A Chicken Is Not Pillage

Stupid Geniuses!

And here I thought that out-of-context snippet punditry was the domain of the Lame Stream Media.  But no, Smurf Texan shows that any interpretation will do if it carries water for a personal peeve.

Just my opinion, of course, but I'm getting really tired of the FirePumas talking out the left side about how idiotic the White House is, while sneering out the right that the White House just doesn't care about soft white progressive people and uses intelligent subterfuge to carry out their jihad against the professional left.  That carries the odor of "uppity".  Shades of the rightwing attacks against Clinton, if you ask me.

BOO! (Hoo)

Happy Halloween, you demanding bastards.  Apparently 'the press' isn't very happy that you get info from other sources while they slave for Politicians night and day.   They are assets, after all.  They, the media, are tired, TIRED.I.TELL.YOU!!!!   I mean, they're exhausted! 

I work for a living.   We just did an inventory, and I'm exhausted.   You'll notice that I'm not whining and moaning about doing my fucking job.   It's what I get paid to do.

But Marnee Banks?  She's just ever so tired ...

 

Quotes of the Days

Tengrain:

Obama Appoints Record Number of Gays – Less than halfway through his first term, President Barack Obama has appointed more openly gay officials than any other president in history. “And none of them have any rights either, so quit whining,” Obama did not say. (AP)

Blue Texan:

You know that woman who goaded those brownshirts patriotic, Teabagger supporters of Rand Paul into stomping on her head? She’s an unhinged, left-wing, MoveOn eco-moonbat.

Bitch had it coming.

And do read the quotes from the noble right ...

Driftglass:

"If you want a picture of the Teabaggers, imagine a boot that was paid for by Medicare stomping on a human face -- forever." -- George Orwell v 2.0

The graphic is priceless.

Mistermix:

I assume the reason Rand Paul supporters literally kicked this woman to the curb and stomped her head was because she had a Muslim appearance and made them nervous. I’m not discounting the theory that this was simply a harmless fraternity prank that was misunderstood, nor the possibility that the bitch ran her big mouth and got what she deserved.

Dougj:

What I’ve learned over the past few days is that both sides do it. Whether it’s a left-leaning writer using the phrase “curb-stomping” or an angry mob of conservatives actually performing a curb-stomping, whether it’s a liberal drawing a Hitler mustache on George W. Bush or a right-wing militia member blowing up a federal building, whether it’s two black guys in berets standing outside a polling station or a hundred years of Jim Crow laws. It’s all the same stuff and we should just admit it.

Kyle-Anne Shiver:

From where I’m sitting, all of these seemingly coordinated efforts by Democrats and their press minions to label Party dissidents as “insane” are not only creepy, they smack of tactics widely used by the most repressive, most brutal tyrannies the world has ever known.

They smack of Soviet-style, scientific tyranny in the worst way imaginable.

Really?  Stomping a woman's head into concrete is sane?

Barbara Morrill:

Now we know why Rand Paul spent the past twelve or so hours blaming the vicious assault of Lauren Valle by his supporters on "both sides" and a "daze of lights flashing" -- because one of the assailants is Tim Profitt, the Bourbon County coordinator for Paul's campaign.

According to Mr. Profitt:

... the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night appear worse that it was.

Tammy Webber, AP:

Gay voters angry at Democrats could sway election*

Across the country, activists say gay voters are angry — at the lack of progress on issues from eliminating employment discrimination to uncertainty over serving in the military to the economy — and some are choosing to sit out this election or look for other candidates.

Y'know, just once, I'd like to see a story from the press about how people, (Gay, Het, Poly, White, Black, Red, Yellow, Male, Female, Rich and Not) are going to swing this election because they're tired of the damned stupidity, extremism, violence (physical, verbal and virtual) and bullshit coming from the "Tea Party" who want to take back America from the overwhelming majority of Americans to whatever goddamned fantasy they live in.

 

*Don't even start with the "You're blaming the gays for a vote that isn't in!" shit.  I'm not.  If you actually start to think about it for a second, Tammy Webber just invited one to do so.  But she offers no proof that the GBLT vote has that kind of sway in swing districts.  The press, having been willing accomplices to Tea Party excess, is now in CYA mode.  And what handier scapegoat could they offer than the Gay voter who doesn't vote.  Other than Obama, of course ...

UPDATE:  And like cockroaches, the vermin keep returning.

UPDATE 2:  I said, ~hrumph~, like cockroaches, the vermin keep returning.

 

 

Some Links To Stuff That Ought Be Read

Jay tells us that the Health Care Reform passed by Congress has survived the first of many Constitutional challenges.  I note Jay's post as opposed to the direct newspaper reporting because Jay shows exactly what Fair and Balanced *should* mean.  (Also, I know it's goofy to post links to LitW, because anyone who reads here has already read over there.)

Also from LitW, Matthew Koehler shows us that wolves aren't the only reason that there are fewer trophy Elk out and about.  Sometimes, the problem is wingnut poachers.

Since 4 & 20 Blackbirds is receiving spam regarding their rankings on the Great Gazoogle, I figured I'd do my part to help them out.  jhwygirl has a terrific post concerning Montana's Right to Die statute, and the challenges it faces.  If you only watch one YouTube video this year (as if) make it that one.

There has got to be something wicked weird about the water in Northwest Montana.  Constitutionalists, militias and now this.  An artist's work displayed in Loveland, Colorado apparently depicting Jesus getting a holy hummer.  Some folks had a problem with that.  So they protested.  But it was a resident of Kalispell, Montana who came through for the win.  Kathleen Folden 'martyred' herself, by violently critiquing the blasphemous piece ... with a crowbar.  I thought the lunatics only came out at the full moon.

This one's for Eric.  Bill Schneider at New West is always a great read.  And he has a terrific article up about the NRA and Jon Tester.  It shows pretty clearly that NRA does stand for National Republican Army.  Tester's stands on firearm rights may not make him many friends among progressives, but he represents this gun owning liberal just fine.

It seems that Blacks are pretty down on black-white relations right now.  John Cole explains exactly why that is.  And he's right on the money.

Having apparently applied a salve to the deep wound given her by Robert Gibbs, Jane Hamsher (*THE* Professional Left and don't you forget it!)  has posted a terrific analysis of how things may not be as dire for Democrats in November as the media would have us believe.

Nate Silver thinks it's still pretty dire.

But what if the GOP doesn't take the House and Senate?

Remember that Republicant freak out about Obama maybe having gotten foreign money donations?  Yeah, about that ... IOKIYAAR.

Dead people been getting your money.  YOUR MONEY!  The Obama administration is attempting to stop such nonsense.  So who's fault is it that DEAD PEOPLE ARE GETTING YOUR MONEY?  Obama's, of course.  Never forget.  IOKIYAAR.

That's prolly enough for now.  So I'll leave you with a laugh.

Welcome To The Jungle

It's been noticed that I don't really cotton to the idea of 'progressive' ennui.  No I really kinda don't, and I've expressed that for a very long time.  Somehow I'm stupid, or ignorant, or misguided and just don't "get it" because I'm not willing to completely agree with whatever singular angst is driving the person judging my intellect from the outside at any given moment.  Yes, I fail as a liberal because I won't jump on every bandwagon offered with the shiny new progressive sticker.  See, that's just not me.  We all don't think the same things, and the funny part is that we all don't think in the same way.

Here's how I think.  I'm one of those weird kinda freaky people who warehouses a lot of seeming trivia; and then, when called for, pull decisions made on the relations of those tidbits, sometimes out of my ass.  There aren't a whole lot of us who do that, sorry.  I'm not always right, nor ever expect to be, because the way I think is clearly not conducive to being always right.  It doesn't make my thinking better, but it does make it a little unique, and often hard to handle for those who don't think in the same manner.  Here's the punch line:  It often makes it uncomfortable even for those who think the same things, just in different ways.  I'm a liberal.  I am of the left.  I am a 'socialist' enemy of the state, as some proudly deny while claiming the same distinction and others accuse.  But you won't find many lefties who think or agree with my way of thinking.  That's kinda sad.  We are allies, yet often don't even know it.

It's actually sucked up a whole lot of my mental effort here of late trying to figure out why I don't fit in the progressive mold, why it often irritates me so.  I think this post by David Roberts goes some measure of explaining why.

What do Americans get when they vote for a Democrat? What is the progressive brand? Progressives are remarkably silent on the issue, so the work of telling their story has been left to the opposition: big government socialism, soft on defense, elitist. Rather than referring back to a larger frame, progressive activists run from battle to battle mounting one-off, poll-chasing "campaigns," each of which must build a case and a set of narratives virtually from scratch. Look at the fumbling and bumbling that went on these past two years trying to push for something called "cap-and-trade." Progressives groped at polar bears, then green jobs, then the clean energy race, flailing this way and that with each new focus group. All conservatives had to do was reach for "tax" and the stories, associations, and implications came with it, off the shelf, no explication needed. Their campaign was pre-strategized, their coalition pre-assembled and pre-trained.

One advantage to my manner of thinking is that I tend to be a bigger picture guy.  Relations of seeming trivia, remember?  That's not a bad thing, especially when one is assumed to be opposed by the single issue folk.

What We Should Have Learned On Tuesday Night

Something I've been saying for years.  The difference between Democrats and Republicants is this:

Democrats actually care about who the person is who is running for office ... or at least they did until fairly recently.  Republicants don't.  They care about party identity, and have foisted that image onto any opposition, and the opposition actually swallows that line of crap.  Greens run against Democrats because Democrats are weak betrayers.  Libertarians run pretty much as Republican crazy.  Rs and Ds run against each other, and the great cycle of life moves on.  But voting doesn't work that way and never has, except for those obsessed with authority.  Voting is emotional and very personal.  That should give a strong Democrat/Green/Libertarian favor any single day, yet it doesn't.  And that's because the Republicants have held true to the dictum Party Uber Alles.  Republicants have gone so long at painting the picture of 'party' that every other party has joined their game.  That's the only reason that bi-partisanship has any efficacy at all.  It's all about what flag you fly, not what you believe in.

So here we are in an election when everyone is struggling to be the face of party, even to the point of hiding what party you represent, right Landrieu?  That's a Republican fable told by an idiot to idiots.  And the idiots buy it.  Voting doesn't work that way.  It's emotional, and Tuesday night should have taught us that.  To some respects it did, and in beauty, it was among the Republicans where it flowered.  That's not the fault of Democrats.  It's there own.  The best quote that could possibly be written about the modern Republican party is this:

Lesson (one would hope) learned by the GOP: when you hand the car keys to the unmedicated bi-polar alcoholic with the messianic complex, don't be surprised if you end up driving off a bridge as a trust exercise with Jesus.

There are many on the left who will likely disagree with me, but the Tea Party has played it's hand and they're bluffing.  They threw control to the crazy and the crazy are running the wrong way.  This is a very good thing; not because it hurts Republicants but because it breaks the narrative that so many others suckle.  Elections aren't about party, they are about people we want to represent us.  It's about damned time that people start recognizing that, and we owe the Republicants once again for showing it so clearly.

To The Lighthouse

August describes darkness:

I don't tend to delve into the personal much on this site and I'm not really going to now, but sufficed to say while there are a lot of people out there worsr off than me, things could also be a lot better. Things were a lot better only a few years ago. I'm starting to compile the last two years of material for my next book now, and looking at the optimism from only two years ago against what's happening now is... well... depressing as hell.

I want so hard to believe in Conan O'Brien's departing message that great things will happen if you're just not cynical and are kind to people and work hard and everything in politics right now just fights that idea. Megan McArdle, seven years later, makes more money than I'll ever see in my life, despite making mistakes that would get me fired from my job if I made them on that level. Pam Gellar and Glenn Beck, who have spent the last few years doing nothing but promoting abject racism, have TV shows and hundred-thousand-dollar book deals. Sarah Palin exists.

Lo, a ray of light.

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Tennessee was the thirty-sixth state to ratify, giving the amendment the requisite approval of three-fourths of the states; the amendment passed because 24 year-old legislator Harry Burn changed his vote, at the insistence of his elderly mother.

Still, how much value can one place in any Constitution when the ignorant and evil opine over what should be simply a matter of course.  I seem to remember an agreement of Constitutional law that read something like:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

So, ultimately, DougJ has the quote of the day.

Once and for all, can everyone stop holding up (Howard) Dean up(sic) as a TRUE PROGRESSIVE that Obama shits on?

Small wonder that citizenship itself is under attack.  Reasonable men are willing to consider completely unreasonable positions, based where a building sits or where a woman drops her progeny.  Reasonable men are willing to consider that reasonable men shouldn't be made to feel unreasonable by having to include the opinions of obviously unreasonable women.  That was the argument against woman's suffrage.  Unlike that same for blacks, it wasn't based on fear of retribution; it was based on disdain.  That's why they're willing to listen to the outcry from a  woman that is batshit insane.  They think her opinion carries weight because it agrees with their prejudices and after all, she's a woman and all women think alike.  And what of the law?  Who cares.   Women can be dismissed at will, especially by other women.  Men eat that up, and face no consequence to date for doing so.

For the first time in our history, we have 3 women serving on the Supreme Court.  That's 3 out of 5 total.  That wouldn't likely be the case, if not for what happened 90 years ago.

I have the strange and sad feeling that if more women understood and celebrated the 19th amendment, and the process which passed it, we wouldn't currently be witnessing the blatant and ridiculous attacks we are seeing against the 1st and the 14th.  I'm not blaming women for our current national malaise.  I'm just rocking gently on the water, and seeing a light in the distance.

What He Said, Threefer

Atrios:

I know I've been a bit cranky lately, but it's just rather distressing to see that even with Democratic control elites just aren't up to the task of governing this county in an adequate fashion. I didn't have high hopes for a great liberal revolution, but I did expect, well, better.

Attaturk:

I'm just another blogger who doesn't conduct themselves in a James Risen-approved manner. However, it does seem sometimes that there are three general types of American elected officials: the Republicans leased by the oil industry from the NRA; those Democrats leased by the oil industry from the DLC; and the remaining Democrats who are not, but wonder if they've made a mistake?

Read all of this last one.  It is linkalicious and very to the point.

BooMan:

One thing I've learned about the progressive movement (the white part of it, anyway) over the last three years is that it is very thin-skinned, tends to demand respect it hasn't earned, and refuses to have realistic expectations. It also has a very myopic view that focuses entirely on their agenda and almost not at all on the gorilla in the room, which is the alternative to our current center-left coalition. Given the current state of the Republican Party, which is focused on seceding from the union, using the tenth amendment to invalidate most federal legislation, birth certificates, race-baiting, onerous legislation against undocumented workers, passing state laws to restrict access to abortion, privatizing Social Security, repealing health care reform, weakening the United Nations, and obliterating Iran, it is crazy to allow one's movement to get into an adversarial position vis-a-vis the Obama administration.

Modern 'Murika

There really isn't much more to say.

Is anyone else noticing a trend here? Decades of onlsaught by Republicans (and many Democrats, as well) and business friendly interests have led to the complete inability or unwillingness of government to regulate our food safety, our water, our financial markets, our mines, and now, tragically, our offshore drilling programs. And in every case, defanging the regulators has led to expensive disasters. All so a select few can make more and more money.