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A Treasury of Republican Tolerance

By: Attaturk Thursday August 19, 2010 1:30 am

First Amendment AND Second Amendment Scholarship:

For those scoring at home (and if so, why are you reading a blog?) that’s “N-word” use protected speech, “retarded” crime against humanity. And using firearm comparisons again, it’s the well-conceived Byron De La Beckwith school of analogies, classy.

And about that First Amendment, for them but not for “them”:

Yes, it’s totally about slandering a few million Americans (and a billion plus globally), so I can be a flag-waving hypocrite.

But, as Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway once asked, where is the love? Not in Iowa state races it appears:

No confirmation yet over whether Jeremy (and really congrats from Jason) made these posts between large helpings of batter-dipped shrimp from Long John Silvers.  Maybe he should ask Newt what Leviticus says about adultery (I’m guessing off on a technicality)?

Late Night: Also, The Kids Today & the Dirty Music, Oy

By: Thers Wednesday August 18, 2010 8:04 pm

At my own crummy Web-Site I’ve said everything I can bear to say right now about the Stupidest Phony Wingnut Tantrum Disguised as a “Controversy” Perhaps Ever, you know, that bullshit about how the Jihadist Swimming Pool of Jihad is going to pollute what people who don’t actually know anything about the place think of as American Mecca. I am of course particularly grumpy about the rather spectacular display of egregious cowardice currently being performed by Our Democratic Party Leaders, harrumphing and chicken-wing flapping about how that Thoughtful Conservative Thinker Pamela “These Silicone Mound-Machines Kill Musselmen” Geller just might have a point, after all, when you stop and wank about it.

It is a shite state of affairs altogether and I wash my hands of it.

It is in this spirit that I recommend to you this charmingly retro culture-war pearl-clutching by the always preposterous Wonder-Bready semi-professional mommy-scold Rebecca Hagelin, an old Jane Hamsher dance partner, former TBogg exhibit, and erstwhile World O’Crap objet d’shart:

Every twelve-year-old knows Rihanna. And Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Do you?

The music industry today is huge, racking up over 1.5 billion in sales in the U.S. alone—and kids are their target audience. It’s an industry that’s no longer primarily about music. It’s become another avenue for selling porn and sexualizing younger and younger children in the process.

Now that’s rocking it old-school!

I can relate; as a parent myself, I don’t like much of what contemporary corporate culture has done to our kids, though I don’t suppose Lady Gaga is precisely the problem. This is a bit more troubling, for example, if sex & kids is the issue. But I applaud Hagelin for having the ovaries to post a virulently anti-capitalist rant at Townhall, of all places. Kudos, Comrade Mommy.

Anyway, my 10-year-old’s favorite song is tonight’s video. Kid’s got style.


America’s Broken Response to Pakistan

By: Josh Mull Wednesday August 18, 2010 7:10 pm

The ability for the United States to project power abroad – to protect its national security interests – is broken

Howard Dean Joins Harry Reid, Wishes Muslims Weren’t So Insensitive

By: Scarecrow Wednesday August 18, 2010 6:20 pm

Howard Dean, who once stood for some decent principles, tells us that those who want to build a Muslim center in New York City should be looking for a “compromise” that would place the center somewhere that didn’t cause a controversy. So long, Howard.

GM Files IPO

By: David Dayen Wednesday August 18, 2010 5:38 pm

General Motors, the venerable American auto manufacturer which fell into bankruptcy and received substantial support from the US government, filed the initial papers for an IPO today, which will begin the process of allowing the Treasury Department to recoup some of its investment.

PIMCO’s Bill Gross Blows Up the Housing Finance Conference By Promoting Mass Mortgage Refinancing

By: David Dayen Wednesday August 18, 2010 4:46 pm

The debate over the housing finance crisis takes place along the backdrop of 300,000 foreclosures a month and no credible plan to arrest that. It’s like arguing about where to build the bedroom in the renovation of a two-story house while it’s on fire. Policymakers haven’t done the job, simply put. And the only one thinking creatively about solutions to the crisis, or at least solutions to the intersecting jobs crisis, is PIMCO bond investor Bill Gross.

How a Previously Qualified Elizabeth Warren Became Unqualified, According to a Previously Progressive Chris Dodd

By: emptywheel Wednesday August 18, 2010 3:45 pm

I guess the only question this chronology leaves is whether or not Sen. Chris Dodd D-CT) is acting at the behest of his future employers, the banks, the White House, or both.

Obama Says Social Security “Not in Crisis,” But Needs “Modest Adjustments”

By: David Dayen Wednesday August 18, 2010 2:55 pm

The President is falling for the familiar trap that Social Security faces problems due to an “aging population.” That just misreads life expectancy statistics. Most of the changes in life expectancy can be attributed to reductions in infant mortality and deaths at a young age. Life expectancy for those who have reached the age of 65 is basically the same. So it’s just not the case that massively more people are collecting Social Security than before. And that certainly shouldn’t precipitate any calls for raising the retirement age to 70.

US Chamber: Equal Pay “A Fetish for Money,” Women Should “Choose the Right Partner at Home”

By: Michael Whitney Wednesday August 18, 2010 2:05 pm

The US Chamber of Commerce has apparently spent too much time watching Mad Men: in a blog post this morning, Chamber blogger Brad Peck called women’s fight for pay equity to be nothing more than a “fetish for money,” and said women complaining about their pay should focus instead on “choosing the right partner at home.” The Chamber’s Peck also approvingly quoted a post that asked, “Should government force gym-man to share his beautiful babes with couch-potato man?”

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