My Kinda Guy - Kinda

I consider John Cole (Balloon Juice) a fellow traveller - a Conservative In Recovery.  And actually, I don't think of it as recovering from being conservative so much as trying to recover what being conservative should really mean.  But that begs for an attempt to define "conservative", which only turns "conservative" into "Conservat-ism", which is always where it falls apart because nothing fucks up a good philosophy like hanging that "ism" on the end of it.  The purists jump in and start weeding out those who don't conform - all in the name of "inclusion" and "the big tent", of course - which is where I think the Repubs are stuck now.  Eventually, the only planks left in the GOP Platform are Party Loyalty and Anti-Obama.

So "conservative" is a little like deciding between art and pornography - ya get to make that call for yourself, and nobody else.

But there's one thing more to put to rest before we can claim to be fully free of this Dark Side Politics.  We have to recognize this for the utter bullshit that it is:

Republicans might be crazy, but at least they fucking fight. Whether I am right or wrong, I stand up for what I believe.

I hear this a lot when people feel the need to criticize the Dems (usually for trying to play nice with their fellow Americans - which is kinda the fucking point in a democracy BTW).

You might as well say, "George Zimmerman may have goaded Trayvon Martin into a fight so he'd have an excuse to murder the kid in cold blood, but at least he was standing up for what he believed in".

You don't get points for fighting on the wrong fucking side.

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

Today's Pix

Aaargh

I love hearing about this stuff, but I always end up with a headache.

Water

It won't be long now.  Of all the shitty things George Zimmerman could've done, killing Trayvon Martin's about the shittiest there is.  Unfortunately, arguing the politics of that one act of race brutality will seem like a luxury we can't afford as we're forced to confront the realities of gullibility and willful ignorance regarding issues of our environment.



Two things stand out for me.  First is the fight over water rights - with the Tourism Lobby winning out over the rice farmers (you know - those inconsequential goobers who don't really do anything except grow the fucking food).

And second is the lady who says she's worried that the water supply problems will make people less likely to come to her little town to live, and that'll push down on her property value.

Gosh - maybe public policy might actually have a real effect on real people.  Maybe all them librul eggheads up there at that college knew sumthin' after all.

Maybe guys like me shouldn't say things like, "you voted yourselves into this mess, ya stoopid fuckin' rubes - why should it be up to anybody else to help get you out of it now?"  I'm really trying to be charitable here, but damn.

Pic O' The Day

Every time a candidate does the Food Pander, some joker snaps a pic that casts the poor schmuck in the most unflattering light possible, and then we all get to point and laugh.  As it should be.  But day-um, bubba - you'd think they'd learn a little something after a while.

DIY Music

(hat tip = Crooks and Liars)





What else ya gonna do on the way to your next gig?

Connecting Dots

Ya gotta be careful with correlations (not everybody lying down with their eyes closed is dead), but when these things pop up, we need to take a good look to make sure there's no real causatives in motion.
This one really bugs me because the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been another one of those "bloated and evil bureaucracies" the Repubs are always complaining about, and trying to defund and defang.

From USA Today:

Children's product recalls dropped 24% in 2011, but injuries and other incidents associated with these recalls grew 7%, a report out today says.

The decline in recalls is likely due to companies' adherence to a new children's product safety law, according to Kids In Danger, which did the report. But the advocacy group says that the secrecy surrounding product safety recalls makes it difficult to draw conclusions.

Product liability is a big deal.  It's one of the mainstays of an appropriately regulated Free Market System because if the customers have the kind of recourse that can kill a company (one that's been proven grossly negligent and is thereby in for a much-deserved major ass-whupping), then companies have to be aware of the stick that goes with the profit carrot.  But if the companies can buy some coin-operated politicians and first, make it harder to get good safety info; and second, make it a lot harder for us to mete out those beatings, then they improve their profits and shift more of the risk onto the buyers.

Don't be fooled - this is exactly what Tort Reform is about.

Music

For a Monday morning - Moby Grape's 8:05.

These guys were 2nd tier, but I think that was mostly because they were under-produced.  A better producer would've pushed them to write better tunes and to tighten up the all around execution.  But this is Revolution Rock, so "the old guy influence of the establishment" is nowhere to be found, which makes for a raw and visceral feel.  You just play; you let it happen; you turn it loose in the cosmos and it goes where it goes, man.

Anyway, it's easy to hear where guys like Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot came from in this cut.

Cue The Silliness

Get ready for the PhotoShop versions, which should start to surface any minute now.

Perspective

Abortion is about the biggest decision anybody is ever likely to have to make.
Which is pretty much why government should probably stay out of it.
Which is exactly why "conservatives" should be against letting the government anywhere near it.

hat tip = bluegal via facebook