I Miss Fafblog, Spot

NEW! Improved! GOP Now even Softer on Terror

2011-01-09T23:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, Spot, the Republicans are totally soft on terror. I know it's a little confusing. These are the same people who go around stomping their feet and shouting about how the government should be tougher on terrorism. They sound so tough, so John Wayne-ly, but it's really just the sound of their own disorganized thinking and paranoia. If you ignore the noise and watch what what they actually do

Journalism: Old School

2010-12-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

As you say, Spot, people usually do their best when they know that somebody important is probably watching. So maybe, like you said, the cleansing sunlight of Truth is necessary to burn out the pockets of evil eating into our System like gangrene. Or maybe it's just that people up-to-no-gooding don't wanna be caught, and like most all vermin problems, you can limit the damage by depriving them of

No, Virginia, The Rich Do Not Steal From The Poor

2010-12-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

Dear Spot, My friend says that the rich steal from the poor. My Daddy says, "It's only 'stealing' if it's illegal and that the rich can afford their own laws." Then Mommy says, "Do NOT let Daddy talk politics!" I am confused. Can you help? sincerelyVirginiaDear Virginia, Many questions in politics and economics are very complicated and require long complicated answers. Fortunately, yours is

The "Qu" cube counts as two letters

2010-07-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm done teaching my summer course, some days I find myself at loose ends. I'm at home this week with Lady C., our hound, and we spend our days reading and playing Boggle™. The problem is, of course, she has trouble using words of more than one syllable, let alone spelling them. So it gets boring, and when things get boring the conversation inevitably turns to politics. Even my hound is

Gambling

2010-06-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

While things seem to be otherwise moribund around here, I just thought I'd share a detail of an image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite. For some reason when I come across these images they stop me cold. If there were an attack on the country in which we live we would be inundated with images about it constantly. And yet,

Humane Society Threatens Homeland

2010-04-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

At first, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw US Rep. King's press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Matt LahrApril 7, 2010 Office: 202.225.4426 King Informs 4-H Leaders of Real Agenda of Humane Society SIOUX CITY - Congressman Steve King (R-IA) today released a statement objecting to the presence of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) at a recent National 4-H Conference.

A Tiny Suggestion, Mr Zealot

2010-03-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

Let's say that you've just put up a big fight over some issue, and you still got your butt kicked. Perhaps it would be better if you didn't call it an Apocalypse. Unless, of course, you really truly mean to claim that your side is the force of Ultimate Evil and that it was just defeated by the forces of Ultimate Good.P.S. I only mention this for your own good. I know you have been very worried

RE: Whiny Tin Fascists = WTF ?

2010-03-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well, Spot, you are correct again. But consider this, being without health insurance does strongly correlate with being without health care. I suppose you are right about what you call the DC Tautology - ie solving the the problem of uninsured Americans by passing a law saying that all Americans have to buy insurance. But I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. In the first place; prisoners

Memoirs of a Part-time Zombie

2010-03-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

Our ranks spread across the room. We are all facing the same direction, some are a little more coordinated than others and some are dripping a little body fluid. Technically this is the cardio room at Clyde's Gym of Resolve and we are all here proving that Americans are not afraid of hard sweaty work. At least not as long as it take place in a climate controlled room and there is parking space

The Illusion that wasn't there.

2010-01-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Or: How the battle was lost when they first began working on Health Insurance Reform instead of Healthcare Reform.

Cash-for-obstruction

2009-12-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Cappy Rudyard:$5,900,388Is the amount Common Cause reports Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman received in health industry campaign contributions from 2000-2008. $77,000A year is how much his wife Hadassah received from a lobbying firm to consult on health care in just one year during that period. Prior to this, she also ran PR for drug companies like Hoffman-LaRoche and Pfizer, according to Salon.

Making the “Bill of Rights” Cost Efficient

2009-11-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

By Free Market Squirrel We on the right know that the market is the most efficient way to deliver Health Care.1 Sure, people don’t deserve to die because they don’t have enough money to be cured – we acknowledged that when we complained about “death panels.” The only reason they do now is because of market distortions.By this logic, the market should

Lessons to be Drawn from the Fort Hood Massacre

2009-11-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

… of 1991• “Remember Fort Hood” says the Colorado billboard implying President Obama is a dangerous Muslim."Since Fort Hood, I've had it," owner Phil West told FOX 31 News Friday. "You can't suggest things. You can't profile. You gotta call a spade a spade.""Everything I have read about Mr. Obama points right to the fact that he is a Muslim. And that is the agenda of what Muslim is all about.

Blackwater Massacre Legal Services

2009-11-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

Thinking of committing an atrocity? Frustrated at your former boss/girlfriend/lifecoach, are you going to bust into their workplace/daycare/muffler store and murder everyone indiscriminately? But you’re worried about the hard time and humiliation that is sure to follow? At Blackwater Massacre Legal Services (BMLS) we’re here to help. Once we, too, were in your position. Our guys had just

I Hate Mr. Popular

2009-10-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

Dear MSM,I am sooooooooooo tired of BHO being Mr. Popular Guy! My daddy RBC taught me that being true to yourself means never giving an inch, and that nothing is worth having if someone else gives it up voluntarily. So I know BHO is doing something wrong if people like him so much and give him free stuff.If people give you something, it can only be because they think you’re a patsy. Sure, not

Bush Cheney GOP named in class action suit

2009-09-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

A law firm acting on on behalf of the citizens of the United States filed suit earlier today seeking to recover nearly 10 trillion dollars that was lost during a single presidential administration. The suit cites criminal negligence, gross incompetence, and "acts deliberately contrary to the oath of office," among other things and includes a 937 page list of specific events ranging from the 1999

And a Very Merry Ethiopian New Year to You, to You

2009-09-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's September 11 again, and you know what that means. That's right - it's the Ethiopian New Year bringing in the year 2002. It's a day of hope and joy because, in the alternate reality of the Ethiopian Calendar; there is still time to shut off the TV, pry our butts out of the LaZBoy, and stop all the invading, torturing and illegal wiretapping. Not to mention using Borrow 'n' Squander as

You say 'Potahto', and I say, 'Public Option'

2009-08-20T23:26:00.001-07:00

Dear Spot,You know how I told you that we'd be able to get you that hip replacement just as soon as the Preznit got this health care mess all sorted out?Well, maybe not... on account of I'm reading in the Blogtubes that the Preznit is about to sell us out and let the Republicans kill the public option in exchange for 0 votes. I know, it's a pretty steep bargain there, but hopefully all those

Sky Eye on the White Peril

2009-08-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, Spot, the magnitude of the real terrorist threat has finally been revealed. Turns out it was the Great White Peril all along. Seems the sea ice has just been pretending to be all innocent and inanimate. It all makes sense now. I guess the Titanic was sank by an anarchist suicide ice berg, an unacknowledged victim of Ice Terror. And those semiliterate sons a the south with their Iced Tea.

Horizontally Mobility Only

2009-07-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

Horizontally Mobility Of course there is little social mobility in a classless society like the United States. If there are no class differences then, by definition, it is not possible to move to a different class. In the United States, there do exist large differences in personal wealth and opportunity but these are based entirely on personal worthiness rather than social class. The point is

Monopoly for the New Millennium

2009-07-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I played Monopoly. But, AIR, it was kind of old fashioned. Maybe we could update to Monopoly for the New Millennium™ with some new rules.#1. Any player who accumulates some arbitrarily large amount of assets becomes "Too Big to Fail" (TBF). Players belonging to the TBF Club would still use their own funds for voluntary investments, but the bank would assume any

Pretty Shiny Pennies: Harder Faster Edition

2009-07-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

Ooooh! Twinkaleey!!! Whooosh..tik.tik.tik.ita.tik.tik.tak.ata.click heyhowfastcanUadd-hey-lookee over there thatn's faster.. It's like a freee slot machine wi'than invisible crank. Sure, I sed Crank-heeheehee, I sed Crank It Up BABY go Whooosh..tik.tik.tik.ita.tak.tik.ata.click Hah!! Tweak them Engines a Wall, Street, Pro-form-man cranker yankin foolz. Uhuh! Anybody can play - it dont cost

The Public Option: Current Edition

2009-07-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

There is nothing you can do that can't be done!

Clarifying a Matter of some grievous Confusion

2009-06-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

I do not need Health Insurance. Excepting, that Health Insurance is a source of Comfort and Wealth to the Masters of said Enterprise and a Source of devious subsistence to the divers toilers in its Cause, no Person of this Earth needs Health Insurance. I need Medical Care. Had I funds sufficient to Indulge in Health Insurance, I would have Funds sufficient for obtaining Medicines and Medical

RIGHT WING TERRORISM

2009-06-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

An April Department of Homeland Security report warned that "a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit. . . present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment." Of course, the right wing, complicit in disinforming us about the true nature of the threat, cried foul. James Dobson, on Sean