The New Road

Nice slam by Chris Matthews

Good going Chris:

This 'Democrat' crap has annoyed me for years. It's straight out of that schoolyard talk radio bullshit of making up names for people.

Talk Radio Ruins The Right

Excellent article on how talk radio has ruined the right. Some favorite sections:

Much as their blind loyalty discredited the Right, perhaps the worst effect of Limbaugh et al. has been their draining away of political energy from what might have been a much more worthwhile project: the fostering of a middlebrow conservatism. There is nothing wrong with lowbrow conservatism. It’s energizing and fun. What’s wrong is the impression fixed in the minds of too many Americans that conservatism is always lowbrow, an impression our enemies gleefully reinforce when the opportunity arises. ... It does so by routinely descending into the ad hominem—Feminazis instead of feminism—and catering to reflex rather than thought. Where once conservatism had been about individualism, talk radio now rallies the mob.

Yep. We saw that in spades with the McCain/Palin rallies that were something straight out of mob hell.

But there was not much confrontation with other deep social and economic problems. The unholy marriage of social engineering and high finance that ended with our present ruin was left largely unanalyzed from reluctance to slight a Republican administration.

Finally! Someone on the right recognizes that the nanny state enforcement required by evangelicals is completely at odds with the libertarian wing that wants to drown government in the bathtub.

Why have we allowed carny barkers to run away with the Right?

Yeah, that one speaks for itself.

Conservative talk radio has gotten a lot worse since Obama's election. When Bush was in charge they seemed chained to some reasonable sense of reality. Now they have been unchained for governance and their talk has turned into mindless nonsensical ranting into the wind. Glenn Beck, for example, can't seem to decide whether Obama is a nazi, communist or the anti-Christ. While Hannity and Limbaugh can find socialism in how Obama walks across The White House lawn.

It's not even fun to listen to anymore. It's like watching the crazy guy on the corner screaming about how we sinners should all repent as the end is nigh.

Spot freakin' on

Bobby Jindal really is Kenneth the page from 30 Rock:

Nice!

Pork: Health care for kids

I was amazed last night when the Republicans sat down as President Obama talked about children's health care. Apparently I wasn't the only one:

This is just gross. I understand that Republicans are just stooges for the insurance companies, but give me a break. This is kids we are talking about here. They can't/shouldn't be forced to earn money to pay for enough insurance just to stay healthy. What's wrong with these people?

The Party Of One

The motto of the Republican party ought to be; "The party of one". Because it represents individualists who seem totally uninterested in anything that doesn't directly effect them. The Jindal rebuttal last night provides a stark example of this. Here is what Jindal says:

"...and $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC."

Now let me re-phrase it:

"...and $140 million for something called ‘hurricane monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring hurricanes, what Congress should be monitoring is the storm of spending in Washington, DC."

I'm sure Jindal would never say this. Why? Because hurricanes directly effect him. Volcanoes on the other hand, don't. So why should he be concerned about them. Of course, ask the people in Hawaii or the Pacific northwest about volcanoes and you will get a very different set of priorities. Of course, one could ask why people live in places where natural disasters are sure to strike, but...

We are not a nation of individuals. We live and die along with our communities. When the community at large is disrupted, we individually suffer.

Awesome Michelle Obama

This is one of the most uplifting things I've seen in a while:

Well, besides the love you note that Lori wrote on the bathroom mirror this morning that really brightened up my day.

Dear Lord I Love Populism

Now UBS, the big Swiss banker, is going to reveal the names of the Americans defrauding the government by holding money in Swiss accounts. Sweet! According to them; "Client confidentiality, to which UBS remains committed, was never designed to protect fraudulent acts..." Ummm, riiiight. Sure. I'm sure lots of folks had accounts there because the interest rates were better.

This is so awesome. The UBS rolls will read like a conservative phone book. Love it! Love it! I love it when we get a little populism going! It doesn't last long, but it's sweeter than Tupelo honey to see the rich get the shaft for a while.

Limbaugh: Stupidest man on the planet

Rush is such a moron. This time he is talking out of his drug-addled as about how the PDF files that contain the text of the stimulus legislation can't be searched. Which is patently false of course. They can be searched just fine. But the oxycontin addiction that has addled his brain leads him to the conclusion that his inability with computers is somehow a liberal plot to destroy the country.

Anybody who takes this mean seriously is a world-class idiot.

Personality Escapism

We now have three different shows that feature some type of personality shifting escapism. There is the Mr. And Mrs. Smith takeoff with Christian Slater; "My Own Worst Enemy." Then there is the United States Of Tara where we get Toni Collette giving he capital-A Actress! multiple personalities performance. And finally Dollhouse does the sci-fi spin on it, with Eliza Dushku playing a new character every week.

In my eye this is all just a continuation of the different is better TV we have been getting since Lost shook the monkey tree three seasons ago. If you can't do something better, at least do something different to see if people will tune in every week.

The trouble with this latest peck of shows is that none of the actors are good enough to really pull this off. Or maybe they are and it's the production or the scripts that are at fault. But they all leave me thinking that they are more acting calisthenics than they are actual shows. In particular The United States Of Tara leaves me less than sold. While trying to be the most realistic, it comes off as the most contrived. While it seems like the perfect vehicle to explore how our personalities define us and our relationships to those around us, the end of each episode just leaves me knowing less, and frankly, wanting to know less, about the show. The only thing thing that keeps me watching is Jon Corbett, who seems to only have the one gear he had in Northern Exposure, but it's a fun gear an I like it.

Jury is still out on Dollhouse. It's certainly worth a few more rounds, particularly since it's a Joss Whedon sci-fi show and there aint nothin' wrong with that.

The Horror Of $1 Trillion

I listened to a little of the right wing spin machine tonight going apoplectic about just how much money one trillion dollars is. How many times it could wrap around the Earth. How you could spend a dollar a day since Jesus was born and not even come close (yeah, really, that's only ~$740,000). Etc. Etc.

All that is true. But where were these folks when we were doing $150B and $200B supplemental spending bills for the Iraq war. The Iraq war which has already cost us one trillion dollars and isn't even done yet. Where were these people when Congress was spending billions on 'reconstruction'. Spending billions on contracts that were never finished, and in some cases never even started? Or when twelve billion in cash was taken from the Federal Reserve in New York and flown to Baghdad on palettes. Where it was quickly lost. Poof!

Please, right wingers, don't bitch to me about how much it costs to fix Bush's two trillion dollar economic hole. And don't whine about how much a trillion is when it's spent here at home when you were more than happy to spend it bribing insurgents not to shoot at us in Iraq.

WTF?

How is this done?

Spendulus

This lovely little bit of text for Fox Noise today. Spendulus.... Hmmm... Yeah... That's the point!

Funny that Fox didn't just go with porkulus as Rush Limbaugh likes to say (is he talking about himself over the stimulus plan?).

YARJ: John Ensign

Know any teachers getting laid off? I know five. Senator John Ensign doesn't know any. And says that we are fear mongering when we say policemen, firemen, and teachers will lose their jobs. No, yet another Republican jackass Ensign, teachers all over the place are losing their jobs. How about we trade your job for theirs? I'm sure with all of the PAC money you get you could pay a lot of teachers salaries.

Jackass.

Michael Steele: Jackass

For a week now the newly minted RNC chair has been going around saying that government never created a job. Yesterday he explained his insane position by saying that government contracts are inherently contracts (false) and thus not jobs (false). Michael, the other 99.9999% of us who speak English use the word job for something that gives us paychecks.

Besides, the notion that a job is permanent is long dead. That notion died in the 50s along with computers that took up the floor of a building and the dream of a flying car. In the Silicon Valley people change jobs every year or two.

Also, Mr. Steele, the government in green cashey money, which is used to buy stuff at the grocery store, movie theatre, dinners out, pay off mortgages, etc. etc. Which is how this stimulus bill does the stimulating. Instead of just giving people one worthless tax rebate check which they immediately spend on necessities, this gives them a week-to-week paycheck to pay their bills and feed their kids.

I just don't get it. Why do the Republicans hate the middle class so much. They chopped the middle class out of their tax cut bills. Now they are fighting tooth and nail against spending money which will give 6M middle class people jobs, 95% of which are actually in the private sector. It's as if they won't be satisfied until they see soup lines on the footsteps of the capitol.

Claire McCaskill kicks ass

Claire McCaskill is my new favorite senator:

Watch her as she kicks some serious act. "We should have done this the first time. But none of us thought these guys were that stupid."

Conservative jackass de jour

Glenn Beck thinks giving kids health insurance isn't just socialism, it's communism! Ok comrade! Let's just let these kids die in the streets.

I often wonder if conservatives staunch opposition to insuring everyone is just eugenics-on-the-cheap. Deny health care to the un-deserving masses and... Ah well, it's not working since the collapse of the Bush economy has just driven people from clinics into emergency rooms.

Oh, sweet Christ, shut up!

Did the Democrats not just win the election? All I see on TV, hear on the radio, or read on the web is conservatives crowing every time Obama does anything. Socialism! Communism! Capping executive salaries at $500K is communism I tell you! Communism! Oh, please, shut up. If the government bails your company out then you shouldn't be making millions.

Honestly, the idea that Obama even has to do the capping is disgusting. Any CEO with a sense of pride who takes a bailout should cap their own salary. The fact that these fat cats are still flying around in corporate jets and taking millions in compensation is ridiculous. They are literally filling up their Lear jets on Chinese debt that our kids will have to pay off.

The media used to say that they only brought conservatives on because they were in power. What's the excuse now?

On a related note, the Limbaugh Plan, makes me physically ill. The idea that we would take the election poll numbers 46-53 and divvy up a stimulus plan into 46% tax cuts and 53% stimulus is nauseating. We won Rush! You lost! The Presidency is 100%. 100% Democrat. Eat shit Rush.

When $500K just isn't enough

Apparently Obama's $500K limit on direct compensation is a little too tight for Wall Street fatcats:

"That is pretty draconian, $500,000 is not a lot of money, particularly if there is no bonus," said James F. Reda, founder and managing director of James F. Reda & Associates, a compensation consulting firm. "And you know these companies that are in trouble are not going to pay much of an annual dividend."

Mr. Reda said only a handful of big companies pay chief executives and other senior executives $500,000 or less in total compensation. He said such limits will make it hard for the companies to recruit and keep executives, most of whom could earn more money at other firms.

Hey, you know what, if my money isn't enough for them, then they should just ride this thing out all on their own, ok?

Enjoy living among the common folk, boys. $500K is quite a hardship.

Simple Question For Righties

If hundreds of billions of infrastructure dollars spent in Iraq was meant to create jobs for them, why won't the same for work for us? The righties loved infrastructure spending when the bridges were in Iraq. But bridges in St. Louis? No! No! No!