Month: April 2010

Adrastos, Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood, Malakatude, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks10 Comments

Malaka Of The Week: Haley Barbour

Peter Adrastos Athas

Every state in the union has a neighboring state they both mock and look down on. Here in the Gret Stet of Louisiana, we’re glad that Mississippi exists, otherwise we’d have to make it up. Both states tend to be at the bottom of lists you want to be on top of and at the top of lists you don’t even want to be on at all. Oddly, both states have conservative Republican Governors with Presidential ambitions. That brings me to this week’s “honoree” Haley Barbour. In many ways this is a lifetime “achievement” award. Barbour has been a malaka … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Haley Barbour

Athenae, Economy1 Comment

Race is Poverty is Shiftless Undeservingness

Why crazy people are crazy: What we have here, in other words, is the bedrock, indestructible, and apparently timeless conviction of white conservatives that the federal income tax is a device for stealing their hard-earned (or not) dollars and giving them to crack whores and their pimps (or ACORN, or all three) so that they can go out and buy shiny new Cadillacs and Kentucky fried chicken. Nothing — and certainly nothing factual, like the actual allocation of tax revenues by the federal government (that “insurance company with an army,” as Krugman calls it) — is going to disabuse them … Continue reading Race is Poverty is Shiftless Undeservingness

Music, VirgoTex12 Comments

*W.W.T.F.U.S. — The Fourteenth of April, That is Ruination Day

http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf Lincoln, the Titanic, Black Sunday, and nowPalin and Boston Tea Partiers. Patrick Semansky/Bloomberg News Let’s be extra careful out there today, people. The crazy is strong with them, and yea verily I say unto thee, theirbatshit runs deep as does a mighty river. Let us also fervently hopethis week passes without becoming even moreruinous. April iscruel enough already. *Wednesday Wake the F*ck Up Song Continue reading *W.W.T.F.U.S. — The Fourteenth of April, That is Ruination Day

Adrastos, Immoral Values, Law/Justice, Malakatude, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks7 Comments

Bob McDonnell Scrapes More Shit Off His Shoes

Peter Adrastos Athas

I considered making Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell malaka of the week but I couldn’t use this nifty post title so he’s getting his dose of snark now. In a word, McDonnell is a moron; no, he’s a McMoron. He had a weak and inarticulate opponent whom he’d already defeated in a statewide race so he got away with running as a moderate. Since becoming Governor, he’s shown off his right wing bona fides but when he gets bad press he ducks and covers like some little dude in a Fifties nuke drill movie. McDonnell’s primary political talent seems to be … Continue reading Bob McDonnell Scrapes More Shit Off His Shoes

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media6 Comments

White House Press, Quit Yer Bitchin’

OMG ROBERT GIBBS IS SO MEEN: Unlike press secretaries past, who would make rounds of calls to reporters as they neared deadlines, Gibbs is notoriously tough to get on the phone. His soliloquies are full of “first and foremost” and “I will say this,” and he relies on escape-hatch promises to “check and get back to you.” This month, Gibbs neglected to tell reporters traveling back from Prague on Air Force One that Justice John Paul Stevens had announced his retirement and refused to talk to them when they found out. Last weekend, Obama broke longstanding tradition by giving the … Continue reading White House Press, Quit Yer Bitchin’

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media10 Comments

Democrats. So Uncouth.

Seriously: The First Lady should be careful not to repeat a mistake made by Hillary Clinton during a 1999 visit to theMiddle East. When PalestinianSuha Arafat delivered a sharply-worded speech falsely accusingIsrael of using poisonous gas on Palestinians and distributing chemical materials to ruin the water, Mrs. Clinton silently gave Mrs. Arafat a hug and a kiss at the end of the lecture. The First Lady’s politeness was taken as substantive agreement with Arafat’s inflammatory charges. The president’s wife also needs to respect local protocol. The British press had a field day during a 2009 visit toGreat Britain when Mrs. … Continue reading Democrats. So Uncouth.

Athenae, Stupid Republican Tricks3 Comments

Today in ‘Andrew Breitbart is Wrong’ News

Has he ever been right about anything? “Listen, I was there,” Carson, D-Ind., said in an interview. “In many regards I think (the challenges are) a veiled attempt to justify actions that are simply unjustifiable. I think we need to move toward a dialogue that explores why this kind of divisive and reprehensible language is still making it into our political debate.” A fourth Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler ofNorth Carolina, who is white, backed up his colleagues, telling the Henderson (N.C.)Times-News that he heard the slurs. A reconstruction of the events shows that the conservative challenges largely sprang from a … Continue reading Today in ‘Andrew Breitbart is Wrong’ News

Athenae, Geek Cred, Science4 Comments

They Got the Band Back Together

I didn’t find out this was happening until about an hour beforehand, otherwise I would have been SO THERE: CHICAGO – SurvivingApollo 13 astronauts and severalflight directors reunited on Monday to remember a failed moon mission 40 years ago this week that they managed to turn into one of the greatest triumphs in the history of space exploration. Those who gathered included Apollo 13commander James Lovell, fellow crew memberFred Haise andNASA‘s legendaryflight director, Gene Kranz — all three of whom were immortalized in the 1995 movie “Apollo 13,” which starredTom Hanks as Lovell. “There’s truly a unique bond. There is … Continue reading They Got the Band Back Together

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media7 Comments

You’re Doing It Wrong

Yeah: From an American Society of News Editors (ASNE) press release: *ABOUT PRESS COVERAGE OF THE ASNE CONVENTION* Press coverage of the convention is welcome, and procedures for registering as press are available online: http://asne.org/annual_conference/press_procedures.aspx . Registration will also be available on-site beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday at the ASNE Registration desk, Ballroom Level. *Question and answer sessions during conference sessions and luncheons are for ASNE members only.*Questions from the media will not be permitted.[Boldfaced by Romenesko.] A. Continue reading You’re Doing It Wrong

Athenae, Immoral Values4 Comments

Once Again, Mike Huckabee Thinks About Gays Doing Very Gay Things

Like raising children, and buying furniture, but in a really gay way, of course: “You don’t go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal,” he said. “That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let’s go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them.” A. Continue reading Once Again, Mike Huckabee Thinks About Gays Doing Very Gay Things

Athenae, Television2 Comments

Treme

By the way, I’m writing with a bunch of much smarter people over at the Back of Town blog about HBO’s Treme: Who should tell your story? Who has the right to tell it? Who gets to see it, to come inside, to take what they want? To skim from the surface or drink deep? Can you even control that? Should you? My answers to these questions are biased, because I tell others’ stories for a living, because in order to get out of bed and look in the mirror every day I have to convince myself this is a … Continue reading Treme

Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T4 Comments

Today onTommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Masters of the Universe Edition

Good morning, gentle people – let’s suit up and get going, shall we? You know – you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to be a Freeper – but it sure helps. These guys have a tendency to attribute way too much power to the Dems, to themselves, and to anything that smacks of The New World Order. They seem to breathe in cause and effect, and exhale paranoia. par·a·noi·a –noun Psychiatry.a mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions andthe projection of personal conflicts, which are ascribed to the supposed hostility of others, sometimes progressing to disturbances of consciousness and … Continue reading Today onTommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Masters of the Universe Edition

Adrastos, Stupid Republican Tricks1 Comment

Wingers Over NOLA

Peter Adrastos Athas

The Southern Republican Leadership Conference has been confabbing here. I don’t have a lot to say about it BUT my friend Gambit Tabloid Editor, Kevin Allman has been covering the conference for his paper and itsblog and has thus far postedhere andhere.He’s alsotweetingthe shebang. I hope he hasn’t set off the liberal alarm and gotten thrown out of there by burly teabaggers. Continue reading Wingers Over NOLA

Adrastos, British Politics, Political Crack4 Comments

Barefaced Cheek

Peter Adrastos Athas

The British general election campaign is in its first week and Dr. A told me she was astonished that I hadn’t posted about it yet. Here’s my initial take as a semi-savvy foreign observer: the voters seem to like David Cameron but dislike the Tory party. In contrast, the voters dislike the Prime Minister but like the Labour Party. The Liberal Democrats who are now a step to the left of Labour are led by Nick Clegg who is their Tony Blair knockoff(think circa 1997 Blair) as Cameron is for the Conservatives. In short, the whole thing is such a … Continue reading Barefaced Cheek

Doc, Sports3 Comments

Hope springs eternal

In a rough-hewn, handmade wooden display case in my office unobtrusively sits a moment in time that never was. Next to a brick from a bar that burned down, near an autographed Jack Hamilton baseball and propped up against a Bobby Suter hockey puck, an unused playoff ticket fades. Section 101, Row Z, Seat 7 of Jacobs Field was mine and mine alone for Game One of the 2007 World Series. The seat was in one of the very last rows of the section situated above the bullpens. The price: $200. Worth it 10 times over. It didn’t matter if … Continue reading Hope springs eternal

Athenae, Law/Justice8 Comments

Stevens

Retiring. We need a badass replacement: Stevens’ departure will not change the court’s conservative-liberal split because Obama is certain to name a liberal-leaning replacement. But the new justice is not likely to be able to match Stevens’ ability to marshal narrow majorities in big cases. Stevens was able to draw the support of the court’sswing votes, now-retiredJustice Sandra Day O’Connor andJustice Anthony Kennedy, to rein in or block someBush administration policies, including the detention of suspected terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, its tilt toward protecting businesses from some lawsuits and its refusal to act against global warming. But … Continue reading Stevens

Athenae, Diary4 Comments

Friday Ferretblogging

So we were worried Puck was sick. After extensive research that involved bothering the Best Vet Ever, petting him, tickling him, taking him out for a walk outside while I picked up litter (yo, city, the snow’s melted, a little cleanup in the ‘hood please?), taking him into the living room in the evening to chuck him onto the couch and chase him around the carpet, I’ve determined Puck is not sick, but bored. And fat. And lazy. When presented with food, or new toys, or a new environment, he perks up. Which is just the excuse I need to … Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging