These Are the Alternatives? - Part 5

Many of the Republicans candidates in the upcoming mid-term elections are VERY much to the right of the majority of this nation. It is only the economic mess created by the last administration and not fixed by the current administration that could possibly get any of these cave men and women elected...

"We need to phase Medicare and Social Security out."
—Sharron Angle, Republican Senate candidate in Nevada

"There should not be [a federal minimum wage]. That is not within the scope or the powers that are given to the federal government."
—Joe Miller, Republican Senate candidate in Alaska

"I am pro-life. I don't believe in the exceptions for rape or incest."
—Ken Buck, Republican Senate candidate in Colorado

Glenn Beck is NOT Martin Luther King Jr.

This idiot Beck never ceases to amaze me...

A Damn Good Question

Jason Rosenhouse of EvolutionBlog poses the (damn good) question "Why Isn't Barney Frank Speaker of the House?"

I echo Rosenhouse's question. Frank would make a fantastic, common sense bull to head the Democratic party in the House of Representatives. His handling of a Hitlerizer was absolutely the correct way of handling a lunatic. And he has on other occassions called bullshit when bullshit was flying, remained rational as Bill O'Reilly spewed stupidity, and actually walked out of interviews rather than suffer fools. Not a bad approach at all IMHO.

Barney Frank would be a better leader than Nancy Pelosi.

Dissent or Stupidity

The right wing talking points about the jackasses disrupting town hall meetings are that (1) this is just Americans dissenting and speaking out like our forefathers did and (2) that the Democrats are calling this unpatriotic.

Both assertions are absurd. Dissent is welcome. Compare what is happening in town hall meetings to the previous administration who interviewed people and kept dissenters out of W's events. Seems to me that the Democrats are inviting discussion. What they are not inviting is the insipid, putrid, obnoxious behavior of many of these "dissenters." Since when is yelling "Heil Hitler" at a Jew patriotic dissent? And who actually thinks it is a good idea to allow weapons to be allowed into a meeting where emotions will undoubtedly run high? Republicans!

Then we get to the stupid claim that Democrats, and even President Obama, are calling dissent unpatriotic. This is a lie. Republicans seem to believe that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it. Unfortunately, they seem to be correct about that. Truth is, no Democrat has called voicing dissent or displeasure at town hall meetings (or anywhere else for that matter) unpatriotic. Oh, some have called screaming and shouting and lying and Hitlerizing (this is what I call non-Internet examples of Godwin's Law) unpatriotic... and they're right... err, I mean, correct!

By the way, it is quite likely that the Hitlerizing was adopted as a popular right wing tactic after that blowhard pig-boy Rush Limbaugh did it (although there are examples of it occuring before Rush, it kinda blew up after he oinked it out on the radio).

Ridiculous Right Wingers

There's no need for conservatives to hear President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court. They object already. The New York Times reports:

"Preparing to oppose the confirmation of Mr. Obama's eventual choice to succeed Justice David H. Souter, who is retiring, conservative groups are working together to stockpile ammunition. Ten memorandums summarizing their research ... dissect possible nominees' records, noting statements the groups find objectionable on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, the separation of church and state and the propriety of citing foreign law in interpreting the Constitution. While conservatives say they know they have little chance of defeating Mr. Obama's choice because Democrats control the Senate, they say they hope to mount a fight that could help refill depleted coffers and galvanize a movement demoralized by Republican electoral defeats."

I hope the president nominates a very liberal, very young jurist... and I hope whoever s/he is that s/he is open and honest and says something like "I support Roe v Wade as the law of the land and would oppose anything that tries to turn it back." It is high time we stopped the stupidity of pussyfooting around this. Ask the nominee and expect and honest answer!

Republicans Rush to Apolgize to Rush

Evidently now Rush Limbaugh is the head of the Republican party and you just can't criticize that old gas bag if you are a Republican or a conservative. Oh, how far the Republicans have fallen that a corpulent, drug-addled, windbag with an AM talk radio show is now their leader!

So, if you're a Republican and if you've said something bad about Rush you can go to the web and automatically generate an apology letter to that jackass Limbaugh.

Merry Fucking Christmas, Daniel Henninger

There it was, in the Wall Street Journal, the most incredibly fucking stupid thing I've read in a long time. You see, it is the lack of people saying "Merry Christmas" and the so-called "War on Christmas" that caused the financial meltdown... and not, well, not greed and the lack of reasonable regulations.

I rubbed my eyes, shook my head clear, and decided that I must have read it wrong. But no, there it was, in all its insipid glory.

Could it be meant as a joke? Shit, I hope so, but it isn't funny, so probably not. And that right wing turdbag Rupert Murdoch owns the WSJ, so it looks like anything goes now in terms of being published in the Journal, as long as it adheres to a right wing ideology... even if it is colossally insane.

Idiots Like These Cause Me To Continue to Worry...

Doocy Slings a Doozie!

Hey, did you know that according to dimwit right wing commentator Steve Doocy, McSames's VP pick Sarah Palin does have foreign policy experience after all?

DOOCY: But the other thing about her, she does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia

I briefly listened to right wing radio today, too, and a similar statement was made, but it was even more ridiculous because it ended with the commentator (don't know who it was) saying "...and Russia hasn't invaded Alaska, have they?"

It was so stupid I went limp... and then when I realized the guy was serious I laughed so hard snot bubbles came out my nose. If this is the best they can do to prop up this poor choice, the next coupla months are gonna be interesting indeed!

I Don't Care Who You Are... This is Funny.

Larry Craig doesn't want to get jerked around by the gas nozzle!

Is that old queen so clueless that he didn't think this would get him splashed all over YouTube?

McCain Advisor Wants a Terrorist Attack on US Soil

Charlie Black, a top adviser to John McCain, said another terrorist attack on U.S. soil would be a "big advantage" for the Republican presidential candidate. Already in the spotlight for his past lobbying work, Black is quoted in the upcoming July 7 edition of Fortune magazine as saying such an attack "certainly would be a big advantage to him."

Now that is the kind of bat shit crazy remark that should get Black fired if McCain has any balls left. Oh, the right can condemn Obama for things his ex-pastor said, but here we have someone on McCain's payroll saying even crazier and more damaging things... it should cause Black to be fired. And McCain should be called on the carpet about it every bit as much, if not more, than Obama was/is for Jeremiah Wright.

The Stupidity of Dignity

The title of this blog post is not mine, but is stolen from an article by Steven Pinker as published in the National Review (May 28, 2008), to wit:

This spring, the President's Council on Bioethics released a 555-page report, titled Human Dignity and Bioethics. The Council, created in 2001 by George W. Bush, is a panel of scholars charged with advising the president and exploring policy issues related to the ethics of biomedical innovation, including drugs that would enhance cognition, genetic manipulation of animals or humans, therapies that could extend the lifespan, and embryonic stem cells and so-called "therapeutic cloning" that could furnish replacements for diseased tissue and organs. Advances like these, if translated into freely undertaken treatments, could make millions of people better off and no one worse off. So what's not to like? The advances do not raise the traditional concerns of bioethics, which focuses on potential harm and coercion of patients or research subjects. What, then, are the ethical concerns that call for a presidential council?

If you read the entire article linked above you will learn of this council's desire to define ethics in terms of religion; specifically, judeo-christian religion as literally defined in the bible. How repugnant!

For example: ...the volume finds room for seven essays that align their arguments with Judeo-Christian doctrine. We read passages that assume the divine authorship of the Bible, that accept the literal truth of the miracles narrated in Genesis (such as the notion that the biblical patriarchs lived up to 900 years), that claim that divine revelation is a source of truth, that argue for the existence of an immaterial soul separate from the physiology of the brain, and that assert that the Old Testament is the only grounds for morality (for example, the article by Kass claims that respect for human life is rooted in Genesis 9:6, in which God instructs the survivors of his Flood in the code of vendetta: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God was man made").

Absurd! If people want to believe this nonsense individually then more power to them, but this shit should not be the basis on which our government forms its policies on bioethics... indeed, it should not be the basis for ANY government policies.

Reading further, it becomes evident that the author of the report in question, Leon Kass, is a lunatic. Go to the linked article by Pinker and search for "ice cream cone" and I think you'll agree.

Just another example of fundamentalist christianity run amuck.

Chris Matthews Skewers An Idiot

I laughed my fucking ass off watching Matthews slam this right wing jackass!

Ten Commandments Weekend?

Joe Lieberman and Sam Brownback are up to some crazy shenanigans in the US Senate. They have introduced S. Res. 483 which wants to officially recognize the first weekend of May 2008 as "Ten Commandments Weekend." After a plethora of ridiculous "whereas..." clauses, it reads:

Resolved, That the Senate—

1. recognizes the first weekend of May 2008 as ‘‘Ten Commandments Weekend’’;
2. celebrates the Ten Commandments as a significant aspect of the national life of the United States; and
3. encourages citizens of the United States to reflect on the integral role that the Ten Commandments have played in the life of the Nation.

First of all, I find many of the 1o commandments repugnant and I want nothing to do with recognizing, celebrating, or encouraging reflection on them.

Secondly, most blowhard right-wing xians blather on and on about these commandments without realizing that the biblical penalty for violating them is death.

Thirdly, if we have to have a weekend celebrating a religious list, how about Sermon on the Mount weekend; or just Beatitudes weekend? But for some reason the commandment zealots (and, indeed, a lot of xians) don't embrace that particular part of the bible so much. I wonder why? OK, I know why Lieberman doesn't, he's Jewish; but what about Brownback?

Fourth, and most importantly, don't you think the US Senate should have better and more important things to tend to?

Lou Dobbs is Fucking Annoying

I was watching CNN today when that idiotic blowhard Lou Dobbs came on crowing about Barack Obama pandering because of a recent statement he made. Obama's statement basically said that people like Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs who are outspoken on "illegal immigration" are wrong. Obama used the phrase "send 'em back" and Dobbs then rambled on about having never used that phrase.

So what? Dobbs is a blowhard who uses his public venue to spew hatred against immigrants. The point is not whether Dobbs used any particular phrase, but about the arguments he makes. But, of course, a blowhard will always nitpick wording. Obama's point is accurate. And I hope he continues to make it. For two reasons:

1. He is right
2. I'd like to watch Lou Dobbs head explode

Speaking of Name Calling...

There were some comments here about the Ayatollah Huckabee reference (that name is courtesy of Juan Cole over at Informed Comment), but what about that whiney, no-talent Chris Matthews calling Hillary Clinton a "witchy" "strip-teaser" "she-devil" with a voice like "fingernails on a chalkboard"?

Ben Stein is a Fool

You know Ben Stein, don't you? He is that mousy little pipsqueak who used to host a game show with Jimmy Kimmel (until Jimmy left the show and there was no longer a reason for anyone to watch it). He was also a speechwriter for Richard Nixon. Or maybe you know him as the Economics teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Bueller.... Bueller...).

So what the fuck, csm, you may be asking yourself. Who gives a damn about that old weasel? Well, I bring to your attention, an impending movie titled Expelled. Evidently the old coot is going to champion the blatantly ridiculous intelligent (sic) design movement in this upcoming cinematic turd.

But perhaps I am being too hard on Benny boy. He is, after all, just an actor these days, and maybe the jobs are getting harder to come by. There cannot be much demand for a short, uppity-acting, doughy-faced old-timer like Stein in this day-and-age, can there? Then again, I cannot imagine any circumstance under which I would participate in anything that promotes anti-science as Stein will be doing in this movie.

Of course, Stein has made some incredibly fucking stupid statements in the recent past that seem to indicate that he is off his rocker. Here is a good one from Stein: I think Mr. Bush is going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers and democracy-builders in the history of the world.

Go back to your Clear Eyes commercials, Ben - - at least that stuff probably works.

Fuck Chuck Norris Up the Ass with a Bible

At WorldNetDaily simian-featured "actor" Chuck Norris wrote what he'd do if he were ever elected president. One of the stupid items on his list was this:

Tattoo an American flag with the words, "In God we trust," on the forehead of every atheist.

Now, I'm reasonably sure he'll never get elected president, but ya know, I'm sure people who saw Ronald Reagan in all those insipid movies would've said the same thing about him.

So fuck Chuck Norris. I hope he chokes and dies.