Month: November 2008

Immoral Values5 Comments

Compromise

ViaTbogg, we findanother disingenuous argument: Meanwhile, Schwenkler’s larger point is especially worth keeping in mind when confronted – as pro-lifers often are – with arguments like this one, from P.J. O’Rourke: Take just one example of our unconserved tendency to poke our noses into other people’s business: abortion. Democracy–be it howsoever conservative–is a manifestation of the will of the people. We may argue with the people as a man may argue with his wife, but in the end we must submit to the fact of being married. Get a pro-life friend drunk to the truth-telling stage and ask him what … Continue reading Compromise

Terrorism5 Comments

Homeland Security

Heckuva job, Joe: Dubois, IN – The Indiana National Guard says two soldiers exposed to a deadly chemical in Iraq now have cancer. The Guard is trying to contact more than 600 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry who may have been exposed to sodium dichromate. “The Battalion Cdr (commander) was diagnosed with cancer last summer and there is another soldier who came home on leave from this deployment who has been diagnosed with rectal cancer,” LTC Deedra Thombleson wrote in an email to Channel 13. A third soldier, Sergeant First Class David Moore, died in 2008 from a … Continue reading Homeland Security

Jude, Of Interest5 Comments

From The Department Of “It’s About Fucking Time”

Thanks for everything, Dick and George. Courtesy of reader Hell Kat, here’s a story from CNN today. An extensive federal report released Monday concludes that roughly one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness. That illness is a condition now identified as the likely consequence of exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered to protect troops against nerve gas. The 452-page report states that “scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans.” The … Continue reading From The Department Of “It’s About Fucking Time”

Economy4 Comments

Big Changes

Josh: But the point is that we’ve got the hood up and maybe the engine out on the national economy. That’s a bad situation on a lot of fronts. But it’s also the opportunity to really change things. Not just fix things on the margins but make the big changes. As long as we’re talking about sums of money in the tens and hundreds of billions of dollars, let’s not restrict ourselves to considering whether we throw Detroit a lifeline that keeps them in motion and employing their workers through the current recession. Maybe we need to invest 50 billion … Continue reading Big Changes

Pony, Bitches!1 Comment

Jersey Ponies!

Chimpy sets a new low in theFarleigh Dickinson Public Mind poll of New jersey voters. President Bush’s approval rating in the Garden State is very low at 26% and the percent of voters saying that the country is on the wrong track increased from 67% to a new high of 71%. At the same time, the percent of voters who say the country is on the right track dipped to a new low of 18%. Similarly, the percent of voters saying that going into Iraq was the right thing dropped from 32% to 27%, erasing gains made last month in … Continue reading Jersey Ponies!

So Called Liberal Media4 Comments

Talking Out Of Their Asses

Aimai knows how to get me going: As they wandered in the field discussing ways of forcing google to make a deal to charge for page views of newspaper content (good luck with that!) and insisted to me that no blogs could make enough selling their content to make it worth the bloggers while I brought up Nate Silver ( and DailyKos). Sure, they said, startled that they actually knew somebody’s name but unaware that Nate might be classed as a blogger–*he* has a product to sell, his expertise, but…but…he must be some kind of exceptional case. Because they had … Continue reading Talking Out Of Their Asses

So Called Liberal Media10 Comments

For The Love Of Steve

YOUR GROCERY CART MAY KILL YOU! I saw a promo for this the other night and nearly fell off the couch. The original story, which isn’t online, was about how germy and creepy grocery carts are after people have hacked and snotted and pawed all over them, which … well, yes. And doorknobs are gross, too. Sidewalks, I wouldn’t lick those if I were you, not since Christmas shopping season has started. Hotels aren’t always sanitary. Sometimes there’s residue on the bottoms of your boots after you get done hiking 18 miles through the mountains. I don’t know what we’d … Continue reading For The Love Of Steve

Terrorism3 Comments

Middle Way

Tim over at Balloon Juice: We cannot justify holding on to virtually any of our detainees without charging them in a legitimate court. However, as the Hamdi case illustrates, fairly charging tortured and illegally kept detainees is essentially the same as freeing them. Then the liberated detainees can file lawsuits. If the new government shows a few scruples about using the State Secrets card more honorably then, like the pending suit by Maher Arar, an innocent Canadian tortured for a year in Syria, the civil suits alone could be catastrophic. We already know that discovery will uncover prosecutable crimes in … Continue reading Middle Way

Stupid Republican Tricks3 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freepi – let the recriminations begin!

Good morning, everybody!
Well, the numbness has worn off,and the Freeperatis’ wounds are beginning to hurt.
Let’s suit up and pry the lids off some still-bubbling post-election anguish.

First up – former Fearless Leader gets off a good one:

Bush “I regret saying somethings I
shouldn’t have said”
CNN ^| Nov 11 2008 | CNN.com
Posted on
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 6:34:41 AM byrudman
“I am proud
to be the commander in chief of people who are so selfless and so courageous
that they would volunteer to serve our country in a time of war,” he said. “I’m
proud when I see people feed the hungry. I’m proud when I’m in Africa and see
volunteers helping those citizens dying of HIV/AIDS.”

“I remember the
conversation I had with my predecessor Bill Clinton,” Bush said. As a matter of
fact, [I] called him yesterday and said, ‘Bill, I’m getting ready to meet with
the new president, and I remember how gracious you were to me. I hope I can be
as gracious to President-elect Obama as you were to me.’ “

To: rudman
What about regretting NOT sayng things he SHOULD HAVE
said?
4 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 6:40:52 AM byIonInsights
(T)

Then, the Inevitable Freeper reaction to anyone who dares post anything that puts a crack in those rose-coloured Bush Goggles – even if it was on the front page of CNN and FOX:

To: rudman
Nice try newbie. Welcome to FR (two days ago).Now, tell us all.
We are dying to know.
Are you in the Executive Office Building, the Old
Executive Office Building, or the Republican National Committee basement?
6 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 6:43:24 AM byAmericanInTokyo

Is that anything like the basement of the Alamo?

To: rudman

Bush said. “I really do wish him all the best.I am just as
American as he is American…“

BS, Mr. President! I know you
had to be deplomatic, but you didn’t HAVE TO say this? Do YOU know where this
“thing” was born???

11 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 6:50:23 AM byChong (Read My
LIPSTICK!)

In response to an earlier reply, one Freeper gathers the shreds of decency lying about and attempts to make a garment out of them:

To: rudman
“he is not perfect, and does not pretend to be – only Jesus
Christ can claim perfection – he did keep America safe, even though many
Americans at time did not deserve that safety.”
That is his job, i.e., keep
America safe. And the idea that “many Americans at time did not deserve that
safety” is detestable. Every American deserves to be defended regardless of
where they stand poltically. I suggest you read the Constitution.
8 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 6:49:08 AM bykabar

Return fire!

To: kabar
You wrote “That is his job, i.e., keep America safe. And the
idea that “many Americans at time did not deserve that safety” is detestable.
Every American deserves to be defended regardless of where they stand
poltically. I suggest you read the Constitution.”
Detestable??? Me thinks
not. Traitors do NOT deserve the protection provided by a country they are
trying to destroy. These are the folks being referred to.If you think these
type of folks deserve the same constutional rights patriots and citizens enjoy
you are on the wrong board. Try DU.
17 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 7:02:12 AM byMGBGUN (Freedom is
not free.)

I guess I really need to reread the “Constution” and see where that verbiage is written down…

To: rudman
“George W. Bush was a class act till the end“

As
someone who voted for him twice and contributed to his campaign, I wouldn’t vote
for him a 3rd time if he were running for dog catcher.

Bush is a new
world order open border capitalist who helped engineer a 21st century global
aristocracy.

21 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 7:12:45 AM byMikeWUSAF
(Extreme vitriol and rancorous replies served daily. – Mike W USAF)

Sic transit gloria dubya…

To: discipler
Not a Bush fan. Forget McCain, or Palin, it was Bush who was
the biggest drag on this ticket.
13 posted onWednesday, November 12,
2008 6:52:47 AM bybeagleone

Let’s slam the lid back on this drum of bubbling BDS and move on.
More Freepery Goodness after the jump. Everybody hold hands before we jump – I don’t want anyone slipping and falling to the floor. Scout fell last week, and it took four people, two crowbars, a pint of paint thinner, and a gallon of pickle relish to get him unstuck from the moronic goo.

 

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freepi – let the recriminations begin!”

Political Crack4 Comments

Thank You Howard

The 50-State Strategy. It seemed obvious at the time, didn’t it? That if we wanted to win and win big, we had to compete is more than a handful of states? That if we wanted to get a Democractic agenda accomplished we would need Democrats not just in traditionally Democratic areas but everywhere? That if we were to truly reflect the desires of America as people truly believed, we would have to represent our viewpoints everywhere? It seemed obvious. To me, to you, to all the other DFH’s on the blogs and on the streets. Not so much to the … Continue reading Thank You Howard

Uncategorized4 Comments

Quitting Time Booster Shot

–Saw this earlier in the week and wanted to scream a lot. OK, there are students out there who don’t do work. I get that. There are also professors out there who really suck at their job. I get that. But one in FOUR kids end up not doing the stuff they’re supposed to and still get A’s? The A grade used to stand for outstanding or excellent. Now it’s like Halloween candy: show up and ask for it and you get it. I’m really starting to rethink my chosen profession… – Was driving to work when the DJs started … Continue reading Quitting Time Booster Shot

Of Interest2 Comments

Love Love Love Love Crazy Love

Not going back: More than 4,000 people showed up in Manhattan for what gay-rights activists were calling a national day of protest, with other rallies taking place across California and in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Fargo, N.D., and other cities, most put together by person-to-person efforts across the Internet. In San Diego, a crowd estimated by police at 20,000 and by organizers at 25,000 demonstrated against Prop. 8, while in Los Angeles police said between 10,000 and 12,000 people marched peacefully though the downtown area. Smaller protests were held in cities and towns across the state. “Today is a national tipping … Continue reading Love Love Love Love Crazy Love

Diary9 Comments

What Marriage Is

Yeah: I wish that Californians had understood what I knew in my heart. That when they voted yes on Prop 8, they weren’t voting about laws or rights or judicial activism or theology or lawyers or mayors or even tradition. They were taking daughters and sons and husbands and wives and sisters and brothers and uncles and nieces and aunts and nephews and grandparents and stepchildren and saying, “You. You over there. Not the other ones, just you. YOU ARE NOT A FAMILY. YOU NEVER WERE. YOU NEVER WILL BE.” Because that’s what they did. And so many of them … Continue reading What Marriage Is

Economy4 Comments

Before They Have The Balls?

TPM prints an e-mail from a reader about Dems and health care reform: It’s going to come down to a whip count in the Senate. If Baucus’ bill has legs, they should move on it quickly, before the honeymoon is over and Senate Republicans have the balls to use a filibuster. Because I’m sorry, but was the writer awake during the past eight years? The Republicans have always had the balls to use that which they declared the Democrats could not without destroying the very fabric of society. Hypocrisy isn’t just a tool in their arsenal, it’s the sum total … Continue reading Before They Have The Balls?

Stupid Republican Tricks18 Comments

P.J. O’Rourke’s Divorce From Reality Was Not Amicable

I’m just gonna rename this whole blog Stupid Republican Tricks. Via Kos, I see to my disappointment that P.J. O’Rourke is no longerfunny or intelligent. Has wingnuttery infected everything? You’d think they’d have learned. Mind you, they won’t live in Hyde Park. Those leafy precincts will be reserved for the micromanagers and macro-apparatchiks of liberalism–for Secretary of the Department of Peace Bill Ayers and Secretary of the Department of Fairness Bernardine Dohrn. The formerly independent citizens of our previously self-governed nation will live, as I said, around Hyde Park. They will make what homes they can in the physical, ethical, … Continue reading P.J. O’Rourke’s Divorce From Reality Was Not Amicable

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood5 Comments

At least 4 Taco Bells left untouched since Katrina

scoutprime2014

I’ll never eat at Taco BellToxic Hell again. Many local mom and pop shops don’t have the funds to reopen and their places remain abandoned. But most of the national chains that do business in the city of New Orleans and in other devastated areas have either gutted, demolished or reopened their stores. With one notable exception: At least four Taco Bell restaurants in New Orleans East and St. Bernard remain much as they were when Katrina hit – laying wide open with rotted food, broken glass and piles of garbage. Taco shells still lay on the counters, mostly turning … Continue reading At least 4 Taco Bells left untouched since Katrina

Jude, Of Interest8 Comments

Our Stupid Discourse

A CNN bathroom, no doubt. With apologies to our lord and master Atrios for stealing one of his frequent post titles, I present the following: Two religious groups are fighting over a small patch of public land, refusing to give legal ground over competing symbols of faith. The outcome of their battle could have nationwide ramifications. On one side are the Summum, who believe in mummification, the rites of transference and “The Seven Aphorisms.” Opposing them are the elected leaders of this community, who hold more traditional values that reflect the area’s strong Mormon roots. Now the U.S. Supreme Court … Continue reading Our Stupid Discourse

Jude, Of Interest10 Comments

They Just Can’t Help Themselves

Yeah, I’m stupid, but I’m notthat stupid. It turns out, as I had suspected, that the “Sarah Palin doesn’t know that Africa is a continent” story wasn’t accurate. However, it’s untrue in a way I didn’t suspect. Instead of it being made up by McCain aides to discredit and heap blame on Palin, it turns outthe whole thing is a hoax. But here’s what stood out to me in the NY Times article: A stupid dig at bloggers.  [M]ost of Eisenstadt’s victims have been bloggers, a reflection of the sloppy speed at which any tidbit, no matter how specious, can … Continue reading They Just Can’t Help Themselves

Uncategorized4 Comments

But do you want to end up like Bush?

From the TimesOnline: With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared. Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. “Hang him?” — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. “The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.” Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly … Continue reading But do you want to end up like Bush?