First Draft

Fuck Yeah, Chile!

And fuck yeah, NASA!

I didn't watch any of the rescue coverage, but I have been watching videos posted all over the Interwebs, and this movie version of this is going to make Apollo 13 look like that one time you took your dog for a walk and forgot your keys.

A.

A Country of Assholes

Seriously, where we get off lecturing people on how to run their societies, I really don't know.

Researchers at Princeton say that without segregation, the expansion of these subprime loans, and the subsequent economic crash, couldn't have happened. Mortgage brokers needed swaths of communities where people met the following criteria: 1) they didn't already have a home loan, 2) they were used to predatory lending practices, and 3) there weren't other financial institutions around to clue buyers into the fact that these subprime loans weren't a good deal.

Segregated communities like those on the South and West sides of Chicago fit these requirements to a T. Segregation put all these vulnerable people in one geographic location. Mortgage lenders didn't have to hope the right person would stop by their office. They could set up shop in a place where there were thousands of available customers.

But all those poor people should have known they couldn't afford a house! Stupid people.

A.

Rich Whitey Goes Green

Fun times at TPM:

Rich Whitney is the Green party candidate for governor in Illinois this year. But there's been a small matter of a typo on the state's electronic voting machines. On electronic voting machines in 23 wards -- about half of which are predominantly African-American districts -- Whitney's name is set to appear as "Rich Whitey".

Whitney is unhappy about this and is investigating what remedy he has. For whatever reason, the problem can't be fixed, even those these are on electronic machines, rather than on paper ballots.

The Face Of American Marxism?

Christine O'Donnell caled her opponent Chris Coons a Marxist last night. He is one scary looking dude, after all:

Mr. Coons looks more like a CPA than a member of the CPUSA. It's a tough sell trying to paint him as the next Fidel or Che. Hmm, Lenin *was* bald. Of course, wingnut cupcakes like Ms. O'Donnell don't know what Marxism is in any event. At least she hasn't started making jokes about his last name but I bet some wackadoodle somewhere has already done so...

 

First, They Came for the Campbell's Soup

From Album3

Every time I think the usual suspects can't get more Full Mental Whackjob...

Wherefore Art Thou, George Jetson?

So I'm browsing around the stupid at Clownhall, and seriously, this is the headline:

How Leftists are Killing 'The Jetsons'

Shoot me now:

For the first time in American history, today's generation is looking at a future that resembles the Flintstones more than the Jetsons. President Obama's science adviser, John Holdren, preaches the virtues of "de-development," by which he means the destruction of technological advances; the Obama administration preaches cap and trade policies, which would cripple American standards of living if implemented. Obama and his cronies have no faith whatsoever in human ingenuity and entrepreneurship: the best solutions are always proscriptive and prophylactic.

Obama thinks your hybrid car sucks. Go buy a rusty Ford, you fucking hippies!

Also, like The Virgin Ben would know from prophylactics.

Okay, even I'm ashamed of that one.

So what's this column about? It's about the rights of morons to crash their cars into whatever because they're too busy yammering on their phones to drive.

No, really.

While driving, how many of us use our cell phones to check on the safety of our loved ones, to do business or even to make emergency calls? How many of us would be willing to give up those conveniences -- and, in some cases, those necessities -- in order to satisfy LaHood's safety requirements?

If you can afford a phone, nine times out of ten it comes with a small hands-free thing. I have a cheapass phone that sucks, and even it comes with a cheapass headset thing that sucks. So come on.

I'm not anti-phone, and I'm not even rabidly anti-phone in the car. I ride my bike wherever I can and I've been almost hit or doored not by people on phones but by stupid assholes who just don't look where they're going because they're stupid. Take away the phone, they'll still be stupid. But this is a little ... really, you have the God-given freedom to do whatever in your car, even update Facebook from OnStar? And by disallowing this obviously insane thing, the government wants Astro the Jetson dog to die?

Google, the most innovative company on the planet at the moment, is busily creating vehicles with the capacity to drive in traffic without human intervention.

Okay.

I don't know about you, but I still want my flying car. Maybe I'll never get it. But I'd sure as hell rather live in a world where the only limits are those imposed by nature rather than by man. We all deserve a "Jetsons" future. If government continues to grow, that future will fade into oblivion.

Gotcha. Judy Jetson will never take her top off for you if you don't get your Google car, and also Obama sucks. You should have just said that from sentence one and saved us all the trouble.

A.

 

Dirty Landry

There's a pretty lively race to succeed Charlie Melancon in the Louisiana Third Congressional District. Teabagger Jeff Landry is the front runner in a race for a seat that won't exist much longer: the Gret Stet is poised to lose a seat when the census results are in. But Democrat Ravi Sangisetty (that's right an Indian candidate in the land of  LeBlancs and LaBordes) is running a pretty feisty underdog campaign. And Mr. Landry seems to have the odd skeleton in the closer or is that under his house? I'm not sure if Sangisetty is gaining any traction but he's making it very entertaining; an important thing for me as y'all have surely noticed.

Here's how one of my favorite progressive Louisiana bloggers, Lamar White, sees it:

Late last week, Ravi Sangisetty, a candidate for Congress in Louisiana’s Third District, went on the offense against his Republican challenger Jeff Landry, a Tea Party favorite who emerged as the Republican nominee after a bruising primary against Hunt Downer, a retired National Guard Major General and former Speaker of the Louisiana House. Sangisetty’s campaign launched DirtyLandry.com, which features, among other things, a stunning allegation that when Landry was a Sheriff Deputy in 1993, police recovered $10,000 worth of cocaine underneath his home and then arrested his roommate, also a Deputy, for possession with intent to distribute. Only a few months later, Sangisetty’s campaign claims, Jeff Landry turned in his badge.

"This is a little bit more than a “guilt by association” attack. Early this week, Sangisetty’s campaign put out a press release focusing on this allegation (bold mine):

Sangisetty for Congress Campaign Manager Julienne Uhlich said corruption follows Jeff Landry. She said Landry ran a disgraceful campaign against a good man like Hunt Downer, and Landry now has questions to answer about his involvement in a cocaine bust.

“Here’s what we know: While Jeff Landry was employed as a sheriff’s deputy,  $10,000 worth of cocaine was stolen from the sheriff’s evidence room and found under his house. His roommate, also a sheriff’s deputy, was arrested for it and went to jail. Landry turned in his badge within months,” Uhlich (Sangisetty’s campaign manager) said. “There are only two explanations. Either Jeff Landry was a dirty cop and knew about the drugs, or he was the worst cop ever and couldn’t figure out that $10,000 worth of cocaine was being sold out of his house.”

Those are fighting words, and they probably merit a response from Mr. Landry. Was cocaine being sold out of his home? Who alerted the authorities? Was Mr. Landry surprised to learn that $10,000 worth of cocaine was stashed underneath his home? The answers to these questions are particularly important because Mr. Landry was, at the time, a law enforcement officer. It speaks to both his integrity and his competence. And if Mr. Landry has a legitimate response, then voters need to hear it.

WWTFUS: Kitten Punch 3

In my mind, this is pretty much what the First Draft Crack Van looks like. Except with ferrets.

And speaking of the Van, I'm hoping it's gonna roll for Election Night. Maybe it's a little premature to pester Athenae about, but on the other hand it's never too early to pressure wash the walls and shampoo that chartreuse shag carpet.

The Gossip, from their new album Music for Men.

 

Bacon is a terrible thing to waste

Some malaka wasted some perfectly good bacon in Secession/Thurmond/DeMintville. I'm not sure if this qualifies as porky tagging or as a particularly greasy hate crime. You decide:

Slices of bacon were laid down on a brink walkway to the Florence Islamic Center in Florence, S.C. on Sunday in a manner that spelled out "PIG CHOPS." The incident -- evidently aimed the center because of the Islamic dietary restrictions against pork -- is just the latest in a string of anti-Muslim episodes around the country.

In fact this isn't the first time even this particular mosque has been hit -- earlier this year vandals broke windows in the facility, according to local news station ABC 15.

You're Arguing With a Martian About His Homework

Okay, look. First of all, it don't matter worth a shit if I'm mean to Obama or not. I know this. I know that the difference between his having a shitty presidency and his having a great one is not how hard I am on him on my website. And second, I'm trying to be patient here. The world is FUCKED, and Bush had eight years to break everything. Obama had about ten minutes to fix it before everybody went sadly and predictably nuts because there was a black man in the White House and also a socialist Marxist Muslim. He had about ten minutes, and he took a nap, and while I sympathize because DAMN, maybe it wasn't the best use of that time. Even so, boyfriend had a tough job coming in, so I've tried to be patient.

That all being said, what the fucking fuck, already? 

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, they feel more responsible, either because they didn’t do as well as they anticipated, and so the strategy of just saying no to everything and sitting on the sidelines and throwing bombs didn’t work for them," Mr. Obama said. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals and work with me in a serious way."

These people aren't responsible. Their whole lives are about not being responsible for anything but firing the gardener for clipping the wrong hedge. Talking to them about responsibility is like talking to a Claire about calculus. She'll sit and listen politely, and then she'll go off and chew on your hat. She doesn't get the concept. She's not aware it exists. She thinks you're being cute and funny and are we done now, because it's lunchtime. It's not even that she hates you (the teawads hate you), it's that you're absolute zero on her list of concerns. But it amuses her, sometimes, to listen to you yammer.

Again, not at all surprised. Well, maybe a little. Obama's slightly older than I am, I was hoping he'd paid attention during the Clinton years and saw that pulling your punches only works if you like getting beat, and that the only thing Republicans are responsible for is the Sunday shows being full of Republicans. They demonstrably do not give a fuck about anything being better, the earth is caving in, and Centrist Daddy isn't going to teach them a lesson because they're not in school. They don't know what school is. 

School is a story you've told them, only instead of people who just went to school in another country and maybe the classroom looks different, they are from another planet where knowledge is injected into capsules under their skin, and the idea of sitting around all day while someone tells you things is absurd.

A.

Every TV Set That Has Them Lit: Caprica Thread

Jacob, as usual putting his finger on something that I could only vaguely smell in last week's premiere: 

So what Clarice is really saying is, the people of the Twelve Worlds have gone so far into Ravenclaw and Slytherin that Griffyndor isn't even a possibility anymore. And letting faith speak for itself isn't working, because sex and drugs -- as she well knows -- are way more awesome than self-denial. So how do you sell self-denial to people who can have everything in the real world, and double that in the Matrix? By building a disgusting highway interchange that substitutes Slytherin and Ravenclaw for Griffyndor, because they're too stupid to know the difference. They'll drink the sand. And if you scare them bad enough, the downsides of that -- the withering and eventual dropping-off of your leperous vestigial soul -- won't even matter anymore.

It's the most cynical, nasty, wrong-headed thing imaginable. It's also precisely the way we, as a country and a world, do tend to talk of religion: "I offer you a religion that removes the need for faith. A religion of certainty." That's the most hateful possible way to describe both sides of this fake, dumb IRL debate. It's also how Dawkins got rich, because that's what it looks like to a Ravenclaw: Like sheep, praying to Santa Claus. She's not wrong -- they're not wrong -- but she's right on such an adverse, horrific vector that I'd rather see the apocalypse come about. (Luckily...)

Which is sort of something my doctor told me a few weeks ago, during one of our periodic Is This Normal or Is This The Crazy conversations. Some things just suck, hard, and they'll suck until they don't. Death. Disappointment. Rejection. Breakups. Endings in general. They just suck, and you can't force them to not suck, and you can't make a secret reward where there isn't one for having gone through it, and you can't make the suck Virtuous and you can't make it Necessary and you sure as hell can't make it shorter.

It is exactly what it is. No matter how much you drink or work or run or think, it still sucks. You just have to keep walking upright. It sucks. It hurts. Sometimes you want to lie down and kick your feet and flail your fists like a two-year-old. Guess what? So does everybody else. Everybody else feels like this, at least a certain portion of the time. That's not much of a comfort, but it isn't The Crazy talking. The reason I say all the time that we get back up is seriously, tell me what else there is to do? What other choices do we have? This show is about what if we had other choices, and I think it's pretty clear how horribly wrong it's going to end up being.

Smile

Mr. Obvious meets Adrastos' obsession with the Jayhawks. Here's a live version of Smile complete with clips from The Straight Story for some obscure reason. Guess I could have called this post, Gary Louris meets David Lynch:

 

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Appeal

Rare good news made even better by chatter that the Pentagon may comply with the order. Let's hope the DOJ is on the same page as well:

A federal judge ordered an immediate halt Tuesday to discharges of openly gay and lesbian soldiers under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, rejecting the Obama administration's request to wait until Congress acts on the issue.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside ruled the 1993 law unconstitutional Sept. 9, saying it intrudes on service members' personal lives and freedom of expression and reduces military effectiveness by needlessly excluding qualified personnel.

Her injunction Tuesday requires the government "immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge" of service members based on their sexual orientation.

 

Mad Men Thread: It's a doggy dog world

SCDP may be in deep trouble but Mad Men bounced back big time after a rare off episode. The sense of desperation felt by Don and the gang is palpable: everything they do seems to backfire and every new client they solicit tells them to call back in 6 months. Why? Nobody expects them to make it.

On to the usual random and discursive thoughts:

Midge, the artist from the Village, who was Don's season-1 chick on the sly returns. She appears in the lobby and claims to be looking for work from the Time-Life octopus. It turns out that she was stalking Don, hoping to put the bite on him. Midge has become a junkie: a far cry from the quirky independent spirit we met back in 1960. She's down on her luck and like all junkies, needs a fix and needs it now. When Don writes her a check for the painting seen above, she says "What would I do with a check?" Back then it took 3 days for even local checks to clear so Don gives her cold, hard cash and skedaddles out of there.

The interplay between Don and Pete was classic as always. Pete is convinced that the collapse of the agency's fortunes is all about him but correctly states that he's the only one bringing in new business. It will be interesting to see how Pete reacts to Don's kicking in $50K for Campbell's share of the partners forced re-investment in the firm. The money, however, will only keep them afloat long enough to get to the season finale or next season.

I was struck with how pained everyone but Roger was over laying people off. Nowadays they fire people without regrets so it was refreshing to see some old school angst. As Danny put it before he was sacked: "It's a doggy dog world."

We took a refresher course at the Betty Draper school of bad parenting. Betty flipped out when she learned that our Sally and weird Glen had a secret meeting place. The local football team must be desperate to take Glen: he's not exactly jock material, when he ran away from Betty he looked slower than the Saints Jeremy Shockey this season. And that's slow.

The best Draper/Francis family scenes involved Dr. Edna who seems to have schooled Sally in how to deal with her batshit crazy mother. Placate, placate, placate. When Dr. Edna suggested that Betty see her own shrink, it was predictable that Betty wanted to continue seeing Dr. Edna "about Sally." Betty is a child too or at the very least childish.

Finally, Don's desperation move: a fulll page ad in the New York Times renouncing tobacco business. It's a stunt intended to "change the conversation" about SCDP. Instead, it leads to bickering amongst the partners and a series of prank calls, the best of which was placed by uber-malaka Teddy Chaough doing a passable Bobby Kennedy impression. I bought it at first until he threw in the word "vigah," which was a staple of all Kennedy impersonators. It remains to be seen if Don's gambit will pay off but hopefully someone on the board of the American Cancer Society will send some work SCDP's way. In that case, Don and Roger may have to quit smoking. If you believe that, I have some oceanside property in Nebraska to sell you...

I can't wait to see what happens next week before we have to hurry up and wait for season-5. I can suddenly identify with Midge: I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms already. Mad Men is *almost* as addictive as heroin. I'll let Lou Reed have the last word this week:

 

Deep Boardwalk Empire Thought

I'm really getting into Boardwalk Empire. Former Sopranos writer Terence Winter has chosen a large canvas to paint on and they're doing it well thus far. Is it just me or does Nucky's squeeze Lucy Danziger remind anyone else of the character of Susan Alexander Kane in Citizen Kane? They don't look alike BUT their voices are similar and they both have a sarcastic diva quality in common. Also, when the news reel guy tracks the second Mrs, Kane down, she's singing in a dive in Atlantic City. Coincidence or hommage by Terence Winter and executive producer Martin Scorsese?

Smile

This country doesn't completely suck.

A.

More on the Power and the Glory of the Mighty Tribune

Boy, having a mean NYT story written about your CEO acting like a horny 14-year-old so totally makes storming the beaches of Normandy look easy:

In the 163-year history of the Chicago Tribune, no group has confronted more disruption and more uncertainty than you. No group has demonstrated more innovative spirit and driven more transformative change than this one. No one has worked harder to keep journalism alive despite the economic assaults upon it. It is easy to profess your convictions when things are going well. It is quite another to hold onto those convictions and to push ahead when times are difficult.

Faced with the most crucial moment of our careers and the most perilous moment in the Chicago Tribune s history, we did not retreat. Instead, we stood and fought to create a brighter future for the Chicago Tribune. That is real courage.

Wow. I had no idea. I feel really bad now, for the mocking. I should have more respect for those who did not retreat and who, in stupendous acts of courage, kept showing up for work in the morning. I mean, I get how much this stuff sucks, but some of your colleagues in Mexico are getting shot at, so maybe tone down the drama somewhat, kiddo. And how exactly is "being run into the ground by assholes while your management fucks in the stairwell" transformative change?

From earlier in this masterpiece of self-importance:

As many of you know, I read history. My advisors sit on a bookshelf behind my desk. I invite you to come by my office sometime and chat about some of these books and the stories they tell.

God Almighty. Come by and chat about this guy's library? Really? That's his prescription for people who are, in all seriousness, still showing up there every day trying to do a job? Talk about his reading of history? How about we talk about the balance sheet, the layoffs of friends and colleagues, and oh yeah, COVERING SOME FUCKING NEWS. How about we do all of that and then we can share a brandy and discuss the writings of Cicero.

The whole thing hurts my brain.

A.

They Call Me Mr. Obvious

The Cranick house fire story and the reaction to it has legs. The wingnut reaction makes me proud to be a godless secular atheist.

Anyway, Athenae's post, Christians Let Houses Burn, earlier today was superb. It also gave me an earworm and, well, it's embarrassingly obvious. Now where did I put my big suit?

 

Tara Cards?

Apologies to my NOLA readers but I've decided to recycle this post for my national congregation. I wanna hear what sort of smart ass comments y'all have. Amen.

It comes from a NOPD press release so naturally it's in blue:

I complained a few weeks ago about getting blue spammed by the NOPD. I hereby retract that comment. There's comedy gold to be mined from them thar press releases. Here's the latest:

Superintendent of Police Ronal W. Serpas discusses the brief case incident that occurred on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, in Jackson Square:

On October 5, 2010, at 9:39 A.M., Eighth District officers were dispatched to Chartres and Saint Ann Streets regarding a large red suitcase in front of a restaurant in that area.  Officers quickly responded and were on scene minutes later at 9:43 A.M.  The officers located the suitcase at which time a Cabildo Police Officer advised the officers that the case belonged to a Tara Card reader.  Upon further investigation, the officers opened the case and found the case to contain a table cloth and Tara Cards which is consistent to the belongings of a Tara Card Reader.  The officers were able to locate the owner, a Tara Card reader, who was setting up a stand in the area.

On this same day, at 10:32 A.M., officers were dispatched a second time to Jackson Square regarding luggage in front of a location for an unknown amount of hours; luggage could be located a few feet away from a bench.  Again, officers quickly responded and were on scene minutes later at 10:37 A.M.  Upon arrival, the officers located the same Tara Card reader, near a bench, to be in possession of the same suitcase.

Superintendent Serpas said, “After a review of the incident, it was found that the officers responded properly and followed proper procedures in handling the incident.”

The first time I read tara cards I assumed it was a typo. It was not. So, I turned on the deep thought machine. Is tara Yat for terror? Probably not. It could, however, involve Gone With The Wind trading cards; you know like baseball cards. I'm very interested in getting my hands on a Prissy "I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies, Miz Scarlet" card or a Scarlet and the harlot card. Hmm, I wonder if Bitter Vitter is a Belle Watling fan? Instead, it's all about a tarot card reader who keeps leaving her suitcase on the Square. Boring.

Pam Geller and the Passive Voice

Editorial standards. Way to have them:

It is in this genteel setting that Ms. Geller, 52 and a single mother of four, wakes each morning shortly after 7, switches on her laptop and wages a form of holy war through Atlas Shrugs, a Web site that attacks Islam with a rhetoric venomous enough that PayPal at one point branded it a hate site. Working here — often in fuzzy slippers — she has called for the removal of the Dome of the Rock from atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; posted doctored pictures of Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court justice, in a Nazi helmet; suggested the State Department was run by “Islamic supremacists”; and referred to health care reform as an act of national rape.

Ms. Geller has been writing since 2005, but this summer she skyrocketed to national prominence as the firebrand in chief opposing Park51, the planned Muslim community center she denounces as “the ground zero mega-mosque.”

Operating largely outside traditional Washington power centers — and, for better or worse, without traditional academic, public-policy or journalism credentials — Ms. Geller, with a coterie of allies, has helped set the tone and shape the narrative for a divisive national debate over Park51 (she calls the developer a “thug” and a “lowlife”). In the process, she has helped bring into the mainstream a concept that after 9/11 percolated mainly on the fringes of American politics: that terrorism by Muslims springs not from perversions of Islam but from the religion itself. Her writings, rallies and television appearances have both offended and inspired, transforming Ms. Geller from an Internet obscurity, who once videotaped herself in a bikini as she denounced “Islamofascism,” into a media commodity who has been profiled on “60 Minutes” and whose phraseology has been adopted by Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin.

Does it not occur to any of these people that they're feeding the beast? That part of what makes Geller worth noticing is that people are noticing her? That she's "become" an acceptable voice in American media because the American media have MADE her an acceptable voice? The passive voice is not the reader's friend in this instance. 

Read this sentence again:

Her writings, rallies and television appearances have both offended and inspired, transforming Ms. Geller from an Internet obscurity, who once videotaped herself in a bikini as she denounced “Islamofascism,” into a media commodity who has been profiled on “60 Minutes” and whose phraseology has been adopted by Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin.

Her TV appearances have transformed her into someone who makes other TV appearances. For chrissakes. TV producers who only have one name filed under L for Lunatic or B for Bigot don't get a pass here. Neither does any reporter who calls somebody who's been quoted by a lot of other reporters. Lazy reporting is lazy reporting.

In about two more paragraphs, we discover that the NY Times assignment editors who greenlighted this piece have no pride at all, nor respect for their employees, as they gleefully grant real estate (and don't try to tell me this is some kind of hit piece, the passive praise scattered throughout here, as well as the random selection of bloggers credible enough to quote, make that impossible) to someone who hates them:

THE day last December when The New York Times first reported plans to build a Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero, Atlas Shrugs immediately objected. “I don’t know which is more grotesque,” Ms. Geller wrote, “jihad or the NY Times preening of it.”

This thing goes from mildly infuriating to fucking gross:

Mr. Spencer and Ms. Geller said they would rather have galvanized the nation with accounts of Muslim girls killed by male relatives over violations of family “honor.”

Yes. It was a major bummer you could only use dead firefighters and not dead Muslim girls to make your point. Dead Muslim girls are much, much better copy.

And then we get back to the poisonous passivity again:

It is difficult to determine who finances their movement, since their new organization has yet to win tax-free status requiring documentation of donations. Mr. Spencer estimated that since 2009, the two have raised and spent about $150,000 for things like the bus ads and giant television screens for the 9/11 rally, some of it donated through Mr. Spencer’s Jihad Watch, a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency. In recent years, Jihad Watch has been a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which pays him a $132,000 salary and, as Politico.com has reported, has received significant contributions from philanthropists who back the Israeli right.

Asked how much her blog collects in reader donations and advertisements (one promotes a creationist Web site), Ms. Geller said only that it was enough to live on.

It's difficult to find out who finances the movement, even though (as the Times chickenassedly puts in a link) it's totally possible to find out who finances the movement:

Though it was not listed on the public tax reports filed by Horowitz’s Freedom Center, POLITICO has confirmed that the lion’s share of the $920,000 it provided over the past three years to Jihad Watch came from Chernick, whose husband, Aubrey Chernick, has a net worth of $750 million, as a result of his 2004 sale to IBM of a software company he created, and a security consulting firm he now owns. 

A onetime trustee of the ...Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Aubrey Chernick led the effort to pull together $3.5 million in venture capital to start Pajamas Media, a conservative blog network ...

The David Horowitz Freedom Center had a budget of $4.5 million last year, according to its tax filings, of which $290,000 came from the conservative Bradley Foundation, which also gave $75,000 to the Center for Security Policy last year. Horowitz has received an average of $461,000 a year in salary and benefits over the past three years, while Spencer has pulled in an average of $140,000, according to the center’s IRS filings.

But hey, she just happened to burst upon the national scene and become a phenomenon and make TV appearances! She must be speaking for some deep part of the American psyche! We'd better not miss out on reporting on this important person! Quick, everybody, to the Batmobile.

This goes to the heart of what I talk about with regard to all our media all the time, which can be basically boiled down to: SACK UP. If you don't want to cover something, don't cover it. If you think something's seriously crazy, don't give credence to the crazy by doing three-page profiles on it talking about how awesome its bazillion-dollar co-op living space is. If some other news organization lets a crazy person come on, instead of falling all over yourself to book her next, try standing alone. Try having those standards you like to jaw on bloggers all the time for lacking.

People like Pam Geller don't become influential voices. They're made influential voices. With lots of dirty wingnut bigot cash buying them entry to this kind of circle jerk.

A.

 

Christians Let Houses Burn

I can't believe I'm linking approving to Little Green Footballs but honestly, here:

The Judeo-Christian tradition is clear that we must accept individual responsibility for our own decisions and actions. He who sows to the flesh, we are told, will from the flesh reap corruption. The law of sowing and reaping is a non-repealable law of nature and nature’s God. …

This story illustrates the fundamental difference between a sappy, secularist worldview, which unfortunately too many Christians have adopted, and the mature, robust Judeo-Christian worldview which made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the world. The secularist wants to excuse and even reward irresponsibility, which eventually makes everybody less safe and less prosperous. A Christian worldview rewards responsibility and stresses individual responsibility and accountability, which in the end makes everybody more safe and more prosperous.

I’m going with mature, robust Christianity on this one.

Not just Christianity. ROBUST Christianity. Christianity with muscles. Christianity that drives a truck. Christianity that kicks your ass. Christianity that drinks Schlitz. Christianity that fucks your sister. Christianity that roots for the Yankees. Christianity that slaps its cock on the table. Christianity that listens to the Rolling Stones 24 hours a day. Christianity that tells that guy beaten up by the side of the road to quit waiting for some Samaritan, get his ass up and start walking, bloody compound fractures be damned. Christianity like that.

I'm about done with every moment of weakness, every bit of bad fortune that happens to someone who isn't a closeted Republican caught with a rent boy, being blamed on an insufficiently mean disposition and substandard desire to live better. For serious, these people spend more time figuring out ways to excuse themselves from giving a shit than they do actually giving a shit, and what about that is exactly responsible or, to use their phrasing, Christian? No wonder nobody helps anybody else in this country anymore; with all the time expended avoiding caring, there's barely enough left for brushing our teeth.

Let's be very clear about this: At some point in your life you are going to get knocked on your ass harder than you ever thought you could get knocked or your ass could take. You are going to be flat on your back, and your only hope at that point will be that someone is out there who can and will help you. A friend. A family member. A cop. A lawyer. An agency. A goddamn firefighter with a goddamn fire hose. Your only hope will be that your desperate call into the black will be heard by someone, anyone, who can and will fix what is broken.

And at that point, that point when you're standing next to your life watching it burn to the ground, all this rhetoric we throw around all day every day in this country about responsibility and hard choices and boostraps will ring hollow in your head. All the things you've told your own self about misfortune not being random, about enough planning being able to overcome any eventuality, about how you've saved and studied and worked and tried so, so hard to stay on the straight and narrow, all that will fall away.

You'll be left with the echo of your own voice saying, over and over again, "Help me. Please." And I hope, hope, hope for your sake that the Christianity you're met with then is less than robust.

A.

Stay Classy, Senator Vitter

Bitter Vitter's latest attack ad about the non-existent wave of undocumented people in Louisiana:

 

Today on Tommy T's Obsession with the Freeperati - "Here comes that mailin' Palin" edition

Morning, all - the pre-election hysteria has been ramping up at Free Republic, and the snarling and back-biting have become a thing of wonder.  I really wonder if these jerkoffs growl and hiss their way through life like they do when then they think no one's watching. 

When a black co-worker comes by, do they call him or her a racist because they're sure the co-worker voted for "Obummer" or "the Kenyan", or whatever sixth-grade-level nom de Freep they favour this week?

Does spittle fly from their lips and anoint the inside of their windshields as they curse the latest fauxrage talk radio is pouring into the empty vessel of their minds?

When their relatives (concerned about the Freeper's mental health) say they hope the Freeper is getting some sleep, do they growl "How's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya??" at them?

Oh well, I'm here to mock them, not feel sorry for them. So - here we go!

First up - the Miller-Palin slapfight gets under way.  Initial threads were dominated by the Queens Of De Nile, who collectively opined that it hadn't really happened, because their favourite radio windbag hadn't  validated it.. but then reality came crashing in:

Palin Camp Suspects Huckabee Loyalists on Joe Miller Staff Behind E-Mail Leak
The Other McCain ^ | Oct. 5, 2010 | R.S. McCain

Posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:37:47 PM by Al B.

“This is the worst sort of betrayal I’ve ever seen,” one source close to Sarah Palin said in describing the leak of an e-mail that Todd Palin sent to Joe Miller, the Alaska GOP Senate candidate.

Are you sure she wasn't describing Miller?

 The source noted that some of Miller’s campaign staff have connections to 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and suggested that these staffers have been advising Miller to distance himself from Palin.

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that her approval ratings are hovering at around 20%, could it?

Based on information in a post by notorious Alaska anti-Palin blogger Jeanne Devon, one pro-Palin source in Alaska deduced that the leak could only have come from Miller’s staff — unless Miller himself leaked the e-mail.

********************************************************************

The original HuffPo piece is at the link in the text of the excerpt.

Looks like Todd was upset about Joe Miller's interview with Fox News Sunday and let him know privately. Some POS in the Miller campaign leaked several emails to the anklebiters. R.S. McCain seems to be confirming the emails are real.

I thought they would wait until Nov. 3 to start the war on Sarah.

1 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:37:49 PM by Al B.

"The war on Sarah-ism".   I like it!

To: Al B.

Im confused? McCain going after Palin?

3 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:39:01 PM by GoCards ("We eat therefore we hunt...")

Look - if he couldn't nail her on the campaign trail, he's not likely to have a shot now.

To: Al B.

Why in the world would it matter what Todd Palin says about anything?

6 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:40:39 PM by humblegunner (Pablo is very wily)

Ouch.

To: humblegunner

Exactly....they are going to scrape right through the bottom of that barrel....

9 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:43:27 PM by rightwingextremist1776

.

Um - they passed the bottom of the barrel a long time ago and are now in Barnett Shale territory.

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To: Al B.

So much for the “Palin’s Not Running” meme!!!

8 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:42:32 PM by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin has crossed the Rubicon!)

.

.

To: Virginia Ridgerunner

So much for the “Palin’s Not Running” meme!!!

LOL...yeah, what a shock.

10 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:44:16 PM by Al B.

.

I, for one, was flabbergasted.

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To: Al B.

Sarah has been loyal to McCain, even as his dtr has been, well, crazy. But to have McCain not just shut up or at least show SOME SIGN OF LOYALTY to Sarah, is creepy and VERY TELLING OF HIS CHARACTER. Very.

12 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:45:05 PM by Republic (The entire White House presidential team needs to grow up and face facts!)

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Um - wrong McCain.

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To: onyx

I dunno, I kind of like seeing Todd all worked up. *shrugs*

I like him sticking up for his wife!

34 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:54:27 PM by CAluvdubya ("Sarah Palin fights, we cannot spare her."--GonzoGOP)

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An ongoing feature of the Palin Presidency will be Todd fist-fighting detractors in front of the White House portico while his family covers their faces and pleads with onlookers to not call the police.

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To: Jemian

Don’t mess with Mama Grizzly’s Papa Grizzly, little Huck. You’re out of your league little man. You and your minions.

38 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:56:32 PM by ReneeLynn (Socialism is SO yesterday. Fascism, it*s the new black. Mmm Mmm Mmm.)

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Huckabee got minions!

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To: Huck

So then Miller didn’t do anything to get upset about.

Todd needs to cool it and just look cute. This isn’t a good thing.

40 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:56:54 PM by indylindy

.

Yep - he's a house husband now, and just needs to shut up and serve the hors d' ovures, and then get his bitch ass back in the kitchen and make them some PIE!

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To: onyx

I didnt read story, you are right. Quick glance. Thanks.
This whole Alaska thing has rowled me up

Is that what you get when someone with jowls gets riled?

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and I jump a bit.

.

You misspelled "start ranting and spluttering like a crazy person".

I have a funny feeling that a one and only Pete Rouse is knee deep in all that is Palin. ( Off the beaten path and wearing a tin foil hat. )

42 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 6:57:31 PM by GoCards ("We eat therefore we hunt...")

.

To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Yep. I don’t blame Todd at all. Has Miller not got any b*lls? It’s looking like he’s willing to throw Sarah under the bus after she endorsed him.

54 posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2010 7:04:08 PM by ReneeLynn (Socialism is SO yesterday. Fascism, it*s the new black. Mmm Mmm Mmm.)

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Ya think?

More merry mailing mirth after the jumpola..

Solomon Burke, R.I.P.

The great soul singer Solomon Burke has died at the age of 70.

 

 

 

Antidote

Athenae's darkest secret is out: she likes We Built This Fucking City. This came up on Facebook earlier this week and when she said she liked Jefferson Starship most of us assumed that she was referring to the pre-Mickey Thomas era band. Wrong. So, it's time to prescribe an antidote: a Grace Slick tune from Red Octopus and a Paul Kantner opus from Spitfire:

 

 

Weekend Question Thread

Tell me a song you love, that you're ashamed of loving.

I'll start:

A.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

A.

Political headline of the day

It comes from the Guardian's internets feed and it involves new Labour Party leader Ed Miliband offering a vanguished rival for the leadership a *different* senior shadow cabinet post than expected. Get ready:

Miliband keeps Balls from Labour's economic heart

The story itself has slightly different headline but this version is a thing of beauty or something like that. Anyway, it gave me a good chuckle...

Friday Night Music: Tenderly

I was in the mood for something on the torchy side tonight and stumbled on to this swell clip of Nat King Cole from his teevee variety show. Better yet, Oscar Peterson is on piano. I'm a big Oscar Peterson fan and he, in turn, was a huge King Cole fan. Peterson had a wonderful singing voice that was rarely recorded. Why? He sounded too much like his hero, Nat King Cole. Here they are together:

 

Exploitive, ignorant media bastards... I mean those other guys...

Yes, that’s right. The media of which we are not part of has exploited something that they don’t know anything about, which we know even less about, but feel compelled to write about to condemn them.

I rarely, if ever, pick on student journalism. It’s not because they’re kids or because I have a soft spot for student media or because I work with the student newspaper out here. It’s because most people have their own personal version of the “bad fashion” moment from college, and when you work for a media outlet, that moment tends to get amplified. However, when you swing and miss this hard, it’s kind of hard not to feel the breeze and comment on it.

I agree that the students at the Daily Targum, the Rutgers student newspaper, have every right to say what ever it is they want to say. That’s their First Amendment right. I also agree that when people exploit a tragedy, it’s reprehensible and often smacks of the basest form of opportunism. I also agree that as the paper of record for that university, they had to say something about this, lest they be deemed an irrelevant and toothless watchdog in their community.

But, holy fail, Batman…

"The mistake was that Clementi's death should not have been turned into a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender protest for gay rights and safe spaces at the University. Robert O'Brien, Department of Anthropology assistant instructor, led the rally as he chanted, "Not safe in dorms, not safe at Rutgers." Essentially, an angry mob fending for their rights turned the death of a young boy into a cause for "safe spaces" for gays across the University - all the while, these spaces already existed."

These spaces might exist, but the place in which a student was supposed to feel safest of all (his dorm room), he was recorded in the middle of a sexual act that was then broadcast to others. The safe spaces and educational efforts and punishments associated with bullying apparently were so great and so grand that his roommate felt no compunction about essentially outing him, American Pie style. Even more, neither of the students involved in this incident has been expelled for their part in this recording.

"The focal point of Clementi's tragic death should have been a boy's inability to deal with the hardships of life. And yet the news and certain organizations picked this up and carried it into the ranks of general causes for major social groups - for their profit.'

The hardships of life? As in what? By all accounts, he had a solid home life, attended a decent school, had no horrific financial/social/educational problems or other “hardships” besides being gay in a world that isn’t all that accepting. I’m also not sure as to how these “media organizations” are exploiting his death for profit. Perhaps I’m not close enough to the campus to see the “for 50 cents a day, you can keep a gay kid from killing himself” ads on TV.

"We did not know Tyler. It was barely three weeks into his first year at the University, and most of his neighbors in his residence hall barely knew him. Turning his death into a push for gay rights is a fallacy. Homosexuality is not the only reason for which people kill themselves. In this case, it might have pushed Clementi over the edge, but the fact that he was gay should by no means turn his death into a march for safe spaces."

So wait… Hold on… After spending a page and a half toasting the media who didn’t know the kid for turning his death into a speculation-fueled agenda-palooza for gay rights, NOW you pony up the fact you didn’t know the guy and are speculating as to his motives? And then you have the balls to say “Oh, and even though we don’t know him, we can pretty much rule out being gay as the reason he killed himself.” You think so, doctor?

I don’t know what it’s like to be gay. I can play the “I have gay friends and…” card but that’s bullshit too. What I can tell you is what it’s like to be an 18-year-old kid who went to college and was afraid of everything. Dad’s marching orders were pretty simple: “Don’t bring shame on the family.” I’m sure other families have told other kids something fairly similar, or implied it through their actions and relationships.

In other words, don’t get arrested, don’t get kicked out, don’t knock up a girl, don’t flunk a class and so on and so on.

Every time I was at a house party that got busted, blew through red light on my scooter, brought a girl back to my room for an overnight visit or other things that might be more than frowned upon, I could hear Dad: “Don’t bring shame on the family.” Thus, being caught at something that I would have to explain to the folks or that might land me in a less-than-positive set of circumstances made my heart beat a little faster and my throat tighten a little more.

And those were all things that in most circles are more socially acceptable than being gay.

If you asked Tyler Clementi’s parents if they would have rather had an alive kid who was gay and webcast having gay sex at college or a dead kid, I’d place my wager on the alive kid side. If you asked my parents if they’d have wished I’d be dead rather than busted at a party, an unwed father or a speed demon on two wheels, I know which way they’d go too.

Maybe the kid would have grown up to be a quiet non-activist gay man who never spoke out, kept mostly in the shadows, if not the closet and had a great beard life. Maybe he would have abhorred the attention he was getting as a poster kid on both sides of the gay-rights issue. The point is that I don’t know, you don’t know and the kids at the Daily Targum sure as hell don’t know.

What we do know is that shortly after being outed via webcast by his roommate, he sought recourse through gay chat rooms, found none, felt something inside and killed himself. While other mitigating circumstances might have been present, anyone with half a brain should understand that you can draw a pretty direct line from point A to point B.

And we should do whatever is possible to draw attention to these facts, punish those involved and press for improved acceptance and safety for all.