And I say it's all right

Not a bad few days for the good guys... Do I have the coolest Senator or what? I heard Senator Levin say "shitty" at least five times. Do I think this was done to get people's attention? You betcha! But if there's a word a good chunk of the American public understands, it's "shitty." Some smart and talented son of bitch ought to do one of those will.i.am type videos for this.... Could the Dems be developing cojones? This strategy is actually brilliant--though somebody should be running all kinds of national ads on the Repugs voting against financial reform again and again. Just beat it into Americans' brains: Dems against big banks, Republicans for. Not only that, unlike healthcare reform, they have a real chance to make it even stronger--bonus! Amidst all the blather about the Dems getting crushed in November, I've often had the same thoughts as Digby mentions here (which is why she's Digby and I'm just a putz from Michigan). In the end, Democrats are going to vote for Democrats, Republicans are going to vote for Republicans, and Independents will have to make a choice. While I'm sure some will opt for change for the sake of change, I'd imagine there's a greater number who are going to ask, "Just what am I going to get for this vote?" and when they look at the record (Republicans zero ideas, total lack of bipartisanship) may have their doubts. And let's not forget that Republicans racism is the gift that keeps on giving. One supposes if they're happy enough to lose 90% of the African-American vote, they must be shooting for similar numbers in the Latino vote. Well done (white) gentlemen! Not sure I understand this post's logic at all. Frankly, the people making comments seemed to be much more perceptive than the poster--unless it's one of those Chicken Little warnings to scare Dems into giving more money and getting out to vote.... What the fuck? I mean seriously, what the fuck? Because what America really needs is drunks carrying guns. Can we please make sure the people introducing this bill never get anywhere near a .38 and a beer? Adding stupid to the mix spells disaster. Peace, emaycee

Oddz and Endz

T. S. Eliot famously wrote, "April is the cruelest month...." He must have been a San Francisco Giants fan--swear to God, I am worse than Charlie Brown believing Lucy is finally going to let him kick that football. You'd think that after 43 seasons of disappointment, I'd be prepared to be disappointed. Nope--and here I am, disappointed once again. Team will never win the World Series. Not. Going. To. Happen. Seen the commercial for Joan Rivers TV Land show "How'd You Get So Rich?" Basically, it's Ms. Rivers dressed as the Statue of Liberty, reciting it's inscription ("Give me you tired, your poor...."), and then saying she doesn't care, let me talk to the rich people. You know, if there really was a God, he'd let me be standing next to her when she says her spiel and then cold cock that sorry excuse for a human being. It's not bad enough that TV Land so lacks imagination that it has to pass off an infomercial ("Yes, you, too, can be rich if you just follow my secret plan....!") as an actual show, but we have to listen to bullshit like that, too? Thanks, but no fucking thanks. What fucking planet does Douglas Schoen live on? This is what he thinks? Let me tell you, every December since his birth my five year old has sat on Santa's lap and my son thinks the old coot is really Santa. It doesn't mean the old coot fucking is! And Schoen's a Democratic pollster. With idiots like this, we just might be doomed in November. No, the Tea Party is not diverse. Period. It is older, white, more well to do, and most definitely racist (frankly, I'd have a lot more respect for these people if they would just come out and say, "You know what? We don't like black people!" At least then you could respect their honesty.). It is nothing more than the radical wing of the Republican party. And as for all their fiscal responsibility horseshit, it would carry a whole lot more weight if they'd been complaining when GWB was recklessly spending the country into financial ruin. Once, again, thanks but no fucking thanks. And Amity Shaes isn't any better--"the media depicts"? She can cast aspersions on the media all she wants, but if you paint a turd gold, it doesn't miraculously become a gold ingot because you think it's so. It's still a stinking turd and so, frankly, is the Tea Party. Is it just me, or does anyone else detect a touch of crankiness today? Peace, emaycee

Christ, you know it ain't easy...

So many pinheads, so little time...

First, there's this column by Michael Barone--other than proving that, once again, Conservidiots suck at math (any way you slice it, 54% to 40% is an ass kicking), Mr. Barone is hyping, as Conservidiots are wont to do, what isn't there. The results from the poll are here. Yes, the Dems numbers have slipped, but any way you slice it, millennials favor strong government and are much more liberal than than their elders. Mr. Barone can slice it any way he wants, but the odds of the millennial generation (or a majority thereof) ending up like the tea baggers is absolutely zero. And as for fewer jobs...where is the private sector on this? We keep hearing about how the government can't create jobs, but I don't see the private sector doing shit right now to create jobs. Without the stimulus, we'd be in a full fledged Depression. And my guess is that as the economy turns around, those millennial numbers go up. *ASIDE* I think it's very disingenuous of the Detroit News to call Mr. Barone a political analyst for the Washington Examiner (uh...I'd never heard of the newspaper until this op-ed appeared--if you check out their website you'll see a Republican Who's Who of columnists) and not mention that he's also an analyst for the American Enterprise Institute--in other words, a paid shill for a Conservative funded think tank.

Second...uh, this one is completely beyond me, but it seems there are those among us who are missing George W. Bush. You can even buy mugs, hats, and t-shirts with his goofy face and the words "Miss me yet?" To answer that as succinctly as possible, I miss GWB about as much as I'd miss having a six inch needle rammed through my testicles. Think Progress sums up this kind of bullshit pretty well.

This is my Congressman (boo, hiss). This is my Congressman on drugs: "It's no wonder that Americans all across the country are disgusted with Congress. I've never seen such lyin' and cheatin' and stealin' going on to get a bill [Healthcare reform] passed." I hate to be pissin' and moanin' (in case you're wondering, yes, I do hate phony populism) but Rep. Rogers sure has a short memory. Unless of course, he accidentally said "get a bill passed" and actually meant "get a bill defeated." In that case, he'd be correct for the first time in his career as a Congressman.

What is it about Conservidiots and defending child molesters? As if it's not bad enough they're defending the Catholic church in the indefensible (just google Bill Donohue), but now Rush Dimbulb is defending the Branch Davidians. While I don't think blowing child molesters up is the best way to handle the situation, if my choice is between the government and a child molester, I'm going with the government 100% of the time. You'd think 100% of Americans would agree. This shows how far the Conservative movement has fallen in this country: forget the fact that Koresh and his cult could have eschewed raping children, could have surrendered and taken the matter to court (where any number of excellent attorneys would have defended them)--it's the government's fault. In a word: Horseshit.

Can we please stop calling Timothy McVeigh and the Huttatree "troubled" or a "militia" and call them what they should be called: TERRORISTS.

Peace,
emaycee

Anchor 'em down in Anchorage

I've actually thought about this as mentioned by Darksyde of The Daily Kos earlier this week. But I'm willing to take it a step further and make all parties happier. Let's have Alaska secede from the union and let all these folks from the militia, the secessionists, and the tea-partiers move there and create their own, new country--hell, we can even pay their moving expenses.

Think about it: the state is huge, thus ample space for all. Very rugged territory, too, so plenty of space to play their war games, and without painting with too specific of a brush, plenty of hunting and fishing. The state is already significantly right wing, so everybody is on the same page (we can pay moving expenses for those no longer interested in staying--you know, the sane people--in Alaska). Since it's their country they can have their unregulated markets, carry guns like they did in the Old West, have as small of a government as they want, elect Sarah and Glenn as Prez and VP--all in all, it would be a libertarian paradise.

Even better, we could look out for them from a national defense standpoint like we do Canada--we may not always see eye to eye with our brothers up north, but let's face it, if any nation decided to pick on the Canadians, we'd open a can of whup ass on them faster than you can say "hoser." And be happy to do so. So--especially considering they'd all be armed anyway--they'd need to spend next to nothing on defense. We could work out some sweetheart deals on imports and exports (oil for citrus, fish for grain, etc.), and even loan them some start up money (with a small interest rate so as not to offend their desires for everyone to be self-reliant and self-responsible).

Granted, the cold weather might suck a bit, and getting used to that whole six months of night, six months of light oddity might take a while, but still I think it's a win-win situation. They get to live in their Lord of the Flies on steroids fantasyland, and the rest of us get to have civil debates on how to make America even greater than it already is.

And for those anal-retentives who will turn into the Rain Man without there being those fifty stars on our flag, we just give Puerto Rico statehood.

It's as simple as that...

Peace,
emaycee

Don't know much about history...

Other than being a gem of a tune by Sam Cooke (as was the cover version by Simon and Garfunkel with James Taylor), there's not much pride in being an idiot. Unless, of course, you're a conservative... A frightening piece appeared in the Free Press (on Easter Sunday, no less--what the hell, a little gift to the Christian right on their day) on conservatives' attempts to change history. It seems everything we've been taught has been skewed too far to the left, so conservatives have decided to just make shit up that better suits their world view. And where else other than Texas, where everything is big, including the idiocy, should it happen? In fairness to Mr. Thomma, he did a nice job of attempting to debunk the Texas conservatives bullshit. Still...when you consider that this is being done in textbooks that will be sent to kids all over America (and makes me think that home schooling for my young 'un might not be such a bad idea after all), why isn't this being given more prominence? I have seen pieces here and there, but this has the feel of one of those conservative ploys that falls under the radar until we're fucked and our kids have been indoctrinated once again into conservative bullshit that lessens their lives (see also, Reagan, Ronald--great President if you're rich, completely fucked over if you're the other 99% of America). To wit: Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the Declaration of Indepence upon which our revolution was begun is being downplayed because he strongly believed in the separation between church and state. What the fuck? Don't these idiots realize how many of our forefathers came to this country to escape religious persecution--and our founding fathers were prescient enough to make damn certain that didn't happen in our fledgling country? *Aside* Funny how conservatives love Jefferson, though, when they get to use that "peeing on the tree of liberty with the blood of 'patriots'" bullshit. Did you know that FDR caused the Great Depression? No shit--didn't have anything to do with Republican Hoover sitting on his ass and believing the corporatists would fix everything (which has never been the case), it was the work projects, social security, and all that government spending. It was a "manageable" recession until Roosevelt took over--if you consider 24% unemployment "manageable." Hell, it's no wonder conservatives are shitting themselves over the stimulus package--we've only got 10% unemployment now. So a few kids starve to death--let's make sure the wealthy are taken care of first (they provide the jobs so they say, all evidence to the contrary). Frankly, if it weren't for FDR the lifestyle we enjoy now (and are in increasing danger of losing) would never have happened. Ever hear of the Anti-Renter movement? Or Dorr's rebellion? Me either until the last week--basically they're the real American history (both occurred in the mid-nineteenth century), the poor getting fucked over by the rich until they have had all they can take, fight back, and get tossed a few crumbs while the basic system stays intact. This is the history that our kids should be taught--maybe it will eventually sink in that the wealthy aren't our friends and are not the backbone of our economy. They are the enemy. "The farmers [Anti-Renter movement] had fought, been crushed by the law, their struggle diverted into voting, and the system stabilized by enlarging the class of small landowners, leaving the basic structure of rich and poor intact. It was a common sequence in American history." (Emphasis mine.) That's a quote from the only American history book our kids need: Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. That "People's" in the title, by the way, is you and me--the real backbone of America. Peace, emaycee

It's all our fault--no, really

Believe it or not, there are things that are more important than politics (roundabout explanation for the lack of posts of late). Still, after two weeks, I'm like a tea kettle itching to start whistling...

Like to start with this recent piece by another genius (not) from the Detroit Free Press, Ron Dzwonkowski (Wonk from here on out). Mr. Wonk is one of those wishy-washy people who consider themselves above the fray and and is considered an "independent." In fairness, I've never believed in "independent" voters. Most "independents" lean one way or the other--because you get fed up occasionally and vote for the other side doesn't change your core beliefs. If you agree with the Democrats 75% of the time, you're a Democrat. Frankly, "independent" to me is just a polite way of saying "wimp." People who don't have the guts to stand up for what they believe and adopt a "Jeez, can't we all just get along?" posture.

Apparently, Mr. Wonk has adopted the Beltway conventional wisdom that all the rancor in Washington is the fault of both parties. In a word: no. The ugliness in Washington stems from Republicans. Period. They are the party of "no." They are the party encouraging the Tea Partiers who are throwing around the "n" word like Johnny Appleseed tossed his magical beans, and blaming the Democrats for it. Frankly, if anything, the Democrats have been too nice--they have bent over backwards (Obama met with them on healthcare, met with both parties on healthcare, many of their concerns were addressed in the stimulus package), but still they vote no and try to claim they were "shut out of the process" as noted by Mr. Wonk. Were Mr. Wonk a true journalist, he would have used one succinct word to describe the Republican response: horseshit.

I think Digby absolutely nailed it here. The plain truth of the matter is that Republicans and their Tea Party cohorts do not believe in any shape or form in democracy. Well, unless you count when they win--then it's okay. No--one of the most amazing events in American history occurred in 1800 when Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams and took over as President of the United States. Believe it or not, this was the first time in recorded history that a peaceful transition of power took place, one party to the other. That's what makes America great--you win, you make the rules--without fear of being executed if you fail. You lose--you get to work your ass off to defeat the winners, again, without the fear of being executed for opposing the majority. It's that simple.

The trouble with Congress? It's not the Democrats, it's not the liberal bloggers who hold the mainstream media's feet to the fire for their not calling out Republican bullshit--it's Republicans who can't accept losing, can't accept that bills get enacted when you lose that don't meet your platform, and can't accept that their party is not entitled to lead, it has to earn it.

And good luck with that last one (recent Republican polling numbers here).

Peace,
emaycee