The Lie Du Jour

Repubs love to play the Opposite Game.  In one interesting variation, they insist on firing as many public employees as possible while screaming about how Obama has done nothing but increase the size of government.  And they do all that while claiming that only Repub presidents know how to get the government under control.

hat tip = The Atlantic

It's That Time Again

Time to look at who won The Peabody Awards this year.  Lemme see, if I say the phrase "excellence in broadcasting", who comes to mind?  Well, fortunately, the good folks at Univ of Georgia understand that it needs to mean a fair bunch more than just another catchy marketing slogan, so Mr Limbaugh is SOL - again - for something like the 40th year in a row.

And of course, the same goes for DumFux News.  They didn't win a Peabody this year either.  That puts their streak for not winning a Peabody (or any other award they didn't create for themselves) at right about 0-for-their-entire-fake-ass-fucking-existence.

Congrats to Stephen Colbert on his 2nd Peabody.  That makes 2 for Colbert and zero for Bill O'Reilley, and zero for Chris Wallace, and zero for Brett Baier, and zero for that whole sorry crew.  Stephen Colbert.  2 Peabody Awards.  You guys at DumFux got dick.  Again.

Read it and smirk.

Oh yeah, and just in case you need to throw around some numbers regarding "the most watched cable news shows"?  That much is correct - MSNBC has nothing on the air that pulls your numbers.  CNN can't match your viewership.  But you what show beats you?  Sponge Bob.  Y'know what else beats your numbers?  EVERY COOKING SHOW ON ANY NETWORK.  So go suck a pine cone.  Putz.

Naming Rights

I have a ridiculous man-crush on Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Know Your Shit

I hate this.  I hate thinking I need to teach my kids that the cops are not their friends, and are not looking out for them.



(hat tip = Balloon Juice)

Guns And Politics

Does the phrase "hoist by one's own petard" ring a bell?

Tampa city managers wanted to put up some temporary rules aimed at keeping the peace during the Repub convention this summer - just a few simple things like no guns in the immediate area of the convention site, and of course, they needed rules against all those troublesome protesters who tend to carry objects such as signs and flags, which we all know can be converted instantly into dangerous weapons since all of those dirty hippies have been extensively trained by the 3 guys in the New Black Panther Party.

Well, it just made some sense to Assistant City Att'y Rodriguez that, "... if we're going to regulate people carrying sticks and poles, why wouldn't we regulate people carrying firearms, because those could pose significant risks to police and other protesters".

But later, city attorneys removed the ban on guns after finding that Florida Statute 790.33 prohibits local governments from enacting any laws on the sale, purchase, transfer, taxation, manufacture, ownership, possession, storage or transportation of guns or ammunition. --Tampa Bay Times

So, lemme see - Politicians who (likely) are in favor of some kind of Universal Un-Abridgeable Gun Rights because "if everybody's packin' then everybody's bound to be more polite" - these guys decided it would be safer if nobody had guns at a political rally where tempers might reasonably be expected to flare just a bit; but their attempt to bring a little common sense to the street-level application of official policy was blocked by the overarching rule of a powerful centralized government in a place far removed from where the effects of these policies are actually felt.  Hmmm.  Why does that sound so familiar?

For the record, I really hope everything works out well in Tampa this summer, but part of me is also really looking forward to seeing a few chickens heading home to roost.

hat tip = Wonkette

Today's Pix

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break for my high schoolers, so we're gonna hit the road for a coupla days.  Dunno where we're going or what we'll be doing, but I'll try to get something up from somewhere on the road.

Later.

Planned Parenthood

"Pro-Life" is really code for "Government-Mandated Breeding".

(hat tip = Blue Gal)

Where's The Outrage?

From philly.com:

A 42-year-old Chester County man was arrested at the Philadelphia International Airport Thursday night after a TSA screener found a loaded, .25 caliber handgun tucked inside his carry-on luggage, police said.

Every time there's any kind of problem with anybody anywhere, we can count on the NRA and the gun fetishists to swarm all over it, screaming about their rights and declaring that if only all those poor innocent victims had been armed blah blah blah.

They've put guns in schools and in churches and in bars; and you know fucking well that they're bound to feel most threatened when they get on an airplane - so why don't we hear from them on this?

Juxtapose

I seem to recall a lot of polling going on over the question of water-boarding and various other "enhanced interrogation" techniques, and I also recall that people in general weren't all that het up about it, and that people in the American South in particular were less likely to to see these techniques as torture, less likely to condemn their use, and far less likely to support investigations.

Just makes me wonder how they square all that with this:

In Mississippi, S & M is against the law. Specifically, "The depiction or description of flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or in undergarments or in a bizarre or revealing costume for the purpose of sexual gratification."

hat tip = Hub Pages