FromAlbum4 It’s not very surprising to see The Heritage Foundationfuriously waddling backwards as fast as they can afterthis (andthis), but to me it’s a classic political gaffe–they told us what they really think. Continue reading The Taco Bell Curve

FromAlbum4 Hmm, it sounds like Teahadist flavor-of-the-monthTed Cruz is one physical act of love away from endorsing Wing Attack Plan R because, you know, fluoridated water and children’s ice cream. And I’d really like to knowwho shouted at him for having the “courage” to tell people like the parents of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims to pound sand. I swear, bullies sure do love playing the victim as much or even more than they love bullying. Continue reading Tailgunner Ted

FromAlbum4 Charles Pierce nails it —The Great Mulligan — and while at first I was going to bronze The Pet Goat event (when Dubya was actually holding a book), Katrina Guitar Hero seemed a little more fitting. If nothing else, he’d been presidentin’ for a full term, and that kind of shallow callousness is something you’d expect all but the dimmest of bulbs to at least kind of, sort of, grow out of. But not George W. Bush, who didn’t just have The Great Mulligan, but was given all sorts of second chances, right up to today when clods like … Continue reading Something in Bronze for the Bush Library

FromAlbum4 So, thanks to a minority of Senators who’d just as soon piss themselves in public than get on the wrong side of the NRA, anexceedingly modest background check requirement before purchasing a lethal weapon failed. This isn’t even like requiring a driver’s license before getting a car — it’s more like the dealer being allowed to make sure you’re not habitually committing vehicular homicide. Meanwhile, here in the Gret Stet, aballot initiative passed last November (and endorsed by esteemed Gubnah PBJ) allows convicted felons to sue the State and demand…the return of any confiscated weapons. Go figure. We now … Continue reading Just Plain (Gun) Nuts

FromAlbum4 But thestudent body and faculty of Howard University politely disagreed. Come to think of it, the only real social spending supported by Republicans that’s had a significant impact on African-Americans over the last generation or so has been…prisons. Which makes their “welfare is the plantation” argument even more ironic, given that at least in Louisiana, the major state prison once WAS a plantation. Just saying. Continue reading Rand Is Hip to What’s Happenin’ With Those Kidzz

FromAlbum4 Oh sure, Exxon claims they’ll “cover all costs” resulting from their turning Mayflower, Arkansas into Muck City…but c’mon. At a certain point, they’re going to take advantage ofone of the most insane loopholes imaginable and probably cite something like “fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders” for walking away from this black eye…just like they walked away from Alaska after permanently fouling Prince William Sound. The central Arkansas spill caused by Exxon’s aging Pegasus pipeline has reportedly unleashed 10,000 barrels of Canadian heavy crude – but a technicality says it’s not oil, letting the energy giant off the hook from paying … Continue reading Adding Insult to Injury

FromAlbum4 Times sure do change. When not installing Bush in the White House (and telling us to “get over it”) Scalia would spewinsults andhatred without much concern or thought…and itturns out that’s the problem right there. Not that his brand of hatred will ever die out, but it’s nice to see it on the losing end for at least this week. Continue reading The Passion ofSt. Sebastian Fat Tony

FromAlbum4 So, just in time to mark the passage of ten years since the the triumph of the neo-con nitwits in Iraq, we have six new musings on canvas by El Shrubo. OK, I lied — there are only five paintings. One’s a photo. But they’re all his work. Continue reading Portrait of the Artist as a Dumbass

FromAlbum4 I would not be surprised if wingers either completely ignoreScott Prouty, or viciouslyattack him with pretty much any argument they can push through the puke funnel. On the one hand, Romney’s political career is over and unlamented, on the other, destroying the life of anyone deemed sufficiently disloyal is how they roll. That said, it’s not like Mitt said anything that’s not central to their movement, namely, their ridiculous and narcissistic belief that this country is full of takers and parasites, while they virtuously make and produce. Fuck ’em if they can’t takereality. Continue reading Dictionary Definition

FromAlbum4 So it’sofficially a colossal fraud and financial boondoggle inaddition to a horrible and needless tragedy. But I guess we already knew that — with the exception of Walnuts having a kids-on-his-lawn moment re: The Surge® at the Hagel hearing, Iraq is as verboten a subject as…the Dick and the Shrub who put us there in the first place. Coming up on a trillion dollars (by conservative estimate). And what did we get? Rubble and chaos. And now they’re going to lecture us on fiscal profligacy? Christ on a cracker. Continue reading Ever Get The Feeling You’ve Been Cheated?

FromAlbum4 “It’s all those good white authorities in Shelby County and elsewhere who are the REAL victims.” Actually, and I’ve said this in comments here at First Draft and elsewhere, watching Tony waddle off into his dotage in a fizzle of petulance is a good thing. Whether deserved or not — probably not — Scalia was presumed to have at least some intellectual heft. But certainly since Bush v. Gore and possibly earlier, he’s demonstrated clearly that he’s just another wingnut hack. A dangerous one, to be sure, and damn if I wish he wasn’t almost anywhere except the bench, … Continue reading Shorter Antonin Scalia

FromAlbum4 So, Johnny Cry-Boehner has a sad about the sequester, telling anyone who’ll listen what a sorry idea it is. But aren’t the Redumbs all about starving the beast, drowning it in the tub, shrinking it to irrelevance, etc., because, you know, “government BAD,” as St. Ronaldus himself would say? Shouldn’t Boehner et al embrace the sequester, and demand it be followed by more cuts? Or…do they know, as anyone reading First Draft does, that “small government” has never been anything other than racist dog whistle, atLee Atwater at least admitted before shaking loose his mortal coil. Dog whistle… But … Continue reading So, How’s That Tea Party “Alliance” Working Now?

FromAlbum4 I guess trying to part with yourworking-class neighborhood house for the working class price of $675,000 can reallybuild up a working class guy’s thirst. They sure do have strange ideas as to what “working class” is… Continue reading Working Class Hero

FromAlbum4 It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for Floridians, or at least the ones who didn’t vote forGovernor Bat-Boy. One hundred million dollars will purchasequite the frontal assault on the senses… Continue reading Sunshine State Prepares for Deluge

FromAlbum4 Whenever even the most modest of restrictions or regulations of guns is discussed you seecounter arguments of thiskind…yet, and sorry to be a bit ugly here, Nancy Lanza owned an assault rifle, but it did not assist at all in her personal defense. While I don’t own a gun myself, I’m more than willing to let people own guns…but when they start fetishizing and fantasizing about being ultimate vigilantes…then I have a problem. Movies like Dirty Harry or Death Wish are myths. But a significant segment of the public has taken these myths to heart. And THAT’S the problem: … Continue reading Mom, Apple Pie…and AK-47s

FromAlbum4 I think on some level this speaks volumes about the state of yer modern Redumblican party — after whining pitifully about the alleged “partisan” inaugural, they launch into themost craven of political stunts, going above and beyond toexploit human tragedy for political gain. That said, and jeebus lets hope it’s the case, this seemed to have all the punch of flat beer. John McCain as angry little leprechaun was stale and tired, and Teahadists like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul were less fresh blood and more like over-eager teenagers trying to prove they belonged in the band. It also … Continue reading Villagers of the Damned

FromAlbum4 Living ingun nut country — but not owning a gun myself — I’m occasionally surprised at how, well, common gun ownership is around here. That’s partly because, even though it’s definitely gun nut territory, people generally usually don’t loudly screech about them, brandish them, or otherwise get in your face with their demands to fondle their firearms 24/7. Which is something that strikes me about thelatest up-to-eleven crazyreactions to the proposals for additional gun regulation, namely, the sheer volume and degree of shrill. To be blunt, what a bunch of wussies. Maybe it’s just me, but you’d think people … Continue reading Watching The Crazy Go Up To Eleven

FromAlbum4 Krugman: …what we’re looking at here is a collision of worldviews, one might even say of epistemology. For many people on the right, value is something handed down from on high It should be measured in terms of eternal standards, mainly gold; I have, for example, often seen people claiming that stocks are actually down, not up, over the past couple of generations because the Dow hasn’t kept up with the gold price, never mind what it buys in terms of the goods and services people actually consume. And given that the laws of value are basically divine, not … Continue reading “A Pre-Enlightenment Attitude Toward Monetary And Fiscal Policy”

FromAlbum4 Despite Cantor’s recent efforts to castrate Boehner — yeah, cheap pun intended — theSpeaker‘s expected tokeep his position. And, givenBoehner’s recent behavior, I’m starting to wonder if the refusal by Redumblicans to even mention the name “George W. Bush” is fromfear they don’t measure up to his…dignitude. Hard to imagine, but they’ve actually sunk that low. Continue reading The House Republican Caucus Meets

FromAlbum4 With the Fiscal Cliff countdown at T Minus 5 days and counting, here’sAndy Borowitz channeling his inner Most Incompetent Speaker in the World: Dear American People: It’s Speaker Boehner here, writing my first and last ever holiday letter to you. Why am I doing this after all of these years, you might ask? Well, I won’t mince words. I’ve started drinking a little early this Christmas. Yes, I’m sitting here in my man-cave, panelled in mahogany the color of me, doing a rack of Canadian Club shooters and smoking my way through a carton of Lucky Strikes as if … Continue reading He Once Cried a River of Tears…Actually, He Did That a Bunch of Times

FromAlbum4 Not enough men. Seriously. I think we’ve officially reached the repeated-as-farce level when it comes to the wingnut reaction.  Anyway, would add a bit more but my internet service seems pretty flakey today… Continue reading The National Review’s “Analysis”

FromAlbum4 The title ofleast popular Senator, that is. Theself-filibustering Bert-the-Turtle doppelganger is even disliked by his own constituents, though for some reason he gets far better treatment from the Washington press than, say, Tom Daschle. For the life of me I can’t figure out why. Continue reading Chinless Mitch Wins By A Nose

FromAlbum4 Obama supporters sure are lazy…uppity, too. Continue reading Shorter John Sununu

FromAlbum4 Not exactlynews, but ifanyone had any doubts… A new Florida law that contributed to long voter lines and caused some to abandon voting altogether was intentionally designed by Florida GOP staff and consultants to inhibit Democratic voters, former GOP officials and current GOP consultants have told The Palm Beach Post. To add a personal note, when I lived in Wisconsin, I was usually part of the annual August 15th migration (you can google “Madison August 15” if you’re not familiar)…I’m pretty sure I registered on-site for every election I voted in up there. It was very easy, very effective…and … Continue reading TheBloc Blah Vote

FromAlbum4 At first I thought maybe they’d actually found Mitt Romney’s tax returns, but they said historic, not now-a-minor-footnote-to-a-historically-fraudulent-political campaign. But speaking of Mitt, I see karma (or can we call it Karlma, for Rove?) has come full circle, leaving him with…47 percent of the vote. Fitting. Have a happy and safe holiday. Continue reading Scientists Announce “Significant Discovery” By Curiosity Rover

FromAlbum4 It’s fitting that on the same dayMitt doubles-down — and doubles-back — to the “Obama’s giving those people free stuff” excuse for why he lost, The Nation and James Carter IV offer definitive proof that Lee Atwater actally did utter the now infamous lines that are his sorry legacy: You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking … Continue reading A Visit From The Ghost Of Wingnut Past

FromAlbum4 The world’s littlest violin might not be enough —this guy needs a dose of sad trombones, too. And if you have the chance, check out the other posts to see thefull tantrum basking inall its rich glory. And when you look at his manly, Galtian “qualifications,” you find them rife with government…that is, unless there’s a private market in “missile technology” I’m unaware of. His chosen school, Seattle University, is a Jesuit institution…which means a tax-free ride on everyone else’s shoulders…though you can easily and conveniently apply for federal financial aid by visiting their website. And I’ll bet S.U. … Continue reading Atlas Has a Pity Party

FromAlbum4 Something about thesheer phoniness, the empty and ham-fisted photo op…and then it hit me — this is straight from the Karl Rove playbook (for a while Rove actually ran federal hurricane relief efforts, which was a disaster in itself). One difference, though, even as the aerial shots of flooded homes was eerily familiar:Bush didn’t deliver his empty promises until almost three weeks after the flood. Geez. Not that I’d ever think a genuine deity would deliberately kill, maim, or or otherwise harm thousands of innocent people just to ‘send a message,’ but two things — one, the message could … Continue reading Mitt’s Song and Dance Rang Depressingly Familiar

FromAlbum4 I thoughtSharron Angle’s “made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade” was about as batshit insane as wingnuttery could get when it came to denying a woman’s right to choose…butIndiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock saw her batshittery and raised her one “gift from God,” as you’ve probably read or seen. And then, of course, there was thenon-apology expression of regret that his words were “misinterpreted.” But…Mourdock’s position — aside form being ignorant and cruel beyond belief — are pretty much mainstream Redumblican these days.Mitt Romney, who, in typically cloddish style, endorsed and recently recorded a television commercial for … Continue reading “That Gift From God”

FromAlbum4 “I’m not acrook vulture capitalist.” E.J. Dionne puts the sketchy in Mitt’s Etch-a-Sketch, whileKrugman’s “amazed” at Romney’s insistence that he was just a small time Mom & Pop LBO specialist (well, Pop in the sense of Papa Doc, or his Central American oligarch equivalents). As for me, maybe this is aging myself, but Mitt’s performance kept reminding me off…former TV character and pitchman Joe Isuzu. Your mileage may vary. FromAlbum4 Continue reading “From Etch-A-Sketch To Sketchy”