Chart of the day.

Via Maddowblog...

Signs of the times.

Via Gordon...

From the "Me too" file.

driftglass...

Seriously, if it's 2011 and you're actually writing checks to Newton Leroy Gingrich and Lady Macbeth, I definitely want your mailing address.

Me too.

Good question…

…from John Aravosis.

Why not raise taxes on rich corporations, and individuals, to pay for the disaster funding?

Heck, while we're at it, let's tax 'em a little more and pay for a bunch of other stuff, too.

Republican Round-Up

Bachmann's mean.

Cantor? Maybe meaner.

Paul could be the meanest of all.

Rick Perry - stupid or liar? Or stupid liar?

Should I care about John Huntsman? Why?

The world's deadliest gig?

With all due respect to my buddies on the Northwestern, it ain't crab fishing. Being Al Qaeda's #2 wins hands down.

Been a while…

…since I've tapped the jazz directory for a random ten, so here 'tis…

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Audrey Silver - Exactly Like You
Jimmy Witherspoon & Ben Webster - Please, Mr. Webster
John McLaughlin - My Foolish Heart
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Dinah Washington - Careless Love
Anita O'Day - Sunny
Lionel Hampton - Central Avenue Breakdown
Joe Venuti - Wild Cat
Louis Armstrong - Jeepers Creepers

Good question…

…from Ron Reagan, via Nicole Belle...

How many innocent people is it permissible to kill in order to exact vengeance on the guilty?

Nicole's assembled a death penalty fact sheet that's worth your attention, no matter where you're at on the issue.

Hope?

Joan McCarter's got yer hope right here...

The only hope Republicans have to finally create their permanent political majority is to destroy every good thing government has done or will do for middle class America, the vast majority of us. The best hope for Democrats is fighting tooth and nail to save those very programs.

Some Democrats might not always appear to be on your side.

Truth told, some of them aren't, sometimes.

Republicans are more reliable. They never appear to be on your side.

Truth told, none of 'em are, ever.

And that's why...

From the groves of academe…

...notes from a couple members of my unofficial academic advisory committee...

Neil Sinhababu...

If you take the people who claim to want bipartisanship at face value, they stand out in our politics as a class of especially confused and ineffective people.

...and PZ Meyers...

Candidates who stick their fingers in their ears and reject reality simply don't deserve to hold office.

And yes, this material may be in the final.

From the "Ain't it the truth" file.

E.J. Dionne, Jr., on Libya specifically, but certainly applicable more generally...

Obama Can’t Win for Winning

You can't fool all of the people all of the time…

…or even most of them sometimes. This is one of those. Via Greg Sargent...

...yet another poll, this one from the Associated Press, finds that the American people still blame Bush far more than Obama for the state of the economy, with 51 percent blaming the former president and 31 percent blaming our current one.

They didn't ask me. Make it 51% plus 1. Congressional R's take more heat than Congressional D's, too.

It's good to be reminded that a lot of folks are smarter than I sometimes give 'em credit for being.

From the "Wasted Opportunities" file

Reuters - Former Vice President Dick Cheney signed a secret resignation letter shortly after taking office in 2001 and kept it in a safe, according to an excerpt of an NBC interview released on Wednesday.

Locked away with his conscience, and about as useful it turns out.

Honk.

Hat tip to Tina Dupuy at Crooks & Liars.

Not what digby said, exactly…

…but what David Atkins said over at digby's place...

Republicans are absolutely, 100% terrible on national security. Terrorist attacks happen on Republican watch. Wars are lost on Republican watch. The wrong countries get invaded for no reason on Republican watch. International terrorists run free on Republican watch.

Exactly.

And no small part of the reason that...

Me too, also.

Report: Bank of America may need another $100-$200 billion

Yep, me too.

Heck, a couple hundred thou would be fine.

Me too, too, I hope…

Since I gave Rep. Waters a big 'me too' for her damnation of the Tea Party, I'll flatter myself to believe that Rick Santorum thinks I'm "vile" too. I like to imagine him frothing a bit as he says it.

As for Santorum, he wouldn't recognize the "founding principles of this nation" if they bit him on his fundie butt.

Vile enough for ya', Rickie?

From the "Me too" file.

Rep. Maxine Waters...

"...as far as I'm concerned -- the Tea Party can go straight to hell."

Me, of course, too.

Speaking of solidarity…

...kudos to 32nd District State Rep. Ruth Kagi (yep, one of my own personal state legislators) for joining 41 other lawmakers in voluntarily taking the 3% pay cut that most state workers had to take in July.

Because I'm in the mood…

…this week's random ten is culled from a directory labeled "Labor and Topical Songs."

Pete Seeger - How Can I Keep From Singing
Aunt Molly Jackson - Join The C.I.O.
Utah Phillips - We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years
Tom Paxton - Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation
Joe Uehlein - Hold The Fort
Bobbie McGee - Bread And Roses
Josh White - Strange Fruit
Bob Bovee - Hallellujah I'm A Bum
Rosalie Sorrels - Bury Me In My Overalls
Joe Glazer - Solidarity Forever

Mostly old stuff again, but I think there's a lot to learn about these days in songs about those days.

Heartfelt congratulations…

…to Blue Gal and driftglass, who are getting hitched today!

Heh™.

Barry, on 'Obamacare' as a Republican epithet…

“I have no problem with folks saying ‘Obama Cares.’ I do care. If the other side wants to be the folks who don’t care, that’s fine with me.”

Whether they want to be or not, that's who they are.

Don't know much about history...

...don't know much geography,neither. "Dr." Bachmann gets her decades wrong.

Jeebus, do any of these people know anything about anything?

So, just how crazy is Rick Perry?

Rick Perry is so crazy that even his own spokesman doesn't think he could possibly be that crazy.

Pretty crazy, huh?

Don't know much biology...

Rick Perry fact of the day, via PZ Meyers...

Perry is the guy who has appointed three creationists in a row to head the Texas Board of Education.

Probably not coincidentally...

From the "Not exactly news" file.

Rick Perry doesn't know what he's talking about.

Even when he's talking about Texas.

Scott? Not so great.

Romney? Yeah, creepy.

Newt's campaign approach? No campaign.

Looks like open letter day around here...

Dear Alicia M. Cohn,

If your lede begins "Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani…", you're writing the wrong story.

Unless, of course, you're writing about 9-11, but since, when Rudy opined that he doesn't "...want a president to become a commentator on 10 Republican candidates,” he failed to point out the fact that 10 is the number that falls between 9 and 11, thereby bringing to mind a titillating 9-11 anecdote that might have provided some rationale for seeking his views in the first place, well, you wrote the wrong story.

Better luck next time.

Very truly yours,

Upper Left

Good for us!

An atta-boy for King County voters, who are approving Prop. 1, the Veterans and Human Services Levy, two to one in early returns. It was the only actual decision on my primary ballot, since none of our municipal races drew more than two candidates, which moves them directly to the general. There was some sorting out of races in surrounding cities, and the folks down in Seattle seem to have finally decided to stop fighting and dig their damn tunnel.

The levy vote was a big deal, though, and the margin so far is gratifying. Turns out lots of folks hereabouts are willing to chip in a little to help their neighbors if you give 'em a chance. That's good news.

Dear Carl…

You're right...

Michelle Bachmann will be awful for the country.

In fact, she already is. But...

The fact that she’s even in contention is worrying.

She's not. Don’t worry.

Well, worry, but not about her.

In solidarity,

Upper Left

Rick Perry…

…idiot or thug?

This guy is their Great White Hope?

Well, OK…

…whatever you say, Rich...

Let the Perry Hatred Begin

I'm, as they say, "in."

From the "Rules of thumb" file.

Via Matt Browner Hamlin...

Things that aren't "almost treasonous": the chairman of the Federal Reserve printing money.

Things that are "almost treasonous": threatening secession from the Union.

Tim Pawlenty?

Not crazy enough.

Bachmannia!

Crooks and Liars has the results from Ames...

Michele Bachmann won the Ames, Iowa straw poll with 4,823 votes out of more than 16,000 cast. Ron Paul finished 192 votes behind her, with a very large gap between 2nd and 3rd place. Here is the full list:

1. Michele Bachmann: 4,823
2. Ron Paul: 4,671
3. Tim Pawlenty: 2,293
4. Rick Santorum: 1,657
5. Herman Cain: 1,456
6. Rick Perry: 718
7. Mitt Romney: 567
8. Newt Gingrich: 385
9. Jon Huntsman: 69
10. Thad McCotter: 35

Barry can't be that lucky, can he?

Yeah, they're old.

Mostly.

So am I. Mostly. A random trip through time...

Dave Clark Five - Catch Us If You Can
The Kingsmen - J.A.J.
Country Joe & The Fish - Rock Coast Blues
Donovan - The Bold Young Bugger
Squeeze - Pulling Mussels From The Shell
John Sebastian - You're A Big Boy Now
The Beat Farmers - There She Goes Again
James Gang - Funk #48
The Texas Tornados - Laredo Rose
Dusty Springfield - Anyone Who Had A Heart

From the "Rules of thumb" file.

Via Stuart Rothenberg…

...any event where Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) can finish in the top three probably doesn’t measure anything that needs to be measured in a presidential race.

Where, of course, "probably" means "absolutely positively."

Heh™.

Hunter on Huntsman...

Jon Huntsman looks and sounds like one of the stand-ins that the real candidates use to practice debating each other.

He's also possibly slightly less insane than the rest of 'em, which probably disqualifies him.

What Kevin said.

Here.

Why I'm still "In".

Because we don't have a president problem, we have a congress problem. Maha explains...

Bottom line, the single biggest reason FDR was more effective at getting his programs passed was not that he was “tougher” or gave better speeches, but that he enjoyed the advantage of an overwhelming majority of Democrats controlling Congress. In Obama’s case, even when he had a slight majority, he had the Blue Dogs in his own party working against him. In effect, he’s never had a real majority at all.

You want more progressive government? Focus on getting more progressives elected to Congress.

"More and better Democrats" is always a worthy goal.

On Wisconsin…

…as in "regarding."

Any election day that Democratic challengers defeat a third of the Republican incumbents on the ballot is a good one. Any movement that can recruit candidates, organize a petition drive, conduct campaigns and achieve that outcome in a few short months is a successful one.

Spin it any way you want. I'm gonna celebrate.

Yep.

Carl...

Patty Murray: as good a choice as anyone for a committee that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Maybe even a better choice than most, given the apparent Republican displeasure.

Chart of the day.

Via Artistdogboy…

If you're hereabouts...

...and you're waiting for election returns from Wisconsin, you can fill some of the time filling out and returning that primary ballot your county sent you, or bugging your friends and relations to follow the good example you've already set.

I know it's not very exciting in some jurisdictions - here in Shoreline we've got an uncontested judicial candidate and a levy renewal. That levy renewal, though, which will continue the good work the Veterans and Human Services Levy has been doing not only for vets but in helping to maintain the never more threatened, never more needed human services infrastructure in King County communities.

It's not very exciting, but lives will benefit from your support.

Found on the net…

Mark Twain…

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed."

Still true, formats notwithstanding.

Sunday Funny.

It's hard to imagine even Andrew Zimmern enjoying a bite of this one...



HT Matt Wuerker at Daily Kos.

The Once and Future Speaker…

…speaks.

"Every day we are talking about debt we are not talking about jobs, and that's a victory for the other side."

In the minority, the most important job is to frame the debate in a way that brings you a majority. If the debate is between cutting taxes (for, well just for worse, the GOP deficit reduction plan) and creating jobs, jobs sound like a winner.

Here 'tis...

Pulled this week's random ten from a subdirectory full of blues, folk and country mostly from the first half of the 20th century. Maybe it's a bit of a shame they don't write 'em like that anymore, but it's a blessing they don't record 'em like that anymore. Amazing how much good stuff shines through those old shellacs, though...

The Sunshine Boys - What's The Matter With Deep Elem?
Josh White - Midnight Special
Elizabeth Cotton - Shake Sugaree
Tex Williams & His Western Caravan - I Got Texas In My Soul
Cowboy Copas - Alabam
Red Foley - Tennessee Saturday Night
The Almanac Singers - The Sinking Of The Reuben James
Memphis Jug Band - Sun Brimmer's Blues
Delta Rhythm Boys - Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me
Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers - Goodbye Booze

Blame?

The Republican's can't.

The public doesn't.

So what will the "progressives" do? Matt Osborne frames the choices...

There are two ways progressives can react: (A) use the next three months as an opportunity to drive teabaggery to the margins by agitating for change with Congress as their focus, or (B) bitch about Obama some more to make their irrelevance complete.

I vote (A).

From the "Me too" file.

Roy Edroso...

...I doubt things will be improved by President Rick Perry, who will upon inauguration give the last $32.98 in the Treasury to Thurston Howell III and ask America to pray for money.

Me too.

From the "If only…" file.

John Cole...

If we weren’t all strapped in to the backseat, it would be really awesome to let these lunatics drive off a cliff.

Wouldn't it, though...

An answer, perhaps…

…to one of the questions that occurred below…


Hat tip to Anne Laurie.

From the "Me too" file.

Gordon, slightly bowdlerized ...

Don't worry, Barry, you've still got me. I'm old and slow to change and stubborn and sometimes not too smart and right now I'm so disappointed with you that I could just sh*t, but I still love you. I still have the hopelessness of faith in you and where else am I gonna go anyway? I'll keep hoping and waiting for you to come around and in the meantime you can sleep in the doghouse.

Me too.

Chart of the day.

Via Meteor Blades...

A few questions occur. How many of those folks have been following the debt ceiling debate or care at all who 'won' it? How many of them are represented by Republicans in Congress? How many of them voted in 2010? How many more voted in 2008? How do we get 'em to the polls in 2012?

We need some answers in pretty short order.

Why not (the rest of) Washington?

OK, maybe tribal land isn't exactly Washington, but kudos to the Suquamish nation (Chief Seattle's tribe) for getting ahead of the rest of us on marriage rights.

One rez at a time? Sounds like a good business opportunity for those casino hotels.