* THIS POST WILL BE STICKY. YUCK! AND CONTINUALLY UPDATED. YUCKIER!*
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Addled, cry-baby old fart George H. W. Bush appeared on the family’s news network this weekend for a confab with Chris Wallace, during which he wished another scourge on a nation that has already suffered enough: a presidential term for his son “Jeb.” Even a deluded, Depends-dependent fool like GHWB realizes that the timing may be problematic:
I mean, right now is probably a bad time, because we’ve had enough Bushes in there.
Bush the Elder totally misses the point: It’s not the number of Bushes so much as the epic level of incompetence the most recent just demonstrated, which by rights should doom anyone sharing that last name to a lifetime of political irrelevance. But I guess you can’t expect a father to recognize his son’s world-historical cretinism—even if practically everyone else on the planet does.
Just off the lobby, where a lavish $65-a-plate Sunday brunch was underway, almost none of the well-dressed diners mentioned Obama or his family already ensconced in a suite upstairs.
Don’t let the cool demeanors fool you, though, said one diner. “That’s what everyone’s thinking about even if they don’t say it,” Terrance Mason said later, a safe distance from the elegant dining room. “Just to be in the same building, to be breathing the same air. It’s amazing.”
Ha ha. “It’s amazing.” Too funny. Bonus points in comments to the first person who finds a blog post or comment where this quote is driving someone insane. I love this game!
First up, surprising local news. And no, I’m not talking about Shanahan getting fired because: a. That’s football b. That’s football and c. Did I say, that’s football? (Football lovers, don’t hate on me or I’ll say stuff about “large, over hormoned, over paid, hulking, over paid, etc. and over paid.") Here is a Bathing Beauty picture for disappointed football fans who wanted to talk about Shanahan:
No, the big news in Colorado is Gov. Bill Ritter’s surprise pick to replace Senator Ken Salazar (who’s been tapped by Obama for Interior Secy). As Rocky columnist Mike Litwin put it: “As you may have noticed, the Democrats have an unusually deep bench just now, but Ritter reached all the way past the bench and went deep - deep into the stands” to select Michael Bennet, the current Superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Not the least surprising thing about the pick is that Bennet has never sought or held elected office. On the other hand, before he was hired as school superintendent he’d never had any jobs in education either, which hasn’t kept him from doing a great job for DPS. Bennet is actually a pretty exciting choice. He’s super smart, works like a demon, is known as a problem solver and has been successful at every job he’s tried.
The drawbacks are that, since he hasn’t ever run for an office, besides being a Democrat, not much is known about his policy positions. In addition he’s not especially well known outside the Denver metro area which is going to make running for the office statewide in 2010 (and he says he will) a challenge. But, like I said, Bennet is a super smart guy and if I can figure that out so can he, so I’m sure he’ll be introducing himself to the rest of the state pretty shortly.
Also it’s reported that Ritter was blown away by Bennet when he interviewed him so I’m assuming the policy thing will not be a problem. Although it should be noted that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was considered pretty much the top contender. So, for a little history, before taking the DPS job, Bennet was Hick’s chief of staff. And before he ran for gov. two years ago Ritter was the Denver District Attorney. Who was reportedly miffed when Hickenlooper was way more than fashionably late getting on the endorsement wagon. Could this be payback time? Who knows. Anyway, I’m glad we get to keep Hick as mayor because he’s doing a great job and hey, it’s cool to say “Mayor Hickenlooper.” Like living in Mayberry.
Next up, faced with declining revenues from gasoline taxes, as consumers switch to more efficient cars, Oregon is looking outside the box (or at the box) and trying out the idea of a mileage tax instead of gas tax. A small box attached to the dashboard keeps track of your mileage then channels that information to the pump when you fill up and taxes you accordingly. OK, look, I see the problem with declining revenues. Everyone’s hurting for cash these days. But to encourage people to use less gasoline then charge them for it? That just ain’t right.
Back to politics - will the election in Minnesota ever come to an end? Well, it’s getting there - the recount is finished and the State Canvassing Board is set to certify the results on Monday - with Al Franken 225 votes ahead! But all is not over yet.
At least two things, however, still stand in the way of Franken becoming Minnesota’s newest U.S. senator: the possibility of a ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court that more wrongly rejected absentee ballots should be counted, and a legal contest that Coleman attorneys all but promised should Franken prevail.
Groan.
And last, but not least, thanks again to all who took part in our Health Care Survey a couple of weeks ago. I have summarized everything and shot it off into cyberspace to be perused by the Health Care Transition Team. After mulling and reading everything over, the biggest point I picked up on, and the biggest problem with the system we have, is that health care is treated as a product for sale in this country and not as a necessary service. So I tried to emphasize that point.
Happy Sunday everyone! Holidays over and back to the work grind tomorrow for most of us. Talk amongst yourselves about any of the above or just diss PUMAs. And be very good to each other. /snark
I’m posting these rare live Elvis Costello videos because we listened to Armed Forces last night when ours pals Elisa and Mark were over and it made me realize that I don’t listen to him as much as I should. You’d be hard pressed to come up with an artist or band who lunged out of the starting gate with three stronger albums than My Aim is True, This Years Model and Armed Forces. Feel free to do so in the comments.
BJinChicago concluded his recent post at Partizane with the following:
Jerome R. Corsi at World Net Daily has also been exploring the Rezko/ Obama real estate story (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=84101) and shares what he has found out about the Obama house and Miceli at the Cook County’s Assessor’s Office. Corsi brings up the name of Kenneth Conner. Conner is suing the Bank of Harvey over his dismissal, which occurred after Conner questioned the Obama/ Rezko adjacent lot appraisal submitted by Rezko, which Conner deemed to be fraudulently high.
So what’s up with Patrick Fitzgerald? Chicagoans are beginning to whisper that he too has played B-Ball with Obama at a Chicago gym. Like Diogenes with his lantern, I seek an honest man….
Anyone who cites the lying wingnut scumbag Jerome Corsi as a reputable source isn’t going to need a lantern to find “an honest man,” they’re going to need a full frontal lobotomy.
Early this morning the Palmetto Expressway in the Miami area was inexplicably blocked by a “drop” of thousands of pairs of used shoes, neatly tied together by the shoestrings.
The Miami Herald reports that the shoes are being scooped up, sorted and will be donated to charities. But what were they doing there in the first place? So far no one has come forth with an answer. Speculation ranges from an accident with a truck carrying the shoes to a prank to an elaborate Bush protest (ala the Iraqi guy who heaved a shoe at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad recently). It is a little strange that, if a truck accidentally lost the shoes, nobody has come forward to explain. So I guess it’s all open to speculation at this point.
Is this an omen? A harbinger of a crazy year to come? Open thread.
Harry Reid is drawing a line in the sand with his sword and it’s going to be there on Tuesday. “Cross not, pretender Burris” he proclaims “or I’ll, I’ll, . . . call the Doorkeeper and he’ll call the COPS and they’ll call the Sergeant-at-Arms! Proceed at your own peril, Sir!”
Yes, Harry and other senior members of the Senate have their ducks lined up, in a row and ready to go. But, but, can they really do that? I know they’ve issued statements saying they’ll seat former IL Attorney General Roland Burris (who, in case you’ve been locked in a closet over the last few days, was appointed by IL Gov. Rod “Helmet Hair” Blagojevich to fill Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat) over all their collective dead bodies, but, rhetoric aside, can they legally refuse to do that?
I feel compelled to point out that missed in many discussions about the Burris appointment is the fact that the Senate is probably unable to prevent him from being seated as a matter of constitutional law. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 (and 8-0 among justices deciding on the merits) in Powell v. McCormack that “in judging the qualifications of its members, Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution.” It is possible to distinguish the cases—the fact that Burris is appointed obviously mitigates the problems with Congress interfering with the integrity of elections that Douglas discusses in his concurrence. Still, the bottom line of Warren’s majority opinion is unequivocal and directly on point; if Burris were to litigate an exclusion a lower court would almost certainly rule in his favor, and I doubt that the Supreme Court would overrule.
He concludes that, absent any evidence that the appointment process itself was illegal (i.e. that Burris actually engaged in a “pay to play” scheme) and considering that Burris himself is qualified under the Constitution to be a senator (age, citizenship, residency) then, while the Senate could block him from joining the Democratic Caucus, there is no legal ground to refuse to seat him.
However Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBLOG doesn’t think it’s that clear.
Needed something light for the morning post, so I’m going to pinch an idea from John Cole. Please use this post to submit some of your favorite Rumproast comments of 2008. Provide a link to the associated post with the comment and context where necessary.
The irony of all ironies is that I’ll miss Sarah’s speech because I have a PTA meeting tonight.
I am going to be sure and scan the crowd for the 2012 VP nominee.
Hell, those are just four quick and random (and glorious) picks. There are several Roasters not even represented above who knock out ripsnorters on an hourly basis, so you’ve got a lot to choose from. Get to it!
I emphasize “safe” because holidays tend to emphasize alcohol and too much alcohol decreases safe behavior. A year ago tomorrow, Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams was shot to death as he left a Denver nightclub after members of his party had engaged in alcohol fueled verbal altercations inside the club with known gang members. Less publicized, but no less important, are the assaults on non-celebrities and incidents of domestic violence which do tend to increase around holidays.
Since Darragh Murphy has been centering a lot of her posts at PUMAPac lately around “woman lynching”, apparently her term for any number of physical assaults on women although possibly just women who are murdered, it might be edifying to discuss some actual statistics and facts concerning domestic violence. For instance her post today claims that “woman lynching” is up 42% since 2005. Her cite for this statement, which is the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survery in fact says no such thing. The survey does not even address murder except to note that murder rates, like all violent crime in the country, have actually decreased since the Bureau began making its surveys in 1998. The survey does not address murder because it is based on interviews with victims and you can’t , unfortunately, interview someone who’s been murdered. However statistics provided by NOW indicate approximately 1,400 women per year die as a result of domestic violence (and definitely that’s 1,400 too many).
The Bureau of Justice Survey does report on incidents of assault and sexual assault. The survey compares 2007 rates to 2006 and 2005. I tried every which way to come up with Darragh’s report of a 42% increase but could not. There was a statistically insignificant increase in the incidence of sexual assault from .08% to .1% from 2005 to 2007. Rates from 2006 to 2007 declined. And, as is frequently reported, the majority of assaults on women are committed by men they know. However, and without minimizing for a second the seriousness of sexual assault, or any kind of assault, and certainly not murder, let’s look at what this means.
Based on the incidents of sexual assault reported for 2007 of approximately 248,000 which results in about a .1% chance of being sexually assaulted, the incidence of being murdered by a husband or boyfriend (based on approximately 1,400 per year) are enormously smaller. Adding in incidents of aggravated and simple assault, and assuming all assaults on women are related to domestic violence (which is not true, but let’s come up with a worst case scenario here) adds about a 1.5% chance of being other than sexually assaulted due to domestic violence.
So, Darragh and fellow lunatics, for every 1.6% of males out there assaulting women, 98.4% of males are not! In fact they are just out there being good husbands, good partners, good fathers, good sons, good brothers, good nephews, good uncles, good friends, and on and on. So until you at least try and get some of your facts straight on this whole, very complex, subject, why don’t you all just STFU, quit calling on people to buy guns and quit relating your lurid castration fantasies, so the rest of us can have a Happy New Year!
But as I said before, domestic violence is still a serious problem and not to be taken lightly. After the fold, some resources to use if anyone you know may be in an abusive relationship and needs some help.
A piece of advice for obnoxious, pig-ignorant blowhards who glean their international affairs talking points from Rush Limbaugh and Little Green Turdballs: Don’t fuck with Zbigniew Brzezinski. Check out Dr. B poleaxing the insufferable Joe Scarborough:
“You have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you.”
As he lamely protests that he reads The New York Times, Washington Post and Foreign Affairs (hey, we know he does because he holds them up for the camera every day!), you can see Scarborough’s porcine little eyes frantically darting around in search of his balls. Suh-WEET!
I know there are two days of potential failure to go, so perhaps this is premature. But here is my list of top 10 epic political fails of 2008. Discuss!
#10—PUMA Movement: A “movement” in the same sense and level of importance of “bowel movement,” PUMA might be rated #1 if entertainment value and copious evidence of failure were the chief criteria. However, in my poll, consequence counts too, so PUMA struggles into the top 10 at the bottom slot. And only because I personally found them amusing. By rights, the “Bratz” vs “Barbie” kerfluffle should edge them out.
#9—Joe the Plumber: Like a cockroach scrambling for purchase in a swirling toilet, John McCain latched onto the sturdiest-looking turd in the bowl as his campaign foundered. He chose poorly. Not only did bullet-headed lunk (not) Joe the (not) Plumber say wingnutty shit that alienated the McCain supporters with triple-digit IQs (both of them!) and leave McCain in the lurch at rallies, he subsequently disavowed his erstwhile patron and made the world’s worst amateur porn flick.
#8—Fred Thompson’s GOP Presidential Candidacy: Gravitas bestowed by a rumbling baritone voice and numerous flinty-eyed performances on film and TV? Check. Confirmation of virility ostentatiously conveyed by decades-younger wife? Check. Actual vigor and energy? Not so much. The Great GOP Hope clearly preferred a scotch and a nap to campaigning. Oh well.
#7—Mitt Romney’s $35M Investment: Romney’s chief credential is his financial acumen, but what does it say about his investment prowess that he blew $35M clams on his own crappy campaign and failed to convince anyone but Hugh Hewitt of his inevitability? His campaign stunk like a stream of runny dog shit flowing from atop a Country Estate Wagon. But lefty bloggers had the Five Brothers Blog to ridicule for a few precious months.
#6—Paultards: At least their heroine Ayn Rand managed to write some crappy books that inspired a future Fed chairman to enact economy-wrecking policies. Ron Paul supporters’ only accomplishments of note were to fund a stupid blimp and organize flying monkey swarms to derail GOP internet discussions. However, their rEVOLution blimp alone entitles them to primacy over the PUMAs, who couldn’t even gas up the Mini-Winnie RV of Haka Doom.
#5—Giuliani’s Electoral Strategy: What the fuck was that all about? After focusing solely on states that start with an “F” and end with a “Lorida,” Giuliana got his ass handed to him in the state by both McCain and Romney, who each received twice as many votes as Giuliani did. A noun, a verb and 9/11 only go so far.
#4—L’affair Edwards: I long suspected Edwards of being a self-aggrandizing phony. But his focus on poverty during the primary season struck me as at least partially authentic and admirable—and remember, this was before Great Depression Part Deux struck and made it more likely that many of us will join Edwards’ displaced mill workers in the breadline. But then he had to go put a camera-toting chippie on the payroll and get ambushed in the toilet of a fancy hotel while visiting his love child. Idiot.
#3—George W. Bush: The opposite of King Midas (Gnik Sadim?), everything he touches turns to shit. He’s topped my political fail list for the better part of a decade now, and his attempts to salvage a legacy at this late hour are as contemptible as they are pathetic. Digby said it best: “They need accept that the best they can hope for is to end up among history’s inept clowns instead of history’s villains. It’s not much, but it’s all they’ve got.”
#2—Sarah Palin: Oh, I’ll admit, she had me worried at first. On paper, she looked good. But then she opened her piehole, launching 987,693 punch lines and finally dooming the McCain campaign. The only question now is whether the sticky little starbursts she coaxed from the (ahem) hard right will congeal into a resolve to repeat the epic fail in 2012. Let’s hope so.
#1—John McCain: To be fair, McCain had Bush around his neck like a millstone, but whose fault is that? If McCain truly possessed the principles and honor on which he bases his personal mythology, he could have set himself up as a credible opponent to Bush ages ago and had a real shot at winning this year. But he defended the indefensible. He said dumb things and stuck to them. He needlessly alienated a sycophantic press corp. He squandered the unearned good will he’d spent decades deceitfully amassing. So he’s the top loo-hoo-hoo-ZER of 2008 in my book.
