Hallelujah, all is not lost

Every now and again, a columnist publishes a piece that makes you glad you spend all that time you spend studying politics. Not sure I've yet read a piece that captures the Tea Party, its origin, and its effect (though Leonard Pitts has come close) as well as this piece by Frank Rich. It's fear and ignorance, hatred and arrogance. Hardly the route to a more perfect union....

Peace,
emaycee

Just wonderin'...

A recent poll from Quinnipiac shows that 16% of Tea Party members describe themselves as Democrats or Independent leaning Democrat. I just have one simple question: what fucking alternate universe Democratic party do these fucking people belong to? For fuck's sake, there is absolutely nothing the Tea Partiers subscribe to that even comes close to what those of us in the Democratic party believe. Apparently there are some people out there who really don't pay much attention to political platforms.... Peace, emaycee

Pure bullshit

Sometimes...even the word "bullshit" is not powerful enough to describe how far off the mark a pundit can be. This is one of those times.... This past Sunday, The Detroit News pundit Nolan Finley may have outdone himself. The only points he managed to make in his column is that a) Conservative pundits either can't or don't bother to read polls when making their bullshit up, and b) Conservative pundits suck at basic math. "Democrats stubbornly refused to listen to the tremendous public outcry against their health care package." As Media Matters so astutely points out, this is right up there with "liberal media" in the distortion of reality the right so prefers. The Kaiser Foundation poll shows American favoring the plan 46% to 42%. The Economist has it at 53-47. CNN shows 39% in favor and 13% claiming the bill wasn't liberal enough (for the dense Republicans among you, that would be 52% in favor of healthcare). I am typing this next part very s-l-o-w-l-y for Conservidiots: 46 is more than 42, therefore not a majority; 53 is more than 47, therefore not a majority; and 52 is more than 43, therefore not a majority. The "tremendous" public outcry is little more than the vulgar and ignorant vitriol of pinheads which have been given far too much credibility by the mainstream media. Finley--again, sucks at math--also goes on to state: "Now they're learning that the majority isn't silent." You fucking idiot, there is no silent majority, and if there is, they're disgusted with you and your cronies, not us. There's also this: "That's why people are angry. They feel betrayed. And they don't get a sense that their feelings matter in Washington." First, the only angry people are the fringe right wing--my guess is most who oppose would prefer it hadn't passed but aren't about to throw a brick through their congressman/woman's window. Second--as he mentions--elections do have consequences. Don't want this type of legislation to pass? Then don't run the country into the fucking ground and then bury your head in the sand and pretend that your policies didn't cause it. Finally--funny, but I don't remember getting the sense that my feelings mattered from 2002-2006 when the Republicans ran the show. I also don't remember thinking that this entitled me to call my congressman and tell him that I wished he'd get cancer and die. What all this proves in the end, I think, is that for all their whining about entitlements for the poor and every other group they hate, there is no political group in this country who feels more entitled to special treatment and rules than Republicans. That and the fact that they take losing poorly to henceforth unseen heights. Peace, emaycee

You can't handle the truth...

While I was watching Eric Cantor give his little speech today (and this comes from years of watching Republicans speak--trust me, if you wake up in the morning and a Republican tells you the sun is shining, you'd better grab your umbrella: guaranteed it's raining) the first thought that came to mind after he said his office window had been shot at was...this doesn't pass the stink test. Guess what? It probably didn't--looks like it was bullshit. Just a bit of difference between a brick thrown in anger and an idiot shooting a bullet into the air.... Republicans are also claiming that all these current terrorist acts are the fault of the...Democrats. For fuck's sake, do these people have no shame? Apparently, the Dems are supposed to shut up about it or else they'll just fan the flames and bring on even more. By this logic, one supposes that the party of law and order would advise an abused wife to just shut up about it or else her husband will hurt her even worse. And if there is anyone alive who believes were the shoe on the other foot that Republicans wouldn't be politicizing this...well, congratulations you have just been awarded the Stupidest Human Out of the Six Billion People on this Planet Award. Thank you, Mr. President--"Go for it!" sure beats the hell out of "Bring it on." First time in quite a while I cheered the President's words. And it felt great. A rarity: I was right. Turns out that despite their rhetoric about being independent-minded, how they are the voice of the silent majority, speaking out for the American taxpayer, the Tea Party is really just a radical wing of the Republican party. Good luck with that. Oh--you may have missed this with all the other bullshit going on today, but it seems the Reconciliation bill passed the Senate and then the House. It's over--it may be flawed, it might not contain all that we wished, but anyway you cut it...WE FUCKING WON! Peace, emaycee

Whining wimps and blithering babies--Danger ahead edition

I don't care for my congressman (Mike Rogers-R-MI). I disagreed with him vociferously while he was rubber stamping the disastrous Bush the Lesser agenda. He's little more than a Republican toadie, a seasoned liar, and his mind knows independence like mine knows cold fusion (i.e., zip, zero, nada). I wrote him letters expressing my disappointment with his votes. I've voted proudly against him twice. Never, though, never did I think that throwing a brick through his office window or threatening the lives of his children was a valid option. Silly me--apparently this is appropriate behavior for "patriots." For the rest of us, though, I'm certain it would be viewed as terrorism. Along that same line, the Republicans passed many bills during the Bush the Lesser years (tax cuts for the wealthy, the credit card bill, Iraq war resolution, the Medicare prescription plan that was little more than a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry) that I vehemently opposed--**Aside--good day for big words beginning with the letter "v"**--but never, repeat, never did I think that somehow they had cheated to pass their agenda. Yes, I was unhappy, yes, I think they made our country worse off, but the truth of the matter is they won majorities in the House and Senate, won the Presidency, and therefore had the right to pass their agenda. And I had the right to write letters to the editor, donate to Democratic candidates, and work for defeating those majorities (2006--YES!! 2008--YES, AGAIN!!). One would think that now that Healthcare reform has passed (nyah, nyah--fuck you Tea Partiers) and the Republicans are perilously close to the political wilderness again (once the majority of the American people see what this bill does, they're going to like it--though it does have its faults--and vote for the party of go over the party of no) they would at least attempt to be good losers and give themselves a chance with socially liberal/fiscally conservative independents. Nope--why suck it up like an adult when you can throw a tantrum like a child. Is there a more pathetic politican these days than John McCain? And, thank you, Vice President Biden, your enthusiasm is warranted: this is a "...big fucking deal!" Peace, emaycee

This America, is your Tea Party...

Oh, but the truth of the matter always has a funny way of coming out eventually. For all its talk about being a grass roots organization, the national debt, looking out for the American taxpayer, ad nauseum, turns out the Tea Party is basically the lunatic fringe of the far right wing of the Republican party: little more than a radical group of racists and homophobes (don't know if there's an epithet for those who hawk loogies). As reported by Digby and Think Progress, the Tea Party showed its true colors with their antics today in protest of tomorrow's historic healthcare reform vote. If ever there were reasons for the gutless to stand up and vote yes tomorrow, these are those. Nothing like being proven right to make for a good night's sleep... Peace, emaycee

It's a big old goofy world--Friday edition

So it's Saturday--tough (and long) day at work yesterday...

The Week's Not So Top Five

1) This has absolutely nothing to do with politics (or maybe it does), but did anyone else notice something odd about this year's commercials for the upcoming Master's Tournament? No fucking highlight reels of Tiger Woods! Come on--I know the guy fucked up royally, but please. He is easily one of the two greatest golfers ever, and the only reason many of us (myself included) watch so much as a nanosecond of golf. Four Master's championships, and the best they can do is show Mickelson's belly jiggling when he jumps up and down? Fuck you, CBS! Next idiot, please!
2) Not sure I've ever seen a Dem more inept than our own Governor Granholm, and she managed to put her head up her ass again this week by declaring today a "meatless day." It has raised quite the fuss here in the Wolverine state (a protest is being held on the lawn of the capitol today with a barbeque) and I really think this is much ado about nothing, but come on Guv--we've got 14% unemployment and a budget shortfall that's going to cripple us for years, and this is the best you can do? Save the cuteness for better days...
3) Another good week for the Catholic church: seems the Archbishop of Denver defended a Boulder Catholic school's decision to not allow the admission of the children of a lesbian couple because it "was acting in line with church teachings." He also said "the church doesn't believe God has any less love for the children of gays and lesbians than for other children, or that gays and lesbians are bad people." **Aside for those wondering: it appears the church is within its legal rights** Ahem--so even though God loves them, they're just not quite good enough for the Catholic church? Kind of reminds me of those old Jim Crow laws which had nothing against black Americans as long as they rode on the back of the bus and didn't use the same drinking fountains as the white folk....
4) Rather than fight a lawsuit from the ACLU a school district in Mississippi (what a surprise--the land of cotton and hatin') has cancelled their senior prom instead of simply allowing a lesbian couple to attend. One of the young women was purportedly told by a fellow student ..."thanks for ruining my senior year." Note to the little girl whose year has been ruined: hate to break it to you, but you're going to face much worse than this in the coming years. If your senior year is ruined by something as trivial as this, you might as well throw in the towel now because you're going to be utterly miserable by age thirty. Besides, I didn't attend my senior prom and my life has turned out wonderfully, though in fairness I had a decidedly different reason for not attending. I suffered from a malady which persists to this day: Acute Dorkism.
5) The Iraq War had its seventh anniversary this week. While I opposed it from the start, I can add little to what Digby posted so eloquently earlier this week. If only more of our leaders were as prescient as she...

Peace,
emaycee