Bisbah

Final Thoughts

2009-04-24T21:28:00.001-04:00

This is my last post for Bisbah for the foreseeable future. I'm spread out over too many things right now and I need to consolidate. And I have come to the conclusion, for now, that this site is something I have to put aside.

But before I do, I want to address something that has become apparent to everyone with half-a-brain; the implosion of the Republican Party.

I was a Republican for many, many years before leaving the party in late 2003. And while I mostly enjoy the widespread psychosis the GOP is suffering from, a small part of me is sad to see it happen. If only because a two-party system actually needs two functioning, logical parties to operate.

The question is, obviously, "Why?" Why has the GOP become the party of rudderless Teabag parties and crazed television pundits (take your pick, but I was refering to Glenn Beck)?

I think the answer can be found in how the two parties have developed over the past 10-20 years and the conditions they have found themselves in when out of power.

It's odd to say that the Democratic Party was out of power in the 90s, considering that Clinton was in the White House. But in a very real way, that was the case. Clinton was concerned with building his personal power, not the power of the party. And with the GOP controlling Congress for most of his two terms, the Democrats were even more disenfranchised as a party.

It's an old truism that when you put two Democrats in a room you'll get three opinions. And that can be a detriment at times to what the Democratic Party wants to achieve. But that fractiousness was actually a great benefit at that key moment in the 90s. With no leadership defining a clear vision for the Democrats, numerous party members began to form their own political visions for the party. Without talk radio to give orders (more on that later), multiple factions within the Democratic Party formulated their own platforms and policies.

And then the Internet came of age. No technology was better suited to the internal individualism inherent in the Democratic Party that the Internet. It allowed all these ideas and viewpoints to gain an equal hearing. It enabled unknowns to have a national platform and influence Democratic policy. Current bright lights in Congress like Senator Jon Tester and Congressman Larry Kissell would not be there without the party growth the Internet enabled to occur. Sites like Daily Kos created a clearinghouse for candidates, activists and regular people to interact, share ideas and most importantly, plan. Future party leaders and party ideals were formed here, independently of a party hierarchy whose main goal was to "be like the Republicans." That is why the Democratic Party today has all these leaders and ideas, and why there is a burgeoning groundswell pushing against the ossified remains of the old party control. That is why, when the opportunity to finally strike against the GOP came in the 2006 elections, the Democratic Party was able to cash in. They had competed amongst themselves in the "marketplace of ideas" and developed a coherent and resonant message that resounded with voters and still does today.

Which brings us to the Republicans.

It's the height of irony that, while the GOP talks about individualism and talks about the Democrats being wedded to collectivist ideas, the two parties act the opposite way internally. That tendency was cemented in the 90s in the GOP with the rise of talk radio and Rush Limbaugh. It provided an outlet for the conservative voters, the first voice on a truly national stage that agreed with them. And that continues today; no one has the ear and heart of the average Republican more than Rush Limbaugh.

Which is precisely the problem for the GOP. Talk radio reinforced the "top-down" model of control and dissemination in the GOP. It's not an interactive medium; one person talks and the others listen without any chance of real idea exchange (no, call-ins do not count). Deviation from what was considered orthodoxy was not tolerated. Party purity in thought and action was valued above all else; the actual ideas were, in fact, secondary to this.

Add to this the fact that the Republicans, to this day, labor under the idea of "Reagan". His presidency and policies have been appropriated by various GOP functionaries in and out of the party much in the way that the Russian Communists of the late 1920s and 30s used Lenin to their own ends. But whereas someone like Stalin came along to transcend Lenin and replace him, no one has been able to equal, let alone exceed, Reagan in the Republican Party. The result is that, 20+ years later after Reagan left office, the GOP still pushes the same ideas and policies that Reagan used in the 1980s. Every idea, every policy, is examined under that lens. And if it doesn't pass what they believe to be what they think Reagan would have thought of it, then that idea or policy is cast aside along with who proposed it.

Combine these two trends together, and it is no surprise that the GOP has gone off the rails. They have no policies to counter the Democratic plans for energy, healthcare and the economy because they haven't developed any new ideas since the 80s. They have no real rising stars with fresh ideas because there was never any catalyst for that kind of growth. It's a poorly-kept secret that Rush Limbaugh runs the GOP today. That stems directly from the way the party grew in the 90s. Whenever anyone crosses Rush, they pay a political price. It's an insane power structure but it's the one the GOP have built for themselves.

And that means when they find themselves out of power, as the GOP experienced in full in the last election, they have no logical way to respond. There is no "marketplace of ideas" because they squashed the market. There are no new leaders with new ideas because the contrarians have been run out or cut down. Eric Cantor is the closest thing to a rising star in the GOP. Does he have one new idea that hasn't been GOP orthodoxy since 1984?

And as I said before, the politicians and party heads pay fealty to the radio and television hosts. And their main concern isn't the party; it's ratings. Which means that Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity have their best interest at heart as opposed to the GOP's. And nothing drives ratings like bringing the crazy. So you have Rush mocking people with Parkinson's and Beck pretending to douse people in gasoline. And since these guys are the de facto leaders of the GOP, the actual politicians cannot distance themselves from these clowns for fear of alienating the voters who have grown up listening to this crap.

That, my friends, is how you have guys like Cantor and Boehner believing that saying "NO" as loud as possible and proposing more tax cuts for the wealthy passes as an actual opposition policy plan. It's a pathetic joke, and the rapidly-dawning truth is that they don't realize it's a pathetic joke. Which sucks for the country since one of the two parties is now officially bug-sh*t nuts.

How else can you explain a party where a sizable minority of their leadership now wants to call the Democratic Party the "Democrat Socialist Party"? That has elements believing the current president is a Muslim? Or not a citizen? How can you explain a party where a sizable minority believes that Muslims are about to take over America when they actually make up, at most, 2% of the population and are likely more around less than 1%? The GOP has become a party of charlatans and idiots, reduced to a rump status where they dominate in the South and barely exist anywhere else.

And that isn't going to change any time soon because the GOP cannot break free of their authoritarian, top-down method of organization. Hell, their biggest adaptation of modern technology is Twitter. The app where one person says what they think and millions read it. At it's essence, it isn't any different than talk radio.

The best thing for the GOP would be for them to listen to Meghan McCain and the guys who were running Culture 11, because they understand why the GOP is behind the 8-ball now and why it will only get worse. Hell, I didn't even get into demographics, which are completely against the Republicans. But you can bet your last dollar this will never happen. Instead, the GOP and their voters will listen to the increasingly secessionist, nativist and insane rantings of morons like Beck. And further drive themselves into irrelevance.

The real hope for honest conservatives, the kind represented in the media by people like Andrew Sullivan and Daniel Larison, would be to break free of the GOP and form their own party. But that, too, will never happen. Because that kind of independence has never been nurtured or tolerated in the Republican Party.

Anyway, take that for what it's worth. But please accept my genuine thanks for visiting my site over the past couple of years. Hopefully, I'll be able to one day come back to blogging here. Until then, thank you and good night.

Dave

Obama and Chavez: So F-ing What?

2009-04-20T20:28:00.005-04:00

So the new big "OMG Obama is a radical gay muslim commie fascist!!!!" moment is that he shook Hugo Chavez's hand at a recent summit. Never mind that he was being polite and Venezuela is 1/600 the size of the US. As far as the right is concerned, this was Chamberlain and Hitler all over again. Except Obama gets to play both parts and Chavez is Hitler II.

So I guess the problem is a US president shaking the hand of a dictator. Which is weird, because I remember a time when it wasn't such a big deal...

...when it was hardly on the radar...

...when it wasn't even a concern.

Ya...this whole shaking hands with dictators...I can see why Teh Right is so up in arms over it.

Dear Teabaggers

2009-04-15T21:20:00.003-04:00

Hey guys. I know you are feeling pretty proud of yourselves. I mean, 500 of you showed up in Boston today. Did you know that 7,000 people turned up to the original tea-party in Boston? You know, out of a total population of 15-18,000?

Anyway, since I know things like history and facts bore you, let's get to the point. Today you tea-bagged your way to about 100,000 people across America. That is some total. Did you know that in 2003, over 500,000 people protested the Iraq War in New York City alone? Do you remember how much of an effect that had?

Here's the thing...no one cares about you. Your protest is a bunch of spoiled ignorant little brats bitching about the fact that America rejected your political viewpoint in 2008. You. Lost. Grow a pair and get over it already.

I mean really...signs that say "No taxation without deliberation?" Are you that dumb? What do you think happens in Congress? There's deliberation, votes are taken and bills are passed. Your problem is that the people on your side can't pass wind in the Congress unless the Democratic majority allows it. You want things to change? Then get a platform and viewpoint that doesn't involve whack jobs like Glenn Beck crying on live television and amping the crazy dial to 11 every single damn day.

And all this talk about seceding? Ummm...go. Please. The United States would be a lot better off if you whack-jobs concentrated yourselves in Jesusland. And contrary to what you hear on Fox, Vermont ain't coming. But you can have Texas if that is what it takes to bleed the crazy out of the USA. We can still get our steaks from Missouri.

In conclusion, you are a sliver of a sliver of a percentage of the population. You are complaining about a tax plan that benefits most of you and a spending plan that barely goes above what the Dear Leader spent for the past eight years. And I don't remember you complaining all that much.

So good-bye. And please, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Well Then...

2009-04-14T22:10:00.002-04:00

Apparently, Governor Rick Perry of Texas thinks the rules just don't apply in the Lone Star State.

Gov. Rick Perry (R), who could face a tough challenge from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) in 2010, endorses a state resolution affirming Texas sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. "I'm here today to offer my unwavering support to...millions of Texans just like yourself that are tired of Washington, D.C. trying to come down here and tell us how to run Texas."

Governor Perry, on behalf of the majority of Americans that kicked your party's ass to curb, all I can say is "Fucking go already." Just leave us Austin and San Antonio. You can go Galt with the rest until the Sun becomes an ember for all we care.

Simply Bizarre

2009-04-07T09:32:00.002-04:00

How do you even label a story like this?

(CNN) -- The chase began with a stolen plane from a Canadian flight school, meandered through three states with U.S. fighter jets hot on the trail and forced the evacuation of the state Capitol in Wisconsin.

It ended about seven hours later in a Midwestern town of 360 people inside a general store off a narrow, dirt road -- with the suspect sipping on a Gatorade, waiting to be cuffed.

...

Authorities said they caught up there with Adam Leon, 31, after his 783-mile journey in the stolen Cessna 172 aircraft on Monday.

Leon was being held without bond Monday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Federal investigators plan to interview him later to determine whether he may have violated immigration law, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency said.

Really? They want to see if he violated immigration law? Isn't this a little beyond just an illegal border crossing? The guy stole a plane and was chased by fighter jets! I think whether or not his passport was in order is irrelevant here.

And how did those F-16s not overfly this guy in two seconds? They must have kept doubling back the whole time.

This Won't End Soon

2009-04-06T09:40:00.001-04:00

Another senseless slaughter of a family, this time in Washington.

This is one of the side effects of the rotten economic situation. Here you have what appears to be a wife cheating on her husband. In normal times, this could end in tragedy. But it would more likely end in divorce.

But when you have economic times like these...the stress, added to the bad situation, spills over and creates something like this.

And it isn't just families disintegrating. Look at the nutcase in Pittsburgh who killed three cops. Thanks to the stress generated by the current economic environment, he believed that far right-wing tripe that President Obama wanted to take his guns. And now three police officers are dead because of it.

This isn't going to end soon. Nothing brings out the worst in people like fear generated by a poor economy.

Ugh

2009-04-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

2 million jobs lost so far in '09

And unemployment has hit 8.5%, the highest level since October of 1983.

This is why we needed the stimulus bill. This is why we need the budget to get passed. And all the Republicans can say is that we may be trying to do too much.

The biggest financial crisis in a generation, and all the GOP wants to do is sit back and hope it sorts itself out.

Mr. Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, spoke of overreacting in response to a question about Rush Limbaugh’s role in the GOP. “Rush has got ideas. He’s got following. He believes in the conservative principles that many of us believe in — of lower taxes, or making sure that we turn back towards a focus on entrepreneurialism in this country, to promoting innovation and not stamping that out by overreacting, if you will, which this town often does, to crisis,” Cantor said.

I didn't bother mentioning the slavish devotion to the sex-tourist, pill-popping Limbaugh, because we already know he runs the GOP.

Can You Be A Christian And A Muslim?

2009-04-02T11:10:00.001-04:00

Religion is a tricky thing if you are going to be honest about it. The holy books are filled with contradictions. Ancient laws can be unsuitable for modern times.

I have always believed that no one religion is the "right" religion. That if you look at the myriad complexity of creation, the idea that there is just one right way to worship is ludicrous.

That said, I am pretty sure you cannot be a Christian minister and a Muslim at the same time. The two faiths, while sharing some key beliefs (that there is one God) also have many contradictions (the divinity of Jesus, for one).

Ms. Redding owed it to her parishioners to be able to give them the spiritual guidance they felt they needed. By becoming a Muslim, she was unable to give them that guidance. The Episcopal Church had no choice in the matter but to defrock her.

This isn't to demean or criticize Ms. Redding's choice. She felt the call of God from the Islamic faith and responded to it. And more power to her for doing it. The world would be a better place if more people were honest about their feelings and desires.

But as a Muslim, you cannot give Christians the spiritual guidance they require. Any more than I, as a Christian, could give a Muslim the guidance they would require. Or that a rabbi could give someone of the Hindu faith.

If Ms. Redding truly feels this strongly about holding both Christianity and Islam close to her heart, perhaps she should visit a Unitarian-Universalist congregation.

THIS Is The Republican Budget??

2009-04-01T15:29:00.001-04:00

I know it's April Fools Day ... but come on! This thing is lousy. The highlights:

Permanent deficits of $500 billion due to massive tax cuts
A new top rate of 25%, thereby giving even more money to the uber wealthy
Spending freezes in a recession
No more Medicare if you are under 55. You get subsidies for a private plan!

As Comic Book Guy would say: Worst. Plan. Ever.

Essentially, this is just more of the same from the GOP, with an extra side order of stupid. In other words, they still can't get beyond the ideas they used over the last eight years to run the country into the ground.

Boo. Hoo.

2009-04-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

So smokers are all upset that taxes went up on cigarettes. Whatever.

Look, if you want to smoke that's fine. But you're also engaging in a practice that has societal costs down the road when you're being treated for emphysema or some other lung-related illness. Just look at the tax as paying in advance for your care.

What's The Big Deal?

2009-03-31T11:13:00.000-04:00

Apparently the idea of Microsoft applying for $11 million in stimulus funds to finish a bridge is a bad idea?

The way I see it is this. The bridge will be used by everyone in Redmond, not just Microsoft employees. Microsoft has capped their costs on the bridge, which total half the cost of the bridge. And it will create 400 jobs that will last at least 18 months.

What am I missing here? It's a public-private partnership that benefits the community, improves traffic flow and creates jobs. Isn't this exactly the kind of job we want the stimulus money to go towards?

Rocket Man

2009-03-30T10:39:00.000-04:00

Kim Jong-Il...you are one crazy bastard.

(CNN) -- A North Korean rocket slated for launch sometime early next month can be clearly seen in a satellite photograph taken Sunday, the Institute for Science and International Security said Sunday.

The satellite imagery, obtained by the ISIS from DigitalGlobe, is said to show the rocket at the Musudan-ri launch site in northeastern North Korea. The image casts a shadow on the ground below.

....

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday there is little doubt that the planned launch is designed to bolster that North Korea's military capability.

And Gates is right, of course. This is a ICBM vehicle test disguised as a rocket lauch. It's common knowledge that the Taepodong 2 is what North Korea is hoping will one day become their first nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States. Right now, though, it cannot do so. It's range is too short in its current version and it's payload capacity would be too small for a crude North Korean nuclear warhead. There's also the slight problem that the North Koreans have yet to successfully test the rocket.

But if the North Koreans can successfully get this thing off the ground, they'll be able to put them into production. And while they may not be nuclear, they could be armed with chemical and biological weapons. And with their range and lack of accuracy, the North Koreans could terrorize nations like South Korea and Japan.

But the idea that they're on the verge of being able to nuke Hawaii? That's not even close to the truth.

The Future Of Iraq?

2009-03-29T09:51:00.003-04:00

Awakening Council, Iraqi security exchange gunfire

Can Iraq ever get past its ethnic divides? What happened here is (yet another) Shia/Sunni conflict between two groups that are ostensibly on the same side.

The US armed the Sunni groups in an effort to quell Al Qaeda in Iraq. But the Awakening Groups were never integrated into the governmental structure or given any kind of authority.

So now, as the US turns authority over to the Shia-dominated government, they are not paying the Awakening groups their money. Nor are they integrating these units into the Iraqi military in any meaningful way.

The result is these Sunni groups are being marginalized once again. Except this time they have cash, weapons and training from the US military. Unless concrete steps are made by the Shia government to give the Sunni minority a meaningful role in the future of Iraq, there will never be peace in the country.

Welcome Back, World Trade Center

2009-03-28T10:23:00.002-04:00

And say goodbye to Freedom Tower.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The agency that owns the space where the World Trade Center towers stood is freeing itself of the term "freedom" to describe the signature skyscraper replacing the buildings destroyed on September 11, 2001.

....

"We've referred to the primary building planned for the site as One World Trade Center -- its legal name and street address -- for almost two years now, as well as using the name the Freedom Tower," said Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Port Authority, in a statement released to CNN. "Many will always refer to it as the Freedom Tower, but as the building moves out of the planning stage and into full construction and leasing, we believe that going forward it is most practical to market the building as One World Trade Center."

I'm fine with this. Calling it the "Freedom Tower" always smacked of the chest-thumping braggadocio that defined the Bush years. I'm surprised they didn't try to rename a road nearby as "America Kicks Ass Boulevard".

Calling it One WTC I think is just as powerful a statement. It says "You can knock us down and we'll just get back to business." Calling it "Freedom Tower"...did we rename the White House "The English Suck House" after they burned it down in 1814?

Least Surprising News Ever

2009-03-27T13:16:00.000-04:00

Dogs, cats send 86,000 Americans flying annually

Really? Pets trip their owners all the time? You don't say!

Anyone who has a pet knows this. My family has two cats. One of them is just a titch smaller than a VW Beetle. That SOB cuts in front of me all the time when I am carrying things and stands behind me when I need to back up. She must think I included her in my will.

Sleep Easy, Boston

2009-03-26T16:15:00.001-04:00

Your vampire nightmares have been ended.

A school administrator wants to set the record straight: There are no vampires at Boston Latin.

The headmaster of the prestigious exam school took the unusual step today of sending a notice to faculty, students, and parents saying that "rumors involving 'vampires'" had begun spreading through the building Wednesday, causing disruption and anxiety for a number of students.

Lynne Mooney Teta asked everyone's help in calming the school community down.

I want to mock Teta here for sending the notice as opposed to getting on the PA system and telling the students to get their heads out of their collective ass.

But really, the problem here is the students. This is Boston Latin, one of the most prestigious exam schools in the country. Benjamin Franklin went to school here. And we have gone from a Founding Father to a student body that actually believed vampires were at the school.

Jesus wept.

Vampires. Are. Not. Real. Especially the Mormonized ones that Stephanie Meyer writes about. Good Lord, what's next? Mummies on the prowl at the MFA? Wolfmen at the Franklin Park Zoo?

A New Low

2009-03-26T12:51:00.001-04:00

Why pick on President Obama when you can target his wife?

House Republicans are pressing for a change in federal law that could force Michelle Obama and future first ladies to do more of their policy work in public. But Democrats warn President Obama may take the attempt personally “as an attack on his wife.”

The GOP effort is being led by the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), whose initial salvo was rebuffed recently at a contentious committee markup session. Under Issa’s amendment, any government policy group that Mrs. Obama or another first spouse regularly participates in would be subject to a law requiring meetings to be announced in advance and, in most instances, public.

This is just horrendous. And the appalling thing is that the right-wing will applaud this non-stop. And all the while the rest of the country will be disgusted with them.

And correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember Issa being concerned about this when Laura Bush was the first lady...

As a husband, I know what I would say in a situation like this. And since President Obama is too polished and cool to say it in public, allow me...

Fuck you, Darrell. Get a pair. If you want to take on Obama, be a fucking man and go at him instead of going after his wife. You should be ashamed of yourself, you fucking prick.

Wild Weather

2009-03-26T09:54:00.000-04:00

Apparently the entire middle of the United States is getting hammered with wild weather.

Tornadoes in Mississippi. Snow in Texas. And a potentially historic flood in North Dakota.

The Southport section of Bismarck was swamped with a few inches to several feet of water, North Dakota emergency officials said.

The National Weather Service issued a foreboding forecast for the state, saying that many rivers were at flood level -- the worst being the Red River, which was predicted to have a historic 41-foot crest by Saturday.

The last flood near that level was in 1997 when the river crested at 39.6 feet. The record for the Red River in Fargo, the state's most populous city, was set in 1897 at 40.1 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In other words, no one alive today has ever seen the Red River crest this high.

Is it just me, or has this kind of extreme weather been on the rise the past few years?

Voice In The Wilderness

2009-03-24T09:44:00.001-04:00

This is the shape the Republican Party is in: Meghan McCain makes the most sense.

And I don't mean that as an insult to Ms. McCain. Rather, it is a reflection on the current state of the GOP that a 24-year old woman who doesn't hold a position of authority or elected office understands what ails the party better than anyone else within the GOP.

The Republican Party cannot survive as a narrow-minded, reactionary party driven by fear and hate. It simply can't. And with Limbaugh's drug-addled frame filling the captain's seat, that is the path the GOP is traveling down right now.

The problem for the GOP is that selling that kind of worldview alienates them from the 18-35 age group and from Latinos. And those happen to be two of the fastest-growing demographics in the country. The GOP's base is dying off and their response is to cling tighter to their dwindling numbers.

And so Ms. McCain's plea for a new direction will go unheeded. And instead we will hear more about "socialism" and that crazy volcano monitoring money. Because stupid is as stupid does.

Is Larry Praising Obama?

2009-03-23T15:51:00.002-04:00

President Obama spoke earlier today and the Dow is up almost 500 points.

Now, these two things have little if anything to do with one another. But over at NRO, pseudo-economist Larry Kudlow loves to do two things:

Tie any stock bump that occurred before Jan. 21, 2009 to George Bush
Tie any stock drop from September 2009 onward to Barack Obama.

And he has elaborate ways of doing this. But one thing he seems reticent to do is to praise Obama for a stock hike.

Odd, isn't it? But with today's jump, I don't see how Larry can avoid it. Unless he knows this (and he himself) has always been a farce and was just a cheap way to attack President Obama and the Democrats.

Larry...your pathetic agenda is showing.

Somewhere, A Louisiana Governor Softly Weeps

2009-03-23T09:27:00.000-04:00

Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupts

I guess that whole "who needs volcano monitoring" line Bobby Jindal spun out a few weeks back looks even dumber today. Especially when you figure that Mount Redoubt is only 100 miles away from Anchorage.

The GOP and science really just don't get along well, do they?

Late-Night Gaffe

2009-03-20T10:02:00.002-04:00

Yes, President Obama put his foot in it. It's the kind of comment people make all the time when refering to their sporting skills (or lack thereof). And it's wrong when any of us do it as well.

To the President's credit, however, at least he apologized for his mistake and is getting more engaged with the Special Olympics. It's not as if he, say, made a joke about looking for WMD's while American soldiers were dying in a war of his choosing based, in part, on those mythical WMDs existing. And then never even realized he said anything wrong, let alone apologized for it.

When President Obama starts pulling moves like that, then I'll find some outrage.

New Message From Bin Laden

2009-03-19T09:59:00.000-04:00

This time he wants the President of Somalia overthrown.

Really, this whole post is to point out, again, that this is the guy who is ultimately responsible for the deaths of over 3,000 American citizens. And that George Bush had over six years to capture him and didn't do a damn thing. "Kept America Safe" my ass.

The GOP's Dirty Secret

2009-03-18T09:54:00.004-04:00

Well, it isn't really a secret. In fact, it is pretty obvious. For all of the GOP's bluster about wanting smaller government, they seem to achieve the opposite.

After the past eight years in American politics, it is impossible to reconcile current promises by conservatives for small government with the historical record of President Bush's administration. Most experts on the left and right can find one issue upon which to agree: The federal government expanded significantly after 2001 when George W. Bush was in the White House.

The growth did not just take place with national security spending but with domestic programs as well. Even as the administration fought to reduce the cost of certain programs by preventing cost-of-living increases in benefits, in many other areas of policy -- such as Medicare prescription drug benefits, federal education standards and agricultural subsidies -- the federal government expanded by leaps and bounds. And then there are the costs of Afghanistan and Iraq.

And as Zelizer points out, this isn't just an issue with George W. Bush. Almost every Republican president over the past 40+ years has presided over an expansion of the federal government.

Even Reagan.

And yet the Republicans continue to crow about their dedication to small government. Even though all the evidence and past history point to the exact opposite. And that is because the GOP doesn't believe in small government. They believe in government working for a small part of the American population. The distinction matters.

This Works For Me

2009-03-17T10:05:00.002-04:00

Chris Dodd, the senior senator from Connecticut, has a lot of problems. His re-election campaign in 2010 being the biggest one. But he's got this one right.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd on Monday suggested a tax provision to recoup the bonuses for executives of ailing insurance giant AIG.

Dodd, D-Connecticut, said the notion is in the "earliest of thinking" and has not been settled on as a way to resolve the issue, which has set off outrage in Washington and across the country.

The tax would apply only to those at AIG who have received bonuses. The provision would help the government get back the money in the form of tax revenue.

The idea would be to set a tax rate on bonus money for bank executives at banks who have a certain amount of their stock held by the government. And the percentage being tossed around right now would apply to only AIG.

This is a blunt weapon to be sure. But if AIG is going to hide behind the contracts and this "best and brightest" B.S., then you do what you need to do.

Read This

2009-03-16T12:28:00.003-04:00

Read all of this. Read the descriptions of torture perpetrated by US personnel. Tortured ordered by the highest officials in the Bush Administration, including the President and Vice-President. And then ask yourself something.

If these acts were inflicted upon Americans, would you call them "enhanced interrogation techniques" or torture? Would you consider it a trifle or be enraged by these acts?

So why should it be different now? Human decency is human decency. Right is right no matter the situation. And torture is not only useless, it is wrong.

This, more than anything else, is the lasting shame of the Bush Administration. And we all own a piece of it, because it was done in our name. The question is what we will do to repudiate it.

Pity The Poor Millionaire

2009-03-15T08:21:00.002-04:00

Treasury pressure leads to AIG scaling back bonuses

Let me get this straight; AIG needs to pay these huge bonuses because, according to CEO Edward Liddy, they are necessary to "...attracting and retaining 'the best and the brightest'".

Would these "best and brightest" be the same guys who drove AIG into the ground and helped to create the economic turmoil we are all now enjoying? Are these the same guys who helped to invent these increasingly bizarre financial vehicles that are little more than Ponzi schemes with a legal veneer? Oh, by all means, let's do all we can to keep these guys around. Bonuses for all!

Liddy, you should count your blessings that you and the rest of the suits aren't doing life in the pen. Be thankful that lower bonuses are all you are dealing with.

Color Me Unimpressed

2009-03-14T17:49:00.003-04:00

I guess some people will get the vapors over this.

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia expressed interest in using Cuban airfields during patrol missions of its strategic bombers, Russia's Interfax news agency reported

"There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us," Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev told Interfax.

Zhikharev, who is the chief of staff of the Russian Air Force's long-range aviation, said, "If the two chiefs of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there."

They may even base bombers in *gasp* Venezuela! Oh noes!! Build me a bomb shelter! Duck and Cover!!

This is all so much bullshit. Economically, it would be insane for the Russians to base bombers in Cuba. Unless they feel that a country that makes most of its money through the sale of oil should foot the massive cost of maintaining a strategic bomber fleet abroad when oil is at $40 a barrel. In which case they actually are insane if they go ahead with it.

Then there is the small matter of the Fourth Fleet being re-established and based in Florida. And all the Navy and Air Force facilities that dot the landscape along the Gulf of Mexico and Florida's Atlantic coast. I just have this odd feeling that if any Russian Backfires and Bears decided to wander northwards that they wouldn't get too far.

Of course, the odds of that ever happening approach zero. What this is all about is Russia getting theirs from us after the US Navy went into the Black Sea and the Georgia after that ill-considered little war. Their national pride was offended and so they see this as a way to tweak our nose. Considering that this would cost them a ton of money they don't really have, it's more a case of them cutting off their nose to spite their face.

This Was No Contest

2009-03-13T15:44:00.004-04:00

This was like Ali-Liston in Lewiston, and Stewart was in the role of The Greatest of All Time.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Cramer should have thrown in the towel two minutes into the bout.

The Results Of A Horrible Idea

2009-03-12T14:45:00.003-04:00

Who the hell thought it was a good idea to monitor sex offenders with GPS trackers.

Darrin Sanford, 30, was one of several homeless people living near the field in an abandoned home slated for demolition, police said.

He was convicted in 1998 of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and luring minors with sexual motivation; he was sentenced to probation, said a Clark County sheriff's report. When he was released from jail in January, following a November probation violation, Sanford was fitted with a global positioning tracking unit on his ankle, according to the Washington Department of Corrections.

Sanford was wearing the device seven weeks later when he tried to rape Licy before beating and stabbing her in a field a couple of blocks from the street where she lived, according to police.

I am not someone who thinks we need to lockup everyone from traffic offenders to pot dealers to mass murderers. Frankly, we need to reevaluate our policies regarding punishment vs. rehabilitation.

But there is one class of criminal that can't be allowed to access the public at will regardless of their legal status, and that is pedophiles. And a case like this just reinforces that simple truth.

Pedophiles are recidivists of the worst kind. And they prey on the most innocents members of the public. I'd sooner give a armed robber a GPS tracker than a pedophile.

I still think my old idea of Pedophile Island was a good one. Put them all on an island with housing and food and entertainment. They can vote and work and earn money. But they can't leave. Period.

Cool History News

2009-03-11T20:09:00.002-04:00

No politics today, just a look at the rich history in the Middle East.

After a group of Israeli farmers sought last year to expand their property in the hills near Jerusalem, they discovered an archeological gem beneath the dirt.

A team led by Daniel Ein Mor barely had to scratch the surface before finding the remains of a Byzantine monastery, he told CNN on Wednesday.

"The excavation at Nes-Harim supplements our knowledge about the nature of the Christian-Byzantine settlement in the rural areas between the main cities in this part of the country during the Byzantine period," including Jerusalem, Mor said.

I love stuff like this. And if it wasn't for the fact that everyone seems to be trying to kill each other over there, I'd love to visit and explore the whole region. Not only for things like this, but other periods in history. I'd love to see the Krak des Chevaliers someday, for example, but it is in Syria.

Tiresome Chinese

2009-03-10T18:55:00.002-04:00

Why do we always have to deal with this crap when a new President takes charge?

In case you forgot, when Bush took over in early 2001 the Chinese took down one of our planes by flying too close to it. This time it's the Chinese violating international standards more than 100 miles off their shore. But it's always the same story.

I guess we are supposed to fear their trawlers or something. They should be more concerned by the fact the US Navy could blockade their ports and blow the PLA Navy out of the water.

Can We Deport These People?

2009-03-09T09:07:00.003-04:00

It's bad enough that people are getting laid off because of genuine economic stress in this environment. But for people to lose their jobs from someone's greed...that is inexcusable.

(CNN) -- A former official of a cabinet company that has laid off employees has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling $9.9 million from the company over seven years.
Annette Yeomans is accused of using Quality Woodworks' funds to pay her credit card bills, police say.

Annette Yeomans, who was chief financial officer for California-based Quality Woodworks, was arrested Wednesday after a yearlong investigation, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Because of the embezzlement, the San Marcos, California, company was forced to lay off employees and restructure, police said.

"She used these monies to gamble. She used them to remodel her home. She used them to buy expensive clothes, shoes, [including] a $4,000 pair of Italian shoes. She had more than 400 pairs of shoes in her closet," Sgt. Mark Varnau of the Sheriff's Department told CNN. "She had 160 high-end purses valued at $2,000 apiece."

The result of this Bush-Era mentality is that workers lost their jobs while Yeomans profited and gambled.

This is just an extreme form of the greed that the uber-wealthy have developed over the past decade. Just look at the recent movement amongst the right-wing wealthy to talk about "going Galt", a reference to Ayn Rand's overrated novel "Atlas Shrugged" and it's protagonist John Galt. In short, because President Obama wants to return the highest marginal tax rate to where it was in the late 90s, all these emotionally-stunted idiots want to take their "necessary skills" and leave America for some mythical land where they will be worshiped and can make their millions in peace.

Well, to these asshats I say "Good luck and good riddance."

Which one of you has the valuable skills America can't live without? The lawyer? That's one resource the country has in abundance; a culling would be beneficial. The stockbroker? No one will miss you. The banker or trader? Since you are responsible for this mess, we know how valuable you actually are.

As for the doctor or dentist...I have been around enough to know that most of these selfless people aren't in it for the money. That's a benefit to be sure, but it isn't their primary motivator. And for the medical practitioners who are motivated more by money, I think we'd be better off if they left.

As for where these poor, down-trodden millionaires could go and find some real appreciation? The UAE and Russia always beckon. Maybe a farm in Mexico would be more to their liking. Not like there is any trouble down thataway.

Hiatus

2009-03-03T23:37:00.001-05:00

My four-year old daughter is currently in a hospital bed with a tube draining fluid out of her chest cavity. I don't know when she will be coming home, so I am taking a break from writing as we work to get her well and get her home.

This is just a break, not an ending. And for all I know, I may need to write from time to time just to give myself a mental break.

Keep us in your prayers.

Dave

GOPL

2009-03-03T10:37:00.003-05:00

That would be the Grand Old Party of Limbaugh. Because after RNC Chairman Michael Steele genuflected before the Almighty Rush and apologized for insulting the Icon, it's obvious who is running the show on the Right.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he, not Limbaugh, is in charge of the GOP.

But that was two days ago. Monday, after a blistering response from the conservative talk-radio kingpin, Steele told the online journal Politico that he "was maybe a little bit inarticulate."

"There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership," Steele said. He added, "There are those out there who want to look at what he's saying as incendiary and divisive and ugly. That's what I was trying to say. It didn't come out that way."

How pathetic. How sad. But it is obvious to all now that the GOP has inexplicably made Limbaugh the leader of their party. A talk show host more concerned with ratings and conflict than genuine policy is the de facto head of one of the two major parties in the US.

Someone else made this analogy and I wish I could remember who, but it goes like this; this is akin to the Democrats in the 1980s making Jesse Jackson the head of their party. Which is exactly right. Both men represent a wing of their parties you have to deal with, but you'd be insane to make them party leaders. But the GOP apparently feels the way to regain relevance is to double-down on the crazy.

This Is Porkulus??

2009-03-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

As the economic downturn continues (AIG bleeding out another $60 billion just being the highlight), there is a (relatively) bright spot: green jobs.

Across the country, [people] are looking to the renewable energy sector in hopes its "green-collar jobs" will offer them stability in this shaky economy. Some are signing up for community college or apprenticeship programs that train students to be wind turbine mechanics, solar panel installers, fuel-cell engineers or energy efficiency experts.

Government support has rallied excitement for the prospect of a green jobs corps, as President Obama's stimulus package puts about $20 billion into greening the economy, according to the White House.

And it's not only new jobs that are being created. Workers that were getting laid off are now being brought back. This will even extend into the construction industry as people take advantage of tax breaks to make their homes more energy efficient. And in a time where almost every economic indicator is in the negative, news like this is most welcome.

This is what the stimulus package is doing for America. This is the plan that every Republican in Congress (save three) voted against. This is the plan that Rush Limbaugh wants the GOP to rail against. Well, feel free to do so guys. I will enjoy watching the Republicans descend into further irrelevance.

This Is Why The GOP Is DOA

2009-03-01T09:41:00.002-05:00

Rush Limbaugh calls on conservatives to take back nation

Is it really a good idea to have a talk-show host essentially set the agenda for a major political party?

Think about it for a second. A talk-show host, especially on the radio, is concerned above all with ratings. With getting as many people as possible to listen to them. And the easiest way to do that is to engage in ridiculous rants and juvenile stunts that focus on the trivial minutiae of the moment. Which pretty much sums up Limbaugh's career.

However, that is not the goal of a major political party. They should be focused on policy issues and ideas that shape the years to come. What the GOP has done at CPAC is give the unofficial top spot to a radio show host who has no interest in the long-term survival of the GOP. I mean, look at this crap Limbaugh is spewing:

"We conservatives have not done a good enough job of just laying out basically who we are, because we make the mistake of assuming that people know. What they know is largely incorrect, based on the way we're portrayed in pop culture, in the drive-by media, by the Democrat party," the conservative talk show host told a mostly young crowd of energized supporters.

Actually, Rush, you and the Republicans have done a fine job of laying out who you are. We had eight years to get a close look at your handiwork. It sucks. That's why the GOP got tossed out on its ass.

I guess I am just amazed that the GOP has decided to embrace the full-on crazy rather than engage in a period of genuine reflection to figure out why they got hammered. Indiana didn't vote for Obama simply because conservatives didn't lay out who they were. They voted for Obama because they understood all too well who conservatives were.

But hey, if the GOP wants to run downhill into irrelevance who am I to stop them?

Teh Stoopid Really Hurts

2009-02-27T12:27:00.001-05:00

Words fail me.

Steele, addressing CPAC’s Presidential Banquet, told the audience that “the conservative movement must become a revolution,” and the goal “must be nothing less than the transformation of America.”

“Tonight, we tell America that Republican values, conservative values, are right for America,” he said, admitting that the party has made some mistakes. “Tonight, we tell America: we know the past, we know we did wrong. My bad. But we go forward in appreciation of the values that brought us to this point.”

Steele, you blundering idiot, those values are why the United States is in such a god-damned mess right now! Do you really expect us to forget who has been running the show the past eight years? For 30 years the GOP has run on a message of low taxes and low spending, and then decide to spend a ton of money. That has never changed, ergo, those are your values. Combine those two things and you get massive deficits, like the one we have now.

Then add in rampant, uncontrolled deregulation. Isn't that an old-school GOP value Mr. Steele? Hasn't that been a hallmark of the last eight years? And what has that gotten us? Oh right, a massive global economic collapse.

The Republicans continue to believe that their values and ideas are perfect and sacrosanct, when what we are living right now is the sum of those ideas put into practice. And yet they think that with a little spit and polish, those great ideas will somehow miraculously change everything those same ideas just did.

As a rational party, the GOP is DOA.

Your Conscience Doesn't Trump My Rights

2009-02-27T10:23:00.001-05:00

One of President Bush's last right-wing crap sandwiches that he fed to the country was the "conscience rule." It allowed health-care workers to deny abortion counseling, family planning services, and even drugs to patients if it violated their moral beliefs. Which of course meant no morning-after pill for someone simply because the pharmacist didn't like it, the rights of the woman be damned.

What the President ignored is that this could extend to all other kinds of areas. What if the healthcare worker didn't like blacks or whites? Hated men? Italians? Catholics? The potential for abuse was huge.

Thank God for the adults.

WASHINGTON — Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers to deny abortion counseling or other family-planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials.

The rollback of the "conscience rule" comes just two months after the Bush administration announced it last year in one of its final policy initiatives.

The new administration's action seems certain to stoke ideological battles between supporters and opponents of abortion rights over the responsibilities of doctors, nurses and other medical workers to their patients.

If your job violates your conscience, you don't have the right to make other people suffer for it. Resign or get over it. There are things about every job I have held that I didn't like on moral grounds. It didn't give me the right to simply decide I wouldn't do them. You decide if you can live with it or not. And if you can't, then you move on.

From Texas' Heart, I Stab At Thee...

2009-02-27T09:52:00.000-05:00

One last kick in the national 'nads from George W. Bush.

The nation's economic slide during the last three months of 2008 was even sharper than previously estimated, with the broadest gauge of economic activity suffering its worst decline in 26 years, the government reported Thursday.

Gross domestic product, which measures the output of goods and services produced in the United States, fell at an annual rate of 6.2% in the fourth quarter, adjusted for inflation, according to a preliminary report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

If you remember, the BEA thought it was going to be "only" a 3.8% contraction. Guess they were just a wee bit off. That makes Q4 2008 the worst quarter for GDP since 1Q 1982, when we suffered a 6.4% drop.

This isn't good, and it will likely get worse before it gets better. This is why the stimulus package was so important. Government spending and purchasing of goods will put a dent in this decline. That is what it is supposed to do; fill the gap until the economy can get back on track. We probably won't see that difference until Q3 2009 at the earliest. Most programs by incoming Presidents that get passed aren't seen in the economic numbers for almost a year. But Obama's was passed so quickly I would guess we'll see an effect a little faster.

And if you want a silver lining, I only have one. The rest of the global economy seems to be doing worse; the dollar is stronger across the board against foreign currencies. This is due, in my opinion, to the fact that we still have the largest mature economy in the world. Out of all the countries in the world, the United States is the only one that could even try to run an autarky, which - if you are unfamiliar with the term - is a self-sufficient economy. I am not suggesting we do that - I am free trader (though not at the slavish level of the GOP). But that ability to be self-sufficient will benefit us in a global downturn.

Doing It Like An Adult

2009-02-26T09:37:00.001-05:00

It doesn't seem like much at first.

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for more than $200 billion to fund U.S. war efforts for the next year and a half, according to defense officials.

The request will be for $75.5 billion for 2009 to cover the cost of sending more troops to Afghanistan this year and an additional $130 billion for the rest of fiscal 2009, according to the sources.

But this is a major shift in budgetary policy. Under President Bush, these funding requests were always attached to supplemental spending bills or buried in other bills so they could shift and hide the true cost of the war.

President Obama has made this request as a part of the standard defense budget request. Which means that we will see the cost of the war in the budget very clearly.

Every day President Obama makes the political process more and more transparent as opposed to the Bush Administration. As I have said before, it's nice to have adults back in charge.

Best Since Reagan

2009-02-25T10:11:00.000-05:00

And what I mean by that is that no since Reagan has been able to give a speech like President Obama gave last night. It was a masterclass on how to deliver a difficult message in optimistic tones while crippling your opposition.

Look at what he did last night. President Obama talked about overhauling the health-care system, creating a massive program to ensure an adequate education for every American child, a service program to make college affordable, letting taxes go back up on the wealthy...all things that the Republicans oppose. But the President did it in such a way that they couldn't really oppose him by not applauding. They tried it once when President Obama talked about S-CHIP and they looked like bitter cranks for it.

President Obama laid out a left-center agenda in centrist rhetoric and it worked like a charm. And most Americans are on board with it. A CNN poll had 92% of those polled with a very positive or somewhat positive reaction. That is incredible.

It didn't hurt that Obama was able to talk about taxes on the wealthy and why the bank bailout was necessary in populist terms. He made it really easy to understand why both were necessary.

But most of all, President Obama didn't dumb it down. He came out and told us that things are bad, that he has ideas, that we need to come together and that we will, as we always have, get through this. He treated us as adults, which is a welcome change.

As for Jindal's response? To say it wasn't good would be a kindness. It was like Mr. Rogers lecturing lobotomized monkeys.

President Obama Steamrolls The GOP

2009-02-24T22:22:00.004-05:00

The speech was fantastic. Masterful. Inspiring.

Not only did he lay out the hard work we have ahead of us in optimistic tones, but he completely boxed in the GOP. He gave them no applause lines. And the one they tried to use on the deficit, he turned back on them as he reminded them who saddled us with this deficit.

President Obama had the GOP applauding for health care reform. He reminded everyone that he instituted the largest tax cut in American history. And he forced them to applaud time and time again.

And Jindal's response? Pretty damn lame.

Update: Why would someone in the GOP invoke Katrina??

Update 2: Almost everyone thinks Jindal gave a lousy speech. And he did. It was tone deaf, poorly delivered and bereft of vision. Epic Fail.

Big Speech Tonight

2009-02-24T09:31:00.001-05:00

President Obama's Address to Congress is important. Maybe more important than we realize. Because in moments like these, a nation can be inspired or it can be frightened.

The President will have to walk a fine line. Things are bad right now, and if he glosses over that, Americans will not trust or believe in what he has to say. But if he is too pessimistic, people will just be more fearful.

But if anyone can strike the right mix of sober assessment and optimism for the future, it is President Obama. And I do truly believe that he will give the speech that not only is the one he needs to give, but the one we need to hear.

Because we will get through this. It will take work and sacrifice, but we will get through this. The United States is not going to crumble to dust based on the lousy stewardship of George W. Bush. We've survived worse.

What I want to know is how President Obama wants to approach the problems we have. And one solution has to be universal health care. We spend too much on health care in the US and part of the result is infant mortality rates that look like they belong in Chad. Our system also cripples business' abilities to compete overseas by adding extra cost to their products. I think this is a key area that must be reformed.

I would guess the President already knows that. I just hope he talks about it.

Richard Shelby - Still An Asshole

2009-02-23T11:52:00.001-05:00

It takes a special kind of jerk to spread crap like this.

Alan Keyes isn't the only one keeping alive rumors that Barack Obama isn't a natural born citizen.

At an event last week in Alabama, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) answered a question from a constituent in a way that indicates he still holds doubts, according to the Cullman Times.

Said Shelby: "Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president."

For the record Senator Shelby, all that has to occur is for his mom to be an American citizen. Which she is. The fact he was also born in Hawaii was just a bonus. As for the certificate, Senator, the only way not to have seen it is to be either willfully blind or a right-wing conspiracy idiot. Maybe you are a little of both?

But the larger issue is that Shelby is a United States Senator and wields immense power in the structure of the federal government when it is apparent that his is a bit of a moron. And so the question is whom do we blame for this: Shelby or the idiot voters of Alabama who put him in office?

Important Things To Remember When Sailing The Atlantic Ocean

2009-02-23T09:28:00.002-05:00

1. The Coast Guard doesn't have to rescue you.

I had no idea the Coast Guard could just leave you to over a month of drifting at sea. I would just think that, over a 30-day period, some kind of recovery mission could be mounted. What were they going to do if the couple had run out of food?

Apologies In Order?

2009-02-21T10:06:00.002-05:00

Police may be close to arrest in Chandra Levy case

And the suspect isn't Gary Condit.

How many of us remember the media firestorm surrounding Levy's disappearance? It was the last big media dustup before 9/11. It dominated the news and pretty much everyone thought that then-Representative Gary Condit had killed his intern.

Well, guess again. The DC Police are set to arrest a current inmate in the DC system named Ingmar Guandique.

So, all these years later, I think we owe Condit a bit of an apology. Sure, he didn't help himself with his attitude, or the revelation he had an affair with Levy, or that he was never truly open with the press. But he didn't kill her, either. Which is what a lot of people were insinuating all these years.

Everyone Take A Deep Breath On The Iran Nukes Story

2009-02-20T10:34:00.001-05:00

Before everyone gets the vapors and believes Iran can build a nuclear device, you need to do two things.

1. Relax.

2. Have a cup of coffee and listen.

What the Iranians have right now is low-enriched uranium (LEU). A little over 2,200 pounds of it. This happens to be the kind of fuel that the Iranians require to power the soon-to-be-finished Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Bushehr uses light water reactors (LWRs), and LWRs use low-enriched uranium.

We also don't know how enriched this low-enriched uranium is. Most LWRs use LEU that has a uranium concentration of 5% or so. You would have to exceed 20% to reach the level of high-enriched uranium. And to have weapons-grade uranium you would have to reach a level of 85% or more. And the process of converting LEU to weapons-grade is very obvious.

Add to this the fact that the Iranians have no experience in building any nuclear device, let alone the specialized ones that would go on a missile. You take all of these facts together and the result is that the Iranians are still far away from having a nuclear device. If, in fact, they want one.

Let's do the logic here. After all this work, the Iranians have enough material to refine down to create a single, rudimentary nuclear device. And we aren't talking ICBMs here either, but a bomb. Say they build this bomb...what then? Are they going to drop it on the Israelis? First off, they'd have to fly over Iraq and Jordan to get there. Then you'd have the obvious response, which would be Israel using a handful of their 200+ nuclear weapons to obliterate Iran.

Don't you think the Iranians know this? Call them what you will, but they aren't morons. There is no benefit in them having a nuke when Israel is itching for an excuse to glass over the whole country.

The bottom line is this; right now, there is still nothing that would indicate the Iranians are doing anything other than ramping up for the activation of the Bushehr nuclear facility. Yes, the IAEA should ramp up their inspection schedule and keep a tight watch in Natanz and other areas. But we aren't at DEFCON-1 here, people, no matter what some doomsayers may be yelling at the moment.

Post Apologizes...Kind Of

2009-02-20T09:49:00.000-05:00

After an uproar over an editorial cartoon that many felt had racial overtones, the New York Post has issued an apology. Well, not really. It's one of those "If you're offended, we're sorry" non-apology apologies.

The Post said the cartoon was meant to mock what it called an "ineptly written" stimulus bill.

"But it has been taken as something else -- as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism," reads the statement. "This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize."

But the statement immediately swerves to fire back at some of the image's critics.

"However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past -- and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback," the statement says. "To them, no apology is due. Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon -- even as the opportunists seek to make it something else."

To be fair, for the Post to even go that far in an apology is a milestone of sorts.

I guess my take on this is that it was just a lousy cartoon. If you are not clearly communicating your point, then you did a bad job. The best editorial cartoonists leave no room for misunderstandings.

Of course, one could argue there is no misunderstanding here and that the Post and Sean Delonas knew exactly what they were doing. And when you weight the two explanations for the cartoon, which one carries more weight? Which one makes more sense?

I mean, it's not like anyone has played this particular race card before, now have they?

Fo' Shizzle My Stizzle

2009-02-19T13:26:00.001-05:00

The GOP doesn't need a new message, just some flashy bling and a video with Avid wipes!

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says his party is going to launch an "off the hook" public relations campaign that will update the GOP’s image by translating it to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings."

The new GOP leader told the Washington Times that the party’s defeat in states such as North Carolina and Virginia made it clear they needed a new approach.

“We need messengers to really capture that region — young, Hispanic, black, a cross section…” he said in an interview published Thursday. “We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

Oh, I can see it now...

"Yo! Yo! Yo! Tax cuts for the wealthy are off the hook, playa!"

"Me and my crew are down for eliminating the capital gains tax!"

"Same-sex marriage? That's whack, yo!"

And yes, my painfully lame use of slang is on purpose. Because the issue isn't how the GOP delivers its message. It's the message itself that is the problem. People look at the economy and look at what the GOP is offering them, which are the same ideas that tanked the economy. That is why they got clobbered in November.

The GOP can dress those ideas up however they want, but at the end of the day they still suck. And until they change the message (or least understand that the message is the problem), they are going to continue to be politically irrelevant.

I'm Fine With This

2009-02-19T12:17:00.000-05:00

Woman blinded by acid wants same fate for attacker.

Iran is screwed up politically in a lot of ways. But I have no problems with this kind of justice. Why not? Why shouldn't he be punished the same way?

I'll tell you this; all it will take is for this one guy to get blinded and you'll see these kind of attacks all but disappear in Iran. Kind of makes you wonder what would happen here if a wife-beater got the tar pounded out of him for an hour straight.

A "Nation Of Cowards"

2009-02-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

Strong words from Attorney General Eric Holder about the state of race relations in America. But I don't think he is wrong about this.

In his first major speech since being confirmed, the nation's first black attorney general told an overflow crowd celebrating Black History Month at the Justice Department the nation remains "voluntarily socially segregated."

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," Holder declared.

Holder urged Americans of all races to use Black History Month as a time to have a forthright national conversation between blacks and whites to discuss aspects of race which are ignored because they are uncomfortable.

He isn't wrong. By and large, we do continue to voluntarily segregate ourselves. You can see it in who are friends are, where we go to church, where we go to eat and so forth. Even in schools, you can see it in the cafeterias where the tables are almost always, by mutual choice, segregated by race.

The problem with not wanting to confront how race affects the country is that the extremes on both sides seize control of the discussion. On the left you get the whackjobs who think anything done by a white man is evil and that racial quotas are the only way to get things done. On the right you get people who think that race is no longer an issue because Obama is president and that if blacks have higher rates of unemployment, poverty and the like, it's because they're lazy. The result is that race becomes even more of a taboo discussion.

Frankly, it would be healthy for people of every race to come together and just talk about their fears and hopes and even the stereotypes they hold of one another. Because not only would it clear the air, but it would reinforce the simple fact that we have a lot more in common with each other than there are differences.

Lockstep Marching Into Irrelevance, Part Two

2009-02-18T15:09:00.000-05:00

Having voted against a stimulus bill the vast majority of the nation wanted, the House GOP is continuing their hot streak, opposing a plan to slow foreclosures.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, along with Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, sent a letter Wednesday to the president "seeking clarification on six important questions about [Obama's] broad housing proposal," according to a press release from Cantor's office.

...

Already, top Republicans want several questions answered, an early sign that Obama may once again face stiff opposition to the plan when it comes before Congress. Last week, not one House Republican voted for his economic stimulus package, and only three GOP senators voted for the bill.

Frankly, who gives a crap if the House GOP ever votes for one of the Democratic plans? They are an irrelevant minority party for a reason, that reason being they couldn't govern this country.

I personally like this question the GOP submitted:

How do you intend to move forward in the drafting of the legislation and who will author it?

Easy answer, Cantor. Thanks to your BS over the stimulus bill, the Democrats will draft it and author it while you cut more videos to your favorite rock music. Which, frankly, is a more productive use of your time than your grandstanding on camera.

And even if President Obama answered all these questions and let the GOP sit in on drafting the bill and included some of their ideas...they'd still vote against it because they have no interest in letting this president do anything. The GOP is the Party of "No". No votes. No ideas. No relevance.

This Isn't Good News

2009-02-18T09:51:00.001-05:00

California is on the verge of financial collapse. Seeing as California would be the 10th largest economy in the world if it were an independent country, you can imagine that this isn't good news for America. As Cali goes, so goes the United States.

The state faces a $42 billion deficit over the next two years. That's not a misprint, folks. They have to scrounge up $42 billion in savings somehow. And the problem is that between a requirement that any tax increase needs a 2/3 vote in the State Assembly and a screwed-up initiative system that results in voters creating programs that suck money out of other areas of the government while also limiting the ability of the government to increase revenues, California finds themselves on the economic edge.

The ballot initiative process is California's major problem. Any special interest group can get a question on the ballot and the usual result is a new program that the government is forced to fund, which reduces their ability to respond to a financial crisis. Then add to that that a minority of Republicans can hold the budget process hostage. And of course, their big problem is that taxes may be raised. Because as we all know, all you have to do is cut government services and everything will be fine. I mean, what does state government do? Who needs cops and firemen?

Drawing The Wrong Conclusions

2009-02-17T10:09:00.002-05:00

If you haven't read about it yet, there was a gruesome murder in upstate New York where a man decapitated his wife after she filed for divorce. The heinous nature of the murder would have assured headlines by itself. But there is another part of this that has made it top-tier news across the country.

They were Muslims. And not only that, the husband had founded a television station to counter negative Muslim stereotypes.

So, you can imagine the field day the neo-con Right is having with this tragedy. Be it NRO, Michelle Malkin, Townhall or any of the bottom-feeders on the Right, this is (to them) another example of how violent Muslims are and how they simply cannot be trusted. After all, who else but a Muslim would behead their wife?

Well, besides the fact that this even happens with good ole' Christian types wielding the blade, here's a name you should know: Richard Crafts

The murder of Helle Crafts by her husband is one of the nastiest murders in American history. Why? Because Crafts knocked his wife out, froze her to death in their walk-in freezer, dismembered the corpse with a chainsaw and then fed the pieces into a woodchipper.

Read that again. How absolutely messed up does someone have to be to do that? And do we condem the United States, or Christianity, for that murder? Do we assume a whole class of people are dangerous because of that? Because I will submit to you that what Crafts did is a thousand times worse than a beheading.

What the muder in Buffalo really tells us is that Muzzammil Hassan couldn't handle rejection. That he was mentally unstable and emotionally fragile. It tells us he is a sick bastard. What it doesn't tell us is that he did it because he was a Muslim. And anyone who draws that conclusion from this...well, it tells you more about that person than it ever will about Hassan.

Worst President Ever?

2009-02-16T14:02:00.003-05:00

Almost. Bush gets the title for the worst president since the 1920s. But give him time and I bet he'll win the overall title.

Abraham Lincoln finished first in a ranking by historians of the 42 former White House occupants released over Presidents Day weekend.

The news wasn't quite as good for the latest addition to the nation's most exclusive fraternity; George W. Bush finished 36th in the survey, narrowly edging out the likes of historical also-rans Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce.

Bush beat out the following presidents: Fillmore, Harding, William H. Harrison, Pierce, Andrew Johnson and Buchanan. That's a know-nothing, the most corrupt administration ever, a guy who died after one month in office, a raging drunk, a total neophyte and the person who willingly allowed seven states to leave the Union. Those are the only presidents that George W. Bush was able to beat.

And if that doesn't tell you how bad he was, then nothing will.

Burris Needs To Go

2009-02-16T08:14:00.003-05:00

Is anyone really surprised by this?

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Illinois Republican leaders on Sunday called for a perjury investigation of Sen. Roland Burris, questioning if he "purposely deceived the public" last month by failing to tell state lawmakers that then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother solicited him for campaign cash.

Burris confirmed Sunday that Blagojevich's brother, Rob, asked him to contribute or help raise money before the governor tapped Burris on December 30 to fill President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.

"I made clear to him I would not contribute [to the governor's campaign] because it would be inappropriate because I had expressed my interest in the Senate seat," Burris, a Democrat, told reporters at a news conference. "I did not donate one single dollar."

This is all well and good, and there is no evidence that Burris engaged in any quid pro quo behavior.

But honestly, are we supposed to believe that Burris simply forgot to mention any of this to the Illinois House's impeachment panel? That it somehow slipped his mind?

It just creates the impression that Burris has something to hide, that he is another stop in a long line of bi-partisan corruption that has plagued Illinois politics for decades.

What else did he forget to mention? Or intentionally leave out? There will always be a fear with Burris that another shoe is about to drop. Which I guess is Blago's "from hell's heart I stab at thee" moment.

There is one way to fix this and that is for Burris to resign. He was always going to have the stain of Blago on him no matter what. Now with this, it only increases the perception that something rotten happened in Springfield. For the good of Illinois, Burris should step down and let someone with a clean reputation take his place.

Tone Deaf And Out Of Touch

2009-02-15T16:03:00.002-05:00

Are they serious?

Top Republican lawmakers Sunday called on President Obama to change his political strategy, arguing that the passage of a massive stimulus bill on a party-line vote showed he has failed to deliver the "change" he promised.

"If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told ABC's "This Week." "I know bipartisanship when I see it."

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Obama was off to "a bad beginning," out of step with the vow of bipartisanship both men made after Obama beat out the Republican presidential nominee for the White House in November.

Graham defintely does know bi-partisanship when he sees it, because he was one of the GOP senators that strangled it dead during Bush's first term. If I remember correctly, they weren't interested at all in working with the Democrats when they ran the show.

But now it's different. And they just can't figure out why Obama wouldn't work with them!

Here's a hint, guys. When your answer to the worst economic crisis in almost 80 years is to offer a $350B tax cut package that overwhelmingly favors the wealthy and businesses, a plan that is the same damn thing that got us into this mess, you shouldn't be shocked that Obama turned it down. And then you acted like the kid who takes his ball home when he doesn't get his way.

You are all a bunch of spoiled brats who can't handle being in the extreme minority. You can't handle the country rejecting your brand of governance so thoroughly. And so you play the rejectionist role, where all you offer is some mixture of "No!" and "Tax cuts!" Well, good luck with that guys. But I don't think 2010 is going to be kind to you.

The Largest Middle-Class Tax Cut In American History

2009-02-14T09:39:00.002-05:00

That is what the recently passed stimulus package represents. And that is why it will be a key component in hammering the Republicans in 2010.

Think about it; the GOP gave the wealthiest Americans a huge tax cut with Bush in office. They practically fell all over themselves to do it. But now? When middle-class Americans need a break? Only three Republicans in the House and Senate combined voted for the package.

I guarantee you there are Democratic ad creators already crafting the ads that will drive this point home. The GOP was so wrapped up in their mania about stopping social spending and opposing the President that they missed the potential for tax cuts being used against them.

And it will be, because this package will work. The dirty secret here is that, to some extent, this recession is driven by the fear of consumers. They have not only drawn back to the level of not using credit, but have started saving at all-time high levels.

Now, this isn't a bad thing in and of itself. But since (for now) so much of our economy is driven by consumption, there does need to be an increased level of re-engagement between consumers and the market.

What the bill will do is save jobs and create jobs. Then combine that with the aid to states that will close budget gaps. Add to that the plan to revamp the banking industry/fix mortgages (which is better than people give it credit for). As it all kicks in, the average American will see things getting better and will loosen their purse strings somewhat. And while the resultant economic growth may not be excessive (1.5 - 3%), it won't be a recession.

And then what will the GOP run on? What will be their angle of attack? How will they answer the (legitimate) charge that they opposed middle-class tax cuts?

Bad move, boys. You just dug that hole a lot deeper.

Shorter Mark Sanford

2009-02-13T10:12:00.003-05:00

Tax cuts! Tax cuts! Watch as I cherry-pick moments from history to create a false reality to back my point-of-view! Tax cuts! Tax cuts!

What A Fool

2009-02-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

I guess the Republicans really want to get across the point that they aren't interested in working with the President.

Republican Sen. Judd Gregg has withdrawn his nomination for commerce secretary, according to a statement released by his office Thursday afternoon.

"I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," Gregg said in the statement.

So now Gregg pisses off the Democrats (and the White House) without giving the Republicans an advantage in the Senate. He puts a big target on himself for the 2010 election and cements the image of the GOP as being obstructionist and unwilling to engage in bi-partisan efforts to run the country.

Ummm...how is this a good thing for the GOP?

A Surprising Bit Of Good News

2009-02-12T09:29:00.001-05:00

The Commerce Department says that retail sales were up in January. The 1% increase comes after a 3% drop in December. So relative to everything else, the overall situation still sucks. But considering a drop of 0.8% was expected, it's better than nothing.

That said, it will likely be revised down once the February numbers come in mid-March. But, it likely won't be revised down almost 2%. So in the end, it's still a little better than expected.

And before any GOP idiot sees this and wants to run with it...yes, we still need the stimulus.

Another Episode Of Republican Failure

2009-02-11T09:42:00.001-05:00

This time we go to the state level. To Virginia to be exact, where the stunning ineptitude of Jeff Frederick, the Republican State Chairman, cost the GOP partial control of the State Senate.

Let's set the stage. The Democrats control the chamber 21-19. The lieutenant governor is a Republican, who would break any 20-20 ties. The Republicans had gotten one of the Democrats (Ralph Northam) to change sides. All this was going to be sprung on the Democrats during session.

And then Frederick goes into Moron Mode:

And they would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for this moron, Jeff Frederick, who is the Republican Party Chairman of Virginia and the owner of a shiny Twitter account! Frederick, upon hearing the news, tweeted the following:

Big new coming out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway.

What King of the Dimwits Jeff Frederick failed to take into consideration is that, by tweeting this information, he was tipping off the Senate Democrats about this bit of parliamentary prestidigitation. And once they found out, Majority Leader Dick Saslaw adjourned the session so that it couldn't happen. And then, the Senate Democrats gathered together and promptly browbeat the ever-loving daylights out of Northam.

The upshot being that thanks to Frederick shooting his load early, the GOP plan was a complete failure.

With leadership like this, is it any wonder that Virginia is turning blue?

When FDA Oversight Goes Wrong

2009-02-10T10:18:00.001-05:00

FBI raids peanut butter plant suspected in outbreak

If you have been following the stories about the peanut butter tainted with salmonella, you know that the factory knew their goods were tainted but kept making them anyway.

Why? Why would a company engage in behavior that can be legitimately described as evil? 600 people sick and eight dead because of naked greed. How did this happen?

Well, one reason was because the FDA was understaffed and underfunded at the time. Why was that? Why was the agency that ensures the safety of our food supply in such disarray?

Thank the former Bush Administration for that one. Because in their Republican eyes, government regulation and intrusion is bad. The free market sorts everything out.

So the FDA stopping tainted peanut butter from going out is a bad thing. People dying from tainted peanut butter and the business losing customers and then shutting down is a good thing. See, it's just a matter of degree. It's the same result in the end, and as long as a few dead bodies don't bother you, why bother getting the government involved?

A Stimulus Primer For Republican Fools

2009-02-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

And I mean people like you, Senator Shelby, who seem to be coming to the "Fiscal Responsibility Party" a little late. Say, eight years too late.

You, and your brethren on the Right, say you are concerned about the growth in the debt and deficit that will result from this stimulus. That you are worried about government money crowding out private investment. That GDP will be lowered in the future if this Horrible Stimulus Package of Doom^© comes to pass.

If the economy were the Titanic, Senator, while everyone else was trying to plug the gaping hole caused by the iceberg, you'd be concerned with repainting the trim on the hull.

The economy is teetering on the edge of a deflationary spiral. That is when demand drops so much that businesses drop the volume at which they make and sell products. That also means people lose their jobs. That cascades through the system affecting other business and more jobs are lost. That means less money is in the system to buy goods. Which means demand drops and the cycle continues. As an added bonus, salaries are cut for people who do have jobs because there is less and less money in the system. Which means that not only is there less money to spend, but debt becomes more expensive to retire since it was accrued before the deflationary period. Which means there are more defaults. Add it all together, and a deflationary spiral is the worst thing that could happen to this country. That is what occurred during the Great Depression, when deflation was 10% on average each year.

The way you counteract this spiral is with a massive infusion of government dollars, through either spending or tax cuts, to boost demand and kickstart the economy. Spending is more effective because it injects money directly into the system through purchasing goods and services and creating jobs. Tax cuts are slower because their effectiveness depends more on the mindset of the recipient. If you just give businesses a tax cut during a deflationary spiral, they likely won't create new jobs or buy more materials to produce their goods because the demand will still not be there. If you just give tax cuts to taxpayers, you may get a weak stimulus through the purchase of basic goods. But it won't be enough to counteract the spiral, because many recipients will either pay off their debt or save the money. And neither option provides stimulus to the economy.

And the stimulus has to be big. If it is too small, it will be swallowed up in the deflationary spiral.

Add all this together, and it becomes apparent that the GOP either doesn't understand economics or simply doesn't care. Being concerned about debt and deficits from spending is nuts right now because the debt and deficits would be a lot worse if the economy collapsed. Being concerned about a 0.3% drop in the GDP in 2019 is ridiculous when real GDP dropped 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Money, and a lot of it, has to be spent now.

In a perverse way, though, the GOP's stance makes sense relative to who they care about. The purchasing power of a dollar increases in a deflationary spiral because less money is in the system. So if you're a millionaire, someone who makes all their money through dividends and interest, or just one of those people in the top 1% of the economy, this isn't exactly bad for you. You can buy even more stuff now! Yachts for all!

And those tax cuts the GOP wants to pass? Who do you think that disproportionately benefits in a time like this? Everything they do is geared towards benefiting the uber-wealthy.

So when Senator Shelby or Harry Ellis (VA Rep. Eric Cantor - hat tip to John Cole for that one) talks about tax cuts and caring about the deficit, you'll know it's a load of crap. For them, it's all about funneling more bucks to the big donors.

7.6%

2009-02-06T09:59:00.001-05:00

And the news just continues to suck.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%, according to the latest government reading on the nation's battered labor market.

The latest job loss is the worst since December 1974, and brings job losses to 1.8 million in just the last three months, or half of the 3.6 million jobs that have been lost since the beginning of 2008.

The unemployment rate is back to the level it was in late 1992. And if you were around then, you remember how bad that was. And you remember that that was about as bad as it got.

Do you think this is the bottom? We are likely headed for 1979-82 levels here unless we can get money into the system now. The Democratic proposal does that. The GOP proposals don't. It is that simple.

Why The GOP Stimulus Plans Are Crap

2009-02-05T23:49:00.004-05:00

Today we were treated to the GOP's answer to our financial crisis. It involved tax cuts galore. Tax cuts for the wealthy and businesses. Oh, and making Bush's cuts permanent.

Have you heard this one before? Oh yes, it's the same fucking idiotic plan that got us into this mess.

The cold, simple truth is that the GOP is clueless when it comes to fixing the economy. Here is a page from the recent CBO report that compares the various options for stimulus and their effect on GDP:

You see those two ineffectual ones at the bottom? The two that do next to nothing? Those are the key elements of the Senate and House GOP proposals. In other words, the GOP doesn't know shit.

Those three that are at 2% or higher? Those are all elements of the Democratic plans in the House and Senate. Those are options that actually work.

So tell me, which plan is better? Which one will put people back to work?

And You Thought Elections Didn't Matter

2009-02-05T16:40:00.001-05:00

The news that Justice Ginsberg has pancreatic cancer is sad. She's beaten the Big C once before and considering she's as tough as nails, I wouldn't bet against her to do it again.

But this serves as a reminder of why Obama's victory was so important. If Justice Ginsberg has to step down, it will be President Obama appointing the next justice. And it will be one that has similar views to Justice Ginsberg.

Now imagine if it was President McCain. Who would he appoint? Someone that would give the conservative wing of the Supreme Court regular 5-4 and 6-3 victories. As it is, they tend to get their way more often than not thanks to Kennedy (note their recent decision to allow cops to search passengers in cars for pretty much any reason they want). Imagine what they'd do with a sixth vote.

Jobless Claims Keep On Growing

2009-02-05T09:41:00.001-05:00

It's 1982 all over again! And if you lived through that, you know how much it sucked. The worrisome thing is that we likely aren't at the worst point yet.

There is one bright point. As the bad news rolls in, that should help President Obama to get the stimulus bill he wants passed. The GOP won't be able to keep playing their obstructionist game while more and more jobs are lost. Tax cuts aren't going to fix this, and only an idiot would think otherwise.

Obama has already begun the pushback with his op-ed in the Washington Post. Democratic groups are running ads showing how many jobs will be lost if this bill isn't passed.

Elections count, and the Democrats won. Now they have to start acting like it.

Spiting Their Face

2009-02-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

When you are in a recession and verging on a Depression, when jobs are being shredded in the hundreds of thousands, when deflation is threatening to tank the economy even more, the last thing you should be doing is bitching about government spending that will stimulate the economy. That's just common-sense. But no, the GOP has other ideas.

The most idiotic of these is a plan led by - surprise! - John McCain that would slash the stimulus package to $500 billion. That level of spending over five years would do jack shit to stop the economic decline. And he knows it. And then, when it failed, the GOP could point at Obama and say it was all his fault.

And if the US goes into a horrific economic decline? They don't fucking care. All they care about is their 1% of the country shoving more money in their pockets. The rest of us can go to Hell as far as they are concerned.

You're Fucking Kidding Me

2009-02-03T15:43:00.001-05:00

Look, I left the Republican Party back in 2003 because it was clear they were losing their minds. But I never, never thought the brain rot would get this bad.

Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans.

When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week.

Wurzelbacher, who became a household name during the presidential election, will be focusing his talk on the proposed stimulus package. He's apparently not a fan of the economic rescue package, according to members of the group.

What the hell, fellas? You are elected members of the United States Government. And you are taking strategy points from an unsuccessful plumber with tax problems?!

You can't even parody the GOP anymore because the reality is bug-shit nuts. I guess they really don't care about the country as a whole and just want to hunker down in their noise-chamber where Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin talk about the "real" America.

Since this country needs two legitimate parties to operate, I'd appreciate it if some Republican that still has their brain-stem intact brings back the Whigs.

Don't Expect That 60th Seat

2009-02-03T09:43:00.001-05:00

It looks like New Hampshire Republican senator Judd Gregg will be nominated for the Secretary of Commerce position. This has had some people salivating (or fearing, if they are a Republican) that the Democratic governor of New Hampshire would appoint a Democrat to fill the seat. This would give the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate, allowing them to break a filibuster.

This would also be the wrong thing to do.

First, there are the simple ethics of the thing. The voters of New Hampshire elected a Republican and the governor is somewhat honor-bound to respect that decision. Turn it on its head; if Chris Dodd took a position in President Obama's cabinet and Jodi Rell, the Republican governor of Connecticut, appointed a Republican to his seat, wouldn't Democrats be pissed? And rightly so? Well, that works the other way as well.

Second, and more important, is that you have to consider the politics. If the Democrats held 60 seats and smashed filibusters and things went badly, the Republicans would have a ready-made attack venue. They could blame the Democrats for everything and say they were powerless to stop it.

But, with 58-59 Democratic seats, the Republicans will still have a hard time sustaining a filibuster because of vulnerable and/or moderate GOP senators who represent blue states. More often than not, one of these senators will break off from their party and give the Democrats the votes they need. And that kills the "one-party" meme the Republicans would like to use.

This is a good thing, people.

Watch As Michael Ledeen Pretends To Care About The Law

2009-02-02T11:41:00.001-05:00

Over at the fool factory known as NRO, Michael Ledeen decides to just make shit up.

He lectured us about "virtue" in his Inaugural Address, and he was quite right to do it. But ever since, he has thrown virtue under the campaign bus—an attorney general who lied under oath, tax cheats at Treasury and HHS, and now (h/t Instapundit), despite all the pious talk about putting an end to torture, he seems to be retaining what is arguably the worst component of our "interrogate the terrorist" programs: rendition.

What Ledeen is refering to is Obama's decision to continue the practice known as "rendition"; the abduction of criminals and terrorists by the US for delivery to allied nations.

What Ledeen fails to mention (although he surely knows it) is that Obama's version of rendition is akin to the one practiced by Clinton and Bush 41. It doesn't involve torture or secret prisons or waterboarding as it did under George W. Bush. For God's sake, even a top official at Human Rights Watch supports Obama's version of rendition:

"Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place" for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "What I heard loud and clear from the president's order was that they want to design a system that doesn't result in people being sent to foreign dungeons to be tortured -- but that designing that system is going to take some time."

President Obama's system will require any captured criminals to be delivered to a nation that guarantees fair treatment and an open and fair trial for any prisoner. As opposed to shipping them to some secret prison in Romania.

But Ledeen fails to mention any of that. Instead he paints this decision as a willingness on the President's part to break the law. And while it is funny this didn't concern Ledeen for the past eight years, it's also sad that Ledeen would so willingly misrepresent what is going on here. Sad, but utterly predictable.

NRO's goal...the Right's goal, is to discredit President Obama by any means necessary. It doesn't matter if it means a 180-degree turnaround in their positions or twisting logic to the breaking point. They will do whatever they have to do. For Ledeen, that means lying through your teeth and surrendering whatever shreds of dignity and honor you had left.

Added: Not surprisingly, the mental midget known as Mark Steyn chips in his two cents. Like Leeden, he is either being willfully misleading about what the plan actually entails or he is really as stupid as he sounds. My money is on the latter.

And You Thought Washington, DC Couldn't Handle Snow

2009-02-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

Just look at how the English handle a bit of the white stuff.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The worst snowstorm to hit Britain in 18 years forced the cancellation of more than 650 flights at London's Heathrow airport Monday and shut down the city's bus network, partially paralyzing the British capital.

Heathrow, one of the busiest transport hubs in the world, closed both its runways for more than two hours Monday morning and operated with just one for the rest of the morning, according to BAA, the company which runs it.

....

The city's subway system was experiencing severe delays, leaving normally bustling central London something of a ghost town.

On a regular weekday, London's transit system handles more than three million passenger journeys.

The Federation of Small Businesses estimated that at least one in five workers nationwide -- about 6.4 million employees -- failed to make it into work Monday morning.

They also pulled buses off the roads due to unsafe conditions and there were numerous traffic accidents. And how bad was the storm that caused all this mayhem? How much snow fell on England?

Six inches.

Yup. Six inches of snow and an entire nation was brought to its knees. To be fair, they haven't really seen a lot of snow in England for almost two decades. But this isn't rocket science; you plow the snow and salt the roads.

Of course, the problem now for England is that the world knows their weakness. Don't be surprised if one day a lot of Scots are lining up next to Solway Firth on the border with snow machines at the ready.

One Last Hurrah For The Bush Years

2009-01-30T09:29:00.000-05:00

And it was a doozy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The U.S. economy suffered its biggest slowdown in 26 years in the last three months of 2008, according to the government's first reading about the fourth quarter released Friday.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, fell at an annual rate of 3.8% in the fourth quarter, adjusted for inflation.

That's the largest drop in GDP since the first quarter of 1982, when the economy suffered a 6.4% decline.

If there is one bright spot, it is that the economy didn't suck as hard as they thought it would. Granted, this is akin to being stabbed five times instead of twelve; it could be worse, but you're still in a bad place.

Keep in mind the policies that got us here; rampant tax cuts for businesses and the uber-wealthy that did nothing to create jobs and profited the few. Those are the same policies that GOP members in Congress are pushing for their "bi-partisan" plan.

In the words of the immortal Bard, fellas, "Go piss up a rope." You have zero credibility on the economy these days. As far as most of us are concerned, you can all huddle in a corner and listen to Limbaugh all day while the adults clean up your mess.

Making An Impact

2009-01-29T12:43:00.000-05:00

Here we are, just a week or so into President Obama's first term, and he is already doing more for this country than Bush ever did.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama signed a new pay-equity measure into law Thursday, effectively overturning a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it harder to sue for pay discrimination.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, named for a former Goodyear Tire employee who sued the company for gender discrimination in 1998, is the first bill signed by Obama.

This law ensures that anyone can sue over pay discrimination when it is discovered. The SCOTUS interpreted the original law as saying that you had 180 days after the first discriminatory check was cut to sue. All that did was allow a company to hide their discriminatory practice for six months and then they were in the clear. This bill makes that impossible.

What stuns me here isn't that a law had to be passed to ensure something as common-sense as equal pay. It's that the Republicans so vehemently opposed it. How do they think this will play to female voters? This wasn't a bill setting quotas or forcing employers to pay a certain wage. This was a bill ensuring women were paid the same as men for the same work, and if they weren't that they had an avenue to demand restitution. How the Hell is that objectionable? The GOP seems hell-bent on becoming a regional party that caters to fools.

Who Couldn't See This Coming?

2009-01-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

It seems those trigger-happy mercs from Blackwater are out of a job in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq will not grant an operating license to security firm Blackwater Worldwide, an Interior Ministry official said Thursday.

Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf told CNN the ministry denied the request mainly because of a September 2007 shooting incident in which security guards -- then employed by Blackwater -- fired on a crowd and killed 17 Iraqis.

A U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad, who asked not to be named, confirmed the report.

"We have been informed that Blackwater's ... operating license will not be granted," the official said. "We don't have specifics about dates. We are working with the government of Iraq and our contractors to address the implications of this decision."

Who could have ever foreseen that using mercenaries to implement foreign policy decisions without adequate safeguards could result in civilian deaths and the expulsion of said mercenaries?

This is just another small step in cleaning up the mess Bush has created in Iraq. Erik Prince's theo-con foot soldiers will just have to get their war on in another country.

Tragic Tale Becoming Familiar

2009-01-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

Stories like these are beginning to pop up more and more.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man apparently despondent about losing his job killed his wife and five children before turning the gun on himself, officials said Tuesday.

The bodies of five children and two adults -- the children's mother and father -- were found Tuesday in a home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington. Among the dead, authorities said, were an 8-year-old girl and two sets of twins -- 5-year-old girls and 2-year-old boys.

Ervin Lupoe apparently called 911 and contacted a television station by fax before committing suicide, authorities said.

And while the details are always different, the reason tends to be the same. Someone loses their job and sees no way out.

In good times this kind of tragedy is blessedly rare. But in a bad recession like this...this won't be the last time we read a tale like this. Not by a long shot.

Another Step In Dismantling Bush

2009-01-27T10:03:00.000-05:00

'Americans are not your enemy,' Obama tells Muslims

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama said his administration will offer a hand of friendship to the Muslim world but will hunt down terrorist organizations that kill innocent civilians.

"My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy," Obama said in an interview with Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite television network. "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect."

During his run for the White House, Obama pledged to improve ties with the Muslim world, draw down U.S. troops in Iraq and close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The president also has pledged to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital in the first 100 days of his administration. No location has been announced.

We can't force the Muslim world at gunpoint to do what we want. Diplomacy is key to getting anything done in the region. But another important facet of our work in the region is to show why the ways of terrorism are not useful to improving the lives of everyday Muslims. And Obama did that quite well in a part of the interview:

"Their ideas are bankrupt. There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."

This is something the Bush Administration never did. They talked about terrorists being killers and evil and whatnot, but they never extended it to showing how terrorism failed Muslims themselves.

We have to engage with Muslim nations in other ways than just gunfire. We need to sit down and talk and try to come to agreements that may not be perfect (hell, that won't be perfect) but will be acceptable. The world has changed, and the US cannot simply swing its weight around and expect the nations of the world to fall in line. Those days are over.

I'm Gonna Miss This Goofy Bastard

2009-01-26T09:40:00.001-05:00

Blagojevich says he considered Oprah for Senate

Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Monday that he considered appointing Oprah Winfrey to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat.

"She seemed to be someone who had helped Barack Obama in a significant way become president," Blagojevich said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

I cannot emphasize enough how enjoyable Blagojevich's appearances have been. Between this and the tortured cowboy metaphor he busted out last week, not to mention all the rest of the crazy he has brought to the table, Blagojevich has been the most entertaining thing on television for over a month*.

When he is impeached (and he will be, because the SOB is guilty as hell), I hope someone gives him a talk show or one of those Judge shows. Because he may be corrupt, but Blagojevich knows how to entertain.

--------------

* Probably the only thing more entertaining was watching Bush leave for the last time on the helicopter.

"I Won"

2009-01-23T16:13:00.001-05:00

What was it that the Republicans used to say about elections having consequences?

President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning - but he also left no doubt about who's in charge of these negotiations. "I won," Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar with the conversation.

The exchange arose as top House and Senate Republicans expressed concern to the president about the amount of spending in the package. They also raised red flags about a refundable tax credit that returns money to those who don’t pay income taxes, the sources said.

You had your chance, fellas. And you botched it big time. Time to step aside and let the adults clean up your mess.

Another Blow For Conservatives In The South

2009-01-23T09:53:00.001-05:00

Only a week or so after Democrats out-maneuvered Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives by keeping a whack-job theo-con from becoming Speaker, those poor Republicans just embarassed themselves again on a more local level.

Voters in Nashville, Tennessee -- a city that has seen a dramatic increase in its immigrant population -- rejected a measure Thursday that would have made English the only language used for government business in its metropolitan area.

With all 173 precincts reporting, 41,752 voters, or nearly 57 percent, voted against the proposed amendment, with 32,144 voters supporting it, according to unofficial results posted on the Nashville city government Web site.

"No person shall have a right to government services in any other language," the proposal read.

The measure would have included government meetings.

God forbid someone who may not have mastered English yet needs some help in Spanish finding where to pay their taxes or getting assistance. Good on Nashville for seeing this as the bullshit anti-immigrant tripe it was and shooting it down in convincing fashion.

But even more fun is the fact that Republicans are 0-2 in Tennessee. You know things are going bad for the GOP when even their base begins to crack.

Is Everbody Happy Now?

2009-01-22T10:06:00.000-05:00

President Obama retook the Oath of Office. Is our long national nightmare over?

The do-over was aimed at dispelling any confusion that might arise from Tuesday's take -- in which "faithfully" was said out of sequence -- and erase any question that Obama is legally the president.

However, per the Constitution, Obama became president at noon Tuesday without taking the oath.

"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday," White House counsel Greg Craig said Wednesday in a written statement.

"But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time," the statement read.

Undoubtedly this will crush Chris Wallace at Fox and the mental midgets at NRO who will now have to find a new way to try and de-legitimize President Obama's victory. Besides, if the wording is so important, then didn't Bush mess it up twice by adding "So help me God" at the end? I don't see that in the Constitution.

Off To A Good Start

2009-01-21T09:31:00.001-05:00

President Obama isn't even in office for a day and he already makes the country a better place.

White House officials tell CNN Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a memo Tuesday to all agencies and departments of the federal government. The memo halts further consideration of pending regulations throughout the government until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration.

This is the first step in making sure all those last-minute policy changes ex-President Bush (and how nice does that sound?) tried to ram through do not go into effect. Which means that pharmacists cannot deny birth control to a customer because of their "religion". It means that people cannot carry concealed weapons into national parks. And a slew of other regulations that seemed to exist only to maximize the potential for misery.

Well done, Mr. President. I like the way you've kicked things off.

Hail To The Chief

2009-01-20T12:10:00.001-05:00

And amen. The renewal of America can begin.

It's a beautiful thing.

How Can We Miss You When You Won't Leave?

2009-01-15T10:05:00.001-05:00

Has anyone been able to figure out the logic behind Sarah Palin's "I Hate The Media" 2008-09 Tour? She goes from interview to interview, bitching and moaning about the media and how unfair they were. And that, if only they had been fair, perhaps the GOP could have won in November.

Actually, I do understand the basic idea. The media, according to conservatives, is one big monolithic liberal juggernaut. And attacking the media has always appealed to the base of the GOP. If Palin wants to get their support, then slagging the media on a daily basis helps in that regard.

It also keeps her in their minds. Let's face it; she's a first-term governor of a welfare state that's over 4000 miles away from Washington. There's little Palin can do in Alaska policy-wise that will keep her in the national spotlight. But these interviews can do just that.

There is one major flaw in this plan, however; the GOP base can't win an election anymore. And to the rest of us, Palin looks like a bitter crybaby who can't take losing.

Let's be blunt; Palin isn't smart. Her command of English is Bushian. Her ideas are the kind that would come from a Cheetos and Mountain Dew fueled brainstorm session between Jonah "My Mom Got Me This Job" Goldberg and Erick "Strike Force" Erickson. And these interviews do nothing to change that perception of her.

What Palin needs to do is go away, figure out some genuine policy innovations, and start implementing them in Alaska. She needs to prove she can do that job first before she thinks about gunning for the White House.

That may be a problem for her. Because while she's gone on this whining tour, a village in Alaska is on the verge of collapse.

A combination of extreme cold and high fuel prices has created a humanitarian crisis for the village of Emmonak, according to resident Nicholas Tucker.

In a letter sent out as a cry for help, Tucker describes economic conditions in which families are rationing food and warmth for themselves and their children in the Southwest Alaska village of 800.

The situation could easily worsen — extreme cold that arrived early this winter and stuck around means heating fuel must soon be flown in, which residents fear will push the price from $7.83 per gallon to $9 a gallon or more.

These people are on the verge of freezing and starving to death. And where is Sarah? If she can't help a village of 800 people, how can we believe that she could run the United States?

In Case You Missed It...

2009-01-14T11:00:00.001-05:00

It's official now: the United States is a torture nation.

WASHINGTON - The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a "life-threatening condition."

"We tortured [Mohammed al-Qahtani," said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Crawford, a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured.

Wow. Here is the lasting legacy of Bush and the neo-cons; an admittance by a member of the federal government that this nation engaged in the torture of a prisoner as a matter of policy. And the end result is tainted evidence that would never stand up in a trial. And even though military prosecutors say they have new evidence that wasn't coerced, Crawford is telling them "no dice." And she is right; once the torture is done, any evidence gained thereafter is suspect.

I've made the argument a hundred times here; torture is not only useless as a means of gathering information, but it lowers us as well. We do the Founding Fathers and the country a grave disservice when we stain our national honor through the use of torture. But apparently that matters little to Bush and his supporters, who give into fear and allow it to dictate their every move.

Because They Haven't Screwed Us Enough

2009-01-13T10:07:00.001-05:00

Bernanke: More bank bailouts needed

Yes please, more of these. Because the banks have done such a good job with the money so far.

Let's see, up to now the banks have used this money to buy other banks, maintain dividends and pay out bonuses. What they haven't done is extend cheap credit to people, which is what they are supposed to be doing. So by all means, let's give them more cash so they can finish the ass-fucking they've delivered to the American people so far.

If throwing around money won't cause a spike in inflation, then why not just give every family some cash instead of giving it to the banks to hoard? Say $3,000-4,000 for every American taxpayer. At least we know people will buy something useful with it, like food or clothing. That beats the Hell out of watching banks sit on the cash like Scrooge McDuck.

It's Almost Over

2009-01-12T09:36:00.001-05:00

Bush holds final official news conference

It's so nice to see a word like "final" associated with Bush. It lets you know that this country is about to have the foot of incompetence and greed taken off its neck.

As a bonus for Bush, the odds are that no one will be hucking a shoe at him this time.

2.6 Million

2009-01-09T09:26:00.001-05:00

That would represent the single largest job loss total in one year since 1945. And with that, the unemployment has risen to 7.2% as we close out the Bush Years. It hasn't been that high since January of 1993. But Bush 41 had the excuse of a massive economic restructuring following the end of the Cold War. Junior's debacle is all about wanton deregulation and naked greed.

It's a bad scene right now and one can only hope that the stimulus package being planned by the incoming administration is able to kick-start the economy. Otherwise it is going to stay ugly for the foreseeable future.

Redefining A "Bad Divorce"

2009-01-08T10:55:00.001-05:00

Usually you'll see a divorcing couple war over custody of the kids, or who gets the car. But this story takes the hate to a whole new level.

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (WABC) -- A Long Island surgeon embroiled in a nearly four-year divorce proceeding wants his estranged wife to return the kidney he donated to her, although he says he'll settle for $1.5 million in compensation.

Dr. Richard Batista, a surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, told reporters at his lawyer's Long Island office Wednesday that he decided to go public with his demand for kidney compensation because he has grown frustrated with the negotiations with his estranged wife.

Let this be a lesson to all of you. When weighing a potential spouse, ask yourself if they are worthy of one of your vital organs. If not, it may be best to just move on...

What Can You Say?

2009-01-07T10:18:00.001-05:00

I've tried to write something three times about the Israel/Hamas pseudo war and deleted them all.

I support Israel's right to exist. I recognize that they have the right to expect their borders to be recognized and an obligation to defend themselves when attacked.

But what is going on in Gaza...it's a slaughter. And yes, Hamas deserves blame here for using civilians as shields. They are cynically exposing the people they are supposed to be protecting in order to win a PR battle and whip up anti-Israeli sentiment.

But doesn't Israel know that going in? And they must surely understand the dangers of unleashing massive amounts of ordinance within an urban area that cannot be fully evacuated.

That's something to keep in mind here; most Palestinians in Gaza City or other urban areas have nowhere to go because the Gaza Strip is so damned small. You're talking about an area that is roughly 139 square miles in total. At its narrowest point it's four miles from the Israel border to the Med. There is literally nowhere for the civilian population to run to. And the result is massive civilian casualties.

Of course, that doesn't excuse Hamas for firing wildly imprecise rockets into civilian centers. And if Israel didn't have the ability to relocate their people, they'd be suffering large civilian casualties as well.

The fact is that neither side is coming off well in this particular conflict. And that is why it is hard to write about it. What can you say when neither side is covering themselves with glory, and the only people dying are civilians whose crime is living in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Feinstein Is Finally Critical Of A White House Appointee

2009-01-06T09:40:00.000-05:00

If only she had shown this willingness to confront the White House during the Bush Administration.

Leon Panetta, chief of staff in President Bill Clinton's White House, will be President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be CIA director, two Democratic officials told CNN on Monday.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who will be the new chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she had not been told in advance of Panetta's selection.

"My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time," the California Democrat said.

Of course, the problem is that most of those "professionals" have been tainted by the use of torture by the CIA during the Bush years. Obama needs to make a clean break from those years and Panetta is exactly that; a clean break.

This obviously irks Feinstein, who had no problem voting for Porter Goss, Michael Mukasey or Michael Hayden, all of whom had command authority in issues involving the torture of detainees. And the candidate Feinstein wants, deputy CIA director Steve Kappes, most definitely was in the chain of command regarding the torture of detainees.

Feinstein doesn't care about torture staining the honor of this country. I get that. But what she doesn't realize is that most Americans do care about it, and want to turn away from that repugnant policy. Panetta represents that change, and good for Obama in recognizing that the new head of the CIA couldn't be connected to the previous administration.

Get Ready For The Fireworks

2009-01-05T09:44:00.001-05:00

The Minnesota canvassing board is ready to certify that Al Franken beat Norm Coleman for the Senate by the ultra-slim margin of 225 votes. So, of course, Coleman will accept this with good grace and decency. After all, when the initial results showed he was in the lead, he said any legal challenge by Franken would be a waste of the taxpayers' money and time. So now, with the shoe on the other foot, I am sure he'll be consistent in that train of thought.

However, Coleman's campaign, which contends the recount should have included about 650 absentee ballots it says were improperly rejected in the initial count, has indicated it will challenge the certification.

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said his team believes the recount process was broken and that "the numbers being reported will not be accurate or valid."

"The effort by the Franken campaign, supported by the secretary of state, to exclude improperly rejected absentee ballots is indefensible and disenfranchises hundreds of Minnesota voters," Sheehan said.

Or maybe not. Of course Coleman is going to play this to the wire. Even though none of his charges have a basis in reality, he will drag this out as long as he can. And the Republicans in the Senate are going to help.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has pledged a GOP filibuster if the Democrat-controlled Senate attempts to seat Franken before all legal battles play out and before Minnesota's Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, can co-sign the secretary of state's certificate.

Because Heaven forbid that Al Franken be seated in accordance with the wishes of the voters of Minnesota. And since we all know that Harry Reid wilts like a hothouse flower the second someone from the GOP clears their throat, you can be assured Franken won't be in the Senate when they convene.

Happy New Year, People

2009-01-01T00:00:00.002-05:00

And may 2009 be everything we hope it to be.

One Last Slice Of Hell From 2008

2008-12-31T22:07:00.003-05:00

And that would be the ABC Rockin' Eve 09. Already I have had my ears lanced by the uniquely painful voice of Kellie Pickler, who can't stop yelling into her microphone. And then I have to see the Jonas Brothers, who may be the ugliest band working today. Good God, they all have a face like a foot.

I guess this is pretty fitting to wrap up the Bush years; one last crap sandwich for the country to consume.

Have You Noticed....

2008-12-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

It is interesting that during the current shooting match in Gaza...there hasn't been much trouble on the West Bank. You aren't reading about the Palestinians on the West Bank erupting into violence and protesting. In fact, recent stories have been written about a slow but steady upswing in the West Bank economy. And the Israeli government has been slowly evicting Israeli hard-line squatters from Palestinian-owned land and dismantling settlements.

That begs the question...where does Fatah stand on the fighting in the Gaza Strip? Are they opposed to it or are they backing the decimation of their rivals? And if so, just how hard are they backing it?

What A Mess

2008-12-30T10:41:00.001-05:00

Sometime I wish the Middle East would simply vanish. Not blow up or anything like that but just...vanish. Kind of like a regional Rapture. Because then I wouldn't have to read about stuff like this.

-- An Israeli patrol boat struck a boat carrying medical volunteers and supplies to Gaza early Tuesday as it attempted to intercept the vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, witnesses and Israeli officials said.

CNN Correspondent Karl Penhaul was aboard the 60-foot, Gibraltar-registered pleasure boat Dignity when the contact occurred. When the boat later docked in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, severe damage was visible to the forward port side of the boat, and the front left window and part of the roof had collapsed.

The Dignity was carrying 16 passengers and crew who were trying to reach Gaza through an Israeli blockade of the territory.

The problem here, as it often is when it comes to Israelis and Palestinians, is that I can see both sides. Israel is fighting to destroy a terrorist group that has attacked them with suicide and rocket attacks for decades, and the sea blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from resupplying.

On the other side, civilians are suffering in this battle where the Israelis are pretty much shooting fish in a barrel with a cannon. There is a lot of collateral damage and these civilians need help.

Then there's the third side, which is the ship itself. They were carrying supplies and doctors, but they also had journalists. And any vessel with Cynthia McKinney on board is likely to be carrying an anti-Israel bias with it.

All in all, it's a mess. Which is par for the course down there. The big question is, where is Bush? Has he just quit on the process? I thought he was going to solidify a peace deal down there before he left office. Chalk up one more big failure for W.

Get Ready For Four Years Of This Bullshit

2008-12-27T09:26:00.002-05:00

How do you know when Republicans have lost their minds over Obama being the next President? I know, the answers are legion. But this is a pretty good answer.

A candidate for the Republican National Committee chairmanship said Friday the CD he sent committee members for Christmas -- which included a song titled "Barack the Magic Negro" -- was clearly intended as a joke

"I think most people recognize political satire when they see it," Tennessee Republican Chip Saltsman told CNN. "I think RNC members understand that."

The song, set to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon," was first played on conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh's radio show in 2007.

Oh, Limbaugh is involved? There's a big shock. He probably needed a few minutes of on-air downtime to pop another Viagra and schedule his next "vacation" to the Dominican Republic.

I don't know which is more galling; that Saltsman used the word "Negro" to begin with or that he apparently sees nothing wrong with it. Does he think this is the 1960s all over again? Why doesn't he go all in and call Michelle Obama a "negress" and see where that gets him. The ignorance on display here is stunning.

But something else is as well: fear. Saltsman, Limbaugh and the rest of the knuckle-draggers that perpetuate this shit are scared of what Obama and this election represent. It upsets the way they see the world, which is based on white, conservative males running the show. Bill Clinton only challenged one of those standards, and look how crazy they went. Now you have Obama knocking down two of those pillars. So Teh Crazy is just going to get even worse. We will likely look back on this episode in a couple of years and consider it tame.

The EU Gives Bush The Bird

2008-12-23T09:47:00.000-05:00

If you wanted a concrete example of how upset the European Union has been with George W. Bush and his administration, here is a perfect example.

European nations have begun intensive discussions both within and among their governments on whether to resettle detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a significant overture to the incoming Obama administration, according to senior European officials and U.S. diplomats.

The willingness to consider accepting prisoners who cannot be returned to their home countries, because of fears they may be tortured there, represents a major change in attitude on the part of European governments. Repeated requests from the Bush administration that European allies accept some Guantanamo Bay detainees received only refusals.

Bush's arrogant foreign policy came back to bite him in the ass in many different ways, and this was just one of them. For these countries to turn around and consider holding these prisoners so Gitmo can be shut down says as much about how they want to work with Obama as it does how much they want to stick it to Bush.

The people who supported Bush foreign policy have to wake up to the reality that the United States does not control the world. We are not a country that can engage in unilateral actions without fear. We may still be the single largest power on the globe. But the problems of the modern era, combined with the inter-connectivity of the global community on multiple levels, means the US cannot act in a vacuum. Obama understands this, which is just one more reason it will be nice to have adults in the White House again come January.