Pig-Ignorant Stubborn Stoopit

Wow. This is just plain evil.

I wonder how long till wingnuts start self-immolating.

Here's where they learned it

Out of the mouth of babes

Golly. Ya wonder where they learned it.

I used to work for a man that routinely came into my office and declared 'Someone just needs to shoot Clinton.'

Yeah, the Dems are the awful, hatemongering monsters.

Uh huh.

LIFTing an election

Somehow I suspect there's money moving around.

A recent poll on the Times-Call website (that got a whopping 186 votes) had this note stuck in the comments:

Editor's Note: After we received an unusually large response to the poll the first 24 hours it was up, we noticed that more than 100 votes had been submitted by a single source. They were removed from the poll.
-The Editor

Hm. So, if it was hacked -once- who's to say the existing votes are accurate?

Sorry guys, you blew your own credibility with: low overall numbers (127 pissed off wingnuts) and then putting your thumb on the scale.

The Times-Call may be already be on the LIFT ownership list.

The rightwing in Longmont, still furious about the national election, clearly has their cap set for taking back City Council - clearly forgetting the results that elected the current members.

"Only Santos and Blue" are 'approved of' - what a laugh.

Stop being such jerks

The Rude Pundit is bang-on today. Hit it.

Legendary Smear

And speaking of Republican Chickenhawks -- see post below referencing John Cornyn -- the always-excellent Senate Guru has an outstanding post up about the ongoing Georgia Senate race, in which they compare Democratic candidate Jim Martin, a Vietnam Veteran, with the GOP's Mr. Six Draft Deferments, Saxby Chambliss.

The piece cites Chambliss's memorable smearing of triple-amputee war hero Max Cleland in 2002 and his terrible record on Veterans' issues.

Please go check it out.
--
Hat tip to Bob Geiger!

Sad to watch

There's this site that keeps beating an (obviously) dead horse and while it's amusing to see winger energy being funneled down a rathole, it's also somewhat sad.

Of course, I certainly beat my share of dead horses... so, by all means, continue folks (everyone needs a hobby... some more than others).

At least my bete noir has been dispatched... even if she still won't concede.

Stuck in the past

Joshuah Bearman over at the HuffPo has a great article about the 'hands that picked the cotton are the hands that are picking the next president.'

Go take a look at the maps and check the last paragraph of text.

Could it be that the Southern Strategy is toast? That the South is becoming 'politically irrelevant'? Yipe. That's enough to keep the RNC kiddies up late at night sucking their thumbs.

What is...

....that weird-ass quacking noise? Do you hear that? Kind of like a cross between a fluglehorn and a whoopee cushion. Bee-zare.

Have I mentioned...

...that I just love, Love, LOVE Dependable Renegade?

Well I do.

Colorado is 'slightly better than Nazi Germany'

Here's a cute little interpretive dance about corruption in the courts*

This, coming from a wingnut, along with the remark that Colorado is 'slightly better than Nazi Germany' is so sad it's actually funny.

So, the whole state is Nazis? Gee, even -I- never dropped an n-bomb that big... the stones on that guy... (holds up two fingers nearly touching and chortles)

(* can you say 'got treated just like everyone else' ? - the humanity!)

Gloom and doom

In my usually cheerful, upbeat mood, I Googled on “Gloom and doom” and found a blog (dating all the way back to 1999) actually called “Gloom and doom report” (author unidentified), which I immediately bookmarked. Some good stuff, but some a little fringey (with an anti-Zionist tone which frankly appeals to me, but we won’t get into that). Why was I Googling on this? In order to find reinforcement from other people and sources for my cheerful, upbeat mood, of course, which has recently received a downward shove at precisely the time when everyone else seems to be floating on clouds of euphoria.

I thought I had posted, back in early '07, soon after the hollow “victory” of the Dummy-crats winning weak “control” of Congress, a gloom-and-doom prediction that it wouldn’t amount to anything because the Dummies wouldn’t have the guts or balls to do anything about it. The closest to this that I can find in my archives is “Have a nice day” (2 June 07), which mentioned Joe Bageant’s prediction: “Even before the entire Congress recently begged the Mad Emperor for the privilege of standing in line to suck his cock by writing him a blank fucking check for his evil war, Bageant was warning that any appearance of the ‘liberals’ attaining victory because of pissed-off conservatives leaving the ranks was an illusion.” My skepticism and cynicism at that time were driven, of course, by everyone else’s elation at the Dummy-cratic “victory,” and Bageant seemed to be the only one besides me who took a jaundiced view of it; and we turned out, tragically, to be right, and Pelosi turned out to be not Speaker of the House but Spineless Jellyfish of the House.

Well, you can probably figure out where this is heading. Once more I’m in the position of raining on everyone else’s parade. After all the dancing in the streets and slapping each other on the back, comes the hard work of making good on all the rosy promises. And how many of them can be made good on? We all know that all politicians promise you the moon and give you a lump of moldy cheese, and we can only hope that Obama will give us slightly more than moldy cheese, even though it’s a safe bet he won’t be able (and perhaps never intended) to give us everything he promised. As I wrote on 12 September (“Who cares? It’s all lies.”): “I don’t think [Obama] will be able to make any fundamental difference [i.e., in terms of keeping his promises] … because the plutocratic cabal will keep him from doing so and will impede and frustrate his every move in that direction.” On "Doug's dynamic drivel," I was linked to a YouTube of that obnoxious loser Nader being interviewed on Fucks News on election night, in which he showed himself to be more of an asshole than usual by suggesting that Obama might turn out to be an “Uncle Tom for the giant corporations.” His choice of language was, of course, repulsive even for rhetoric, right up there with some of the McCain/Palin attacks, but the point was not just a cheap shot. He then went on to itemize some of the things in Obama’s history which he thinks support the allegation: “voted for the Wall Street bailout, supports expanding military budget that is desired by the military-industrial complex, doesn’t really have a tax reform thing for the ordinary fellow in this country, opposes single-payer full Medicare for all because the giant HMOs do, doesn’t have a living wage [policy], . . .” Well, that’s a pretty damning list, and if it’s true and accurate, it does cast a bit of a pall over the rainbow. Will he really try to deliver on his promises and be impeded and frustrated by the plutocratic cabal, or did he never really intend to deliver on them because he’s already in cahoots with them?

On the other hand, I will grant that even as President-elect, this early in the game, he does seem to have taken some promising steps in the right direction. So I’ll try to muster up a slightly more positive and hopeful attitude. But it’ll be hard work, and not entirely sincere. Even in a best-case scenario for Big O’s presidency, there remains the impending and rapidly approaching global eco-catastrophe (if the unstoppable global economic meltdown doesn’t get us first), and more and more pundits are claiming that any attempts to reverse it or even slow it down appreciably by any sorts of energy conservation measures will be too little too late. The handwriting is on the wall; and in case you didn’t know what handwriting that aphorism refers to, the source is Daniel 5, in which, during a drunken feast by King Belshazzar of Babylon, a disembodied hand (“The beast with five fingers”) appears and writes on the wall of the palace a message which is translated by Daniel: “You have been weighed in the scales and found wanting; your days are numbered.” Or more colloquially, your ass is buttermilk, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Always Amusing

The Coloradoan's website is always amusing to me, their RSS feed more so. Frequently something like this pops up:



and I have to say, it's when they're at their very best in reporting accuracy: 'No heading, no description' - that's our lil Bobbie, master of the intertubes.

Why does the spike in gun sales worry me?

Because it also concerns the Secret Service.

This from the Telegraph.co.uk
Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama
Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

By Tim Shipman in Washington

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

Read the rest at the Telegraph

Knowledge and Character

Kansas is a red state - one of the reddest.

At it's website there is this anecdote:

As you can see from the above picture, Wyandotte has twin towers which were given names by then principal J.F. Wellemeyer: the West Tower (on your right) represented knowledge and the East Tower (on your left) represented character. According to Wellemeyer, "The west was a land of pioneers, eager and ambitious to achieve and acquire, and they were true pioneers in arts and sciences as well as many newer branches of learning. The east suggests maturity, stability of character, refinement, culture and inspiration."

Very noble. What a great creed.

So, after seeing this article, I was somewhat less than amused:

One morning earlier this month, Quinly staked out his front drive and finally spotted the politically motivated litterbug. The man in question was driving a black GMC pickup truck. Fed up with the greasy onslaught, Quinly hopped in his car and followed his suspect until it pulled into the parking lot of Wyandotte High School. Armed with the man’s license plate number, Quinly attempted to track down the driver’s name; what he got: Robert Bayer, the school’s assistant principal.

Robert Bayer - Assistant Principal/Activities Director

Wyandotte High School
2501 Minnesota Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas 66102
Phone (913)627-7650

I encourage you to contact

Mr. David A. Smith
[Public Relations Contact]
Assistant to the Superintendent for Communications
279-2240
dasmith@kckps.org
Fax (913)627-7700

Gore-y Details

From Doug's Dynamic Drivel:

Get Gored

9 November, 2008 (10:45)

A nice bit of synchronicity in regards to my earlier post on geothermal energy. In the NYT this morning Al Gore puts forth his five point plan for energy independence.

1. “offer large-scale investment in incentives for the construction of concentrated solar thermal plants in the Southwestern deserts, wind farms in the corridor stretching from Texas to the Dakotas and advanced plants in geothermal hot spots that could produce large amounts of electricity.”


2. “begin the planning and construction of a unified national smart grid for the transport of renewable electricity”


3. “help America’s automobile industry (not only the Big Three but the innovative new startup companies as well) to convert quickly to plug-in hybrids that can run on the renewable electricity”


4. “embark on a nationwide effort to retrofit buildings with better insulation and energy-efficient windows and lighting”


5. “the United States should lead the way by putting a price on carbon here at home, and by leading the world’s efforts to replace the Kyoto treaty next year in Copenhagen with a more effective treaty that caps global carbon dioxide emissions and encourages nations to invest together in efficient ways to reduce global warming pollution quickly, including by sharply reducing deforestation.”

On the third point I slightly disagree. The encouragement should ultimately be towards fully electric or hydrogen fueled vehicles. Hybrids still use gasoline and that pollutes. The move needs to be towards fully green vehicles, not just less polluting ones. Still it is a good first step.

I hope Obama will offer Al Gore a cabinet position dealing with these issues and I hope Gore will accept. At the very least Obama should seek advice from Gore on a regular basis.

HIV Cure

This is great news for people with any immunity-based disease. Also, now that the fundie-controlled Bush administration is on the way out, we'll likely have some cures for other disesases since scientists can do stem-cell research at last.

The Ash Heap of History

Race in 4th is over, but not ill will
After a bitter campaign, the GOP's Marilyn Musgrave has yet to congratulate Democrat Betsy Markey or concede.
By Monte Whaley
The Denver Post

Incumbent Republican Musgrave, who lost to Democrat Markey by a 56 to 44 percent margin Tuesday, has yet to call and congratulate Markey on her win.

Musgrave also hasn't conceded the race, said Markey spokesman Ben Marter. "She has yet to admit defeat," he said. "It's a little bizarre."

Calls to Musgrave's campaign and congressional office went unanswered Friday.

-------
What? Ms. Musgrave won't show basic class? A little humility? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

Did Marie Antoinette throw kisses to the crowd as she was hauled to judgement? Did Nicolae Ceausescu smile and wave at the troops that stood him up against a wall? Heck no. After all, they were being forcibly yanked out of what they saw as the royalty - detached with extreme prejudice from the public teat since they'd been found to be destructive parasites. Things are a bit less brutal here in our beloved democracy, but no less decisive.

I think Markey's team is really missing the point: royalty feels they have no obligation to be gracious to those they perceive as peasants.

Of course, that's a two-way street. If Marilyn wants to be remembered as an ungracious lout, that's her business - but she can be assured many of us won't forget her reign of terror and how badly she's behaved at the end. Mr. Guy Short can also be assured we'll be keeping a close eye on him as well.

Go now into oblivion, betrayers of the public trust, you are relegated to the ash heap of history.