Because when you don’t, Jon Stewart tees off on you something fierce:
Well, that will leave the proverbial mark.
Category: Politics
I Really Don’t Have Anything to Add
Some thugs who worked for the Rand Paul campaign beat up a MoveOn.org activist at the Senate debates in Kentucky. Pushed her to the ground, and stomped her head.
Talkingpoints Memo has more coverage, but I really do not have anything to add.
Tree of the Year: 2010
The tree is known as the Pterocarya fraxinifolia, though its common name is the Caucasian Wingnut.
It turns out that this tree, which originated in Iran, is actually way smarter than your average teabagger.
This Election is Getting Weird
First, Joe Miller says that the Berlin Wall is a good thing, and now he has his own merry band of Brownshirts
So, it appears that Alaska Republican Senate nominee has hired hired goons to harass the press in order to prevent them from asking him questions, and they just assaulted and handcuffed a journalist:
The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller’s private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school.
Tony Hopfinger was handcuffed by the guards and detained in a hallway at Central Middle School until Anchorage police came and told the guards to release Hopfinger.
I keep expecting this crowd to burst into Tomorrow Belongs to Me.
Christine O’Donnell may be the sane one of this lot.
Our political culture is broken in some very profound ways, and I have no clue as to how to fix it.
Wasp
Here is the windup
And here is the unforced error
For those of you who don’t know, Wasp is a book by Eric Frank Russell. It’s conceit is that a man is sent to infiltrate and subvert a planet held by the enemy.
Rather than conventional methods of espionage, like sabotage, the goal of the agents is to engender over-reactions from the authorities which would have them weakening themselves, much like a driver distracted by a wasp can kill himself and his passengers by driving into a bridge abutment.
Well, in the Kentucky Senate Race, Democrat Jack Conway ran an ad against Randroid nut job Republican Rand Paul bringing up his involvement in an anti-religious group at Baylor, and his frat hazing style “kidnapping” of a coed who he made to bow down to the “Aqua Buddha.”
I cannot claim to have a deep understanding of the politics, or the religiosity, of Kentucky, so I cannot speak to the direct effects of the advertisement (1st video), but I can speak to the secondary effects of the ad (2nd video) and it ain’t pretty.
Rand Paul is acting like a complete bitch, and his bit at the end where he huffily declares that he won’t shake hands at the end of the debate.
I’m with Theda Skocpol on the nervous Nellies who are wringing their hands over this:
One reason that Dems do not seem to be able to play hardball — in a viciously hardball political world — is that Dems often lack conviction or the will to be eloquently honest (for example, on taxes). But an equal problem is that when someone does play hardball, the rest of the prissy liberal Mugwumps tut-tut them about it.
The professional losing class can go Cheney themselves.
Honestly, I don’t care about Rand Paul’s religion. My guess is that his protestations of religion are a less than honest, since his idol Ayn Rand loathed religion, but politically, the important bit of electoral politics here here is that Rand Paul seriously lost his sh%$ on camera, and that was the real success of this ad.
BTW, if you wanted to use a cinematic reference rather than a literary reference, I would suggest that Jack Conway just Gaslighted Rand Paul.
Kochtopus
The Koch brothers, who have been using their Stalin derived fortunes* to back the teabaggers, have steadfastly denied any involvement in the movement.
Well, let’s role tape:
David Koch told New York Magazine earlier this year, “I’ve never been to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me.”
But the Guardian reports that footage has emerged showing David Koch at the podium during an AFP gala receiving direct and detailed reports from his astroturf AFP army on their efforts to organize tea parties around the nation.
It appears that, “Never been to a tea-party event,” means getting reports from the people you are bankrolling on stage in right wing speak.
*Really, patriarch Fred Koch made his fortune setting up refining for Josef Stalin.
So, the Solar Panels are Going Up at the White House
He will be putting both photovoltaic and hot water panels on the roof.
I’m honestly kind of surprised, seeing as how, less than a month ago, some solar enthusiasts were treated like complete crap for making this request.
I guess that someone thought that maybe that episode was a hippie cock punch too far.
Not Feeling Hopey Changey
The Obama administration has lifted the moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf.
Well, at least this means that Mary Landrieu has dropped her hold on Obama’s OMB chair, right?
It appears that she wants to be sure that the EPA and the Department of the Interior are sufficiently compliant:
“I am not going to release my hold on Jack Lew. Instead, I will take this time to look closely at how [Interior] is handling the issuing of permits and whether or not drilling activity in both shallow and deep water is resuming. When Congress reconvenes for the lame duck session next month, I will have had several weeks to evaluate if today’s lifting of the moratorium is actually putting people back to work,” Landrieu said in a prepared statement Tuesday after the Interior Department announced the lifting of the deepwater ban ahead of schedule.
You just got called a c*cks*ck*r by Mary F%$#ing Landrieu, and you are supposed to be the umpire, to mangle a Bull Durham moment.
What are you going to do now?
This is what happens when people know you have no guts.
Stop Drinking and Watch
Jon Stewart on unforced campaigning errors.
If you drink, you will spew:
Gotta Post This Before the Inevitable DMCA Take-Down
The best Simpsons opening ever, courtesy of graffiti artist great Banksey.
This is BRUTAL, and I understand why Murdoch does not want this to go viral:
The Simpsons – Banksy’s intro (HD) | Flabber
I think that their server is getting hammered, so let it buffer a bit before playing.
Politics Trumping Science In the Obama Administration
Yet another Bush policy that Obama has doubled down on.
In this case, we now have a report showing that the Obama administration actively suppressed science based reports from the NOAA during the BP oil spill:
The White House blocked government scientists from warning the American public of the potential environmental disaster caused by BP’s broken well in the Gulf of Mexico, a report released by the national commission investigating the oil spill said yesterday.
The report, produced by a panel appointed by Barack Obama to investigate the spill, said that about two weeks after the BP rig exploded scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asked the White House for permission to release their models showing their worst case scenarios for the spill.
The White House office of management and budget, which is a traditional clearing house for decisions, turned down the request, the report said, quoting interviews with administration officials.
The report, one of four released today by the commission, provides the most compelling evidence to date of direct attempts by the White House to spin the BP oil spill disaster.
I’ve been a cynic about Barack Obama since he started embracing gay bashers in late 2007, but his full court press to embrace and protect BP is something that has managed to disappoint me, and my expectations for him are remarkably low.
Teabaggers Hate Puppies
No, I’m serious. I’m not joking, and it’s not The Onion.
I mean that they have come out in favor of abusive puppy mills in Missouri.
Why are they doing this? Because puppies are just like cattle to Teabaggers, because, I guess, They Eat Puppies!!1!!
Again, really, I’m not joking:
A conservative group in Missouri is picking up the backing of the Tea Party and Joe The Plumber in its quest to stop the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal rights groups from passing “radical” anti-puppy mill legislation.
………
The Alliance For Truth also has the support of some better-known conservative activists, like Joe ‘The Plumber’ Wurzelbacher, who wrote on the Alliance For Truth site that the HSUS is “cowardly hiding behind animal cruelty, lying to our citizens and taking our constitutional rights away – one state at a time.”
He continues:
This bill forces breeders to limit the number of dogs they can own – regardless of care. Think about this a minute . . . . Should the government have the right to limit the number of houses a realtor can sell? Or the number of cattle a rancher can raise?
To serve puppies, it’s a cookbook!!!!!
<Facepalm>
I Believe That the Term Here is “Vigorish”*
Bummer of a birth mark, Sharron Angle
Nevada Republican Senate Candidate Sharron Angle had a meeting with the 3rs party Scott Ashjian in an attempt to get him out of the race.
Unfortunately for her Mr. Ashjians recorded the conversation, and she was offering a piece of the action:
Says the grass roots movement “gives me juice. That’s really all I can offer to you (Ashjian) is whatever juice I have, you have as well…You want to see DeMint, I have juice with him….I go to Washington, DC and want to see Jim DeMint, he’s right there for me. I want to see Tom Coburn, he’s right there for me. I want to see Mitch McConnell, he’s there.”
She goes on to say that Republicans are corrupt, and that she will lose if the Teabagger Ashjian stays in the race.
Let me make this clear: I do not support the surreptitious taping, and if this happened in a state where it’s illegal, like Maryland, I would support prosecution.
That being said, these revelations could not happen to a more deserving character.
Pass the popcorn.
*I believe that the “juice” in the quote is a reference to transactional profits similar to those of a bookie, hence “vigorish”.
So Far in the Closet He’s Found Narnia*
Let’s Roll Tape
An Assistant Attorney General for the state of Michigan, one Andrew Shirvell, has engaged in what can only be described as a relentless campaign of stalking, both Cyber and Real, against the Chris Armstrong, the gay president of the student assembly. (See the embedded vid)
Shirvell has now been placed on leave and is facing a disciplinary hearing, despite the fact that Michigan AG, and Christofascist right-winger, Mike Cox, has defended the right to stalk someone for being gay, no doubt because this is how Cox defines his base.
The crux of the batsh%$ insane jihad seems to be Armstrong’s push for LGBT friendly housing on campus, which has led the Assistant AG to make blog posts with swastikas, and to allegedly hang around and photograph Armstrong’s house in the early hours of the meeting, which has led him to file for a restraining order against Shirvell.
In the scheme of things, this incident will work itself out in the near term, the restraining order will likely be granted, and I’m pretty sure that Shirvell will eventually be fired, despite his being a long time supporter, and campaign worker, for Cox, because this has simply gotten too politically toxic.
This would all be silly and funny, but I figure than in the next 10-15 years, as Shirvell realizes what he is, and the video makes it clear that he is deeply in the closet, we are likely to hear a story about him in which the lede is, “Killed his wife and children, and then shot himself.”
*The bon mot is not mine, it’s from Bladesmith at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS.
Quote of the Day
Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it’s going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I’ve concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They’re full of sh%$.
–Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone
($# mine)
He had a conversation with a man who has worked as a tax assessor his whole life, and hence is being paid by our tax dollars, and whose wife is on Medicare, and has a scooter funded by the program, but they aren’t the problem, it’s the other who is sucking the marrow out of our society.
Just go read it.
Henry Rollins’ Is Saying Something About Politics
A metaphor for our times
Yes, it does sound like our body politic, particularly the bit infected with the teabagger manifestation:
I’ll tear (rip) your mind up, I’ll burn your soul
I’ll turn you into me, I’ll turn you into me
’cause I’m a liar, a liar, a liar, a liar…
Then again, the whole element of pathological need of the person to whom he is lying to keep believing reminds me of a wider range of political fanboi out there.
And the Stupid Motherf%$#ers Never Even Tried to Make it a Campaign Issue
So a measure to repeal tax subsidies to ship jobs overseas failed in the face of a Republican filibuster:
As expected, a Senate bill designed to end tax breaks for U.S. companies that move jobs and manufacturing plants overseas failed a key test vote Tuesday.
With a 53-45 vote, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic efforts to end debate and ultimately vote on a “jobs” bill.
Top Democrats have claimed the bill would help keep American jobs from going overseas. But when it came to the test vote, four Democrats voted with Republicans to block the bill.
Here is the kicker:
The bill came out of nowhere last week and wasn’t discussed or debated, as a package, by any of the Senate’s committees. It would have given companies a break on payroll taxes for new U.S. jobs that replace positions that had been based overseas.
It’s a f%$#ing election year, and you weren’t using this as a club to beat Republicans over the head with on a daily basis for weeks?
Are these motherf%$#ers trying to lose the election?
Actually, considering the video evidence, the answer to that is probably yes.
The White House as a Britcom*
I am watching this, and I can just imagine a nearly identical conversation involving
Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama as is going on between Sr. Humphreys and Minister Jim Hacker.
H/t Atrios for the video, but the insight is mine.
We call it diplomacy, Minister.
* British Comedy.
In the Annals of the Repulsive……
View Larger Map
They are just off of I-88, in case you want to leave a flaming bag of sh%$ on the town hall doorstep
The town of Sidney, New York has earned a special place in the annals of perfidity.
There is a small community of Muslims on a farm in this town of 5,993.
They also have a small cemetary, which was approved by the town council a few years ago, but after what appears to be years of harassment from the authorities, town supervisor Bob McCarthy wants a court order to force the bodies to be exhumed and removed from the property.
It is people like Bob McCarthy who make me despair for the future of America.
That sound you her is Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville spinning in his grave.
Stewart on the Republican Pledge
Why do I even bother blogging, when all I need to do is point you to Jon Stewart monologues:
Just to get this straight: Two years ago America broke up with you because you had badly mistreated her. And so you disappear, do some soul searching, get your head together. And you come back rapping on our door, hat in hand, and you say: ‘Baby, I know you left me, but if we get back together, I pledge to you, I promise you, I will still try to f%$#k your sister. Every chance I get. It’s who I am.’