The result ...

After 30 years, the Republicans are about to get what they set their minds to back then. D-cap:

It took 30 years and 204 days, but on Tuesday August 2, 2011 the fruits of the Reagan Tree of Life will finally have reached its peak when the over-ripened, low-hanging, worm-filled Reagapples will begin to pound the ground, not with sweetened blossoms, but with a dead thud. 30 years and 204 days of belittling and ignoring the American education system, calling ketchup a vegetable, telling us trees cause pollution, cutting taxes to create trickled-down imaginary jobs (OK there are a few more maids and gardeners) and teaching Americans that they could have everything they want and it will cost nothing - the Teadras educated Republican party is willing to take the ultimate bet and tell the piper (or croupier) this time to shove it.

...

Somehow, I don't think the Republicans of Reagan's time would have envisioned this eventuality.

So much for "Morning in America".

Move his cot ...

From the Green Room to the alley. Professor Myers:

...

But that doesn't matter. The fact that Pat Buchanan would find common cause with a psychopathic coward [the Oslo killer], a vile creature who dressed in a police uniform and promised young people assistance as he gathered them together before gunning them down, is fact enough to discredit him. When will the media wake up and stop paying the fascist bigot to play pundit on TV?

The sad part is, many Americans agree with him.

With such a great record ...

Of job creation, you can understand why these people shouldn't have to pay taxes. [/sarcasm]

Guilty pleasures ...

One of them is Tommy T's Obsession with the Freeperati (archive link). Each week (Mondays) he sees what's brewing over at Free Republic (no link) and wades into the toxic waste they call "comments" so we can see the depth of stupidity of American conservatives who've somehow figured out how to use a computer. This week, it's extra special:

Ok campers - a little change in protocol today - we're going to have to inspect the Freepertude from perspex windows outside the iso chamber - it's too crazy and dangerous to go in there just now.

You see - Norway happened.

...

And then there's a discussion about why our favorite musicians are meanies and won't let Republicans use their songs on the campaign trail:

...

I personally think that "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" would make an excellent Michelle Bachmann entrance song.

...

Heh ... Me too.

The best explanation ...

I've heard yet about why Obama is the way he is. Thereisnospoon @ Digby's:

...

The entire intent of the Administration would be, under this theory, to make both sides go ballistic so that the Administration can look like the only adult in the room to independent voters. Cutting Social Security is precisely designed to make the Left visibly cry out in anguish. And they're counting on the idea that the Republican market fundamentalist cult will so terrify the vast majority of Democrats come election season that they'll dutifully pull the lever for the Administration no matter what. They may be right. The President's fundraising total from small donors does seem to reflect a broad range of committed support. [em in orig]


...

The only thing we can hope for is he might be a bit more progressive once (if) he's reelected.

Addendum: Just wondering (as I'm painting the new medicine cabinet to surprise the Mrs. when she gets home), what would the Republican Party do with a Republican President who dissed his base as much as Obama does his? I betcha they'd primary him after his first term.

A Brilliant Strategy

Following up on Fixer's post and my comment thereto:

Thanks to Kos.

Update:

I just noticed that Boner and Yertle are standing on the fantail which is about the only place I remember on ships where you could smoke. Heh. Also the last place to go under if you nose 'er in at flank speed* like the GOP is doing.

*"Flank speed is very fuel-inefficient and often unsustainable because of engine overheating issues."

I do not think 'engine overheating' is going to be much of a problem in a few minutes when she's fully submerged.

Quote of the Day

From an LATimes op-ed on Goodhair's call to prayer* to "seek God's guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation."

*Xtians only. No others need apply.

There is a reason theocracies are found at the bottom of the world's economic and opportunity ladder. Successful public policy cannot be based purely on doctrines established before we knew the Earth orbited the sun.

Well said.

Glenn Beck Compares The Youth Camp Attacked In Norway To The Hitler Youth

RawReplay, with audio. I didn't listen because I don't like puking outta my ears.

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck said Monday that a Labour Party youth camp that was attack in Norway Friday “sounds a little like the Hitler Youth.”

“Saturday I was following the news of the shooting in Norway and the explosion in Norway, which happened what on Friday,” Beck recalled. “When we heard the explosion everybody was willing to say, it’s Muslim extremists, it’s Muslim extremists. I don’t think we made a comment on it because we didn’t know other than a bombing had happened, and as the thing started to unfold and there was a shooting a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth or you know whatever. Who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics? Disturbing. But, anyway, so there’s this political camp and so crazy man goes and starts shooting kids.”

Politicususa noted that Beck’s 9/12 Project held its own political camp for kids this summer.

I betcha Becky's right-wing camp was a helluva lot more like the Hitler Youth than a Labour Party summer camp in Norway.

I'm noticing that washed-up wingnuts get crazier and more outrageous the closer their 15 minutes are to being over. I hope Beck's head goes off like a volcano.

Just as an aside, here's a 1940 photo of a platoon of Hitler Motor Youth in training:



Note the others waiting their turn on the motorbike and hoping the rider doesn't crash and break it. In today's Repug Youth camps, they each get their own or they snivel. They must teach snivelling there too, since Repugs are so good at it..

It's a headline kinda day...

Trump to GOP: Force U.S. default to make sure Obama isn’t re-elected

Note to The Donald: you must hurry and catch up with the GOPbaggers for you think you are their leader and they're way ahead of you on this one. And keep that message out there until everybody hears it.

Go on home, Moosebreath, your 15 minutes is up

Palin’s ‘Undefeated’ is defeated at box office, already on pay-per-view

Obama Should Raise the Debt Ceiling on His Own

NYTimes op-ed:

PRESIDENT OBAMA should announce that he will raise the debt ceiling unilaterally if he cannot reach a deal with Congress. Constitutionally, he would be on solid ground. Politically, he can’t lose. The public wants a deal. The threat to act unilaterally will only strengthen his bargaining power if Republicans don’t want to be frozen out; if they defy him, the public will throw their support to the president. Either way, Republicans look like the obstructionists and will pay a price.

And then he should tell Congress that he took this power away from them in exactly the same manner as withholding dessert from a spoiled child who was acting up and, if he could, would have sent them to sit in the corner for a time-out.

Headline of the Day

Koch-Funded Tea Party Heavyweight Tim Phillips Spoke at Norwegian Killer's Political Party Event

Figures.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

HEAT WAVE BLANKETS COUNTRY
NEW YORK HAS RECORD 104°
Adjusted for subway with no air conditioning, feels like 212°.

Texas Ed Board Compromises on Evolution Materials
Children will be taught Christian Republicans descended from Adam and Eve, everyone else descended from apes.

Report: Army of Lobbyists Working Feverishly to Reverse Financial Reforms
They're countered by a vague collective memory of what just happened.

Vocabulary Builders
Showcase vote n., A vote held on a bill that has no chance of passing, but still gives lawmakers a taste of what a career in the circus, their first choice, or acting, a close second, would have been like.

The corollary:

Politician intransigent n., Career for circus performer or D-list actor with no skill or talent whatsoever.

The Undecideds ...

Chris Hayes has an interesting post up about "undecided voters" on his blog:

For those who follow politics, there are few things more mysterious, more inscrutable, more maddening than the mind of the undecided voter. In this year's election, when the choice was so stark and the differences between the candidates were so obvious, how could any halfway intelligent human remain undecided for long? "These people," Jonah Goldberg once wrote of undecided voters, on a rare occasion when he probably spoke for the entire political class, "can't make up their minds, in all likelihood, because either they don't care or they don't know anything."

...

I feel, in this day and age, if you are undecided about what party supports (mostly) the needs of the average American, you're either extremely gullible or you just don't get it.

Thanks to Gaius Publius for the link.

Tea Party v. Oslo Nutjob ...

Montag:

...

The main difference is the Teabaggers want to pull the plug on people and let them die slowly rather rather than shoot them directly.

Word.

There are times ...

When politics ain't local. What "The Dead End Quarter" and their idiot representatives in Congress don't get is that when you dick with the world's largest economy, it's gonna affect more than just this country. It's also gonna piss off the few friends we have left. Ladies and Gentlemen, if we lose the Brits, you know we're about to circle the bowl:

Business Secretary Vince Cable has launched an extraordinary attack on "right wing nutters" in the US who are threatening to cripple the world economy.

...

But he added: "The irony of the situation at the moment, with markets opening tomorrow morning, is that the biggest threat to the world financial system comes from a few right-wing nutters in the American congress rather than the eurozone."

...

People around the world, along with the sane ones in this country, are seriously worried. For many nations, an American default could be an existential threat. These fuckups in this country are not only shitting where we eat, they're doing it in places that bear no responsibility for our problems. Personally, I think arrests are in order ...

Great thanks to Dr. Attaturk for the link.

Cut and dry ...

Exactly:

Even after allowing this hostage taking to go right up to the brink of default, Boehner wants us to believe he's really just worried about doing what's right for the country and might still be willing to make a deal with President Obama. If he was worried about doing what's right, he'd help get a clean vote passed on the debt ceiling and we wouldn't be wondering if the markets might start reacting to this stuff at any moment. [my em]

...

I used to think, many, many years ago, the Republicans wanted what was best, and would do the right thing for, the country; they just came at problems from a different angle. Now, especially after this debt ceiling mess, it's quite obvious they don't care what happens to the country as long as they, and their cronies, win. They don't care if our ship of state is the Titanic, they just care about being at the helm.

Headline of the Day

Right Wing DEFENDS Anders Behring Breivik

That's OUR right wing. The shooting is about to begin...

Hey, boob...

Salon

Arizonans enraged at Muslim word for dust storm

How dare meteorologists describe a weather event with the correct, Arabic-derived term?

A few years back, Arizona got sick of the fact that Texas and Mississippi and Alabama were always the butts of the rest of the nation's jokes about halfwit xenophobic gun-toting pissed-off old white folk, and so The Grand Canyon State decided to really kick it up a notch, in terms of bad craziness and hatred. The tireless work of Governor Jan Brewer, State Senator Russell Pearce and Sheriff Joe Arpaio paid off! Thanks to those three, Arizona is no longer defined by its amazing geography, rich history, and rugged, independent residents. No, when you think of Arizona in 2011, you think of a bunch of armed racist morons.

Mrs. G just said AZ should start teaching math in Roman numerals instead of the Arabic numerals we've been using.

I wish I was in Fixer's neck of the woods today

This is going to be a MOST colorful weekend! A very nice piece in the NYTimes:

Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples across New York State plan to marry on Sunday, the culmination of a long battle in the Legislature and a new milestone for gay rights advocates seeking to legalize same-sex marriage around the nation.

The first marriages were scheduled to take place just after midnight in Niagara Falls, where officials planned to illuminate the famous cascade in the colors of a rainbow, and in Albany, where an eager mayor planned to marry eight gay couples.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans to officiate at the wedding of two senior City Hall officials at a ceremony at Gracie Mansion, while Mr. Cuomo is hosting a party for gay rights advocates and lawmakers at a hotel near the meatpacking district.

In Brooklyn, the borough president, Marty Markowitz, plans to open Borough Hall for a marathon series of weddings, complete with free cake and Champagne.

Outside the city clerk’s office in Lower Manhattan, rabbis from a synagogue in the West Village plan to solemnize weddings under a rainbow-colored huppah, or Jewish wedding canopy. And two gay puppets, Rod and Ricky, from the Tony Award-winning musical “Avenue Q,” plan to show up outside the clerk’s office to stage a mock wedding as well.

The last sentence takes the cake!

And the Fire Island Pines resort is promoting three same-sex wedding packages, one featuring a private ferry ride “complete with your own crew of drag queens.”

Other than the wedding party? My goodness!

Note to all the new married couples: I wish you all the best!

Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, And Loud Loud Music. Been There, Done That, Got The Liver To Prove It...

Great article today in the LATimes Magazine about country music in Southern California back in the day. I well remember Town Hall Party on TV on Saturday nights. To a 13-year-old kid who was already a social outcast for liking country music, this was hot shit!

Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and LOUD, LOUD music) performed by Joe Maphis & wife Rose Lee, LIVE in 1959.

Maphis. known for the flatpicking style he developed in the 1930's, sings magnificent harmony with wife Rose in this 1950's crowd-pleaser.

Thanks to weirdovideos, Afghanistan (?!).

Hot enough for ya?

EssEffChron

(07-23) 07:21 PDT Reno, Nev. (AP) --

Hundreds of skiers and snowboarders are expected to hit the slopes as a Sierra Nevada ski resort opens for the day Saturday.

Boreal Mountain Resort spokeswoman Jody Churich says a record seasonal snowfall is allowing the latest opening ever at her resort located atop Donner Summit near Truckee, Calif.
...

Boreal reported receiving about 66 feet of snow this season, surpassing its record of 55 feet set in 1994-95.

It would be unkind to say "suffer, bitchez" so I won't.

Headline of the Day

Woman accused in penis attack may have tainted victim's tofu soup

That is just wrong on sooooo many levels...

Ziva and Da Chooch at the beach

Nothing like a cooling dip on a hot day! And something to herd as well! Life is good...

Thanks to ruste13, Oz, and the LATimes.

Another turd ...

In Rick Perry's pool:

... The National Review Online reports that Texas GOP governor Rick Perry appears to be getting serious about running for president because apparently he is "brushing up on foreign policy." And who is helping Perry with the brushing? None other than Doug Feith, whom Gen. Tommy Franks famously referred to as the "stupidest guy on the face of the earth." ... [my em]

If God didn't like him before, he's in for some smiting for sure now. Heh ...

Great thanks to Athenae for the link.

Said it before ...

And I'll say it again. Republicans just ain't funny.

Heh ...

Shouldn't lie to Parliament, you little shitbag:

A lawmaker referred James Murdoch to police Friday over claims of misleading parliament on the phone-hacking scandal as Prime Minister David Cameron said the media boss had "questions to answer".

...

During a tense appearance with his father before parliament's media committee on Tuesday, James Murdoch, denied all knowledge of an email suggesting the problem went beyond one rogue reporter before authorising a payout to a victim.

But Colin Myler, the former editor of the News of the World, and Tom Crone, former legal manager of the News International news group, broke ranks on Thursday to say James Murdoch's recollection of events in 2008 was a "mistake".

...

And you know what I say to that:

Nelson Muntz - Ha, ha

Fundies are fundies ...

Regardless of their persuasion.

...

At least 84 people died when a gunman opened fire at an island youth camp in Norway, hours after a deadly bombing in the capital, Oslo, police say.

Police have charged a 32-year-old Norwegian man over both attacks.

...

Norway is a wonderful, happy place, especially Oslo. I'd even consider living there if they didn't have only 6 weeks of summer and frightfully cold winters (another one of those places that's proud of their icebreakers). The Mrs. and I loved our time there and were quite shocked, when we talked last night, they could produce their own Tim McVeigh:

...

"We have no more information than... what has been found on [his] own websites, which is that it goes towards the right and that it is, so to speak, Christian fundamentalist."

...

Nah, can't be terrorism, he was a white Christian. They're all the same, whether Christian, Muslim, or Jew; if you're prepared to kill your own innocent countrymen to further your cause, you're a terrorist. In Europe, they know what the far right is capable of and keep their eye on them. Unfortunately, this nut fell through the cracks. Lately, it always seems to be right wing crazies doing shit like this, doesn't it? Always happens when you mix God with Politics.

Update:

Just watching the Beeb and their latest update is that the killer will be charged under Norway's terrorism law for each count against him. Good, may he rot in the deepest, darkest, coldest hole they can find in Norway.

Some pics of the area where the bombing took place in better days:

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Emmylou Harris performs "Red Dirt Girl" live at Farm Aid 2005 at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Illinois on September 18, 2005. Get this concert on DVD at: http://FarmAid.org/2005DVD

Thanks to farmaid.

Joe Morris Sr., Navajo Code Talker

In 2002 when I was at the VA in Prescott AZ it was my distinct honor to be a guest at a Marine Corps Birthday celebration with a Navajo Code Talker (go see) as the Guest Of Honor. I feel very sad when one of these guys passes away. There aren't many left.

Joe Morris Sr. in 2007

LATimes

"My weapon was my language," World War II Marine veteran Joe Morris Sr. told a crowd of nearly 200 in a San Bernardino park on Veterans Day in 2004. "We saved a lot of lives."

Morris, one of the Navajo code talkers whose use of their native language in transmitting messages successfully thwarted Japanese code breakers in the Pacific during World War II, died Sunday at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda of complications of a stroke, said his daughter, Colleen Anderson. He was 85.

In a 2003 interview with the Navajo Times, Morris said they were told "if you get captured by the Japanese don't you ever tell them what you learned here."

If captured, Morris said, their instructions were simple: "Just die for your country."

Morris was born April 19, 1926. As the eldest of four children, he tended his parents' sheep and horses on the Navajo reservation, which he once described as a place where there was "no electricity, no running water, no school."

At age 12, he was sent to a government boarding school 70 miles away, where he learned English. Morris returned to the reservation after the school was closed during the war and turned into an internment camp for Japanese Americans.

He was barely 17 in 1943 when he went to the local draft board and said he was 18 in order to obtain a draft registration card, which was required to be hired for a job.

He had been working in an Arizona ore mine a few months when he was drafted. He credited a Navajo medicine man with keeping him safe during the war.

"He prayed a day and a half for me," Morris recalled in a 1998 interview with the Modesto Bee. "He said, 'Grandson, you will be safe, and you will come back so you can tell me all that happened.' "

There's a helluva lot of history in that quote.

Walk in beauty, Joe. Semper Fi.

Breitbart ‘rode that penis picture to the top’

Via RawReplay.

Thanks to lancebaxter.

God Urges Rick Perry Not To Run For President

From America's Finest News Source:

AUSTIN, TX—Describing Texas Gov. Rick Perry as grossly unqualified for the position, God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, urged Perry not to run for president of the United States Wednesday. “I prayed last night and asked the Lord to support my candidacy, and He said no,” Perry told reporters outside the Texas Capitol, explaining that God had cited the governor’s rejection of federal stimulus funds to expand state jobless benefits, his irresponsible speculation about Texas seceding from the union, and his overall lack of concrete solutions to nation’s problems as reasons why He could not endorse a Perry presidential bid. “I believe God made some valid points about my lack of credentials, and He’s absolutely right. My extreme beliefs when it comes to social issues and states’ rights are not only disturbingly narrow-minded, but would also make me a horrible president.” When reached for comment, God said He would not be present at Perry’s much-talked-about Christian day of prayer on Aug. 6, calling the governor’s use of his public office to endorse a religion both “irresponsible” and a violation of the Constitution.

Headline of the Day

The GOP to the Working Class is Like Colonel Sanders Promising a Good Life to Chickens

The corollary of course is the rich get a big chicken dinner.

Signing Away the Right to Govern

NYTimes editorial:

It used to be that a sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution was the only promise required to become president. But that no longer seems to be enough for a growing number of Republican interest groups, who are demanding that presidential candidates sign pledges shackling them to the corners of conservative ideology. Many candidates are going along, and each pledge they sign undermines the basic principle of democratic government built on compromise and negotiation.
...

But iron-clad promises were just what the most rigid Republican ideologues wanted. They had seen too many presidents — specifically Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush — bend when confronted by a complex national reality. Both those presidents agreed to new taxes and some Republicans said they did not fight hard enough to outlaw abortion or cut spending to the point where government was unrecognizable. In other words, they compromised a bit, to keep divided government from destroying itself. Washington, the ideologues decided, corrupted true conservatives into moderates.

More was needed to keep them in line, which gave birth to the signed pledge — no more enforceable than a spoken promise, but a politician’s actual signature was seen as more binding. [...]

Guess whose name comes up in the next sentence. Hint: rhymes with Grover Norquist.

Politicians' words aren't worth much, whether they sign their names or swear on a stack of bibles. Neither is ideological purity when it comes up against reality. Reality? Oh, that's the world most people in. Means nothing in politics, where 'reality' is the next election.

That pledge is the single biggest reason the federal government is now on the edge of default.

Someone needs to tell the pols that their signatures and rigid ideology are the problem, and tell Groober to take his goddam 'pledge' and shove it up his ass.

Only one candidate, Jon Huntsman Jr., has refused to sign any pledge, saying he owes allegiance to his flag and his wife. It is refreshing in a field of candidates who have forgotten the true source of political power in America.

In theory, but short of 'rebellion' or an 'uprising' such as we are seeing the beginning of in some states, the true source of political power in America is the Koch Bros and their ilk.

¡Viva la revolucion!

I think I remember them ...

From a party I went to once. Heh ... Gotta qualify as a "Headline of the Day":

Horde of 'gay barbarians' glitter Bachmann clinic

Hard to run for President ...

When thy name is "Santorum". Heh ...

...

[Columnist Dan] Savage says his site hasn't been updated for years, yet it remains entrenched in the Google rankings. Not even Santorum's ascent as a Fox News contributor or his early campaign swings through the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire have managed to bury it. With Google results like this, what's an aspiring presidential candidate to do?

...

And since I'm doing my best to keep Dan's site high in the rankings, allow me to put a link to it right here.

Great thanks to Mr. Aravosis for the link.

Hot ...

We're a little late to the heat party that most of the country is sweltering through but we got blasted yesterday and it's gonna be worse today. It's 85 here at 7 a.m. and the government global warming conspiracy tells me it feels like 96 with the humidity. In this heat, the usually active Dingo Sisters are nothing but little blobs laying in the shade.

Good luck to all the tourists on the street in the city today. You picked a bad week to visit New York.

Update:

So it's 100 now (at 11:30) and I brought the girls in. Even though they're designed to work in the Outback, it's just too bloody hot (you know it's too damn hot for them when they didn't even bother chasing a couple of the yard rabbits). They're both parked in front of their fan (yes, my dogs have their own fan) on the cool tiles in my office, doing their best to ignore me. Heh ...

Update Zwei:

How hot is it? This hot:



Update Trois:

You know it's hot (102 as of 4 p.m.) when the weather lady on the local news is doing the "fry an egg in the car" trick.

Update Quattro:

It's so humid I can't break my reefer up to roll a joint. Where's my bong? I've officially had it with summer and am praying for snow. Go figure.

Another financial genius ...

Running the Republican fundraising machine:

It’s pretty surprising that the Republicans aren’t doing well raising funds, but even moreso that they did a better job under Michael Steele. Steele was a gaffetastic buffoon, but apparently knew more about raising cash – the real job of a party chairman – than Priebus does.

...

Steele set a pretty low bar to jump over. Looks like his replacement needs a ladder.

House Republicans Have Morphed Into 'A Cult'

Elise Foley

"The sad thing is America no longer has a two-party system," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said at a press conference Wednesday. "One of our two parties has morphed into kind of a cult driven by a singular fixation and obsession: preserving tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs."
...

"Once again the radical right is more worried about protecting their next election than protecting the greatest generation or the next generation," Mikulski said at a press conference. "What a sham, what a scam. I'd be tempted to blow it off if it weren't so cruel, stupid and dangerous."

Note to right-wing cultists everywhere, and especially the Teabagger People's House: you should all follow the example set by that greatest of all cultists and a man who demonstrated the kind of leadership we would like to see from you, Jim Jones.

Headline of the Day

Alabama still collecting tax for Confederate vets

Why does this come as no surprise? Retard, thy name is Alabama.

An Etiquette Guide For Rep. Allen West

From Alyssa at Think Progress. Go see this.

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) appears to have some fairly strong opinions about what it takes to act like a lady, and he expressed them in an email to his colleague, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) yesterday. “You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up,” he wrote to her. “You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!” Given the restrictiveness of Mr. West’s vision of ladylike conduct, I thought it was important to provide him with a primer on things ladies are allowed to do.

Primer follows. You'll like it.

It’s not surprising that West made the mistake of assuming that being a lady means a pliant, adorable cream puff. Lots of folks do. But Debbie Wasserman Schultz is heir to the best part of the lady tradition: the tough as nails one.

Being no stranger to tough-as-nails ladies (also drunk broads with guns, but that's another story) I say Amen to that!

I got an etiquette lesson for West on the end of my right arm. I'd like to use it if for no other reason than to see if black eyes would show on him.

Speaking of that, I just heard West 'play the race card' as explanation for how people feel about him.

Note to West: There's a helluva difference between a black MAN and what you are, and that ain't it. The reason people don't like you is because you're a right-wing asshole.

The Lies Are Heating Up

Politicususa

Rush Limbaugh claims there is no heat wave, just a government conspiracy to make us think that it is hot.

According to Limbaugh, the heat wave is all part of giant government conspiracy to make people think that it is hotter than what it is in order to get them to believe that climate change is real. Limbaugh thinks this kind of heat wave happens every year, but it doesn’t. According to the National Weather Service 1,000 heat records have been broken across the United States in the past month.

There is no vast government conspiracy to make the heat wave seem hotter. This is a real and unprecedented weather event. Since Rush Limbaugh’s political ideology will not allow him to acknowledge that there might be something to this whole climate change thing, he has to explain it away with a silly conspiracy theory.

By the end of the week Rush Limbaugh will be blaming Obama and his top secret weather machine for the heat, because there is no home for reality in the right wing mind.

That fat fuck is getting desperate to find things to blame "the government", meaning the black man in the White House, for. He probably would be more correct, though still lying (that's what he does, that's who he is), to blame God for scorchin' 'em out as payback for right-wing sins.

Quote of the Day

Comrade Misfit:

...

It should be clear to everyone, by now, that if the choice was between having their mothers drown or having President Obama rescue them, Republicans would arrange for the funerals.

...

I betcha ...

Michelle Bachmann gives more migranes than she gets.

I am a neurologist at an academic medical center quite familiar with migraines. I think in general, most people would accept that a propensity to migraine should not disqualify one from being President. Readers of your site will all appreciate Rep. Bachmann has far more legitimate reasons to disqualify her.

...

Better make sure ...

You can deliver before you commit yourself. A big:

Nelson Muntz - Ha, ha

Goes out to the Tea Party Nation Corporation of Franklin, TN:

On Monday Venetian Casino Resort, LLC. filed suit against Tea Party Nation Corporation of Franklin, TN for $642,144 in unpaid hotel bills and interest. According to a contract attached to the suit, Tea Party Nation agreed to pay the resort $579,148 in the event of a cancellation. The Palazzo alleges the group still owes $554,148, plus [an] 18 percent interest charge of $87,996. [my bolds]

...

What gets me more than obligating themselves to a more than half-million dollar cancellation charge is their agreement to pay 18% interest. In this day and age, with the cost of money at next to nothing, to pay 18% on anything (except a revolving balance on a credit card) is nuts.

'Splains a lot about Teabaggers.

The last landing ...

Of the Space Shuttle Atlantis came off without a hitch. The American manned space program is essentially at an end, with nothing to take its place. From now on, we'll have to depend on the Russians to get any of our people back and forth to the space station. Who'da thought that would happen 30 years ago? A sad commentary about what we were able to achieve as a nation and how far we've fallen since then.

The Atlantis has landed at the Kennedy Space Center, 42 years to the day after the Eagle module of the Apollo 11 mission touched down on the surface of the moon.

Returning to Earth’s terra firma just before dawn in Florida, Atlantis’ final mission was also the 135th and the last of the space shuttle program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

...

I have a feeling that it'll be a long time before we can once again put a man in space as a country, if ever. By the time we're ready to commit, the commercial market will probably have taken over and any government attempt will be superfluous.

The Ronald Reagan act ...

Was in full swing at the "Murdoch Hearings" in Parliament. For a man who was supposedly so in touch with his media conglomerate that the term "micromanager" was bandied about constantly, it's amazing how much he didn't know about what went on under his nose. Hey, it's worked for me. I don't now how many times I've gotten out of trouble by acting the moron.

So, while none of us ever expected any great revelation before the MPs, JP has culled some gems from the blather:

...

10) Rupert Murdoch doesn't like pie.

...

5) Both Murdochs were completely ignorant of the fact that their media outlets hacked into cell phones over and over and (repeat 4,800 times)...

...

3) Pieman who'd gotten the jump on Murdoch was the only person in the UK who hasn't had his cell phone hacked.

...

Heh ...

Update:

And Digby asks a question I always have when these big shots act stupid:

...

Here in the US we call Rupert's strategy the "Ken Lay" defense, which amounts to "I didn't know nothin' about anythin'" which has always brought to mind a big question for me: if they didn't know anything about what was going on in their companies, why in the hell were they paid so much money? It should, by all rights, inspire some sort of re-evaluation of CEO pay if nothing else.

...

Trouble with meeses...

My tactical mouse quit on me and my running spare is acting up and it's making posting a pain in the ass and I quit for today.

From Gallipoli to Singapore

Interesting stuff on Rupert "The Chin" Murdoch by MoDo.

As a young journalist during World War I, Keith Murdoch became famous when he visited the Gallipoli campaign and broke censorship rules barring any criticism of the conduct of war or tally of casualty figures. He wrote home to the Australian prime minister, a family friend, and he sneaked off to London to blow the whistle there — in a jingoistic, exaggerated way his son would appreciate — about the incompetence of the British command in charge of the decimation in Turkey, where 120,000 soldiers died, including 8,500 Australian infantry and light horsemen.

Old posters for the brilliant 1981 movie “Gallipoli” give Rupert Murdoch a producing credit. He financed half the movie to show the world why his father had been right.

Rupert wanted to avenge his father with the British establishment, and what sweeter way to do it than to take over the British press, including its most prestigious broadsheet, The Times of London, and help decide who runs Britain.

His most revealing moment was when he volunteered his admiration of Singapore, calling it the most “open and clear society in the world.” Its leaders are so lavishly paid, he said, that “there’s no temptation, and it is the cleanest society you’d find anywhere.”

It was instructive that Murdoch chose to praise a polished, deeply authoritarian police state. Maybe that’s how corporations would live if they didn’t have to believe in people.

That is how they live, Red, and they don't.

Ah, Sweet Schadenfreude Headline of the Day

Anti-Gay Alabama A.G. Caught Being Gay

And spend money too ...

And here's where I give the finger to the fat man across the Hudson. Seems the man who's "not a fan of gay marriage" and crying about how broke his state is (he can't give as big a tax break to his millionaire friends as he wants to) can watch as NYC rakes in the cash for hotel rooms, meals in restaurants, and some serious shopping. Idiot:

New York City is holding a lottery to award couples the right to marry on Sunday, the first day same-sex couples can be wed under a new law.

The lottery will select 764 couples, and opposite sex couples are eligible.

"The number of couples who want to marry on Sunday is more than the City Clerk's offices could possibly handle," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

...

Cha-ching. See what equal rights will get ya.

Update:

The local ABC station did a story on just this subject this afternoon:

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Amy Eisinger works for weddingchannel.com, which has featured same-sex commitment ceremonies. Come next week, it will highlight legal weddings in New York as well.

Same-sex weddings are great for her business, but more specifically for venues, caterers, florists, dress and suit makers, bands, DJs, photographers, registry companies and even the travel industry. Those in the business are gearing up for the gay wedding community to bring approximately $300 Million in spending over the next two years.

...

Like I said, cha-ching.

Score one ...

For Secaucus Fats:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Doctors in New Jersey will be allowed to prescribe medical marijuana after Governor Chris Christie said on Tuesday he will let new legislation originally signed by his predecessor be implemented.

New Jersey will join 15 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing marijuana for medical use, although the New Jersey legislation is more restrictive than elsewhere.

...

He's still an asshole, but I'll give him credit, rightly due, for this.

Since ...

Gordon is either getting hisself arrested or getting out of a previous one taking care of buisness with the DMV, I figured I'd jump on over to The Rude One's place (usually I just click on Gordon's link here that night or the next morning) and see what he has to say ... rudely.

Right up my alley today because I too have an urge, if I ever get within 10 feet of Grover "Don't Tax Me There" Norquist, to kick him squarely in the nuts:

...

The qualities of the pledge to Americans for Taxual Healing are many. First of all, there's the sweet, sweet release that one can get when one feels one's foot connect with the soft sack between Grover Norquist's legs. There's the hilarious slow motion look of horror on Norquist's face as he thinks, "Not again" and "Oh, my balls." Then there's the extra skip in one's step as one heads onto the floor to vote in whatever way one wants.

And then ATH can hold each signer to the pledge. If we hear that Grover Norquist was able to freely come within, say, three feet of a Congress member's foot and walked away with his balls un-kicked, well, we'll run a primary candidate against that Congress member, someone willing to follow through with an assault on Norquist's nuts. Our goal is to make Norquist's testicles feel a sharp pain whenever he gets near the Capitol and thus drive him away.

...

If I ever run for Congress, I'll sign that pledge.

Works for me ...

Heh ...

While answering questions before Parliament Tuesday, a man appeared to try to throw a pie in the face of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.

...

Once Upon A Time...

Fixer's off to sit in judgment at a Grand Jury today and I have to go face inquisitors myself. I have an appointment at DMV. We'll see if they still buy my fairy tales explanations about some motorcycles. No proof to the contrary, they always have. It's just to save money, and my priest says I'm not going to go to hell for anything I tell DMV. See yas later.

Update:

In 'n out, 15 minutes, wallet lighter, paperwork all in order. I told the very nice DMV lady that the appointment system works quite well as opposed to taking a number and waiting. She replied "it did this time...". Heh.

Interview with CAFKIA

An interview with our pal CAFKIA. Starts at about 3:25. The video was way too big for our template and I probably made it too small, but enjoy anyway. You can fullscreen it. Taken from his Facebook page.

Note: I took down the video on 7/21 because a) it started automatically, and b) they changed it.

Only the General ...

Could validate Mark Halperin using the Book of Abraham via the lens of Mormonism:

...

It all began a few months ago when my grandson gave me a pair of crystals he had grown from a kit Jesus left under the Christmas tree. I quickly fashioned the crystals into a crude Urim and Thummim and began translating Facsimile #2 using the same method Joseph Smith employed--that is, as Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles describes it: “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light..."

I began by translating the Reformed Egyptian characters found on the upper outer edge, and was surprised to find that my translation differs from the Prophet Joseph's. I don't know why that is. Perhaps, God waited to reveal a second meaning until a more proper time. The context within my translation would support that.

...

In fact, the General has the whole race figured out.

...

What about the other candidates?

Herman Cain: Well, this is Mormon scripture. He's not...uh..celestially acceptable.

...

Heh ...

Heh ...

I could probably figure out the route, but I don't know about taking that left turn at Step 47.

Coincidence?

Seems too convenient:

...

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbusiness reporter who was the first named journalist to allege that Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead.

...

Nothing to see here, move along:

...

He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs, and had been in rehab. "But that's irrelevant," he said. "There's more to come. This is not going to go away."

...

Yeah, that's it, he OD-ed. Couldn't take the pressure and offed himself. I betcha a buncha folks at the Yard and London Metro are breathing easier. Not saying there's a connection, mind you. Heh ...

Update:

Comrade Misfit is of the same mind I am, though she adds:

...

We'll also get to see whether or nor Eric Holder really has any stones.

...

Holder only has stones when it comes to busting poor and sick people (cancer patients) for smoking pot.

The only miracle in Texas ...

Is the fact it hasn't collapsed into a sinkhole under the weight of all that stupid:

...

Rick Perry like to pretend like Texas is some sort of economic utopia where they don't pass debts on to future generations and do just fine on their own without any interference from the gretbigoh fedrul gubmint.

It plays well on the stump as he addresses the true believers who will never question him or believe the evidence that proves otherwise, but in reality, it's a shameless lie.

...

Not going quietly ...

Which is why we love Elizabeth Warren:

Now that the White House has decided not to nominate Elizabeth Warren to run the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, she's taking her fight to protect the new agency directly to Republicans. And she says the time has come either for President Obama to recess appoint his designated director, or to engage in a loud, public fight with the GOP senators who have vowed to block the confirmation of any nominee, regardless of ideology or affiliation.

...

It's about time Mr. Obama had "a loud, public fight with the GOP", though his past track record says otherwise. Hopefully, now that he has to run for President again, he'll be drawn into that fight on the campaign trail.

Perry's Call From On High

Thanks to IWR.

Getting to Crazy

Paul Krugman

There aren’t many positive aspects to the looming possibility of a U.S. debt default. But there has been, I have to admit, an element of comic relief — of the black-humor variety — in the spectacle of so many people who have been in denial suddenly waking up and smelling the crazy.

A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?” they ask.

Why, yes, it has. But this isn’t something that just happened, it’s the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn’t been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye.

And may I say to those suddenly agonizing over the mental health of one of our two major parties: People like you bear some responsibility for that party’s current state.

Not me. I saw it coming when Reagan was governor of California. I thought it could be headed off by sanity, but sanity done flew the coop when he got made POTUS and it's been downhill ever since with one little uptick during Clinton.

Put it this way: If a Republican president had managed to extract the kind of concessions on Medicare and Social Security that Mr. Obama is offering, it would have been considered a conservative triumph. But when those concessions come attached to minor increases in revenue, and more important, when they come from a Democratic president, the proposals become unacceptable plans to tax the life out of the U.S. economy.

Beyond that, voodoo economics has taken over the G.O.P.

Does that mean they're stickin' pins in a little doll of the nation, trying to kill it? Maybe voodoo really works...

Go read the rest of this.

The Curse

A 'must read' at TPJmagazine:

The Republican curse is like a method of Roman torture whereby a rotting corpse is strapped to a healthy person’s body until the decomposing excrement and bacteria infects the living tissue and the healthy individual succumbs to a slow, torturous death. The dead body is the GOP and the living human – carrying around the weight of the decaying body while at the same time attempting to survive and provide necessities to sustain that existence – is the nation.
...

The Nazis Party, with its nasty little prejudices and cultic myths, was Germany’s dead corpse strapped to its back. Republicans are ours.

I was wondering what that stench is...

A Scene From Our Unshared Sacrifices

El Rude-o

The old lady at the pharmacy counter obviously wore an adult diaper. That tell-tale sharp urine scent half-masked by sweet-smelling chemicals emanated from her, and the Rude Pundit stood right behind her yesterday, waiting to pick up the pills that prevent him from going on a five-state killing spree. She was getting three prescriptions. The total was $6.00. This puzzled the old lady. She had never paid anything before, and even this seemingly small amount was obviously causing her consternation. The cashier checked with the pharmacist, who said that there had been a minor change to her plan, and now she had to pay a little for the scrips, a buck-fifty, three bucks. She apologized and put aside the couple of other things she was going to purchase to pay for the medicine.

Our savage economic inequality in this country is coming to a head. We talk about "spending cuts," as if what we're not really talking about is "making the poor pay more for stuff." We talk as if the services that are cut will be picked up by the aching states and cities. And we talk about nonsense like "shared sacrifice," as if that's the rational position in any of this. When the wealthy actually sacrifice something, we can talk about sharing.

At this point, any Americans earning above, say, to be generous, $500,000 a year who don't believe that they should be paying more in taxes are just goddamned greedy assholes who deserve a real Marxist revolution to take it all away. They have benefited from a country that generously gave them decades of low taxes in the hopes that they would help make this a better place. They fucked it up, and it's time to give back. If your parents supported you through college in order for you to get your MBA and get rich, then you take care of them if they go through hard times. You don't say, "Sorry, Mom, but how can I create jobs if I have to help you avoid losing your house?" Unless you do, in which case, you are a dick and deserve to be put up against the wall in the aforementioned revolution.

Back at the pharmacy, the old woman walked away from the counter, putting back the cheap socks and orange juice she was going to buy, leaving with her prescriptions, her sacrifice far from shared.

There is nohing I can add to that.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

DOJ Won't Prosecute Those Responsible for Financial Meltdown, Torture
May attempt second trial of Roger Clemens.

UN WORKING GROUP TO MERCENARIES: YOU NEED TO BE REGULATED
Mercenaries to UN: by you and what army?

Murdoch Not Involved in Hacking Scandal, Which Never Happened
According to Fox News.

Cuba Says 16% Online
Mainly on Craigslist seeking parts for '58 Chevys.

If you watched ...

The US womens team lose to Japan, you saw a team beat themselves.

Gotta head out east first thing this morning, to the Suffolk County Criminal Court, to try and give them a good sob story so they'll defer my Grand Jury summons until September. With the Mrs. leaving for Gordon's neck o' the woods tomorrow for a couple weeks on her semi-annual Wes' Coas' swing, I have to be available for dad-in-law if he needs it. Let's hope they're accommodating.

Update:

Yay! The nice court lady said she'll have me back on 12 Sept after I told her I wouldn't mind serving today (and for the next month) if I could bring an Alzheimer's patient and 2 Cattle Dogs with me. She said she would have liked to meet Dad-in-law Fixer (of course I went into the whole story about how he was a flight engineer on B-17s during the big one), but she knows all about Cattle Dogs and agreed they'd be better left at home. Heh ...

Rescue Plan

Thanks to YubaNet.

Sing like a birdie, Red

British police on Sunday reportedly arrested a former top aide to Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, over the hacking scandal that has led to calls for the break-up of the media mogul's empire in the country.

I wanta see the old Ozzie bastard doing the perp walk!

Good luck ...

To our womens national soccer team who will face the Japanese women this afternoon in the World Cup. I'm doing some work over at dad-in-law's this weekend (safety and accessibly things) because I'm on jury duty starting tomorrow (I'm picked for a grand jury, which I've never done so I don't know if they'll keep me there every day or allow me to call in) morning and god knows when I'll have the time.

Also, a couple pics from the yard/garden now that it's finished ... mostly. Heh ...

Two days without one little stretch of road and L.A. is goin' nuckin' futs!

Those of us who got around L.A. just fine before there were freeways are laughin' our asses off at this "Carmageddon" bullshit!

Thanks to NothingIsCoolMovie.

Here's some comments on the video:

First they closed the 405,

and I didn't speak out because I didn't drive the 405.

Then they closed the Golden State,

and I didn't speak out because I didn't drive the Golden State.

Then they closed the 101,

and I didn't speak out because I didn't drive the 101.

Then they closed Fairfax and there was no one left to speak out for me.
notdecraw 23 hours ago 97

After Hitler's suicide, the freeway was divided: East 405 (under Latino supervision) and West 405, (controlled by Peoples Republic of Santa Monica). Drivers soon took other routes. Thus began the Cold(water Canyon) War.
tashload 23 hours ago 79

Many more.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

From 1989

Emmylou Harris ~ How High The Moon

Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.

Shopping Day

Off ta the Big City, spa day for the pups, hearty breakfast, lotsa errands. See yas.

The Gripes Of Wrath

Thanks to YubaNet.

Fake witches outdraw real one at OC 30-plex

An article about Moosebreath that's actually worth reading in The Atlantic.

Sarah Palin Movie Debuts to Empty Theater in Orange County
...

"Why aren't you seeing Harry Potter?" an usher said to the reporter sitting alone in the audience

Here's how bad she misreads her tiny-brained subjects: even in one of the most rabidly right-wing counties in the U.S., old scared white people don't go out at midnight, even for her. The flick will probably do better at the matinee. If there's a senior discount.

Buh-bye, Sarah. You lasted longer than I thought you would, but you're almost over.

Bad shit happening ...

In Squidland. I brought up the Navy's big push (suddenly) to keep corrosion on their ships under control a while back and our pal Comrade Misfit looks at a related problem:

I wish I could say that I'm surprised about any of this, but I'm not. Warships take a lot of TLC to keep in good condition. A decade ago, the Navy went to a concept called "optimal manning", which was a bureaucratic way of saying "not enough sailors to keep the ships up." From what I've read, a Burke class DDG had a complement of 290, yet the Navy sent those ships to see with the the crew size of a Knox class FF (or a Perry class FFG). Those two frigate classes displaced 4,100 tons, but a Burke class DDG displace between 8,300 and 9,500 tons.*

The Burkes are much larger ships. Those who thought that the Navy could send them to sea with the crew size of a smaller ship and not eventually pay a price had to have been drinking the Ft. Fumble Kool-Aid. The practice of not sending enough sailors to ships to properly man the ships was a factor in the grounding of the USS Port Royal.

...

You can't fix a rotting ship if it isn't staffed properly. Bush/Cheney thought they could go to war on the cheap and this is where we've ended up 10 years later. Maybe, instead of buying the military new toys all the time, we might want to fix the old ones before they fall out from under our people.

***

I was informed that the new shed "looks naked" out there in the yard so we were at Home Depot this morning at 6. Me and the girls are headed out now to plant 6 new shrubs around it. Heh ...

I guess ...

God doesn't like Arsenal. Cliff Schecter:

...

Sadly, however, our God Culture isn't limited to just the political game, but also allows some of those clever cats, professional athletes, to get in on the action.

I must admit to finding it rather amusing - as in completely ridiculous - whenever an overpaid ballplayer hits a three-point shot or bashes a fastball over the center field wall, only to respond by pointing up to the Heavens as if it were Divinely ordained. Because we all know any Higher Power has nothing better to do - like ending conflict in the Sudan or curing cancer - than taking in some sport and using his/her powers to ensure Arsenal wins the FA Cup.

...

The Gunners went out early in FA Cup competition this year. Heh ...

See yas ...

It's about time one of the top management joins the 200 hard working people from News of the World on the unemployment line. However, she should be sharing the dock in Old Bailey with Murdoch and his son.

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, has resigned, the company has confirmed.

Her departure follows days of increasing pressure to step down as the phone hacking crisis grew.

In a statement, she said she felt a "deep responsibility for the people we have hurt".

...

She feels a deep responsibility to keep herself out of jail.

The Mrs. asked me yesterday: "Is it too much to hope for that there will be no Fox News here in the future?"

Short answer: Yes.

I think, in America, Murdoch has the testicles of too many Republicans in his hand to get run out of town. AG Holder is no crusader for justice either.

Finally!

Video. Too big to reproduce here. Go see. RawReplay.

Pastafarian Headline of the Day

Man wins right to wear pasta strainer on head in driver’s license photo

Fixer's right about Austrians bein' crazy fuckin' Germans on steroids...

I'm on my way to DMV to see if they'll finally let me wear my tinfoil hat in my drivers license photo now that crazy is officially sacred.

Republican Intransigence, as Revealed Through Republicans in Conservative Media

The Rude Pundit

This follows a pattern for most right-wingers, who do much of their posturing and politicking primarily in conservative media outlets. To wit:

'Wit' is not the word I would have used without 'half' as a prefix, but RP doesn't need editing from me. He lists a few examples from the more odious Repug STDs*.

*Scary Talkin' Doofusfucks

We can only hope that Obama's supposed declaration of "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this" is true. We can only hope that it's the start of some new path for him, some utter abandonment of the bipartisan snipe hunt he's been on. Perhaps it's too late. Perhaps he's too far into the woods to find his way home.

But stupid optimism is what makes us American. And it's that stupidity that made so many Americans elect this actually dangerous group of people. There is no Forrest Gump-wisdom in the dimwitted. There's only the horrible consequences of their actions.

From the 'dangerous' link:

The more we find out about the House Republican caucus, the more obvious it becomes that they're not just trying to maximize their leverage by pretending to be crazy. They're crazy.

Does that mean we can tranq 'em and lock 'em away? Gitmo's still open...

Quote of the Day

Michael F:

... All kidding aside, I actually [find] Boehner the least odious of the bunch...but that's kind of like finding herpes the least odious STD ...

Heh ...

Pic stolen from here.

Or, like they say in the old country: "Get out."

I'm praying Barry knows what he's doing*.

*And that he's keeping the average American's interest in mind while he does it.

Hey, Froggy ...

If I were you, I'd be on my way back to Jersey. Montag (in toto):

It may be known as the land of 10,000 lakes but there will be 39 fewer brands of beer on sale in the state soon. This is the result of Miller-Coors failure to renew their licenses to sell beer in the state prior to the Republican caused shutdown of the government. Some may dismiss those brands as small beer and peewater but it is still an unnecessary cruelty to deny a man his brand just to protect millionaires and corporations from a much deserved tax hike.

Not being able to buy beer? That's where I draw the line. Heh ...

White House admits marijuana has ‘some’ medical value

Raw Story. Usual nice photo from Fixer's back yard, but that may change now that he has his spiffy new "equipment" shed. For all the hydroponic equipment no doubt. Heh.

Just days after the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) insisted that there is no medical value to marijuana, the White House appeared to contradict the position, saying in a report that there may actually be "some" medical value to "individual components of the cannabis plant" after all.

Here's the money shot:

Critics are likely to see the passage as offering a bit of wiggle room for major pharmesutical producers looking to grow marijuana to extract its psychoactive ingredient, THC, or other cannabinoid compounds that have been demonstrated to help abate symptoms of some chronic diseases, like wasting syndrome in AIDS patients or nausea in cancer patients.

In 2007, GW Pharmaceuticals announced that it partnered with Otsuka to bring "Sativex" -- or liquefied marijuana -- to the U.S. [...]

Reinventing the wheel in the process. Ahmed and his fucking camel used to partner to, besides the part involving a milk crate, bring hash oil to the U.S. One stripe of that down the side of a fatty and ZOWIE!

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has warned just as much, claiming that federal authorities may be looking to shift policy slightly, if only to legalize marijuana-based medicines for Big Pharma only, which could step in and potentially eradicate the medical marijuana market.

There ya have it - if it can't be to Big Pharma's profit, it can't be legal.

An ABC News poll found last year that eight in 10 Americans favor legalizing medical marijuana.

Since when did that matter to the Big Money or their pols?

Headline of the Day

Mitch McConnell: We Must Rewrite The Constitution Because ‘Elections’ Haven’t ‘Worked’

I'm speechless and my sides hurt...one quote:

It’s worth noting just what McConnell is asking the American people to choke down.

Isn't it always?

Please protect the innocent conjugal sex fruit

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford.

Don't have sex. Gays are evil. Repress your urges. Close your legs. Quit asking questions.

Jesus loves Coors Light and large-caliber handguns. Iraq is packed like a Bieber concert with squealing nuclear warheads aimed straight at the Utah public school system. The homosexual agenda is alive and very, very real, and it wants to indoctrinate your children, steal your semen and organize your underwear drawer far, far too perfectly. Also, God is judging you. Right. This. Second.

This may be his best column yet. Go.

If ya listen to Larry...Part Deux

Follow-up to Fixer's post yesterday. This isn't settled by a long shot, but it appears to me, because I wish it to be so (why is my other hand filling up so much more quickly...?), that my Stealth Ninja Jedi Prez is pulling off a rope-a-dope worthy of Cassius Clay. The Repugs (and a lot of us) expected him to cave because that's what he's been doing all along. Perhaps he will fool us this time. It's more important that he fool the Repugs into doing what he wanted all along.

I don't like a lot of the stuff he's done or the way he's done them either, but it's all above my pay grade. I'm still down wid him.

Lawrence explains how President Obama continues to outsmart, out-strategize and out-talk the Republicans, in the debt ceiling standoff. Plus, Howard Dean joins The Last Word with more analysis.

If ya don't believe Larry or me, believe Howie.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Update:

Welcome to Republican Cave

Gee, is that anything like Osama's cave...?

Upate II:

You must go read The Rude One's take!

There's myriad ways to look at Mitch McConnell's Deal o' Last Resort that he proffered yesterday. All of them involve the phrase "Fuck it." There's "Fuck it. If Obama loves the debt ceiling so much, he can marry it." And there's "Fuck it. These crazy Tea Party motherfuckers aren't gonna be happy until we're all living in heavily-armed bomb shelters." And there's "Fuck it. I'm sick of negotiating." And on and on, all variations on "Just fuck it."

McConnell announced the plan after taking to the Senate floor to say, "Democrats suck monkey balls." He also said a bunch of nonsense about what he thinks "the American people" want without mentioning that one of the things we want, by a huge majority, is higher taxes on people making far more than most of us.

The Rude Pundit sees this as part and parcel of how McConnell and Boehner have governed. They take themselves out of the battle and merely stand on the sidelines, hurling Molotov cocktails while saying that their pathetic pyromania is leadership.

One other thing: because this doesn't just raise the debt ceiling $2.5 trillion in one fell swoop, it requires a certain amount of trust in the Republicans by the Obama administration. If they dick the President over, then we plunge once again into crisis. Those fuckers aren't worthy of that kind of trust. Why would you let the arsonists guard the gas stove?

The arsonists can guard the gas stove as long as it's in their house and not ours. I hope they set their house alight and stand around arguing if it's really on fire and whether they should call the fire department..

Give the gays an inch* ...

And the polygamists want the whole enchilada:

Kody Brown is a proud polygamist, and a relatively famous one. Now Mr. Brown, his four wives and 16 children and stepchildren are going to court to keep from being punished for it.

...

Hey, if you want 4 women telling you what to do and 16 children screaming through your house, god bless ya. Me? 1 wife and 2 dogs are more than enough.

Seriously, most of these polygamist marriages appear, to me, to be reminiscent of Sultanates and Sheikdoms. A dominant man with women and children being more property than partners. I wonder if a woman wanted to take 4 husbands, if the men would be so gung-ho about trying to make it legal. Seems to me the "bylaws" of these folks' belief system gives all the rights to the men and few, if any, to the women. There is too much room for abuse and that's where my beef comes in. If it worked both ways, I'd say let the masochists have at it.

*Before anybody gets pissed, I'm being funny here. As regulars know, I am a strident supporter of gay marriage and I'm not equivocating the right for two people in love to marry with polygamy, a true lifestyle choice and an emotionally abusive situation on its best day.

We been saying it ...

For the better part of a decade:

Human Rights Watch has called on Barack Obama, the current US president, to order a criminal investigation into alleged detainee abuse by his predecessor, George W Bush, and senior figures from his administration.

"There are solid grounds to investigate Bush, [former vice president Dick] Cheney, [former secretary of defence Donald] Rumsfeld, and [former CIA director George] Tenet for authorising torture and war crimes," Kenneth Roth, HRW's executive director, said.

...

"The US is right to call for justice when serious international crimes are committed in places like Darfur, Libya, and Sri Lanka, but there should be no double standards," Roth said.

...

American exceptionalism at its best. If we want the rest of the world to start taking us seriously again, a good start would be dropping these clowns at the Hague; at the least, putting them on trial ourselves.

Good ...

Seems this is still America:

A Manhattan judge has thrown out a lawsuit from a retired firefighter who sued to block construction on the proposed Park51 Islamic Center near Ground Zero, but the conservative group that represented him says it will appeal the decision.

The New York Times reported that Justice Paul G. Feinman of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled on Friday that retired firefighter Timothy Brown is "an individual with a strong interest in preservation of the building," but lacks legal standing to challenge construction of the Islamic Center.

...

The conservatives can play their bullshit down in the "Jesus Belt" but in these parts, "freedom of religion" doesn't mean freedom for Christians to persecute those who don't believe their way.

Fap, fap, fap ...

All of the sexually-stunted Rethugs are gonna be touching themselves over this. Fez:

But somehow Rich Lowry is going to end up making these digital pages stick together.

Heh ...

You and I ...

Are supporting Rupert Murdoch.

I'll admit that I watch a couple of Fox networks (Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus) but I don't mind giving him my money for them because they're the only places I can get regular football matches from Europe.

That said, I got a problem with giving him billions of my tax dollars:

(Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch may not garner as much attention for his financial savvy as he does for his journalistic escapades, which last week led to the shuttering of Britain's oldest tabloid. But that doesn't make his money management any less impressive.

...

Over the past four years Murdoch's U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.

...

I say it's about time we stop paying him to help destroy the country.

Great thanks to Jill for the link.

Fox blackmail ...

Olbermann recounts Fox's attempts to work him to death:

...

On his show Tuesday, he said that while working at Fox Sports he became sick and was advised by his doctor to slow down at work. When he requested to work five days instead of six, Fox Sports immediately pulled him off the air until he received a letter from his doctor guaranteeing he was well enough to work.

They then offered to either have Olbermann work a very busy schedule or receive a 60 percent pay cut.

...

Same way the Rethugs "support our troops".