Great Books

More non-Nazi comparisons from RedState:

As you may know, RedState has started a Great Books style program. We are rather slowly making our way through a series of books on conservative thought and ideas. We have started with Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.

...

According to Jonah Goldberg, the Nazi Party was “in favor of universal education, guaranteed employment, increased entitlements for the aged, the expropriation of land without compensation, the nationalization of industry, the abolition of market-based lending . . ., the expansion of health services, and the abolition of child labor.” Which party platform does that remind you of.

My emphasis.

Shades of DIVX

Yes! Netflix to stream to the PS3!

Still, this is a legendarily embarrassing corporate fuckup:

The PS3 implementation of Netflix is not the most elegant. PS3 owners will have to order a special, free disc from Netflix and pop it into their gaming console whenever they want to access the Netflix queue and watch a movie. Sony and Netflix seem to suggest this is a short-term solution, until an upgrade next year in the PS3 software.

Fine, though. Write the software and I'll deal with this for now.

Baby Einstein Refunds

Wow:

Last year, lawyers threatened a class-action lawsuit for unfair and deceptive practices unless Disney agreed to refund the full purchase price to all who bought the videos since 2004. “The Walt Disney Company’s entire Baby Einstein marketing regime is based on express and implied claims that their videos are educational and beneficial for early childhood development,” a letter from the lawyers said, calling those claims “false because research shows that television viewing is potentially harmful for very young children.”

The letter cited estimates from The Washington Post and Business Week that Baby Einstein controlled 90 percent of the baby media market, and sold $200 million worth of products annually.

The letter also described studies showing that television exposure at ages 1 through 3 is associated with attention problems at age 7.

In response, the Baby Einstein company will refund $15.99 for up to four “Baby Einstein” DVDs per household, bought between June 5, 2004, and Sept. 5, 2009, and returned to the company.

Shorter Joseph C. Phillips

Big Hollywood » What is Pornographic? What is Hip?

There's no evidence we have to care about sick people. To suggest otherwise is por-no-gra-PHIC!

Touched!

Touched!, originally uploaded by cricketheron.

I don't think I ever posted this - a Flying Spaghetti Monster sighting, right there in my olive oil!

Go With The Smear You Have

The "Anita Dunn likes Mao!" nonsense is being photocopied and passed around all around the web, and I think it just proves that wingnuts have quotas, and if they reach the end of the week and still don't have a coherent thing to criticize Obama with, they still have to run with something.

Motherhood

Great example from John Aravosis:

Whenever you catch the right doing something wrong, they will turn it around on you at the drop of a hat. If you say the sky is blue, they'll turn around and say you insulted motherhood.

Vivid Imagination

Jed Lewison:

Steve King's attack doesn't tell us anything about Kevin Jennings or the Obama Administration, but it tells you everything you never wanted to know about the vivid imagination of King and 52 of his GOP colleagues.

(via Steve Benen)

The Real Question

The question we're all asking, via the meme watchers at Urlesque.

Circling The Wagons

Erick Erickson fabricates a real smear on a reporter because he thinks the reporter might smear him.

Statistics

CNN does some division and creates a magic statistic in a piece called Cost to create one stimulus job: $71,500.

Ooh, let me try!

Let's see, Time Warner's stock is down 19 cents a share right now, to 41.33. Assuming it stays the same for the rest of the day, and there are no other forces at work, the stock will reach zero in about 218 days, or

Time Warner's stock will be zero on Friday, May 21, 2010!!


Done.

Distillation

Saying you would rather have given the Nobel Peace Prize to George Bush is the pure distillation of their rhetorical style.

Look! Over There!

How long until Malkin blames this on Obama?

I bet she'll be on it TODAY.

Update: Heh. Gateway Pundit beats her to it, inventing out of whole cloth a detail that the managers of the apartment building are "liberals."

More here:

The story garnered national attention because of the ban on American flags, although the policy did not specifically single out the U.S. flag and allow the flags of other nations.

The result for [management company employee Barb] Holcomb: Numerous phone calls from the media.

"If they want to speak to me, they speak to me," she said of the calls. "If they want to yell at me, they yell at me."

Petulance and the Prize

Incredible op-ed from Garrison Keilor:

The wailing and gnashing of teeth that you hear among Republicans is 68 percent envy and 32 percent sour grapes. Here is an idealistic, articulate young president who is enormously popular everywhere in the world except in the states of the Confederacy, and here sit the 28 percent of the American people who still thought Mr. Bush was doing a heckuva job at the end, gnashing their teeth, hoping and praying for something horrible to happen such as an infestation of locusts or the disappearance of the sun, something to make the president look bad, which is not a good place for a political party to be, hoping for the country to slide into chaos. When you bet against America, you are choosing long odds.

I'm stealing the quote selection from Gruber, because it's just great.

Pure Gold

This is why Brad is one of our Internet Leaders:

It occurs to me that if he’s going to remake the Republican Party in a hip-hop image, [Michael] Steele needs a hip-hop name. My nomination: Filibusta Rhymes.

Unfunny

The Great Minds at Big Hollywood are getting scarily paranoid:

There has been a rumor floating around that Fred Armisen is intentionally, perhaps at the behest of the NBC powers-that-be, making his Obama impersonation as inaccurate and unfunny as possible.

Shorter Tim Mak

$1.4 Million Goes a Small Way

• If Obama really loved charities, he would cut taxes.

He Also Uses The Term Light Year

I find it really cool to see my president looking through a telescope.



Watch the whole video.

What a great role model.

Blame Him

Rep. Alan Grayson keeps the hits coming:

American understands that there is one party in this country that is favor of health care reform and one party that is against it, and they know why.

They understand that if Barack Obama were somehow able to cure hunger in the world the Republicans would blame him for overpopulation.

They understand that if Barack Obama could somehow bring about world peace they would blame him for destroying the defense industry.

In fact, they understand that if Barack Obama has a BLT sandwhich tommorrow for lunch, they will try to ban bacon.

But that's not what America wants, America wants solutions to it's problems and that begins with health care, and that's what I'm speaking for tonight.

Great Day

With all the silly talk about the Nobel prize this morning, here's a nice clean chaser from John Gruber:

A great day for the United States.

More Good News for McCain

Bill Kristol:

We could note that, if the Swedes Norwegians wanted to give the Nobel Peace Prize to an American, it would have been been better to give it to Sen. John McCain for having the guts to push through the surge in Iraq, which has brought relative peace to that country

Can we give it to Palin?

Dumbass

From Ed at ginandtacos, an open letter to GOP Senator Tom Coburn on his efforts to exclude political science from federal funding:

I applaud your courage, as it is not easy to be William Jennings Bryan in a modern Scopes Trial.

Good News For McCain

Mark Halperin is out of the gate first, telling us 5 reasons why winning the goddamn Nobel Peace Prize is actually going to hurt Obama. This is completely insane.

4. Further divides a polarized America.

Guilty Pleasure

He's a clown now:

Hate to admit it, but now that Rove has been quarantined on the WSJ editorial page -- where he can't do any real harm -- he's a guilty pleasure.

I'm a bit more skeptical on the non-damage Rove can do, but I like the sentiment.

Fools

This people are staggeringly stupid:

Ayers was in Washington, he told her, for a conference on education.

“That's what I do, education,” he said. “You shouldn't believe everything you hear about me... You know nothing about me.”

To which she responded, “I said, I know plenty--I'm from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I'll post this.”

I bet his heart skipped a beat on that one.

But he didn’t scowl, and didn’t run off as he has been known to do. Instead, unprompted, he blurted out: “I wrote ‘Dreams From My Father… Michelle asked me to.” Then he added “And if you can prove it we can split the royalties.”

Anne responded, “Stop pulling my leg!”

But he repeated insistently, “I wrote it, the wording was similar [to Ayers’ other writing.]”
Anne responded, “I believe you probably heavily edited it.”

Ayers stated firmly, “I wrote it.”

Anne ended the conversation by saying “why would I believe you? You're a liar.”

Good for her. But we are left to wonder. Despite her parting shot, Anne was convinced Ayers was in earnest. He was making a public statement. He wanted this news out there.

Was he, as she had asked, pulling our collective legs? Other sources report rumors that Ayers is very upset both about not getting any credit for helping Obama on ‘Dreams,’ and may also be put off by being summarily thrown under the bus along with Rev. Wright and everyone else who becomes an inconvenience to this President.

How To Raise Kids

Not only is this Amazon promo ad funny because it suggests that you get your kids into reading by getting them to read Sports Illustrated Kids, it's also amusing that the thumbnail is of something called the "Video Games Issue."

Plain Old Step

digby:

If you thought debunking the lies about what the health care bill would potentially accomplish was fun, wait until you get to the part where conservatives nitpick and distort every misstep or half-step or just plain old step in the process, and spin it as proof that Obama meant to take over health care, the planet and your children after all. Consequent their stint as defenders of Medicare, Republicans will become defenders of Medicaid, and go on and on about long lines and expanding rolls. And they'll ask what Americans got for all those billions they spent on health care.

What Year It Is

Another fine serving from Steve Benen:

Beck claimed, for example:

Vancouver lost, how much was it? They lost a billion dollars when they had the Olympics.

In reality, Vancouver's Olympics won't begin until next year. Beck is so far gone, he apparently doesn't know what year it is.

Voting Bloc

Could these people be more braindead? Here's some fool at RedState flailing around because the Senate Finance Committee voted against one of Grassley's ammendments adding additional measures to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving health care. Then he announces:

This is simply another exercise in the Democrats attempting to not only nationalize the US health care system but use it as a magnet to attract a dedicated Democrat voting bloc, illegal aliens.

(my emphasis)

You want to tell him, or should I?

Derby

John Derbyshire's a sick fuck.

Update: Steven Benen summarizes:

Just so we're clear, a leading conservative writer at one of the premier conservative political outlets, argued publicly against a woman's right to vote and against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

If You Can Get It

Wait - congress normally takes off the entire week that includes Columbus Day?

Moment of Shame

The Official White House blog: Reality Check: Trying to Turn a Point of Pride into a Moment of Shame:

Last night Fox News continued its disregard for the facts in an attempt to smear the Administration's efforts to win the Olympics for the United States. In the past, hosting the Olympics has been a source of pride and unity for the country, but once again Fox News' Glenn Beck program has shown that nothing is worthy of respect if it can be used as part of a partisan attack to boost ratings.

I like this bold White House blog.

John L. Perry Solves The 'Obama Problem' With A Coup

Yesterday, John L. Perry wrote a ridiculous column for the Newsmax.com website. The article has since been pulled down, but it was archived, in part, by Media Matters here.

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.

Then, in an attempt to make his position sound less extremist, he goes on to compare a "bloodless" military coup to a "family intervention", saying that Obama would be responsible for such a coup because his radical Marxist agenda is "inviting" it. Lastly, as if to hide the treachery of his words behind a hypothetical, he recognizes how difficult it is to imagine such a scenario and asks the reader to think up another "non-violent" solution to the current polical crisis.

This column sums up some of the worst of political rhetoric these days. Despite Obama's clear pragmatism and inclination to listen to all sides, wingnuts froth-at-the-mouth and exaggerate the recognition of common goals and an opportunity for common solutions as "radical" socialism leading directly to an oppressive Stalinist state. The fear-mongering is then followed by an around-about suggestion of violent action ("Be armed and dangerous", "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants", "a military coup", etc). And lastly, the writer backpedals, taking no responsible for his deeply dangerous suggestion, and says that violence is only a hypothetical "idea", of course not anything being actively advocated. This rhetoric is an expression of political impotence and disgusting demagoguery. Its fans the flames of anger and prejudice in order to justify a political minority overthrowing a democratically elected government.

John L. Perry is not the first person to take this stance and certainly not he most influential but his voice is part of growing cacophony of the right wing establishment to buy into such extremism. Of course, there will always be kooks who advocate extremist positions. However, because I believe in corporate responsibility, I see Newsmax.com, and by extension the companies advertising with Newsmax, to be responsible for printing this crap.

American Express, for example, who advertises on Newsmax.com, describes some of their core corporate values on their own website here. "Integrity", "Quality", "Teamwork", and...

Good Citizenship
We are good citizens in the communities in which we live and work.

What kind of good citizens advertise with those who support the overthrow of a democratically elected government? Is that the same kind of good citizen who would blow up a federal building or kill a census worker or shoot a president?

In their defense, American Express is not the only company advertising on the Newsmax site (other advertisers on this day include Georgia-Pacific, C12 Group, United Against A Nuclear Iran, University of Phoenix, etc ). And perhaps, given how online advertisement works, American Express might not even know what site their banner ads are appearing on. Nonetheless, there does seem to be a discrepancy between their stated corporate ideals and John L. Perry's duplicitous suggestion of a military coup. Perhaps American Express could find another site to advertise with which fits more with their values.

Shorter Jay Richards

The Nature of an Environmental Ethic

• The problem with environmentalism is that it's not Christian enough.

Exclusively

My Day as David Brooks:

4:25 p.m. – Edit column slightly. Add suggestion that U.S. soldiers wear bulletproof pink Oxford dress shirts to remind them of the super-genius neoconservative hawks who masterminded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

4:26 p.m. – Remove suggestion that soldiers wear bulletproof pink dress shirts. File column.

4:55 p.m. – Send e-mail to Times Editor Bill Keller: “Please remind everyone that food in the staff fridge marked ‘David Brooks’ belongs exclusively to David Brooks. Thanks.”

The First Place

I've been enjoying watching the wingnuts, who complained that it wasn't right to call what happened in Hondura a "military coup," face up to the fact that those in charge have started militarily controlling the media.

So here's Ace, doing logic gymnastics:

I'm sure there will be talk of how the interim government is now as bad as Zelaya. Well, no, not really. This is a tough step and one they have put off for a substantial period of time. While it's unfortunate, to say the least, we shouldn't forget Honduras wouldn't be in this position if Zelaya, abetted by Chavez in Venezuela and Lula in Brazil, hadn't put the country in this position in the first place.

It's Zelaya's fault that those who deposed him are not preventing free speech in the country they now control by guns.

"Yeah, there are millions displaced in Iraq, but our hands were tied - for the Iraqi peoples' freedom, we had to destroy their country!"

Golden Orb Spiders

Golden Orb Spiders, originally uploaded by American Museum of Natural History.

These are beautiful! Part of the new Silk Road exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.

Not Mesmerized

Dear Right,

NYC is not "mesmerized by the ACORN scandal."

Love,
Me

Shiver

Eric Dondero's got a place for it picked out already:

From our Conservative Cousins comes the Annual "Hot Conservative Women" Pin-Up Calendar. It's the work of the ultimate "stuffy conservative" Phyllis Schlafly and Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

You'll no doubt recognize some familiar faces: Ann Coulter, Michele Bachmann, Bay Buchanan, Starr Parker, Michelle Malkin and this year's new addition Carrie Prejean. Note the - ahem - "with child" status of Mrs. Kellyanne Conway.

Obscene Trivialization

Tristero:

I don't have an opinion right now on the soda tax. Like everything else food, it's a complicated subject. But I do know for a certainty, that if soda is taxed it will be nothing like the Soviet Union. I saw the Soviet Union and the comparison of a soda tax - a soda tax! - to that totalitarian nightmare is obscene trivialization of the efforts of all those who resisted and protested and suffered under Soviet totalitarianism.

You Want To Feel My Scalp?

Larry King and Tyra Banks perform the Most Banal Conversation Ever:

King: When you look in the mirror, are you happy with the way you look?

Banks: I've -- OK, I might be doing a little TMI -- do you know what TMI is? Too much information?

King: Well, give it to me anyway.

Banks: I always feel great when I don't have clothes on. So at home, by myself, walking past ...

King: Oh, we're glad you mean that now.

Banks: Just too much information. But I always feel good that way.

King: So you don't look at yourself nude and say, "Oh, I don't like this." You like it?

Banks: No, unless the lighting is bad in the dressing room. But, no. I always feel good. But sometimes certain clothes, when I put them on and they don't fit the way that I would like them to, that's when I tend to get self-conscious.

King: All right. You kicked off season five of your talk show by revealing your real hair.

Banks: Let's talk about my hair right now.

I know it's been a big mystery. And I was like it was an unsolved mystery, and I felt like I needed to solve this mystery.

No, I'm serious.

King: This -- is this real?

Banks: Yes. This is me. You want to feel my scalp?

Tetris Tiles

OMG I want these Tetris Tiles so much!

My "Pale Skin"

Via Glenn, here's a recent tweet from the co-founder of Red State. Yikes.

Finest Frog

This Amazon Horned Frog is the finest frog that I have ever seen.

Dumbass

CNN:

"It was speaking at the wrong place, wrong time," ["You Lie!" yeller Joe] Wilson said. "And now, I am the number one target of Washington Democrats, the number one target of MoveOn, the number one target of ACORN."

Wilson's just throwing all the keywords into a big pile. What the fuck does ACORN have to do with Joe WIlson??

Name-Calling

John Aravosis:

We really need a phrase to describe the conservative trick of accusing you of what they do. E.g., we're playing the race card when we call them on their racism. Or, gay people are intolerant (or intolerance) when we expose religious right bigotry. Or, when the Republicans accuse Obama of being mean and partisan. Or, CNN, MSNBC, CBS and ABC are biased. In essence, they're accusing us of what they are. But it's more than that. They're trying to get us to back off because we're getting too close to their dirty little secret. Republicans are afraid that we'll tag them as racists, as bigots, as mean and partisan. So by accusing us of it first they hope to scare us off, and pollute the waters enough that if and when we do call them on their bs, they'll have already accused us of the same thing so hopefully, from their perspective, the public will think both sides are simply name-calling.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Comments

I was just checking the historical ups and downs of the Dow this morning, and noticed that there is a comment board associated with every indicator and stock/fund at Google finance. They seem just as inane as YouTube comments.

Yes They Are

Flabbergasted by the silly AP article that asks "But if everybody's racist, is anyone?", digby offers this handy tip:

Rule of thumb: the people who are telling their millions of fervent followers that we need to go back to segregating buses and claiming that Obama hates white people? They're the racists. Easy as pie.

CNN: Another Side To Racist Caricatures?

Oh for god's sake.

CNN wants to consider "the other side" in the fucking "Obama as witch doctor with a bone in his nose" picture in a piece called Obama as witch doctor: Racist or satirical?.

Even the damn tea baggers themselves know it's not SATIRE.

While not denying the crudeness of the image, Tea Party organizers stressed that those who carry the signs are a few "bad apples."

"That [witch doctor] image is not representative at all of what this movement is about," said Joe Wierzbicki, a coordinator of the Tea Party
Express, a three-week series of protests across the country.

New Evidence

Gateway Pundit thinks that science is about knowing the truth. It's not. It's about revising your views in light the never-ending acquisition of new evidence.

Let Go Your Conscious Self

Best photo of Obama of all time? Credit: Newscom/Chicago Tribune/Michael Tercha.

Okay, Lies

Anita Dunn, is Director of Communications for the White House, writing about the czar silliness at the WH's "Reality Check" website:

Last week, when the President addressed the Joint Session of Congress in a speech on health reform, he referred to some of the untruths – okay, lies – that have been spread about the plan and sent a clear message to those who seek to undermine his agenda and his presidency with these tactics: "We will call you out." So consider this one of those calls.

He's Rubber

Hey, Goldfarb, what are you, six?

Maybe if his name were Chavez, Anmadinejad, Kim Jong Il or Assad, Tibet's leader could get a White House meeting.

The Jackass Video

Absolutely entertaining.

Doesn't Make Them Chimpanzees

Been having some fun reading World Net Daily of late, and here's a post on Ray Comfort re-releasing Origin of the Species with a special introduction pointing out that DARWIN TOTALLY LOVED GOD.

Comfort said he discovered the book was in the public domain, so the special edition is being prepared in conjunction with his book "Nothing Created Everything."

Includes fun stuff like::

'Origin of Species' edition debunks evolution
The introduction points out the fact that humans share 96 percent of their genetic makeup with chimps doesn't make them chimpanzees.

"According to evolutionist Steven Jones, a renowned British geneticist, 'We also share about 50 percent of our DNA with bananas, and that doesn't make us half bananas," says Comfort.

Shorter David Brooks

High-Five Nation

Michael Jordan should be more humble. Now, the Greatest Generation on the other hand...

Update: Ta-Nehesi Coates is also not impressed.

Why We Love Him

Fuck yeah, Atrios:

I don't know how the subject of Kanye came up. It's certainly possible Obama brought it up himself. The other possibility is, of course, that he was asked to comment on the subject due to some sort of connection between the two. I wonder what that could be.

Unknown

Good piece from Michael Sherer at Time.com about Obama, and the fear of the unknown that he strikes in some:

As a political theme, this concern with what is unknown about Obama's administration is an important one to watch, because for one reason or another, it is striking a nerve for many Americans. It does not seem to matter that Obama has not substantially changed the structure or operation of the executive branch, or, with a few exceptions, the sorts of positions he appoints. Instead, there is a pod-person-like fear at work here: Judge Obama not by what he does or says, say his critics,  but by what we don't yet know about what he is doing.

Related: judge Bush and his administration not by what we know they did, but what they would like to be remembered for having done.

This comment from sacredh is pretty funny:

Too bad Obama didn't name them Apostles instead of Czars. I'd have given a paycheck just to watch the heads explode.

I Guess We Don't Have To Listen

Michelle Bachmann, always wasting everyone's time:

The real issue is, will illegal aliens have access to taxpayer-subsidized health care? Well, the answer is yes, they will.

Rhetoric

Yeah, that's exactly how it looks right now, from Steve Benen:

I continue to think these are not exactly effective negotiating techniques. Republicans say, "We want explicit language in the bill that would restrict coverage for illegal immigrants." The White House responds, "You got it. What are you willing to concede in return?" To which the GOP answers, "Nothing."

Likewise, Republicans say, "We want explicit language in the bill that would prohibit funding for abortion." The White House responds, "No problem at all. What are you willing to concede in return?" To which the GOP answers, "Nothing."

My hunch is, the White House wants to make it as politically awkward as possible for Republicans to oppose the bill. The president wants to be able to tell the public that he offered the GOP a reform bill with tort reform, no funding for abortion, no coverage for undocumented immigrants, no deficit increases, no tax increases on the middle class, no "death panels" or "death books," and quite possibly no public option -- and the congressional minority stll rejected the legislation.

For all I know, this would be an effective rhetorical/political strategy for the White House, and the public would be disgusted by Republican obstinacy. But no one should have any doubts as to whether these concessions will actually garner GOP votes. They won't -- Republicans don't support health care reform.

Scenes From a Tea Party via LGF

Little Green Footballs has the best set of photos from Saturday's Glenn Beck fest.

Not New

Glenn:

Nothing that the GOP is doing to Obama should be the slightest bit surprising because this is the true face of the American Right -- and that's been true for a very long time now.  It didn't just become true in the last few months or in the last two years.  Recent months is  just the time period when the media began noticing and acknowledging what they are:  a pack of crazed, primitive radicals who don't really believe in the country's core founding values and don't merely disagree with, but contest the legitimacy of, any elected political officials who aren't part of their movement.  Before the last year or so, the media pretended that this was a serious, adult, substantive political movement, but it wasn't any truer then than it is now.  All one has to do is review their behavior during the Clinton presidency -- to say nothing of the Bush years -- to see that none of this is remotely new.  Nothing they're doing to Obama is a break from their past behavior; it's just a natural and totally predictable continuation of it.

Beep Beep

I love this comic by Riber Hansson, posted at The Moderate Voice.

The Shame of Breitbart's Big Hollywood

It's really incredible how the crazy and the hate is coming out on the Right today.

Here's Burt Prelutsky, at Big Hollywood, listing his big 3 "Days of Infamy," which "remind us to never forget how quickly everyday life can be turned into something horrific."

The first of three such dates for Americans is 12/7/41.  That was, as FDR put it, a day of infamy.  It was a Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas when, without warning, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, killing 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians.

The second of the nightmarish dates was 9/11/01 when 19 Islamics hijacked four airliners and murdered 2,998 human beings, most of whom were Americans.

The third such date was 11/4/08, when 64,385,746 American voters decided it would be a fine idea to vote for a man who said that if push came to shove, he would side with Islamics.

That last one would be the day that the largest number of people in American history participated in a free election. Burt Prelutsky's 3rd Day of Infamy.

Just absolutely shameful.

Fish

I wrote the other day about how Powerline was adjusting its blogroll in ways that were diametrically opposed to my own perspectives, and today, one of the blogs that I've recently discovered (and found some common ground with and respect for) and which was dropped, Little Green Footballs, responded with a post called So Long, Powerline:

Since the people at Powerline have made a big public announcement about it, I’ll just say that I’m not the least surprised that they’ve delinked LGF. Powerline has been going in a very bad direction recently; the “all Obama-hatred, all the time” focus is bad enough, but worse are their articles supporting European extremists like Geert Wilders (who wants to deprive Muslims of the freedom of religion and ban books) and outright fascists like the Belgian Vlaams Belang party.

I’ve been considering removing them from my links for quite some time because of this kind of disturbing stuff, but I was foolish enough to believe they might come to their senses. I’ve written emails to them about it (which weren’t returned), and I wrote a post laying out my case, that they completely ignored. Clearly, this is a direction they’ve chosen, so I’ve removed all links to Powerline from LGF.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Richard Olivastro contributes to the "when a headline ends in a question mark, the answer is no" project with own opus Are Seniors Being Targeted?

Crazy Day

The wingnuts really do go crazy on 9/11. It was their holiday for 7 years, and that helps explain why they went nuts when Obama suggested it as a day of service and not hate.

Safe

Hoffmania:

[W]ill anyone thank President Obama for now officially keeping us safe longer than Bush/Cheney did in 2001?

Regret

Garfield Minus Garfield is still awesome.

What 9/11 Is About to Jay Richards

Jay Richards from the Enterprise Blog (from AEI) thinks that 9/11 should be an opportunity for us to pause to reflect on how sad it is when people think that American business leaders are mean and greedy:

The attack on the Pentagon is obvious—it is command central of America’s military might. The attacks in New York might be less obvious. But the two towers that once stood proudly in the Manhattan skyline (along with several of their smaller neighbors) were not merely imposing, well known landmarks. Together, they were called the World Trade Center, and they were chosen as targets, at least in part, for that reason.

Capitalism, free enterprise, free trade, global economic liberalization: For those who understand economics and take time to follow the data, these words describe good things. But for much of the world, both at home and abroad, these words bring to mind every unfair stereotype of the greedy and rapacious “American” who takes more than his fair share and leaves everyone else scrounging for scraps.

We may be thankful that most of those who believe this ugly stereotype are not murderous fanatics. They are, nevertheless, legion. And their numbers seem to be multiplying once again. And so we should remember, now more than ever, that even when the benefits of free trade—domestic and international—are manifest, the world still needs those who will defend it as the best hope, this side of the kingdom of God, for raising the lot of the poor, whether they live in Mumbai, Milwaukee, or Medina.

On this day of remembrance, Jay wants to make sure that we don't forget what September 11th is all about: an attempt by extremists to get people to think bad thoughts about the rich and their constant drive to help the poor. We might always remain vigilant against such people.

Shameful

Why should we show any respect to a voice, like Scott from Powerline, that claims that "Obama seems bent on making us forget" what happened on September 11th? How are these people not shamed off the public stage?

Oh, and the post is called Betraying Our Dead. For real?

Ships Passing In The Night

Powerline announces its updates to its blogroll: removing Little Green Footballs, which I've just discovered and found surprisingly intelligent and clear-headed, and adding, hehe heheheheeh!!, Gateway Pundit and Big Hollywood.

Great party you've got going there.

Spoke For America

Erick Erickson has moved from calling Joe Wilson a "Great American Hero" to saying that "the man spoke for America."

Update: The post itself is too awesome not to quote more from:

It does no good to pat Joe on the back or give him an “atta boy.” Joe Wilson needs us to open our wallets and checkbooks. Joe Wilson is now a serious threat to Barack Obama because he dared point out that the Emperor has no clothes. The left will target him. The left will target his family. The left will try to destroy Joe Wilson.

You paranoid fuck little worm. (Updated for clarity)

Poor Get Too Much Money

Ahh, the yearly The Poor Aren't Poor story from the Right:

What does it mean to be “poor” in America? In reality, the average person, as identified as “poor” by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines. According to the government’s own surveys, the typical “poor” American has cable or satellite TV, two color TV’s, a DVD player or VCR. He has air conditioning, a car, a microwave, a refrig¬erator, a stove, and a clothes washer and dryer.

It's always the TVs, huh? And what's this about?

He is able to obtain medical care when needed.

From there the post devolves into complaining about all the free money the govt gives poor people.

Powerline Worldview

They're fucking nuts. Their take is that the President needs to apologize.

Limb

Gail Collins:

Let me go out on a limb and say that it is not a good plan to heckle the president of the United States when he's making a speech about replacing acrimony with civility.

(via Steve Benen)

Todd Fetish

Oh, come on, Chuck Todd.

Not A King

Regarding Joe Wilson's "you lie!" outburst, I agree with digby:

I don't mind it much either. It's rude and stupid, but Obama isn't a king and it isn't wrong to yell at the president. However, I can't help but recall what happened to these women during a Bush junior speech to a joint session of congress:

Follow the link for a walk down memory line with the the way these "dissent-is-patriotic"-come-latelies used to view the Office of the President.

The Difference

Josh Marshall:

Just what the effect will be, I find it difficult to predict. In part that is because so much of the pushback over August (not withstanding reasonable policy disagreements with the broad outlines we know of Obama's reform) has been a hash of paranoia, organized lying and militant frivolity that I'm not sure it's an easy thing to judge the direction of this in anything approaching rational terms.

If people are buying that, maybe the debate is just broken beyond repair?

On the other hand, I think Obama may have resumed a certain command over the debate. Because the contrast between him and the hucksters to whom the Republicans have ceded this debate, and the difference between the actual details of reform and whatever it is everyone has been talking about through August, is simply very difficult to ignore.

Cujo The Killer Dog

Incredible posters from 1980's Ghana, where cinema owners would commision artists to make promotional materials.

Take a Stand Against Reaganism

If it ain't Glenn Greenwald or John Cole, then it's Paul Krugman writing the things I'm thinking before I can blog them. And more clearly, too. I'd have said, "Jesus Christ can the Dems please for fucking once stop being such damn wussies and take an aggressive stance when they have the facts on their side?"

Let me add a sort of larger point: aside from the essentially circular political arguments — centrist Democrats insisting that the public option must be dropped to get the votes of centrist Democrats — the argument against the public option boils down to the fact that it’s bad because it is, horrors, a government program. And sooner or later Democrats have to take a stand against Reaganism — against the presumption that if the government does it, it’s bad.

Goldfarb Cracks Himself Up

Michael Goldfarb finds himself hilarious whenever he uses the term "torture" to refer to something people don't like.

Furthmore:

There are certainly a lot of folks in the Obama administration who would love to give a bunch of terrorists their day in court to sue members of the intelligence community.

No, Michael, it's American citizens who want to prosecute law breakers.

Evidence

Well, then:

Jim Greer, the Florida Republican party chairman whose apoplexy helped create this "controversy," told CNN yesterday that the president's speech to students is "different" as a result of the hysteria Greer generated. Asked if he has any proof to bolster the claim that the White House changed course to accommodate right-wing critics, Greer said, "No, I don't."

Obama = Drug Dealer, Obama = Child Molester

From over at Malkin's post of I repeat: It’s not the speech, it’s the subtext, here's commenter gco explaining:

The argument in favor of Obama giving this talk is that the message of studying hard and maintaining good bahavior is valuable to any kid, and they should hear it, so who cares if it’s being delivered by a far-left radical with long-standing ties to “educators” who promote using schools for political indoctrination? If that’s how it is, then why not send your kids to hear a speech on water safety given by a drug dealer, followed by a bicycle safety talk from a child molester? Those are important messages, and according to mainstream thought, it shouldn’t matter who delivers those messages.

Watermelon Bill

A new term for me:

“Do you like watermelon?” Beck asked sarcastically on the June 26 episode of his program.

“I love watermelon,” responded Phil Kerpen, the director of policy for Americans for Prosperity.
“I think this is a watermelon bill,” said Beck.

“I think you’re exactly right,” said Kerpen. “This bill is green on the outside, the thinnest green on the outside. And inside, it’s deep communist red.”

Consistency

Hullabaloo:

I certainly hope this makes it quite clear that consistency is not something Obama should count upon from his enemies. Indeed, I fully expect that the next time the Republicans take office they will launch several investigations of the previous Democratic administration (assuming they haven't already taken over congress, in which case they will begin while he's still in office.) They do not observe the self-imposed rules the Democrats put upon themselves. That should be obvious by now.

They will not thank him for doing what they tell him to do. They will simply move on to the next attack.

Or, as Sadly, No puts it: This Is Sure To Pacify Them.

Treason

They are wholly and completely terrified:

Why did I say that this was a predictable and "ministerial" move, by Obama? Because, by definition, that is the way in which Marxists and fascists operate, i.e., by central, governmental control, through various ministries. If you have been following the development of the Obama administration, you are seeing numerous other endeavors for ministerial control. Through the cabinet and through the "czars," Barack Obama is attempting to impose this form of governmental tyranny upon America, in violation of the principles of the Declaration and the People's foundationally mandated design of our method of self-governance, proscribed by means of the Constitution.

Such an organized and pervasive assault upon America is literally and thoroughly, treason, whether it comes by trickle, or by flood and whether it is caught in its initial ploys, or further on in the burgeoning injury to the People, inflicted by this insurrection.

Please comment if you think the venue in which you now read should present or link to examinations and explications of just what are the treasons of Marxism, social Darwinism, fascism, anarcho-syndical socialism, progressivism, globalism, and transnational progressivism.

This refers to the "stay in school" speech.

Emphasis in the original.

Less-On

And with this, from Delaware Libertarian, we have the best take yet:

And, yes, you really are an idiot if....
... you plan to keep your children out of school or ask them to be removed from the class when President Obama speaks, like these idiots.

Three reasons you are an idiot:

1) If President Obama in thirty minutes or less can indoctrinate your children into whatever socialist values you think he's going to be selling, then as a parent attempting to build the character and values of your children you are not only an idiot but failure.

2) If you have so little respect for the Office of the President that you wish to convey to your children that they should not show respect to the President even when he belongs to a different political party, you are an idiot who is contributing to the disintegration of the American identity. [And if you use the they disrespected Bush argument you are not an idiot in this case but a less-on. A less-on is someone who, if they were twice as smart would be a moron.]

3) If you sincerely believe that President Obama's message is going to be anything other than work hard, get good grades, stay in school, and help other people, you probably gave up sounding out the words in this post two sentences ago.

Sorry: for as much as I disagree with many of President Obama's policies, he is the President of the United States. He is my President. I will argue against what I believe are his incorrect policy choices, but I will try damn hard not to disrespect the office. That's why, if you check back, you will find that I have been very careful to refer to him correctly in my posts.

There is a place for this kind of partisanship, but the school is not it. The man is trying to act like Presidents are supposed to act. He probably won't be perfect, but his speech is not going to harm your kids.

hawks up big wad of phlegm

... leaves room ....

Forgive the full post quote. All credit is to writer Steve Newton on this one.

We're Number One

Brad:

Readers from other countries often get upset when I tell them that the American right is louder and crazier than any right-wing movement in the developed world. “But we have wingnuts too!” they’ll insist as they’ll link to something crazy a Tory backbencher said eight years ago.

But sorry, no. You do not have to deal with the level of stupid bullshit that we put up with on a daily basis. I never saw conservatives in other countries organizing angry protests when Tony Blair or Jean Chrétien talked to schoolchildren. You may have your right-wing crazies but they aren’t as loud or as powerful as the right-wing crazies in this country. Full stop.

Hey, Check Out The New Explorer

This is deeply, deeply depressing:

Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout -- launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes and communities to demonstrate and help spread the word about its new operating system.

Best Friend

The very silly Ben Stein:

Don't get me wrong. My very best friend is gay

So Much As Breathes

Ahh, that's the strategy:

If Obama so much as breathes, Republicans plan on screaming bloody murder.

Stop The Crazy

This shit is fully and officially out of fucking control: Alert: Obama will practice psy-ops on your children at school, Sept. 8

Can anyone stop the crazy?

Toolfarb

Michael Goldfarb, supreme tool, thinks we've shown our dicks to be smaller than those of the Chinese, as evidenced by the cancellation of the F-22 project:

Obama and the Democrats have made a big bet, and the stakes are no less than the balance of power in the Pacific. If Obama and his allies are right, the country will have saved a few billion dollars. If they're wrong...well, better brush up on your Mandarin.

That's right, Michael, we're about to be invaded by the Chinese and Mandarin established as the region's official language.

If only we had some military might left.

The Way It Is

However Obama spends Labor Day will be considered an offensive, UnAmerican gaffe by the Right.

I wonder what he will be called out for having done?

Speak For God

Dan Savage:

Well when you have a party that claims to speak for god and claims that god is on its side the rhetoric heats up and the anger heats up. This is not just a battle about ideas and positions and what’s good for the country and bad for the country, it’s a battle about what god wants and what god doesn’t want and you’re, it’s easier to demagogue about your enemies and despise them than to humanize them in this really personal and vicious way. I mean, the religious right is fomenting this kind of hatred in this country and at our peril.

I really do think that the Michelle Bachmann’s of the world and the Glenn Beck’s of the world are actively and consciously or subconsciously just trying to get, I’m just going to say it, trying to get the President killed. That’s why they’re setting this up as a kill or be killed arguments. He’s going to kill your grandma, pull the plug on grandma, death panels that little children have to go in front of. This kind of rhetoric, this paranoid style of the religious right from you know, Birchers to birthers doesn’t usually end well and we somebody’s got to put the brakes on it. Unfortunately the Republican party, there are adults left in the room, there are only the Michelle Bachmann’s and the Glenn Beck's and the Rush Limbaugh’s running the show.

My emphasis.

(Via Crooks and Liars)

All Rational

I'm sorry to say it, but this, from Attaturk at FDL, is a pretty good example of skepticism on the Left about Obama's ability to retake control of the health care debate:

Here's the deal, he'll make a speech, he'll be all rational as he disappoints his base who has no real alternative, the right-wing will make up some new series of crazed bs that "nobody anticipates" the media treats it seriously and nobody wins except in the Pyrrhic sense.

Or not, as I need to end on an optimistic note for no particularly logical reason.

Contract Murder

IOZ:

I eagerly await Richard Cohen's next thinkulation: "Contract Murder, But Does It Work?"

No One Else

Justine Bateman:

The summer is over. No one else is going to die now, right?

Ask Not

It's so odd the way rightwingers are horrified at the notion of their president asking anything of them.