December 29, 2010
Morning Awesome
Badass Song of 2010
The Dead Weather - "Die by the Drop"
Filed under: Awesome || Jack White || Music
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 29, 2010 6:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2010
"Papers Please" Costs Arizona Federal Dollars
Posted by JM Ashby
Many people predicted that Arizona's "papers please" law, SB1070, would cost the state income due to less tourism. Not many though would have predicted that it may even cost the state federal dollars following the 2010 census. It now looks as though that may be what has happened.
So, the Census Bureau demographers projected Arizona's population to be 6,668,079 but the actual number was 6,392,017 or 276,062 fewer people than what the Census Bureau expected to find. This was the largest shortfall of any state in absolute numbers. Since Arizona is a mid-sized state, as a percentage of the population this shortfall was nearly twice that of the next nearest state, Georgia.
Arizona is facing a budget shortfall of approximately $2.6 Billion and following the census is now missing out on $775 Million in federal dollars which comes out to $2,708 per missing person. Did immigrants feel reluctant to stick around inside Arizona, or did they simply feel uncomfortable filling out government forms? Either way, it seems clear that the political climate inside Arizona has cost the state a great deal of money beyond the weakened tourism industry.
Perhaps Jan Brewer can simply instruct her citizens to go fishing for more Big Government bucks? Oh wait, she already has.
Posted By JM Ashby | December 28, 2010 1:19 PM | Comments (5)
Morning Awesome
Best Movie of 2010 - "True Grit"
Filed under: Awesome || Movies
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 28, 2010 6:00 AM | Comments (14)
December 27, 2010
Miller Concedes but Vows to Fight Anyway
Posted by JM Ashby
In what has turned out to be quite a circus not unlike Norm Coleman's fight against Al Franken in Minnesota, Joe Miller has spent the last two months fighting the election of Lisa Murkowski in Alaska by objecting to basically everything his lawyers can pull out of their ass. Joe Miller is now saying that he will no longer oppose the certification of the election of Murkowski but he will keep fighting the state anyway.
In papers filed in federal court Monday, Miller says he doesn't object to state certification of the November election results, which show his rival, fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski, winning.But Miller isn't entirely giving up. His attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline to keep alive his options – including a possible recount or election contest – once "all appeals have been exhausted."
Other than forcing the state to needlessly spend more taxpayer dollars defending the election results, I can't see what his objective is short of delegitimizing the state's ability to carry-out an election. Isn't Miller a supposed strict constitutionalist?
Posted By JM Ashby | December 27, 2010 3:58 PM | Comments (7)
Morning Awesome
Rush - "Far Cry"
Filed under: Awesome || Music || Rush (Band)
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 27, 2010 6:17 AM | Comments (2)
December 26, 2010
Morning Awesome
Steve Martin - "Five Christmas Wishes"
Filed under: Awesome || Comedy || SNL || Steve Martin
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 26, 2010 11:37 AM | Comments (3)
December 25, 2010
Morning Awesome
Happy Festivus!
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 25, 2010 6:03 AM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2010
Recent Accomplishments for your Dinner Table
Posted by JM Ashby
The festivities begin for me tonight at 6 p.m. with a bottle of Saki and a roll of Eel, but before the debauchery is kicked off, I would just like to take a moment to remind everyone of what has been accomplished by this administration in just the last two weeks.
If you encounter family members over the holidays who are unsure about President Obama, Harry Reid, or Nancy Pelosi, you can point out to them that during this lame duck session of congress, they have accomplished more than some administrations accomplish during their entire term in office.
START has been passed
DADT has been repealed
Food Safety Law passed
Healthcare for 9/11 first responders passed
One year extension of unemployment benefits passed
Extension of tax cuts for the middle class passed
Funding of the government passed -This should be a given but it isn't.
It should be noted that the tax cut compromise, while not perfect, allowed for the extension of unemployment benefits and continued tax cuts for the middle class. That compromise more than likely also enabled the passing of the new START and the repeal of DADT.
Nothing is perfect, but causing Republicans from coast to coast to go on the TeeVees and complain about being walked all over by Reid and Pelosi well, that's nearly perfect. And remember -we did not nationalize the banks, the healthcare industry, the auto industry, or the internets. John McCain needs to change his depends, gays have been showering with you all along, and the motto was "Yes we can" not "Yes I can." That should cover just about everything.
Have a happy holiday everyone, and dont shoot your eye out.
Posted By JM Ashby | December 24, 2010 2:28 PM | Comments (3)
Morning Awesome
Season's Greetings from Tarzan, Tonto and Frankenstein
Filed under: Awesome || Saturday Night Live
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 24, 2010 6:05 AM | Comments (3)
December 23, 2010
Hee-Haw and Light Blogging
And thus begins a brief hiatus in the blogging here until around Tuesday. But I'll be around Twitter and posting the usual morning videos for you. And maybe one of the other players here will pop in an indulge us with their views on the current events of the day.
Happy Holidays and all of that guff. [stop] Hee-haw and Merry Christmas. [stop] Sam Wainwright.
Filed under: Blogging
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 23, 2010 8:38 PM | Comments (14)
The Liberal Media Myth
There is no liberal media bias. Further evidence:
Indeed, a Pew Research Center survey found that of the top 10 most-covered candidates in the midterm elections, conservatives held the top three spots.Here's more evidence. I asked AOL's Relegence team, which tracks more than 30,000 news sites on the Web, to compare coverage of comparable liberals and conservatives over the past 12 months.
Of course journalists tend to be politically liberal, but they're so often concerned about this myth that they overcompensate by swinging their reporting to the right.
Via Olbermann
Filed under: Liberal Media || Wingnuts
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 23, 2010 2:18 PM | Comments (13)
Morning Awesome
Saturday Night Live - "It's a Wonderful Life: The Lost Ending"
Hee-haw! And a Merry Christmas Eve eve to you!
Filed under: Awesome || Comedy || Saturday Night Live
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 23, 2010 6:00 AM | Comments (7)
December 22, 2010
Breaking News: McCain Still A Dick
Just when you thought John McCain couldn't get more dickish:
In April, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) introduced legislation named after the late soldier meant to provide more resources for suicide prevention to Reserve members. The House in May incorporated it into the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011, but it was stripped from the final version, and Holt is pointing the finger at the lead Republican negotiator on the Senate legislation, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Nice guy. Hey -- maybe David Gregory will give him a full hour this weekend to elaborate on this escalation in his dickishness.
Filed under: John McCain || PTSD
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 22, 2010 4:28 PM | Comments (17)
Why Tom Coburn Is a Rat Bastard
He enumerates the reasons for blocking healthcare for the 9/11 heroes here.
Tell me if you can find a single valid reason anywhere in that text. I can't. These are Americans who risked their lives in our darkest hour and continue to pay the price nearly 10 years later. And Tom Coburn is nothing more than a petty, selfish prick for blocking this legislation.
Filed under: 9/11 || Terrorism || Tom Coburn
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 22, 2010 11:27 AM | Comments (15)
Bob McDonnell Does the Right Thing
The wingnut governor of Virginia is actually blocking this:
A state lawmaker from Virginia is so upset about the Congress repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell that he wants to institute a mini-DADT banning gay men and lesbians from the Virginia National Guard."It's a distraction when I'm on the battlefield and have to concentrate on the enemy 600 yards away and I'm worried about this guy whose got eyes on me," the lawmaker, Delegate Bob Marshall (R), told WUSA9. "If I needed a blood transfusion and the guy next to me had committed sodomy 14 times in the last month I'd be worried."
When I first read this, I automatically assumed McDonnell was supporting Marshall's ridiculousness. But, okay. Good job, governor, for doing the right thing.
Filed under: Bob McDonnell || DADT || LGBT || Wingnuts
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 22, 2010 9:25 AM | Comments (15)
Morning Awesome
30 Seconds to Mars - "Closer to the Edge"
Filed under: Awesome || Music
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 22, 2010 6:03 AM
December 21, 2010
They Hate Us for Our Bloomin' Onions
Oh great. Now they'll install naked body scanners at Ruby Tuesday's.
Al Qaeda terrorists planned to poison food at multiple US hotels and restaurants over a single weekend, it has been revealed this morning. The ‘credible’ plot involved slipping the poisons cyanide and ricin into salad bars and buffets, according to CBS news. The terrorist group behind the failed ‘ink cartridge’ attacks on cargo planes in October were said to have hatched the plan. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula branded the plot ‘Operation Haemorrhage’. Militants say the plot consists of ‘attacking the enemy with smaller but more frequent operations’ to ‘add a heavy economic burden to an already faltering economy’.
Wait. Aren't buffet restaurants normally "Operation Hemorrhage" anyway?
Filed under: Food || Terrorism
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 21, 2010 6:17 PM | Comments (10)
Worst Person in the World
Pat Buchanan for this predictable bit of awfulness and intolerance:
You are trying to impose the values of Fire Island on Parris Island. These are 19-year-old Marines, they're very macho guys. Many of them are Christian traditionalists and you've got these secular values and you bring open homosexuals into the barracks with these guys, it'll be hellish. One Marine commandant said very simply, 'Would moving homosexuals into the barracks with my Marines enhance the fighting effectiveness, the cohesion and morale of our Marine units? I don't believe it would.' Why change something that is working. The Marine Corps is the finest unit in the world, or one of them, and it works. Why impose outside values on them? . . .The multiculturals in effect won. But there is one culture basically, as I said, to Fire Island, and there is an entirely different culture. You impose one from outside on the other and you're looking for trouble. Our Marines do very well without this.
And MSNBC, the "liberal" network, continues to both pay him and to keep in well-preserved in his green room cryofreeze chamber. Very serious.
Filed under: DADT || Pat Buchanan || Wingnuts
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 21, 2010 4:24 PM | Comments (11)
Hes Coming For Your Guns, And Your Internets!
Posted by JM Ashby
In one of the most blatant attempts at fear-mongering I have seen since the Healthcare Reform debate, Mitch McConnell is now claiming that President Obama is trying to nationalize and take control over the Internet itself!
"Today, the Obama administration, which has already nationalized health care, the auto industry, insurance companies, banks and student loans, will move forward with what could be the first step in controlling how Americans use the Internet by establishing federal regulations on its use," said McConnell.
If you ignore the fact that we didn't nationalize any of the institutions which he is claiming, and you read this in conservative code-speak, it actually makes some sense. When McConnell says "Americans" what he really means is "Corporations." Corporations do not want federal regulations on its use. Republicans are opposed to Net Neutrality because they believe corporations should have the right to nickel and dime their customers and charge for traffic priority.
How much more shit must the conservative base eat before they realize they've been sold down a river?
Update - The FCC has approved rules in favor of neutrality
Posted By JM Ashby | December 21, 2010 1:10 PM | Comments (10)
Haley Barbour Defends Racist Group
Boss Hogg in the Weekly Standard:
"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK. Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you'd lose it. If you had a store, they'd see nobody shopped there. We didn't have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City."
TPM's Eric Kleefeld has more about the Citizens Councils:
The Citizens Councils were founded in Mississippi in 1954, in protest of the Brown v. Board of Education decision that declared public school segregation to be unconstitutional. The councils were dedicated to political activities opposing civil rights, notably boycotts of pro-civil rights individuals -- including a famous instance by the group in Barbour's town. It was distinguished from the Klan by the public self-identification of its members, and its image of suits and ties as opposed to white robes and nooses.
And Barbour thinks these people are worth defending?
Filed under: Haley Barbour || Race || Racism
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 21, 2010 11:01 AM | Comments (5)
They Hate Him Because He Wins
This new Vanity Fair item about President Obama and why his enemies hate him so much is pretty dead on. And so why do they hate him?
Precisely because of the raft of legislative victories he’s achieved. Obama has pushed through large and complicated new government initiatives at a time of record-low public trust in government (and in institutions of any sort, for that matter), and he has suffered not because he hasn’t “done” anything but because he’s done so much—way, way too much in the eyes of his most conservative critics. With each victory, Obama’s opponents grow more frustrated, filling the airwaves and what passes for political discourse with fulminations about some supposed sin or another.
I would also argue that the same thing can be said about the president's progressive enemies. The establishment press continues to operate under the false impression that the progressive movement elected this president. Wrong. Many of the top shelf progressive leaders were ambivalent at best about Barack Obama during the campaign. John Edwards was the progressive candidate. Not the president. As such, there's no real motivation among some progressives to see the successes, since they had little to do with the election of the president in the first place. (See also Eric Boehlert's book "Bloggers On The Bus" is proof of the progressive opposition to the president during the campaign.)
Filed under: President Obama Accomplishments || Progressives || Wingnuts
Posted By Bob Cesca | December 21, 2010 9:47 AM | Comments (19)
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