Saturday, March 13, 2010

When you’ve smuggled your hairstyle out of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” music video from ‘83, I don’t think you’re allowed to make fun of Obama’s undershirt.

I’m just sayin’...

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/13/10 at 03:30 PM
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Normally I don’t like posting videos that have already gone wildly viral and the song doesn’t do a helluva lot for me, but none of the generally plugged-in semi-geeks I was out drinking with last night had seen this new entry from the band who delivered one of the best music videos ever and it just flat out fucking rocks in a million different ways, so here you go.  Enjoy. [via Ed at ginandtacos who asks A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION]

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/13/10 at 11:11 AM
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Trab Stupak (I refuse to call him by his proper first name because that was the name of my late boxer dog, who was a vastly superior creature) shares some plaintive thoughts with his fellow fetus fetishists at National Review Online:

Sitting in an airport, on his way home to Michigan, Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, is chagrined. “They’re ignoring me,” he says… “That’s their strategy now. The House Democratic leaders think they have the votes to pass the Senate’s health-care bill without us. At this point, there is no doubt that they’ve been able to peel off one or two of my twelve. And even if they don’t have the votes, it’s been made clear to us that they won’t insert our language on the abortion issue.”

According to Stupak, that group of twelve pro-life House Democrats — the “Stupak dozen” — has privately agreed for months to vote ‘no’ on the Senate’s health-care bill if federal funding for abortion is included in the final legislative language. Now, in the debate’s final hours, Stupak says the other eleven are coming under “enormous” political pressure from both the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). “I am a definite ‘no’ vote,” he says. “I didn’t cave. The others are having both of their arms twisted, and we’re all getting pounded by our traditional Democratic supporters, like unions.”

Pesky unions! Always whining about trivial shit like benefits for union workers, non-union workers and even the unemployed! A Democrat in an anti-union, full-employment state like Michigan is wise to ignore them.

read the whole post »

Posted by Betty Cracker on 03/13/10 at 09:31 AM
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Meet the Republican who wants to take Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD8) seat [via the Washington Post]:

Murray Hill might be the perfect candidate for this political moment: young, bold, media-savvy, a Washington outsider eager to reshape the way things are done in the nation’s capital. And if these are cynical times, well, then, it’s safe to say Murray Hill is by far the most cynical.

Chris could be in real trouble, especially if Hill is tanned, coiffed and seriously cut.

read the whole post »

Posted by Hunger Tallest Palin on 03/13/10 at 07:38 AM
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Friday, March 12, 2010

After embarrassing Vice President Biden and mucking up delicate US back-channel discussions with the Palestinians, perennially fuckheaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself on the receiving end of Hillary Clinton’s famous “3AM phone call.” Ouch. 

Posted by StrangeAppar8us on 03/12/10 at 09:05 PM
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I was totally happy to see this piece by Paul Krugman in the NY Times today.  It’s been driving me crazy to hear Rethugs repeat these lying talking points over and over.

Myth Number 1:  Obamacare will result in a government takeover of 1/6 of the U.S. Economy

Myth Buster from Krugman:

Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs already pay for almost half of American health care, while private insurance pays for barely more than a third (the rest is mostly out-of-pocket expenses). And the great bulk of that private insurance is provided via employee plans, which are both subsidized with tax exemptions and tightly regulated.

The only part of health care in which there isn’t already a lot of federal intervention is the market in which individuals who can’t get employment-based coverage buy their own insurance. And that market, in case you hadn’t noticed, is a disaster — no coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, coverage dropped when you get sick, and huge premium increases in the middle of an economic crisis. It’s this sector, plus the plight of Americans with no insurance at all, that reform aims to fix. What’s wrong with that?

Myth Number 2:  Obamacare will do nothing to control costs.

Myth Buster from Krugman:

[C]ritics point to reports by the Medicare actuary, who predicts that total national health spending would be slightly higher in 2019 with reform than without it.

Even if this prediction were correct, it points to a pretty good bargain. The actuary’s assessment of the Senate bill, for example, finds that it would raise total health care spending by less than 1 percent, while extending coverage to 34 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured. That’s a large expansion in coverage at an essentially trivial cost.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 03/12/10 at 07:02 PM
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I’d like to send this one out to Basement Dwellin’ Andy Breitbart...

UPDATE: Above link fixed. Try again.

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/12/10 at 03:33 PM
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is, analytically, identical to—and as respectable as—malodorous Mark Penn’s “Invisible Americans” malarkey?

As this race unfolds, the winning coalition for us is clearer and clearer. There are three demographic variables that explain almost all of the voters in the primary—gender, party, and income. Race is a factor as well, but we are fighting hard to neutralize it.
    We are the candidate of people with needs.
    We win women, lower classes, and Democrats (about 3 to 1 in our favor).
    Obama wins men, upper class, and independents (about 2 to 1 in his favor).
    Edwards draws from these groups as well.
    Our winning strategy builds from a base of women, builds on top of that a lower and middle class constituency, and seeks to minimize his advantages with the high class democrats.
    If we double perform with WOMEN, LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS VOTERS, then we have about 55% of the voters.
    The reason the Invisible Americans is so powerful is that it speaks to exactly how you can be a champion for those in needs [sic]. He may be the JFK in the race, but you are the Bobby.

Quelle surprise!

Too bad Lambert wasn’t an Obot.  A much more skilled operator like Axelrove would have been manipulating him by remote control to terrorize Hillary’s angel-like supporters by the time the Iowa caucuses rolled around. Thug 4 Life!

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/12/10 at 09:54 AM
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This should melt the April snow:

Governor Sarah Palin to Host Fundraiser for Michele Bachmann in Minnesota on April 7, 2010

March 11th, 2010

On April 7, 2010, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will host a fundraiser for U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann’s re-election campaign.

read the whole post »

Posted by Betty Cracker on 03/12/10 at 09:05 AM
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When my lovely wife Chris and I were recently vacationing in our undisclosed location, I forgot to mention that Biscuit was as well.  She spent the entire time we were away with our pals and their two righteous children in their Brooklyn abode. She had a fabulous time. Here’s a pic of her eyeballing their cucumber salad and not their roasted chicken because she is a well-behaved hippy cat. I love this photo.

p.s. More Biscuit pics on the way this weekend.  I can’t believe how big she’s gotten. I used to hold her in the palm of my hand and now it’s hard to scoop her up without using both of my hands.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/12/10 at 06:59 AM
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Posted by Kevin K. on 03/12/10 at 06:50 AM
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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Harry Reid fires off a missive to Mitch McConnell about health care reform, reconciliation, etc., and, ka-THUNK! Here’s my favorite paragraph:

Republicans have spent the past year mischaracterizing the health reform bill and misleading the public.  Though we have tried to engage in a serious discussion, our efforts have been met by repeatedly debunked myths and outright lies.  At the same time, Republicans have resorted to extraordinary legislative maneuvers in an effort not to improve the bill, but to delay and kill it.  After watching these tactics for nearly a year, there is only one conclusion an objective observer could make:  these Republican maneuvers are rooted less in substantive policy concerns and more in a partisan desire to discredit Democrats, bolster Republicans, and protect the status quo on behalf of the insurance industry.

The whole thing is worth reading.

Posted by Betty Cracker on 03/11/10 at 04:45 PM
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Just go read. You’ll be glad you did.

Hearty congrats to Terrance, his husband and their two young sons. [hat tip Lawnguylander]

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/11/10 at 03:04 PM
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Only two days into their sponsorship of Beck’s radio show, TurboTax tweeted a contrite acknowledgment that it had mistaken a liability for an asset.

According to StopBeck.com, TurboTax is the 120th advertiser to shift or outright yank its buys from Beck’s radio and TV programs.

Hard to say at this point whether TurboTax was responding to howls of consumer indignation, or the sudden realization that Beck supports a Soviet-style Flat Tax and a vastly simplified Tax Code, neither of which represents an exciting growth opportunity for sellers of tax-preparation software.

Posted by StrangeAppar8us on 03/11/10 at 02:45 PM
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This time the culprit is, wait for it, salt!

Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, has introduced a bill that would completely ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.

“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises,” the bill,  A. 10129 , states in part.

The bill proposes a $1,000 fine on restaurants for each violation.

Give me, oh PULEEZ, give me a break here.  First of all even the Mayo Clinic doesn’t recommend a completely salt free diet.  Salt, after all, is needed by our bodies for essential functions.  And second, many dishes simply can’t be prepared correctly or flavorfully without the use of some salt.  If this law is enacted say goodbye to pickles, kimchee, sauerkraut and any other pickled dishes; soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and many other condiments; and most importantly FLAVOR! 

New York has an incredibly vibrant restaurant industry.  This heavy handed attempt to impose unnecessary dietary restrictions on anyone choosing to eat out would have a very dampening effect on the business of many restaurants for no apparent public benefit.  I realize it’s not likely to pass but, jeebus, don’t those assembly peeps have anything better to do with their time?

If you think the food police are getting a little too aggressive here’s a website where you can sound off.

Posted by marindenver on 03/11/10 at 01:38 PM
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