Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, someone elect us a better set of Con Congressmen. Because the vast majority of the current set are outrageous fucking idiots.

Here we have Sen. Graham grandstanding with nothing to stand on:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) gave a harsh assessment of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor Wednesday afternoon, criticizing her ideology, questioning her temperament and saying he had little intention of voting for her.

[snip]

“I think she does have the intellectual capacity to do the job,” Graham said. “But there’s a character problem. There’s a temperament problem that they — during the time they’ve had to be a judge, that they were more of an advocate than an impartial decider of the law. And I’ve got to find out, in my own mind” about her temperament.

With such lingering questions about Sotomayor’s record, Graham said, hearings should be held in September after the August recess.

Well. At least he didn’t call her stupid. Otherwise, he hit every Con talking point about her. Do these people have some sort of training camp where they learn to be such raging fucking idiots? First, this “temperament” thing’s really got no traction in a country that thrives on Judge Judy reruns. Second, where the fuck does he get “advocate” from? If he’d bothered to look at her actual record rather than rumors about her record, he’d see that a little emotion doesn’t interfere with Sotomayor’s ability to impartially decide the law. What a fucking dumbshit.

Then we have a stiff double shot of dumbfuckery on the environmental side. Here are some of the Con party’s finest on green jobs:

Yesterday, House Republicans took to the floor for an hour-long series of speeches dedicated to attacking Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation. But in addition to doing the usual — misrepresenting an MIT study to claim the legislation would result in a tax and flaunting their skepticism of global climate change — the members of Congress decided to fire a volley of smears at workers doing green jobs as well. ThinkProgress has compiled a video of some of the attacks:

REP. JOHN FLEMING (R-LA): What we really get is a pass-through of taxpayer dollars that go into what I would call artificial – or I call them paper mâché jobs, so-called green jobs.

REP. TODD AKIN (R-MO): The green jobs that are being talked about, we’re going to create all these green jobs. In Spain, they call them subprime jobs.

REP. G.T. THOMPSON (R-PA): This is all in the name of green, greening America, specifically solar and hydro. But I have to – in terms of the economy, the other green that comes to mind is gangrene.

And I wonder why the first word that comes to mind when I hear “Republican” is “fucktard.”

A phrase comes to mind when I see Sen. Inhofe mentioned. It’s “Fucktard to the tenth power:”

In a speech for the Heartland Institute yesterday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said that the Senate could just “stall” any EPA regulation:

INHOFE: Don’t be distressed when you see the House passes some kind of cap-and-trade bill. And you know it could be worse and she could still pass it, so it’ll pass there. The EPA has threatened to regulate this through the Clean Air Act. That isn’t going to work in my opinion because we can stall that until we get a new president – that shouldn’t be a problem.

Note to my nation: elect only Democrats not affiliated with the Blue Dogs until Inhofe is dead. Otherwise, our environment’s likely to take a shotgun to the head.

Let us leave the halls of Congress before I can’t take any more. Not like the view’s better anywhere else. If we turn on the teevee, we’re likely to be assaulted with this nonsense:

On Monday’s edition of Glenn Beck’s hopelessly bizarre Fox News program, the host discussed General Motors’ bankruptcy, and the federal intervention to save the company, with the National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg. If you’re already thinking, “Uh oh,” you still might be surprised by their chat.

Beck began by explaining to viewers that “Liberal Fascism,” Goldberg’s book, is necessary to “understand” what has “destroyed our country.” Beck added that Goldberg’s book “began to open my eyes,” and prompted the Fox News host to do “an awful lot of research.”

The notion of Beck using “Liberal Fascism” as a springboard for genuine academic research is literally laughable, but let’s move on.

Beck asked his guest if there are “any examples in history where this kind of stuff has happened — what’s happening today — and what does it lead to?” He was vague about what “this kind of stuff” included, but presumably it dealt with the government rescue of GM. Goldberg responded with the comparison that Beck wanted to hear:

“Well, I mean, we saw — I mean, it’s funny. I mean, again, you know, I’m not calling Barack Obama a Hitler and I’m not calling him Nazis and all the rest. But, you know, in fascism, we saw the people’s car. We call it the Volkswagen, where the state said what we’re going to do is we’re going to take over the auto industry — government and business and unions are going to get together and we’re going to create cars to fill a political need rather than a market need and give people these cars.”

There’s just no stupid too stupid for these assclowns, is there?

And then, like a rancid cherry on top, comes Mark Sanford:

Now the governor has taken action on two bills that show where his priorities really lie: He vetoed a bill reigning in predatory payday lending, and signed a bill allowing loaded guns on school grounds.

Reinforcing his ideol
ogical approach, Sanford claimed that regulating payday loans was incompatible with “limited government and maximized individual freedom.” State Sen. Joel Lourie (D) replied, “His vision for South Carolina is for ineffective, underfunded schools, for kids buying cheap cigarettes and for unprotected consumers.”

The gun law Sanford signed allows anyone with a concealed weapons permit to leave a gun in their car while parked at a school so that, according to the bill’s sponsor, teachers can more fully exercise their rights:

“I’m not trying to bring firearms inside the school,” said [Sen. Shane] Martin, R-Spartanburg. “You don’t need to carry it inside the school. But I’ve had teachers tell me they can’t exercise their (Second Amendment) rights traveling to and from school. They ought to be able to travel to school without having to leave their weapon.”

So while Sanford refuses to fix crumbling schools or prevent thousands of teacher layoffs or crack down on some of the most predatory lending practices around, he was willing to join a freshman senator’s “grand gesture” to the NRA. It must be more of that “reform” Sanford has trumpeted.

Stupid really never does take a vacation, does it?

Happy Hour Discurso
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Vacation Report: The Kitteh Stays Home While We Have an Adventure

We spent the morning at Monterey Aquarium while the cat played queen of her domain at the hotel. Eventually, if it turned out reasonably well, I’ll have video of some actual otters for you. In the meantime, I’ve got fishies:


And a crab:


The little guy staring directly at the camera came rushing over and posed when he saw me photographing his buddy:


Sand dollars!


Look closely – there are seahorses in this photo:

These guys aren’t quite as well-disguised:

The other otters were playing too hard for my camera to photograph without flash. But here’s a sleeping one for you:


A posing penguin:


And, finally, the gratuitous photo of the ocean snapped from a moving car:

Plenty more to come.

Vacation Report: The Kitteh Stays Home While We Have an Adventure

Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Day Two with internet access. But too tired to do much. Let’s make it short and sweet, shall we?

Here’s what Rep. Issa apparently thinks is a good argument against paid family leave:

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), expressing her support for a bill that would grant four weeks of paid family leave for federal employees, recently made note of international standards on the issue. “163 countries have recognized the importance of providing paid leave to families,” Maloney said. “163 countries cannot be wrong.”

The point, of course, was to point out something of a global consensus on the issue. There are certain basic employee benefits that should be available, and as the argument goes, if 163 countries already offer paid family leave, maybe it’s time for the United States to step up.

In response, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), easily one of Congress’ most embarrassing members, produced a video attacking the proposal. Chris Harris notes one of the video’s key arguments.

Immediately following Congresswoman Maloney’s remarks, the video features text asking: “Could these guys be wrong on paid parental leave?” The video then features NORTH KOREA, IRAN, VENEZUELA, and CUBA, with each country’s name accompanied by a photo of its respective dictator.

Is [Issa] serious? Is his best argument actually that four countries the U.S. doesn’t like “recognize the importance” of newborn children having their parents at home to care for them? That we should refuse to help dedicated public servants because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez do the same?

Apparently, yes, that’s Issa’s argument.

Pathetic.

Here we have two governors preferring home-grown ignorance to national standards:

Yesterday, Education Week reported that 46 states have agreed to join forces to create common academic standards in math and English language arts through an effort led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. A primary goal of the initiative is to “eliminate the patchwork of academic standards across the country that result in students in the same grades learning different things in different states.” In Mississippi, for instance, 90 percent of fourth-graders passed the state reading exam in 2007, according to U.S. Department of Education data. But only 51 percent had at least “basic” or “partial mastery” on the test known as the Nation’s Report Card.

Republican Governors Sarah Palin of Alaska and Mark Sanford of South Carolina – the same governors who postured to reject millions of education stimulus funds – are among the four governors refusing to join the initiative. In a press release Palin said:

Alaska’s decision not to participate until after we monitor this is based on our desire to spend our time and public resources to improve instruction in the classroom and to form productive relationships between schools and the communities they serve.

Also pathetic.

And, rounding out the pathetic, witness the right pathetically engaging in the tu quoque fallacy:

There was another horrible shooting yesterday, this time in Arkansas. And this time, the motive appears to have been a hatred of the American military for the Muslims who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A 23-year-old man upset about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan opened fire from his truck at two soldiers standing outside a military recruiting station here on Monday morning, killing one private and wounding another, the police said.

… In a lengthy interview with the police, Mr. Muhammad said he was angry about the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chief Thomas said. Previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, Mr. Muhammad told investigators that he had converted to Islam as a teenager, Chief Thomas said.

Chief Thomas said investigators believe that Mr. Muhammad acted alone. He seemed to be familiar with the Army recruiting office because it was not far from his home, the chief said, but might have been on the prowl for anyone in uniform.

“I would say he was looking for any and all targets of opportunity that happened to be military,” the chief said in a telephone interview. “That may have well been the first place he found.”

This is, of course, a horrific case, and no one in their right minds would celebrate it.

Yet naturally, the right-wingers — still feeling the sting from having been held culpable for their inspirational role in the assassination of Dr. George Tiller on Sunday — have decided that this is all the fault of liberals. As usual, Michelle Malkin is leading that particular parade.

There’s a significant difference, though, in this case and the Tiller murder: No one on the left is celebrating this or wishing that the recruiters had had a chance to make their peace with God before being shot. No one is trying to justify it by suggesting that the recruiters met a just fate.

And most of all, while there are smatterings of fringe leftists who hate the military and regularly demonize military recruiters, they exist entirely on the margins.

The Cons are more pathetic than the state of my body after three days on the road. For the record, that’s some pretty serious pathetic.

Happy Hour Discurso

Vacation Report: The Kitteh Has an Adventure

Posting will be light for several days yet, I’m afraid. Not much time for catching up on doings around the intertoobz when travel involves long stretches stuck in a car without internet access. But I can at least let you guys share the adventure to some extent.

We passed Mt. Shasta today. It made a brief appearance from behind its morning clouds:

Gorgeous, isn’t it? That stretch of I5 is absolutely spectacular. Lots of fun with plate tectonics and mountain building, and plenty of curves where you can persuade your car to let you play with g-forces.

At the end, you can drop by the dam at Lake Shasta and get yourself a nice view:

We took the cat on a brief hike. I promised you amusing photos of a cat in harness, and amusing photos of a cat in harness you shall have:

As you can see, she made a beeline for the treeline. She planned to play hidey-cat as much as possible. Fortunately, the leash and harness foiled her schemes.

We finally managed to extract her from beneath the trees, and she briefly settled in to admire the view:

On the way back, she once again made a break for the trees, which in this case required a little mountain climbing:

If you wonder what she’s looking down at, it’s me. And yes, she’s considering if she has enough altitude to leap down and rip my face off. She’s not what you’d call an outdoor cat.

We’re settled in to an apartment-turned-hotel at the moment, where she’s taking over the place. If you’re ever in Monterey, CA, the Deer Haven Inn & Suites is an excellent place to stay. Total home-away-from-home, including a full kitchen. And it’s pretty cheap for what you get.

That’s all I can stay awake for at the moment. Hopefully, we’ll once again have internet access tomorrow night, and I can entertain you with further pictures of my cat despising the great outdoors.

Hasta, amigos!

Vacation Report: The Kitteh Has an Adventure

Happy Hour Discurso

Today’s opining on the public discourse.

Sorry about the lack of a Happy Hour yesterday, my darlings. There were, shall we say, a few issues with internet connectivity. It left me adrift in a world without intertoobz, which came as a bit of a shock. You don’t realize how dependent you are on technology until it’s no longer available.

Good thing I had the Garmin, or I would’ve been completely helpless. What’s this “phonebook,” and how would I look up a restaurant in that?

Alas, still not much time for posting or catching up on all the shit I missed, but I caught inkling of a few major stories that broke while I was away. I see some right-wing fucktard shot an abortion doctor. And they wonder why we call them terrorists.

There’s nothing I can say to his family to ease the pain of their loss. All I can do now is beat up on the stupid shites who still don’t get it. Such as Sarah Palin:

Right-wingers have a problem admitting that there’s such a thing as right-wing terrorism. We saw it recently with that prescient Homeland Security bulletin that they all claimed smeared them. And now we’re seeing it again with the assassination of Dr. George Tiller.

Sarah Palin issued a statement today about the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas that was a classic Double Fail:

I feel sorrow for the Tiller family. I respect the sanctity of life and the tragedy that took place today in Kansas clearly violates respect for life. This murder also damages the positive message of life, for the unborn, and for those living. Ask yourself, ‘What will those who have not yet decided personally where they stand on this issue take away from today’s event in Kansas?’

Regardless of my strong objection to Dr. Tiller’s abortion practices, violence is never an answer in advancing the pro-life message.

Palin, like most movement conservatives, is worried most of all about the possible effects this murder will have on the anti-abortion movement and her own politics.

More to the point, she refuses to acknowledge — just as she did in the campaign last year, in the above interview with John McCain — that abortion-clinic violence is in fact domestic terrorism.

If Palin starts marketing her own perfume, I do believe she should call it “Forever Clueless.”

Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin gets sarcastic before throwing a pity party for the poor, poor right wing:

Late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was gunned down at his church in Kansas Sunday morning in a thoroughly evil, cold-blooded act of domestic terrorism. Yes, terrorism. Not “extremism.” Interesting how the t-word has been rediscovered.

Guess what, Michelle? It hasn’t been rediscovered – it was right there in that DHS report you frothing fuckwits threw such fits over all along. I suppose you’re referring to Obama’s dropping of the phrase “Global War on Terror,” which you frothing fuckwits also threw such fits over. So many fits – your poor little fists must be sore from pounding the floor.

But kudos, Michelle, for condemning the violence without Palin’s little qualifiers. Maybe someday you’ll be a real adult.

But Bill O will never be a real newsman:

At the top of his Talking Points segment, O’Reilly did briefly say, “Americans should condemn the murder of Dr. George Tiller,” but he then quickly segued into more attacks on Tiller. He also used the opportunity to attack his critics, saying they were trying to “exploit” the incident to attack Fox News. In particular, he singled out the writings of Helen Kennedy of the New York Daily News, Mary Mapes on the Huffington Post, Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star, Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos. O’Reilly blasted liberals who were “very very sympathetic” to Tiller and said one of the first things that he thought of when he heard the news of the killing was…himself:

When I heard about Tiller’s murder, I knew pro-abortion zealots and Fox News haters would attempt to blame us for the crime, and that’s exactly what has happened. […]

No backpedaling here, madam [Mary Mapes]. Unlike you, I report honestly. Every single thing we said about Tiller was true, and my analysis was based on those facts. […]

You’ll love his definition of “analysis”:

Besides repeatedly referring to the doctor as “Tiller the Baby Killer,” what are some of the factual statements O’Reilly has made about Tiller over the years?

– “If you want to kill a baby, you hire Tiller. You’ve got to pay him $5,000 up front, and he’ll kill the baby.”

– “No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands.”

– “Dr. George Tiller destroys fetuses for just about any reason, right up until the birth date.”

– “This man executes babies that are about to be born.”

– “This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao’s China, Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union.”

And the right wonders why we hold them accountable for whipping up the murderous fanatics in their midst. Gee, that’s a hard one.

Turning to other stupid gits, let’s check in with Bill “Bogus Ball” Kristol. Oh, look, what a shock! He’s wanting to go blow up brown people again:

In light of North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests, international leaders are pondering how best to proceed, weighing a series of unsatisfying options. On Fox News yesterday, Bill Kristol presented the same idea he always presents when faced with a national security challenge.

Kristol explained, “I don’t rule out the possibility of us deciding — and I think it might be wise for us to decide — to knock out a few. They’re apparently rolling a long-term missile to a base to test another one, long-range missile to test another one. You know, it might be worth doing some targeted air strikes to show the North Koreans, instead of always talking about, ‘Gee, there could be consequences,’ to show that they can’t simply keep going down this path.”

Brit Hume, on the same program, endorsed Kristol’s proposal, but said he “can’t imagine” the Obama administration actually launching a military strike on North Korea. (They follow Newt Gingrich, who began urging strikes in April, calling on the administration to use “lasers” to attack North Korea.)

Matt Yglesias noted, “Kristol doesn’t even attempt to say what he thinks this will accomplish. He just kind of tosses it out there for no reason because arguing that the United States should start wars is what he does.”

We really need to get him into therapy. With enough mental health treatment, he may realize you can do more than just automatically reach for the bombs when countries full of brown people do things you don’t like.

And, finally, the Cons need to realize something: having the most senior members of your party saying, basically, they can’t be bothered with condemning people of their party for calling a Latina federal judge a racist is a real turnoff:

On CNN’s State of the Union, however, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he has “better things to do” than to ask members of his party to refrain from accusing Sotomayor of being a racist. Host John King noted that McConnell is the “highest elected Republican in the United State of America” and asked, “would it be best that language like racist not be used?” McConnell demurred:

KING: Are Rush and Newt making it a lot harder by using language like that? […]

MCCONNELL: They’re certainly entitled to their opinions. … Look, I’ve got a big job to dealing with 40 senate Republicans and trying to advance a nation’s agenda. I’ve got better things to do than to be the speech police over people who are going to have their views about a very important appointment.

With views like those, no wonder they’re looking at numbers like these:

In February, RNC Chairman Michael Steele explained that his party would find “messengers” who can capture a “region” made up of “young, Hispanic, black, a cross section.” He intended to apply conservative principles to “urban-surburban hip-hop settings.” Steele added that his efforts “will be avant garde, technically.”

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Well, technically, the party is moving in the wrong direction. A new Gallup poll found, “More than 6 in 10 Republicans today are white conservatives, while most of the rest are whites with other ideological leanings; only 11% of Republicans are Hispanics, or are blacks or members of other races. By contrast, only 12% of Democrats are white conservatives, while about half are white moderates or liberals and a third are nonwhite.”

I do hope they enjoy being the minority party (although not the party of minorities). Unless a miracle happens and they get intimately acquainted with a clue-by-four, it looks like they’ll be there for quite some time.

Happy Hour Discurso