Heh. I just had a little bit of fun with Storify.
I guess it won't embed, so go here to read.
Representative Steve Smith, according to his Twitter header, is a Tea Party Patriot from Georgia. I don't suppose this contains any great revelations, but it offers some clues as to how these people think. They really do live in their own alternate universe.
Showing posts with label clusterfrakery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clusterfrakery. Show all posts
February 17, 2014
October 5, 2013
The Madness of Tea Party George
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power." ~Charles A. Beard
As usual, Jim Wright nails it.
You cannot reason with people who are incapable of reason, whose fanatical positions are based on irrational discredited beliefs such as “death panels.” It is not possible to reach a rational compromise with these people because they are not rational people. And in the end, it is perfectly within the legal framework of the Constitution to ignore their minority insanity and move on.
Read the whole thing.
As usual, Jim Wright nails it.
You cannot reason with people who are incapable of reason, whose fanatical positions are based on irrational discredited beliefs such as “death panels.” It is not possible to reach a rational compromise with these people because they are not rational people. And in the end, it is perfectly within the legal framework of the Constitution to ignore their minority insanity and move on.
Read the whole thing.
September 21, 2013
The Bell Tolls For Thee
This was on the front page of today's Arizona Republic.
Phoenix summer was hottest ever: 3 months of misery wasn't all in your head
The story explained the average temperature in Phoenix from June through August was 95.1 degrees. This was followed by a little table listing the five hottest summers on record, dating from 1895.
The four hottest summers were 2013, 2011, 2007 and 2002.
Coincidence, I'm sure.
What I found interesting about this story (and not in a good way) is that the words "climate change" were never mentioned, and there was only a brief one-sentence quote in the story from a climate scientist.
The story also includes this, almost as a throwaway.
It wasn’t just Phoenix that simmered this summer. It was the fifth-hottest summer worldwide since record-keeping began in 1880, and the 15th-hottest in the United States, Crouch said. Most of the hotter areas were in the West.
Nationwide, the numbers reflect a warming trend of 1 degree over the past century. In Arizona, the increase has been about 2 degrees, he said.
It is a thoroughly irresponsible lapse in journalism to write these facts and not provide the explanation behind them--namely, that global warming is taking place, and humans are the cause.
Nonsense like this is why nothing will be done, and humans will continue their slide into the abyss, taking the planet with them.
Phoenix summer was hottest ever: 3 months of misery wasn't all in your head
The story explained the average temperature in Phoenix from June through August was 95.1 degrees. This was followed by a little table listing the five hottest summers on record, dating from 1895.
The four hottest summers were 2013, 2011, 2007 and 2002.
Coincidence, I'm sure.
What I found interesting about this story (and not in a good way) is that the words "climate change" were never mentioned, and there was only a brief one-sentence quote in the story from a climate scientist.
The story also includes this, almost as a throwaway.
It wasn’t just Phoenix that simmered this summer. It was the fifth-hottest summer worldwide since record-keeping began in 1880, and the 15th-hottest in the United States, Crouch said. Most of the hotter areas were in the West.
Nationwide, the numbers reflect a warming trend of 1 degree over the past century. In Arizona, the increase has been about 2 degrees, he said.
It is a thoroughly irresponsible lapse in journalism to write these facts and not provide the explanation behind them--namely, that global warming is taking place, and humans are the cause.
Nonsense like this is why nothing will be done, and humans will continue their slide into the abyss, taking the planet with them.
May 25, 2013
"Who was that masked man?"
There's been a lot of outrage, and deservedly so, about Representative Louie Gohmert telling a woman who had a medically necessary late-term abortion she should have given birth anyway. But nothing I've read has addressed this little snippet of his comment. (Maybe I look for these things because I read a lot of science fiction dystopias.)
Ms. Zink, having my great sympathy and empathy both. I still come back wondering, shouldn’t we wait… and see if the child can survive before we decide to rip him apart? So, these are ethical issues, they’re moral issues, they’re difficult issues, and the parents should certainly be consulted. But it just seems like, it’s a more educated decision if the child is in front of you to make those decisions.
The parents should certainly be consulted?
This lends a very creepy undertone to the whole thing. If the parents are not making the decision, then who the hell is? Who is this 'we' you speak of, kemosabe?
That's a rhetorical question, of course. Obviously, in Mr. Gohmert's mind, the omniscent, all-knowing State is the only entity capable of making such decisions, and we should bow to its godlike wisdom.
A party of small, limited government, my ass.
Ms. Zink, having my great sympathy and empathy both. I still come back wondering, shouldn’t we wait… and see if the child can survive before we decide to rip him apart? So, these are ethical issues, they’re moral issues, they’re difficult issues, and the parents should certainly be consulted. But it just seems like, it’s a more educated decision if the child is in front of you to make those decisions.
The parents should certainly be consulted?
This lends a very creepy undertone to the whole thing. If the parents are not making the decision, then who the hell is? Who is this 'we' you speak of, kemosabe?
That's a rhetorical question, of course. Obviously, in Mr. Gohmert's mind, the omniscent, all-knowing State is the only entity capable of making such decisions, and we should bow to its godlike wisdom.
A party of small, limited government, my ass.
February 26, 2013
Don 't Go Away Mad, Just Go Away
Seth MacFarlane says he won't return as Oscars host
Please. Pretty please, I beg thee, and implore Yahweh, Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Q, and whatever deities and supernatural beings exist in any dimension available, to make this happen.
Please. Pretty please, I beg thee, and implore Yahweh, Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Q, and whatever deities and supernatural beings exist in any dimension available, to make this happen.
September 17, 2012
Mitt Romney Unmasked
"I'm an uncaring asshole and proud of it." ~Chuck Palahniuk
Feel the contempt. Taste the scorn.
America, do you really want to vote for this soulless, contemptible prick?
Feel the contempt. Taste the scorn.
America, do you really want to vote for this soulless, contemptible prick?
September 12, 2012
Asshat of the Day
I've held off making Mitt Romney the Asshat of the Day, because if I really dedicated myself to it, I could have been making two or three posts a day for the past month and never had time to talk about anything else.
Now, however, he has done something so monumentally stupid I can't ignore it.
Let’s start by getting the facts straight. The Romney campaign has reduced itself to arguing with this statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, issued yesterdray:
The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
At the time this statement was released, the U.S. embassy was under siege from protesters and was trying to pacify crowds and prevent violence from occurring. Even if one disagrees with this sentiment, the rationale behind releasing it is not difficult to understand.
Still, that didn’t stop the Romney camp from going into full attack mode, unbelievably accusing the Obama Administration of "sympathiz(ing) with those who waged the attacks."
The marvelous Jim Wright from Stonekettle Station weighs in here.
I’ve read though the President’s public statement regarding the attack last night on American embassies in Egypt and Libya. I’ve read through them twice. I watched the videos. Hell, I even watched Fox News, because I figured if anybody would have tape of Obama palling around with terrorists, it would be them.
Nowhere, no Goddamned where, did I see President Obama express anything even vaguely resembling sympathy with those who waged the attacks – unless Mittens was implying that the family of US Ambassador to Libya, the late J. Christopher Stevens, and the families and friends of the other three slain State Department employees were in fact Muslim extremists who assaulted the embassies in Egypt and Libya. See, because those were the only people President Obama expressed sympathy for.
Looking at this event in the cold light of a rainy Alaskan afternoon, this is what I immediately [saw]:
Barack Obama condemned the attacks, he spoke against violence and expressed sadness for the dead and sympathy for their families and friends, he told us what he was doing to protect our people in similar situations around the globe, and he promised us justice. About what you would expect from your President in such a situation.
Mitt Romney attacked his own government and his fellow Americans.
The President was coldly angry, but determined in his public response to prevent further bloodshed, further violence.
Mitt was outraged.
The President’s concern was for the dead, for their families, for people.
Romney’s concern was that somebody touched our stuff.
Obama responded like a president.
Romney acted like a businessman.
Finally, from Andrew Sullivan.
Of course, sitting in my blogging chair on the Cape, I can demand as radical a defense of blasphemy and hate speech as Romney can. But I was not inside an embassy in a foreign country as mob violence was building outside and as the US government was being conflated entirely with a bigoted anti-Muslim fanatic. And practically speaking, the embassy was trying to calm a situation, not inflame it. And diplomacy in the real world, where American lives are at stake, can necessitate such frustrating but necessary nuances. But such nuances are lost on Romney, as is, it seems, the basic notion of agency and responsibility:
These people are simply unfit for the responsibility of running the United States. The knee-jerk judgments, based on ideology not reality; the inability to back down when you have said something obviously wrong; and the attempt to argue that the president of the US actually sympathized with those who murdered his own ambassador in Benghazi: these are disqualifying instincts for someone hoping to be the president of the US. Disqualifying.
I honestly don't know what is in the Romneybot's head. It certainly isn't any recognizable human thought. I wonder if he's subconsciously starting to realize that he's really, really not cut out for the job of being President, but his ego and sense of entitlement ("You people owe me that position, dammit!") won't let him back down.
The result?
Multiple cascade failures of the positronic brain. Shutdown imminent.
Now, however, he has done something so monumentally stupid I can't ignore it.
Let’s start by getting the facts straight. The Romney campaign has reduced itself to arguing with this statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, issued yesterdray:
The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
At the time this statement was released, the U.S. embassy was under siege from protesters and was trying to pacify crowds and prevent violence from occurring. Even if one disagrees with this sentiment, the rationale behind releasing it is not difficult to understand.
Still, that didn’t stop the Romney camp from going into full attack mode, unbelievably accusing the Obama Administration of "sympathiz(ing) with those who waged the attacks."
The marvelous Jim Wright from Stonekettle Station weighs in here.
I’ve read though the President’s public statement regarding the attack last night on American embassies in Egypt and Libya. I’ve read through them twice. I watched the videos. Hell, I even watched Fox News, because I figured if anybody would have tape of Obama palling around with terrorists, it would be them.
Nowhere, no Goddamned where, did I see President Obama express anything even vaguely resembling sympathy with those who waged the attacks – unless Mittens was implying that the family of US Ambassador to Libya, the late J. Christopher Stevens, and the families and friends of the other three slain State Department employees were in fact Muslim extremists who assaulted the embassies in Egypt and Libya. See, because those were the only people President Obama expressed sympathy for.
Looking at this event in the cold light of a rainy Alaskan afternoon, this is what I immediately [saw]:
Barack Obama condemned the attacks, he spoke against violence and expressed sadness for the dead and sympathy for their families and friends, he told us what he was doing to protect our people in similar situations around the globe, and he promised us justice. About what you would expect from your President in such a situation.
Mitt Romney attacked his own government and his fellow Americans.
The President was coldly angry, but determined in his public response to prevent further bloodshed, further violence.
Mitt was outraged.
The President’s concern was for the dead, for their families, for people.
Romney’s concern was that somebody touched our stuff.
Obama responded like a president.
Romney acted like a businessman.
Finally, from Andrew Sullivan.
Of course, sitting in my blogging chair on the Cape, I can demand as radical a defense of blasphemy and hate speech as Romney can. But I was not inside an embassy in a foreign country as mob violence was building outside and as the US government was being conflated entirely with a bigoted anti-Muslim fanatic. And practically speaking, the embassy was trying to calm a situation, not inflame it. And diplomacy in the real world, where American lives are at stake, can necessitate such frustrating but necessary nuances. But such nuances are lost on Romney, as is, it seems, the basic notion of agency and responsibility:
These people are simply unfit for the responsibility of running the United States. The knee-jerk judgments, based on ideology not reality; the inability to back down when you have said something obviously wrong; and the attempt to argue that the president of the US actually sympathized with those who murdered his own ambassador in Benghazi: these are disqualifying instincts for someone hoping to be the president of the US. Disqualifying.
I honestly don't know what is in the Romneybot's head. It certainly isn't any recognizable human thought. I wonder if he's subconsciously starting to realize that he's really, really not cut out for the job of being President, but his ego and sense of entitlement ("You people owe me that position, dammit!") won't let him back down.
The result?
Multiple cascade failures of the positronic brain. Shutdown imminent.
May 24, 2012
The Unicorn Conspiracy
So my Secretary of State, Ken Bennett, finally gave up his ridiculous "birther" crusade after Hawaii verified the facts of President Obama's birth.
(If I had been one of those Hawaiian officials Bennett kept pestering, I would have told him to take a flying leap at a rolling doughnut. You can't accept established facts? Sucks to be you.)
The thing that gets me is that Bennett supposedly began this stupidity because of 1,200 emails from constituents.
Honestly, it would surprise me greatly if there were only 1,200 nuts in my state. Nevertheless, does that mean we have to pay attention to them? Ken Bennett certainly ignored the petition (signed by more than 17,000 people) asking him to investigate whether or not Mitt Romney is a unicorn, and rightly so; such a supposition is ridiculous on its face (although a rather clever response).
So is the idea that the President was not born in this country.
Answer me this, Mr. Bennett. If 1200 of your constituents asked you to hunt down a Sasquatch, or drag Nessie from the murky waters of her loch, or dig up the alien bodies buried in Roswell, or open the old rusty hangar containing captured interstellar spacecraft in Area 51, would you sit up and hop to just because they're your constituents?
No? Then why would you pander to the equally loony birther crowd?
The proper response should have been this, a form email sent to all who questioned the President's birthplace.
Dear Arizona voter,
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the President's birth certificate. The answer to your question can be found here on the White House web site. As you'll see on the bottom of the PDF, Hawaii's state registrar on April 25, 2011 certified this is a true copy of the record on file.
Of course, you are free to reject this evidence, and it is your right to believe whatever you wish regarding the President. However, if you insist on pushing these cockamamie ideas, you will have to do it without the State of Arizona's help. As Secretary of State, I will not allow our wonderful state to be dragged into this ridiculousness.
I look forward to hearing from you on any other topic. Please do not bother me with this one again.
Sincerely,
Ken Bennett
See how easy that is?
(If I had been one of those Hawaiian officials Bennett kept pestering, I would have told him to take a flying leap at a rolling doughnut. You can't accept established facts? Sucks to be you.)
The thing that gets me is that Bennett supposedly began this stupidity because of 1,200 emails from constituents.
Honestly, it would surprise me greatly if there were only 1,200 nuts in my state. Nevertheless, does that mean we have to pay attention to them? Ken Bennett certainly ignored the petition (signed by more than 17,000 people) asking him to investigate whether or not Mitt Romney is a unicorn, and rightly so; such a supposition is ridiculous on its face (although a rather clever response).
So is the idea that the President was not born in this country.
Answer me this, Mr. Bennett. If 1200 of your constituents asked you to hunt down a Sasquatch, or drag Nessie from the murky waters of her loch, or dig up the alien bodies buried in Roswell, or open the old rusty hangar containing captured interstellar spacecraft in Area 51, would you sit up and hop to just because they're your constituents?
No? Then why would you pander to the equally loony birther crowd?
The proper response should have been this, a form email sent to all who questioned the President's birthplace.
Dear Arizona voter,
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the President's birth certificate. The answer to your question can be found here on the White House web site. As you'll see on the bottom of the PDF, Hawaii's state registrar on April 25, 2011 certified this is a true copy of the record on file.
Of course, you are free to reject this evidence, and it is your right to believe whatever you wish regarding the President. However, if you insist on pushing these cockamamie ideas, you will have to do it without the State of Arizona's help. As Secretary of State, I will not allow our wonderful state to be dragged into this ridiculousness.
I look forward to hearing from you on any other topic. Please do not bother me with this one again.
Sincerely,
Ken Bennett
See how easy that is?
March 24, 2012
"Women are not inherently anything but human"
"Men--their rights and nothing more; Women--their rights and nothing less." ~ Susan B. Anthony
This is a sad, horrible commentary on the state of this country.
I hope, forty or fifty years from now when I'm on my deathbed, I won't be reminiscing about an America "when women were free."
This is a sad, horrible commentary on the state of this country.
I hope, forty or fifty years from now when I'm on my deathbed, I won't be reminiscing about an America "when women were free."
March 11, 2012
The Purity Brigade
In my neck of the woods, this is called "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face."
Centrist Women Tell of Disenchantment With Republicans
You can't insult, belittle, demean and threaten 50% of the population and expect their support.
What's hilarious about this is that President Obama doesn't have to say a word. He's just standing back and watching the Republicans guarantee his re-election. The level of cluelessness on their part is just astonishing.
But I suppose that's what happens when you put purity and ideology (and religious precepts that absolutely do not belong in government) ahead of actually governing.
Centrist Women Tell of Disenchantment With Republicans
You can't insult, belittle, demean and threaten 50% of the population and expect their support.
What's hilarious about this is that President Obama doesn't have to say a word. He's just standing back and watching the Republicans guarantee his re-election. The level of cluelessness on their part is just astonishing.
But I suppose that's what happens when you put purity and ideology (and religious precepts that absolutely do not belong in government) ahead of actually governing.
February 23, 2012
"Persecution is a tribute the great must always pay"
"Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution." ~George Eliot
After watching last night's CNN Republican debate, I can only conclude that the modern-day Republican Party is of besieged* white males, by besieged white males, and for besieged white males.
No one else need apply.
(*Besieged by whom? You decide.)
After watching last night's CNN Republican debate, I can only conclude that the modern-day Republican Party is of besieged* white males, by besieged white males, and for besieged white males.
No one else need apply.
(*Besieged by whom? You decide.)
January 8, 2012
"Reality bites...and doesn't let go"
"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg." ~Abraham Lincoln
This is just beautiful.
Why I'm Leaving the Republican Party and Endorsing President Obama
The Republican Party refuses to look at what works and what doesn’t — they simply base policy on whether it fits into a rigid anti-government philosophy, whether it is good policy or not. Essentially, the effectiveness of policy is completely and totally irrelevant to Republicans. Additionally, the Republican Party believes more strongly in obstructing anything that President Obama proposes than in real solutions that would create jobs and help the average American.
(snip)
Even worse, the Republican Party has bamboozled the American people by portraying themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility. Any person who can recognize that some numbers are larger than other numbers know the obvious fact that the biggest spending Presidents are Republicans. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush alone are responsible for most of the national debt. Bill Clinton cut government and actually spent less money than was taken in…but George W. Bush quickly changed that.
I believe in smart government that effectively does what it should and leaves the rest to the private sector, while still recognizing the legitimacy of the existence of government. I believe in equal rights for all Americans, whether gay, straight, female, male, immigrant or naturally born. The Republican Party no longer believes in any of that.
This is called "living in the real world," the same place I am proud to admit I also inhabit. I will admit, I didn't always feel this way. Once upon a time, I used to (horrors!) watch Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity--the latter more because I thought he was cute than because I was really into what he was saying.
(Needless to say, that caveat does not apply to Bill O'Reilly.)
But the more I read, the more I followed links on the Internet and basically opened my mind, the more I realized these people--and by extension, anyone on Fox News and at Townhall--were simply not telling the truth. Or at the very least, distorting their "facts" beyond all recognition. The more I stepped back and thought about it, the more I realized the modern Republican "Party" had long ago abandoned the definition of a political party and was, in fact, taking on the mark of a religious cult...with Grover Norquist serving as its Grand High Poobah.
Last night's debate certainly drove home that point. I cannot believe one of those babbling idiots is going to win the nomination. Jon Huntsman sounded far and away the sanest of them all, and as others have remarked, he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning the nomination.
Really, what does that say about the Republican Party as a whole?
Any honest conservative should be saddened and dismayed by this turn of events. I would be tempted to feel sorry for them, if it weren't for the fact that if any of these yahoos gets into the White House, the country will crash and burn along with the party.
Be afraid, America. Be very afraid.
This is just beautiful.
Why I'm Leaving the Republican Party and Endorsing President Obama
The Republican Party refuses to look at what works and what doesn’t — they simply base policy on whether it fits into a rigid anti-government philosophy, whether it is good policy or not. Essentially, the effectiveness of policy is completely and totally irrelevant to Republicans. Additionally, the Republican Party believes more strongly in obstructing anything that President Obama proposes than in real solutions that would create jobs and help the average American.
(snip)
Even worse, the Republican Party has bamboozled the American people by portraying themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility. Any person who can recognize that some numbers are larger than other numbers know the obvious fact that the biggest spending Presidents are Republicans. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush alone are responsible for most of the national debt. Bill Clinton cut government and actually spent less money than was taken in…but George W. Bush quickly changed that.
I believe in smart government that effectively does what it should and leaves the rest to the private sector, while still recognizing the legitimacy of the existence of government. I believe in equal rights for all Americans, whether gay, straight, female, male, immigrant or naturally born. The Republican Party no longer believes in any of that.
This is called "living in the real world," the same place I am proud to admit I also inhabit. I will admit, I didn't always feel this way. Once upon a time, I used to (horrors!) watch Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity--the latter more because I thought he was cute than because I was really into what he was saying.
(Needless to say, that caveat does not apply to Bill O'Reilly.)
But the more I read, the more I followed links on the Internet and basically opened my mind, the more I realized these people--and by extension, anyone on Fox News and at Townhall--were simply not telling the truth. Or at the very least, distorting their "facts" beyond all recognition. The more I stepped back and thought about it, the more I realized the modern Republican "Party" had long ago abandoned the definition of a political party and was, in fact, taking on the mark of a religious cult...with Grover Norquist serving as its Grand High Poobah.
Last night's debate certainly drove home that point. I cannot believe one of those babbling idiots is going to win the nomination. Jon Huntsman sounded far and away the sanest of them all, and as others have remarked, he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning the nomination.
Really, what does that say about the Republican Party as a whole?
Any honest conservative should be saddened and dismayed by this turn of events. I would be tempted to feel sorry for them, if it weren't for the fact that if any of these yahoos gets into the White House, the country will crash and burn along with the party.
Be afraid, America. Be very afraid.
December 24, 2011
"He uses his folly like a stalking horse"
The obvious types of American fascists are dealt with on the air and in the press. These demagogues and stooges are fronts for others. Dangerous as these people may be, they are not so significant as thousands of other people who have never been mentioned. ~Henry Wallace
I love the articles from the Guardian about American politics.
One can only guess what John Boehner's strategy has been during the past week over the payroll tax cuts. But it looks like he employed the "full bowel technique" with equal success. His Tea Party caucus kept stuffing him with rhetorical bran muffins so that every time he went to a microphone he was full of it.
Poor muffins. I feel sorry for them. It can't be easy being forced into the service of Tea Party nonsense.
Adrenalin could keep the Tea Party going only so long outside the fetid ecosystem of Fox News, talk radio and the internet, before reality intervened and forced some kind of reckoning.
It continues to amaze me how obvious the reality of Fox News and talk radio is to the rest of the world, and how strenuously Tea Partiers and most Repubicans continue to deny it, clinging to their noxious little Roger Ailes bubble.
I don't agree with everything this writer says--he doesn't understand the depth and depravity of Republican hostage-taking, for example, especially over the debt ceiling. See here for an excellent analysis of how the President beat the Republicans at their own game.
The article's got the Tea Party Republicans nailed, however.
The Tea Party keeps thrashing around for someone, anyone, in whom they can invest their zeal and who the rest of their party (never mind the rest of the country) can live with. They've pretty much been through the pack and just when you think they've hit bottom they plumb new depths. It turns out there is no one who both makes sense to the Tea Party and the rest of the world, let alone their fellow Republicans. These are the people who have been dictating the pace and shape of economic reform for the last year. These are the birthers who believe in death panels, hate government intrusion unless it involves a woman's uterus and love wars and tax cuts but hate budget deficits.
Hopefully they'll thrash themselves right out of Washington.
In the meantime, we desperately need a press who will tell the truth about what's happening, no matter the howls and whines from Republicans about "liberal bias." Facts are facts, and if they lean towards liberals, so be it. That's called reality. But if the American press won't provide this, it's good to know that there's someone in the world who will.
I love the articles from the Guardian about American politics.
One can only guess what John Boehner's strategy has been during the past week over the payroll tax cuts. But it looks like he employed the "full bowel technique" with equal success. His Tea Party caucus kept stuffing him with rhetorical bran muffins so that every time he went to a microphone he was full of it.
Poor muffins. I feel sorry for them. It can't be easy being forced into the service of Tea Party nonsense.
Adrenalin could keep the Tea Party going only so long outside the fetid ecosystem of Fox News, talk radio and the internet, before reality intervened and forced some kind of reckoning.
It continues to amaze me how obvious the reality of Fox News and talk radio is to the rest of the world, and how strenuously Tea Partiers and most Repubicans continue to deny it, clinging to their noxious little Roger Ailes bubble.
I don't agree with everything this writer says--he doesn't understand the depth and depravity of Republican hostage-taking, for example, especially over the debt ceiling. See here for an excellent analysis of how the President beat the Republicans at their own game.
The article's got the Tea Party Republicans nailed, however.
The Tea Party keeps thrashing around for someone, anyone, in whom they can invest their zeal and who the rest of their party (never mind the rest of the country) can live with. They've pretty much been through the pack and just when you think they've hit bottom they plumb new depths. It turns out there is no one who both makes sense to the Tea Party and the rest of the world, let alone their fellow Republicans. These are the people who have been dictating the pace and shape of economic reform for the last year. These are the birthers who believe in death panels, hate government intrusion unless it involves a woman's uterus and love wars and tax cuts but hate budget deficits.
Hopefully they'll thrash themselves right out of Washington.
In the meantime, we desperately need a press who will tell the truth about what's happening, no matter the howls and whines from Republicans about "liberal bias." Facts are facts, and if they lean towards liberals, so be it. That's called reality. But if the American press won't provide this, it's good to know that there's someone in the world who will.
December 18, 2011
"Nothing weighs lighter than a promise"
"Some persons make promises for the pleasure of breaking them." ~William Hazlett
Cthulhu on a cracker. Now the House Republicans want to gum up the works, after John Boehner gave Mitch McConnell the green light to negotiate an agreement on the payroll tax cut with Harry Reid.
Boehner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that the two-month renewal would create added uncertainty for workers, and employers and Congress should delay its holiday break to ensure that a one-year extension was passed.
Well, gee whiz, isn't that what the President demanded in the first place?
By opposing the Senate bill, Boehner is siding with conservative and Tea Party-backed Republicans in the House whom he has had difficulty bringing under control all year, particularly on budget and spending measures.
This just shows what a terrible Speaker of the House John Boehner is. Nancy Pelosi would have these lizards quivering under their rocks by now.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, noted on Sunday that Boehner had left negotiations on a compromise deal to Reid and his Republican counterpart Senator Mitch McConnell.
And now he's reneging. This isn't surprising, and certainly not out of the ordinary for Republicans. That doesn't make it any less reprehensible.
Moral of this story: If you want better legislation, don't yell at President Obama. Get off your ass and work to elect a better Congress.
Start with getting rid of all these Tea Party non-Patriots.
Cthulhu on a cracker. Now the House Republicans want to gum up the works, after John Boehner gave Mitch McConnell the green light to negotiate an agreement on the payroll tax cut with Harry Reid.
Boehner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that the two-month renewal would create added uncertainty for workers, and employers and Congress should delay its holiday break to ensure that a one-year extension was passed.
Well, gee whiz, isn't that what the President demanded in the first place?
By opposing the Senate bill, Boehner is siding with conservative and Tea Party-backed Republicans in the House whom he has had difficulty bringing under control all year, particularly on budget and spending measures.
They defied his leadership in debt-limit negotiations that brought the United States to the brink of default over the summer and cost Washington its prized Triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poor’s.
This just shows what a terrible Speaker of the House John Boehner is. Nancy Pelosi would have these lizards quivering under their rocks by now.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, noted on Sunday that Boehner had left negotiations on a compromise deal to Reid and his Republican counterpart Senator Mitch McConnell.
Boehner was also known to have been kept informed of the Senate negotiations that produced a deal on Friday night.
And now he's reneging. This isn't surprising, and certainly not out of the ordinary for Republicans. That doesn't make it any less reprehensible.
Moral of this story: If you want better legislation, don't yell at President Obama. Get off your ass and work to elect a better Congress.
Start with getting rid of all these Tea Party non-Patriots.
December 16, 2011
"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
"To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, but to imagine your facts is another." ~John Burroughs
So. Last night I finally gave in to my probably fatal curiosity and watched part of a Republican debate.
Honest to God, I thought I was viewing the Fox News version of the Colbert Report. The sad part is, they're totally serious.
A bigger train wreck I have never seen unfold. If any of these people are elected to the Presidency, it will be an unmitigated disaster for this country and the world.
When Michelle Bachmann declared herself a "serious candidate for President" and asserted that her statements were "factually accurate" (not that Newtie wasn't being condescending, but come on), the planet shook on its axis.
One could wish the multiverse did in fact exist, so I could be spun into a universe far, far away from this madness.
So. Last night I finally gave in to my probably fatal curiosity and watched part of a Republican debate.
Honest to God, I thought I was viewing the Fox News version of the Colbert Report. The sad part is, they're totally serious.
A bigger train wreck I have never seen unfold. If any of these people are elected to the Presidency, it will be an unmitigated disaster for this country and the world.
When Michelle Bachmann declared herself a "serious candidate for President" and asserted that her statements were "factually accurate" (not that Newtie wasn't being condescending, but come on), the planet shook on its axis.
One could wish the multiverse did in fact exist, so I could be spun into a universe far, far away from this madness.
December 4, 2011
A Club of Liars, Demagogues, and Fools
Wow. The Germans don't mince any words, do they?
A Club of Liars, Demagogues, and Fools—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)
Money quote here: "They are also ruining the reputation of the United States."
With the way Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich blather on about "American exceptionalism," you'd think they would volunteer to drop out of the race just on that count alone.
Oh well. One can dream.
A Club of Liars, Demagogues, and Fools—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)
Money quote here: "They are also ruining the reputation of the United States."
With the way Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich blather on about "American exceptionalism," you'd think they would volunteer to drop out of the race just on that count alone.
Oh well. One can dream.
November 21, 2011
"Only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself"
"If you think you are good enough, you have just started your decline." ~Unknown
Well. What goes around will eventually come around.
The law firm that had a Halloween party mocking the people they foreclosed on has gone out of business.
After the Times published those pictures of Baum employees gleefully mocking down-on-their-luck homeowners at a super fun Halloween party, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cut Baum off.
Of course, Nocera's column was just the final straw. According to the Long Island Bankruptcy Blog, Baum filed "more foreclosure proceedings against New York homeowners than any other attorney in New York's history." How did he do it? By filing error-filled "robo-signed" documents, and using shady tactics that one Long Island judge likened to something out of the "Twilight Zone." Last month, Baum paid a $2 million fine to settle a Federal case accusing the firm of filing misleading papers to rush along foreclosures.
The scary thing about this is, were it not for their limitless hubris, boasting about their misdeeds and mocking the people they hurt, it might have turned out differently.
Well. What goes around will eventually come around.
The law firm that had a Halloween party mocking the people they foreclosed on has gone out of business.
After the Times published those pictures of Baum employees gleefully mocking down-on-their-luck homeowners at a super fun Halloween party, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cut Baum off.
Of course, Nocera's column was just the final straw. According to the Long Island Bankruptcy Blog, Baum filed "more foreclosure proceedings against New York homeowners than any other attorney in New York's history." How did he do it? By filing error-filled "robo-signed" documents, and using shady tactics that one Long Island judge likened to something out of the "Twilight Zone." Last month, Baum paid a $2 million fine to settle a Federal case accusing the firm of filing misleading papers to rush along foreclosures.
The scary thing about this is, were it not for their limitless hubris, boasting about their misdeeds and mocking the people they hurt, it might have turned out differently.
November 20, 2011
The Wolf in Newt's Clothing
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” ~Philip K. Dick
This is a great article from Crooks and Liars, spotlighting Newt Gingrich's essential nastiness.
Newt Gingrich: 'Child Labor Laws Are Stupid'
I mean, really. Didn't we have enough of this sociopath in the 90's?
It's rather fascinating watching the Republicans dither and flail, frantically searching for somebody, anybody, who's Not Mitt. Of course, what they really want is the Zombie Resurrection of Saint Ronnie (with More Tea Party Braaaaaaiiiiinnns!), but unfortunately that's not going to happen. Still, that must make Mitt Romney's shriveled heart shrink just a little more, knowing how much his party is behind him.
This is the sort of thing that might come back to bite the GOP in the ass (assuming Romney gets the nomination).
I tell ya, it's the Greatest Reality Show on Earth.
This is a great article from Crooks and Liars, spotlighting Newt Gingrich's essential nastiness.
Newt Gingrich: 'Child Labor Laws Are Stupid'
I mean, really. Didn't we have enough of this sociopath in the 90's?
It's rather fascinating watching the Republicans dither and flail, frantically searching for somebody, anybody, who's Not Mitt. Of course, what they really want is the Zombie Resurrection of Saint Ronnie (with More Tea Party Braaaaaaiiiiinnns!), but unfortunately that's not going to happen. Still, that must make Mitt Romney's shriveled heart shrink just a little more, knowing how much his party is behind him.
This is the sort of thing that might come back to bite the GOP in the ass (assuming Romney gets the nomination).
I tell ya, it's the Greatest Reality Show on Earth.
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