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