Sep 29, 2013
Looking Back To See Our Own Arrival
Little Red State Fundy by driftglass:
One day we will have to explain to the children what happened when Thurston Howell III lost his right mind and decided that for the sake of some tax cuts to make him incrementally more comfortable, his very bestest buddies in the whole, wide world were the Ultra Right Wing Gorgons down in Jesusland.
May I suggest the following?
Little Red State Fundy found a grain of hate.
"Who will help me plant the hate?" she asked.
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she buried the hate in the bloody ground of the Old Confederacy. After a while it grew up paranoid and ignorant and violent.
"The hate is ripe now," said Little Red State Fundy. "Who will do the mass mailings and preach bigotry from the Pulpit?"
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she licked envelopes until her bill was cracked and dry and stood up into the House of God and crowed to her flocks in their millions that God Loved Them for hating and killing creatures who were not like them.
Then she asked, "Who will help me focus this hatred politically?"
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she made databases and phone banks, and walked door-to-door with petitions that talked of Gods Great Hatred of Gays, and Gods Great Hatred of Judges that did not worship the Hate God in exactly the way the Little Red State Fundy told them to.
Then she carried the hate to steps of the Congress and the White House.
"Who will make a mandate from this hate?" she asked.
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she got on the phone with her very good friend Karl Rove and with his help organized carpools to the polls, and get-out-the-vote drives, anti-gay marriage amendments and smear campaigns. For Jesus.
And Little Red State Fundy delivered the margin of victory and was featured in many, many magazines: without Little Red State Fundy, the Republican Party could never, ever, ever win anything.
And now everybody knew it.
Then she said, "Now who shall help me Rule the Earth."
"We will!" said Moderate Republicans, Undecideds, and Libertarians.
"I am quite sure you would," said Little Red State Fundy, "but see, now you are all my bitches."
Then she called Randall Terry and Tom DeLay and Ann Coulter and Jerry Falwell and Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson, and they and the rest of the Shining Path Republicans used what was left of the Constitution as ass-floss.
And judges were terrorized into silence.
And those deemed ungodly were beaten in the streets.
And they invaded whoever the fuck they felt like, for whatever fucking reason they chose.
And the very idea of a Free and Fair press died.
And to people who had been very clear all along that they genuinely believed in a Theocratic Nanny State and thought that precipitating Armageddon and triggering the Second Coming should be the highest calling of any worldly government, were handed over the police, courts, government, treasury and nuclear weapons stockpiles of the United States of America.
And in the end -- just as they had been warned for the past twenty years -- there was nothing whatsoever left at all for Moderate Republicans, Undecideds, and Libertarians.
One day we will have to explain to the children what happened when Thurston Howell III lost his right mind and decided that for the sake of some tax cuts to make him incrementally more comfortable, his very bestest buddies in the whole, wide world were the Ultra Right Wing Gorgons down in Jesusland.
May I suggest the following?
The Story of Little Red State Fundy
Little Red State Fundy found a grain of hate.
"Who will help me plant the hate?" she asked.
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she buried the hate in the bloody ground of the Old Confederacy. After a while it grew up paranoid and ignorant and violent.
"The hate is ripe now," said Little Red State Fundy. "Who will do the mass mailings and preach bigotry from the Pulpit?"
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she licked envelopes until her bill was cracked and dry and stood up into the House of God and crowed to her flocks in their millions that God Loved Them for hating and killing creatures who were not like them.
Then she asked, "Who will help me focus this hatred politically?"
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she made databases and phone banks, and walked door-to-door with petitions that talked of Gods Great Hatred of Gays, and Gods Great Hatred of Judges that did not worship the Hate God in exactly the way the Little Red State Fundy told them to.
Then she carried the hate to steps of the Congress and the White House.
"Who will make a mandate from this hate?" she asked.
"Not I," said the Moderate Republicans.
"Not I," said the Undecideds.
"Not I," said the Libertarians.
"Then I will," said Little Red State Fundy.
So she got on the phone with her very good friend Karl Rove and with his help organized carpools to the polls, and get-out-the-vote drives, anti-gay marriage amendments and smear campaigns. For Jesus.
And Little Red State Fundy delivered the margin of victory and was featured in many, many magazines: without Little Red State Fundy, the Republican Party could never, ever, ever win anything.
And now everybody knew it.
Then she said, "Now who shall help me Rule the Earth."
"We will!" said Moderate Republicans, Undecideds, and Libertarians.
"I am quite sure you would," said Little Red State Fundy, "but see, now you are all my bitches."
Then she called Randall Terry and Tom DeLay and Ann Coulter and Jerry Falwell and Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson, and they and the rest of the Shining Path Republicans used what was left of the Constitution as ass-floss.
And judges were terrorized into silence.
And those deemed ungodly were beaten in the streets.
And they invaded whoever the fuck they felt like, for whatever fucking reason they chose.
And the very idea of a Free and Fair press died.
And to people who had been very clear all along that they genuinely believed in a Theocratic Nanny State and thought that precipitating Armageddon and triggering the Second Coming should be the highest calling of any worldly government, were handed over the police, courts, government, treasury and nuclear weapons stockpiles of the United States of America.
And in the end -- just as they had been warned for the past twenty years -- there was nothing whatsoever left at all for Moderate Republicans, Undecideds, and Libertarians.
Sep 28, 2013
Today's PSA
Of all the slick shit(*) the Repubs have shoveled at us about the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, I think the one that's the most dishonest is how they talk about Obamacare as if it were a brand in itself. It isn't. If Obama hadn't folded like a fucking lawnchair on the Public Option, then maybe you could make that case - but he did so you can't so shut up already.
If you don't qualify for Medicare; and if you're not poor enough to be covered by your state's version of Medicaid; and if you don't wanna pay a fine; and if you want healthcare insurance, then you buy healthcare insurance from a healthcare insurance company. That's the law - deal with it.
(*)
The abortion surcharge
Medicare as we know it will end
Death Panels (you don't really need a link on that one, do ya?)
Raiding Medicare for $716 Billion
Obamacare will cost twice the original estimate
Employers are dropping their coverage because of Obamacare
and on and on and on
If you don't qualify for Medicare; and if you're not poor enough to be covered by your state's version of Medicaid; and if you don't wanna pay a fine; and if you want healthcare insurance, then you buy healthcare insurance from a healthcare insurance company. That's the law - deal with it.
(*)
The abortion surcharge
Medicare as we know it will end
Death Panels (you don't really need a link on that one, do ya?)
Raiding Medicare for $716 Billion
Obamacare will cost twice the original estimate
Employers are dropping their coverage because of Obamacare
and on and on and on
Sep 27, 2013
Today's Reading Assignment
(hat tip = Charlie Pierce)
Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone:
Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone:
This is the third act in an improbable triple-fucking of ordinary people that Wall Street is seeking to pull off as a shocker epilogue to the crisis era. Five years ago this fall, an epidemic of fraud and thievery in the financial-services industry triggered the collapse of our economy. The resultant loss of tax revenue plunged states everywhere into spiraling fiscal crises, and local governments suffered huge losses in their retirement portfolios – remember, these public pension funds were some of the most frequently targeted suckers upon whom Wall Street dumped its fraud-riddled mortgage-backed securities in the pre-crash years.
Today, the same Wall Street crowd that caused the crash is not merely rolling in money again but aggressively counterattacking on the public-relations front. The battle increasingly centers around public funds like state and municipal pensions. This war isn't just about money. Crucially, in ways invisible to most Americans, it's also about blame. In state after state, politicians are following the Rhode Island playbook, using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities.And nobody makes it easier to understand than Victor Juhasz:
Sep 26, 2013
A Question
If it's wrong to steal the wealth from rich people in order to make poor people less poor, then it's just as wrong to steal the labor from poor people in order to make rich people richer.
Having believed that first part while purposefully ignoring the second part is what haunts me about my own career history, and what leads me to believe that the flirtation with economic justice we've indulged in since the 1930s is all but over. We're sliding back into the old ways of doing things and so we need to call our system by it's more suitable name: Kleptonomics.
Having believed that first part while purposefully ignoring the second part is what haunts me about my own career history, and what leads me to believe that the flirtation with economic justice we've indulged in since the 1930s is all but over. We're sliding back into the old ways of doing things and so we need to call our system by it's more suitable name: Kleptonomics.
I've had a bad feeling when thinking about the downward pressure on real wages and earnings here in the US over the last few decades. It's almost as if somebody wants us to feel guilty about our success in order to make us more willing to do more and to accept less in return for it; while workers in other countries are portrayed as making "great strides" and how they're humble and so they're grateful for whatever crumbs the noble job-creators are willing to let fall from their tables; and so "why can't you spoiled rotten Americans just take whatever we give you and shut up about it?"
While we're being distracted by game shows and disaster porn and attention whores, the real meanings and merits of Socialism and Capitalism are being flipped and perverted until we have no idea what any of it means at all.
In confusion there is opportunity - somebody benefits while the credit and the culpability are shifted to those who least deserve them.
It all sounds way too conspiracy-theory-ish, but y'know, I may be paranoid but that don't mean nobody's out to get me.
Oh Yeah - I Get It
Mike's Rule #1: It's never about what they tell us it's about.
Ted Cruz goes on a gab jag in the well of the Senate, and then votes in favor of cloture on a bill he said he was on his gab jag trying to kill.
Seems not to make any sense at all, but these guys don't say and do the seemingly stupid things they say and do for no good reason. There's always a good reason, which will become clear eventually, which will involve some kind of play for money, which is how you get power, which is the whole fucking point for these guys.
From Daily Beast via Little Green Footballs:
Ted Cruz goes on a gab jag in the well of the Senate, and then votes in favor of cloture on a bill he said he was on his gab jag trying to kill.
Seems not to make any sense at all, but these guys don't say and do the seemingly stupid things they say and do for no good reason. There's always a good reason, which will become clear eventually, which will involve some kind of play for money, which is how you get power, which is the whole fucking point for these guys.
From Daily Beast via Little Green Footballs:
"These guys aren't stupid. They can read the votes,” says a veteran Republican operative. “That's why Republicans are so infuriated. Folks know exactly why they're doing this. They are using this issue and misleading conservatives in order to expand their own influence and raise money for themselves."
The biggest actors so far in Defund, Inc. have been Cruz, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, and the Senate Conservatives Fund, the leadership PAC that Jim DeMint launched as a senator and handed off to his former staff members to run as a conservative super PAC. While Cruz led the defund fight in the Senate this summer, the SCF led a huge parallel fight on the outside, setting up a website, running radio and television ads, robocalls and a direct mail campaign, all designed to raise money from still-hot conservative activists and urge them to sign a petition to tell Congress not to fund the health-care bill when they greenlight funding for the rest of the government.Don't be a rube.
Sep 25, 2013
Who Ya Gonna Be?
Now, if the obviously very clever and talented film makers could just come up with the 3rd and 4th alternatives - you know, kinda like real life - maybe it could help us figure out how not to buy into the bullshit of a strictly binary universe.
I do dearly love this little film tho'.
Coming Back To Haunt
When they talk about policies regarding the economy, lotsa Repubs make lotsa noise about "uncertainty", and they almost always lay it all at the feet of a dysfunctional gubmint; way too much red tape and regulations etc etc etc.
Now, when we're talking about the Repub plans to - I dunno, pick one - "starve the beast" or "shut the thing down" or "stand firm against raising the debt ceiling" or whatever - and because of all those threats we have an awful lot of the gubmint needlessly diverting hours and effort to implementing action plans for what happens if Teddy The Hostage Taker gets his way - isn't all that kinda contributing to the whole Uncertainty Thing in a pretty big way?
And don't we hafta ask who's doing the most when it comes to making our government dysfunctional in the first place?
It's a wonderment.
Now, when we're talking about the Repub plans to - I dunno, pick one - "starve the beast" or "shut the thing down" or "stand firm against raising the debt ceiling" or whatever - and because of all those threats we have an awful lot of the gubmint needlessly diverting hours and effort to implementing action plans for what happens if Teddy The Hostage Taker gets his way - isn't all that kinda contributing to the whole Uncertainty Thing in a pretty big way?
And don't we hafta ask who's doing the most when it comes to making our government dysfunctional in the first place?
It's a wonderment.
Testify, Sister
I'm very much Pro-Krystal on this one, while at the same time I just really wish her parents had been a tad more conscientious when it came time to pick a name for her.
Consumer Activism
I posted a few days ago about what a sludge bucket Lil Chuckie Todd is, and today over at Democratic Underground, they said the petition they started had 100,000 signatures, and yesterday I saw Todd on Alex Wagner and I turned it off immediately and today I sent a nastygram to MSNBC and here's the list of people at MSNBC you can annoy with your lefty radical complaints:
Executives in charge:
Deborah Turness, President, NBC News
Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC
Vivian Schiller, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, NBC News
Bill Wolff, Vice President, Primetime Programming, MSNBC
Mike Rubin, Vice President, Long Form Programming, MSNBC
Richard Wolffe, Vice President and Executive Editor, MSNBC.com
Media Relations:
For reporters looking for comment on MSNBC.com, please contact:
Danielle Lynn, Media Relations Manager
212.664.7403
Email: Danielle.Lynn@nbcuni.com
For reporters looking for comment on MSNBC TV, please call:
MSNBC Media Relations 212.664.6605
For viewers wishing to leave comments about a MSNBC program, please email: msnbctvinfo@nbcuni.com
Executives in charge:
Deborah Turness, President, NBC News
Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC
Vivian Schiller, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, NBC News
Bill Wolff, Vice President, Primetime Programming, MSNBC
Mike Rubin, Vice President, Long Form Programming, MSNBC
Richard Wolffe, Vice President and Executive Editor, MSNBC.com
Media Relations:
For reporters looking for comment on MSNBC.com, please contact:
Danielle Lynn, Media Relations Manager
212.664.7403
Email: Danielle.Lynn@nbcuni.com
For reporters looking for comment on MSNBC TV, please call:
MSNBC Media Relations 212.664.6605
For viewers wishing to leave comments about a MSNBC program, please email: msnbctvinfo@nbcuni.com
The Ol' Double Switch Two-Step
..with a half twist and an inverted flipflop in the pike position.
Repub candidate for Virginia's Lt Gov (EW Jackson) had a debate with the Dem (Ralph Northam). It was really just a polite chat for the most part because the temperature of our political discourse has been pretty high lately and for people who don't wanna think too hard - well, apparently they feel uncomfortable when it comes to doing any of the actual work required of citizens living in a system of self-government. So this was more yawn-fest than debate, but whatever.
And the kicker is the very standard rap that we need to recognize and be ready to stomp into the pavement whenever some slickster pulls it out: pretending that his right to express his opinion is under attack. It isn't - he's just making that shit up to deflect criticism. It's about the opinion itself, not the right to express the opinion.
Don't be a rube.
Repub candidate for Virginia's Lt Gov (EW Jackson) had a debate with the Dem (Ralph Northam). It was really just a polite chat for the most part because the temperature of our political discourse has been pretty high lately and for people who don't wanna think too hard - well, apparently they feel uncomfortable when it comes to doing any of the actual work required of citizens living in a system of self-government. So this was more yawn-fest than debate, but whatever.
Although the differences felt muted for much of the debate, the ending more than made up for it.
When Fox brought up Jackson’s record of inflammatory rhetoric, the Republican was ready. Saying he’d expected the question, Jackson surprised everyone in the George Mason University auditorium in Arlington by grabbing a tablet computer he had close at hand.
He then read a passage from the Virginia state constitution. It protects citizens’ rights to express any opinion whatsoever in matters of religion.The first point is that when you say one thing in church and then you say something very different out in public - yeah, that matters. Guys like Jackson have been screaming for years about how we need to get back to our Jesus-y roots and if only we cleaved a little more closely to our Sunday School lessons then government would be a walk in the park. But guess what - the handlers and image consultants have figured out that most of us just wanna puke whenever we hear our "public servants" yammering on about what their imaginary friends are going to do to us unless blah blah blah. So we've already seen a guy like Cuccinelli trying to distance himself from guys like Jackson; now we get the extra special spectacle of a guy like Jackson trying to distance himself from himself. Pretty neat trick.
To fault him for speaking out on religious issues, Jackson said, was to create a religious test for holding public office. It wasn’t fair when critics did it to Roman Catholic John Kennedy or to Mormon Mitt Romney, and it wasn’t fair to do it to him now. He knew the difference between what he professed in church and what he said as a politician.
And the kicker is the very standard rap that we need to recognize and be ready to stomp into the pavement whenever some slickster pulls it out: pretending that his right to express his opinion is under attack. It isn't - he's just making that shit up to deflect criticism. It's about the opinion itself, not the right to express the opinion.
Don't be a rube.
Sep 24, 2013
American Swastika
Seriously, fellas - what you're using to fetishize your misty-eyed fantasies of a glorious past really doesn't stand for what you pretend it stands for.
Slavery was a bad idea.
Secession in support of slavery was a bad idea.
Fighting a war to defend secession in order to support slavery was a bad idea.
3 strikes.
You're out.
Get the fuck over it.
How To Obamacare
healthcare.gov
If guys like Chuck Todd were real journalists and not just Press Poodles, we'd all know this stuff already.
If guys like Chuck Todd were real journalists and not just Press Poodles, we'd all know this stuff already.
Sep 23, 2013
Today's Gun Nut(s)
There's no good news here - including what would normally be a primo opportunity to say something about the the dark side of irony: "Well, at least the gun freaks are just shooting each other now - so maybe the problem will solve itself".
Breaking News
Breaking News
And yet, it's still going to be the NRA's position that people with guns prevent these incidents rather than cause them. It just sucks - top to bottom, side to side and front to back.
Nature Bats Last
A canary in a coal mine, and an albatross in the Pacific.
Makes me wonder if we have the guts to see the truth before it pops up and kicks us in the face.
Makes me wonder if we have the guts to see the truth before it pops up and kicks us in the face.
Sep 22, 2013
Unintended Consequences
Please please please - can we try a bit harder (or at all) to get over this self-imposed exile to Stoopidsville that makes it necessary for a semi-dipwad like Bill Nye to think he should do this kinda shit just to "raise awareness" a tiny bit in order to put a few bucks back into an honest effort at making some sense of the world around us by not just requiring our kids to study the sciences, but also by investing in things that'll give them a decent shot at working at real jobs in the fields we're forcing them to study in the first fuckin' place?
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