Today's Gun Nut

(with apologies to Charlie Pierce for practically stealing his whole thing)

From a story out of Utah - picked up by the local ABC affiliate in Lynchburg VA:

Layton police arrested Niederhauser Jan. 31 after he fired two rounds at a suspected burglar and getaway driver leaving his home. No one was hurt, but police said the shots were unlawful because the burglar had dropped a crowbar he was carrying and was fleeing the property. The shots could have endangered somebody's life, police said.

"You know my feelings about arming morons."


Did we get maybe a little complacent?  Maybe a little inured by the constant reports of the Daily Gun Violence?  And are we maybe starting to come out of it a little?

It'd be nice to think we've finally started to pull back from the logical extreme where anything goes as long as it doesn't inconvenience me directly.  Maybe we're starting to understand a little more about how something that happens 8 or 9 states away from me might actually make its way around to me in potentially very inconvenient ways.

The Weepies

Today's Absurdity

In some ways, it just gets better.

Just The Way You Are

And on the flip side:

Tweety Attacks

One of the things we've desperately needed the Press Poodles to do for us is to start calling the GOP on its contradictory bullshit - and pointing out that it's not always balanced; it's not always a both-sides-do-it proposition.  Chris Matthews seems to be approaching dangerously close to the limits of reasonable tolerance.

Can You Say, "Flop Sweats"?

I knew you could.  How about, "not ready for prime time"?



A bad case of Performance Jitters almost always sneaks up on you at the worst possible time, and while it can happen to anybody, there's usually some kind of underlying reason for it (duh).  The big one of course, is that you're not feeling quite as well prepared as you'd like to be.  And there's always that little guy's voice in the back of your mind telling you to shut up and get outa there 'cuz you suck at this and nobody likes you. (I hate that little guy)

So anyway, Rubio does get a coupla points for trying to "do it live" instead of putting together a bunch of pre-recorded junk and just guessing at what the Prez was gonna say.  But I think the real problem is that he's not convinced of a good bunch of what he was saying, and when you haven't fully rationalized those internal conflicts, then your body language is going to betray you almost every time.

Emmylou

Today's WTF

GOP Backs Path to Citizenship Unless Obama Supports It

A new Washington Post poll finds that 70% of Americans said they would support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, including 60% of Republicans.

But when the same question was asked of a separate sample of respondents, this time with Obama's name attached to it, support dropped to 59% overall and just 39% among Republicans.

That Guy In The Funny Hat

So there's lots of buzz about why The-Pope-Formerly-Known-As-Ratburger would just up and quit the sweetest gig in all of Christendom.

I'll give ya'll my take on it, right after you enjoy a picture of all the fucks I give about Popes and other power freaks who like to manipulate people by threatening them with the reprisals of their imaginary friends:

Before he became Pope Benedict 16, Cardinal Ratzinger was the Catholic Church's  Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (aka The Inquisition - and yes, that Inquisition).  He also took it onto himself to have all of those inconvenient reports of priestly child molesting referred to his office so they could be thoroughly investigated (ie: crushed, sprinkled in lime and then buried).  So lemme see - the guy who knows where all those bodies are buried and which closets contain which creepy skeletons; the guy who knows everything about every member of the church hierarchy; the guy who handled the scandals so well it only cost the church $2 Billion in settlement payments (so far, that we know of) - that's the guy who gets elected Pope because of his supremely holy goodness and his outstanding moral excellence.  Horse shit.

And now, he's having a tough time keeping up with the busy schedule of Church Royalty so he steps humbly aside, wanting to leave it to someone with more energy and better capability of withstanding the rigors blah blah blah.

If you buy any of that, I've got a stud mule you'll be interested in too.

Fugelsang has a more complete wrap-up:

The Krugman Speaks (really)

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There seems to be a general mood in the US right now that guys like Krugman recognize as a special kind of taciturn, pinched-faced, gotta-make-sacrifices-and-just-buckle-down, Yankee-boot-strap, Calvinist bullshit.

And I sit here in my warm little basement in central Virginia, wondering when the semi-hopeful, grin-and-bear-it hollowness I see in so many people's eyes starts to turn them into the armies of desperation.