Baby Jesus.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Five Days in this Motherfucking Attic.

Quote of the Day

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.

Albert Einstein

Musha ring dumma do damma da

Life on Mars?

Go Shorty, Itsyo Berfday

Brat mir ein Pracht-Steak, Peter kocht jetzt feinstes Fleisch!

Spit Take.

Watching the Republican Party implode is pretty entertaining. From Jindal falling flat on his face the moment he makes big time, to the kowtowing to Limbaugh, to FBI investigations of the head of the RNC; this is all hilarity.

And so coming across this comparison, right now, really hit me as the funniest thing I've read today.

In a letter released yesterday, all 41 Senate Republicans threatened to filibuster President Obama's judicial nominees unless they were given veto power over judges from their states. The letter also demanded that President Obama renominate Bush nominees like Peter Keisler, Glen Conrad and Paul Diamond.

"The Republicans are doing everything in their power to cement their reputation as the 'Party of No,'" said People For the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert. "Voters gave President Obama a mandate to appoint judges who understand that the Constitution and the laws provide for equal justice for all. Now, before a single nomination has been announced, Republicans are threatening to block every single one of Obama's nominees. That's chutzpah."

Kolbert pointed out that over the last eight years, the vast majority of President Bush's judges were confirmed by the Senate, despite the fact that President Bush refused to include Senators in the process. President Obama's counsel Gregory Craig has already reached out to Senators about potential nominees.

"The Senate has an important role in the confirmation process, and in extreme cases when the President has refused to consult with the Senate, the minority has tools to obstruct nominees who are obviously unfit for the bench. Obama looks to be clearing that standard easily," said Kolbert. "But it was only a few years ago that the GOP was willing to blow up the Senate in order to eliminate the filibuster entirely. They told anyone who would listen that every judicial nominee deserved an up-or-down vote without exception. Apparently, the Senate Republicans have the collective memory of a goldfish."

Coming out of the stimulus debacle, this is so, so apt.

I was born in Lil' Rock, Had a childhood sweetheart,

I Will Not Forgive You, if You Will Not Take the Chance.

Intermittent Picture

Any suggestions on a name? It's a girl.

And He takes, and He takes, and He takes.

CEFCU: Having a finger on the pulse of my economic life.

Just like me, except I don't wear flannel.

This really would not surprise me in the least, if true.

But was Santelli’s rant really so spontaneous? How did a minor-league TV figure, whose contract with CNBC is due this summer, get so quickly launched into a nationwide rightwing blog sensation? Why were there so many sites and organizations online and live within minutes or hours after his rant, leading to a nationwide protest just a week after his rant?

What hasn’t been reported until now is evidence linking Santelli’s “tea party” rant with some very familiar names in the Republican rightwing machine, from PR operatives who specialize in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns (called “astroturfing”) to bigwig politicians and notorious billionaire funders. As veteran Russia reporters, both of us spent years watching the Kremlin use fake grassroots movements to influence and control the political landscape. To us, the uncanny speed and direction the movement took and the players involved in promoting it had a strangely forced quality to it. If it seemed scripted, that's because it was.

What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.

Diary on Big Orange on topic here.

Let the eagle sour!

Quote of the Day

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson

Satisfaction.

Progress.

PEORIA —

In a move seen by some as sidestepping a major civil liberties issue, the U.S. Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a pending complaint by a former West Peoria man detained for more than five years as an "enemy combatant."

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Peoria on charges he conspired from July 2001 until his arrest on Dec. 12, 2001, to help al-Qaida. A second charge accuses him of providing material support and resources to the terrorist group.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the charges show the government's resolve to "protect the American people and prosecute alleged terrorists to the full extent of the law."

The charges were sealed until Friday morning, and afterward, the Justice Department announced its request for dismissal of the complaint. If successful, the move would block the Supreme Court from weighing in on whether the government during wartime can hold someone indefinitely without charges.

One of the more unsettling aspects of the extraordinary rendition and detention programs instituted by the Bush Administration is that getting these people out of this mess has just as much of an effect on the law as denying them the writ of habeas corpus.

The court battles over this stuff will take decades. And if it is not handled correctly, we could see both an erosion of civil liberties and an erosion of the powers of law enforcement.

While I'm glad to see that the JD has moved to start trying these people in civilian courts--which could not come too soon, the question I have now is whether or not the Supreme Court will take up the complaints of a lot of these defendents, and what kind of prescedents will be created by the court's interpretation of various law enforcement legislation.

If I had to guess, I'd say most of the justices will realize that absolutely no good can come from their handling of any of these cases, so they will refuse to hear any of them. The best thing that can be done now is to get these people in civilian courts, try them as best we can, sentence the guilty. I think it will be impossible to get convictions against a lot of these folks, if they are guilty, because we've fucked them over. So be it.

Keep on Shinin'.

Wait 'Till I Get My Money Right

Nothing to Say

I haven't posted much in the last couple of days because nothing really has happened worth comment. Obama gave a "non-state of the union" speech last night, and the only news out of it was Governor Jindal did himself no favors last night. Having heard sound bites of him before, I thought that perhaps Republicans had found themselves someone who really could carry their message. If last night was any example, no.



I'll be gracious here and say he performed well below his own standard of oratory. But I have heard him speak comfortably. And he's a master of bullshit. I have to work with guys like this, and they're pure bullshit artists, which is to say that the cadence, the manner of speech--there's just something off about it. If you're around people like Jindal long enough, you realize that there's absolutely no way to tell whether or not he's lying, so you just have to assume he's lying all of the time. And his presentation is such that there's no room for catching him midsentence to call him out on his lie.

Here's a normal bullshitter:

Paragraph detailing a series of events, altogether untrue. Lying at length. A cut from broad cloth lie.

Here's an above average bullshitter: Truth. Truth. Bullshit. Truth. Gotta run. An above average bullshitter will tell you things that are true, or turn out to be true, to obfuscate his own lies.

Here's a master bullshitter:

aergaqrbgarvaerhwgWEGAEHGFVAEHBAEFASERBAaervasrvaevaegaegaergaergaergagf.

There are about 20 discordant lies delivered with so much haste that by the time you've realized that the first thing out of his mouth is a lie, he's 4 topics head in the conversation. It's a blitzkrieg of lies; the shock and awe of bullshitting.

Now, his greatness at bullshitting is beyond dispute. He is amazing at it. But the problem with being that good at being so full of shit is that it is not a good long term strategy.

I know Jindal has higher aspirations, and if he wants to be a Senator, he can be a Senator, and if he wants to be a vice president, he can probably do that too. But he had better put those presidential aspirations up on the shelf, next to the dreams of becoming an astronaut, because there is absolutely no way he can have a dialogue with the American people.

So, as a spokesman for the Republican party, fantastic. Delivering criticisms and becoming a face of Republican opposition, sure. But he's not the guy you want to be selling new ideas. He can talk your ear off, but he, like me, has nothing to say.

Quote of the Day

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Yogi Berra

I'll Just Sit Back in the Shade, While Everyone Gets Laid

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Thomas Jefferson survives!

Dying words of John Adams, July 4, 1826, unaware that Jefferson had in fact passed a few hours earlier.

Haka!

Jesus.

The Dow is approaching the 7k level, Citigroup is trying very hard to fuck us over, and those AIG motherfuckers are posting a $60 billion loss.

Meanwhile, housing starts are at the lowest level in a half century, home values have dropped about 20%, rate of unemployment is accelerating, and if all of that weren't bad enough, the convective outlook shows nothing, NOTHING!

My eternal optimism is very strained at the moment.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

[I]t does me no injury of my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

Thomas Jefferson

I Dreamed I Was in a Movie

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it 7 It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

President George Washington, Farewell Address

Motherfucker Had Like, Thirty Goddamn Dicks.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Any man who is under thirty and is not a liberal has no heart; any man over thirty and is not a conservative has no brains.

Winston Churchill

They stab at it with their steeley knives, but they just can't kill the beast.

Nationalization

Lots of people are pointing out today that "nationalization," in the context of federal ownership of banks, is not really nationalization. It's "receivership," because these assets, such as they are, will eventually be sold back to the private market.

It is a fine and worthy distinction to point out. But putting all of the major players of an industry into receivership is a lot like taking over an industry. And it's the industry-wide scale which makes terms like "receivership" too weak a word.

Anyway, it's all semantics. Sell your bank stock, keep your accounts where they are, nothing changes.

Failure.

Bank of America, Citigroup are dead. Long live Bank of America and Citigroup.

Also, everybody stand back and let these losers fail. LOSERS! LOSERS! LOSERS!

Don't come crying to me about credit-default swaps, though, Rick, future loser.

Why, that's outrageous!

The lefty blogs are up in arms about CNBC something or other--I can't call him a reporter, if that's what he is--ranting about how poor people, losers, as he calls him, fucked everything up.



This doesn't surprise me. Floaters clump.

If there was some way we could nationalize the banks in such a manner that we ensure this little turd of a man gets his condo foreclosed on, I'll go on the internet and vote for it.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, and move on.

Henry Rollins

7,000,000

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein

Jivin'.

Please, Do It.

BATON ROUGE, La. —

A half-dozen Republican governors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constituents struggling with record foreclosures and soaring unemployment.

Though none has outright rejected the money available for education, health care and infrastructure, the governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho have all questioned whether the $787 billion bill signed into law this week will even help the economy.

"My concern is there's going to be commitments attached to it that are a mile long," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "We need the freedom to pick and choose. And we need the freedom to say 'No thanks.'"

In other news, I formally announce my intentions to establish exploratory committees to run for governor of a half dozen states. I will have a better chance of winning election than these assholes have of re-election.

Seriously, though, I wholeheartedly recommend these assholes do it. The clearer people see the consequences of Republican principles, the less Republicans we have to deal with.

Go away, assholes, and come back when you have a plan.

California

Reporting from Sacramento -- As California's government continued its grinding downshift toward insolvency, efforts to close the state's nearly $42-billion budget gap hit a new snag late Tuesday as Republicans in the state Senate ousted their leader.

Around 11 p.m., a group of GOP senators, unhappy with the higher taxes that Senate leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto agreed to as part of a deal with the governor and Democrats, voted to replace him in a private caucus meeting in Cogdill's office.

They chose Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, a staunchly antitax lawmaker from Murrieta, as their new leader.

Cogdill's ouster could be a major setback to budget negotiations. Cogdill was a lead negotiator on the budget package and had committed to voting for it. Hollingsworth will likely try to renegotiate the deal, which lawmakers spent three months forging.

These people are simply divorced from reality. Do your part to divorce them from their offices.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
Then you win.

Mahatma Gandhi

Bolero.

George Will Got Laid 4 times in 1979,

And has gotten laid, on average, only 2.3 times since then, according to the University of Illinois Arctic Climate Research Center, which predicts that, with the "La Nina" weather event in the Pacific, George Will will only get laid 1.6 times in 2009, including a rather embarrassing moment with a half eaten container of cottage cheese.

Welcome Back From the Wilderness

The US government may have to nationalise some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman has told the Financial Times.

In an interview with the FT Mr Greenspan, who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laissez-faire capitalism, said nationalisation could be the least bad option left for policymakers.

”It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” he said. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”

Come on in, Mr. Greenspan, the water's fine. Now unless you plan to serve as the private pitchman for this plan to the rest of the idiots who got us into this mess, kindly shut the fuck up.

Meanwhile, since it's unpolite to talk about such things, here's a list of the banks we've already nationalized since 2000, provided without comment.

Change I Can Believe In

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to take a harder line with the Senate after a trio of Republican senators forced Congress to trim billions from the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

It’s not clear how far Pelosi is willing to go in standing up to the Senate — or, realistically, what effect Hoyer and Pelosi combined could have in the face of the 60-vote hurdle Senate Democrats face.

But after last week’s stimulus votes, Hoyer called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to force Senate Republicans to mount actual filibusters if they want to stand in the way of bills “so that the American people can see who’s undermining action.”

And in a private conversation with Pelosi, aides say Hoyer reminded the speaker that they’d talked previously about tolerating Senate strong-arming on the stimulus and on children’s health insurance — two Democratic priorities — but then holding their own on future legislation.

It is about time you make these motherfuckers put on their their adult diapers and read the dictionary on the Senate floor. You don't have to take the filibuster away, as the Republicans threatened to do, you make them go up there and filibuster health care reform. Quit letting them poison your priorities without having to get on the TV obstructing legislation.

We've got your backs.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

We can forgive Christianity much, because it taught us the worship of the child.

Karl Marx

Sit and Listen.

El Rushbo

The pill poppin', doctor shoppin', limp dicked, sex touristin', torture lovin', foreigner hatin', anal cyst havin', draft dodgin', confirmed(1) racist(2) Rush Limbaugh is homophobic.

And he is the de facto leader of the Republican party.

Enjoy being losers, assholes.

Digby

She needs to start saying what she means, as opposed to all of this alluding to things in the most mealymouthed manner.

Norm Coleman.

Douche bag.

Discuss.

Porkulus.

I don't think "pork" means what the Republicans want it to mean. Understand the point, but to my knowledge, there were no legislative earmarks in the bill. That is, nothing went to a specific district, at the behest of a legislator from that district. Which is what "pork" means.

I've all but given up this fight against revisionism, so I will simply call Republicans "assholes," since it's close enough, and everyone is familiar with the concept.

Also, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This shit is straight up Orwell.

Being politically-minded was easier to do before Newt's era, because both parties shared roughly the same vocabulary and agreed-upon historical facts and truths. The difference was in the analysis. In any case, I'm sure the level of revisionism has been expanded in absurdum since then.

The preceding paragraph has been brought to you by the American Freedom From Historical Fact Yet Is Still Plausible Institute. Do you have any idea how easy this shit is?

Student Debt Forgiveness

There's a growing movement for student debt forgiveness.

I agree with it wholeheartedly. In the interest of full disclosure, I currently have approximately $1.2 billion of student loan debt.

Having said that, most recent graduates have monthly debt payments roughly amounting to a car payment upwards of a mortgage payment. Since most people coming out of college are wanting to buy cars and houses, and since our economy needs people to buy cars and houses, maybe it's not such an offensive idea to forgive the debt....blah blah blah, just, like, forgive the debt and stuff, because it makes perfect political and economic sense or something whatever.

Note: If you are in your 20s or early 30s, you should probably get used to the fact that the government will be completely unresponsive to your needs. The Baby Boomers will take all the shit, and you won't get anything but the bill. This is because they vote more than you, and their cohorts are in power.

Obama's no-good, very bad day.

Obama really had a horrible day on Wednesday. I personally would have been rooting through the presidential liquor cabinet that night.

On Tuesday, a member of his National Economic Council, Jim Owens, says that his company, Caterpillar, will be able to rehire some of the 22,000 laid off workers at their production facilities if the stimulus bill passes. That same day, the stimulus bill passes the senate.

Wednesday, Obama flies to Peoria to make an impromptu appearance at a Caterpillar facility to tout his stimulus bill, and reiterate Owen's decision to rehire the laid off workers, now that the stimulus bill has passed. While Air Force One is in route to Peoria, Obama's pick for commerce secretary withdraws his name for consideration.

After Obama's speech, Jim Owens says that there is a strong possibility of more lay offs before Caterpillar will be in a position to call back affected workers, indicating that the soonest the latter action can occur would be toward the end of the third quarter, or fourth quarter.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Building outhouses in Peoria.

Richard Nixon, defining domestic policy

He. Is. A Wild and Crazy Guy.

Health Care.

Another moon mission.

Really, really, really interesting.

Poll is pdf, so I won't link it. You can find it at the Dkos link above.

HEALTH INSURANCE: PRIVATE ENTERPRISE VS. GOVERNMENT?

1979
Private Enterprise: 48%
Government - All Problems: 28%
Government - Emergencies: 12%
Don't know: 12%

2009
Private Enterprise: 32% (-16%)
Government - All Problems: 49% (+21%)
Government - Emergencies: 10% (-2%)
Don't know: 9% (-3%)

Somehow, free market capitalist Americans support pinko commie government health care, despite all evidence that Americans are healthy and physically fit.

Allow me to be bipartisan here. I'm willing to debate anyone on whether or not the health care system is experiencing market failure, as long as same person will debate whether access to health care services is a human right. Hint: I'll win both.

The health care system is broken. Americans know this. The industry knows this, which is why they fought tooth and nail against this:

WASHINGTON — The $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by Congress will, for the first time, provide substantial amounts of money for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness.

Under the legislation, researchers will receive $1.1 billion to compare drugs, medical devices, surgery and other ways of treating specific conditions. The bill creates a council of up to 15 federal employees to coordinate the research and to advise President Obama and Congress on how to spend the money.

I really do worry about the costs associated with single payer, as well as how effectively the government can institute such a plan. Obviously, though, it's badly needed. I'm glad there's been a poll conducted on this, and I hope public opinion is studied more in depth on it.

Like I've said before, this is not something that can ever come from on high. Obama has consistently said that he does not support single payer. It does have its drawbacks, but I do not think these are insurmountable. Most of Washington does. I'll spell out my concerns, and my suggestions later.

GM II

This is more of a trial balloon than established fact, though it is interesting in its implications.

DETROIT — President Obama has dropped the idea of appointing a single, powerful “car czar” to oversee the revamping of General Motors and Chrysler and will instead keep the politically delicate task in the hands of his most senior economic advisers, a top administration official said Sunday night.

Mr. Obama is designating the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the chairman of the National Economic Council, Lawrence H. Summers, to oversee a presidential panel on the auto industry. Mr. Geithner will also supervise the $17.4 billion in loan agreements already in place with G.M. and Chrysler, said the official, who insisted on anonymity.

[...]

“We’re going to need a restructuring of these companies,” the adviser, David Axelrod, said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. He added that a turnaround of the companies would “require sacrifice not just from the auto workers but also from creditors, from shareholders and the executives who run the company.”

Considering that the National Economic Council includes my boss, who just laid me off, I'll go ahead and assume that their advice will be to break the union.

However, the thrust of this post is that this will mean either the bank plan; taxpayers assume all the bad stuff, including retiree pensions and the like, and GM gets off scot free, or it's nationalized, and taxpayers assume all the bad stuff anyway. I really don't see any middle ground. Unlike the banks, I don't see anybody else in the market who is in the position to buy up GM's assets, even at pennies on the dollar, so unless Buffet wants to take a crack at making cars, I think you pretty much have to nationalize the company.

Intermittent Picture

Like the banks, except they make shit.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - General Motors Corp, nearing a Tuesday deadline to present a viability plan to the U.S. government, is considering as one option a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that would create a new company, the Wall Street Journal said in its Saturday edition.

"One plan includes a Chapter 11 filing that would assemble all of GM's viable assets, including some U.S. brands and international operations, into a new company," the newspaper said. "The undesirable assets would be liquidated or sold under protection of a bankruptcy court. Contracts with bondholders, unions, dealers and suppliers would also be reworked."

The worst part of this is not that GM will die an inglorious death, or how this affects its own employees. What I'm most saddened by is that we're going to watch the implosion of auto parts manufacturers, the companies that doe the majority of the manufacturing work that GM (and Ford and Chrysler) used to do. Very little of the steel that goes into a car is formed and machined by GM employees. These companies will get wiped out, and, in aggregate, they employ many more people than the Big Three.

Everybody knew this was coming, but we haven't thought much about parts manufacturers. GM owes billions of dollars to these companies, who will not be paid back by the original borrower.

So, these are the consequences (though it wasn't like GM was in a position to pay these guys anyway), and they are for the most part unavoidable. I don't see how the government will be able to sit back and watch this unfold without trying to soften the blow, so you'd have to think that the government would guarantee GM's operating debts so the parts companies can make payroll while they downsize. You're still looking at tens of thousands of workers laid off, both within GM and within parts manufacturers, and all of this will happen quickly.

Pretty much exactly what you don't want to happen right now, but I don't see a way out of it.

Quote of the Day

I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Grover Norquist

Are we going to give up? Are we going to try to figure out what life is?

Marshall Nails It.

TPM has hit the nail on the head with this one.

But there's a very big problem with this strategy above and beyond the absurdity of the argument. "Congress" may be really unpopular. And the Democrats now control Congress. But politics is a zero sum game. At the end of the day, in almost every case, you've got to pick a Republican or a Democrat when you vote. And if you look at the numbers, congressional Democrats are pretty popular. And congressional Republicans are extremely unpopular. If you look at the number, the Dems are at about 50% or higher in most recent polls, while the GOP is down in the 30s.

The city remains wired for the GOP. Not that it's done them a great deal of good of late. But it remains a key part of understanding every part of what is happening today.

This is a very, very, very important point, and it really does explain a lot of the disconnect, and why, when I listen to Republicans, any Republicans: on the radio, on TV, on the internet, there is this cognitive dissonance that makes my head explode. Ten minutes of Rush Limbaugh, 15 seconds of Sean Hannity, hearing Mark Lavin's name raises my blood pressure 20 points. The only Republican I actually enjoy listening to is Michael Savage, and that's just because he overshoots hyperbole and leaps into the realm of batshit insane.

When Republican ideology has failed so spectacularly, in theory and in practice, I guess you have every right to live in your delusional world where as long as you say it seriously, you somehow remove all sense of irony. The problem is, nobody is cutting their mic.

They really should get the fuck out of the way until they return from the wilderness with a workable plan for the country, but they just can't bring themselves to do it.

I'm trying to be helpful here; they need a sabbatical from their dialogue with the country until they sort things out for themselves. Does conservativism stand as a bulwark for personal liberty, or does it seek to legislate who marries whom, while making sure we don't talk about terrorism on the phone? Are conservatives serious about governmental spending, or just about tax cuts?

Until they work these problems out, and until they can figure out a way to become serious about the issues that matter, it does the country absolutely no good for the press to give Republicans carte blanche to lie. That's all they're doing, really. Lying with impunity, which makes the non contexualizing press complicit. Their role is to be skeptical of whatever a politican says. When the last time you've seen that? They're stenographers.

It really does remind me of when your drunk uncle grabs the microphone at your wedding reception to air family secrets. They are embarrassing themselves and hurting others. All you have to do is cut the mic.

Surprise.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Sen. Roland Burris admitted Saturday that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother asked him for a campaign contribution before the governor appointed Burris to the Senate.

The disclosure is at odds with Burris' testimony in January when an Illinois House impeachment committee specifically asked if he had ever spoken to Robert Blagojevich or other aides to the now-deposed governor about the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

Burris issued a statement Saturday saying he voluntarily gave the committee a Feb. 4 affidavit disclosing the contact with Robert Blagojevich because "there were several facts that I was not given the opportunity to make during my testimony to the impeachment committee."

Social Security

The conventional wisdom is that Obama will trade health care reform to the conservatives in exchange for some change to programs like social security and welfare. Obama feels he can do this because he feel the left will chant "Yes We Can" to selling out. Again, this is just the conventional wisdom.

Digby, in particular, has been uncharacteristically livid about it.

I think a lot of the preemptive lefty outrage is a shot across the bow of the administration in the wake of the preemptive capitulation of the stimulus, which is fine and ought be done.

I don't want any of this shit touched no matter what, but I'm pretty serene about it, because I know when this is brought up, all hell will come down on Obama. His ability to fuck with the left will be completely destroyed from that moment going forward. There is no better way to get lefties frothing at the mouth than to try to touch social security. And America has our backs on it.

One of these days he'll realize that if he wants something, he just just say that's what he wants and we'll push him over the line. That's the great thing about being a president of the majority with a 70% approval rating; you don't always have to kowtow to the shrine of William F. Buckley.

Politics anymore is nothing more than a rugby scrum, and America trusts liberals when it comes to entitlement programs.

By the way, "entitlement" is about to become a dirty word, but I will not stop using it. Every American is fucking entitled to health care even if they're poor, and some sort of way to pay the bills when they're old. Non-negotiable.

So, without a hint of irony, I say "bring it on." The harder they push, the harder it will be for Rahm to keep his job.

Again;


If we're going to go with the wildly unpopular privization approach, bring it on. You will not win the privatization fight.

Whatever problems you are seeing with paying the interest on social security bonds could be easily dealt with by removing the cap on contributions.

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

Diderot (not really)

Honey we're the big door prize.

Poor Arlen

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama's stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"

Another casualty of the South rising again, otherwise known as "what hath conservatives wrought."

To sum up, the entire stimulus bill has been junked by Republicans, of whom, Obama has received 0 votes from the House, and presumably 3 votes in the Senate.

Statesmanship, indeed.

Next time, make these motherfuckers filibuster.

$650 billion.

That's how much it's going to cost you for Obama to learn his lesson about bipartisanship.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel conceded President Barack Obama and his team lost control of the message for selling their massive stimulus bill last week, fixating on bipartisanship while Republicans were savaging the legislation.

Assuming any kind of stimulus could help at this point, the stimulus bill appears to be a wasted opportunity. In the end, only about $150 billion would go towards infrastructure projects which would be the best use of stimulus funds. It isn't that the other $650 billion or so was absolutely wasteful--the vast majority of it will be spent on good things. However, with the concessions and tax cuts gained by the Republicans, who will still vote nay, I'm afraid we're left with a spending bill which, in addition to not doing nearly enough to make up for consumer spending in any meaningful way, will also do very little to make it easier to pay back the money.

So the question is, was there a real opportunity to pick up bipartisan support that Obama and the democrats completely flubbed, or was every concession in the process only doomed to weaken the stimulative effects of the bill?

Appearing on CNBC the day after he abruptly withdrew his nomination for Commerce Secretary, Sen. Judd Gregg made a rather blunt admission about the partisan intransigence that the Obama administration is forced to deal with.

From the transcript:

Carl Quintanilla: Well, Senator, since you were nominated it's become quite clear that the margin that the president is going to rely on in the Senate has come down to really three Senators."

Sen. Gregg: I think it's always been that margin.

The point Sen. Gregg seems to be making, is that, no matter what, Obama was never going to get any of the 38 Republican votes he was seeking.

This leads to an important question: if the Republicans had no intention on voting for the bill, no matter what it contained, what was the point in bringing them into the legislative process at all? What Gregg is saying is, and what Limbaugh has emphatically stated, is that the Republicans' only interest is that the Democratic agenda fails, regardless of its intention, or regardless to the interests of the American people.

For the sake of being charitable, allow me to posit that it would seem unfair to say that Republicans value partisan advantage over national interest. After all, would not partisan opposition to a party, whom you believe are not acting in the national interest, be in the national interest?

I would accept this theory, had I not considered their record of governance.

While enjoying a comfortable majority in Congress and the Supreme Court, and with control of the executive, Republicans should have balanced the budget, cut government spending, in particular, cut entitlement programs like social security and medicare, given states more latitude to adopt their own policies, increased individual freedom, repealed gun control legislation, and worked to outlaw gay marriage and abortion. In short, accomplish their agenda.

In fact, we see that Republicans have done none of these things. They do not seem to be interested in enacting their own agenda, let alone that of the opposition's.

Therefore, since they do not seem interested in advancing what they believe to advance the national interest, can we not conclude, then, that their entire philosophy is maintaining partisan advantage?

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day -- Existential Crisis Edition

That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

Carl Sagan

I am good-natured and provide satisifaction.

I am loved.

I bet none of you plebeians, after you lose your job, get the President to come to your town to tell you that everything's gonna be all right.

Transcript

Intermittent Picture

Quote of the Day

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln

La Guerre de Sécession en 4 minutes - Vidéos insolites

Catharsis

Blagojevich throws down the gauntlet.

I caught a little bit of it this morning, and, frankly, I believe he's innocent of all charges (he might have something on me, too). It's absolutely amazing what politicians can say once they no longer give a fuck.

Blagojevich says a bunch of them cheat on their spouses, drink too much and blindly follow their legislative leaders because they don't know what's going on in Springfield.

That's pretty much verbatum what he said, so I don't know why the AP article paraphrases here.

This will get really, really good at the criminal trial

Intermittent Picture

Goddamn aww.

Hate.

Last year, a 58-year-old unemployed man named Jim Adkisson drove to the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. In his small SUV was a guitar case.

He brought his guitar case into the church, and as worshippers were enjoying a children's musical performance, Adkisson retrieved his shotgun from the case, along with 76 shells. He managed to murder 2, and wound 6 others before he was tackled and detained until his arrest.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to life in prison.

His motive, according to his handwritten manifesto, was to kill liberals. The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church is known for its tolerance of homosexuals and political refugees.

He wrote, “Liberals are a pest like termites, millions of them … the only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets, kill them where they gather.”

If you read over his stated motive for what he explicitly says is a "hate crime," you will find a collection of right wing radio coded words and talking points. I've listened to enough AM radio, that I'm comfortable saying Adkisson parroted directly from Hannity, who has long called into question the "American-ness" of groups like MoveOn.org and Code Pink (whom he specifically mentions by name ad nauseum), two groups mentioned in Mr. Adkisson's manifesto. In fact, Hannity uses the phrase, "groups like Code Pink and MoveOn.org" like a blues guitarist uses riffs as turnarounds between progressions.

The irresponsibility of Mr. Limbaugh, Mr. Hannity, Mr. Savage, Mr. Levin et al. has forever changed the lives of those families in Knoxville. Having listened to these men peddle their poison for years, it is not unfair to lay this at talk radio's feet. The vieled and not so vield racism, sexism, homophobia and ideological hate these men spew into their microphones every night is far beyond the pale. The difficult part to understand is not why Mr. Adkisson's murderous hatred was screwed up by talk radio--what is surprising is that their listeners have so far show such restraint.

Quote of the Day

If [the Southern people] want eternal war, well and good; we accept the issue, and will dispossess them and put our friends in their places [...]

Three years ago, by a little reflection and patience, they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity, but they preferred war; very well. Last year they could have saved their slaves, but now it is too late. All the powers of earth cannot return to them their slaves, any more than their dead grandfathers. Next year their lands will be taken; for in war we can take them, and rightfully, too, and in another year they may beg in vain for their lives [...]

To those who submit to the rightful law and authority, all gentleness and forebearance; but to the petulant and persistent secessionists, why, death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better. Satan and the rebellious saints of Heaven were allowed a continuous existence in hell merely to swell their just punishment. To such as would rebel against a Government so mild and just as ours was in peace, a punishment equal would not be unjust. [...]

Read to them this letter, and let them use it so as to prepare them for my coming.

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

Trilla!

Don't let anybody tell you different.

Apple pears are extremely delicious.

Dispatches from stupid sumbitchin tax cheats.

Pathetic.

Administration officials were greeted with sarcasm and laughter Monday night when they briefed lawmakers and congressional staff on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's new financial-sector bailout project, according to people who were in the room.

When Congress of all people laugh at you for mismanagement, you know you done fucked up.

Inexplicably, the administration has severe anal-cranial impaction.

sigh.

This is going to be a long four-year scrum.

Intermittent Picture

Link

Creeping Realization.

All of this shit is simply prelude to the nationalization of the banks. Everything you see between now and then is tactical.

The bailout is retarded. The stimulus is retarded.

Meanwhile nothing is being addressed except for laying the groundwork for the Swedish model.

Gonna be a long year.

Wow.

Good start to the market today, in preparation of the official announcement that our economy is run by a criminal sumbitch assclown.

Top 25 Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years

According to William F Buckley's magazine.

1. The Lives of Others
2. The Incredibles
3. Metropolitan
4. Forrest Gump
5. 300
6. Groundhog Day
7. The Pursuit of Happyness
8. Juno
9. Blast from the Past
10. Ghostbusters
11. Lord of the Rings
12. The Dark Knight
13. Braveheart
14. A Simple Plan
15. Red Dawn
16. Master and Commander
17. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
18. The Edge
19. We Were Soldiers
20. Gattaca
21. Heartbreak Ridge
22. Brazil
23. United 93
    
24. Team American: World Police
25. Gran Torino
    

Hi. Fucking. Larious.

Assclown announcement.

Later today we'll find out the extent of how the new boss is the same as the old boss.

Geithner is a goddamn criminal.

Some People Say

It's not just Fox News, but still incredibly grating to the ear, particularly after you watch this. Outfoxed is a great piece of attack film, by the way.

When I took Journalism 101, I was always told to never quote or paraphrase the words of others without attribution. While in certain situations the use of unnamed sources is ethical, as in the case of whistle blowers, one should quote or paraphrase them very, very rarely, extremely carefully, and only as a last resort, i.e. if the information they present cannot be obtained through any other source. It's also important, when using unnamed sources, to provide some context to what you do decide to use, and provide justification for your source remaining unnamed. The ethical foundation of this is self evident.

Apparently if I had pursued this degree, I would have learned in a 400-level class that it's completely ethical to insert my own opinion, or my boss's, using this phrase.

Boo.

I am so tired of this bullshit.

Obama Administration Maintains Bush Position on 'Extraordinary Rendition' Lawsuit

The Obama Administration today announced that it would keep the same position as the Bush Administration in the lawsuit Mohamed et al v Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.

A source inside of the Ninth U.S. District Court tells ABC News that a representative of the Justice Department stood up to say that its position hasn't changed, that new administration stands behind arguments that previous administration made, with no ambiguity at all. The DOJ lawyer said the entire subject matter remains a state secret.

This is not going to please civil libertarians and human rights activists who had hoped the Obama administration would allow the lawsuit to proceed.

Fucking idiots. I'm sure there's a bigger story here--there's absolutely no context at all, anywhere I clicked inside of this story, but this shit is non-negotiable with me.

Job Losses

Very interesting diary on DailyKos by bonddad attempting to explain what the impact of the recession has been on jobs.

Now, as clearly as I understand it, the US economy needs to grow at the rate of 250,000 jobs a month to keep pace with population growth--and I think, I think!, this this would translate to 0.0% growth in GDP per capita. The addition of 250,000 jobs would make the pie bigger, but you'd have to cut it in more pieces. Its fuzzy, but basically just think of 250,000 new jobs per month as a 0.0% increase in standard of living.

This means that looking at the creation or deletion of jobs needs to take into account the historical nature of a growing economy, as, say, the lost of 10,000 of 1,000,000 jobs is not on the same scale of 10,000 of 100,000, even though those 10,000 are SOL and deserve your sympathy. More later on this.

I've noticed lefties try to use raw data, and indeed the graph in a previous post from the speaker, when percentages are key to understanding the economic impact on job losses. Which is not the whole story, obviously, and in reality looking at one is like looking at the reflection of the other. But I think its perfectly acceptable to use raw data to show the amount of current pain.

Quote of the Day II

Here's the facts--and we don't even talk about these things. On Thursday [September 15, 2008], at about 11 o'clock in the morning, the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the United States; to the tune of $550 billion, was being driven out, in the matter of an hour or two. The Treasury opened up its window to help, it pumped in $105 billion into the system, and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the bank. They decided to close the operation--close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic out there; and that's what really happened.

If they had not done that, their estimation was that by 2 o'clock that afternoon, $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours, the world economy would have collapsed. [...] It would have been the end of our economic system and political system as we know it.

-Rep. Kanjorski, D-Pennsylvania

Quote of the Day

Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggie," until you can find a rock.

Will Rogers

I didn't mean no trouble, I didn't mean no harm.

Intermittent Picture

Madeira

TED #3

George Tyson on the Orion Project, which is effin' awesome.

Quote of the Day

Stop quoting laws, we carry weapons!

Pompey

Yeah my baby she wrote me a letter

Intermittent Picture

Link

Quote of the Day

Now now, my good man, this is no time to be making enemies.

Voltaire, on his deathbed, in response to a priest asking him to reject Satan.

Cause America can, and America can't say no.

Intermittent Picture

War Tubas

Quote of the Day

Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban. And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person's entire processes. And these Taliban -- I'm not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. No, that's not what we're saying. I'm saying an example of how you go about is to change a person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message. And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with."

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) February 4, 2009, regarding the stimulus bill.

Guess I ought to know, exactly how I wants to go

This...

...is why I'm so pissed off about this stupid damned stimulus.

And it's why I've been drawing all my little charts, and writing all the long posts, and explaining why infrastructure is important as it relates to economic growth...why the stimulus should revolve around infrastructure...

But none of that really fucking matters when you have retarded dildos running things.


To Sen Collins and Sen Nelson: I hope this chart counts you as quickly as possible. You fail at America.


Introductory macroeconomics helps stop this. Fuck! Woooouuullllddd you like to know whyyyy our little friend the green line is so steep? Because there's nothing but stimulus to stop it from bottoming out. The blue line and the red line had a little thing I like to call "monetary policy" to keep the recession from being so bad. Didn't have to go into debt, just had to pull the monetary policy lever and cut interest rates and things would pick up. But wouldn't you know it, we're already at 0.25%, so that shit don't work no' mo.'

So, call it what you will, a "market correction," what have you. The point is, life is going to suck for a very long time.

Intermittent Picture

raymondluijbregts

John Cole

Hilarious:

I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.

Now if only we can get elected Democrats to start ridiculing Republicans like this, we'll get somewhere.