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abortion, economic theory, economy, GOP, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, school prayer, teabaggers

The jobs numbers came out this morning. Everything is on the uptick. The upturn in the economy continues unabated. This in spite of the naysayers who of course claim that things would be even better if we would do things their way (the business way). They offer no proof of this, but they assure you that if you would just lower corporate taxes to zero and remove all regulations, boards of directors across the country would be voting to “hire as many as will fit in the building” and things will be rosy in no time.

This engenders the usual arguments between Keynesians and Hayekians. If you are not so sure you know who these men are, or what they stand for, well, I have a good place to start.

I am not sure when this came out on PBS, but it is based on the book of the same name written by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. That came out in around 2003 I believe.

It is not for the faint of heart. It’s a six-hour committment. But on the upside, it’s well done and satisfies all the usual desires of one watching a documentary. You can get the DVD or you can watch the entire thing online, and I’ll provide the links at the bottom.

Let me caution you that I don’t at all agree with much of what they say, or at least the inferences they, I think deliberately, urge you to draw. They have a very definite point of view and they avoid a few facts that might cut against their opinion. (Pay especial attention to who is promoting the show at the beginning). That said, it provides a pretty good explanation of what Hayek believed and what Keynes believed. It provides a good foundation to understanding the basics that you will need should you choose to really try to get a handle on what the Krugman’s of the world believe is best for the economy versus the now deceased Milton Friedman.

We’ve only watched the first part, so I’m leaving off any further comments lest I influence your viewing. I’ll post a piece on my views in a couple of weeks or so. So if you are interested, put your feet up and grab a beer or cuppa joe and begin watching. It is entertaining and informative, just not accurate in all respects in my view. Links at the bottom of the page.

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Republicans continue to waste taxpayer money on crap that has nothing to do with economic recovery. Over the Governor’s veto, Arkansas just passed a law making it illegal to abort a fetus after twelve weeks. That’s of course unconstitutional on its face and seems destined to offer the SCOTUS an opportunity to either overturn Roe or restrict it. Idaho’s twenty week law was just struck down by a federal district court.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi, another bastion of free thought, the senate has just passed a bill that would allow school prayer again, most especially before classes start (during morning announcements) and before athletic events. Students would also be allowed to freely discuss religious faith issues during class time. This is also unconstitutional on its face.

What is ironic here, is that the very people who support this crap are the same folks who are hellbent to tell you that Democrats and the present administration have no faith let allow adherence to the Constitution and are violating it every day. Of course, they are not. They are just redressing their grievances that the damn document doesn’t say what they want, and making sure that it’s altered to accomplish that.

It all depends, is their answer to “do you believe we should follow the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court?”

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The water pressure dropped severely yesterday in Washington D.C. as John McCain and Lindsey Graham both spend a long time washing off the icky after finding themselves supporting the black guy in the White House against the strange man from Kentucky, Ru Paul, I mean Randy Paul on the drones issue. Two finer hawks were never born than McCain the man who continually drove planes into the ground, and the Lindsey, a man who one can’t begin to imagine in a uniform except as part of a sexual liaison in the bedroom.

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The best response to anyone who tries to tell you that homosexuality is a “choice” is to ask them what was the date when they “chose” to be heterosexual. What them sputter and try to get out of that dilemma.

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I think Romney’s the right choice for speechifying at CPAC. After watching his interview with Wallace the other night, it appears he’s still living in the delusions that caused his defeat. That should be right up the alley of the teabibbers doncha think?

Ø

This just tickled me. John McCain was quoted as saying this:

“It’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.”

I mean I hear the Oxford Dictionary calling to get that photo of John to place next to the word: IRONY.

Ø

From Don of Massachusetts:

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

– The Buddha

This seems a good place to say, HAVE A GOOD DAY!

Commanding Heights Pt 1

Commanding Heights Pt 2

Commanding Heights Pt 3

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• Would Hayek Have Approved Obamacare? – Reason.com (politicalcrazyness.tumblr.com)

 

Republican Chairs Scream: WE WANT NO MORE STUPID BUTTS IN OUR SEATS

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2nd Amendment, anecdotal evidence, border security, damnable lieHagel, GOP, lies, NRA

Well they are still going to put up a hissy-fit over Chuck Hagel. I’m not sure how successful they will be. Inhofe says it’s not a filibuster, just a 60-vote margin. He’s a fool lost in the 18th century. No, he can’t even get that far, make it the 17th.

Lindsey is still flipping his lacy underwear, demanding more answers, about what we know not, probably Benghazi, which he loves to spout about. Since when did Hagel have a thing to do with that?

Marsha Blackburn has one of the most annoying voices I’ve heard lately, but that’s not the real reason I can’t stand her. She’s an idiot. From Tennessee. She talks about how her wonderful party, the GOP is having a “wonderful conversation, showing our big tent appeal”. Translation: we’re having a dirty internal fight about who are real Republicans and we are trying to help our corporate masters all the while appearing to welcome all those “other” people, because we want power.

The GOP is of course back to dragging out their tired argument that we can’t raise the minimum wage because it will hurt all the “lil black children who are trying to get some job experience.” The fact of the matter is, this tired excuse has been used since time immemorial by business. The truth is that once a new minimum wage is passed, fast food joints and a few others lay off some folks, until. . . . they can’t get the job done with the remaining staff, and they rehire back to the same levels again. The dips in employment are always temporary. You see, in the end, they know they need a certain staff level if they are to keep customers happy and coming back, and guess what? They still make a nice little profit in the end. It’s always about numbers in the end, and they always follow the money.

I’ve been plagued lately in Facebook conversations with people who insist that they can make a case for A by alluding to some situation they know of. It goes something like this:

• Inflation is about to explode and destroy the economy!
• Evidence?
• The case of chicken stock I bought at Cosco last year has gone up from $8 bucks a case to $10 bucks a case.
• But the CPI average for 2012 was 2.07% wherein 2.0% price increase is deemed normal and acceptable.
• Well plane fares are up dramatically!
• Well yes, but fuel costs have gone up rather dramatically haven’t they?
• Well gas prices are skyrocketing again, up ten cents in just a week!
• Yes, gas prices fluctuate a good deal, mostly due to energy giants speculating in gas futures, so they can buy low and sell high.
• Inflation is about to explode and destroy the economy!

You can’t get through the fog of personal experience. Anecdotal events are not evidence for a very good reason. Virtually anything you can dream up has happened to somebody. There is no necessary statistical correlation of your perception to your perceived conclusion.

The American Spectator, a fairly raggish Right-Wing group, says this:

“One of the favorite delusions of anti-gun hysterics is that a gun in the home is more dangerous to the folks who live in the house than to would-be home invaders. The theory, which makes sense in progressive circles and to some who’ve stopped taking their psychotropic drugs, is that if a bad guy tries to invade my home in the middle of the night I’m more likely to shoot myself than the invader.

This is transparent nonsense. Plenty of news stories of citizens defending their homes and person with legally owned guns confirm this as nonsense,. . . “

You note the “evidence” that the progressives are  delusional? “Plenty of stories”. How many is plenty of stories? Where is the study that shows that people defending themselves in their homes more often stop the bad guy than the gun being used in some other destructive way?

Of course this fails to elicit a nod of recognition from such people because they basically have no clue what you mean when you explain to them about critical reading and thinking. The event proves what they WANT to prove, or they read an explanation which they WANT to hear, so it all makes perfect sense.

Wayne La Pee Pee Pierre, continues to spew his blatant lies about border security in this country:

The president flagrantly defies the 2006 federal law ordering the construction of a secure border fence along the entire Mexican border. So the border today remains porous not only to people seeking jobs in the U.S., but to criminals whose jobs are murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. Ominously, the border also remains open to agents of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

The truth of the matter is that the borders have never been more secure.  Border Patrol personnel has doubled to 20,000 since 2004. There are vastly more “returns” under Obama than under Bush. In some locations along the border there has been a 50% drop in those attempting to enter without papers.   Secretary of Homeland Security, Napolitano suggests that we may actually be in a negative loop, where there are more undocumented workers RETURNING to their native homes because they cannot find work.

Business as usual. Say whatever will appeal to the preconceived beliefs of your base. Truth is just old-school.

Ya know what I mean?

Related articles

• Senate Dems to GOP: Forget your stupid games on Hagel (capitolhillblue.com)
• Blunt: We Have the Votes to Delay Hagel Nomination (breitbart.com)
• The Hagel flail (dailykos.com)
• Republicans begin filibuster against Hagel (sacbee.com)

Gimme What I Want! Just Give Me A Second to Decide What That Is!

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Arizona, Catholicism, GOP, gun control, Health care, Lindsey Graham, NRA, teabaggers, Virginia

Lindsey Graham Flings his poo

Yes, our little Lord Fauntleroy is having another tantrum. Lindsey has apparently missed the fact that (a) the election is over and his side lost and (b) the tea baggers are not sophisticated to understand that he is no longer a MODERATE and is one of them, (at least until his next election). He continues to wring his hands with plenty of “oh what to do, what to do” as his hankie waves desperately.

Usually it’s enough that Johnny S tells him what to do and Lindsey dutifully says, “yes Johnny boy, whatever you say, oh you cute old grumpy drawers,” but as they say, fear is a powerful thing. Faced with the serious threat of being “primaried” Lindsey has looked down and started to see a Johnson actually peeping out of his nether regions. It may be a tiny Johnson, but according to the pictures he’s seen (on THOSE sites on the Intertubes), he’s pretty sure it’s  a real Johnson all right.

And well, he is in a full-blown episode of the vapors. “Lawdy, lawdy, what ever shall I do without that fine old office to nap in on the Hill?” What would Truman Capote do at a time like this? Write a book?

Anyway, dear old Lindsey is threatening to hold up the nominations of EVERYBODY until he gets his way. After all, he’s can’t come up with anything else to raise cain about since nobody has yet called for him to come down and ride the Queen’s float in the Mardi Gras festivities. It is apparently also insufficient that Lindsey has been named as the proof positive that Darwin was wrong. The Smithsonian has promised his brain front and center status at his demise, or sooner since he has little use for it anyway.

In the end, we see, Republicans are in such a feeding frenzy of their own, that all good people globally need only sit back and watch the festivities. Popcorn anyone?

Φ

Meanwhile, over in the United State of Zooniville (once referred to as Arizona), the good Sheriff of Stupidham, Joe Arpaio, who arms anybody who shows up and calls them “volunteer deputies”, has set aside the important business of birther investigation (well he MIGHT try for a third term ya know), and has taken up the cause of “protectin’ the lit’lins in our scools”. Yes, none other than ACTOR Steven Segal, ACTOR if I forgot to mention, has been called upon  to LEARN the gun-happy volunteers how to strap on up, and catch them some crazy. Maricopa county, Zooniville now has some 3,500 of these folks, loaded with clips and weaponry sneakin’ around every public place, demanding “lemme see your hands! On your knees! Spread ’em”.

If you contemplate a vacation in the area?

NO!

Darwin you LIAR!

Φ

The NRA may be one of the greater collections of sub-human examples of what Darwin got wrong. Beyond La Pee Pee Pierre, there is this delightful jackass who spoke at the NRA Wisconsin State Convention, one Bob Welch.

Welch is mighty darn sure that there will be no gun legislation of any kind, because of course, that can’t happen until it’s okayed by them, and they are not okaying a damn thing except more rhetoric that you all better keep buying every gun in sight, cuz, well, you know why.

We have a strong agenda coming up for next year, but of course a lot of that’s going to be delayed as the “Connecticut effect” has to go through the process. […] What’s even more telling is the people who don’t like guns pretty much realize that they can’t do a thing unless they talk to us. After Connecticut I had one of the leading Democrats in the legislature—he was with us most of the time, not all the time—he came to me and said, “Bob, I got all these people in my caucus that really want to ban guns and do all this bad stuff, we gotta give them something. How about we close this gun show loophole? Wouldn’t that be good?” And I said, “no, we’re not going to do that.” And so far, nothing’s happened on that.

Connecticut effect huh? Human’s call it GRIEF you sick bastard.

And guess what?

And in 1999, you blowheads were ADVOCATING complete and full background checks.

Tell us again that this is not about your conspiracy-under-every-bed ideas that the Black guy in the White House is gonna declare himself king and take away all your guns? Tell us that, huh?

Go do that impossible thing to yourself will ya?

Φ

While we have plenty of examples of private industry attempting to lower the number of hours worked by their employees to under 30 hours so that they can avoid providing health care (Applebees, Olive Garden, etc), the state of Virginia through its budget plan seeks to do the same thing. This appears to be the first incidence of a Republican led state intending to hurt its citizens in order to vent its anger at Obamacare.

As citizens of those states see that their counterparts in other states continue to receive health care, I believe that Mr. McDonnell and his band of Republican light-heads will rue the day they tried this little trick.

Republicans have long forgotten exactly WHY they are elected in the first place.

Φ

I gotta tell ya, my phone has been ringing off the hook ever since the news hit.

What new?

Oh the pope is taking early retirement.

Yeah, he’s heading off to soak up the sun along the Riviera.

Anyway, everyone is begging me to give ’em the scoop on who will be the new Pope.

Seein’ as how I’m Catholic and all, and well Bennie calls me nearly every week. . . .

Well, il papa John Paul II, was an ultra conservative, and while clutching the throne of Peter, he hugely enlarged the College of Cardinals, and made sure that all his new Cardinals were of a similar right-wing persuasion.

So, unless the Holy Spirit jumps into the fray as in Vatican II (now gutted by humans who of course KNOW better than God), expect that the next pope will not be any more friendly than the last two when it comes to contraception, gay marriage, women’s ordination,  or anything along those lines.

You heard it here.

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• Hey, Without the Sarcasm and Prissy Walk, Lindsey Graham is Just Another GOP Jerk (juanitajean.com)
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• Will Lindsey Graham ever accept the 2012 election results? Does he need counseling? (mbcalyn.com)

The Good News Is. . . .

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AIG, banks, climate change, Entertainment, environment, gay rights, GOP, gun control, Lindsey Graham, NRA, right wing nuts, teabaggers

After the bad. I believe in delayed gratification. I told you that a thousand times. Take your medicine and then you can have dessert. So this is your medicine:

This is how we are going to win the war against assault weapons. Bring on this fool along with Mr. La Pee Pee Lapierre and this goose is cooked. I mean, as Commonweal suggested, THIS is all you need to argue in favor of gun control. This fool should never be allowed near a safety-pin let alone a gun.

So you have had your medicine and now you get the dessert:

1. I’m told that according to Rasmussen polling, only about 8% of people now identify with the agenda of the Tea People. That’s great news. The GOP appears screwed however since they have gerrymandered the map so badly that at least on the congressional level they will still be finding these bedbugs crawling out from under the mattress for some time to come. Which means the GOP will continue to act and sound like petulant and really stupid children who need a good paddling, if I were of the persuasion that children should be assaulted physically, which I am not. But it’s worth considering an exception here. No, just kidding. Just pat them on the head and send them to bed without supper.
2. The Washington National Cathedral, home to the diocese of the Washington Episcopal church announced it will be performing same-sex marriage. This is in keeping with the national church’s decisions as I understand it. The national church was on the verge of this I believe when I was still involved with it, a couple of years ago. This is wonderful news to all of us who believe in equality.
3. Lindsey Graham continues to dig out from under John McCain’s shadow and establish that he can be an even bigger douche on his own. Lindsey, terrified of being primaried for 2014, is just throwing tantrums left and right. His latest? He may place a hold on Brennan’s confirmation as the next director the CIA unless he gets answers on Benghazi. Do you hear? Lindsey wants answers. He’s determined to try to prove that the Obama administration changed the facts to help the election campaign, although it is still unclear how that was supposed to work. Lindsey sounds like Julia Child on drugs. And he is still determined to “shut ‘er down” if he doesn’t get some spending cuts and pronto too. This is all Lindsey is saying now, until he gets new directives from the Tea People who depend on 6th graders to transcribe their irrational thoughts onto paper.
4. Nicki Minaj has just signed with KMart to do a line of clothes. I know, I can’t wait either.
5. The military is thinking of offering yoga and meditation classes. This has Tony Perkins of Family Research Council all in a tizzy. It seems to this nut looking for shell, such things are “wacky substitutes” for that good time religion of the fundamentalist flavor.
6. You have heard of the Breitbots haven’t you? Breitbart is deceased. But his followers go on in his name. One of them has written a book. It suggests that after all this time of being so nice to liberals, they just can’t do it any more. It’s time to be uncivil they proclaim. I don’t think if we hadn’t been told we would ever have known the difference. No more compromise with those bullies they shout!
7. Winner of the “YOU DAMN FOOL” award this week goes to Congressman Steve Palazzo, who years after Katrina is still asking Congress for money for his state of Mississippi, didn’t vote for disaster relief for the victims of super storm Sandy. We understand the Congressman has suddenly realized that stupidity has consequences. He now pledges his support. Tea People–stupid is as stupid does.
8. AIG, who in concert with a few others, nearly ruined this country. They were bailed out. They were SAVED from their own stupidity. They have paid the money back. Now they are thinking of suing the US government, kinda of like saying, thanks for saving my life, but dang you tore my expensive jacket in the process–please pay for it. What a bunch of douches. (I need new words to describe these dopes) Just go to jail, and do not pass GO.
9. Move along, no gawking. Nothing going on here. Oh, yes, the US recorded the highest average temperature EVER in the history of counting. EVER. But that is got nothing to do with climate change. There is snow on the ground in the usual places. ‘Nuf said.

I know, you are plum tuckered out from all that dessert. So take a break and move into a mood swing or two.

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Posing for Dollars or It’s a New Frackin Year so Deal With It

Tags

budget, Fox Noise, GOP, Humor, teabaggers

See, I agree with this. This is not the way to conquer the fear of falling off cliffs. The way to do that is to STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CLIFFS.

No, I’m actually not talking about the so-called fiscal cliff, which we averted and which was nothing but silliness from start to finish played by silly men and women who are being paid to govern and since nobody has a firm grasp as to what that means exactly, they can tiddlywink their way through the year as they spend the far greater part of their time counting the money in their re-election funds.

Or posturing.

Politicians are good at posturing. The Contrarian would call them posers. People who are highly aware that you are looking/listening and therefore are performing in a manner that they think will get your approval. How’s that for my definition. Definitionally speaking it is to present a false front.

Now, actors do this for a living and we applaud them, the better they do it.

Politicians do it because they think we are too stupid to recognize it for what it is.

But since we are addicted to both movies and TV, that would be a very stupid  assumption wouldn’t it? We’re rather expert at it. You might say we are connoisseurs of posing.

Frankly, to the experienced eye, politicians are quite lousy at it. Eric Cantor is a case in point. Now Eric ain’t stupid in the true sense of the word. He knew that as to the taxing thingie, the GOP goose had been cooked. He knew that if they didn’t agree with the Senate bill, the GOP was gonna own the ensuing (fill in the blank as to your concept of the “disaster”) leap off the abyss cliff. He knew that. And of course that would have been bad. Now the likes of Steve (If I only had a brain or a heart) King, and Michelle (Marcus is NOT Gay) Bachmann, and lordy our very special boy Louis (I don’t play stupid, I am stupid) Gohmert, these folks are knock down drag it out IQ knuckle draggers of the first order, they really didn’t care, let alone know that. The math was way beyond them in the first place. And in the second place they are, did I just say that? STUPID.

But Eric knew. So he safely waited until the thing had enough votes and then he slips in there all high and mighty and with great glorious moral outrage and registers his NO. So as to impress the Tea People who as we all know are NOT noted for mental acuity of the even tenth order, and as is reported are all embedded with homing devices so they can be found when then wander out of the neighborhood and start undressing in the middle of the street. They EAT UP the Cantor posing.

And I suppose that now Mr. Boehner, who is still scraping the egg off his face, might stop pontificating “Mr. President, it’s time to get serious!” all the while he was sweating a bucket of orange goo because he can’t control the Lipton folks. He needs to also let go of the “everybody knows we have a spending problem.” Be sure that when you hear “everybody knows” what it really means is “everyone should know”, and that actually just a handful of people believe whatever is said after that.  This is all John of Orange posing as if his life depended upon it. And maybe it does.

Anyway, there is still Lindsey Graham, my favorite poser of the day. Lindsey poses as a straight man when it’s clear that he is just itching to cross dress in black nylons and corset. In fact, if you peek under his little Brooks Brothers shirt, I bet you can see a bit of lace. Which is way okay with me, being that I kinda always get along with cross dressers and have found all those that I knew over the years to be rather delightful BFF’s. But Lindsey lives in a very SOUTHERN RED STATE, and well, he tries to keep that stuff under wraps, figuratively and any other way.

All the while he’s huffing about how he’s gonna not vote for that debt limit increase without something “serious” being done about “entitlements” which is a stupid word since the stuff they are really talking about are EARNED BENEFITS for the most part. Right in front of him is John of McCain who is not all that “war hero” that he poses as, and actually is one mean old fart. Bet your belly button that Cindy spends her time anywhere he ain’t. John of McCain poses as a Senator, and directs his sidekick and brown-nosing sycophant Lindsey as they get their jollies by stamping their feet and sounding tough.

Then of course the best posers of all is the entire infestation over at Fox Noise. They are double posers which is hard to pull off and I give them credit for doing a pretty good job. They are posing as ideologues posing as journalists. They are neither of course. They don’t believe half the crap that drools from their mouths and the only journalism they know is the smell of a newspaper.

You can tell that because when confronted with their rhetoric having incited someone to actually carry out some awful thing like MURDER (see Dr. George Tiller), they feign utter shock and surprise, given that they can’t believe anyone buys their crock of crocodile poo in the first place.

So that’s all I know about posing–which had nothing to do with sitting on the edge of  precipice, which I find STUPID. I find all people who do stupid things like climb tall things without a rope or walking on tiny ropes without a net STUPID, and though I don’t wish anyone ill, if they fall, well, the gene pool is much the better for it I think.

What are you thinking about?

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And Three Makes a Bowl of Stupid

Tags

Benghazi, humor and satire, John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, Lindsey Graham, Susan Rice, United States Naval Academy

What do an old bitter man and a closeted sycophant need? Why they need a Kelly Ayotte, a literal nobody from pretty much nowhere who can be womanly, albeit white, but at least she protects the dynamic duds from being charged with sexism!

In the ongoing attempt to make  mountains from mole hills or pretty up a pig, the John Sidney and his sidekick nasal Linda, err Lindsey, are blubbering that they are *stamp* *stamp* still not happy with Ms. Rice and well heck, they are just not happy.

Among the things they are not happy about are:

1. John is still not happy that he lost the election in 2008.
2. John is still not happy that he let his super staff choose Sarah (I just wanna be somebody or make a couple of million–either one) Palin as his running mate.
3. John is still not happy that he was a relatively stupid Naval Academy student and graduated bout sixth from LAST, and drove more than one plane into the ground, managed to get captured and spilled his guts relatively soon thereafter and has never been properly rewarded by his country from his point of view.
4. John is still not happy that his father never felt he met expectations.
5. John is still not happy that he has to pretend to be a happily married man when all he really wanted was the money.
6. John is still not happy that he is old, has little hair left, and can’t get even a middle-aged woman to look at him more than once.
7. Lindsey is still not happy that he is unable to accept the fact that he likes men over women, which he definitely doesn’t call homosexuality, but knows that he doesn’t like it one bit.
8. Lindsey is still not happy that everyone knows that he kisses John’s ass for reasons that nobody wants to even guess at because it makes one’s brain hurt and makes anyone to shudder uncontrollable at the mind picture of what that might entail.
9. Lindsey is still not happy that he finds himself not sufficiently conservative enough to stave off a primary challenge in his state in 2014.
10. Lindsey is still not happy that he is named Lindsey–whether he blames his mother or his father is up for grabs.
11. Lindsey is still not happy that he keeps getting personal invitations to speak before the Log Cabin Republicans and all are hand delivered with a *wink* *wink* *nudge* nudge*-know what I mean?
12. Lindsey is still not happy when Joe Lieberman snickers at his straight out of Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire’s Blanche DuBois voice.
13. Kelly is still not happy that they chose her to make up the new Three Amigos.
14. Kelly is still not happy that she is from such a dreary state as New Hampshire which has its own issues with silly accents.
15. Kelly is still not happy that she has to ask John what a “hold” is and why she has to threaten to do it.
16. Kelly is still not happy that she isn’t quite sure who Susan Rice is or why the two men are so mad at her.
17. Kelly is still not happy that Mitch McConnell just laughs uncontrollably when she calls him on the phone.

This is not, never was, and never will be about Susan Rice.

This is about John’s anger, Lindsey’s fear, and Kelly’s new-found idea that she might be able to run for President someday if she gets some name recognition. As you would expect, their behavior is despicable, and the GOP is ill-served by their misdirection. But they, like the lunatics that call themselves Tea People, are too lock-jawed stupid to see beyond their own personal whines.

And so the Democrats need only sit back and watch the circus and call for a soda and some popcorn.

Bring on the clowns!

Related articles

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• GOP Senators ‘Disturbed’ After Susan Rice Admits To Lying (freedomoutpost.com)
• GOP Senators ‘More Disturbed’ After Meeting With Susan Rice (huffingtonpost.com)
• Kelly Ayotte’s Death Wish (boomantribune.com)
• What GOP senators could do to block Rice (firstread.nbcnews.com)

 

We Were Right All Along

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Benghazi, Election 2012, GOP, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Mitt Romney, Susan Rice

We knew this man, maybe not from the start, but pretty soon thereafter. Many, like the Contrarian, who is not so quick to judge, resisted, but in the end, most of them came to the same realization–Mitt Romney truly is the entitled, aristocratic, I’m-better-than-you-because-I-worked-harder-than-you piece of work we believed him to be.

Unwilling to present himself even in defeat as a gracious loser who maintains good wishes for all Americans, he recently showed that he his what we thought, and now what he would have us believe.

Also, Willard refuses to believe that his conversations with others (a conference call to donors) might be recorded, so we have his own words.

The Bain Baron reported that the President used the “old playbook” of rewarding his constituents with “gifts” of medical care, tuition grants, Dream Acts, and so forth to buy their votes. Women were “gifted” with contraceptive care, while presumably African-Americans were given the present of the fictitious reduction of work requirements for assistance.

Sound a lot like the 47% remarks?

Steve Benen makes a huge point about how Romney, the quintessential abuser of big gifts–wealth, education, connections and so forth, who used massive amounts of government aid in his Olympics leadership and in his Romney Care, still finds it “outrageous” that the President would use the government to “improve the lives of working class people.”

Is that outrageous to say, when of course, as Benen points out, his intent was to “gift” the wealthy with even more tax cuts.

What an absolute horses ass this man truly is. He deserves nothing but our contempt.

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While I’m on the soapbox, let me say this about that.

Benghazi.

I admit that I have not read a lot about this tragedy, no more than I receive on PBS and a few other media outlets. I’ve not read deeply into the event. What I have gleaned leads me to believe that this was largely a failure (if indeed there was a failure) at the state department intelligence level. I am willing to concede that. I believe that it was at a level that might not even reach the ears of the Secretary of State, let alone the White House. Should Mrs. Clinton have been informed? I’m not sure it rose to that level. But I would think that there is probably a flaw in the intelligence end of things that allowed the growing danger to go unacted upon.

I am also under the impression that the intelligence network which has been faulty since before 9/11 in the sense of its ability to successfully integrate itself with all its various arms in the CIA, FBI, Homeland, military, etc., failed to have a coherent understanding of what happened for days after the event. No doubt parts of it did have the right tracking, while others did not. This apparently produced a rather tentative analysis that nobody felt comfortable in laying out as the “cause”.

This leads, in my opinion, to the rather tepid statements made by the White House and the State Department in the days and first couple of weeks. This is what Susan Rice, UN Ambassador, reported.

Given all that, I find John McCain and Lindsay Graham’s bombast unconscionable and basically nothing but self-serving rhetoric. Most of McCain’s crap comes from his inability to get over his being thrashed by President Obama in 2008. If you remember, it was not until Mr. McCain was beaten in a rather bloody battle with then Governor George W. Bush, for the 2000 nomination, that he became the “maverick” who became against almost anything that Dubya for was for (except for military bluster which Johnny adores above all). He has repeated that unfortunate personality flaw with Obama, going out of his way to attack at every juncture in a show of macho swagger.

Lindsay, the sycophant of McCain, and perennial brown-noser, and perennial bachelor with no personal life apparently, has a more pressing problem–he’s up for re-election in 2014 and he is anything but the darling of his local TeaBuggery crew. He supported the bank bail-outs and at least at one juncture, supported climate change legislation. He is considered a RINO by those on the far right and may well be challenged by Joe (you lie!) Wilson. His opposition to Susan Rice as the next Secretary of State (should the President nominate her) is held to be by some at least a mere chance to appear tough with the President.

Oh and lets not forget that McCain had no problem with presenting all that faulty information about WMD’s in Iraq a few years back. I have not looked it up, but I have little doubt that Mr. Graham also blew that horn. And of course McCain came to the defense of Condi Rice over her little faux pas over WMD’s as well.

So please, don’t tell me you are doing this for the good of the country and for those four dead men in Benghazi. I am not buying it.

Politics as usual from the right.

That’s the way I see things from here in the Foothills.

And what about you?

Related articles

• Lawrence O’Donnell Tears Into McCain And Lindsay Graham For McCarthy-Like Opposition To Susan Rice (mediaite.com)
• The sore losers club (salon.com)
• McCain and Graham attack Susan Rice. Hypocrisy? (tv.msnbc.com)
• McCain And Graham Defended Condoleeza Rice Over Iraq WMD Testimony (buzzfeed.com)
• Video| John McCain Insults UN Ambassador Susan Rice As the GOP Continues Their ATTACKS On Women (3chicspolitico.com)
• Obama Defends Susan Rice in First Press Conference After Re-Election (theatlanticwire.com)