En Tequila Es Verdad

Attention, Americans: Time to Get Economically Literate

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:17:00 +0000

The fact that the majority of Americans believe Con talking points about the deficit and who's responsible for our current mess, and think more jobs would be saved by ditching the stimulus, is unacceptably stupid.

Digby does some edimicatin'. And Cujo has a simple primer here.

I expect better results on the next quiz, damn it.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:58:00 +0000

Sen. Tom Coburn, ladies and gentlemen, never afraid to lie for the cause:

Sen. Tom Coburn, a right-wing Republican from Oklahoma, is apparently not above callous opportunism. He saw headlines about mammogram screening, headlines about a proposed tax on elective cosmetic surgery, and in his drive to kill health care reform, decided to combine some disparate talking points.

[Yesterday], Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, who is a physician and staunchly opposed to this legislation, suggested on the Senate floor that a woman would be taxed if she had breast reconstruction surgery following cancer.
"In this bill is a 5% tax on cosmetic surgery," Coburn said. "Just yesterday -- the day before yesterday, U.S. preventive task forces, services, recommended because it's not cost effective that women under 50 not get mammograms unless they have risk factors. Well, you tell that to the thousands of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer lat last -- last year under 50 with a mammogram. You tell them it's not cost effective. Also in this bill is a 5% tax on the breast reconstruction surgery after they had a mastectomy. They're going to tax having your breast rebuilt after your breast is taken off because it is elective plastic surgery. It is elective cosmetic surgery. We're going to have a tax on it because we've taxed elective cosmetic surgery. We're in trouble as a nation because we've taken our eye off the ball."

As Republican lies on health care go, this one's pretty despicable.

For one thing, Coburn doesn't understand what the Preventive Services Task Force said -- the mammogram recommendation had to do with research-based standards, not cost.

More important, though, the legislation's provision on a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgery clearly excludes procedures for those with congenital abnormalities, disfiguring diseases, or traumatic injuries. Anyone requiring reconstructive surgery resulting from accidents or diseases would be exempt.

There is no "5% tax on the breast reconstruction surgery after they had a mastectomy." Coburn's making it up, hoping no one notices how offensive his lying really is.

Send that around to all the Cons you know. Rub their noses in how disgusting their little heroes are.

Meanwhile, we're gearing up for a big vote in the Senate. Who's on board? Nelson's deigned to allow proceedings to proceed, but only for now. Landrieu and her bestest buddy Blanche are still dithering. I have a suggestion for the Dem leadership: stop giving them shit to make them stop digging in their heels. All they're doing is milking you for all they're worth, and giving you fuck-all in return. Don't encourage them. We've made compromises. We're done. Tell them to put up or shut up.

And also let them know what happens to Dems who vote against health care bills like good little Con tools. They get fucked over anyway:

Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.), who is considered a vulnerable House incumbent next year, voted against health care reform two weeks ago. She'd been under fire from the National Republican Congressional Committee, and when push came to shove, Kosmas sided with the GOP on the bill.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell wrote a column recently about how Kosmas' vote didn't stop the Republican attacks.

Democrat Suzanne Kosmas may have irritated her liberal base when she voted against Nancy Pelosi's health-care bill. But she also backed the National Republican Congressional Committee into a corner ... at least she would have if the party hacks had any shame or integrity.

For months, the NRCC had been sending out releases, asking whether Kosmas had the courage to do the right thing (in its mind anyway) and stand up to "Pelosi's health-care takeover."

Well, she did. She voted against it.

This apparently confused the simpletons at the NRCC, who don't know how to do anything but gripe. So now, they are continuing to bash her on the topic, saying: OK, she may have done what they wanted -- but not for the reasons they wanted. So they still hate her.

And the constituents of these Conservadems may not want their reps voting for the bill, but they don't want them voting against cloture, either. So fucking vote for fucking cloture, you fucking idiots.

Thank you.

News for all those morons who're on about the size of the bill: those 2,000 pages are actually about the size of Sarah Palin's work of fiction in regular double-spaced type. So shut the fuck up about how big it is.

So, it appears the White House is in favor of the Senate bill, and in even better news, Wyden's putting forward an amendment to give more folks access to the public option. I hope that amendment passes, but with its success riding on the whims of the Conservadems, I'm not optimistic.

If you think all of the shit going on around this health care reform effort is a fiasco, you need to hop in the wayback machine and recall the circus surrounding the Cons' passage of Medicare Part D. At least Dems are paying for their bill and fucking the democratic process over in order to get it passed.

And, finally, Teabaggers are returning to D.C. for yet another rally against health care reform. I'm having a heart attack from not surprised - I hope that doesn't mean my coverage will be rescinded.

Let's Talk About Boobs

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:50:00 +0000

Specifically, the boobs who are throwing a hysterical fit over the new breast cancer screening recommendations:

On Wednesday, a group of women GOP lawmakers held a press conference to denounce a new recommendation by the federal Preventive Services Task Force that women receive mammograms less frequently. “This is how rationing begins,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “This is the little toe in the edge of the water.”

[snip]

As the Washington Independent’s Mike Lillis notes, the concern of the congresswomen about rationed mammograms is especially ironic considering that they oppose legislation that “would require insurance companies that cover diagnostic mammograms also to cover routine, annual breast cancer screenings for all women 40 and older.”

Lessee. Hypocrisy, check. Ridiculous fearmongering, check. Failure to comprehend simple words like "recommendation," check. Pure Con dumbfuckery.

But if you're tempted to fall for a Con, or if you're just confused over what's best for your health, or if you want to see a breast cancer researcher take down the bullshit in stunning detail, you can head on over to Orac's Repectful Insolence blog and read the following:

"Obama's fixin' death panels for your mama," the misogyny gambit, and other idiotic responses to the updated USPSTF mammography recommendations

"Obama's fixin' death panels for your mama": The USPSTF recommendations for mammography used as a political weapon

A two-part takedown that is truly Oracian in scope and insolence. And if you still want more, there's always really rethinking breast cancer screening.

Funny how Con talking points and fearmongering just don't have the same impact when you're armed with the facts, innit?

Happy Hour Discurso

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:19:00 +0000

Today's opining on the public discourse.

We haven't had a good McCain-bashing session in a long time. Let's make up for that lack, shall we?

It appears that McCain's in deep shit, and so has flopped neck-deep in right wing bullshit in order to save his ass. A man who used to be sensible on climate change is now sounding like every two-bit global warming denier:

Sens. John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman -- a tri-partisan group -- have been crafting a climate change bill that can generate broad support in the Senate. All three are personal friends with Sen. John McCain, and all three would love to get the Arizona Republican's support on this issue that he's historically cared about.

So, how's that going?

"Their start has been horrendous," McCain said Thursday. "Obviously, they're going nowhere."

McCain has emerged as a vocal opponent of the climate bill -- a major reversal for the self-proclaimed maverick who once made defying his party on global warming a signature issue of his career.

Now the Arizona Republican is more likely to repeat GOP talking points on cap and trade than to help usher the bill through the thorny politics of the Senate.

McCain refers to the bill as "cap and tax," calls the climate legislation that passed the House in June "a 1,400-page monstrosity" and dismisses a cap-and-trade proposal included in the White House budget as "a government slush fund."

Former aides are mystified by what they see as a retreat on the issue, given McCain's long history of leadership on climate legislation.

No one should be mystified. John McCain's core beliefs don't appear to exist.

McCain co-sponsored climate-change legislation three in three separate Congresses during the Bush era, and endorsed cap and trade as a sound policy. In 2008, however, McCain decided to oppose the same ideas he'd already endorsed, and he's sticking with this far-right persona.

Asked for an explanation, McCain spokesperson Brooke Buchanan said, "This really hasn't been done in a bipartisan fashion."

Go back to the top, there, as Steve Benen did, and note that the bill is being worked on by a Con, a Dem, and an Independent. I suppose, then, McCain's lame excuse is, by a strict definition, correct. It's not bipartisan, but tripartisan. How horrible, right?

McCain's dumbfuckery could be explained by the fact he is, for the first time in recent memory, in serious danger of losing his Senate seat:

You may have seen the new Rasmussen poll finding that John McCain is locked in an uncomfortably close GOP primary with conservative challenger J. D. Hayworth.

So who will save McCain’s hide and career? Bill Kristol has a suggestion:

Still, who could help McCain beat back a populist conservative challenger? Sarah Palin. I predict that Palin will come to Arizona next summer to campaign for McCain, will make an impassioned case for him, and will help him win. She will thereby repay McCain for his confidence in picking her last year, help keep McCain as a crucial voice in the Senate for a strong foreign policy, and get credit for being a different kind of populist conservative — a Reaganite, not a Buchananite, populist — than the immigration-obsessed, voter-alienating (he was ousted in 2006 in a Republican district) Hayworth.

Yeah, okay, because Palin is known to harbor a bottomless reserve of gratitude towards the McCain camp for plucking her from relative obscurity and turning her into a national celebrity, right?

Yup.

Greg Sargent seems to be popping the popcorn already, but he might want to hold off - Sarah Palin may not be the mover-and-shaker (either for or against McCain) that he believes. It seems she's been busy pissing off her biggest fans:

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was in Indiana yesterday for a book-signing at a Borders store. One thousand lucky fans with wristbands to meet Palin stood in the rain all day waiting for her to arrive. However, Palin quit the event before she had the chance to sign all the books, leaving 100 supporters out in the cold:

“I’m very disappointed. I think it was very rude. She could have at least apologized, and she didn’t even do that,” said Teresa Hedrick. [...]

“We bought two books from Borders to have our receipt and our wristband to get it signed tonight,” said one woman. “My books are going back to Borders tomorrow.”

“We gave up our entire workday, stayed in the cold. My kids were crying,” said one man. “They went home with my wife. She was out here in the freezing cold all day. I feel like I don’t want to support Sarah.“

People who didn’t get to meet Palin “went home only with a piece of paper with Palin’s signature.”

Deary, deary me. Looks like somebody should've picked up a copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People before she left the scene. I'm sure there's a word or two in there about keeping promises.

At least Palin still has one loyal zombie following her around - what an impressive parroting of the "gotcha journalism" talking point. Say hello to the next generation of con-American fucktards, my darlings.

And there's still plenty of anti-government Teabagging fucktards around. Check out this Missouri billboard:

Fired Up! Missouri points out that the Lafayette County Republican Central Committee is highlighting a new billboard in the state with steps for a “citizens guide to revolution of a corrupt government“:

This billboard replaces one that warned that the socialist “Obama-Nation” is “coming for you.”

Any doubts that right-wingers everywhere have gone completely batshit fucking insane? I didn't think so.

Moving on to news of people no less noxious than the creators of said billboard, it seems that the Muslim Mafia author has let the terrorists win. Oh, sweet justice.

Utah state fucktard Chris Buttars wants us all to know he doesn't mind gays. They were even in his house a couple of weeks ago. He just doesn't want 'em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid's face." Interesting choice of words, there, Buttars. Sounds positively Freudian.

Mark Sanford's facing possible impeachment. I think he should go hike the Appalachian Trail again - it would certainly be more fun than waiting for angry legislators to dump him out on his ear.

If you think Dana Perino's new job is richly undeserved, you can make your opinion clear here.

"Read the Stimulus!" crusader Dick Armey, strangely enough, didn't read the stimulus bill he's been crusading against.

Cons are busy blaming employers' nefariousness on undocumented immigrants who had nothing to do with the fuckery. Is anyone surprised?

And, finally, for a measure of how stupid this anti-KSM trial bullshit has become, here are the latest folks to speak out in favor:

Saying that critics are “understating the criminal justice system’s capacities,” two top Bush Justice officials came out in support of Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other Guantanamo detainees in federal court. Writing in the Washington Post, Jim Comey, former deputy attorney general and U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and Jack Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general who now teaches at Harvard Law School, wrote that the move is “unlikely to make New York a bigger target” and that civilian courts are a proven venue for terror trials:

[T]here is no question about the legitimacy of U.S. federal courts to incapacitate terrorists. Many of Holder’s critics appear to have forgotten that the Bush administration used civilian courts to put away dozens of terrorists, including “shoe bomber” Richard Reid; al-Qaeda agent Jose Padilla; “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh; the Lackawanna Six; and Zacarias Moussaoui, who was prosecuted for the same conspiracy for which Mohammed is likely to be charged. Many of these terrorists are locked in a supermax prison in Colorado, never to be seen again.

In terrorist trials over the past 15 years, federal prosecutors and judges have gained extensive experience protecting intelligence sources and methods, limiting a defendant’s ability to raise irrelevant issues and tightly controlling the courtroom.

Comey and Goldsmith are hardly the first conservatives to support Holder’s faith in the U.S. justice system.

The fact that so many dyed-in-the-wool Cons, ones deeply associated with the biggest assclowns in our nation's history, are showing some sense in these matters should be an indication of just how unbelievably, breathtakingly, batshit fucking insane our current Cons in Congress have become.

I guess all that's left is to continue pointing, laughing, and working to get these fucktards voted out.

Coyne Pwns Palin With Pun

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Only a biologist, my darlings, can pwn Palin with a pun like this:

Here’s her argument in all its glory:

“I believed in the evidence for microevolution—that geologic and species change occurs incrementally over time, (…) But I didn’t believe in the theory that human beings—thinking, loving beings—originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea. Or that human beings began as single-celled organisms that developed into monkeys who eventually swung down from trees; I believed we came about not through a random process, but were created by God.”

Leaving aside the tiresome misinterpretation that natural selection is “random” (where has any evolutionist said this?), this needs some robust rebuttal, which was provided by Jerry Coyne, in an e-mail published over at The Daily Beast:

“University of Chicago ecology and evolution professor at Jerry Coyne calls the passage in Palin’s book a “typical creationist ploy” easily refuted by fossil evidence suggesting transitions between animals as fish and amphibians or land animals and whales. “Her stand is basically a biblically oriented stand…that has no basis in fact,” Coyne told The Daily Beast in an e-mail. “It is a ridiculous ploy of the ‘duck kind,’ i.e. a canard.”

‘Nuff said.

Indeed.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Things are on the move, my darlings. Sen. Reid has filed for cloture.

In a rare show of sense, Sen. Coburn has decided not to be an absolute ass, and is no longer demanding the entire bill be read. I wonder if they slipped him some anti-psychotics.

So, what's in this bill that won't be read on the Senate floor? Steve Benen has a rundown - along with Hatch's promise that this will be "holy war." The Cons do love using terrorist lingo, don't they?

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the Senate and House bills.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities calls it an "enormous step forward."

That stupid state opt-out is in there, and it looks like states can opt out immediately. That means that one-third of the population of this country could be fucked over because Cons are too fucking stupid to allow them the choice of an anemic public option.

And abstinence-only funding oiled its way in there somehow. Heellloooo, teen pregnancies!

That brings us to the subject of abortion. The Senate's language on abortion is a lot less noxious than the Stupak Stupidity. And what does that mean, kids? Why, it means Sen. Ben Nelson will take the opportunity to play the grandstanding fucktard, and the Cons will lie and lie and lie about how the bill will force everybody to pay an abortion fee, and how a vote to proceed is a vote for abortions. To hear them tell it, the bill is a veritable mandatory abortion fest. Dems fought back fast and hard with, y'know, actual facts. Like, nothing the Cons have said is in any way connected to reality. Color me shocked.

At least Sen. Bayh's claiming he'll allow the bill to come to the floor. Look, people, if even Evan "Deficit Hock" Bayh can vote with his party for once, and Coburn's showing a sliver of sanity, perhaps the rest of you foot-dragging, tantrum-throwing, lying, cheating fuckwits can scrape around in the bottom of the barrel and come up with a shred of human decency? A thread? An atom, even?

Do we need more incentive? Yes? How about realizing that, under the status quo, health insurance companies are perfectly comfortable condemning a little girl to a lifetime of deafness:

One of the worst abuses of the private health insurance industry is its practice of denying claims to pay for necessary care for patients. This practice has become so rampant in the industry that a recent study by the California Nurses Association found that a whopping 21 percent of all insurance claims filed in the first half of 2009 in the state of California were denied by insurers.

As the story of six-year-old Madison Leuchtmann of Franklin County, MO, demonstrates, even children are victims of this insurance company abuse. Madison was born with bilateral atresia, which means she lacks ear canals in both ears. In order to hear, she wears a special device on a headband that allows her to make out sounds. Despite her disability, Madison is at the top of her kindergarten class and is slowly learning to read.

Yet Madison, due to her growth, will soon require a new hearing implant to be able to recognize sounds. Her hearing and speech therapist warns that “if she doesn’t get her implants by age seven, she’s not going to be able to blend her words. … She won’t be able to hear herself [talk].” Madison’s pediatrician, Dr. Randall Clary, also insists that without the implant, the girl may never be able to hear again.

Unfortunately, the Leuchtmann’s family insurer, Cigna, has issued “one denial after another,” flatly refusing to cover the $20,000 bill for the implant. In a written statement to the local news station Fox 2, Cigna explained, “It is not unusual for commercial benefit plans to exclude hearing assisted devices,” prompting Dr. Clary to angrily respond, “This is obviously medically necessary. You have a child that has no ear canals!” Dr. Clary also told Fox 2 that he sees these sort of denials “on a weekly basis.”

Let's have some reform before a six year-old loses her hearing for good, before others face a choice between bankruptcy or death because their insurance companies decided they didn't need treatment, or rescinded the insurance for some bullshit reason.

And let's hope Congressional Dems get the drug companies to explain why, exactly, they've decided to hike prices just enough to negate the savings they promised.

The moment of truth is coming. We'll see exactly which of our elected leaders have our best interests at heart, and which are telling us to go fuck off and die.

A Sentiment With Which I Wholeheartedly Agree

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:49:00 +0000

Exactly.

Happy Hour Discurso

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:04:00 +0000

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Oops, they did it again:

Yesterday, ThinkProgress first reported that Fox News aired old file footage of Sarah Palin rallies to claim that she’s “continuing to draw huge crowds while she’s promoting her brand new book.” Host Gregg Jarrett presented the video with commentary that suggested the footage was “just coming in.” (Watch it.) Media Matters noted that one of the scenes was from a Nov. 1, 2008 Palin rally in Florida. Crooks and Liars’ John Amato filed an FCC complaint for passing on “false information” to the public. By day’s end yesterday, Fox released this statement responding to the controversy:

“This was a production error in which the copy editor changed a script and didn’t alert the control room to update the video,” Michael Clemente, senior vice president of news at FOX, sad this evening. “There will be an on-air explanation during Happening Now on Thursday.”

Uh-huh. Faux News faux paux are becoming rather a bit of a habit, aren't they?

Elsewhere in media assclownery, Rush Limbaugh thinks Gallup is deliberately over-sampling blacks to push up Obama's approval rating, and Dana Perino has landed a job she's manifestly not qualified for. What the fuck was the administration thinking when they appointed her?

This is the perfect place to insert our Quote o' the Day:

From The Ed Schultz Show, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) says President Obama is not being served well by his economic advisors and that there is a growing consensus from the Congressional Progressive Caucus that the president needs to dump Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. DeFazio added that "We may have to sacrifice just two more jobs to get millions back for Americans."

Classic. And might we add Dana Perino's new job to the list of sacrificial victims?

For those interested in the Sanford Saga, looks like ol' Appalachian Trail will be facing a sharp slap on the wrist.

Congratulations, Virginia. You managed to elect a fucktard who refuses to condemn Pat Robertson's reprehensible rhetoric. I hope you're all real proud of yourselves.

Speaking of elections, I have some really amusing news for ye:

Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate in the NY-23 election, is going further in revoking his election-night concession to Democrat Bill Owens -- who was sworn into office a few days later -- and alleging that ACORN has attempted to steal the election!

They win by three votes, it's a triumph of democracy and a sign our elections are fair. They lose by three thousand, and suddenly it's ZOMG ACORN BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA! How pathetic is this? So pathetic that local Cons debunked it:

The Watertown Daily Times reports:

Jerry O. Eaton, Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner, called Mr. Hoffman's assertion "absolutely false."

"No one has touched those ballots or has access to those ballots except Board of Elections staff -- and in a bipartisan manner," he said.
A county Republican chairman also chimed in:

George J. Williams, Oswego County Republican chairman, said Mr. Hoffman's assertion "is not accurate." He said he roamed the county on Election Day and saw no evidence of tampering.

"We're not going to take the blame because he didn't hold his concession speech," Mr. Williams said. "If there's any doubt, I would never concede. I know things could happen. Did illegal things happen? No, I do not believe that."

Something tells me they don't like the Teabaggers' favorite candidate.

And Hoffman can kick and scream and pull a Coleman for all he's worth, but he's still a big fat loser.

Let's move on to national Cons, who've been clamoring for their turn with the Smack-o-Matic. If your credit card bill goes up dramatically, and you weren't out shopping, here's who you can thank:

From Sen. Chris Dodd--Republicans Block Dodd’s Effort to Immediately Stop Credit Card Rate Hikes:

Senate Republicans blocked Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodds (D-CT) attempt to pass legislation to stop credit card interest rate hikes.

Dodd went to the Senate floor to ask for consent for the Senate to take up and pass his Credit Card Rate Freeze Act, which would prevent credit card companies from hiking interest rates, fees and finance charges on customers existing balances until Credit CARD Act protections take effect in February. Regrettably, Republican Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) objected to Dodds request, blocking the bill from Senate passage.

Consumers obviously have a responsibility to spend within our means and to pay what we owe. We bear that responsibility. But the credit card industry as well has a responsibility to deal with their customers honorably. There is nothing honorable about whats happened with these significant rate increases and fees. Most importantly, they dont have a right to rip off American families, especially when the Congress has already gone on record opposing the very actions they're engaging in, Dodd said on the Senate floor.

Happy Holidays from the GOP.

Aww, they gave us a middle finger. How thoughtful!

In a blast from the past, Jay "Torture Memos R Us" Bybee's begging for cash for his legal defense fund. This pleases me. Hopefully, it means he'll have to defend himself soon, and isn't just a clever way of shaking down the poor-torture crowd for some ready cash.

Fred Thompson, by his own definition, is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Why do you love terrorists more than America, Fred?

And it's nice to see that Cons can still make Eric Holder laugh:

Attorney General Eric Holder talked to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, primarily about the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators in federal court. It didn't go especially well -- Republicans on the panel didn't seem persuaded -- but Dahlia Lithwick highlighted the most troubling aspect of the Q&A.

Specifically, some GOP senators are concerned that some Justice Department officials, including the attorney general himself, may actually be terrorist sympathizers.

[Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa] demanded that Holder explain the presence in the solicitor general's office of Neal Katyal, who represented Osama Bin Laden's driver at the Supreme Court. Grassley used a smear from the New York Post (penned by the writer who ridiculously claimed Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh believed "Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts") to demand that Holder account for Jennifer Daskal as counsel in its National Security Division, who allegedly wants terrorists to have more time to write poetry. Grassley demanded that Holder produce a list of DoJ appointees who have ever acted as lawyers for terror detainees.

Then Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., read from an editorial suggesting that the reason these detainee trials have been so long delayed is all the "leftist lawyers" who stalled the military commissions by challenging them in the courts. Kyl noted many of those lawyers -- including Holder -- work for the Justice Department despite the fact that Holder's firm, Covington & Burling, "volunteered its services to at least 18 of America's enemies in lawsuits they brought against the American people." Remember in 2006 when the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, Cully Stimson, had to resign his position at the Pentagon for urging U.S. corporations to boycott any law firm that defended terror suspects? Apparently those law firms are still un-American, and anyone associated with them should be barred from DoJ. (The subtext for much of this criticism, as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., observed, is that all these lawyers are somehow in it for the money.)

Holder, quite literally, blurted "Hah" in response to this line of questioning, before patiently explaining to Republicans how misguided the argument is.

It's sad, but true: all you can really do with Cons these days is point and laugh. I'm glad our Attorney General's realized that.

Finally, I want to reserve a very special smack o' the Smack-o-Matic for Sen. Evan Bayh, who has a rather breathtaking credibility problem:

Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana wrote a column for CNN, explaining why he intends to vote against raising the debt ceiling, "unless Congress adopts a credible process to balance our books and eliminate the red ink."

[snip]

What Bayh wants is a congressional commission to recommend a deficit-reduction package, which lawmakers would be forced to vote on, up or down. Without the commission, Bayh is prepared to let the United States default on its loans and send the global economy into turmoil. It's an interesting little hostage situation Bayh has created for himself.

There are, however, some issues to consider. For example, it was none other than Evan Bayh who recently voted to "reform" the estate tax, cutting taxes for the extraordinarily rich, at a cost of $750 billion over the next decade. To pay for it, he recommended ... nothing. The costs would simply all be added to the deficit. Given this, I hope he'll forgive my skepticism about his credibility on the subject of fiscal responsibility. [emphasis emphatically added]

Excuse me, Sen. Bayh? STFU about the deficit you helped create. There's quite enough stupidity flooding the Capitol from the Con side of the aisle without you turning on your own faucet.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Well, my darlings, the CBO score is back on the Senate bill, and the news is good:

The health care bill--which includes an opt-out public option--will require $849 billion over 10 years in new spending, to be paid for with cuts to Medicare, while reducing the deficit by $127 billion.

In that time it will extend coverage to 31 million Americans--94 percent of citizens will be covered by 2019.

Over the second 10 years, CBO projects even greater cost savings--up to $650 billion, with the caveat that after 10 years, their analyses become highly uncertain.

Suck on that, Conservadems.

So, that means we can have a fucking vote at last, right? Mebbe not - Max Baucus's family emergency may delay things. This is how insane things have gotten in the Senate.

In stupid-opponents-of-reform news, yet another corporate front group has been revealed, up to the usual dirty tricks. These things are like bacteria on a chicken salad sandwich that's been left on the counter for two days, aren't they?

A Chamber of Commerce lobbyist is saying that if their little sham study comes back with positive results, it should be buried as deep as they can bury it. Smell that integrity, my darlings!

AFP project Patients First probably should've realized that naming their mascot turkey "Butterball" wouldn't please Butterball, LLC.

In much less amusing news, it turns out that Stupak's Stupidity would have some pretty radical implications - a new study shows that it would eliminate all coverage for abortions, including employer-provided and separately-purchased coverage. Rep. DeGette's happy to explain this to the idiot Dems who didn't realize what they were voting for.

Speaking of women's health, the new mammogram recommendations are not as horrific as the media wants you to believe.

And, finally, while it doesn't have much to do with actual reform, this is a shining example of businesses' care and concern for their employees' well-being.

Texas Anti-Gay Fervor Screws Homophobes

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:55:00 +0000

Happily married in Texas? Are you sure you're married, happily or un?

Not according to the Texas constitution:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

And if you don't think that amendment pertains to you just because one spouse has twig-and-berries and the other doesn't, and you're officially married with a license and everything, you've got another think coming. Just ask any lawyer who knows what "legal status identical or similar to marriage" means.

Looks like the homophobes have fucked over their sacred institution rather badly, dunnit? Excuse me while I go laugh my ass off. Damn, I love poetic justice.

Happy Hour Discurso

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:15:00 +0000

Today's opining on the public discourse.

It looks like Cons think they have a winner in this throw-a-fit-over-terrorists thing. They started spewing the stupid from the instant KSM's trial in NYC was announced and they haven't paused for breath since. They might be gaining traction with their terminally-terrified followers, but the rest of the country - not so much.

That hasn't stopped them from trying. Rudy "9-11 Tourettes" Giuliani's demanding Obama return to the grand ol' days of using the "war on terror" rhetoric, as if that's the magic phrase that will make all our woes go away. Steve Benen's not impressed:

The Attorney General told lawmakers this morning about the "war" the U.S. is fighting "against terrorism" and "a vicious enemy." According to the former mayor, Eric Holder's choice of words is inadequate, which leads the Justice Department to make bad decisions, which leads the Obama administration to undermine U.S. national security interests.

I know a wide variety of people, including most of the media establishment, take Giuliani seriously. I just don't understand why.

[snip]

It should be obvious, but the key here is the efficacy of the policy, not the semantics. And when it comes to counter-terrorism, Obama and his team have proven themselves quite effective at capturing, detaining, and occasionally killing terrorists. If Giuliani is unsatisfied with this, he'll have to do a far better job of explaining why.

He won't, because he can't.

But for sheer, over-the-top offensive stupidity, you can't top Rep. Gohmert:

Among members of Congress, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) has long stood out as a man a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Two weeks ago, he argued that health care reform proponents are trying to kill off senior citizens before they warn young people about the evils of the Democratic agenda. A few weeks before that, Gohmert argued that expanding hate crimes protections would lead to a legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality. He then compared those who disagree with him to Nazis.

And while Gohmert's name is not quite as familiar as Steve King's and Michele Bachmann's when it comes to the House Stark Raving Mad Caucus, he's clearly making a play for notoriety.

....Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas suggested yesterday that Democrats may actually want another terrorist attack because rebuilding the city would create jobs.

"You've got subways, tunnels, bridges all subject to terrorism. And unless they're trying to create a new jobs bill by allowing terrorism back in New York then this is insane. And even that would be insane."

Last night, Gohmert said that "it is extremely helpful to have a community organizer in the White House because you'll need lots of community organization in order to adequately evacuate massive areas of the most densely populated area in America."

[snip]

The guy has "future member of the House Republican leadership" written all over him.

I wish that was a joke. Alas, it'll probably prove all-too-true. Disgusting jackasses who have no connection to reality seem to be in vogue among the Con crowd.

And Rep. Hoekstra's treading right on his heels:

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said today that the Obama administration is "bribing" economically suffering towns across the country as it attempts to relieve itself of the political problem of closing Guantanamo Bay.

"They're going into communities that are hard-pressed economically and holding out a pot of gold," he told reporters. Hoekstra was referring to the White House plan to bring terror suspects to prisons across the country. He said that the administration was taking advantage of hard-hit towns across the country by promoting the jobs that would be created by adding Guantanamo Bay detainees to their prison populations.

Looks like those two buffoons are trying to snatch the shining crowns of crazy from Reps. King and Bachmann.

It's getting on the nerves of the few Cons with a lick of sanity left:

The prospect of transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay to a maximum-security prison in Thomson, Illinois, generated an interesting response from a Republican state lawmaker who represents a neighboring area.

Representative Jim Sacia of the state's 89th District accused Republicans in Washington -- including Senate candidate, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill) -- of risking thousands of local jobs in their demagoguery of the detainee issue.

"My thinking on this is extremely positive," Sacia told the Huffington Post. "If we lose this opportunity. All I can think of is we literally are idiots. I mean that sincerely."

"I understand I'm on different pages of music with others in my party. First of all this should not be a partisan issue in anyway. If President Obama brings the detainees on U.S. soil and we sit here with a brand new state-of-the-art, max security prison, sitting vacant for the last eight years, and pass on an opportunity to sell it to the federal government, which we would fill it with 1,500 regular prisoners and 800 detainees, what is the problem? The building was designed to do that.

"The only reason we have rhetoric now is because of the closing of Gitmo," Sacia concluded. "It makes no sense at all. This is a tremendous opportunity and we would be idiots to waste it."

As Sacia, a former law enforcement official, sees it, the proposal could bring thousands of jobs to an area that has "suffered unbelievable economic hardship."

I hope that poor bugger wasn't planning on running for national office any time soon. He talked sense. Teabaggers'll probably be camped out on his doorstep burning him in effigy any minute now.

But we'll see if they're brave enough to pile on the retired generals who gave John Boehner the spanking of his life:

A group of retired Generals led by former Maine Rep. Tom Andrews (D) accused the House GOP leader John Boehner of putting politics before national security today with his plan to force a vote on a bill that would prevent prisoners from being transferred from Guantanamo Bay to the United States.

The National Campaign To Close Guantanamo called Republican arguments that transferring Gitmo detainees to New York will endanger Americans "fear mongering." In a statement, Andrews pointed to past terror trials in the U.S. as evidence of his claim that the GOP is making political hay in the days since Attorney General Eric Holder announced that terror suspects will be tried in the U.S..

"Since 2001, 195 terrorists have been tried, convicted and locked up in federal supermax prisons on US soil under the Bush and Cheney administration," Andrews said. Boehner and other GOP leaders "never uttered a word of concern and opposition " back then, he continued, "but now that a Democratic President is doing it, the sky is going to fall and America will soon be under attack."

Proper little Chicken Littles, aren't they? It's good to see the generals subjecting them to the scorn they so richly deserve.

Let's also not forget just how hard the Cons have flip-flopped on terror. They've practically turned hypocrisy into an Olympic sport.

You might get the impression that stupidity today's been largely confined to fearmongering on terrorism, but that's not quite the case. No, the Cons have been busy pouring lighter fluid on the flames of their stupidity. Why, here they are, whining about the debt they created. Let's have an educational chart, shall we?

Well, my goodness me, it looks like it's Cons who typically max out the national credit card and then run out without paying the bill. Shocker, I'm sure.

If you need ammunition against a Born-Again Deficit Virgin, click the link that chart came from. You'll have all the ammo you could possibly want.

The Tenther movement started with health care reform, but now some Cons are trying to use it to thwart hate-crimes legislation. All in the name of freedom o' speech, of course, ignoring the fact that what's outlawed isn't speech, but causing actual harm.

And, finally, Sen. Tom Coburn has the dubious distinction of becoming the first Senate Con to jump on the House Cons' little Muslim-bashing bandwagon:

Via Dave Weigel, it looks like Tom Coburn (R-OK) has become the first senator to cast his lot with the group of House Republicans pursuing a campaign against the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Though not explicitly invoked in a new letter to the IRS, the effort stems from purported revelations in the book Muslim Mafia, whose author recently made -- then retracted -- a call for a "backlash" against Muslims in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings.

You stay classy there, Coburn. Alas, if you're trying to claim the crown for Most Batshit Insane Con, you've got a lot of competition.

Random Observation o' the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:49:00 +0000

I'm finally watching Discovering Ardi. Partway through it, I'm struck by the fact that paleontologist Tim White is practically Vizzini's twin. It's the mannerisms that really do it.

Look, I was amused.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:53:00 +0000

So, Cons think that, even if reform passes, they'll be able to repeal it in 2013. Steve Benen disabuses them of this notion.

I'd also like to present this educational chart that informs folks of what happens when Cons and their ideology (or should that be "idiotology"?) are dominant in a state:

Throughout their all-out campaign to stop health care reform, Republican leaders have relied on questionable forecasts from the Lewin Group, a subsidiary of insurer UnitedHealth Group. Now, another study funded by UnitedHealth has some unwelcome news for the GOP braintrust: the red states they represent are the unhealthiest in the nation. Following on the heels of the Commonwealth Fund's 2009 Scorecard of state health care system performance, the United Health Foundation's report is just the latest confirmation that health care is worst where Republicans poll best.

Stark, innit?

This reality, of course, isn't preventing them from trying to stall health care reform so they can kill it. Coburn says he'll even demand the entire bill's read on the floor, a stupid delaying tactic that's just going to make them look like pathetic little fucktards in the end. Besides, didn't Dems have a speed-reader handy?

Glenn Beck's apparently feeling frisky after his operation, comparing Dems' attempts to reform health care to Roman Polanski's child rape. You stay classy, there, fearmonger-in-chief.

But Cons, really, are mostly irrelevant in this. It's the Conservadems who cause so much grief. Idiots like Stupak, who was on Faux News thumping his chest and proclaiming his mighty might. He's spelled it wrong - it's mite. The only thing looking mighty right now is his hubris.

Hell, even Ben Nelson's not on his side.

Other Conservadems, however, are still acting the nitwit. Progressives ask them, "How much do you really want to kill health care reform? Really? Cuz if you don't wanna play, we can leave the ball in your court." And Sherrod Brown says, "We showed you our willingness to compromise. Where was yours?"

Damned good question.

Joe "With Us on Everything but the War - Well, and Everything Else" Lieberman got treated to a vigil. I hope he enjoyed it.

Maybe he should be taken to a free clinic next:

Rich Stockwell, senior producer at MSNBC's "Countdown", writes about his experiences at the free clinic funded by viewer contributions:

New Orleans, La. — - It happened as I watched a 50-something woman walk out, after spending several hours being attended to by volunteer doctors. "She's decided against treatment. A reasonable decision under the circumstances," the doctor tells us as she heads for the next patient. The president of the board of the National Association of Free Health Clinics tells me why: "It's stage four breast cancer, her body is filled with tumors." I don't know when that woman last saw a doctor. But I do know that if she had health insurance, the odds she would have seen a doctor long ago are much higher, and her chances for an earlier diagnosis and treatment would have been far greater.

After watching for hours as the patients moved through the clinic, it was hard to believe that I was in America.

We need reform. We need strong, meaningful reform, and we need it now.

Fuck the Cons. Fuck the Conservadems. Get it done.

Let Them Eat Fast Food

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:44:00 +0000

It's horrible that so many Americans have to go hungry. It's outrageous that Cons don't see the problem with this:

I am so glad that Wall Street is on track for such huge bonuses this year. That's because they can use all that money to buy food for the 49 million Americans - 49 million Americans! Jesus! who "lacked consistent access to adequate food" by the end of the Bush administration.

49 million Americans. Shameful. Shameful!

And check this out towards the end:

“Very few of these people are hungry,” said Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind of food they buy. That is regrettable, but it’s a far cry from a hunger crisis.”
49 million Americans have been "struggling with hunger" - as the director of the food center who sponsored the study says - and all conservatives can say is, "Hey, that's not so bad."

Jesus.

My God, that anyone takes conservatives seriously on anything simply boggles the mind. 49 million Americans can't eat well on a regular basis - not won't, but can't - and this asshole pooh-poohs the problem. (By the way, you might want to Google "Robert Rector Heritage Foundation" for a good idea of how wrong someone can be. Authoring flawed studies on immigration. Advocating worthless sex education programs. He's one more extreme-right conservative clown clone.)

14% of the people in this country can't get enough food, and it's no big deal to them. That says all you need to know about Cons' concern for ordinary people.

This is the same mentality that leads Cons to declare that people can just go to the emergency room when they're sick, and hey, presto! everybody has health care. As long as restaurants have easily-accessible trash bins and Mickey D's has a dollar menu, they'll say the same thing about Americans' access to food.

Happy Hour Discurso

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:02:00 +0000

Today's opining on the public discourse.

The burning stupid seems to have an endless source of fuel. I don't know where Cons find it. I don't know how a relatively small handful of people can keep up such a sustained effort to appear as fucktarded as they possibly can. Even the dumbest people I know sometimes act as if they've herded two brain cells together and corralled them long enough to appear semi-wise. But not Cons.

And certainly not Rep. John Shadegg:

Shadegg spoke from the House floor to rail against a criminal trial for alleged 9/11 conspirators in New York City. In particular, the far-right Arizonan was incensed that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) believes, "It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered."

As Matt Finkelstein reported, Shadegg doesn't see it quite the same way. "I saw the Mayor of New York said today, 'We're tough. We can do it,'" the Republican congressman said. "Well, Mayor, how are you going to feel when it's your daughter that's kidnapped at school by a terrorist? How are you going to feel when it's some clerk -- some innocent clerk of the court -- whose daughter or son is kidnapped? Or the jailer's little brother or little sister?"

As a matter of decency, Shadegg's little tantrum was vile and unnecessary. If Shadegg has a policy argument to make, fine. But openly speculating on the House floor about imaginary kidnappings of the mayor's daughter is loathsome, even by the standards of congressional Republicans.

Matters of decency have never mattered to Shadegg. I hope the good people of Arizona are taking notes.

But our former Attorney General's trying to outdo him in the vile rhetoric department:

Last week, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) came out in strong support of Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to prosecute the five 9/11 defendants in U.S. federal court and sharply criticized Republicans who were attacking the decision. “They will seize on any opportunity to [demagogue], and that means they’ll even take a stand that’s un-American. It’s un-American to hold anyone indefinitely without trial. It’s against our principles as a nation.”

Former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey is one of the Republicans who has been speaking out against Holder. Last week at a Federalist Society conference, Mukasey said that holding the trial in Manhattan increased the risk of a terrorist attack on the city.

In an interview with Washington Times radio this morning, the hosts asked Mukasey about Moran’s comments. Mukasey responded by suggesting that the congressman “get professional help” from Maj. Nidal Hasan:

Q: Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia says anybody that questions KSM coming to New York City for a civilian trial — that they’re un-American. What is your reaction to that?

MUKASEY: I think he’s lost touch with reality. He ought to get professional help, perhaps from Maj. Nidal.

The segment then ends with the hosts laughing over Mukasey’s “joke.”

I think that one gets filed under "Things funny only to Con shitheels."

Pete Hoekstra and friends think that blaming Maj. Nidal's little rampage on the Obama administration is the way to go:

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is ramping up his campaign to use the Fort Hood shootings to paint the Obama administration as soft on terrorism.

At a press conference today, where he was joined by several GOP colleagues, Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence committee, called for an immediate congressional investigation into the shootings, to determine whether the intelligence community needs enhanced tools to combat terror. Hoekstra and his colleagues also suggested, without citing evidence, that the administration had restricted the use of crucial terror-fighting tools that could have been used to stop the attacks.

[snip]

Hoekstra and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) charged that terror-fighting tools used until recently by the intelligence community had lately been restricted or placed off limits by the administration. "We know that there are tools and methods that were in use just a few months ago are not in use today," said Rogers. "That is a problem."

The GOPers declined to say which tools they were referring to, or to produce any other evidence to back up their claim. Nonetheless, they blamed the Obama administration's political philosophy. Rogers referred to the administration's decisions to close Guantanamo and to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court as examples of the administration's approach, before declaring: "There are certain tools and methods that are used by the intelligence community that can be impacted by that kind of political philosophy."

Isn't this typical? Blame the Dems for not seeing a madman snap (do they really want to play the "should've seen it coming card? Really? Because if so, I have a memo they should read), throw around vague accusations of compromising national security without any proof, and expect us all to swallow their bullshit whole. These fucktards really have no morals, no sense of decency, and no shame. None.

Distinctly lacking in the gray matter department, as well.

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, their mouthpieces on Faux News - y'know, the ones who spend all their time pretending to love America soooo much more than those Dirty Dems - don't give a shit about the Constitution:

Since Attorney General Eric Holder announced his decision to move five Guantanamo Bay detainees — including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad — to New York for civilian trials on charges related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Fox News personalities have been up in arms. Karl Rove called it a “long-standing plot” by the Obama administration’s “left-wing lawyers who do not love America.”

But last night on Fox, the network’s top legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano — who has been known to disagree with Fox’s right-wing narratives on legal issues — disputed that view, citing the constitutional right to be tried in the place where the crime has been committed. “I don’t care about the Constitution!” host Bill O’Reilly responded. The debate continued:

O’REILLY: So why is he entitled to come to New York City to be tried in the civilian criminal court if he’s arrested in Pakistan?

NAPOLITANO: Because the document you don’t want me to talk about says when the government is going to prosecute you, it must do so in the place where the alleged harm was caused.

I don't understand how you can claim you love this country, and then say you don't care about its Constitution. The Constitution, ladies and gentlemen, is the fucking foundation of the United States of America. So allow me to borrow a phrase from the rabid right: if you don't like it, leave.

Motherfucking shit-spewing fucking assholes.

Sorry. They've pissed me off more than usual lately. But there is good news: Inhofe's little attempt to prevent the Obama administration from closing Gitmo failed miserably. Ha, motherfucker, ha!

And in other happy news, Sen. Sessions's little filibuster party didn't work out so well. Kinda hard when you're being such a douchebag that even your fellow douchebags don't feel like partying with you, innit?

All you need to know about the state of the conservative moment: Rep. Chaffetz thinks Carrie Prejean would make a fine politician. Seriously. That's right: lil miss homophobe, pure and innocent as the driven snow until the sex tapes come out, too stupid to realize that breaking her contract will get her stripped of the Miss America crown, would make an awesome rep, in Rep. Chaffetz's opinion. Wow.

Sarah Palin's chances of becoming POTUS just got a lot lower. You don't lie to Oprah. You just don't. I mean, hell, even most conservatives don't want Palin running for prez. I don't know about the others, but Joe Scarborough prefers Dick Cheney.

Excuse me a second. I think I need to go vomit.

Let's have some news that will make us feel better: C-Street, that den of iniquity masquerading as a church, but really the bunkhouse for such shining examples of Con morality as Mark "Appalachian Trail" Sanford and John "Daddy Will You Pay Off My Mistress" Ensign, has lost its tax exempt status. If you're a believer, make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Atheists don't need to make a joyful noise to anyone in particular. Just giggle in any direction you like.

Speaking of religious matters, Billo wants to know if Lou Dobbs thinks Obama is Satan. Seriously. What was that, a job interview question for Faux News?

And in further religious matters, the American Family Association drew a bead, squeezed off the first shot in this year's War on Christmas, and immediately needed medical attention for the bullet holes in their feet.

Back to pollyticks: Dems should already know this after the health care reform debacle, but just in case they need reminding, Chuck Grassley is not their friend. He's definitely not their friend when it comes to greening our economy and our world.

And, finally, the Washington Times proves that Faux News is not the only ostensibly "mainstream" news outlet that likes to show what outrageous racist assclowns they are:

Washington Times editor Wesley Pruden trashed President Obama in his column today, which wouldn't ordinarily be especially interesting. The right-wing writer, however, touched on a specific kind of attack that illustrates a larger trend.

In this case, Pruden is all worked up because the president bowed before the Japanese Emperor. Pruden believes Obama doesn't understand "American history" because "the essence of America is that all men stand equal and are entitled to look even a king, maybe particularly a king, straight in the eye."

That's nice rhetoric, which would be more compelling were it not for the various photos of Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, and H.W. Bush bowing before foreign leaders during their respective tenures. I've looked for related columns of Pruden trashing these Republican presidents for forgetting "the essence of America," but can't seem to find any.

But the key to the column is the wrap-up:

...Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy '60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to "hope" for "change." It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of "the 57 states" is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.

[snip]

It's a shame such reminders are necessary in the 21st century, but I'd like to note that America isn't a country club or fraternity reserved for the white, wealthy elite. Obama's story is a uniquely American story. Some of us take pride in such things. The notion that we must judge citizens based on a right-wing understanding of "natural instincts" or "heritage" -- more generations = more American -- is an idea that offends everything our country stands for.

Offending everything our country stands for seems to be a Con specialty. Well, that and destroying our economy, getting us stuck in useless wars, and throwing endless tantrums.

Never let it be said they aren't fucktards of many talents.

I Have Succombed to a Writing Prompt

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:54:00 +0000

(Cross-posted from A Slight Risk of Insanity, me writing blog. If you want to become a Wise Reader yourself, you can send an email to dhunterauthor at yahoo dot com requesting to be added to that elite few.)

My dear heart sister NP has posted a writing prompt on her blog. She actually has them up on a regular basis, and I typically read them over and shrug. I'm not a writing-prompt sort of writer. I think I got burnt out on them in school. But now she's gone and posted this one, with a word I like very muchly, at a time when Aunty Flow's cut off the flow of fiction:

Choose a word from the list below and write for five minutes without stopping, beginning with that word as the subject of a sentence. If you get stuck, repeat the last word you wrote over and over until you can pick it up again.

geology
mobile
homeless
marker

pig

Happy scribbling!

I'll bet you, my dear Wise Readers, know exactly which word got my attention. And now I shall subject you to five minutes of non-stop writing about it. I think it's meant to be a fiction prompt, but bugger that.

Ready? Off we go:

Geology has taken over my life to such extremes that, watching a true crime show the other night, the first thing I noticed in a photograph wasn't the soon-to-be-murder victim, but the rock formation she was standing in front of. Sheeted dike in weathered granite, perhaps? Obviously a desert environment. Interesting. I wished the murderer (who was posing as a fashion photographer to lure his victims) had put it a bit more in focus so I could tell. The cops wanted to know where this photograph had been taken, and hared off into the California desert to see if they could locate it. "Ask a geologist!" I screamed at the teevee.

Geology's taken over my life.

My house is filling with rocks. Pebbles from streams, rivers, lakes and oceans, deserts, mountains, and gravel roads. My cat's even fallen prey to the geology bug and lies upon my sample card of minerals, which is on the couch. When I get blocked, I turn to my rocks. I turn them over and over in my hands and try to listen to their stories.

The first thing I notice about scenery now isn't the pretty plants or animals or views. It's the geological formations. Geology dictates things as varied as earthquake survival and the New York City skyline. Geology, my friends, is important.

And I could go on about it for much more than five minutes, but that's all the prompt gave.

Just for shits and giggles, I'll tell you why "pig" was also a tempting prompt word today. My stepmother forwarded me this:

Man driving down road.
Woman driving up same road.
They pass each other.
The woman yells out the window, "PIG!"
Man yells out window, "BITCH!"

Man rounds next curve.
Man crashes into a HUGE PIG in middle of road and dies.

Thought For the Day:

If men would just listen

My stepmother is a caution. I'm lucky my dad's smart enough to hold on to her. I sometimes think he works through the rocky moments in their marriage because he knows who'd get me in a divorce...

If anybody's bored and wants a challenge, they can try thinking up writing prompts that would tempt me. Winners could find themselves showcased on NP's The Coffee-Stained Writer, even. She hasn't taken away my keys to the kingdom just yet. In fact, you can occasionally catch me over there in cheerleader outfits this NaNo season.

Here endeth the stream o' consciousness. I need to take advantage of Aunty Flow to relieve some of the pressure on my poor DVR...

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:53:00 +0000

Lie, obstruct and delay. It's all Cons can come up with for health care reform. Now, McConnell's advocating delaying for weeks and weeks because - well, just cuz.

I like Sen. Harkin's response:

Harkin, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Democrats have mischief planned for the Republicans if they do that type of obstruction.

"If the Republicans want to stay here this Saturday and Sunday to read the bill, then let them stay here," he said. "We are planning to do something that would require Republicans to be there 24 hours a day, and if they leave the floor, we'll ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading, and that'll be the end of it."

The big news, however, is that the Chamber of Commerce got caught soliciting funds for a fake study:

Now that the Chamber has been caught trying to finance a phony study on health care reform, the organization's credibility is poised to reach new lows.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama's health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation's economy, according to an e-mail solicitation from a top Chamber official.

The e-mail, written by the Chamber's senior health policy manager and obtained by The Washington Post, proposes spending $50,000 to hire a "respected economist" to study the impact of health-care legislation, which is expected to come to the Senate floor this week, would have on jobs and the economy.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Maybe," you'll be tempted to argue, "the Chamber and its allies simply wanted to do a legitimate economic study. How do we know the report would be rigged to bolster a preconceived anti-reform narrative?"

The answer, of course, is that the Chamber's memo already points to the agreed-upon conclusion of the economic review that does not yet exist. From its email: "The economist will then circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document."

They're not even trying to hide their fuckery anymore, are they? Health care reform supporters shall have a field day with this little bit of con artistry, and I have a feeling the over 5000 medical professionals who are already urging the AMA to leave the Chamber will shortly be joined by many more.

In case you ever wondered who runs D.C., here's the answer: lobbyists are ghostwriting lawmakers' statements on health care reform.

And in case you were wondering if pharmaceutical companies would behave themselves, the answer is no.

In case you were wondering what kind of fuckery Conservadems would get up to next, they're now demanding they be allowed to gut Social Security and Medicare - or else.

I think Conservadems and Cons alike need to consider the fact that a No vote on health care reform has some rather dire consequences - such as allowing your previously-trailing election opponent to surge ahead of your ass.

And, finally, CNN may have rid itself of Dobbs, but that hasn't made the rest of its programming any better. John King decided it's perfectly fine for Giuliani to claim that newly-minted Dem Rep. Bill Owens voted no against health care reform, and let that stand without correction. For any in doubt, Owens voted Aye.

Health care reform's certainly bringing out the worst in just about everybody, innit?

Laser Woo Tag

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:11:00 +0000

Occasionally, even though I'm snowed under between work, blogging and fiction writing, I'm able to sneak over to Orac's place for some good ol' Respectful Insolence. I think you should sneak over, too. I mean, how can you resist a post that starts like this?

[snip]

Yeah, baby! I'm talkin' laser woo, and you all know that every woo is better with lasers! What better laser woo to take on than QLaser Healing Light Low Level Lasers?

None that I've seen recently.

He even ends up quoting Austin Powers. Go. Read. Enjoy.

Happy Hour Discurso

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:08:00 +0000

Today's opining on the public discourse.

It would've been great if there were less stupidity than usual today, considering Aunty Flow's here and it's hard to wield a Smack-o-Matic when you're doubled over. Alas, no such luck. It seems that the American Right is getting more stupid on an hourly basis.

And few people are more stupid than the pols and pundits who're busy shitting themselves in fear over KSM's upcoming trial in NYC. Apparently, they do not want to be the only ones with brown-seated trousers, because they're doing their best to foist their own bowel-busting fear on us, as well.

It might work out a bit better for them if there weren't so many damned precedents:

Joe Scarborough argued this morning that it's "unprecedented" for the U.S. to try foreign terror suspects in our federal judicial system. That might be true, if it weren't for all the other foreign terror suspects that have been tried, convinced, and imprisoned through our federal judicial system.

Bush administration used federal justice system to bring several foreign terrorism suspects to justice. During the George W. Bush administration, several foreign terrorists were brought to justice through the federal justice system, including 9-11 conspirator Zacarious Moussaoui, "Shoe bomber" Richard Reid and East African embassy bombing perpetrators Wahid el-Hage, Mohammed Sadiq Odeh, Mohammed Rashed al-Owhali, and Khalfan Khamis Mohammed.

Clinton administration also used federal justice system to bring foreign terror suspects to justice. During the Clinton administration, 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and "urban terrorism" plotters Sheik Oma Abdel Rahman and others were brought to justice through the federal justice system.

There are already 216 international terrorists in U.S. prisons. A May 29 Slate.com article reported that according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, "federal facilities on American soil currently house 216 international terrorists and 139 domestic terrorists. Some of these miscreants have been locked up here since the early 1990s. None of them has escaped. At the most secure prisons, nobody has ever escaped."

Someone might want to tell Sen. Webb about this, because he seems to have forgotten basic American history and civics. That's conduct unbecoming to a Dem, that is.

How inane has the scaremongering gotten? Even prominent Cons are telling their fellow Cons to STFU already. When David Keene and Grover Norquist are delivering the cease-and-desist, you know you've jumped a whole row of sharks.

However, most Cons appear addicted to shark-jumping, so I doubt that sound advice will be taken. Such a shame.

So, Cons are in full cry against American principles of justice enshrined in our Constitution and convinced that our courts can't handle a few terrorists, although we've done just fine with all the other terrorists we've prosecuted. And now the party who likes to believe themselves patriots are showing their true colors aren't just yellow. What color do you associate with a bunch of dumbfucks who talk about supporting our troops whilst yanking that support away?

A Senate measure to help wounded veterans is on the verge of passing, and that's clearly a positive development. There's just one problem.

The urgently needed legislation consolidates more than a dozen improvements in veterans' health care -- most notably a new assistance program for family members who wind up providing lifelong home nursing to severely disabled veterans. These vital caregivers -- who sacrifice careers and put huge strains on their own mental health -- assume an obligation "that ultimately belongs to the government," Senator Daniel Akaka, the bill's chief sponsor, properly notes.

The measure also expands benefits for women veterans who suffered sexual trauma on duty, extends veterans' care in rural areas, tightens quality control at V.A. hospitals, and ensures that catastrophically disabled veterans will not be charged for emergency services in community hospitals.

Sounds great, right? Senators seemed to think so -- it sailed through committee with unanimous support. But it's currently stuck, because right-wing Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma refuses to let it advance. As he sees it, the five-year, $3.7 billion price tag for the veterans' program is too high a price unless is offset by budget cuts elsewhere.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) noted the strange standards Coburn applies to these spending bill -- Coburn doesn't care about paying for the war itself, but he balks when it comes to caring for the vets when they come home. "Where was he when we were spending a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq?" Reid asked. "That wasn't paid for. I didn't hear him stopping the bill from going forward at that time. I think he should become more logical and understand we have people who are suffering."

Asking a Con like Coburn to "become more logical" is like asking a scorpion not to sting or a dog to stop licking its balls. They're not capable of it. I think hypocrisy's a genetic condition with them.

And Bush's leftover buffoons are intent upon adding injury to the insult they've already piled upon injury:

Tara McKelvey has a fascinating item in Boston Review on diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of particular interest was an anecdote from Paul Sullivan, an analyst in the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration.

Sullivan was working as an analyst at the Veterans Benefits Administration in Washington in early 2005 when he was called to a meeting with a top political appointee at the VA, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Michael McLendon. McLendon, an intensely focused man in a neatly pressed suit, kept a Bible on his desk at the office. Sullivan explained to McLendon and the other attendees that the rise in benefits claims the VA was noticing was caused partly by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were suffering from PTSD. "That's too many," McLendon said, then hit his hand on the table. "They are too young" to be filing claims, and they are doing it "too soon." He hit the table again. The claims, he said, are "costing us too much money," and if the veterans "believed in God and country . . . they would not come home with PTSD." At that point, he slammed his palm against the table a final time, making a loud smack. Everyone in the room fell silent.

"I was a little bit surprised," Sullivan said, recalling the incident. "In that one comment, he appeared to be a religious fundamentalist." For Sullivan, McLendon's remarks reflected the views of many political appointees in the VA and revealed what was behind their efforts to reduce costs by restricting claims. The backlog of claims was immense, and veterans, often suffering extreme psychological stress, had to wait an average of five months for decisions on their requests.

McLendon denied the incident took place, but nevertheless told McKelvey that he believes PTSD is "a made-up term," which has "taken on a life of its own."

Is it wrong of me to wish to acquaint McLendon with the reality of PTSD personally?

You know something, my darlings? The men and women stuffed into uniforms and shipped off to shitty war zones to allow pasty little neocon douchebags to feel like manly-men while living out their fantasies of being soldier boys vicariously deserve better than this. They deserve a fuck of a lot better than this. You know why they're not going to get it? Because the second they're injured, they're no longer useful aids to neocon masturbation fantasies, and so they're discarded like used tissue. Cons don't give two tugs on a dead dog's dick for the welfare of our troops. They never have. All they care about is their own greed, glory, and pathetic little fantasies.

Michael Shields spoke for them all when he joked:

Yesterday on Inside Washington, during a discussion of Obama’s upcoming decision on Afghanistan, syndicated columnist Mark Shields scoffed at Obama’s demeanor, wishing instead for a “manly man” in the White House:

SHIELDS: We have a president of real intellectual horse power who is cool, detached and analytical and if anything you can watch the emotional side of him emerge in this whole process. … There’s an emotional aspect, the comforter in chief as well as the commander in chief. Both roles. And I think it makes me nostalgic for those days when we had a manly man in the White House who could say, “Let’s kick some tail and ask questions afterwards” you know? That’s what we really need instead of any reflection.

That's precisely how these fucktards feel. It's small, it's pathetic, and it's dangerous.

After all that, you probably need some fun news to cheer you up. So let's ask a question: how stupid are the Teabaggers? Stupid enough that they don't know when they've been punked:

On Saturday, a few dozen anti-immigration activists gathered on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol for a Tea Party, part of the nationwide effort by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC). But somehow, one of the counter-protesters, a “concerned citizen from Minneapolis” named “Robert Erickson,” manged to get on the speaking list. His address started with the standard anti-immigrant rhetoric, but then revealed that he was talking about European immigrants. By this time, however, the crowd was in a frenzy and joined him in his chants of “Columbus go home!” and “Europeans out!”:

Let’s send these European immigrants back where they came from! I don’t care if they are Polish, Irish, English, Italian, or Norwegian! European immigrants are responsible for the most violent and heinous crimes in the history of the world, including genocide and slavery! Its time to restore the sovereignty of people native to this land! I want more workplace raids, starting with the big banks downtown.

C&L takes up the story:

Not surprisingly, the organizers were pissed. Sally Jo Sorensen at BlueStemPrairie was there to watch, and she reported that some of the nativists started getting violent:

Most of the MINN-SIR supporters were slow to catch the satire, and so the cheering from that side of the crowd took a while to subside. As they realized they'd been punked, they stood in a cold, stunned silence, while the 30 or so counter-protesters urged Columbus to go home.
Unfortunately, some of the pro-MINN-SIR audience made up for what they lacked in humor through the use of violence. Both Danielson and I saw middle-aged men attack young protesters, knocking one off a bike before he started throwing punches at the young man.

Just as shocking was the reaction of the state police working the rally, who pushed back those being attacked, rather than those attacking the counter protesters.

Neither of us have ever witnessed violence at rallies and events we've attended in the past. The attacks formed a sharp counterpoint to Hendrycks' shrieked claims from the podium that MINN-SIR "patriots" had "respect" while the young protesters were rude.

Taken for suckers, and their first instinct is to throw a sucker-punch. I'd have expected no less. And after the cops' behavior during the RNC, wasn't expecting any less than their dumbfuckery, either.

Oh, and about that brilliant burning-in-effigy scheme - the landowner said ixnay on the urningbay, so they're out of luck. They'll have to console themselves with Bill O's comment that Pelosi will end up floating in Boston Harbor. These fucktards surely do love their violent rhetoric, don't they just?

Prepare yourselves now, my darlings, for candidate Rubio's budgetary genius:

Rubio, true to form, has trashed the recovery effort that saved the economy from collapse, and blasted his Republican governor for endorsing it. Asked what he would have done if governor, Rubio said he would have refused federal aid for his struggling state, and would have preferred to cut $6 billion out of the $65 billion state budget.

Asked where this $6 billion in savings would have come from, Rubio said, "I don't have the budget in front of me."

It's the kind of seriousness of thought and analytical depth we've come to expect from all of the right's leading darlings.

All you ever need to know about Teabaggers is summed up by the fact that they think this man is brilliant.

Speaking of people trying to be right-wing darlings, it seems Tim Pawlenty's completed the transformation from cap-and-trade crusader to global warming denier. Alas for him, this will not impress the hunters he pissed off by breaking one of the most sacred rules of hunting. All you ever need to know about Tim Pawlenty is that he believes attending a fundraiser is more important than tracking the deer he just wounded.

In other 2012 Con hopeful news, Sarah Palin's book has earned many more spankings. "Going Rogue From the Facts," indeed. One fact she can't go rogue from: the anti-abortion frothers think she's a big fat fake pro-lifer. Awesome. I loves it when they eat their own.

Speaking of books, right-wing children's books are just as fact-free and ridiculous as Palin's tome. Do not read if you value your gray matter.

And, finally, rumors of Lou Dobb's principled quitting have been greatly exaggerated - it seems CNN paid him a fuck of a lot of money to get out the door:

Wow. Look how much CNN wanted him out of there:

CNN was so sick of Lou Dobbs, it gave him an $8 million severance package to leave, The Post has learned.

"They wanted him out," according to a source.

Dobbs, who a source said had a year and a half to go on his $12 million contract, shocked viewers last Wednesday by announcing he was quitting.

CNN boss Jonathan Klein and Dobbs, 64, had been publicly feuding over the kind of reporting Dobbs was doing on his show -- especially stories about illegal immigration and the anti-Obama "birther" movement, which contends the president was not born in Hawaii and is not an American citizen.

But it was not clear until now that CNN was willing to pay Dobbs so much money to leave.

How did we know something like that would be the case? Now if only we could pay all the other fucktards to go the fuck away....

Cat on the Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:03:00 +0000

A dear friend of mine, who can give away his identity in comments if he likes, recently sent me a box o' goodies. I now own a rock hammer and a hand lens, and I'm not afraid to use them!

What's that you say? It's cold and raining? Allow me to revise: I'm not afraid to use them this summer.

He also included a set of mineral samples, which I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of use out of - once the cat relinquishes her claim, that is:

I got home from the Peacemakers, and she was lying atop them. I came in from a smoke later, and she was watching teevee propped on them:

And this was her reaction when I asked for them back:

Sigh. At least someone's getting use out of them. I wish it could be me...

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:44:00 +0000

You may recall from last week that the Cons got caught with their pants around their ankles on the whole issue of paying for abortions. Michael Steele swore he'd ensure RNC health insurance policies no longer included coverage for elective abortions. That, however, won't let them off the hook:

But does that actually "settle" the matter? The new RNC policy, apparently, is to have insurance through Cigna, opting out of abortion coverage. But let's not lose sight of the original fungibility problem -- the RNC is taking Republican money and giving it to an insurance company through premiums. That company will then use its pool of money to pay for abortion services, not for RNC employees, but for other customers.

In other words, the Republican National Committee will still indirectly subsidize abortions, every time it writes a check to Cigna.

And if the RNC disagrees with this reasoning, and believes the issue is "settled," then the party has rejected the reasoning of the Stupak amendment at a fundamental level.

And as if the RNC's abortion funding hypocrisy isn't enough, it seems Cantor and Gingrich have been subsidizing abortions, as well. Deary, deary me.

As for the Stupak Stupidity itself, it doesn't look long for this world. Not only are there plenty of liberal Dems sworn to fight it, but it's not looking Constitutional at this point, either. Even pro-life Dem Bob Casey's against Stupak's Stupidity. Credo's got a petition up and shall be sending coathangers to the Conservadems who voted for the Stupidity. And the White House is making its opposition known. The Stupidity, it seems, has very few friends.

Stupak's doing what any other con artist now getting excoriated for his con job does: blames the victims. Rep. Diana DeGette takes him to the woodshed over it.

By the way, if you think the Catholic bishops who helped drive Stupak's Stupidity through were standing on principle, you haven't noticed the financial stake they have in this. It seems to me it's about time to revisit some tax laws.

In other news, health care reform is definitely good for business. Goldman Sachs assures us that if a watered-down version passes, however, it'll only be good for the insurance business.

That's not, however, why right-wing Texans are overwhelmingly against reform. I think we can put that down to too much Teabagging.

The AARP's for reform, though, which is too much for John McCain, who in an Arizona town hall urged his admirers to cut up their AARP cards. Sad, pathetic people.

And, finally, you'll likely not be surprised to learn that after the disaster in the House, Senate Cons don't plan to present a bill of their own:

The Senate GOP caucus will, however, apparently at least throw a few ideas into the mix, even if it's not in the form of an coherent, comprehensive policy.

Senate Republicans cannot say what exactly the budgetary impact of their health alternatives would be, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said this weekend. [...]

The New Hampshire Republican said that GOP alternatives, which they'll offer as amendments to Democrats' health legislation, "don't cost money."

It stands to reason, then, that either Republicans have come up with magical proposals, or they intend to ignore the tens of millions of Americans who currently lack coverage.

Gregg went on to say that his party won't get analyses from the Congressional Budget Office because "we don't know how to score them under CBO rules." He added that Republicans "know from experience" that their ideas would "produce more effectively delivered cost service."

Right. Because if there's one thing Republicans have "experience" with, it's improving health care delivery efficiently and cost effectively.

Remind me, has that ever happened?

Nope.

Happy Hour Discurso

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:05:00 +0000

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Well, actually, the last few days' worth o' opining on the public discourse, but I was busy with the Peacemakers. Most of this may be old news to ye. Hopefully there'll be enough bits that are news to you to make up for it.

I'm sure everybody knows A.G. Holder decided to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed's in New York City for his role in 9/11. And I'm sure you know what came right after that decision was made. That's right - a parade of jackasses, all using this as an opportunity to fearmonger. We had Boehner, Bond, Palin, Kristol, Giuliani, assorted Illinois pols, Limbaugh, O'Reilly - and every other fucking Con, wanna-be Con, Con hanger-on, and right-wing fucktard in the country - pissing their pants in terror, calling for suspension of the Constitutional right to trial, shitting upon the values our country was founded on in favor of eye-for-an-eye, dictatorship-quality sham justice.

Glenn Greenwald said it best when he said:

This is literally true: the Right's reaction to yesterday's announcement -- we're too afraid to allow trials and due process in our country -- is the textbook definition of "surrendering to terrorists." It's the same fear they've been spewing for years. As always, the Right's tough-guy leaders wallow in a combination of pitiful fear and cynical manipulation of the fear of their followers. Indeed, it's hard to find any group of people on the globe who exude this sort of weakness and fear more than the American Right.

People in capitals all over the world have hosted trials of high-level terrorist suspects using their normal justice system. They didn't allow fear to drive them to build island-prisons or create special commissions to depart from their rules of justice. Spain held an open trial in Madrid for the individuals accused of that country's 2004 train bombings. The British put those accused of perpetrating the London subway bombings on trial right in their normal courthouse in London. Indonesia gave public trials using standard court procedures to the individuals who bombed a nightclub in Bali. India used a Mumbai courtroom to try the sole surviving terrorist who participated in the 2008 massacre of hundreds of residents. In Argentina, the Israelis captured Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals, and brought him to Jerusalem to stand trial for his crimes.

It's only America's Right that is too scared of the Terrorists -- or which exploits the fears of their followers -- to insist that no regular trials can be held and that "the safety and security of the American people" mean that we cannot even have them in our country to give them trials. As usual, it's the weakest and most frightened among us who rely on the most flamboyant, theatrical displays of "strength" and "courage" to hide what they really are. Then again, this is the same political movement whose "leaders" -- people like John Cornyn and Pat Roberts -- cowardly insisted that we must ignore the Constitution in order to stay alive: the exact antithesis of the core value on which the nation was founded. Given that, it's hardly surprising that they exude a level of fear of Terrorists that is unmatched virtually anywhere in the world. It is, however, noteworthy that the position they advocate -- it's too scary to have normal trials in our country of Terrorists -- is as pure a surrender to the Terrorists as it gets.

A surrender which they seem to enjoy a bit too much. One might get the impression they're suffering from a fetish of some sort. It's apparently a recent development, because as Steve Benen points out, we've prosecuted dangerous terrorists on American soil many, many times before without this hysterical bullshit:

Or, put another way, why are we even having this conversation? When we got Zacarias Moussaoui, we charged him, tried him, convicted him, and locked him up for the remainder of his miserable life. Republicans and Fox News personalities didn't whine like children; it was simply a process that followed the rule of law.

The same is true of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, Richard Reid, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, Jose Padilla, Ali Saleh al-Marri, John Walker Lindh, and Masoud Khan. The U.S. justice system has tried, convicted, and imprisoned hundreds of terrorists. Not one has ever escaped; not one has ever tried to escape.

And more to the point, when each was subjected to the criminal justice system, Republicans and their allies never complained. When they were sent to supermax facilities on American soil, no one whined about it or tried to scare the public.

It's hard not to get the impression that conservatives are throwing a tantrum based on nothing more than the hopes that Americans won't notice how foolish and cowardly they appear.

And, as Rep. Jim Moran said, "It's un-American to hold anyone indefinitely without trial. It's against our principles as a nation."

I don't like accusations of people being un-American tossed around lightly, but in this case, it's richly deserved.

Moving on to the other rampant stupidity that piled up whilst I was away enjoying fantastic live music and some rare time out with friends, let's check in with some zombie lies. It looks like blaming the Community Reinvestment Act for all our economic woes is back in vogue among the hard-of-thinking crowd, despite the fact that chestnut's been roasted, toasted, and pulverized.

In news of other nuts, Rep. Steve King is harping on ACORN once more, saying that Bob Bauer's appointment as White House Counsel is all a nefarious plot by ACORN to cover up their involvement with the White House or some such bullshit. Here is the awesome fail of Steve King:

This also comes a few days after another King press release in which he alleged that the resignation of White House communications director Anita Dunn -- Bauer's wife -- was connected to the aforementioned investigation against ACORN in Louisiana.

So King previously seemed to be implying that Dunn was leaving in a hurry because of an ACORN scandal -- and now says that Bauer is coming in because of the same ACORN matter.

Conspiracy theorists are sad, stupid people, aren't they?

Speaking of sad, stupid people, you knew Cons and their rabid followers would be frothing over Obama bowing to the Japanese Emperor and Empress. But it's just fine with them when Bush plays kissy-face with Arab leaders. Go figure that - you may invent a whole new branch of mathematics.

I hope you'll be able to afford the necessary calculator. If not, you can thank Cons, whose delaying tactics on extending unemployment benefits effectively means said benefits got cut. I have a feeling they've created a whole new set of life-long Democrats.

Here's how clueless Cons are: they're surprised that people got upset with them for voting against Al Franken's justice-for-rape-victims amendment. If they didn't see that coming, it's no wonder two major terrorist attacks, the fact that Iraq would become a quagmire, the fact that the Iraq quagmire would prevent them from capturing the actual asshole responsible for 9/11, Katrina, and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression slipped by them, too.

Digby has good news, though - the Cons have learned something from all this:

The good news is that the Republican senators have learned their lesson:

Privately, GOP sources acknowledge that they failed to anticipate the political consequences of a “no” vote on the amendment. And several aides said that Republicans are engaged in an internal blame game about why they agreed to a roll-call vote on the measure, rather than a simple voice vote that would have allowed the opposing senators to duck criticism.
Right, they forgot to hide their misogyny. (Man, you let your guard down for one minute and those bitchuz are all over you.)

Alas, they always do seem to learn the "don't get caught" lesson rather than the "be better people and don't do it at all" lesson.

While we're on the subject of people who never learn anything, it looks like the Teabaggers have learned from their mistake. Instead of simply hanging Congressmen in effigy, they now plan to burn them in effigy. Somehow, they think this puts them on par with our Founding Fathers. It's like thinking you're Van Gogh because you both drew stars.

Sarah Palin's new book is proving to be the motherlode of stupid that we knew it would be. In it, she claims that she granted Katie Couric that disastrous interview because, she says, a McCain aide told her Couric suffered from low self-esteem.

McCain aides had the same reaction I did, namely, screaming "Bullshit!" through hysterical laughter.

Palin also proudly proclaims she doesn't believe in evolution, thus laying to rest any doubts anyone may have had regarding her status as world-class fucking idiot.

And, finally, Glenn Beck's back fresh from having his appendix removed. Alas, it appears his doctors did not take this opportunity to give him a desperately-needed brain transplant.

I'd cry, but I've run out of Vicks.

This is What I Abandoned You For

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Look at this face. Do you really think I could stay home and blog about idiot politicians with this face grinning in downtown Seattle?

I haven't missed a single year with the Peacemakers since 2003. It's not a show, it's an experience. And I can't get that experience across in a blog post. So here's what you've gotta do. Go check out their tour dates. They'll be in a city near you soon. And I don't want to hear, "But Dana - I live in England!" They're coming to England in February 2010. They'll even be in Scotland. You have no excuse.

That's right - my homestate band is going international, baby, yeah!

Follow me after the jump for more concert pics, and a spirited attempt to get across the essence of what a Peacemakers show is, including shocking revelations!

Friday night, I collected my intrepid companion and a friend I shall call "Kali" to preserve her reputation among our other coworkers, and after Mexican food, we headed for the Crocodile Cafe in downtown Seattle. Magic was in the air, my darlings - it actually stopped raining. Behold the power of the Peacemakers: they can even stop Seattle's rainy season in its tracks.

And we got there early enough to install ourselves right at the stage. This is key. If you're going to a Peacemakers concert, don't hang back like a shrinking violet. Grab a shot of good tequila and get yourself up close. Roger requires shots. This is a good way to introduce yourself.

Massey Ferguson opened. Now, most opening bands just sort of keep the stage warm while the late-comers trickle in, but Massey Ferguson puts on a hell of a show themselves. And Ethan Anderson plays the flute. The flute, people. How can you not love a rock band whose lead singer plays the flute?

(You people who never liked Jethro Tull can just leave the cantina right now. Flute + Rock = Awesome. Especially the way Ethan plays, which doesn't sound like Jethro Tull at all.)

So no shit, there we were, not even inches away from the stage. We met up with a gal from Tucson, Arizona who, like me, was a huge enough fan of the Peacemakers to come to their show alone since she hadn't been in Seattle long enough to meet other folks. Yes, you can go to a Peacemakers show alone. You'll meet plenty of friends.

I wish I could capture the experience in words. It's impossible. But we'll try some images, and a few words, and see where we get.

Whilst waiting for the Peacemakers, a group of us started comparing tats. Yes, we are hardcore fans. I didn't get a chance to get a photo - too busy showing ink - but here's a shot from Mexico:

Now, mind you, before I became a Peacemakers fan, life was completely different. I didn't own a black straw hat. I'd never gotten up the guts to go to Mexico - hell, I'd only been as far out of the country as Vancouver, Canada, which doesn't really count. I didn't like tequila. And I sure as shit never intended to get a tattoo. If someone had told me in, oh, say, 2002 that I'd enjoy all these things and the Peacemakers, too, I'd have proclaimed them insane.

Especially since (shocking revelation alert) I didn't even like the Peacemakers. This is how I know I can't get the experience across in words, or even by playing bits of their music and showing you awesome pictures. My dear friend Justin did these things when he became a Peacemakers fan. He sat me down and patiently played a few songs. He waxed enthusiastic over the ecstatic experience he'd had at their concerts. He talked about Roger as if he were talking about a demigod. And at the end of it all, I nodded politely and said, "They're all right, I guess, but it's really not my kind of music."

"You have to go to a show," Justin said. "You won't understand until you've seen a show."

"Meh" wasn't in the vocabulary back then, but if it had been, I would've said it. I'm not a huge consumer of live music. I don't like being packed in with a bunch of sweaty drunken people listening to third-rate sound systems when I could be enthroned at home listening to studio albums and writing my arse off. I enjoy the occasional show, but I'd never become a bigger fan of a band after seeing them live. If I didn't like their studio recording, their live stuff wasn't going to be any better. And there my opinion stood. They were Justin's thing, not mine.

Justin, however, doesn't take "meh" equivalents for an answer. And he spent the next several months working on his Plan.

He forced more of their music on me. He evangelized. And then one fateful day in April, he came to me and said, "Roger's going to be here. He's touring solo. And I don't have anybody to go with. Would you please?"

He's a good liar. And he's got puppy-dog eyes. I caved. I nearly killed him when I got to the bar and found David sitting there, which meant I wasn't the only person Justin had convinced to come with him, and I'd been had. But he'd bought my ticket. And he and David were talking about having Roger Clyne's babies.

David's gay. Justin's not. The fact that Justin and David were plotting together how to have another man's babies intrigued me. I stayed despite being the victim of a con job.

Roger came on. He played us songs. He told us stories. I was lucky enough to see him when they were writing Americano, and so was among the very first to hear "Switchblade." I got to hear him introduce the entire band as if they were there, which is an amazing thing to see on a solo tour. By the end of it, several things had been decided. I was a die-hard Peacemakers fan, I was going to Mexico, and I'd be the surrogate mother for Justin and David so that we could all have Roger Clyne's babies.

It's that incredible.

I had my first shot of tequila that August at Nita's Hideaway in Tempe, AZ, in preparation for Circus Mexicus. By the end of that year, I'd written a story based on the Peacemakers and that gorgeous Mexico show, and I proudly owned a straw hat. When it came time to choose my tattoo, I knew there was only one piece of art I'd be proud to carry for the rest of my life: the Peacemakers' logo.

Yes, they're that good.

There are as many stories as there are concerts, but I've told you enough to perhaps convince you that this band is unique. I've seen a lot of shows now, and I can tell you that no band puts on a show quite like this. No one.

If you're already a fan, you know what I mean. If not, grab a friend, catch a show, and have the time of your life. But not before you've enjoyed the highlights from this show.

We were right at Nick Scropos's feet. Nick has filled Danny White's bass-playing shoes, and then put on his own. The man can play, my darlings, and what's more, he can play to an audience, which is a very different thing.

Isn't he beautiful? Wait til you hear him play.

P.H. Naffah, poor man, is always stuck in the back with the drum set. But we had a good view of him, too:

Look upon him, my darlings. He, along with Roger, has been there from the beginning. All hail the mighty P.H., and say unto him, "Grow the 'fro, bro!" He'll know what you mean.

Stevie, alas, has left the band. I miss Stevie more than I can say, but Jim Dalton's doing his best to fill the void:

That's the thing about the Peacemakers: some of the faces may change, but the essence remains the same.

Yup. The energy's still there.

And so is Jason Boots, who doesn't just sell the t-shits, but plays the trumpet:

He's getting damned good at it, too.

Here's a photo that expresses what we all feel about Roger:

The nice thing about reaching out to Roger is that you won't have a bunch of security guards there pushing back, and when Roger gets through playing, he reaches back. Awwww....

Here's a photo that explains why, while I'm happy Roger's happily married, I'm also a little sad:

I'm not a marrying sort, my friends, but if a man with his personality, talent and looks wants to put me on a pedestal and write me songs like "Green and Dumb," I'll buy the damned ring myself.

We're lucky Alisa allows him to tour a country full of salivating females (and males!), and doesn't mind us drooling a bit. That said, I think I shall applaud her choice by drooling a bit more:

Mmmm.

You might get the impression it's all about Roger. But I have proof it's also all about Nick:

At the end of the show, Nick shook my hand and gave me the set list. That's right. Lil ol' me got the honor of the set list. Excuse me a second.

SQUEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry. Coulda knocked me over with a feather, you could. Hardcore fans will understand why this is such a thrilling moment. And speaking of fans, I'd just like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to the fan who brought me the bit of the set list that had been separated from its brethren sometime during the show. That was one of the sweetest gestures ever.

You, my darlings, can enjoy the set list vicariously, if you like:

I'm putting it up here so that Ed Brayton can look upon it with utmost envy. I hope he gets the opportunity to retaliate someday, perhaps with one of P.H.'s drumsticks. Hee.

Roger came over at the end to apologize for not wearing my hat. I'd held it out for him at one point, and he'd meant to come back for it but never got the chance. S'okay. For one thing, it was too hot for hats. For the second, he's worn my hat before, and moreover let me wear his:

Roger, mi sombrero es tu sombrero, amigo. Even when you don't get a chance to put it on. And next time, I won't forget the Patron.

Lastly, I just want to congratulate Seattle. When I first came here in 2007, the crowd was a little thin, and people couldn't count en español. The crowd's gotten larger, there's more folks properly straw-hatted (although there's room for improvement there) and everybody's roaring out ¡uno dos tres quatro! like pros. Now all that's left is for everybody to learn how to call for the encore. Remember, my darling denizens of Seattle: when the Peacemakers walk off the stage, we wait a minute, and then start chanting ¡uno mas! ¡uno mas! until they return. Do that, and you will be able to give the Arizona fans a run for their money. Nothing would make me prouder.

And that, my darlings, is what I abandoned you for. Do you forgive me now?

Yes, The Peacemakers Are More Important

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:11:00 +0000

Yup. I'm ditching you all for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.

I'll make it up to you Sunday morning. Until then, take a night away from ye olde political stupidity and enjoy yourselves.

Combatting IDiots in the School Board

noreply@blogger.com (Dana Hunter) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:42:00 +0000

Spencer, Iowa kids are going to get the science education they need, thanks to folks who ensured the school board didn't get snookered by shysters. And the lessons learned there can apply to anyone whose district is facing an invasion of IDiots:

The defeat of this "religious liberty" policy does harbor potential lessons for others trying to fight these anti-science actions in local school districts. First, college faculty members should not underestimate the power of their opinions on these issues even in school districts where these faculty members do not live.

Yes, some school board members might resent outsiders, but others welcome expertise and attention from respected institutions. This is especially the case if advice is given with courtesy and tact. The school board must be convinced that the aim is to further good science education rather than to impose some ideological hegemony on a small school district. One should try to contact school board members, and see how open they are to outside advice before dismissing any interaction as a lost cause.

Good coordinated actions by coalitions are extremely important. Although I am an incompatibilist in terms of religion and science (i.e., I don’t think that religion and science are philosophically compatible), the fact remains that many religious people do support evolution, science education, and the separation of religion and government. When a common goal is to keep creationism out of schools, and good science education in schools, then the practical thing to do is to work together with interfaith alliances.

Finally, vigilance and rapid action are always important. This means having shoes on the ground -- a ready group of educators, scientists, and other allies ready to write letters, draft petitions, and even travel (in our case, about 3-4 hours) in person to places where we could make a difference.

Good advice, all. Keep it handy just in case DIsco comes dancing into town...

(Tip o' the shot glass to the Panda's Thumb)