Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Okay, this is rich. Apparently, Gov. Mark Sanford’s in such a snit over being forced to take stimulus money that he’s run away in a huff:

This is probably nothing, but it certainly seems odd.

The whereabouts of Gov. Mark Sanford have been unknown to state officials since Thursday, and some state leaders are questioning who is in charge of the executive office.

Neither the governor’s office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, has been able to reach Sanford after he left the mansion in a black SLED Suburban SUV, said Sen. Jake Knotts and three others familiar with the situation but who declined to be identified.

Sanford’s last known whereabouts were near Atlanta, where a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his phone, authorities said.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press today her husband has been gone for several days and she doesn’t know where he is.

Mark Sanford’s wife doesn’t know where he is? Neither do the state officials responsible for his security? What’s more, both the governor’s personal and professional phones have been turned off, and messages have gone unreturned since Thursday.

The governor’s wife said the governor needed some time away “to write something.” Sanford’s office issued a statement today saying that Sanford decided to “recharge” after the legislative session, and has decided to “work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside.”

All from an undisclosed location, a la Dick Cheney. And remember, this putz who’s dodged out on his executive responsibilities for several days, with no one left in charge, leaving most people in the dark as to where he is or when he’ll be back, not to mention leaving no way to contact him, is rumored as a GOP hopeful for Prez.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Speaking of stimulus, the RNC might want to check what’s loaded in their guns before firing away:

Hmmm, this one’s a bit odd. Earlier today, the Republican National Committee blasted out to reporters a research document with a link to an article in USA Today reporting that much of the stimulus package’s construction money will be spent in the districts of well-connected lawmakers.

The RNC document cited the piece to argue that the stimulus cash is nothing but pork and isn’t going where it’s needed. “Where Are The Jobs?” the document demanded. “Where Is The Money? Why All The Pork?”

But there’s only one problem: If you click through the link provided by the RNC to the article itself, you find that it actually targets a Republican Senator, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, as a primary recipient of this pork.

[snip]

In a sense, this is a variation of what we saw earlier this year: Republicans in Congress condemning the stimulus package but then turning right around and taking stimulus cash for their states and districts. Only now it’s coming out of the RNC. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy…

Foot, meet bullet. Awesome job, RNC!

From the Dept. of Con Compassion comes this gem:

On CSPAN’s Washington Journal yesterday, former Republican congressman Tom Davis received a call from an elderly woman named Dorothy, who said that because she has diabetes, health insurance companies “reject” her. “They don’t even want to accept me,” said Dorothy. “Is that, is that possible they could get away with that? That seems like discriminating.”

Davis responded by saying that he understood her “dilemma” and that she probably wouldn’t be able to retire by 62 as she desires. Advising her that she’d be alright if she found “a job with a major employer,” Davis said it would be “difficult” on her own:

DAVIS: I don’t think you’ll find, probably be able to find some health insurance but if its with a small business or you’re going out on your own, it’s difficult at this point. There may be a government plan or private plans that are mandated coming out of this that are maybe able to help you. … I don’t know any reason why you shouldn’t be able to find something out there, but you want to look for an employer that has a health care plan. Good luck.

Um, Mr. Davis? It’s your party that’s screaming against government plans. It’s also your party that fucked up the economy to the extent that finding a job with a major employer could be nigh impossible for sick elderly jobless folks. Oh, and then later on you say that “I don’t know that she can count on Washington to solve it for her.” Who, then? That absolutley fabulous private market whose profits depend on leaving sick folk out to dry?

Way to go, bro. What a fucking assmunch.

So, remember when some saner Cons started fretting about attacking a Latina? Looks like the GOP may indeed lose its last vestige of Latino support:

New poll numbers really seem to bear out the fears of some Republicans: The GOP’s quasi-opposition to Sotomayor seems to be hurting the party among Latinos in a big way.

The latest numbers from the nonpartisan Research 2000 for Daily Kos find that only eight percent of Latinos view the party favorably, while an astonishing 86 percent view it unfavorably.

That’s a real shift from what were already pretty bad numbers from before the Sotomayor nominatino, when 11% of Latinos viewed the GOP favorably, and 79% viewed it unfavorably.

Their poor feet are starting to resemble Swiss cheese about now. Perhaps this is why Sen. Corker decided he’d better reschedule toot sweet after can
celling a meeting with Sotomayor. He’d originally blown her off for being ten minutes late due to an ankle injury serious enough to require a cast. Classy, innit he?

Speaking of classy, the events in Iran have unhinged quite a few Cons (and you know Cons are going about this all wrong when Joe Fucking Scarborough takes them to the woodshed for stupidity). Case in point:

Last week, we heard quite a few ridiculous Iran-related comparisons from high-profile Republicans, but former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, now a U.S. Senate candidate, adds a rather unique twist today.

Twitter hasn’t always been a politician’s best friend, most recently for House Republicans making comparisons of their own political plight to the demonstrators in Iran.

Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio is the latest to make his own questionable comparison drawn from the Iranian demonstrations — that the protesters would have more success if they had a constitutional right to bear arms.

“I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours,” Rubio tweeted.

[snip]

It’s fascinating to watch developments unfold in Iran, and it’s not unusual to think how much better off Iranians would be right now if they enjoyed some of the freedoms Americans already have. But instead of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble, a free press, and the separation between religion and government, Rubio is apparently thinking, “Boy, if those folks only had lots of guns….”

As far as I can tell, Iran seems to already have quite a few well-armed “militias.” Indeed, it’s part of the problem.

Note how Rubio skipped right past all the civil liberties amendments, such as the First Amendment, and skipped right to the one involving guns. I think that says all that needs to be said about the typical Con mentality right there. Might makes right, is that it?

And to think, these fuckwits still think they’re good at governing. Methinks it’s time to start them on the good psychotropics, before they decide they can fly.

Happy Hour Discurso
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Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

You know, it really burns my butt when law enforcement agencies give in to Con temper tantrums:

Newsweek had an item the other day that I found a little startling.

In February, the Missouri Information Analysis Center, one of several “fusion” centers created after 9/11 to share intelligence among local, state and federal agencies, issued a “strategic report” warning about a resurgence of the “modern militia movement.” Last week, on the same day that white supremacist James von Brunn allegedly killed a guard at Washington’s Holocaust Memorial Museum, Missouri’s police chief informed legislators that the fusion center had suspended production of such reports. Why? Outcry from conservative activists, who felt they were being tarred too. […]

They may talk about it less in public now, but law-enforcement and intel officials tell NEWSWEEK they’re quietly scrutinizing threats from the far right just as carefully as those from Islamic extremists.

So, let me get this straight. Law enforcement officials decided, on purpose, to stop preparing reports on potentially dangerous radicals, because conservative activists said scrutiny of extremists made them feel put upon? Conservative activists whine about all kinds of things; shouldn’t law enforcement officials ignore them and focus on real threats?

I don’t care how much the perpetual victims on the right scream and howl: if extremists are a danger, and law enforcement agencies want to keep an eye on said extremists, they should do it despite the wailing and moaning from people who are only extreme in their stupidity, not in their follow-through.

Speaking of extreme stupidity, let’s see what the “let them eat cake” pols on the right have to say about programs to feed hungry kids:

In her June newsletter, State Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-MO) provided several “commentaries” to a press release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on a summer food program. The program provides “food during the summer for thousands of low-income Missouri children who rely on the school cafeteria for free or reduced-price meals during the regular school year.” Davis, who serves as the chairwoman of the Missouri House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families, questioned whether the program is “warranted,” and extolled the hidden benefits of child hunger:

Who’s buying dinner? Who is getting paid to serve the meal? Churches and other non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer if it is warranted. […] Bigger governmental programs take away our connectedness to the human family, our brotherhood and our need for one another. […] Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals? Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break. […] It really is all about increasing government spending, which means an increase in taxes for us to buy more free lunches and breakfasts.

No, it’s all about making sure kids don’t starve. Starvation isn’t a character-building experience. And sending 16 year-olds to find work in this economy is a sick joke. I remember looking for a job at that age in the boom years of the 90s, and it was godsdamned hard. Imagine how much harder it is when you’re malnourished.

Not that true-red Cons have any sort of ability to empathize. But they do have the ability to scream about deficits when and only when it’s Dems running them up in order to help ordinary people:

I feel like I’m turning into Jerry Seinfeld: Have you ever noticed how only Democratic deficits are a problem? Republicans are sticking to their Frank Luntz-authored talking points on health care (as Chris Dodd points out about Lindsey Graham on This Week this morning) and pulling their beards, speaking ponderously of the horrors of spending money to save money:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Republicans seem to be digging in, Senator Graham, on a couple of big issues. On the issues of taxes to pay for health care, on the issue of a public health insurance plan. But let me show you this New York Times poll that’s just out this morning showing 72 percent, 72 percent of the public supports a government health insurance plan and 57 percent of the public is willing to pay more taxes for universal health care. They seem to be ready for the kind of change that Republicans are fighting.

GRAHAM: Well, it’s just not Republicans, George. The reason you’re not going to have a government run health care pass the Senate is because it would be devastating for this country. The last thing in the world I think Democrats and Republicans are going to do at the end of the day is create a government run health care system where you’ve got a bureaucrat standing in between the patient and the doctor. We’ve tried this model — people have tried this model in other countries. The first thing that happens — you have to wait for your care. And in socialized health care models, people have to wait longer to get care and the government begins to cut back on what’s available because of the cost explosion.

Lindsey, you silly thing! I know you’re only saying what Frank told you to say, but since you’ve apparently had government-run health care most of your adult life (in the military and in public office), you probably don’t know: We already have bureaucrats standing between us and our doctor. We already wait for care, and it’s already rationed. That’s why these talking points from Frank aren’t working – they’re not our reality.

So sadly true. Steve Benen adds:

It’s why I’ll take Graham’s opinion on this far more seriously just as soon as he explains why he’d like to see Medicare and the Veterans Health Administration hospitals eliminated because of their “devastating” effects for the country.

And while he’s at it, maybe he can unveil a proposal to prevent unaccountable insurance company bureaucrats from standing in between patients and doctors. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

Neither can I. However, I won’t hold my breath.

Here’s a blast from the past for ye. Remember how Cons were screaming bloody murder over voter registration fraud? Remember how they couldn’t make a damned thing stick against ACORN? Wanna see who was actually perpetrating voter fraud? Here ye go (h/t):

What’s perhaps most interesting here is what isn’t mentioned in
this story, as written on the Los Angeles Times’ “L.A. Now” blog. First, here’s their entire blog item…

The owner of a voter-registration company pleaded guilty Tuesday to voter-registration fraud, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Laguna Beach resident Mark Jacoby, who collects signatures for petition drives, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to three years’ probation and 30 days of service with the California Department of Transportation.

Jacoby, owner of Young Political Majors, registered to vote at Los Angeles addresses that were not his own. State law requires petition circulators to be qualified voters. Jacoby will also be required to show proof he is registered at his correct address.

And what they didn’t bother to mention in that story?…Amongst other things, the fact that Jacoby and Young Political Majors were hired by the California Republican Party to head up their voter registration efforts in the state.

Yup. But then, hypocrisy’s kinda the norm for that bunch, innit?

Happy Hour Discurso

Sunday Sensational Science

Celestial Photography

Summer Milky Way above Yavapai Point Trail in Grand Canyon. Wally Pacholka/Astropics.com.


Nothing chock-full of scientific facts this week, but plenty of beauty. Whilst I was on vacation, I came across the photography of Wally Pacholka in various visitors’ centers. What’s remarkable about his photography is that it isn’t contrived:

Pacholka said he employs simple techniques and does nothing extraordinary to get his shots. He uses a standard 50mm lens mounted on a tripod, and points a small flashlight on nearby desirable rocks and other land features he wants to stand out in the photo.

He allowed that his digital camera has a light-gathering power that is in some instances more than 50,000 times greater than a typical daylight camera setting. Pacholka runs his exposures anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. But he doesn’t consider himself a guru.

“This is something the average person could do, absolutely,” he said.

Well, if the average person was willing to hike remote trails in the dark and had an eye for the right moment, I suppose. And believe me when I say that hiking around Sunset Crater even in broad daylight is a perilous proposition. Jagged lava flows, slippery cinders, unexpected Ponderosa pine roots – the average person’s more likely to end up with a broken neck than a spectacular photo.

Sunset Crater Volcano – Milky Way & Jupiter. Wally Pacholka/Astropics.com.

Images like these remind us just how gorgeous our universe is. We’re damned lucky to live on a planet where such vistas paint the night sky. And with a little wisdom in our lighting choices, we can protect those skies, allowing ordinary people to point an ordinary digital camera and capture some really astounding astronomy.

Gemini Twins – Orion – Sirius – Meteor over Windows Area. Wally Pacholka/Astropics.com.

Both astronomy and photography take us to other worlds – one a little more literally than the other. I think this picture captures the other-worldly quality perfectly. Little hard to believe this was taken at the Valley of Fire on Earth, isn’t it?

Mars at Closest Point. Wally Pacholka/Astropics.com.

And there are few things as other-worldly as a comet soaring over Joshua trees, which look a little alien to begin with:

Comet Hale Bopp over Joshua Tree. Wally Pacholka/Astropics.com.

Wally’s work gave me a new appreciation for my home state, where cosmos and continent always seemed close enough to touch each other. The first two photos in this post will be gracing my home just as soon as I’ve identified a suitable wall. Next time you’re in a national park, have a look inside the visitor’s center – his work may be there, and you can take a little something special home with you. If you love sensational science, here’s a photographer who captures its essence perfectly.

Mauna Kea view of Milky Way from Northern Cross to Southern Cross Panorama. Wally Pacholka/Astropics.com.

(All photos filched from Wally’s website, except the first one, which I pilfered from TWAN. You’ll find plenty of other sensational science photographers there, too.)
Sunday Sensational Science

Things You Should Never Try At Home


I’ve been clearing out the DVR whilst catching up on household chores and framing the various bits of art I picked up during my vacation. It’s hard to fast-forward through commercials when your hands are full. Usually, I pay no attention to the blather, but it’s a little hard to ignore a scuba-diving cat.

If you watch teevee, you might have seen that ad for HowStuffWorks.com. There’s some dude steering a cat in diving gear around a pool. I know that people do bizarre things, but this is the first time I’ve seen a man retain his hand after dumping a feline in several thousand gallons of water. It caught my interest. And in these days of the intertoobz, I could find out if this was clever CGI or true insanity.

Turns out the cat really does dive:

So what does Hawkeye do when she’s scuba diving? Sometimes she bounds around along the pool’s bottom like Neil Armstrong on the moon’s surface. She hasn’t quite figured out how to swim underwater, even though she’s a proficient surface swimmer. This is where Alba comes in. He’ll typically hold Hawkeye’s tank and lead her around the pool while she hangs around, checking everything out. According to Alba, scuba diving relaxes her — the weightlessness of being underwater could be a welcome change from the gravity-bound shackles of dry land.

Apparently, since the commercial came out, people have been requesting scuba gear for their cats. I won’t be among them. Granted, my rotund little beastie could use the exercise, but I value my limbs. I do not want to have to explain to curious members of the public just how I became a multiple amputee.

Besides, Hawkeye’s owner isn’t honoring requests for kitty scuba outfits. He knows the vast majority of cats wouldn’t appreciate the opportunity to obtain a fish-eye view of the world. He only ever stuck his cat in scuba gear because she started swimming on her own.

It just goes to show there’s an oddball in every bunch, dunnit?

For those of you who haven’t overdosed on cute lately, watch and aw:

Things You Should Never Try At Home

Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Apparently, everyone went comatose just like I did today. The stupid’s a little thin on the ground, but there’s a definite film there, much like the thin film of oil that coats Phoenix streets and waits for the rare rainstorm in order to fuck up motorists’ lives.

It’s coating the pages of the Weekly Standard like a septic tank malfunction:

I’ll give the Weekly Standard credit for clarity. The conservative magazine published two very similar pieces today — one from Stephen Hayes and William Kristol, the other from Fred Barnes — offering the identical attack with indistinguishable language: they want President Obama to do more to intervene in Iran.

The pieces are almost comical in their belligerence towards the White House. Hayes and Kristol lament Obama’s “weakness,” and described the U.S. president as “a de facto ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.” Barnes insists, “Obama has tilted in favor of the regime. The result is personal shame (for Obama) and policy shame (for the United States).”

What I find interesting about the 2,000 words of the conservatives’ angry and righteous denigration is how remarkably narrow it is. For Hayes, Kristol, and Barnes, it’s almost as if the argument presented by the president is so self-evidently horrible, they don’t feel the need to explain why they think it’s wrong.

The same shenanigans went on in the WaPo’s op-ed pages, with the same abject refusal to so much as mention the President’s position, let alone attempt a rebuttal.

I have a different take than Steve’s. I believe they refuse to address the President’s argument because they know he’s right. You know who else knows he’s right?

Gary Sick, a former National Security Council expert on Iran in the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations — not, in other words, a liberal activist or party hack — explained the other day, “The Obama administration has handled this pretty well. There’s nothing we can do in a proactive way that is going to improve things. We could make things a lot worse.”

It’s a position endorsed by other Republicans such as Dick Lugar and Henry Kissinger. Nick Burns, an Undersecretary of State in the Bush administration, said this week that Ahmadinejad “would like nothing better than to see aggressive statements, a series of statements, from the United States which try to put the U.S. at the center of this.”

It’s just a little hard for merry assclowns like Kristol et al to come up with a credible argument against the President’s position when even the foreign policy experts on their side are saying, “Obama’s doin it rite.” So they go with the arguments that lack all credibility, and hope that enough belligerant bleating will blind people to the fact they’re utterly full of shit.

Turning to the wide world o’ finance, and the assclowns who pretend to report on it, check out this quote from CNBC’s Larry Kudlow:

Last night on CNBC, ThinkProgress editor-in-chief Faiz Shakir debated CNBC host Larry Kudlow about a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal which revealed that the CEOs of banks receiving government bailout money are expensing travel on private jets for personal vacations. “I think it’s great because I want to stimulate the economy,” Kudlow said of taxpayer-funded private jet trips by bank CEOs. “I want to help the resorts. … I’m glad the CEOs are going around. I just wish they’d take me with them.”

This, my darlings, from the same network that so enjoyed broadcasting Rick Santelli’s rant against struggling homeowners. When ordinary people accept government money for personal expenses, they’re losers. When CEOs do it, they’re “stimulating the economy.” Natch.

All this talk of media assclowns and hypocrisy reminds me of someone

Remember how, a week or so ago, Bill O’Reilly was preoccupied with the idea that the news media had comparatively obsessed over the domestic-terrorism killing of Dr. George Tiller, while “ignoring” the killing of Private Long, a similar act of terrorism? He had numerous segments complaining that the matter proved there was a liberal media bias.

At one point, he complained that CNN had “ignored” the story — a completely meritless charge. At another, he even claimed that the only place you could find any coverage of the case was on Fox.

Now, compare that to how Fox has handled yet another horrifying case of murderous extremism: the arrest of Shawna Forde and her Minuteman cohorts for the cold-blooded murder of a 9-year-old girl and her father.

Fox simply has ignored the story. There is a single Associated Press story on the Fox website. This AP piece, notably, contains not a single reference to Forde’s long history with the Minuteman movement, her close ties to Jim Gilchrist, or the fact that she intended this Minutemen squad to use its ill-gotten gains to “start a revolution against the United States government.”

When it comes to ignoring right-wing extremism, Bill O’s first in line. When it comes to hypocrisy – well, let’s just say that those people who camp for days for the new iPhone and Star Wars are late risers compared to Bill jumping in the hypocrisy queue.

Finally, let us end with a video that sums up the entire Con argument against health care reform:

At least the Cons inspire creative people to come up with some seriously funny shit mocking them. It’s about all they’re good for these days…

Happy Hour Discurso

Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Before we get started, a shout out: Happy birthday to Dusty Morgan, my main character! I’ll let you know how old she is just as soon as I’ve decided what year she was actually born in.

Her name means “valliant fighter from the edge of the sea.” Which is a good enough segue into what no longer ends at the edge of the sea, as per hypocritical Cons:

I remember a time — I believe it’s known as “2001 through 2008” — when congressional Republicans believed politics had to end at the water’s edge. They also believed that the United States couldn’t have individual members of Congress coming up with their own foreign policies — these responsibilities were in the hands of the president.

Ah, the good old days.

House Republican Caucus Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) has spent the last few days advocating in support of a resolution, weighing in on developments in Iran. Pence has said he realizes where President Obama has “drawn the line,” but he “respectfully disagrees” with the administration. Pence added that the U.S. can’t “stay neutral,” so his resolution is necessary to “condemn the violence.”

In our reality, Obama has already expressed “deep concerns about the election,” and publicly shared his concerns about “violence directed at peaceful protesters,” but maybe Pence wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he doesn’t care. Maybe he wants to intervene in such a way as to undermine U.S. foreign policy, just to see what happens.

[snip]

Watching this unfold, I am reminded of something Matt Yglesias wrote earlier this year: “The larger issue … is that Mike Pence is a moron, and any movement that would hold the guy up as a hero is bankrupt…. I would refer you to this post from September about the earth-shattering ignorance and stupidity of Mike Pence…. [I]t’s really staggering. In my admittedly brief experience talking to him, his inability to grasp the basic contours of policy question was obvious and overwhelming.”

Speaking of earth-shattering stupidity, we’ve all been total idiots. Here we’ve been thinking this healthcare reform stuff was going to be all difficult, when really, it’s totally simple. Just ask RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who presented the solution while hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show:

The way to solve the health care crisis, Steele said in another portion of the show, is “not that complicated”: All we have to do is “figure out who” doesn’t have access to health care, “and give them access!”

STEELE: So if it’s a cost problem, it’s easy: Get the people in a room who have the most and the most direct impact on cost, and do the deal. Do the deal. It’s not that complicated.

If it’s an access question, people don’t have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Hello?! Am I missing something here? If my friend Trevor has access to health care, and I don’t, why do I need to overhaul the entire system so I can get access he already has? why don’t you just focus on me and get me access?

Wow, how did we miss it? I mean, it’s a brilliant idea – right up there with McCain’s “stop the bullshit” approach to Mideast diplomacy. However could the American people have decided that these super-smart men aren’t fit to govern? They’ve got the solutions to all our problems!

[/sarcasm]

Elsewhere on Bill Bennett’s show, Steele informed a caller of the perils of public health care:

The context was Steele’s response to a call from a physician with a question about preventive care.

“Well you’ll get issued, Doc, you’re gonna issue, to your patients, a health care card that’s gonna be part of a national ID system that, you know, every time I charge something or use that card, it’s going to show up on a grid what I’ve done and what I have failed to do, according to the government plan. So the government will know whether or not I’ve had my physical at the appropriate time and then probably some health police will come knocking on my door telling me I’m now costing the system money because I haven’t, you know, gone and done my preventive care.”

Now, in our reality, none of this makes a lick of sense. Steele’s dystopian nightmare about “health police” is purely a figment of his bizarre imagination.

I’d advise Mr. Steele to shut his inane mouth before he destroys his last shred of credibility, but I think that perished sometime in April. So, Mr. Steele, by all means: continue the entertainment.

Elsewhere in the idiotsphere, Cons have gotten themselves all excited over the administration’s firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin. They’d dearly love to believe this is the scandal they’ve been waiting for, a little something to provide tit-for-tat over the Attorney General firings. But even before they’ve finished clambering up on their soapboxes for the grandstand to end all grandstands, word arrives that the show’s over:

The White House’s decision to fire the AmeriCorps inspector general was set in motion by a unanimous request it received from the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which asked the White House to review the IG’s performance, according to a board member.

The firing “would not have played itself out” were it not for the fact that the board raised concerns about the IG, Gerald Walpin, after the May 20 board meeting, a board member told TPMmuckraker. The board member added that the White House had no role in encouraging the board to make the review request, calling it “completely board-initiated.” The White House had cited the request from the board in its letter to Congress explaining the reason for Walpin’s firing.

So much for politically-motivated firings and all that. Not that the Cons are
gonna climb down off those soapboxes – facts never stop them from screaming bloody murder – but they’ll look utterly ridiculous bleating about this bullshit, and that pleases me.

How do I know they’ll keep yawping about non-issues? Because they have yet to show the least little sign of growing up:

If you thought the Party of No had already shown us the outer limits of what whiney-ass victims they could be, think again:

Republicans angry over what they regarded as mistreatment by the majority Democrats retaliated by demanding roll call votes 52 times on one bill, a $64 billion spending bill for law enforcement and science programs next year.

They asked for votes on some two dozen amendments, even noncontroversial ones that passed unanimously. Then they asked for revotes. Then they demanded votes on whether they could vote for a third time. Once they ran out of amendments they came up with a couple more revisions to the bill they could vote on.

I think it’s time to retire the Party of No label. The Party of Terrible Two Year-Olds fits ever so much better.

Happy Hour Discurso

I Need Another Vacation

You day people don’t know how lucky you’ve got it. I’ve still not convinced my body we need to shift back to a night schedule after 17 days of days. For instance, I took my tired self to bed for a nap night before last, and slept in my clothes for 11 hours. Last night, I thought, “I can’t possibly sleep that much again. I’ll just take a wee little nap like the good old days.” When I woke, it was 4:30 in the ay-em. Another night all gone. Argh.

In other words, it’s gonna be a while before things are back to normal. But that’s how you know it was a frickin’ awesome vacation, right?

Now I need another so my poor circadian rhythm can readjust to the idea that we are nocturnal in this household, and so that I can finish up the 101 projects created by two weeks in me old home state. I came back with a rock collection needing housed, pictures needing sorted, art needing framed and hung, memorabilia needing scrapbooked, a metric ton of books needing read (XXOO, Bookmans!), and a cat needing cuddled. Apparently, helping me drive wasn’t enough attention for her:

I’ve also got to readjust to all the green growing stuff up here. Arizona’s got green, but not like this. Driving to work this morning, I felt intimidated by green. The trees and bushes are positively exuberant, and they’re crowding the road. I felt like the class nerd surrounded by a solid wall of menacing school bullies. Everywhere I look, there’s another something green and leafy waiting to pounce. When I found a patch of dry-ish dirt today, I nearly screamed with joy. It’s rather pathetic.

I wonder if our leave of absence policy covers getting reacquainted with foilage?

I Need Another Vacation

Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

There’s good news today, my darlings. Americans aren’t as stupid as Cons think they are:

I’ve seen a few Republican blogs today crowing about the latest national polls, which show some lukewarm support for some of White House’s policy priorities. There are a couple of numbers, though, that should give them pause.

For one thing, President Obama’s approval ratings still look quite strong. In the New York Times/CBS poll, for example, the president’s national rating stood at 63% support, the same as it was a month ago. In the WSJ/NBC poll, Obama fared slightly worse, with 56%, which is still not a bad rating under the circumstances.

But what’s gone largely overlooked is the numbers for the Republican Party. Consider this tidbit from the NYT/CBS poll:

While Republicans have steadily increased their criticism of Mr. Obama, particularly on the budget deficit, the poll found that the Republican Party is viewed favorably by only 28 percent of those polled, the lowest rating ever in a New York Times/CBS News poll. In contrast, 57 percent said that they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party. [emphasis added]

The WSJ/NBC poll added:

25 percent hold a favorable view of the Republican Party, which is an all-time low for it in the poll. 45 percent hold a favorable view of the Democratic Party. [emphasis added]

Pretty pathetic showing, innit? Looks like the majority of Americans aren’t all that happy with the GOP becoming the Party of Incompetent Fuckwits. Imagine that.

There’s other bad news for Cons on the poll front:

If this one doesn’t stiffen the spines of Dems who are wavering on whether to include a public health insurance option in the reform package, nothing will.

A new poll by a nonpartisan, D.C.-based research group finds truly overwhelming support for the public option. The kicker: The poll was bankrolled partly by previous opponents of health care reform, including one of the nation’s best-known insurance companies.

The poll — which was just released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a D.C. policy think tank — finds that a majority (53%) strongly back the availability of a public plan, while another 30% “somewhat” support it. That’s a total of 83% in favor of a public plan — a staggeringly large majority.

Even more interesting, guess who paid for the poll? From the release:

This survey was made possible with support from AARP, American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Buck Consultants, Chevron, Deere & Company, IBM, Mercer, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Principal Financial Group, Schering-Plough Corp., Shell Oil Company, The Commonwealth Fund, and Towers Perrin.

Not exactly a band of raging lefties. The American Association of Retired Persons and Blue Cross Blue Shield were among the opponents of HillaryCare in the 1990s.

Not to mention, it’s amusing to see just how much traction the Cons’ scare tactics about evil socialized medicine have gained: zilch. Pretty piss-poor return on talking points there. Could it have something to do with the fact that 75% of Americans think Cons are full of shit?

Speaking of Cons, health care, and raging stupid, let’s watch Steve Benen and Paul Krugman put the Smack-o-Matic to good use:

It’s always struck me as something of a no-brainer — comparative effectiveness research helps point to the most reliable medical treatments. To conservatives, though, CER is a nefarious scheme that will lead to bureaucratic overlords dictating which patients are eligible to receive which services.
This is especially relevant in the context of Medicare and Medicaid. Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) introduced a bill yesterday to make sure the government doesn’t use CER to deny coverage for treatments deemed ineffective.

Paul Krugman helps highlight some of the more conspicuous flaws in the Republican senators’ approach.

1. Politicians who rail against wasteful government spending are taking action to prevent the government from reining in … wasteful spending.

2. Politicians who warn that the burden of entitlements is killing the federal budget are stepping in to block … the single most painless route to reducing the growth of entitlements.

3. They’re doing it in the name of avoiding “rationing of health care” … but they’re specifically addressing taxpayer-funded care. If you want to go out and buy a medically useless treatment, Medicare won’t stop you.

4. These same politicians are, of course, opposed to efforts to expand coverage. In other words, it’s evil for government to “ration care” by only paying for things that work; it is, however, perfectly OK, indeed virtuous, to ration care by refusing to pay for any care at all.

Yep, it’s that bad.

I’d say it’s the icky science that scared Cons into sounding like complete lackwits on this issue, but inconsistency and dumbassery are GOPSOP. I’m afraid this is probably normal behavior. And those four points might be useful things to have in hand the next time you have to discuss health care with a Conservative. The looks on their dear little faces should be priceless.

Here’s another fun tidbit, useful to have to hand the next time some clueless soul tries to proclaim that the Cons are not in the pockets of megacorporations:

Leaders of a new GOP group, the “Rural American Solutions Group,” are distributing a document attacking climate change legislation as an economic burden to most of the country. As it turns out, the information in the press release was provided to the Republican congressmen by Peabody Energy, a juggernau
t of the coal industry. Staffers for GOP Reps. Frank Lucas (R-OK), Sam Graves (R-MO), and Doc Hastings (R-WA) are emailing around a map that purports to detail “how the Democrats’ National Energy Tax unfairly targets rural Americans.”

[snip]

Two employees of Peabody Energy are listed in the metadata of the map document: Chairman and CEO Greg Boyce and Communications Manager Chris Taylor. The congressmen opposing climate change legislation — Reps. Lucas, Graves, and Hastings — are simply copying-and-pasting information that has been directly fed to them by Peabody Energy.
My own dear Dad used to work for Peabody, so I know just enough about the company to understand that if Peabody says coal’s good for the environment and there’s no such thing as global warming, it’s about as believable as Cons claiming they’re watching out for poor folk.

If you yourself buy the claims of either entity, I would like to discuss the oceanfront property in Arizona I picked up while I was on vacation down there. I’m willing to sell cheap, due to the economic climate, you see.

Happy Hour Discurso

Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Well, my darlings, I’m back on the job after over two weeks away. We’ll see how well this goes. Keep in mind that I’m working a night shift while my body’s on day shift, and I’m dog-fucking tired after so many weeks on the road. Getting too old for this shit, I am. Blame typos on the after-effects of vacation.

At least I didn’t have to hunt for stupidty to bash. It all came trotting up with its pants down. For instance, take the GOP’s shiny new health care reform plan:

Remember when House Republicans, on April Fools’ Day, released a budget with no numbers in it? And were widely mocked and ridiculed for being so fundamentally unserious about public policy that their budget was made up entirely of odd charts and vacuous text?

They haven’t learned their lesson.

House Republicans presented a four-page outline of their health care reform plan Wednesday but said they didn’t know yet how much it would cost, how they would pay for it and how many of the nearly 50 million Americans without insurance would be covered by it.

And then they whine about how nobody ever takes them seriously. Even my exhausted brain has no trouble understanding why that might be.

Eric Cantor, however, seems to have problems comprehending common English words:

GOP Rep Eric Cantor, perhaps feeling the competition from Twitter-happy GOP colleagues, has now started tweeting heavily, and in a tweet moments ago, he expressed solidarity with the Iranian opposition and hit Obama for “silence” on Iran:

Tehran violence is a horrible human tragedy. Administration silence is troubling.

Silence? Obama has said he has “deep concerns” about the Iranian election, and has also said he’s “deeply troubled” by the violence. But Obama has tried simultaneously to avoid being seen to be “meddling” in Iranian affairs.

Poor Eric. Someone needs to buy that man a dictionary. Not that such a thing would make him any less of an absolute ass.

Actually, we may need to start a fund for the majority of the GOP. I wonder if Sylvan has adult learning courses? These fuckwits need some remedial education asap:

It’s never been clear to me why Republicans present themselves as members of the “tough” and “strong” party. Given all the time they spend feeling sorry for themselves, the GOP seems to send the opposite message.

Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.), for example, is annoyed about the number of amendments considered in the House to appropriation bills. He’s so annoyed, in fact, that he’s tweeting about the similarities between House Republicans and Iranian demonstrators.

“Good to see Iranian people move mountains w social media, shining sunlight on their repressive govt – Texans support their bid for freedom”

“Oppressed minorities includeHouseRepubs: We are using social media to expose repression such as last night’s D clampdown shutting off amends”

I see. Iranian dissidents are protesting a presidential election that may have been stolen from them by an oppressive regime, only to face threats and violence. At least eight Iranians have already been killed. They’re using Twitter to shine a light on developments in a country that’s cracking down on free press and free speech. House Republicans, meanwhile, want more amendments considered on appropriations bills. I can’t believe I didn’t notice the “repressive” similarities.

Click here for a sampling of other Cons having trouble understanding what “repressive” means. They’ve certainly failed Analogy 101, but they’ve got an A+ in Playing the Victim 201.

As for upper-division Hypocrisy, I do believe Sen. Ensign has graduated as the class valedictorian:

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t much care what Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) does in his personal life. What he does in his bedroom is his business.

But the larger context of this story matters a great deal. Stupid personal mistakes are easily overlooked; breathtaking hypocrisy isn’t.

Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), considered a rising star in the Republican Party, yesterday acknowledged an extramarital affair with a former campaign staffer who is married to one of the lawmaker’s former legislative aides.

Ensign, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, disclosed the affair at a hastily arranged news briefing in Las Vegas, his home town…. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” Ensign said, reading from a prepared statement and leaving without taking questions.

The details of the affair are rather salacious — Ensign was in a relationship for much of 2008 with a woman on his staff, who was married to a man who was also on his staff — but those circumstances are really only relevant to the people directly involved in the relationship.

Of far greater interest is Ensign’s hypocrisy. When Bill Clinton’s adultery came to public light, Ensign not only voted to remove the president from office, but insisted the president should resign as a result of the personal scandal. When former Sen. Larry Craig was caught up in a sex scandal, Ensign not only called for Craig’s ouster, but led the charge against him.

Ensign has also been a fierce opponent of marriage equality, and supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In 2004, the Nevada Republican lectured his colleagues, “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simpl
y point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation.”

And did I mention that Ensign is a longtime member of the Promise Keepers, a conservative evangelical group that promotes strong families and marriages?

Sen. Ensign may want to see a doctor about that plank in his eye. It’s awfully big.

Of course, seeing a doctor may be a problem, as insurance companies have a bad habit of dropping coverage for sick folks – a habit they don’t plan on quitting any time soon:

This is what happens when you don’t allow real competition into the picture. It’s also what happens when you have a for-profit healthcare system:

Executives of three of the nation’s largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.

The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation’s healthcare system.

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses.

[snip]

The executives — Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health and Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California — were courteous and matter-of-fact in their testimony.

But they would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud to obtain coverage, a refusal that met with dismay from legislators on both sides of the political aisle.

Noper. Not when they can turn a tidy profit by dropping you like a hot rock at the first sign of illness.

You might want to keep things like this in mind while the GOP prances about touting private insurance as the answer to America’s every ill. As in so many other things, they’re dead fucking wrong about the miracles of the market.

Happy Hour Discurso

Vacation Update: Headed Home

This vacation has been roughly 90 bajillion times more chaos than I expected. I haven’t touched a computer in days. I even forgot to call my best friend, which is pretty pathetic considering how many years we’ve been holding a Saturday conversation. It’s kinda hard to remember to call your best friend on Saturday when you don’t know what day it is, though…

You know it’s a good vacation when you don’t know the day of the week, and don’t even bother to look it up.

But all good things must end. I’ll be home tonight, and as long as some bugger hasn’t made off with the household electronics in my absence, I’ll be back to regular posting within the day, albeit at a probably reduced capacity for a bit. I’ve got a megaton of blog reading to catch up on. Not to mention the well over a thousand photos to sort through. But we’ll have posts. The Smack-o-Matic’s coming down off the wall and getting applied to some seriously stupid backsides.

The cantina’s reopening for business, my darlings. Come thirsty.

Oh, and one last thing:

(Aren’t the signs in Tombstone awesome?)

Vacation Update: Headed Home