Saturday, February 07, 2009

Andrew Card: The Fashionista

Republicans sure have their priorities and their facts.

Andrew Card, former Bush lackey and Chief of Staff, tries to give Obama some advice about how he dresses[?]. Not about the economy his boss totally effed up. Not about how to repair the Constitution his boss shredded countless times. No, he feigns outrage over fashion:
"there should be a dress code of respect....I wish that [Obama] would wear a suit coat and tie."
How off the point can you get, Andrew?

Were you outraged when Monkey Boy did this? His second day on the job, Jan 22, 2001.

VIDEO: Obama Talks Ecomonic Recovery

President Barack Obama talks directly to the American people about the immediate need for action on the economy. Join your friends and neighbors at an Economic Recovery House Meeting in your community: http://my.barackobama.com/recoveryplan



Source: http://www.youtube.com/BarackObamadotcom

Friday, February 06, 2009

Lest We Forget, Republicans Can't Govern

This whole news cycle on how Obama needs more bi-partisanship is so lame. The Republicans are always on the side of greed, tax cuts for the rich and contempt for the working classes. So now that we have a stimulus that cuts back on greed, is more about spending on roads, education and health care, and is more focused on helping the middle classes, the Republicans want to obstruct the best they can.

The Republicans still have "Beaten By Bush Syndrome". It works pre- and post-Bush. It made them stupid when Bush was President so they went along with his insane ideas. They were beaten like a red-headed step child into submission. Now that Bush is out and has destroyed the Republican brand, they are beaten again by clinging to the sweet nothings Bush used to whisper to them. Like the abused spouse who thinks they have no where to run. They say they walked into the door, they fell off their bike before admitting how bad it was to live under Bush's rule. They still have their bad habits of covering up for their abusive master. Classic codependency. This negative behavior will always be detrimental to America.

What evidence? On the recent McCain plan, which was all tax cuts and no stimulus spending, the same attitude that destroyed our economy by Bush, the Republicans overwhelmingly voted for it. Voting for McSame's Bill, the guy who lost the election, the guy who said the fundamentals of our economy are fine, is that not Bush fear transposed?

More? So says Paul Krugman, "So, how much bipartisan outreach can you have when 36 out of 41 Republican Senators take their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh?" Limbaugh has stepped into Bush's shoes for beating down the Republican Party. They've gone from alcoholic to drug addict.

Here's another way of looking at the delusional GOP via The Washington Monthly:
John Cole made very well yesterday: "I really don't understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years."
Until the Republicans admit to themselves that their wicked ways got us into this mess, they will never be realistic about getting us out.

Source: Washington Monthly

The Daily Show: Dick Cheney Being A Dick

Once a dick, always a dick.

Jon Stewart takes Dick Cheney to the tool shed.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Obama's Op-ed

Barack Obama wrote an op-ed in today's Washington Post. In it he calls for the action Americans needs, NOW.

We have been trained by previous administrations to attack, never concede, that Karl Rove-style sucker punch politics is the norm. Barack wants none of that and it's hard to change the babies we elect in Washington overnight. Maturity takes time.

In many cases, citizens are so far ahead of DC. Here Obama points out what Nov 4 was all about:
"In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

Every day, our economy gets sicker -- and the time for a remedy that puts Americans back to work, jump-starts our economy and invests in lasting growth is now."
Why the Republicans have this swagger having rode the country into the ground belies their true juvenile rich boy persona en masse.

Change has come, Obama concludes:
"So we have a choice to make. We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time."
How many times has the media thought Obama was off the mark only to be completely wrong. From the primaries, to Hillary, to McCain and Palin, Obama has showed his grace and brilliance time and time again.

Let's not be impatient again and let the leaders lead.

Source: WaPo

Republicans Are "America Taliban" In Their Own Words

This is how Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, describes House Republicans:
"Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban," Sessions said during a meeting yesterday with Hotline editors. "And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person's entire processes. And these Taliban -- I'm not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. No, that's not what we're saying. I'm saying an example of how you go about [sic] is to change a person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message. And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with."
He added that if Democrats don't give the minority party more "options or opportunities," Republicans "will then become an insurgency."

Asked to clarify, Sessions said he wasn't drawing a direct connection between the GOP and the Taliban. "I simply said one can see that there's a model out there for insurgency," Sessions explained.

How could you NOT draw a connection, he used the word "Taliban". He could have said "theocratic loonies" to describe the GOP insurgency, he chose Taliban.

How long before the Republicans all grow beards and ban kite flying?

When the MSM reports, over and over for days, that Senator Sessions "Supports Taliban tactics against American policies", I'll believe in a liberal press. Just think if a Democrat said this: what would Drudge, Hannity, Limbaugh and O'Reilly be saying?

Source: Washington Monthly

Admitting Errors: Obama vs. Bush

The difference between a man and a boy. Also, Bush thought he was infallible like a god. In the end, we all paid for the idiot child's mistakes over and over while he never learned one lesson.

But don't expect the Republicans to learn from this. They will be as childish and money-driven and fear-based as ever.

NOTE: At 1:26 Bush says "disappointments rather than errors" then rubs his neck. Classic textbook body language for trying to deceive.



Source: ThinkProgress

Victor Stenger Quote

Victor Stenger thought of this great original slogan:
"Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings".
Currently running on bus ads in the UK. Big ups, Richard Dawkins!

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Obama Signs S-CHIP

4,000,000 more kids have health insurance:
President Barack Obama signed a bill Wednesday extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children, a much-needed win a day after he lost his nominee to lead his drive for sweeping health care reform.

"This is good. This is good," a smiling Obama said as he entered the East Room for the packed, ebullient signing ceremony.

The bill went to the White House fresh from passage in the Democratic-controlled House, on a vote of 290-135. Forty Republicans joined in approval.
Good to see 40 Republicans doing the correct thing. Taking care of children when they are outside the womb is what more conservatives need to learn how to do. They love their embryos and "Culture Of Life" rhetoric, but always come up short when it comes to taking care of real people.

Source: MSNBC

4 Chords And 36 Songs

"Talent borrows, genius steals". 4 chords [E, B, C#m, A] and 36 songs.

By not copyrighting the 7 notes, millions of new compositions were possible. Sort of why the cut-and-paste internet mentality and blogging grew so quickly and naturally. Lawrence Lessig would be proud.

Haters: Just A Bump In The Road

Whoever got us into this mess, surely is not going to get us out:
"When Barack Obama launched his presidential bid in Springfield, IL, here's what he said: 'I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.' The irony? The folks that have caused him the most trouble in the last two years have old Washington hands like Jim Johnson, Bill Richardson, and Tom Daschle. If President Obama listened to his own rhetoric, he would have avoided all three embarrassments. He's been making the case of changing the ways Washington did business, and NOT relying on old Washington hands is one of the ways to avoid old mistakes."
This is a process that is very hard to change but in due time will happen. You need some experience to learn from and, unlike the deniers of the previous Bush Administration, Obama will admit when he is wrong.

Source: First Read

Pope Benedict: How Can The Unfallible One Be Wrong?

Isn't it strange to have a former Nazi Youth as Pope ask a Holocaust denier as Bishop to recant his statements because the German head of State is unsatisfied with his weak public position on the death of 7 million people.

This creepy guy is former excommunicated Bishop Richard Williamson, he is from "the traditionalist St. Pius X Society, founded in 1970 to protest the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including liturgical reforms and a document that absolved contemporary Jews of guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus."

He was just reinstated by Pope Benedict because he was "recently rehabilitated". But Williamson in an interview broadcast last month denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers. What a swell guy. I love when people buy the whole mythology of a cloud god and his "son" who live forever and hear all your whispers, yet modern history with all it's visual documentation and factual death counts can be denied.

Jesus is having a WTF-moment over this guy about now.

Of all groups to reach out to, why did 4 excommunicated hateful Bishops get this great treatment? On Wednesday The Vatican stated that the society would have to offer its “full recognition of the Second Vatican Council”. They didn't even do that and they get back in? As for the Holocaust denying, Benedict is acting dumb saying it was “unknown to the Holy Father at the time he revoked the excommunication.” This from the only infallible person on Earth?

I mean, he knew he hated Jews and was crazy, but didn't think he had crazy Jew hatred. Old Nazis have that soft spot for each other.

Galileo spent 400 years outside the church before being reinstated. Being on the wrong side of history is what the Vatican is all about.

Source: NYT

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Mets And CitiField Are Doomed

The Mets are doomed before it even began. A pre-season meltdown?

Citigroup Inc is exploring the possibility of backing out of a nearly $400 million marketing deal with the New York Mets amid concerns over how lenders are using government bailout money, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Yankees may not be much better, I heard they're looking for funding, too. Do stadium naming rights even make sense anymore?

Daschle Done

Tom Daschle is done as Health and Human Services secretary over unpaid taxes.

Daschle did not pay taxes on an extraordinary non-salary benefit provided by his employer (car and driver). It is exactly the same theory on which Sarah Palin did not pay taxes on an extraordinary benefit (free air travel for her children, and 60 dollar per day per diem payments for use of her own house).

Source: NYT

Republicans Are Sociopaths

On the heels of the RNC Chair Michael Steele "Government has never created one job" statement:

Why is it that Republicans and Conservatives think that government does nothing to help people and is grossly ineffective, yet they want to be in charge of it?

And when they are in charge, see 2000-2006, they spend and borrow the most money on Government programs running up the biggest deficits [which are really IOUs] while at the same time cut taxes which is the way Government pays for everything. Very deceitful.

Republicans have the least respect for the government, have the worst intentions, they deny its helping attributes, they manipulate facts, they endorse needless wars and torture, have the worst business principles, yet want to be in charge of it all so they can help their rich friends get richer.

They have a word for this: sociopath
"The essential feature for the diagnosis is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood."
In diagnosing a sociopath, three or more of the following are required:

  1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
  2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
  3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;
  4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
  5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
  6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
  7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

It's clinical.

Guilty Pleasure: Oasis

I work in music. Forgive. Can't always be politics.

A very compelling documentary on the new Oasis record. Street musicians from NYC are given 4 unreleased Oasis tracks to play. This is how it turned out. What started in the streets returns to the streets.

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets

Australia Sets Stimulus Example, RNC Burns Paul Hogan In Effigy

Government of the people, for the people.

How do the GOP, RNC and Michael Steele's of the world explain this:
Australia's government has announced a 42bn Australian dollar ($26.5bn; £19bn) stimulus plan, targeting infrastructure and those on low incomes.

The country's Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said that A$28.8bn would be invested in schools, housing and roads.

"To support jobs in the middle of a severe global recession, the government must stimulate the economy in the most immediate manner possible," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
That's how the rest of the civilized world works, they invest and stimulate their own economy when times are bad.

Source: BBC

Michael Steele: Government Doesn't Create Jobs

"And first off the government doesn’t create jobs. Let’s get this notion out of our heads that the government creates jobs. Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job,” - newly elected RNC chairman Michael Steele.
None. Ever. How absurd. Wiki "New Deal" or "WPA".

As a guy who served as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 he would have to be pretty deceptive in making this statement. Or maybe his job was not created, it was an immaculate conception, and money just appeared in his bank account. Just like the millions of firemen, police, teachers, military, CIA, FBI, and countless contractors who represent the roughly 30% of the US population who work in Government or Government-related/funded jobs.
Excluding education and hospitals, State and local governments employ about 8.0 million workers, placing them among the largest employers in the economy.
As a Republican he would have no idea about Blackwater going from a million dollar operation to over $1 billion in contracts.

Clown.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Monday, February 02, 2009

Pia Glenn Raising [Her Massive] Eyebrows

Pia Glenn is making headlines for portraying Condi Rice in Will Ferrell's new Broadway play, "You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush".

Apparently there is a lapdance sequence between Ferrell's Bush and Glenn's Condi that steals the show.

Maybe with her newfound fame Pia can get a better eyebrow person.

Source: NY Daily News

Phelps' Bong Hits Explain 10,000 Calorie Meals

From the cover of Time to High Times.

Pictures have surfaced of Olympian Michael Phelps with a faceful of bong. Not too smart. Looks like the picture was taken in a dorm room. Got to wise up, son. They call it dope for a reason.

Sort of explains those massive 10,000 calorie meals he was downing.

Source: News Of The World

Move Over Wardrobe Malfunction, Comcast Airs Porn

We'll see how many people complain about this situation:
Comcast continued this morning to investigate how pornography interrupted its feed during the final quarter of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

It is unclear how many viewers were affected by the clip, which lasted about 30 seconds, and featured full male nudity, said Kelle Maslyn, a Comcast spokeswoman.

We are mortified by last evening’s Super Bowl interruption, and deeply apologize to our customers for the inappropriate programming,” Maslyn said in a statement. “We are aggressively investigating the situation including the possibility of foul play.”

Comcast is working on a plan to compensate customers, but nothing has been set in stone, Maslyn said.

The pornography clip was from Club Jenna, an adult cable television channel. Callers said that the clip showed a woman unzipping a man’s pants, followed by a graphic act between the two.
Maybe people thought it was a GoDaddy.com commercial?

Source: AZ Daily Star

Barney Frank: Biggest Gov't Spending Program Will Be Iraq War

Sen. Barney Frank keeps spending in perspective. The conservatives hate when we spend stimulus money on Americans to create jobs and boost consumer demand, but those same GOP-ers didn't seem to mind blowing all that money, over a trillion dollars, in Iraq where we got nothing but debt and deficits.

And just as Frank destroys this round table discussion with the truth, the host George Stephanopoulis cuts him off, saying that is too big a subject and needs a separate show. Why can't we just admit that the war in Iraq and tax cuts are why we are here now. Bush cut taxes and stared 2 wars. Somehow we're too proud to admit that mistake now?



via ThinkProgress:
The Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo notes that while the Iraq was was financed with borrowed money and turned “a budget surplus into a record deficit and debt,” the economic recovery package will “boost consumer demand and put people back to work, while simultaneously investing in long-term strength through infrastructure, health care, and education.”
Source: ThinkProgress