Me neither, either…

Steve Lopez in the L.A. Times...

Another thing I don't understand is how, if our individual liberties have been stolen, it's possible to stand in a public park and in the name of God call the black president of the United States a liar, a racist and a communist.

Again, me neither.

Hat tip to Gordon.

The worst thing...

...about whining about the whiner's whining is all the whining it sets off.

From the "Me neither" file.

Matt Taibbi nails one...

A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can't imagine it.

Me neither, and I think I'm a pretty imaginative guy.

Map of the day.

Via Business Insider



It'll click bigger. Disappointed, and a bit surprised, at the poor performance in the upper left. We've got work to do, neighbors.

Well, what d'ya know…

…they lied. Factcheck.org reads the Republican "Pledge to America" so you don't have to…

· It declares that “the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt.” Not true. So far this year government employment has declined slightly, while private sector employment has increased by 763,000 jobs.

· It says that “jobless claims continue to soar,” when in fact they are down eight percent from their worst levels.

· It repeats a bogus assertion that the Internal Revenue Service may need to expand by 16,500 positions, an inflated estimate based on false assumptions and guesswork

· It claims the stimulus bill is costing $1 trillion, considerably more than the $814 billion, 10-year price tag currently estimated by nonpartisan congressional budget experts.

· It says Obama’s tax proposals would raise taxes on “roughly half the small business income in America,” an exaggeration. Much of the income the GOP is counting actually comes from big businesses making over $50 million a year.

They lied. They're Republicans. It's what they do, and it's all you need to know. And it's just one of the reasons that...

They're always random…

…but not always quite this eclectic...

Taj Mahal - My Creole Belle
Donovan - Colours
Cassius Clay - Stand By Me
Guy Clark - L.A. Freeway
J.J. Jackson - But It's Alright
Jefferson Airplane - We Can Be Together
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett - It's Five O'Clock Somewhere
Kris Kristofferson - To Beat The Devil
Kathy Matttea & Tim O'Brien - Gentle On My Mind

He was no Sam Cooke, but Ali could'a been a contender in the soul singer bracket if the beating people up thing hadn't worked out.

From the "Twas ever thus" file.

James Vega…

This, in turn, leads to one key political conclusion: the most important and effective form of pro-Democratic campaigning this year will be face to face personal communication. There is no single slogan or message that will do the job. The only thing that will reliably influence all these different groups - except perhaps the sixth -- is being personally contacted by pro-Democratic advocates who sincerely and passionately insist that voting is still worthwhile.

The odds are very good that if you don't get out and talk to the folks in your precinct about the candidates or causes you care about, no one else will. That means if you do, you stand a very good chance of helping those candidates and causes prevail. Your visit will count more with many voters than all the other messaging they're exposed to.

We knock on doors because it works. Always has, will still. I'm planning to get my precinct done next week. Done yours yet?

From the "Since you asked…" file.

Betty Cracker poses a question...

For the record, Axelrod is right about the administration trying to save the country: The corporate sell-out rat-bastards are all that stand between us and the Koch Bros-funded Glenn Beck zombies and their agenda of forced pregnancy, workhouses for the poor and bombing Iran to hasten the return of Blue-Eyed Jeebus.

If that sounds like I’m positing a lesser of two evils scenario, that’s because I am. Do grown-ups really need to be told that this is how it works?

Since you asked, apparently (and sadly) yes.

Over and over again, it seems.

From the "Like father, like son" file.

Via Politics Northwest…

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates supports the income-tax initiative and will vote for it, according to the I-1098 campaign.

Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for Yes on 1098, said Gates' father, Bill Gates Sr., had a long conversation with his son on the matter and confirmed his support for the ballot measure.

Sandeep hasn't asked me (nor has anyone, for that matter), but I'll confirm my support for the ballot measure, too.

From the "Look for the union label" file.

OAKLAND, Calif. - As organized labor faces declining membership, one of the country's most storied unions is looking to a new growth industry: marijuana.

The Teamsters added nearly 40 new members earlier this month by organizing the country's first group of unionized marijuana growers…

In the "Lost opportunities" file, I see that 420 is already the local number for dump truck drivers in Los Angeles.

From the "Cunning plan" file.

Cookie Jill summarizes Republican plans...

short version:
unemployed? sorry...you loser.
elderly? you're a drain on our american dream...just die.
public anything? (schools, infrastructure, etc.) if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. ha! ha!
can't afford healthcare? it's all your fault. go ahead, die.

…and exposes four more reasons that…

From the "Me too" file.

Senator Murray…

“Mr. Rossi today said that he thinks that French workers should have an unfair advantage in bidding to build our military’s tanker as our state’s Boeing workers in Everett. I think he’s plain wrong.”

Me too.

I have here in my hand a list…

…a couple of 'em, actually, that I've lifted from Tensor...

Here’s a partial list of events which did not produce a flurry of public teabaggings:

1. Our Supreme Court appointing the loser of the 2000 elections to the Presidency
2. Warrantless wiretapping
3. Gitmo
4. Attacking a country which had nothing to do with 9/11, and could not have attacked us
5. Abu Ghraib

And here’s the entire list of things which did:

1. Black guy getting elected President, giving Democrats control of House, Senate, and Presidency, all in full accordance with our Constitution

What "victory" looks like.

This...

BAGHDAD — A string of bombings killed 37 people Sunday in Iraq's deadliest day since Aug. 31, when President Barack Obama said the U.S. military's seven-year-old combat mission there had ended.

…and this...

…the 50,000 U.S. soldiers who remain in Iraq, far from merely "advising and assisting" Iraqi forces, as the Obama administration has described their new role, are still needed on the battlefields as insurgents try to exploit the diminished American military presence and the six-month political stalemate that's failed to produce a new Iraqi government since the country's March 7 elections.

In fact, it looks a lot like "war." With, you know "combat operations."

At least we "won," I guess.

Good question.

Atrios asks...

Exactly why is anything Newt Gingrich says newsworthy?

Good question. So good, in fact, that it should be put, pointedly and repeatedly, to anyone and everyone who cites, quotes or interviews the disgraced former Speaker on any subject in any venue.

An exception can be made, I suppose, should he be heard to say "Guilty, your Honor," in a superior court somewhere.

I may have mentioned…

…that I hate what they've done to my Army.

A 350-page report issued in July after a 15-month investigation into the Army's rising suicide rate found that levels of illegal drug use and criminal activity have reached record highs, while the number of disciplinary actions and forced discharges were at record lows.

The brass seem to put the bulk of the blame on our misadventure in Iraq. For once, I think the brass are on to something.

Afghanistan ain't helping, either.

Less than twelve hours...

...till kickoff at Husky Stadium! A pre-tailgate random ten...

Jeff Tweedy - John Wesley Harding
Lucy Kaplansky - The Return Of The Grievous Angel
Cannibal & The Headhunters - Land Of 1000 Dances
Sam Bush - Mr. President (Have Pity On The Working Man)
Emmylou Harris - The Price You Pay
Freeloader - Renée
Ronny & The Daytonas - G.T.O.
Lulu - Tell Me Like It Is
The Torquays - Shake A Tail Feather
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth - Red Ball Express

Floor wax or dessert topping?

Candidate or applicant? Politico talks to Alan Moore, who was a Christine O'Donnell staffer in '08, before going to work for Townhall.com, on her career ambitions…

Moore, who first decided to volunteer for O’Donnell after hearing about her at a meeting of college Republicans, said that at one point, O’Donnell talked to him about winning a lucrative television contract with CNN or Fox News Channel.

‘I informed her that most media organizations prohibit their employees from running for office. She didn’t seem to understand and was more interested in getting a contract,’ he recalled. ‘She was more concerned about getting a TV deal than winning office.’

I'm thinking she still is.

Hat tip to Oliver.

Good idea…

…from the Star-Telegram…

Use today, which is designated as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, as an excuse to actually read the Constitution. Marvel at how a remarkably brief document provides the outline for a form of government that's survived and thrived through more than two centuries of tests and trials.

That would be a liberal form of government, of course.

And a happy Constitution and Citizenship day to y'all.

From the "All I want for Xmas…" file.

Delaware Teapublican Christine O'Donnell…

American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.

Too cool to be true, I'm afraid, but she believed it in 2007. Might still.

Of course, she claims there's something called a "Constitutional conservative," too.

Some people will believe any damned thing, I suppose.

From the "The more things change…" file.

Back in '04, a lot of Democratic precinct workers and other long time rank and file activists were shaking their heads at the call by a budding insurgency (we called 'em "Deaniacs" back in the day) to "take our party back!" Back from who, wondered the doorbellers and phonebankers who'd been waiting patiently - sometimes for decades - for their relief. Where've ya' been? E.J. Dionne says it’s the Republican's turn...

Ross notes that the state Republican convention endorsed Castle. These are not some shadowy party bosses, but, as he put it, “the grass-roots delegates who knock on the doors and pass out the literature and pound the pavements.”

Of course, some of the Dean insurgency was an illusion. Their differences with the Party, as both sides figured out in a fairly short time, were more about tactics and posture than ideology or positions. Dean's folks found out that most of the folks at those meetings hated the war, loved unions and supported civil rights and liberties with the same fervor as the insurgents. The Party regulars adopted the new tactics and technologies the newcomers brought with them. Governor Dean soon became Chairman Dean, winning the top job at the DNC with broad support from those same Party regulars and their national representatives.

The Republicans will, I suspect, find the outcome of their current insurgency will be far less rewarding. Turned out that the Deaniacs weren't maniacs, but some of the Tea Partiers are, apparently, mad as hatters.

What can the Republicans expect? There's a pretty big clue in Goldy's remembrance of Ellen Craswell.

As for me, Tea Party or mainstream, insurgent or establishment, I still say...

Shorter Dino Rossi.

If I don't get a tax break, nobody does.

From the "Like rain on your wedding day…" file.

A little actual irony, Via Tbogg...

In an interview with CNN, O’Donnell bemoaned what she called “Republican cannibalism...”

Um, no, Miss O'Donnell, you don't get to launch a primary insurgency and then whine about partisan infighting.

You just don't.

At least you shouldn't.

I do wish you all the luck in the world out there in Delawherever today, though.

Really, I do.

And this, as well.

Chris Bowers...

If there is one message I would like to see come out of the 2010 elections, that would be it. Progressive save Democrats, while the tea party sinks the GOP.

Well, a quibble. Chris' meaning is clear enough, but in fact there is no "the" tea party.

But, yeah, me too, pretty much.

From the "Me too" file.

John Cole...

And yes, I understand, “My guys suck a lot less” really isn’t a good GOTV message, but the other guys are SOOO bad it is more than enough to motivate me.

Me too.

From the "Mission Accomplished" file.

AP - President Barack Obama on Saturday recalled "that awful morning" nine years ago when "a sorry band of men" who perverted religion attacked the U.S. in hopes of demoralizing and dividing the country.

If those were their hopes, I'm thinking that "sorry band" would be pretty happy with their achievement.

Still...

It'd be nice to have some of our civil liberties back, too.

New and improved!

Well, kinda new, anyway. Pumped a couple thousand new files of mostly old songs into the randomizer. Here's what came out...

Bert Jansch - Needle Of Death
Gregory Isaacs - Don't Let Me Suffer
The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back
Lizzie West & The White Buffalo - 19 Miles To Baghdad
Beat Happening - Look Around
The Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi - Our Father
A Tribe Called Quest - Description Of A Fool
J. McClymont - Free Up The Herbalist
Skip Spence - Lawrence Of Euphoria
R.T. Hanen - She's Got The Jordan River In Her Hips

Reggae, gospel, folk, pop and the dirty blues.

Random, alright.

From the "Credit where it's due" file.

Retiring Ohio Republican Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio) finds a conscience on his way out, breaking partisan ranks to support small business incentives...

"We don't have time for messaging. We don't have time anymore. This country is really hurting."

He's right, of course, but you've got to wonder what took him so long to notice. We ran out of time quite a while back, the way I figure.

Hat tip to Howie.

Well, yeah…

The former half-term Governor of the upper left's northern suburb...

Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation - much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.

…that's true enough. Good thing, then, that no one has actually proposed building a mosque at Ground Zero.

Map of the day.

Via Slog...



Upper Left sez vote Yes On Initiative 1098. An initiative may not be the right way to do this, but the Leg ain't got the huevos.

Chart of the day.

Via Graphjam...

The General reads a book.

How dare the author compare the American right to the Taliban. Sure, we both hate sex, reproductive choice, secularism, government regulation, homosexualism, and masturbation. We both want to establish godly governments that enforce scriptural law. And, we both justify our wars on the basis of religion. But the similarities end there.

Dissimilarities detailed here.

Worth repeating…

…though it's a shame it has to be said in the first place. James Vega...

If we want Nancy Pelosi to keep being the Speaker of the House, it ain't gonna happen because we sit at home and stew because the Democratic candidate in our district is too conservative for our tastes. You vote for whichever Democrat won the primary because that's how you support Nancy Pelosi and Alan Grayson and Al Franken and all the other Democrats who you do like. That's the meaning of strategic voting and critical support.

Of course, as a constituent of local liberal lion Jim McDermott, that's a pretty cost-free position for me to take. Jim hasn't always been my own personal Congressman, though, and my straight-ticket tendencies have led me to pull the handle, push the pin or fill the bubble for some less optimal D's over the years.

Sometimes you've just got to do what's got to be done.

These are some of those times.

On your mark, get set…

...don't panic. mistermix...

While Democrats could have been doing better during the past few months, the fact remains that John Boehner is not popular, that doing nothing in the middle of an almost-depression is not popular, that sneering at teachers, cops and firemen is not popular, and that tax cuts for those making $250K or more are not popular. There’s a case to be made here, Obama made it, and Democrats will be making it in the next two months. I am not ready to write off the House, because this campaign is just getting started.

Need I say me too? Consider it said.

From the "I want a new drug file"…

…pharmaceutical psilocybin! Via CNN…

Terminally ill cancer patients struggling with anxiety may get some relief from a guided "trip" on the hallucinogenic drug psilocybin, a new study suggests.

What victory looks like.

CNN...

A string of bombings and shootings across Baghdad Monday left at least one Iraqi military officer dead and wounded more than a dozen civilians and soldiers, an Interior Ministry official said Monday.

Happy Labor Day...

...I suppose. It's five shifts in three days, like most of your three day weekends are for me. I'm grateful for the work, and I know that this Labor Day is being observed by millions of folks who'd love to have some paid labor to do, but it makes it kind of hard to focus on the "holiday."

If you're better situated for enjoyment, enjoy!

Hat tip to Demeur for the graphic.

My people…

…ideologically and ancestrally.

Tony Blair pelted with eggs at book signing in Dublin

Bless 'em!

It slices, it dices...

...it randomizes! Ten off the top...

Nanci Griffith - Across The Great Divide
John Prine - The Oldest Baby In The World
Tiny Tim - On The Good Ship Lollipop
Billy Joe Shaver - Bottom Dollar
Sopwith Camel - Hello Hello
Joe Henderson - Snap Your Fingers
The Everly Brothers - Rip It Up
Lulu - He's Sure The Boy I Love
Herman's Hermits - Wonderful World
Emmylou Harris - The Price You Pay

By the way, that's the soul shouter Joe Henderson, not the saxophone legend Joe Henderson. If you didn't know there were two of 'em, it's worth your time to learn about both.

Breaking news!

Haley Barbour isn't as stupid about some things as most Republicans seem to be.

Other things, sure. But not some things.

Not when cheap labor and high profits are at stake.

From the "If we do say so ourselves" file.

The official script seems to call for repeatedly relating tales of Democratic dismay, so we've got to tell the other side of the story ourselves. Over at the D-Trip blog, The Stakeholder, Brandon English rounds up 27 tales of Republican "Disarray Across the Country."

Nice to see WA-8 on the list.

From the "Me too" file.

Washington DC – The nation’s largest progressive veterans organization, VoteVets.org, is calling on President Obama to relieve former Senator Alan Simpson from his chairmanship of a deficit reduction commission for defamatory comments about veterans.

Me too.

This is a case where enough is way too much. And 'relieve' is far too kind a sentiment.

This is a mostly family friendly blog, though, so we'll just leave it there.

Hat tip to Joan McCarter.

From the "Since you asked…" file.

AP National Political Writer Liz Sidoti wonders...

Is the tea party the new Republican Party?

Since you asked, no. It's the same old Republican Party with new packaging.