Friday, August 13, 2010

Yes it’s trite, but it fits.

Petulant Left blogger Jane Hamsher, quoted today in The Hill:

Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, who is also a columnist for The Hill, said he didn’t think Obama would get a 2012 primary challenge “in a million years.”
In an e-mail, Moulitsas also said Obama shouldn’t be challenged.
Still, some influential figures on the left, which erupted in fury this week at criticism White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made in an interview with The Hill,
suggest a multitude of voices in New Hampshire and Iowa could be helpful to the party.

“I have always encouraged a diversity of voices in the primary process, within all parties and at all levels of government,” said Jane Hamsher, founder of Firedoglake.com, a leading liberal blog.

Yes, Jane, because the only way to advance Progressive issues is to elect more Republicans. It’s so obvious to me now.

I’ve never had much regard for Hamsher. Her disastrous dalliance with the Lamont campaign was an early indicator that her first and only love is the sound of her own voice. Then there was the Grover Norquist Incident. And now this.

Team Gibbs.

Posted by Tom65 on 08/13/10 at 05:19 PM
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wow.  Just wow.

“This is a very sad day for me personally,” Hayward told a conference call.

“Whether it is fair or unfair is not the point. I became the public face and was demonised and vilified. BP cannot move on in the US with me as its leader.”

Hayward added: “Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus.”

Yeah, and sometimes you go to work on an unsafe oil rig drilling an unsafe well and you get blown to bits. 

And sometimes you get on your fishing boat to earn a living and get hit by waves of black oil polluting your water and ruining your livelihood.

And sometimes you look at your empty restaurants and beaches and get hit by waves of fear that the people will never come back.

And sometimes you see image after image of dead wildlife covered with that oil and get hit by waves of sadness and revulsion.

Life’s a bitch, Tony.  Wish I could feel sorry for you.

Posted by marindenver on 07/28/10 at 06:38 PM
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Monday, July 26, 2010

After Breitbart’s spectacular expose fail over Shirley Sherrod’s supposed evil bigotry you’d think the Repubs might want to distance themselves from him a bit.

Think again my friends.  Not only are they not distancing themselves, they are apparently embracing his brand of *journalism* by having him be a featured player at an upcoming swanky fund raising event in Beverly Hills, CA.

According to the invitation, which TPM was able to get a copy of, for a mere $5,000 contribution you too can attend a Welcome Reception on Thursday featuring none other than Chairman Michael Steele and Andrew Breitbart.

Well, why not, anyway?  While most normal people were pretty much aghast over the treatment of Sherrod by not only Breitbart and his flying monkeys but also the mainstream media and her boss and all his flying monkeys, the conservative crowd doesn’t seem to want to let go of her.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 07/26/10 at 04:40 PM
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A couple of days ago yr ed. reported here that Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) blathered that tax cuts never had to be paid for while spending, such as extending unemployment benefits, must always be offset by revenue or other cuts.  His fuzzy reasoning seemed to be that cutting taxes is an entitlement for the wealthy.

Well, he’s not the only Republican embracing this point of view.  From TPM:

“That’s been the majority Republican view for some time,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told TPMDC this afternoon after the weekly GOP press conference. “That there’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject.”

Vibrancy, indeed!  The tax cuts were vibrant!  They were trickling down vibrancy everywhere you looked!  Tell us more, tell us more!

He (Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH) said Kyl’s prescription—offset spending with tax increases or program cuts, but treat tax cuts differently—is exactly right. “It makes a lot of sense, because, you know, when you’re raising taxes you’re taking money out of peoples’ pockets,” said Gregg when asked by TPMDC. “When you’re spending money, you’re spending money that is—it’s not the same thing because it’s growing the government. So I tend to think that tax cuts should not have to be offset.”

Makes perfect sense, right?  Assuming that you live in Republatopia where decreasing revenue sources magically increases revenue, why it does!  But we don’t live there.  We live in RealWorldUSA.  Let’s see what some actual statistics say about all that trickling down vibrancy.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 07/14/10 at 04:37 PM
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Saturday, July 03, 2010

When you’re in a hole, don’t keep digging.

Kathleen has a sad  because she’s gotten pissed off e-mails from “self-identifying African Americans” politely, and some not so politely, disagreeing with her recent declaration that Obama is our first female president.

Kathleen explains.

Do I think people are too sensitive? Yes. Do I think I may have overstepped the line? No. It’s a column, not a dissertation. And my thesis, bouncing off the notion that Bill Clinton was the first black president, is serious only insofar as you really think Clinton is black.

Yes, because the purpose of having a column is so that I can say anything I want without the benefit of fact checking or backing up my opinions.  And can’t you guys take a joke?

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 07/03/10 at 11:59 AM
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

It’s only Tuesday, but I think we’re done here with the following sentence that concludes this Taylor Marsh post:

It makes my realist vein throb.

For reasons obvious to all, no more entries for “Worst Metaphor of the Week” honors will be accepted for June 20-27, 2010.

Posted by Betty Cracker on 06/22/10 at 05:29 AM
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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Capehart pens a great post at WaPo that mines the same territory Betty covered back in late May:

Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you saw your black male colleague, especially if you’re in a white-collar profession, show anger or rage in public? My hunch is never. There’s a reason for that. African American men are taught at very young ages (or learn the hard way) to keep our emotions in check, to not lose our cool, lest we be perceived as dangerous or menacing or give someone a reason to doubt our ability to handle our jobs. Think of the emotional corset women in leadership positions are expected to maintain to ensure they never cry in public or show TOO much compassion for fear of raising the same doubt and seeming weak.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 06/08/10 at 01:23 PM
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Thursday, June 03, 2010

From Hullabaloo:

So these calls for Obama to behave like a Big Daddy to rage and weep are worse than stupid and embarrassing. They’re ignorant and dangerous.

Read it all.  The comments, as you can imagine, are jam-packed with The Screech.

Posted by Kevin K. on 06/03/10 at 10:07 AM
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

As chronicled recently by Betty Cracker, a troubling trend of middle aged males apparently wearing Tribbles on their head has emerged.  Latest to join this movement appears to be BP CEO Tony Hayward attempting below to appear humble and apologetic after realizing that his statement that, hey, he wants the leak plugged as bad as anyone because he wants his freakin’ life back! might be seen as a tad insensitive.

Because, you know, several million Gulf Coast residents would like their freaking lives back too, friend.  Along with their livelihoods and their whole freaking ecosystem.  I don’t think anyone needs to poll the fish, turtles, shrimp and pelicans to guess they’re not too happy about literally losing their lives over this too.

Hear me, Mr. Hayward.  I hope you do not get your worthless life back.  I hope you get your ass fired, your company liquidated and you lose everything you own and hold dear so you can experience what you will have done to others.  Oh, and I hope they repossess the Tribble too.

Posted by marindenver on 06/02/10 at 04:28 PM
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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

From their “Opinion” page:

Finally, those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him (if he doesn’t already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property.

I guess the Frontiersmen aren’t members of the “lamestream media” or big fans of that silly concept of freedom of the press. [via Frum]

Posted by Kevin K. on 06/01/10 at 10:06 AM
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

As part of the current tax act making its way through Congress, one that would extend unemployment and COBRA benefits among other things, is a revenue provision that would change the way that so-called carried interests of hedge fund managers and venture capitalists are taxed.

Hedge funds and venture capital operations are set up as limited partnerships so that profits (and losses) are passed through to the investors and reported on their individual tax returns.  The managers of these partnerships have been taking advantage for some time of a tax provision which provides that if you receive a profits interest in a partnership for future management services to be provided, and you don’t actually put any money or property into the venture yourself, then down the road, assuming profits are realized, they are taxed to you as capital gains.  Long term capital gains if the property was held for more than a year.

What does this mean?  It means that what is essentially compensation to the managers, and fairly hefty compensation at that since the managers’ share is usually around 20% of the entire profit, is not taxed to them the way compensation would be to you or I.  Capital gains are taxed at a maximum of 15% for federal purposes and are not subject to social security or Medicare taxes.*  I mean even Wall Street trader bonuses don’t get this kind of a deal.

Not surprisingly Congress, and other commentators, see this as a loophole and have been seeking for some time to close it.  And now seem on the verge of doing so, although they are softening the blow by some phase-ins and an ultimate blended rate (pussies.)

One problem with tax loopholes, of course, is that when they’ve been around for a while the beneficiaries of these loopholes come to feel entitled to them.  So let the wailing and rending of garments and gnashing of teeth begin.

read the whole post »

Posted by marindenver on 05/25/10 at 01:36 PM
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Sunday, May 23, 2010

“Defiant Judge Takes On Child Pornography Law” reads the title of the NY Times piece about federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein and his misguided attempt to soften mandatory sentencing guidelines for perverts who download images of child pornography.

Now generally speaking I don’t think private sexual behavior should be regulated, and I don’t particularly believe prostitution should be illegal, but child pornography is something else altogether.  Children are sexually assaulted to satisfy the appetites of people like Pietro Polizzi, the defendant in this particular case, who downloaded 5,000 graphic images of children, mainly pre-pubescent girls.  Judge Weinstein doesn’t think this guy should go to jail and said:

“I don’t approve of child pornography, obviously,” he said in an interview this week. But, he also said, he does not believe that those who view the images, as opposed to producing or selling them, present a threat to children.

“We’re destroying lives unnecessarily,” he said. “At the most, they should be receiving treatment and supervision.”

Let me repeat:  he said that that “he does not believe that those who view the images, as opposed to producing or selling them, present a threat to children.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

Does this guy seriously not get the basic law of supply and demand?  Does he seriously believe that children would be molested and photographed if pervs like Pietro Polizzi were not out there?!  5,000+ images this guy had.  5,000+ children sexually abused to satisfy this guy’s disgusting fetish.  And Judge Weinstein thinks that the buyers in the supply/demand chain do not present a threat to children.  I think we should lock up people like Polizzi and throw away the key.  He certainly should never have access to a computer again.  Although, left to his devices this disgusting creep would find other ways to get his pictures.  And more children would be molested for his needs.

As is typical with these people Polizzi has absolutely no insight into his crime and sees himself as the victim:

“I don’t see Judge Weinstein as a judge,” Mr. Polizzi said during an interview as tears rolled down his face. “I see him as my father. He helps people. He doesn’t destroy lives the way the prosecutor has. He’s the one who is going to set me free from the court.”

Boo hoo.  Poor Pietro.  I swear, if Weinstein lets this perp walk, he deserves to be yanked from the bench.

Posted by marindenver on 05/23/10 at 01:18 PM
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

So no one knows what the f*ck they’re doing.

My thoughts, er, exactly.  BP had no Plan B in place because they believed an oil spill was highly unlikely.

So now they’re scrambling desperately to close off the gushing well.  Newsweek chronicles some of the desperation.  In the meantime doggy day care centers are sending pantyhose filled with dog fur to the gulf coast.

BP must pay for this.  They must pay big time.

via TPM

Posted by marindenver on 05/11/10 at 09:13 AM
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It’s too commonplace to be surprising anymore:

1) Prominent author / pundit makes unequivocal statement about important topic of the day
2) Subsequent events prove him / her not merely wrong but spectacularly, undeniably and comprehensively wrong
3) Prominent author / pundit retains status as expert on the topic in question and continues to receive giant megaphone for wholly suspect views

The above summarizes the careers of William Kristol, Marc Thiessen, Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks, Fred Barnes, Tom Friedman and many others, all of whom were 100% wrong on the Iraq war and yet are still taken seriously as “experts” on the topic.

The same is true of Shelby Steele, the African American conservative who wrote A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win. In that hilarious-in-retrospect 2007 tome, Steele explained that it was absolutely impossible for Obama to win the presidency because he’s “mired in an ideology of racial victimhood and separatism.”

Since ensuing events have proved Steele massively wrong, he naturally receives a prominent perch at the Wall Street Journal to declaim further on the topic about which he was so profoundly uninsightful.

read the whole post »

Posted by Betty Cracker on 03/31/10 at 04:41 PM
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The naively empathetic Chris Hedges, writing about the poor, put-upon teabaggers and their childlike “yearning for fascism,” ends his recent article at Truthdig with this ‘graph:

Left unchecked, the hatred for radical Islam will transform itself into a hatred for Muslims. The hatred for undocumented workers will become a hatred for Mexicans and Central Americans. The hatred for those not defined by this largely white movement as American patriots will become a hatred for African-Americans. The hatred for liberals will morph into a hatred for all democratic institutions, from universities to government agencies to the press. Our continued impotence and cowardice, our refusal to articulate this anger and stand up in open defiance to the Democrats and the Republicans, will see us swept aside for an age of terror and blood.

Honestly, does Hedges believe that these “transformations” are impending? We’re already there. We’ve been there for a long time.  “The hatred for liberals will morph into a hatred for all democratic institutions, from universities to government agencies to the press.” I mean, yeah, how terrible would it be IF THAT EVER HAPPENED? Good christ, really?

I’ve been seeing this “we’ve gotta find common ground with the rightwing activists” bullshit bubbling up in the leftosphere for months now and it is maddeningly wrong-headed and an acute example of wishful thinking (and they claim the “Obama/liberal apologists” are the pony-wishers). The common notions being floated by Our Progressive Betters or the Firebaggers or the Tribal Thumpers (or whatever you want to call them) is that both of the parties are pretty much exactly the same (we must rise against them together!), Rachel Maddow is just as dangerous of a propagandist and as untruthful as Glenn Beck, and—here’s the best part—wingnuts/teabaggers will TOTALLY GET ON BOARD WITH TRUE BLUE PROGRESSIVES as soon as hardcore financial reform (a nationalized banking system?), a single payer healthcare system, and a massive stimulus package are all put into place.  Oh ... and pull the troops out of everywhere NOW. I’ll give you a few minutes to stop laughing your ass off about how the teabaggers would react to all of that by passing on an earlier passage from Hedge’s piece making essentially that case:

We are bound to a party that has betrayed every principle we claim to espouse, from universal health care to an end to our permanent war economy, to a demand for quality and affordable public education, to a concern for the jobs of the working class. And the hatred expressed within right-wing movements for the college-educated elite, who created or at least did nothing to halt the financial debacle, is not misplaced. Our educated elite, wallowing in self-righteousness, wasted its time in the boutique activism of political correctness as tens of millions of workers lost their jobs. The shouting of racist and bigoted words at black and gay members of Congress, the spitting on a black member of the House, the tossing of bricks through the windows of legislators’ offices, are part of the language of rebellion. It is as much a revolt against the educated elite as it is against the government. The blame lies with us. We created the monster.

You see how easy it is? If the college-educated, self-righteous “progressive” elitists had only forcefully pushed through every lefty agenda item that the illiterate wingnut hobo people HATE MORE THAN CANCER, AL-QAEDA and MICHAEL MOORE, the teabaggers wouldn’t be forced by the liberal creative class, who fucked up everythingby focusing on their “boutique activism of political correctness,” to run around calling people niggers and faggots (aka “the language of rebellion”).  It would totally work, man. They’d come around. And if we get it done soon enough (IT’S DOABLE! HOPE! CHANGE!) we could be looking at a David Sirota/Amy Goodman 3rd party ticket waltzing its way into the White House by as early as 2012.

read the whole post »

Posted by Kevin K. on 03/30/10 at 11:20 AM
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