A Spork in the Drawer

Ye Gods

Across the pond:

A woman who was banned from making loud noises during sex has lost an appeal against her conviction.

[...]

A judge and two magistrates heard Sunderland City Council recorded noise levels of up 47 decibels.

According to this chart that's only slightly louder than "conversation between acts at a theatre; hotel lobby conversation".

Methinks some people are listening a little too hard.

.

One Of These things Is Not Like The Other

William "Cold Cash" Jefferson and Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

For the record, it's my belief that all corrupt politicians should be chucked into a dank prison cell for a good long time.

In our representative democracy - or what's left of it - betrayal of the public trust is just about the worst crime of all.

.

Gormless Idiot

The WaPo's Richard "Therapy" Cohen looks at Afghanistan and concludes:

There are many good reasons to put as much as we can in Afghanistan. But America has been at war there since 2001, at war in Iraq since 2003, and like Britain between the world wars, is out of both treasure and patience. Leave Afghanistan to the drones and the Special Forces. It's no way to win, but it's a good way not to lose.

I know that Cohen lives in a little Georgetown bubble but is it too much to ask that he do a little research before he sets pen to paper? Perhaps some Jane Meyer?

Peter W. Singer, the author of “Wired for War,” a recent book about the robotics revolution in modern combat, argues that the drone technology is worryingly “seductive,” because it creates the perception that war can be “costless.” Cut off from the realities of the bombings in Pakistan, Americans have been insulated from the human toll, as well as from the political and the moral consequences. Nearly all the victims have remained faceless, and the damage caused by the bombings has remained unseen. In contrast to Gaza, where the targeted killing of Hamas fighters by the Israeli military has been extensively documented—making clear that the collateral damage, and the loss of civilian life, can be severe—Pakistan’s tribal areas have become largely forbidden territory for media organizations. As a result, no videos of a drone attack in progress have been released, and only a few photographs of the immediate aftermath of a Predator strike have been published.

The seeming unreality of the Predator enterprise is also felt by the pilots. Some of them reportedly wear flight suits when they operate a drone’s remote controls. When their shifts end, of course, these cubicle warriors can drive home to have dinner with their families. Critics have suggested that unmanned systems, by sparing these combatants from danger and sacrifice, are creating what Sir Brian Burridge, a former British Air Chief Marshal in Iraq, has called “a virtueless war,” requiring neither courage nor heroism. According to Singer, some Predator pilots suffer from combat stress that equals, or exceeds, that of pilots in the battlefield. This suggests that virtual killing, for all its sterile trappings, is a discomfiting form of warfare. Meanwhile, some social critics, such as Mary Dudziak, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, argue that the Predator strategy has a larger political cost. As she puts it, “Drones are a technological step that further isolates the American people from military action, undermining political checks on...endless war.”

I mean, it was published in a periodical that all the smarty-pants read and everything. But then, anyone who wrote of the Iraq War, "On the contrary, I thought. We are a good country, attempting to do a good thing. In a post-Sept. 11 world, I thought the prudent use of violence could be therapeutic. The United States had the power to change things for the better, and those who would do the changing -- the fighting -- were, after all, volunteers. This mattered to me" isn't exactly the sort of person who's big on challenging his own assumptions.

And do enjoy this bit of Cohen's wit:

Sooner or later, truly evil people either get talk shows or killed by pilotless drones.

Ellen DeGeneres and Osama bin Laden are just alike! That's a laff-riot!

Thank you once again, Graham and Weymouth and Bauchli and Hiatt, for bringing us the finest in political analysis.

.

What's Up New Computer Edition

posted by gyma

New computers are soooo fast!

• Computer virus developers are getting a wee bit too ingenious when they deposit child porn on unsuspecting web surfers' computers.  Thumbs down.
• What's the truth behind Men Who Stare at Goats?  Thumbs up for the entertainment value.
• Looks like the have nots are beginning to get a bit testy with the haves.  About time!  Thumbs up.
• Wingers are unhappy that SOS Clinton failed to mention St. Ronnie during her speech in Germany.  [video].  Thumbs up for annoying the WATBs!
• Republicans make it very clear that you owe your soul to the RNC and strict partisan politics.  Better not consider your constituents' needs OR ELSE!  Thumbs down, unless you believe this type of behavior aids the implosion.
• Here's hoping McClatchy got it wrong and Obama isn't sending 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan.  Thumbs down.
• Michele Bachmann is as crazy as ever and is making even less sense than normal.  Even Amy Sullivan is making fun of her.  Thumbs up....well because someone at Time is stating the obvious.

Something Different

posted by gyma

It's only Monday, yet it feels like a break from politics is needed.  This is an unusual image, primarily for the composition.

 

 

This 'image' of Cathy Freeman was done for the Australian show, "Who Do You Think You Are?"  This is a show based on following a celebrity trace his/her roots. [Freeman is an Olympic sprinter.]

When I first saw the image I thought it was comprised of worms or something similar.  If you look closely, you'll see it is actually made up of nude bodies, suggesting that individuals are the sum of all ancestors.

Close up beneath the fold.

Making Sense

posted by gyma

Dennis Kucinich (D-Makes Too Much Sense) is on my teevee (Democracy Now!) and damn, he makes too much sense to be a Washington pol.  He's explaining to us why he voted no on HCR and well...

We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care.  We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are.  But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit.  That is our system.

Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution.  They are driving up the cost of health care.  Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills.  The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%.  It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care.  Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.

 

Oh, just go read the whole thing.  And here's the video if you want to see Kucinich and Jane Hamsher on Democracy Now!

=

How Dare He

posted by gyma

From the intellectual heavyweights over at Red State (redstate dot com, if you must):

According to The New York Times, on Saturday evening the President of the United States used a thoroughly disgusting gay-baiting slur to refer to people that previous presidents might have called “My Fellow Americans”. Speaking with congressional Democrats, our situationally unaware, amateur-night chief executive asked,

“Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care?”

Call me an old-timer, but I can remember when U.S. Presidents had class. They might have called their political opponents any number of things in private, but you would not hear of them demeaning American citizens.

It is a measure of how low-rent Professional Democrats have become that The New York Times reports this as though sexual slurs were not a new low in presidential discourse… merely another term that ‘progessives’ use every day to refer to their subhuman opponents.

Did President Obama intend to be disgusting in using that term? I hope so, because I sure am disgusted.

Yeah, I'm disgusted too.  But it's not directed at Obama, but at morans like you.

Disturbing Trends

posted by gyma

Sarah Palin, Nitwit-at-Large, has been spreading more bullshit in the heartland.

What may they feel about an elderly person who doesn’t have a whole lot of productive years left,” Palin asked an audience of about 5,000 who paid $30 each to hear her speak in an airplane hangar-like exhibition hall at the Wisconsin state fairgrounds just outside of Milwaukee. “In order to save government money, government health care has to be rationed… [so] than this elderly person that perhaps could be seen as costing taxpayers to pay for a non-productive life? Do you think our elderly will be first in line for limited health care?

[...]

Palin did not expressly raise the prospect of government-mandated “death panels” to determine who lives or dies – the incendiary and inaccurate charge she made over the summer about Democratic health care plans—but repeatedly suggested that liberal social policies could lead to de facto euthanasia. 

Her warning was couched in repeated rhetorical questions about what might happen when laws are made by those she portrayed as having an insufficient appreciation for the sanctity of all human life.

Here's the thing about Palin and her followers who are worried about so-called 'Death Panels.' End of life issues need to be addressed yet our culture prefers to ignore them as if we are going to live in perfect health forever. There's a column in today's Denver Post about a 58-year old woman who died recently of ovarian cancer.  She had zero chance of a cure, yet the only option she had was to remove the feeding tube - in essence starving herself to death - all the while begging her caregivers to give her something to end her misery.  There's a small part of me that wishes this type of demise on Sarah Palin.

But wait...it gets better:

Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.

“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”

She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”

Unsaid but implied was that the new Democratic White House was behind such a move to secularize the nation’s currency.

But the new coins – concerns over which apparently stemmed from an email chain letter widely circulated among conservatives – were commissioned by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 and approved by President Bush. 

Disturbing, indeed.
 

The Veal Pen

What the hell good are NARAL and Planned Parenthood? Here and here.

(I've been busy today hence the short hit-and-run posts.)

---

Oh, and who didn't see this coming?

.

Firefox

posted by gyma

Last week my laptop had a hissy fit so I bought a new one over the weekend.  That means a new OS (Windows7) and I decided to switch browsers(Firefox) just to torture myself.  Parts of FF are nice, but I'm overwhelmed by the possibilities, including the 6,000 freaking add-ons! 

Now I read this:

Mozilla took another year to push out Firefox version 3.5, which arrived in June. But now, the team is committed to delivering a new release every six months. Firefox 3.6 is due by the end of 2009.

I'm pretty sure that just about the time I have it figured out, Mozilla will push out a new version, none of the 6,000 add-ons will work, and I'll be cussing up a blue streak.

Anyone wanna bet?

Bioengineered Neocorpora

posted by gyma

Good news for all the John Bobbitts of the world.

Using tissue grown in a laboratory, researchers have engineered fully functional replacement penises. The organs were made for rabbits, but the technique may someday be useful for people.

[...]

Oddly, the procedure seemed to make the rabbits randier than usual.

One has to wonder how size is determined and whether this could replace the little blue pill.  Wired has some truly interesting articles!

Probably Best...

...if Presidential spokespersons avoid quoting poetry they don't understand.

.

That's Just Peachy

The tea party is now a Tea Party. At least in Florida.

Split those Republicans!

.

Stupak Explained

mcjoan.

And keep voting up definition 1!

.

California USA

Krugman:

The state of mind visible at recent right-wing demonstrations is nothing new. Back in 1964 the historian Richard Hofstadter published an essay titled, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” which reads as if it were based on today’s headlines: Americans on the far right, he wrote, feel that “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion.” Sound familiar?

And let's not forget Pat Buchanan's recent wail about oppressed God-fearing white folk: "America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. And they are right."

But Krugman rightly points out the possible future ramifications of this:

And if Tea Party Republicans do win big next year, what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.

I think an argument can be made that we're already well down that road. One needs only to look at the Senate, a highly undemocratic institution (by design) made even more so by Republican obstructionism. Just trying to get a noncontroversial judicial nominee confirmed has become a long, drawn-out process. Throw in a couple dozen more Congressional Republicans and the system will likely shut down completely. (And a GOP majority in either the House or Senate will make the Clinton-era investigations look like a walk in the park.)

Another danger of this could be, from desire or frustration, an increasing tendency for the president to rule by Bushian decree - signing statements and using the cloak of "national security" to achieve what can't be gotten legislatively. We're already seeing far too much of that.

So what we have here is a building vicious circle: A growing inability of the national government to accomplish anything save catering to financial power, which leads to more populist anger, thence to a more radicalized Republican Party (the Democrats seem to be completely unaware of this anger or at least have no idea how to deal with it), and so on. (Violence can't be ruled out.)

If things go the hell - and I'm somewhat optimistic they will - many people will be asking themselves, how did this happen?

The warning signs were there all along. Deal.

.

A Bit Of Arshile Gorky

Agony, 1947

.

Worth Remembering

Amanda:

With this lesson in mind, pro-choice Democrats need to understand this: Contraception coverage is next. Make no mistake. Now they have a precedent of banning insurance companies from covering abortion, but this will not, of course, stop women from fucking. So contraception is next.

.

Big Shock

The Weasel™ voted for the Stupak Amendment and against the HCR bill.

As has been widely noted, those Democrats from marginal districts - Blue Dogs especially - think that voting against HCR is job insurance. But without the support of the Dem base many, if not most, of them are doomed.

But weep not for Jason Altmire. If he loses his government job no doubt he will just go back to being a health industry lobbyist.

At a much better salary, too.

---

See also: Maria

.

To The Back Of The Bus, Ladies

Stupak Amendment passes.

Here's the roll call.

.

Saturday Palate Cleanser

Some Rutles from 1965:

.

Utterly Disgraceful

If there's any question that the Republican Party has become a group of petulant little children this should settle it:

.

Once Upon A Time...

...a candidate for the Presidency had to pledge to respect the separation of church and state.

Many of today's elected representatives, however, have to pledge fealty to the Roman Pontiff.

Progress?

.

Speaking Of Nonsense

Refusing to be fingerprinted when one hasn't been arrested or even having been accused of wrongdoing is perfectly understandable. Strike a blow against the surveillance state! So there are good reasons for refusing to be fingerprinted. This is not one of them:

A 22-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the Texas Bible Belt could lose her job for refusing, on religious grounds, to give fingerprints under a state law requiring them.

The evangelical Christian, Pam McLaurin, is fighting a looming suspension, claiming that fingerprinting amounts to the “Mark of the Beast,” and hence is a violation of her First Amendment right to practice her religion.

Bollocks. Anyone with a whit of intelligence knows that bar codes are the mark of the beast.

[Via Sinfonian @ Twitter.]

.

Happy Carl Sagan Day!

If Sagan came back to life and saw how science is treated these days he'd crawl back into his grave.

More here.

.

HeeHee

Markos KO's hater of brown people Tom Tancredo:

.

Brilliant!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The 11/3 Project
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

.

Say What?

Loyal Bushie and Über-Xtian Michael Gerson claims that the Republicans are seizing the ideological center:

Now comes Obama's largest test, which will determine the ideological atmosphere for the 2010 election. If the president -- opposed by a majority of Americans, with almost no support from the other party -- imposes an ideologically divisive health reform, it will smack of radicalism, reinforce polarization and may cede the ideological center to Republicans for years to come.

The mind boggles.

Here's Gerson's ideological center:

[Image from Matt Yglesias.]

---

ADDED: Shorter Squeaky Wheels: America won't make the mistake of electing a Negro again.

And for the record, Fred Hiatt's Crayon Scribble Page today consists of Krauthammer, Gerson, Newt Gingrich and Gov. Rick "Goodhair" Perry on HCR, Reaganoid economist and Eli Lilly "outside director" Martin Feldstein on HCR, Bushite AG Michael Mukasey extolling Guantanamo Bay, and the CEO of British Petroleum praising natural gas.

Oh, and Eugene Robinson for "balance".

ADDED II: Glennzilla.

.

We're Not Alone II

Kinda-sorta piggybacking on gyma's post about student's knowledge of history in the UK we find that that green and pleasant isle also can succumb to woo:

A Welsh police force has admitted following up leads supplied by psychics after a man's death.

Dyfed-Powys police investigated claims purportedly from Carlos Assaf's ghost after a neighbour found his body suspended from a weights bench at Assaf's home in Ceredigion, west Wales, in March.

Dduwiau ye!

.

Shape Of Earth: Views Differ

Time's James Poniewozik notices that the news media is biased:

Often, moderate bias is just the result of caution, but the effect is to bolster centrist political positions — not least by implying that they are not political positions at all but occupy a happy medium between the nutjobs. Meanwhile, conservatives see moderate bias as liberal, and liberals see it as conservative — letting journalists conclude that it's not bias at all.

Moderate bias also grows from a related phenomenon: status-quo bias. Journalists, like anyone, have a built-in bias toward believing that what was true yesterday will be true tomorrow. Establishment news outlets grow cozy and comfortable with other establishments. One reason some journalists insufficiently questioned the run-up to the Iraq war and underestimated the housing bubble was that they listened to their usual, credentialed sources — and the history of the past decade is the history of the experts being wrong.

And especially in the top ranks of journalism, there's class bias. If I wanted to look at potential conflicts of interest in reporters covering bank bailouts, for instance, I'd be less concerned about their party affiliation than whether they're based (like me) in New York City, where the economy lives and dies on finance.

Good for Poniewozik - a teevee critic - for actually getting this mostly right. Ironically, though, he succumbs to some false equivalence at the end of his column - Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity are two sides of the same coin, which ignores the importance of facts. The meaning of a fact can be argued but the fact itself cannot be disputed. Maddow (or Olbermann) pointing out that about 47 million Americans lack healthcare coverage is not the same as Hannity (or O'Reilly) screaming about "death panels".

Reporters work themselves into a frothy fury when they hear themselves called "stenographers" but their operating principle of two-sides-to-every-story-report-them-both (what I call the Cult of Objectivity) is exactly that - stenography.

If I had to makes an educated guess - and this is nothing more than that - the "news" media leans slightly left on social issues (e.g., abortion, gay marriage) but almost hard right on economic issues (The economy is in recovery! Increasing unemployment and stagnant wages? What? Everybody I know has a job!).

And horse race journalism - Who's winning! Who's losing! - is simply lazy and serves no purpose but to make the David Broders of the world feel good about themselves.

.

First Draft

Do toss a few spare bucks at Athenae & Co. to keep their fine site up and running. Chinchilla-powered servers don't come cheap, y'know.

Have you ever seen the teeth of a ferret? If you don't hand over some gelt you will.

All too closely.

.

Sunbathing

posted by gyma

Aaahhh... it's finally Friday.  Here's a pic of Pete doing one of his favorite things in the world - catching some rays.  He really has a nice life.  Frankly, I'm envious.

We're Not Alone

posted by gyma

Should we congratulate ourselves knowing we aren't the only dumb country in the world?  Apparently the UK isn't spending enough on education either.  Guess it could be part of the reason for the increase in believers of intelligent design across the pond.

A few highlights from a survey of 2,000 children:

• 1 in 6 think Auschwitz was a WWII theme park;
• 25% think a nuclear bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbor;
• 12% think the symbol of Remembrance Day is the McDonald's golden arches;
• and some unknown number think Hitler was Germany's football team manager.

Welcome to 21st century education.  Good thing the numbers were relatively small.

=

Hitting the Quintfecta

posted by gyma

Republicans claim to care about national security, but when 75% of potential military recruits aren't qualified because they are too fat, too dumb, too sick, have too many kids, or are stoners, you've got a problem.

It's doubtful these cretins will ever make the connection between their screeching like a bunch of harpies over HCR, abortion, sex education, DADT, and the ever dwindling pile of cannon fodder for fighting their ongoing bullshit wars.

And heh, even this news isn't enough to reconsider allowing gays to openly serve in the military now, is it?  The one bright spot might be that only 12% of potential recruits show any interest in a military career. 

But heaven help us if the country has to dip into that 75% mass of fat, stupid, doped up, hypochondriacal daddies to keep us safe.

---------

ETA:  The pic at the link = food antabuse.  Don't say you weren't warned!

Why Am I Not Surprised?

Crazy lady from Minnesota:

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning out of bed, I grab my cell phone and I look to RedState ... and I feel like I at least am kind of prepared to get out of bed, and then I go read the editorial page of Investors Business Daily or the Wall Street Journal for a wider background of knowledge for the day... I just find it is one of the most credible sources of information out there.

Gads, even Sarah Palin reads newspapers, "all of them."

.

What Was It...

Rep. Alan Grayson said about Republican healthcare? Don't get sick and if you do die quickly or somesuch?

.

Annals Of American Ingenuity

For the person always on the go may I present the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk:

Many of the customer reviews demonstrate its utility, e.g.:

My wife and I recently welcomed a beautiful new daughter into our life. She's three months old now, and according to the pediatrician it's very important that we keep her close at all times as a bonding experience to strengthen something or whatever, I don't really know, he used a lot of big technical doctor words. Anyway he says we need to hold our daughter a lot, carry her around, be close to her or whatever.

But we take a lot of road trips, and if we leave her in a carseat for eight hours straight that's going to just totally not work. The doctor said that would be bad. So we'd been putting her up on the dashboard, just laying her up there, because she's not really old enough to crawl off yet so it's completely safe. But that's not close enough, there's still some distance. We need to be able to reach out and hold her.

Then, voila! The car desk! Like magic.

Now I have a convenient shelf to set my daughter on. She's always close to me now, even on the longest road trips. She LOVES it. The only thing that could be better is if they'd integrate a seatbelt into this for when she gets a little older and tries to crawl off, but I can probably make a belt out of bungee cords or velcro or something. No big deal. Other than that this is a perfect item for busy on-the-go professionals who care about bonding with their newborns!

[Via The Consumerist.]

.

American Aristocracy

No doubt you've heard that we're facing a shortage of swine flu vaccine. According to the CDC, the following groups should have priority when being vaccinated:

• Pregnant women
• Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age
• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel
• All people from 6 months through 24 years of age
• Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza

Nowhere on that list do I see oligarchs:

To the list of hundreds of schools, hospitals, and community health centers that have received limited allocations of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, you can now add some of New York's largest employers. In the past week or so 13 companies, including Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS), have begun receiving small quantities of the vaccine, according to city health authorities.

Just another example of who's considered important in this country.

.

Remember Remember The Fifth Of November

I seriously doubt the crazy lady from Minnesota has ever heard of Guy Fawkes let alone knows what he attempted to do.

At any rate, it didn't end well for Guy.

.

Formidable Opponent

With a special guest:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Formidable Opponent - Global Warming With Al Gore
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

.

Does The Name "Custer" Ring A Bell?

Last stand.

The Teabaggers are preemptively blaming "SEIU guys" and Nancy Pelosi's thugs (Pelosijunge?) should anything untoward happen.

As I've said before, somewhere in the miasma of their batshittery the teabaggers have a legitimate point: That Congress is all too eager to lick the feet of the powerful while ignoring the wants and needs of the citizenry. Unfortunately, and perhaps disastrously, no one (read: Democrats) has stepped out to address those concerns, leaving the field to demagogues who, ironically, are actually working for the aforementioned powerful.

At any rate, should Michele and her merry band start trouble let's hope they're met not with a volley of arrows but concentrated streams of pepper spray.

.

What's Up, Moonbows Bitchez! Edition

posted by gyma

The laptop is acting up today (AGAIN) so here's hoping it's not on its death bed.

• "The Marriage Index" was recently released by the Institute for American Values.  Oops. Looks like our 'family values' are showing again.   Thumbs down.
• Who knew that douchebaggery was making a comeback?  Thumbs down.
• Joey Lombard recently ran for Mayor of Minneapolis on a record of having no experience so he was, therefore, uncorrupt.  Also on the ballot was John Charles Wilson of the Edgertonite National Party (ENP).   Wilson has had visions of Laura Ingalls Wilder, whom he believes is God.  Thumbs up!
• The singing kids at PS22 will make you smile.  Love the facial expressions - here they are singing "Eye of the Tiger."  I hope someone looks up these kids in 10 years - it will be interesting to discover what becomes of them.  Thumbs up.
• Carly Fiorina is running for Senate in California because she didn't run HP into the ground by outsourcing a gazillion jobs and because Barbara Boxer hasn't done a damn thing in 18 years.  Oh, and Carly tries to preemptively explain why she's a late comer to the, like, voting thing.  Thumbs down.
• HaHaHa.  Sesame Street isn't as fair and balanced as FOX News.  Thumbs up!
• Moonbows!  Many years ago we stayed in Yosemite National Park.  About midnight, we hiked to Bridal Veil Falls on a full moon night, hoping to see such a moonbow.  We weren't so lucky.  Thumbs up.

Amusing Story Of The Day

The crazy lady from Minnesota:

The aide who helped turn Rep. Michele Bachmann into a controversial mainstay of cable news has informed colleagues that she’s quitting – just as the firebrand Republican congresswoman prepares for her biggest media moment yet.

Multiple sources have confirmed that Michelle Marston, a veteran Hill aide, is leaving Bachmann’s office.

[..]

A conservative Republican House member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that Bachman’s views – and her willingness to state them – make it hard for her to keep staff.

"When your captain's crazy, it's time to find a new ship,” the lawmaker said.

Tomorrow's the day when the crazy lady brings the teabaggers into the halls of Congress.

That should be entertaining. Yes.

[Via Atrios @ Twitter.]

.

Your Courageous Democratic Party

It looks increasingly like there will be no HCR this year due to a large degree because Congress will be on holiday for nearly a month in total.

That's right, with less then two months left in 2009 our fine Representatives and Senators will have a month's worth of vacation.

No doubt they believe they're worth every penny of the $174,000 a year they're paid. By us, the mere subjects citizens of this country.

And if that weren't enough, the usual suspects are are making demands:

In the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections, ["vulnerable" Dems] don’t want to be forced to vote on climate change, immigration reform and gays in the military, which they say should be set aside so Congress can focus on jobs and the economy.

Of course, when the next session of Congress begins in 2011 the same lot will drag their heels for the better part of the year and then, again, cry that they shouldn't be expected to do their jobs so close to the next election.

And then they'll go on vacation.

Meanwhile, Jane catches Harry "Dude, where's my spine?" Reid in a great big lie.

Y'know, I'm starting to come around to the opinion that we should (metaphorically) blow-up Congress and replace it with a parliamentary system. We could still keep the three branches by continuing to elect a president as head of state.

But this will never happen, especially because that's how the French do it.

And we can't be like them in any way, can we?

.

Wednesday Weirdness aka No Mo' Donuts

posted by gyma

The man of this duo really gets into not needing breakfast any more, but the woman?  Looks like she's having second, maybe even third, thoughts!

=

16 Years Of Failure

Rahm.

.

"Parasites, Vermin, Roaches, Rats, Worms And Termites"

That's Pat Boone's description of the Obama Administration.

Further:

What can be done, when you learn that your house has already been invaded?

Well, the tried and true remedy is tenting.

Experts come in, actually envelope the whole dwelling in a giant tent – and send a very powerful fumigant, lethal to the varmints and unwelcome creatures, into every nook and cranny of the house. Done thoroughly, every last destructive insect or rodent is sent to varmint hell – and in a day or two, the grand house is habitable again.

I believe – figuratively, but in a very real way – we need to tent the White House!

I guess WorldNetDaily now looks to Der Stürmer as a business model.

Go below the fold for an actual picture of Pat Boone.

Shorter George Fwill

If only Hamid Karzai were Cate Blanchett.

.

Either Cynical Or Ignorant

Fred Hiatt's Crayon Scribble Page is such a cornucopia of teh stoopit that it's impossible to point to one columnist and say: This is dimmest light bulb in the package. Everyday produces a column which makes one shake his head and ask: How did this dishonest hack get published?

Which brings us to Loyal Bushie and über-Xtian Michael Gerson who, unsurprisingly, is whinging about HCR, specifically the idea of an individual mandate:

Precisely because younger people have lower health costs, reformers want to draft them into the broader health insurance system so their premiums can subsidize the health expenses of older, sicker consumers. Thus, in every version of reform, the young are required to purchase coverage.

The merits of the bills under consideration are, for today's purpose, beside the point, as is the conduct of insurance companies. What is the point? Well, read that quote again. It's apparent that Gerson has no concept of how insurance works - or, more likely, he feigning ignorance in order to make his point.

Short version: Those who have insurance but rarely or never submit claims by definition are subsidizing those who do.

Converse version: Those who submit claims are being subsidized by those who rarely or never do.

That. Is. The. Point. Of. Insurance.

To create a broad and deep risk pool so that everybody's premiums are lower.

So, any reasonably well-functioning insurance plan must mix the low-risk with the high-risk, including any government plan.

Hence the individual mandate.

Gerson surely knows this but it is essential that he pretend otherwise so he can make his case:

Amazingly -- out of idealism, ignorance or both -- people in their 20s remain the strongest supporters of health-care reform. They are also the group most likely to wake up the day after passage of Obamacare with a health-reform hangover -- forced to buy coverage at higher premiums to reduce the cost of someone else's health insurance.

Or perhaps people in their 20s remain the strongest supporters of health-care reform because they understand how fucking insurance works you dishonest moron.

Gerson proceeds to toss-in pro forma attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as generational transfers of wealth and states, "Entitlements benefiting the elderly are eternal."

It would seem that Gerson believes that these programs continue even after death. Perhaps he believes that up on the fluffy cumulus clouds where his invisible sky-friend lives there's thrice-a-day mail service delivering those sweet, sweet entitlement checks to the winged be-harped ones.

Or perhaps Michael Gerson is a cynical propagandist.

.

Since It Seems Everybody...

...has become grumpy, here's a cute fawn:

Baby Deer Comes Home - watch more funny videos

.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

posted by gyma

Holy Shit, Batman.  Forrest Gump is running for Congress in North Carolina and his campaign website is a master work of art.  No, really.  You think Michele Bachmann is batshit crazy?  She has nothing on this guy who is clearly reminiscent of a sociopathic mass murderer.

Well, take a look...

 
  
Obviously, Mr. Hutchins' first act if elected would be to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  From there, he'd solve both the prison and immigration problems by having the prison inmates take on all the jobs currently being performed by immigrants.  His top-notch economic plan includes putting oil rigs off shore, moving the evil, gay, liberal-loving movie-making business to North Carolina, deregulating everything, and forcing Europeans to vacation in his state.  Pure genius.

And there's so much more.  James Dean, The Brady Bunch, Jesse Helms, Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Dole, John Wayne, Laurence Olivier as Spartacus, Alexander the Great, the German Weimar Republic, the NRA, VFW, Tea Party, Fox News, the Ten Commandments, Mr. Bojangles, Sanford & Son, Diana Ross and the Supremes and Pastor James Manning.  Whew, the crazy on this site is exhausting.

=