My Parties Have All The Big Names and I Greet Them With the Whitest Smile

Saw Inside Job last night. I thought it would make me angry, but it didn't, because I realized how much of this stuff I already knew thanks to people like Charles Morris, Felix Salmon, Yves Smith, the reporters of McClatchy, Nouriel Roubini, Eliot Spitzer, Matt Taibbi, and many others.

There was one face I didn't recognize, and that was Robert Gnaizda, who comes across as the movie's George Bailey to Martin Feldstein's Mister Potter. But the people who provoked the most laughter and scorn from the audience were Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for an outfit called the Financial Services Roundtable, and Glenn Hubbard, a guy whose deanship of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business would be in serious jeopardy after his performance here... in any sane world, but who probably has nothing to worry about given some of the names on the list of Columbia University trustees.

Oh, and Mr. Ferguson? I loved that shot you took of Paul Volcker with a tumbler of what I assume was Scotch.

But, of course

"My assertion that all terrorists are Muslims my not be factual, but in spite of this I know it to be true."

-- Brian Kilmeade, Terrorist on behalf of Truthiness

Now here's traditional American History!

Nothing exposes the nasty-side of American politics and history more than stickin' it to the Native Americans.

Bury my ballots at Wounded Knee.

“I just want them to win...”

Yet another example of why Nancy Pelosi is okay by me.

If You Happen to Be in New York with Six Hours and Forty-Five Minutes to Spare ...

...sashay your shapely derrière downtown and see Gatz.

Watch This

No, I mean this.

By the way, it's been more two years since the insane-making "Morning Joe" prompted me to give up cable. With the exception of the super-duper glam lighting on Norah O'Donnell, the show doesn't seem to have changed much...

Rude Pundit Johnson is right!

In a not so rare display of clarity, but a rare display of not all that many "fucks":

In other words, Republicans use extremist tactics and extremist rhetoric (for, truly, there's not a single thing passed in this Congress that even approaches "socialism"), and, if those fail, they lie outright. And in doing so, they make their mostly reasonable, way-too acquiescent opponents seem like despicable fuckbags who want America to become part Mexico/part Sharialand. That's an awesome con job: shutdown the functioning of part of the government through procedural chicanery that most people won't give a damn about (A hold? What the fuck is that? We don't have time for civics classes anymore) and blame the majority, which is easy to understand: "Oh, Democrats in power. Democrats must naturally suck."

The frustrating part is that, even if polls now show some tightening in races, it's worked. ...

You can't unfuck something that you've fucked. Republicans have paid almost no long-term price for the Caligula-like madness of the Bush administration. There's a chance that, now, two-years later, they're gonna get rewarded for refusing to participate in running the country. It's like setting free an arsonist after you've started to rebuild the house and telling him, "Oh, and here's those matches we took from you. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Imagine if they just ran a slate of boring conservatives

The GOP would be looking at dozens more seats. But no, thankfully, they decided to go with only "over-the-borderline" personality disorders:

Republican candidate Blake Farenthold, who is running for Texas's 27th district House seat, came under scrutiny this week when images surfaced of him out for a night on the town with women in attire leaving little to the imagination.

In the pictures, which were reportedly taken last year and published online by thecrushgirls.com, Farenthold is dressed in pajamas featuring a yellow ducky design.

David Vitter finds that one embarrassing (see end of video).



Have to admit though, dude's a handsome man.

I thought this was explained nearly 40 years ago

There are some conservatives that are funny...but they don't make a lot of political jokes, because making jokes about the poor, minorities, and other underdogs is not so much funny as it is mean and pathological. There, you need no doctoral thesis.

Conservative comic Evan Sayet blames media gatekeepers for keeping right-of-center comics out of traditional media outlets.

Oh yes, it's the so-called liberal medias fault...that you are not funny.

Again, this was explained some time ago, in a far away exotic land:

It was inevitable

And a "pocket rocket" in the front one...

Keep flyin' that freak-flag soon to be regularly paid FoxNews pundit:

Fineman reported Thursday that O'Donnell is raising money from her Tea Party supporters by attacking Republicans. "I've got Sean Hannity in my back pocket, and I can go on his show and raise money by attacking you guys," O'Donnell said, according to two top GOP insiders.

Funny, most of us have the equivalent of a Sean Hannity fall out of my backside twice a day.

Beck fan or Diablo fan?

Possibly both:

Spokane Police have arrested a man waving a meat cleaver at Sen. Patty Murray's supporters before her debate with Dino Rossi.

Officer Jennifer DuRuwe says the 50-year-old was holding a knive and yelling profanities while he drove past a group of Murray supporters just before 5 p.m.

Who do you think you are, Grover Cleveland?

People "always" respect a leader who says his hands are all tied..., real changey:

During a town hall meeting Thursday, Obama said he was obliged to enforce and defend “don’t ask” because it became the law 17 years ago.

“Congress explicitly passed a law that took away the power of the executive branch to end this policy unilaterally,” Obama said in response to a question about why he had not lifted the ban. "So, this is not a situation in which, with a stroke of a pen, I can simply end the policy.”

Of course in this case, you need not even use a pen, you can just sit there.

But no, it's going to be "this unconstitutional, discriminatory law sucks -- how dare a judge declare it so, I guess I'll have to appeal to preserve it."

But at least we found some Republicans the President is willing to fight:

For six years, Justice Department lawyers have pushed back against a challenge to the law brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group.

Mr. President, this refusal to grasp "change" when it is laid before you on a silver platter...

It's not a bug, it's a"lifestyle choice".

So,

I see Mrs. Favre showed up a Viking practice yesterday.


She's got real accuracy, they should start her this week.

Never piss off a Rabid Badger

What he said regarding the depressing off-the-cuff statements (at least I hope they were) of Obama adviser Valerie Jarret when she referred to the suicide -- sadly one of many -- of a 15-year old boy who was gay and the victim of bullying.

I am writing because I am appalled and angered by Valerie Jarrett’s comments to the Washington Post regarding the suicide of 15 year old Justin Aarberg.

To say that this boy "made a lifestyle choice" not only shows that Ms. Jarrett is out of touch with modern understanding of gay & lesbian issues (this is terminology that fell out of favor with scientists and psychiatrists in the 1970s) but also seems to blame Mr. Aarberg for consciously inviting his own harassment.

She absolutely does. And the Administration needs to do a hell of a lot more in this area, and stupid and out-dated terms like this are code-words we expect from the likes of Newt Gingrich, not the Obama Administration.

One does wonder...

Why was the national media obsessively covering the Delaware debate? It wasn't exactly Lincoln versus Douglas.

You have to wonder if they just are determined to try to show that crazy people are not crazy and you're actually the crazy one, or they actually hate Republicans enough to only show the crazy ones?

Or as most of the nation (well a small fraction actually) who watched the debate asked, "who's the boring bald guy next to the crazy lady?"

Thank goodness

All 33 of the Chilean miners (well 32 and 1 Bolivian) have been rescued from the worst Six Flags ride ever (actually second worst after the 'Waterworld' Slip and Slide).

How about buying a clue?

OH HAPPY DAY!



Oh during the early days of this blog (y'know when I hadn't yet run out of material and my posts didn't just get put up based on the power of my OCD) the fun I had with the posts of one Pat Sajak and his right-wing lunacy. It was the epitome of ham-handed bromides that only a mother and Chuck Wollery could love. But alas, like most things that seem like gifts of an arbitrary and malevolent God, one day it all went away.

Thank goodness that National Review Online needed to add intellectual heft, because glory days, Pat Sajak is back and less rational than ever!

Who needs George Clooney, Barbara Streisand, or Sean Penn when the Right has Chuck Norris and -- "oh my God, I must say", P_t Sajak?"

if, for example, a ballot initiative appears that might cap the benefits of a certain group of state workers, should those workers be able to vote on the matter?

Yes, ol' P_t is certainly on to something, or perhaps on something. Those who may be affected by policies should not vote at all. People who have, may have, or have married, should not vote on issues that relate to issues like marriage. Only men and women of non-child producing years should vote on reproductive rights, this will empower older people and give children a vote. Oh, and those who may benefit from tax cuts, like millionaires should not vote on such issues, sorry P_t.

Not to mention, as P_t does mention, state workers like, police officers, fire fighters, emergency workers, national guard personnel, all should give up their right to vote on issues that affect them, because what have they ever done to have the right to vote anyway? They're all ciphers, they haven't done anything substantial like supervise somebody else turning letters.

Maybe, as one on P_t's post suggested, we can set up a special "Panel" to decide who gets to vote? We can use all those folks that had their hearts set on getting on a Death Panel and use them there. As long as they are not police officers, fire fighters, emergency workers, military personnel, government employees, men or women of child bearing years, people who have, may have, or have had sex, or millionaires. You know, no citizens. Finally, the GOP has a position for illegal immigrants they can document.

[sort of cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Ron Artest even thinks this is ridiculous

China and Brazil have a hockey game break out in basketball.

Today's best protest sign

Outside the Delaware Senate Debate:

For those, like the donor, with "Fra-gil-e" egos

In the most ridiculous campaign ploy this year (and that's saying something) for $5,000 Newt Gingrich will give physicians "a prestigious reward!"*



(pic from here)

*That's quite a title for a reach-around.

How Popular Culture works 2010

Athletes take pictures of their privates.

Celebrities release mysteriously professional, yet unauthorized tapes of them having sex.

Porn Stars still typecast.

Shorter Rich Iott

"The Waffen SS, who are we to judge?*"

*especially you Jews out there!

Hmmm

Now that the Corner of Duct-work Street and Asbestos Avenue is allowing comments -- or will be -- does that mean that Jonah will start writing those things instead of composing fictional emails in his head?

Sure they were trapped for 60 days and all...

But another 50 feet down and they'd have reached los Balrog.

(photo via Reuters)

Suck.on.this. King Tut!

Well, I advise anyone not to Suck.On.This. literally.

McDonald’s Happy Meal resists decomposition for six months

Whew, that was close

Earth dodged another one. When will Christine O'Donnell credit her powers?

A very rough balancing out of American History.

Like many, I occasionally re-visit the great reads of my past. At present I'm reading, Robert Remini's trilogy on Andrew Jackson, the latter surely one of the most important, complex yet cartoonish, revolutionary, alternately heroic and repugnant characters in American History. There are things I'm learning anew about Jackson that have application to today's FoxNews driven falsehoods. For example, Jackson and virtually all political leaders of pre-statehood Tennessee were more than willing to contemplate becoming Spanish if it helped them kill as many Native Americans as possible since the Washington Administration was reluctant to do so.

It is that most repugnant topic, Jackson's facilitation of crimes against Native Americans (he had lots of support on the issue sadly), that comes to mind now. Specifically his refusal to enforce the decision of the Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia, holding that the Cherokee Nation in Georgia was entitled to Federal Protection from the State's efforts to remove them from their land. Not only did Jackson not enforce the law, he encouraged the flouting of the decision and the removal of the Cherokees (and other tribes) from their land. One of the most flagrant violations of the Constitution in American History, though certainly not the only one.

Now here we are, 178 years later, and a Federal Judge, Virginia Phillips, has ruled DADT violates the Constitution and it should be banned. Under the circumstances of the case, did she go beyond what was necessary? Perhaps.

But here's the thing, it may not be how the Obama Administration would have liked to have had DADT overturned, but it is a way that it can be overturned nonetheless. It is the right thing, and unlike with the Jackson Administration, it is perfectly legal to do sit on your hands and let the law die.

It may be too late for the Cherokees, Mr. President, but here's a chance to at least somewhat balance out history. At this point, it doesn't appear you'll do so.

It is time to end this 'Trail of Tears', don't appeal.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Pretty Awesome to see

Chilean miner after miner brought to the surface. After the four healthiest have been hauled to the surface, they are now beginning to bring those in the toughest shape.

Naively, I hope this leads to some important reforms.

But probably not.

Thank You, New York Republican State Committee

But for you and your man Carl Paladino, and the two nobodies running against Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer*, these midterms would have been 100% dull and 100% depressing.

*Bet you didn't know Chuck was up for re-election this cycle. God knows I didn't, until Culture of Truth clued me in.

Thanks arbitrary and malevolent God

I don't really wonder "why" religions are quick to thank God for events that have favorable, but logical outcomes, but don't blame God for being an asshole when a young child drowns or a family dies in an earthquake. Forget thinking about why God put even the rescued in harm's way to begin with.

The three Christian denominations have each claimed credit for what they say is divine intervention in the survival - and expected imminent rescue - of the 33 men who have spent 67 days beneath the earth.

PZ Myers has a suggestion:

You know, the drill hasn't quite reached the miners. Maybe we should just shut down the machinery, withdraw all the tools and the laborers, and have [the three claimants of competing miracle claims] stand above the men and use their magic to complete the rescue. That would be impressive.

How the "sane" and "rational" people of Wasilla operate

They don't twitter, or farm out their facebook page, but they do this:

Fred Keller and Judy Foster of Wasilla, Alaska converted their 1976 Mazda pickup truck into a giant Radio Flyer wagon. It took 11 months to build. Keller says, "you kind of get the sensation of driving a sports car."

(pic via Gawker)

Dear famous athletes

Please stop taking pictures of your penis and sending it to others. Nobody, and I mean, nobody wants to see that and it isn't as funny as you think it is.

As any rational person would, I blame Judd Apatow.

(Note: Tavaris Jackson would like to remind you, he can get a team to 1 and 3 for about $18.5 million less and without taking pictures of his junk.)

I know he's going to lose really big

But can we keep Carl Paladino around as a regular media commenter? The man makes Sarah Palin look like her IQs is up in the mid-seventies.

And furthermore...

Oh yeah, vote for that guy:

A Colorado woman who claims she was raped five years ago has released a tape conversation between her and Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck, the Weld County district attorney, that she says proves he tried to blame her for the episode.

The secret recording by the victim, provided to The Colorado Independent, reveals Buck telling the woman the details appeared to show she consented to the sexual encounter, though he admits the woman " never said the word yes."

You stay classy, self-described leader of the GOP

Nowadays you have to work harder and think even less to out-pace the crazy once your candidates start re-enacting Operation Barbarossa every other weekend.

Limbaugh: "Mammograms are the covenant, the sacred covenant of feminazism"

I guess we know who is getting a speaker's fee from Hadassah Lieberman on behalf of the Susan G. Komen Foundation pretty soon.

Clearly unqualified

Nice timing:

President Obama sent three qualified nominees to the Senate several months ago to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve. Two were confirmed after significant delays. The third, MIT's Peter Diamond, was blocked by Senate Republicans.

It appears that the Nobel Prize committee was more impressed with Diamond than the GOP was.

The 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded on Monday to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A Pissarides for their work on markets where buyers and sellers have difficulty finding each other, in particular in labor markets.

For decades, the researchers have studied what happens when a market is not made up of identical, cookie-cutter units -- as is true with the job market, where all workers have different skills and weakness. In many cases, there are significant search costs to finding the ideal match between a buyer and a seller of a good, like the job to a job-seeker.

Keep in mind, he appears to have been blocked by one conservative senator, Alabama's Richard Shelby (R), who said Diamond, among the most accomplished economists of his generation, lacked the necessary qualifications for the Fed.

Diamond's Nobel prize in economics makes Shelby look a little more ridiculous this morning.

So, you're saying it's a day ending in "Y"?

Thank goodness, material...

Via Instaputz:

Rich Lowry:

Just a short notice: Comments are finally coming to the Corner, tomorrow if all goes as planned.

Well, that was pretty surprising

Apparently the opening for 'The Simpsons" last night was directed by a British street artist named Banksy that I'm not going to pretend I heard of before. Pretty strong:

Are we sure this isn't Elementary School Homeroom

Oh yes, manly men!

According to Charley Casserly of CBS, Brady and Moss had a verbal altercation before the trade and that the pair had to be separated. During the spat, Brady told his receiver to shave his beard. Moss responded that Brady should cut his hair, because he looks like a girl.

Don Blankenship just harrumphed himseld into a stupor

These Hungarians don't understand the free market:

The owners of the metals plant whose reservoir burst, flooding several towns in western Hungary with caustic red sludge, have expressed their condolences to the families of the seven people killed, as well as to those injured. They say they are sorry for not having done so sooner.

MAL Rt., which owns the alumina plant in Ajka, also said it was willing to pay compensation "in proportion to its responsibility" for the damage caused by the deluge.

And those folks were so close to becoming just like Republicans. The secret is to not only cause the disaster, but refuse to take responsibility and not apologize after.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]