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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