed dealer, you have to submit to a computerized background check run by the state police. It’s usually completed in a matter of minutes, but can take as long as four days. The background check does not apply to private gun sales, and such transactions can occur instantly.

Disqualification
You can’t vote if you are a felon and have not had your rights restored, or if you have been judged mentally incapacitated.

Many things could turn up on a background check that would bar someone from buying a gun from a licensed dealer. They include conviction or indictment on felony charges, an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanor or felony, outstanding protective or restraining orders, use of illegal drugs, mental incompetency judgement, orders for mental health treatment, dishonorable discharge from military, and conviction on domestic violence charges.

In private sales, it is a felony to knowingly sell a gun to a person who would be disqualified under the instant background check. But there is no onus on a private seller to inquire about a buyer’s background, and no requirement that a purchaser disclose whether he or she is legally qualified to buy a firearm in Virginia.

Interesting little mash-up between Gun Rights and Voting Rights, with Repubs being far more concerned that too many of "the wrong kinda people" get to vote than they are with those gettin' to buy a gun.  Classic.

Holy Fuck, Batman

Just when I tho't the GOP couldn't get much weirder:

On Friday, the Wyoming House of Representatives advanced a bill to set up a task force to prepare for the total economic and political collapse of the United States. Per the bill, the panel would investigate things like food storage options and metals-based currencies, to be implemented in the event of a major catastrophe.

Then it goes three steps further. An amendment by the bill's GOP sponsor, state Rep. David Miller, calls on the task force to examine "Conditions under which the state of Wyoming should implement a draft, raise a standing army, marine corps, navy and air force and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier." As Miller explained to the Casper Star-Tribune, "Things happen quickly sometimes."

A Navy - in Wyoming.

This is what you've been voting for, folks.  You either don't bother voting, or you actively participate in electing Republicans and this is the shit-for-brains, dangerously delusional, messages-from-outer-space-thru-your-dental-work asshats you're handing power to.

Does it simply not occur to anybody that putting these clods in office is actually precipitating the kind of collapse they're so paranoid about?

Please point out the Librul, or the Democrat who has proposed anything close to the equivalent of this horseshit.

The Richmond Clown College

We actually pay these guys for this.



Notice how (apparently) Mr Albo feels he has to trick his wife into having sex with him.  OK, so a little wine and some slow-hand maneuvering can be romantic and seductive (even in this High School Fuck-Around kinda way), but why do we need to know any of that?  What's the point?  And why exactly did she really lose her lust and bolt from his clutches warm and tender embrace?

This guy seems to think it was because of Mr Englin's use of the term 'vaginal', which Mr Albo can't even bring himself to utter.  But isn't it just as likely she was so turned off by this moron's attempts to install the Virginia State Government in every woman's crotch that she felt a sudden and urgent need to slap his doughy little face around to the other side of his stupid fuckin' head, and so her only real option was to flee?

Just askin'.

And remember - the bad guys don't show up looking like bad guys.  Sometimes, they show up looking all soft and cuddly and jovial; like this Albo schmuck.

(hat tip = Wonkette)

Today's Pix

Art Lover

The Official Publication of the Republican National Committee
"because the rubes will swallow anything" 

Yeesh

A Repub Rep from Oklahoma went a little over the top as he was speaking at a town hall meeting recently (from TPM):

Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) sent TPM a public apology Thursday after we obtained audio of the five-term Republican telling constituents at a town hall this week that he’d have to personally shoot members of the U.S. Senate to get a budget passed through the chamber.

Obviously, it's not good to suggest you might have to go all Saddam on them mutha-fuckahs; and it doesn't really help when you put out the standard un-apology.  But the thing that stuck for me is the reference he makes to the 28 Jobs Bills that he claims were passed by the House, but hung up in the Senate.

A little checking, and oh look - that rarest of natural occurrences - a politician lyin' his ass off.

Back in January, Crooks and Liars posted a pretty good breakdown of what this lunkhead considers "Jobs Bills".  (And BTW, the main clue that politicians might be lying - other than the fact that their lips are moving - is when they can't quite agree on the actual number of great things they've done for us lately).

To make sure they back up their public claims with what might appear to be "fact", they've built a page on the House of Representatives site with a list of their so-called jobs bills, which number 27 and not 30 as the Speaker claims. What follows is a list and a brief explanation of why they are not jobs bills. Feel free to share it widely with your friends who might be inclined to believe Mr. Tobacco Lobbyist Check Distributor without questioning it.

Why am I not surprised?  You get called out for coming really close to advocating physical violence against your political opponents; and then you issue a statement that you call an apology, but which is actually intended to deflect attention away from the fact that you're a strutting tin-plated Martinet.

"Yes, I was talking about wanting to murder people who disagree with me - but why is the media hung up on that and paying no attention to the totally fucked up legislation we've been pushing through?"

Fairly good question.  I'd usually say something like 'this is no accident', but I doubt this bozo is that smart.

And shit - I almost forgot.  Both sides do it, except when they don't.  Please show me the Dems who're saying they wanna shoot their colleagues.

Relaxed And Groovy

When Repubs are in the White House, we get Up With People and Pat Boone and Toby Keith - and it seems like everybody in the country's walking around with a big stick up their butts.

Put Dems in charge, and we get BB King and Derek Trucks and Mick Jagger - and even tho' we have plenty of big problems to sort out, and lots of very heated arguments to get through, it all just feels a little better now.  Dunno why.  It just does.

But - you know - all them politicians; they're all the same.  There's no difference.  

Are you fucking kidding!?!

Leadership is hard to put your finger on.  It doesn't lend itself well to objective measurements and the stuff they teach you in Business School about Planning and Action Items and Progress Metrics and the like.  It's difficult to see by direct observation, but leadership - management style - is always well-reflected in the postures and attitudes of the people in the organization.  Help people get their feet under them, let them get a little leverage, and you won't fucking believe what they can do.

It Just Slips Out

It's the old saw - "A gaffe is when somebody in politics accidentally tells the truth"

A big one at about :30.

(hat tip = TPM via Balloon Juice)

That's Great

My adopted home of Virginia is (deservedly, I'm sad to say) becoming the latest poster child for Stoopidly Brutal Government Intrusion.  You may have heard that our legislature has decided women need to be punished and humiliated - to get their minds right and to keep their place - whenever they feel the need to terminate a pregnancy.  If Gov McDonnell signs the bill, women seeking abortions will be required to submit to trans-vaginal sonography; and they will be required to view the pictures while being "counseled" by a clinician.

And the "procedure" has been given a name.  We call it "The Virginia Rape".  Now ain't that just wun-fuckin'-derful.

But guess who's defending this proposed atrocity - and with what kind of rhetoric?

(hat tip = Little Green Footballs, via Wonkette)


Not that it needs a lot of translation, but here it is in case you missed it: "Any woman seeking an abortion is obviously just a slut who wants to have sex with any-body, any-time, any-where, any-way, so what's one more little poke in the twat to a hag like her?"

Nothing could put a clearer focus on the simple fact that the Right Radicals in this country are no different than the Islamo-Fascists they say we need to hate.  As always, they are consumed by their zealotry, and they've become what they claim to despise.

There was a silent protest at the capitol in Richmond yesterday, and sources tell me there's a possibly huge push-back starting to gather steam among OBGYN clinicians.  Fingers crossed.

Ahh - Now I Get It

Let's connect some dots, shall we?

Rick Santorum is hell bent to stop abortion and to get them rascal wimmins off birth control.  Is it because he just luvs dem babies so much?  Well kinda, but not really.  At least not in the way he's been selling it to the rubes.

It's never about what they say it's about.

One good bite at about 1:55 ("What must we do to win?") with the big payoff starting at 2:25.  Give a listen.



Little Ricky's plan is all about beating Islam - by outbreeding them.  All of it.  Abortion, Contraception, Marriage, Immigration; the whole thing is about building up the Enemy into a mighty and malevolent threat, and making yourself out to be the man on the white horse - reluctant, but ultimately willing to lead the forces of good blah blah blah - sometimes my only wish is that I could spell the sound I make when I puke.

Silence Implies Consent - updated

Rick Santorum in 2011:


(hat tip = Democratic Underground)

He'd criminalize the abortion procedure; and he'd go after the doctors, but not the women seeking and/or consenting to the procedure.

Isn't that like saying you'd throw the bartender in jail, but not the drunk driver?

You'd go after the guy who shoots the husband in the face, but not the wife who hired him to do it?

I'm no scholar, but I think the Constitution works just a bit better than Little Ricky thinks it does - or wants it to.

And this is another one of those show-me-the-equivalence things.  Wingnuts like to get all frothy about "abortion on demand", but they just made that shit up.  I have yet to hear anything from "the left" that comes within a country mile of this kind of stupid.

So go ahead and run with this one, GOP - and you can kiss my ass good-bye for another 20 years.

(update) Leaving the woman out of the whole criminalization thingie is just more evidence that these Talibani Americanii aren't interested in anything women have to say about anything.  A woman has to "participate" beforehand, but once that part's over, then they can't possibly be trusted with any of the decisions that have to be addressed afterwards - only men get to do that stuff.  No soul and no honor.

Today In E'Ville

Winter in the Virginia Piedmont is usually just gray and damp and dismal, so we don't get many of these - where it snows a good bunch overnight, and the next day it's crisp and clear and all sparkly (added extra special bonus - the power stayed on the whole time - yay, and thank you, Jesus).  I'll take as many of these as I can get.

Here We Go Again - Maybe

Are we ginning up another war here?  I think prob'ly not.  This looks a lot like the kind of theater that gets put on when you're trying to work some of the levers internal to some other country.

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)



Of course, you can always count on Droopy Dog Lieberman to pretend Congress has anything at all to do with setting Foreign Policy; and the Press Poodles on DumFux News will run with it, especially when they can bring on a right-wing jughead to talk shit about Obama.

But this actually brings to mind a different point for me.  If you look at Americans who're likely to support the Iran-Must-Not-Go-Nuclear approach, I'll bet ass-wipes to Benjamins that demographic is gonna match up almost perfectly with people who say everybody's a lot safer when everybody owns a gun.  When a neighboring country owns nukes and ballistic missiles, how is that fundamentally different from your next-door neighbor owning shotguns and assault rifles?

A Small Question

Lots of righteous indignation this week when Darryl Issa (R-Haugpecker) held a committee hearing on the non-troversy over Contraception Coverage, neglecting to invite any women to participate.

Outrage was voiced by the pundits along these lines: "How does Congress debate a Women's Health issue without any women!?!"

I guess I'm wondering why anybody would accept any debate in Congress regarding ANY policy issue that doesn't include women.

You make your point stick a lot better if you can at least make it look a little less obviously political.

Rollin' 'Em

Along the same lines as the recent  "issue" of contraception, Obama follows it up with Eric Holder saying DoJ intends not to defend a provision in the Veterans' Bennies law that denies benefits to same-sex spouses.

It's not clear to me that they're saying the VA will stop denying those bennies, it's just that if you're denied and you challenge, then DoJ isn't gonna put up a fight.  Not quite as good as I think it oughta be, but they have to make it look like they're at least trying to follow the law.  There're still problems with the whole Torture and Illegal Imprisonment things out there, but hey - I'll take smallish improvements where I can get 'em.

Anyway, add this one to Contraception (and let's not forget DOMA), and we've got something that's starting to look like a pattern.

Obama is aware that the attitudes have shifted.  People who went along with the Right Radicals on the Culture War crap, thinking they'd get something good in return, are seeing now that there wasn't any real payoff at all - it was a gyp.  The Culture War is the agenda, and what you get for your trouble is fucked with your pants on.

So Obama rolls merrily along.  Once in a while he tosses a big hunk of juicy red meat out the window, and we all get to watch as a smaller and smaller pack of increasingly vicious feral dogs tear into each other trying to get at it.

One other little thing occurs to me.  I think this is looking like Obama is finding his footing, and learning how to use his expertise in Constitutional Law to drive the politics necessary to move his policy agenda forward.  Remember the big stupid show the House Repubs made of reading the Constitution, and requiring that every proposed bill include Constitutional compliance / justification?  I think Obama has taken that in hand like a blackjack and is in the process of wailin' the shit out of 'em with it.  I dunno of course, but it's more fun to watch now than it was just 6 or 8 months ago.

One Of My Questions

People in Red States collect more from Washington than they pay in.  So how come the voters in those states are usually the ones who're always screamin' the loudest about what a shitty deal they're getting from The Gubmint?

(hat tip = Balloon Juice)

Both Sides Do It

But one side ain't been tryin' this shit.

First, take a tweet from an Obama staffer:

Then, ignoring the the actual content (not just the context) of the Milbank piece Messina referred to, pretend that it's the Dems who're insulting Latinos.

And guess what?  Because they never check on anything, the rubes will swallow it whole.  Another bit of "evidence" is manufactured and another "truth" is born.

(hat tip = Wonkette)

Uh-Oh

I've seen a lot of posts in the last several months - on Lefty/Progressive websites mostly - that put up quotes or video clips from some "conservative" or another saying something that seems to be outside the norm for what passes for conservatives these days; asking what's happening to the Right Wing?  Why do these guys sound kinda reasonable all of a sudden?

Judge Napolitano on DumFux News:


Some are saying it's because the freaks that have been created by Rush and Rupert over the years are now out of the lab and threatening the villagers, so the propagandizers are trying to walk it all back a little.  Or maybe it's because Roger Ailes knows how to read, and he sees the polling numbers are softening to the point of meltdown.

Why does a media conglomerate that has no qualms about identifying itself as a proponent of an ideology suddenly veer away from that ideology?  I dunno, but I really do hope it's something mundane like Ad Revenues or Voter Disgust instead of my own little paranoid visions.

It pays to remember that the bad guys don't show up looking like the bad guys.  That's how they get in.  Tyranny and subjugation always arrive draped in a flag, clutching the scared text.

US Senate tries again on SOPA and PIPA.

Michigan's Public Act 4

Women In Combat

The obvious question: Is this what DumFux News claims is their unbiased approach to reporting the news during the day, and saving all the commentary for the evening shows?



But really, at about the 1:50 mark, Lizard-brain Trotta decides that the American fighting man is so outa control; so totally lacking in discipline and professionalism that of course he's gonna rape somebody - how can he help it when them wimmins is right there next to a big ol' steamin' hunk of love junk like his own bad self!?!

Yo, rubes - if you "honor the troops" so fuckin' much, how come you think they're all a bunch of slaverin' dogs?

Liz Trotta has no soul and no honor.

We Are Maybe No So Fucked - Yet

Privatizing certain things is not in itself a bad idea.  If we wanna build a new highway, we contract it out to private firms - that way, we don't have the on-going expense of keeping that capability in-house (and often idle between projects).  We also prevent some of the use-it-or-lose-it rationalization that goes on.

But there's a huge difference between privatizing the building of the road, and transferring ownership of the road from Public to Private.

Here's Maude Barlow talking about water (originally aired 2002).  Interesting by itself, but what really struck me was the bit starting at about 8:00.  Big Water (soon to rival, and then possibly dwarf Big Oil) is making significant progress in privatizing public water in places where there are some pretty bad governments.  This looks like a good thing is happening, but if Bad Government is the justification for privatizing, then it simply will become imperative for Big Water to support corrupt regimes in order to maintain the potential for expanding their market.



SInce Barlow's talk, people have won some of the battles against Big Water, but commerce never sleeps - the efforts continue.  Now we're seeing a change in tactics (I think).  The push now is towards consolidation of water districts.  If a local entity transfers control of its water services to a larger regional authority (eg: what's being discussed in Asheville NC), it gets a little easier for the water company to work their magic on the coin-operated politicians they've helped put in office at the state and national levels.

Don't bet against human nature.  Greed is a powerful motivator, but a figurative thirst for money and power is nothing compared with the real deal.

Both Sides Do It

Except they don't.

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)

A Thought

Ideology is a worldview held in spite of evidence to the contrary.

RIP

I don't spend any real time mourning the death of any given celebrity - whether I was a fan or not.  I can feel a selfish loss because they won't be putting out anything new for me to enjoy and/or learn from and/or bitch about; and I can sympathize with their families and friends, but beyond feeling varying degrees of "disturbance in The Force", my life goes on pretty much the same.

What I don't understand is why there are so many meat puppets who seem to go outa their way looking for excuses to tell us all how stupid they are.

(at Little Green Footballs - this is not pleasant - viewer discretion is advised.)

I don’t even know what to say about this any more. There’s a real sickness running rampant in the right wing; the Fox News comment thread on Whitney Houston’s death is yet another disgusting deluge of outright racism: Singer Whitney Houston Dies at 48 | Fox News.

There are almost 5000 comments posted in the thread — these are from the first few pages. Notice that the racist bastards deliberately misspell their slurs or insert random spaces, so they aren’t caught by word filters. And many of the worst comments have numerous “likes” from other commenters.

The comments at the DumFux News site have since been scrubbed up a little.

(hat tip = Balloon Juice)

Just Askin'

The Right Radicals think they have a huge issue with Obama's decision to mandate coverage for contraception by all employers with more than a certain number of people working for them.  BTW, this is what's known as "enforcing the law".  I realize this is a concept a lot of "conservatives" aren't familiar with, but trying to get everybody to follow the law is actually the president's job description according to the US Constitution, which is something else "conservatives" seem not to be overly familiar with, even tho' they run their mouths about it all the fucking time.

Anyway, if you're saying there are some outfits that should be granted exemptions because of principles they believe in; that they should be free to make their own decisions; that they have a Right To Choose - you're arguing in favor of the Pro-Choice position.

Or are you saying the Corporation has the right to decide, but not the people working for that Corporation?  And isn't that just a slightly different way of saying you want the Government to step in and make the decision for everybody?

What a bunch of fuckin' phonies.

It Gets Better

Wouldn't it be nice if every LGBT kid knew he could call a cop who actually gets it - and knew that cop was ready to kick ass to stand up for him if it turned out that's what was needed?
(hat tip = Balloon Juice)

Communication

Words.....................10%
Tone and Inflection.....20%
Body Language...........70%

St George Of Carlin

...the sanctity of life?  We made the whole fuckin' thing up.

Obamacraft

I'm kinda all over the place when it comes to supporting and/or trashing Obama.  He got elected partly because he had that Keep-Hope-Alive thing goin' on in a way Jesse Jackson  only wishes he could've pulled off back in the 80s.  So it seemed like he was making a lot of promises that "Libruls" love to hear, and anyway, after 8 years of Junior's Play Time Cluster Fuck how can you not vote for a guy like Obama?  But what I liked about him was that he talked about getting things back into a more conservative alignment with the US Constitution - Habeus Corpus, Gitmo, Military Commissions, Wire Taps, Reality-Based Gov't, etc.  I think the main reason he's disappointed me on some issues is that he ran up against a tangle of interlocking bureaucracies and constituencies that went into warp drive because of 9/11, and have no regard for Separation of Powers or State Borders or anything else that's supposed to do the whole Checks and Balances thing.

So anyway, here we are, nearing the end of his 1st term, and Obama's been lambasted by Right Radicals for everything forever; and he gets slammed from his left for being The Evil Centrist, and now with this flap over contraceptives, a lot of the "Lefties" are pissin' and moanin' about "why did he have to go and give those asshole Republicans an issue they can use to rally the rubes!?!"

Look at the numbers (hat tip = JG):

"Giving them an issue" in this case means they're likely to jump up and identify themselves as loud-mouthed bullies who're trying to impose their minority viewpoint against the majority of voters.  And that's exactly what's happening.

And what about the timing?  I have to think Sebelius laid this little land mine on purpose.  She did it just a few days before CPAC, which almost ensures it'll be topic number one, which makes all the big oily turds float to the top of the punch bowl for all the world to see.  I just can't help thinking Obama is pulling a classic Isolate-And-Bypass maneuver on these guys.

Seems to me that while Big O is pulling the body politic back to the left (ie: towards the middle where it belongs), he's finding ways to get the right radicals to help him by pushing from their end as well.

Call me an O-bot if you wanna, but to me this looks like the guy is startin' to roll 'em up pretty good.

Punish The Do-Gooders

A high school girls' basketball team wore pink unies as part of a fund-raiser for Make-A-Wish and the opposing team's AD and coaches used the "violation" to try to gain a competitive edge.

From NE (Nebraska) Prep Zone:

Before the third quarter began, Columbus coach Dave Licari discussed the uniforms with the officials. State rules require the home team's uniforms to be predominantly white.

The officials then called a technical foul on Burke, and a Columbus player sank both free throws. The Discoverers went on to win 62-47.

Some people have no soul and no honor.  Order solely for the sake of order is exactly the kind of bureaucratic tyranny that everybody rightly hates.

Today's Pix

Saul Alinsky

And BTW: when somebody sneers about "Obama's just a community organizer", I've taken to asking a couple of clarifying questions.

Does it mean you're against communities in general, or just the ones that are organized? 

--or--

When you say "community organizer" like that, do you really mean "uppity nigger"?

A Shortage Of Surprise

The rubes have become extremely well-conditioned.

Somebody took this:

PhotoShopped it into this:

And got this:

Influential conservative blogger Erick Erickson of Red State retweeted a link of the picture that said, “why oh why did Mitt Romney pose for this picture.”

Then there's this:

Now when I say "the rubes", it apparently has to include people like Erickson and at least one guy in the US House Of Representatives - people I would usually associate with propagating this nonsense; who I have always figured for cynical manipulators.  But when it's evident that these leaders of the cult have totally abandoned even small vestiges of healthy skepticism, I have to think we've turned some kinda corner into a very weird place.

I wish I was surprised by this, but I guess I'm not because it seems like a simple progression to the logical extreme.

Today's Pix

hat tip = AG

hat tip = JR

Banks vs The World

Minor throw-back tho'ts of "fuck the French" and "those pesky Germans are at it again".  But really, it's all about who owns the decisions when it comes to the money.

Testify

Gotta love this woman.

Remember

Where'd They Go?

For at least the last 15 years, I've been casting about, looking for anybody still visible and still with some power in the GOP who isn't totally upside down and backwards on every issue I care about.  And it's not a big list, but I don't feel the need to line it out right now because that's not my point.

Here's my point:  If you're wondering why it's so hard to find a Moderate in the GOP, it's because they're all Democrats now.

The graph is from voteview blog.  The big take away seems pretty obvious.  Once you get past Truman and Ike, everything trends in the "Conservative" direction.

Bamboozled - Again

NASA has come out with a new study that shoots holes in the last of the deniers' arguments  - that Solar Activity is the main cause of Global Warming.

Take a look at what's up at the NASA website:

Hansen's team concluded that Earth has absorbed more than half a watt more solar energy per square meter than it let off throughout the six year study period. The calculated value of the imbalance (0.58 watts of excess energy per square meter) is more than twice as much as the reduction in the amount of solar energy supplied to the planet between maximum and minimum solar activity (0.25 watts per square meter).

"The fact that we still see a positive imbalance despite the prolonged solar minimum isn't a surprise given what we've learned about the climate system, but it's worth noting because this provides unequivocal evidence that the sun is not the dominant driver of global warming," Hansen said.

Add this to a growing list of issues about which "Libruls" were right and "Conservatives" have been lying to us.

Corporate Taxes
Climate Change

Theatrics

We can look at National Security and think in terms of 'stupid' or 'farcical' or 'tragic' or 'melodramatic' or whatever - all of those things are pertinent if trivializing, but even if we're trying to apply more clear-eyed, bang-for-the-buck criteria, we're still losing.  We've thrown trillions of dollars at the War On Terrorism, and we've stripped away every meaningful protection for citizens' rights under the US Constitution, and we've accomplished nothing but the illusion of security.  And in fact, we've established a state of order in which our liberties are guaranteed only as long as a cop is feeling generous at any given moment.

from James Fallows:

The British couple, shown below in a photo via ABC, got in trouble for a slangy use of the word "destroy" in a Tweet.

And in the end, we're getting a near-exact duplicate (ie; Epic Fail) of the War On Drugs where lots and lots of junkies and casual pot smokers are sent to prison while hundreds of thousands of tons of every conceivable street drug make it to every neighborhood in this country.

In the ten years of Homeland Security, where the fuck is the real evidence that we're under anything close to a level of threat that would justify either the time effort and money, or the abandonment of our principles?

This is horseshit and we need to stop it.

Shoulda Knowed It

DumFux News is fond of saying the US Corporate Tax Rate is the 2nd highest in the world (35%), getting the rubes to pretend that the debate can just stop there.

Well, the non-rubes among us know that the Tax Rate has no meaning if nobody ever pays at that rate.

So guess what - the 'effective rate' is actually down around 12%.  And, the amount of Corp Taxes collected as a percentage of GDP is the lowest it's been since 1972.

So, once again, the "Libruls" were right, and the "Conservatives" have been lying to us.

From the Rupert Street Journal - full piece is behind the pay wall.

hat tip = Democratic Underground

Just Cuz

I think it would be all totally awesome and stuff to have somebody in the US Senate named Mazie.

A Tough Call (updated)

...but it looks like I have to say something along these lines:  Nancy Brinker (Susan Komen's sister) can go fuck herself.

Politicizing a healthcare issue is bad enough, but using a lame excuse to politicize it as a result of Guilt By Association because some prick in Congress is abusing his power - that's as low as it gets.

It's never about what they say it's about - listen for the telltale signs from what Lizz Winstead says at the end of this clip.



Support Planned Parenthood directly with a donation now.

Update via The Atlantic:

Hammarley explained that the Planned Parenthood issue had vexed Komen for some time. "About a year ago, a small group of people got together inside the organization to talk about what the options were, what would be the ramifications of staying the course, or of telling our affiliates they can't fund Planned Parenthood, or something in between." He went on, "As we looked at the ramifications of ceasing all funding, we felt it would be worse from a practical standpoint, from a public-relations standpoint, and from a mission standpoint. The mission standpoint is, 'How could we abandon our commitment to the screening work done by Planned Parenthood?'" But the Komen board made the decision despite the recommendation of the organization's professional staff to keep funding Planned Parenthood. (emphasis added)

This fish stinks from the head down.

The Great American Sing-Off

Obama opens with a quick Al Green bit:


And then there's Willard:


If you feel moved, and you need to sing, then you should sing - but Dude, if you insist on doin' it in public, ya gotta remember there's a hard and fast rule from Karaoke Nite: If you're not Delbert McClinton or Joe Cocker, never EVER follow the black guy.








O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country lov'd,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

War Tech

(hat tip = JG)
From Wired Magazine:

The U.S. military has been after self-guided bullets for years. Now, government researchers have finally made it happen: a bullet that can navigate itself a full mile before successfully nailing its target.

Got me to thinking - sometimes dangerous, always obsessive - and just a few quick Googlies later:

Tweety Speaks

Matthews is almost always going on about the politics of it all, no matter what weird shit's going on.  Maybe I've just not watched him that closely, but I've never heard this from him before.



Seems to fit with this:

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