Parting Thoughts On The Sordid Weiner Episode

What is it about liberals that they have such BLINDERS on when it comes to dissecting the threat, not only to the Democratic Party, which is a VERY IMPERFECT vessel, but the threat to our nation from THE RIGHT? We can't call these right wing ratbastards by their correct appellation — FASCISTS — oh no, that's a conversation-stopper says mealy-mouthed hippie Thom Hartmann. But we can wring our hands and bemoan the HYPOCRISY of Republicans as Rachel does, night after night, with her cutesy IOIYAR: "It's okay if you're a Republican." Besides preaching to the choir — we know all that — Rachel, don't you get it? Allow me to spell it out:

THEY.DO.NOT.FUCKING.CARE! David Vitter, John Ensign, Chris Lee, etc. etc. etc. — BRING IT ON. As far as their base is concerned, AND THE NARROW MARGIN OF VOTERS NEEDED TO WIN ELECTIONS, REPUBLICANS WELCOME DIVERTING OUR ATTENTION FROM BREAD-AND-BUTTER ISSUES TO PHONY MORAL ISSUES — THE 'CULTURE WARS'. THAT'S HOW REPUBLICANS WIN ELECTIONS. One of the lasting truisms of left-right, Democratic-Republican politics, is that Democrats win when bread-and-butter issues are FRONT-AND-CENTER. Republicans win when they divert the electorate's attention to phony 'culture war' issues. The Democrats seldom win on the GOP's culture wars turf.

Why? Because Republicans understand the psychology of their RELIGIOUS EVANGELICAL BASE and will pander shamelessly, with no risk of negative political repercussions. Quite the contrary. The HARDER THEY FALL, THE STRONGER THEY GET POLITICALLY, AS LONG AS THEY BARE THEIR SOULS TO THE BASE, ADMITTING THEIR SINS WITH WIFEY AT THEIR SIDES. It's all about redemption, hitting rock-bottom, and accepting Christ into one's life. Forgiveness is DIVINE, and the GOP base LOVES to forgive its sexual deviants, because it reinforces their fundamentalist religious narrative of forgiveness, redemption and salvation, giving them a sense of "grace" that's next to godliness. IOW, it's A SEXUAL TURN-ON FOR THEM.

In 2004, Republicans put gay marriage on the ballot in key battleground states, to bring out those one-issue voters. THEY WON. In 2010, the undercurrent to the PHONY BELTWAY ECONOMIC DEMAGOGUERY (the stimulus was a failure, NO JOBS, etc.— all LIES) was the RACIST VOTE energized by BIRTHERISM with scare tactics about healthcare centered on President Obama as a "socialist" and "muslim" and a scary BLACK MAN who was going to take seniors' Medicare away.

Would an INFORMED, KNOWLEDGEABLE electorate fall for this GARBAGE? NO!

But the fact is, 38 percent of Americans cannot pass a citizenship test — a natural Republican constituency — while Democratic voters stayed home, urged on by demagogues with a platform like Dylan Ratigan, who promote anti-government stay-at-home cynicism by claiming all "politicians" regardless of party are the same. That is one of the BIG LIES of our time. The old adage that a "yellow dog" with a (D) by its name is better than any (R) is truer today than it ever was. Like it or not, a two-party system is what we've got; we don't live in a parliamentary democracy.

So anyone who claims the Anthony Weiner episode will not last more than a couple of news cycles, and he can stay in Congress as only a somewhat "less effective" Congressman, with no fallout to the Democratic Party in the 2012 elections — IS A FOOL. It's not about the sex, the cyber-sex, the pictures, the women, the pregnant wife — it's not even about the SERIAL LYING. IT'S ABOUT ONE STUPID JACKASS — ANTHONY WEINER — HANDING REPUBLICANS A CAMPAIGN ISSUE, A CUDGEL, TO DIVERT OUR ATTENTION FROM MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY, JOBS, AND THE ECONOMY.

Anthony Weiner will become the Republicans' poster boy for smearing the Democratic Party with being somehow immoral, unethical, seamy, having lost its way and undeserving of the public's trust because they're dragging some DEAD WOOD around named Anthony Weiner.

The Republican sinners have found salvation in Christ ... They campaign in churches to praise the Lord and their vote to KILL MEDICARE. Democrats ... not so much. Blame it on the old 'separation of church and state' thing. Democrats actually take their constitutional obligations seriously. Melissa Harris Perry said, about Anthony Weiner, "Life isn't always fair." Rachel thinks Melissa is REALLY SMART. So do I.

How To Impress Women On The Internet With Your Penis

From a Greek "talent" show. (Shouldn't they be playing the ORGAN instead of the piano, though?)

Re: Anthony Weiner — The Bill Clinton False Analogy

Lawrence O'Donnell tonight re-enacted the Jennifer Flowers v. Bill Clinton episode —which must have really thrilled Hillary and Bill and, I thought, was a low point for Jonathan Alter, who seemed to be having trouble dignifying the "Back To The Future" theme of the segment. Apparently, the point of Lawrence's PASSION PLAY is that a consequential sex scandal was survivable for the next president of the United States. Therefore, the cyber-sex Anthony Weiner episode is equally survivable.

Perhaps. I'm even willing to concede that Anthony's constituents will re-elect him to Congress. Lawrence hates the hypocrisy of moralizing Republican politicians, who have been the worst sex offenders in Congress, and frequently seem to get away with a lighter sentence. Either that, or they're cut loose by their leaders and fall on their swords before further damage redounds to their party: Chris Lee; John Ensign, among them. Joan Walsh reminded us over at the Ed Show that we Democrats are "different." We don't pass summary judgment on our people until all the facts are in. "Hear, hear," piped in Bill Press. We don't throw our people under the bus.

Well, I beg to differ. Yes we do. Or we should.

To Joan's point that Bill Clinton LIED to us, then survived impeachment, as the indispensable president — rather than Democrats' best-ever REPUBLICAN president — who is "stronger today" that he didn't resign, I heard a SLAM-DUNK response to this line of argument on the Stephanie Miller show. It came from one of her brainiac sex slaves: Had Clinton resigned, the MORE LIBERAL Al Gore would have succeeded him. Gore would have continued most of Clinton's policies, except he would reject any "fast track" NAFTA free trade agreement which lacked strong environmental controls, and would have vetoed the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which repeal, SIGNED by Clinton, eventually led to the economic collapse of 2007.

Then, PRESIDENT GORE would have contested the 2000 election as the INCUMBENT with the HUGE SURPLUS wind at his back, blowing the IMBECILE George W. Bush out of the water. Imagine if you will: No Bush tax cuts. No Iraq war. Bin Laden cornered and killed at Tora Bora in 2002. Saddam Hussein boxed in by a strong UN-sanctions regime, as a counterbalance to Iran. President Gore would concentrate our substantial military assets on wiping Al Qaeda off the face of the earth. He would have forged strong international alliances, leading us far down the path toward energy independence. Finally, Social Security and Medicare would have been fixed well into the next century with the surplus savings. And we would have had universal healthcare by now.

Can you say, Bubba's "survivability = HUGE missed opportunity" ... anyone?

But, instead, I represent the generic "electorate" that is in DEEP SHIT as a result of what our elected officials have done, or failed to do, mostly stabbing us in the back: Beginning with the ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY, a LARGE PART OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, and much of the media, including Dana Milbank, Michael Steele, and Heilemann-Halperin (borderline plagiarists and SMUT peddlers, who are in their element RIGHT NOW) as fixtures of the CNN-ization of MSNBC. (I've seen the same numbers MSNBC Corporate is looking at: 62% audience growth for CNN, 26% for MSNBC, while Fox's ratings atrophy — so CNN is the new emerging competitor.)

No one — NO ONE — is indispensable. Big Eddie got it immediately: Sometimes you just "gotta take one for the team." Oh sure, I love Anthony Weiner, the liberal attack dog. But not at the expense of what we're fighting for. We cannot afford to get sentimental about this jackass's prospects of survivability — not when he can take the entire party down with him.

To use the old baseball analogy: It's Game 7, top of the fifth. You're the Manager. Your team is ahead by two runs, and your ace pitcher is on the mound. Suddenly he loses it. His control is gone. Runners on second and third with no outs. What do you do? Do you hope he gets his control back and manages to get three outs without giving up two or three runs just so he can notch that WIN on his resumé? Or do you tell yourself: "I've got a 100 mph short reliever I was saving for the ninth, I've got a rested bullpen, AND I've got the whole DAMNED PITCHING STAFF to get the next fifteen outs, because THIS IS IT, THERE'S NO TOMORROW."

What DO YOU DO? Me, I'd yank the ACE in a NEW YORK MINUTE and never look back.

It's a team sport. No one's indispensable. Not even your ACE. And if he can't find the plate, he's OUT. With all due respect to Lawrence and Joan Walsh, Bill Clinton is a really poor analogy. In the first instance — Jennifer Flowers — it was Bill's word against hers, and the voters decided the Governor's word carried more weight than a slutty publicity seeker's who received unspecified funds for hurling her accusations. The 'caught-'im' lying came later. I rather doubt that after more than a week of arrogant LIES, Anthony Weiner has a prayer of turning his fortunes around by doing 60 Minutes with his wife. Furthermore, he's no Bill Clinton.

Starry-eyed, bleeding heart, hand-wringing, compassionate principle is what makes liberals sexy and cuddly. But it's a character flaw when it comes to winning elections. Rachel, there's nothing we can do about Republicans; not even your little "friend" Michael Steele can help you understand them. They're monsters, weasels, cowards, guttersnipes, scumsucking, bottom-feeding ratbastards, an alien subhuman hive ... and I'm only warming up.

So forget it. Democrats, and only Democrats, can control their message, their strategy, their fundraising, and the voter appeal and electability of their candidates. So when a Democratic rock star named Anthony Weiner becomes a SERIAL LIAR about his creepy, reprehensible personal behavior, sucking all the oxygen out of the Party's PRINCIPAL goal, which is to retake the House and re-elect President Obama, then, please, allow me, the generic Democratic voter (not of his district and state) to cut him loose and THROW HIM UNDER THE BUS! Oh sure, ultimately it's up to him and the voters of his district. But he should know how we feel. And then decide whether he wants, for self-serving reasons, to TRAMPLE on our message of HAMMERING THE REPUBLICANS RELENTLESSLY FOR VOTING TO KILL MEDICARE.

And I'll tell you who agrees with me: Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi. She can't say it publicly, but reports are she's furious with Weiner, and I believe, wants him to resign. Nancy's no bleeding heart. She's one tough lady and a proven winner. She knows how to win elections. That's what it's all about. Especially in 2012, which is a PIVOTAL YEAR for our country.

Bush Tax Cuts At 10: A Legacy Of Misery And Tragedy — What Could Have Been

Ten years after the Bush tax cuts, as we pause to take stock of what they actually DID versus what their absence COULD HAVE DONE, the inclination of Republicans to perpetuate the misery and economic devastation is nothing short of the familiar definition of INSANITY: Repeat, double and triple down on the tragic mistakes of the past, expecting a different, POSITIVE result. But they aren't insane in any traditional, clinical sense. They're more akin to criminals and traitors who have made a considered, self-serving decision — a pact with the Devil — to throw the United States of America under the Chinese Express in service of a narrow slice of master plutocrats and their über-rich comrades who are the sole beneficiaries of this government largesse and massive transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class Americans struggling with unemployment, underwater mortgages, no health care, and an all-out GOP assault on retirement benefits, pensions, Social Security, and Medicare.

In an ALTERNATE REALITY, one in which RATIONAL people exist, politicians serve their constituents rather than their contributors, corporations are regulated and their influence over the electoral process is held in check, and political leaders actually deliver a government that reflects the PUBLIC INTEREST and the COMMON GOOD — this is what the revenues RESCUED from the Bush tax cuts could have provided: (And we haven't even touched the two off-budget wars and the partial privatization of Medicare — Advantage, insurance companies.)

Cosmic Vibrations: Man Discovers Signs Of Life On Mars

An amateur astronomer chanced upon this intriguing structure on Mars (see below). Here are the fascinating details:

A self-described "armchair astronaut" claims to have identified a human (or alien) base on Mars. David Martines noticed a mysterious rectangular structure that appears to be on the Red Planet's surface while trolling the planetary surface using Google Mars, a new map program created from compiled satellite images of the planet.

"This is a video of something I discovered on Google Mars quite by accident," said Martines, the armchair astronaut, in a now-viral YouTube video. "I call it Bio Station Alpha, because I'm just assuming that something lives in it or has lived in it."

He zooms in the surface anomaly — a long, pixelated, white object — and lists the coordinates as 49'19.73"N 29 33'06.53"W. "It's over 700 feet long and 150 feet wide. It looks like it's a cylinder or made up of cylinders," he says.

A HUGELY enhanced picture of the mysterious structure on the surface of Mars revealed this astonishing detailed alien object:

There is no truth to speculation that the planetary coordinates for the Martian erection can be traced to this Twitter account:

But isn't it true that 'MEN ARE FROM MARS' ... ?

Lost In Weiner Cybersex, Santorum Announces Presidential Bid For GOP

Don't know much about Santorum? Well ... that's what the GOOGLE MACHINE is for, right? Learn all about Santorum with this helpful internets search:

CIVICS 2011

Step Aside, Anthony

Anthony Weiner finally came clean today and admitted that all those lewd photos are his, and further, that he's been carrying on "sexting" relationships with several women (?) of legal age (?). The amazing thing about the Anthony Weiner mess is that conventional wisdom dictates the coverup is always worse than the lewd behavior. (For one, we don't know he actually committed any crime at all.) But conventional wisdom is nonetheless right once again.

In this case, the embarassment Weiner has caused his family, his constituents, and his party was compounded by a couple of weeks of public lying. Politically, it's near-fatal, depending on whether there are further revelations, even if he's from the safest of safe Democratic districts.

As tough as it was, Weiner should have come clean immediately as soon as the story broke, instead of finally holding the perfunctory dirty laundry press conference today. As bad as this is —how can Weiner know the women he had internet or texting or phone sex, or whatever it is he was doing with those lewd photos, on Facebook, Twitter, etc., are (a) of legal age (this type of juvenile behavior is typically done by juveniles) or (b) that they are even women at all — it would have been a survivable tryst/embarassment/offense had Weiner come clean and taken his medicine immediately.

As bad as this is, the cliché is still true: the coverup is worse than any possible offense short of an actual crime, which is unlikely. If Anthony hangs on he will be a constant black eye to the Democratic Party and an ineffectual Congressman. "Dumb" doesn't even begin to explain this one.

Paul Revere Responds To Sarah Palin

The HICK from the North Country mangled her history yet again, in the grand tradition of know-nuthin' Republican politicians: "He warned thu Bratesh that they warn't gonna be takin' away our arms!"

No, Sarah, you ignorant S-S-S-S-hit for brains: "The Paul Revere House’s website says that on April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren instructed Revere to ride to Lexington, Mass., to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them." Meanwhile, the Palinites tried  to alter the Paul Revere Wikipedia page. (This is another danger that doesn't get nearly the focus it should, with wingnuts raiding history entries on Wikipedia in a continuous attempt to revise history. I'm glad the Wikipedia editors were alert to it this time. Quite often, they've been asleep at the switch.)

But as luck would have it, PAUL REVERE HIMSELF has an answer just for Sister Sarah!

I Don't Usually Approve Of People Thrusting Bibles In Politicians' Faces ...

But in this case, I'm willing to make an exception. Recently Bill-O The Clown accused the President of being for "social justice." Is that supposed to be a bad thing? It's Christianity's middle name; and it's what this young Catholic activist was trying to impress upon Paul Ryan regarding the essential immorality of his Medicare-killing budget. For all of its flaws, the Catholic Church has been the most genuine, the most authentic Christian church in following the Word of Jesus: What you do unto the least of us, you do unto Me.

The Catholic Church is not like the apocalyptics with their broken-down doomsday clock, obsessing over the rapturous destruction of millions of lives; or the evangelicals who preach "personal salvation" for a buck; or the mega-churches that tend to the spiritual needs of comfortable white suburbanites. The Catholic Church not only believes in the letter of the teachings of Jesus Christ, but tries to live by it each and every day. It's really a no-brainer. Jesus showed the way:

Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.

Matthew 25:36

Catholic teaching is clear on helping the poor and providing healthcare for all, on economic and social justice, and on the role of the state. Here are selected excerpts of Catholic social teaching (emphasis mine):

Option for the Poor
The moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor. The "option for the poor," is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community.
The option for the poor is an essential part of society's effort to achieve the common good. A healthy community can be achieved only if its members give special attention to those with special needs, to those who are poor and on the margins of society.  See selected quotations.

Rights and Responsibilities
Human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency — starting with food, shelter and clothing, employment, health care, and education. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities — to one another, to our families, and to the larger society.  See selected quotations.

On the proper role of government, note that the Catholic Church emphasizes that the right wing libertarian ideology of  so-called "limited government" is antithetical to Catholic teaching. Hence, whether or not it admits to it, in this sphere of the role of government, social justice, and the "common good" the Church is decidedly liberal in its outlook and philosophy. This passage is worth highlighting:

"When the needs in question cannot adequately be met at the lower level, then it is not only necessary, but imperative that higher levels of government intervene."

Role of Government and Subsidiarity
The state has a positive moral function. It is an instrument to promote human dignity, protect human rights, and build the common good. All people have a right and a responsibility to participate in political institutions so that government can achieve its proper goals.

The principle of subsidiarity holds that the functions of government should be performed at the lowest level possible, as long as they can be performed adequately. When the needs in question cannot adequately be met at the lower level, then it is not only necessary, but imperative that higher levels of government intervene.  See selected quotations on the role of government and subsidiarity.

Similarly, when Bill-O The Clown tried once more to portray our President as somehow alien to "our values" he placed President Obama, without even knowing it, squarely in the mainstream of Catholic Christian teaching on the proper role of government and politicians:

All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions. They also have a fundamental right to organize and join unions. People have a right to economic initiative and private property, but these rights have limits. No one is allowed to amass excessive wealth when others lack the basic necessities of life.

Catholic teaching ... rejects the notion that a free market automatically produces justice. Distributive justice, for example, cannot be achieved by relying entirely on free market forces. Competition and free markets are useful elements of economic systems. However, markets must be kept within limits, because there are many needs and goods that cannot be satisfied by the market system. It is the task of the state and of all society to intervene and ensure that these needs are met.

Economic Justice
The economy must serve people, not the other way around. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions. They also have a fundamental right to organize and join unions. People have a right to economic initiative and private property, but these rights have limits. No one is allowed to amass excessive wealth when others lack the basic necessities of life. 

 

Catholic teaching opposes collectivist and statist economic approaches. But it also rejects the notion that a free market automatically produces justice. Distributive justice, for example, cannot be achieved by relying entirely on free market forces. Competition and free markets are useful elements of economic systems. However, markets must be kept within limits, because there are many needs and goods that cannot be satisfied by the market system. It is the task of the state and of all society to intervene and ensure that these needs are met.

Which brings us to the sordid and pathetic footnote in the Republican Party's radical schemes to undo generations of our social and economic safety net, enacted under FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society, simply because they are laissez-faire economic royalists and extremists who worship at the altar of a false goddess named Ayn Rand. This blog has been hammering this theme from the very beginning of Paul Ryan's Terror Tour, but only now is it percolating up the fringes of the Beltway Media. In fact, they treat the vehement Catholic opposition to the Ryan budget as if it didn't exist. And they will not even acknowledge the connection between these radical policies and Ayn Rand. Why? (Maybe Andrea Mitchell can provide an answer. But she's not telling.)

Beautiful Images From A Dying Planet Worth Saving: The Arctic Light

This was filmed between 29th April and 10th May 2011 in the Arctic, on the archipelago Lofoten in Norway.

My favorite natural phenomenon is one I do not even know the name of, even after talking to meteorologists and astrophysicists I am none the wiser.What I am talking about I have decided to call The Arctic Light and it is a natural phenomenon occurring 2-4 weeks before you can see the Midnight Sun.

The Sunset and Sunrise are connected in one magnificent show of color and light lasting from 8 to 12 hours. The sun is barely going below the horizon before coming up again. This is the most colorful light that I know, and the main reason I have been going up there for the last 4 years, at the exact same time of year, to photograph.

~ From the Norwegian landscape photographer TSO, who is a passionate landscape and video photographer since 2006.

Progressives Target NH Republican With Medicare Ad

This is what the GOP/Tea Party MONSTERS who voted to KILL Medicare have to look forward to from now till election day. Progressives started running this powerful ad in New Hampshire against Rep. Charlie Bass for his KILL-Medicare vote. You can run for the hills, you ratbastards, but you can't hide; we're coming for you and we will flip the House back to Democratic control.

TPM obtained results from a Public Policy Polling (D) survey conducted for PCCC/DFA this week. The poll of 534 likely voters in Bass' 2nd Congressional District shows voters there are not happy with Bass' support for the Ryan plan.

Just 25% say they approve of Bass' vote for the Ryan budget, as the progressive groups described it ("end the federal Medicare program as it exists today, and turn it into a voucher system where seniors are forced to buy private insurance.") An overwhelming majority, 64%, said they disapproved. The poll has a margin of error of 4.2%.

National polls have shown similarly broad disapproval of the Ryan plan with more neutral wording.

The PPP numbers suggest Bass is vulnerable to the same kind of ads that helped seal the win for Democrats in the New York special. The progressive groups aren't waiting around -- they're taking on Bass now, more than a year before the next election. The TV ad began on Thursday with a $25,000 run that will see it aired on broadcast and cable throughout New Hampshire.

To Be A Great Journalist Today, You Must Be Wonkishly Geeky ...

Here's what sets Rachel apart from the pack: The DEFINITIVE Anthony Weiner interview:

And here's the famous Leaning Tower of Weiner pic ... less than totemic. But even Lawrence would enthusiastically claim it to be "his" if only to impress Stephanie. (It's OK; she's cool with the joke.)

TEA PARTY Remedial Ed: This Is What DEMOCRACY — 101 Looks Like

Yeah, I know, the Tea Party is moribund. But you never can tell with these ZOMBIES ... They have a way of rising up from the dead. So gather round, Teabaggers, I've got a little story to tell you:

You know all that stuff you read about our Founding Fathers (most of it lies and distortions, but we'll leave it be) that when government becomes "tyrannical" you have the right to petition your government for redress or, as you like to say, "I want my country back! Waaaaaahhhhh!!!"

Well, in the great state of Wisconsin, way before you enjoyed all the privileges government affords you today, e.g., Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a group of idealistic "progressives" (you might call them liberals, or socialists, or Democrats, or even ... progressives(!) today) got together and decided they had to protect the people, common folks like you and me, from an abusive or "tyrannical" government. They also carried around copies of the U.S. Constitution but, unlike you, actually and fully understood what all the provisions in our governing document meant. This Bob LaFollette story from 1911 could have been written today:

"The greatest menace to competition at the present time is the control of credit and the concentration of money in the hands of those who control the trusts."

They enacted a law whereby elected state officials, from the governor to legislators to judges, could be recalled by the people in special elections if it was found they had committed grievous wrongs against their electoral mandate and the state and federal constitutions. All that was required was a sufficient number of citizens in said district(s) to agree by signing recall petitions.

Guess what, Teabaggers. After the short and tumultuous Scott Walker reign as king of Wisconsin, shoving through successive bills to strip public employee unions of their bargaining power while cutting taxes for his business cronies and making up the difference off the hides of Wisconsinites, not only did the Democratic 14 senators, aka The Wisconsin 14, revolt to deny him a quorum, but so did the people. In massive demonstrations 100,000 strong, the largest ever in the state's history, Wisconsinites rose up to protest Walker's dictatorial extremism. And then, not only was the union-stripping bill declared unconstitutional, but the demonstrations were followed through with GRASSROOTS (it was ALL grassroots) statewide drives to recall the Republican senators who voted against the unions.

The results are in, and they are TRULY STUNNING AND HISTORIC: Despite being outspent by factors of three or four to one (same as in NY-26) by Koch brothers money — the same jackals who are bankrolling your little dress-up adventures, Teabagger TOOLS — the people's campaign to recall the Republican-controlled Wisconsin senate delivered and has had certified SIX RECALL PETITIONS, THREE MORE THAN THE NUMBER OF RECALL ELECTIONS NEEDED TO FLIP THE WISCONSIN SENATE BACK TO THE DEMOCRATS. The Republican efforts, once again bankrolled by the Koch brothers, with illegal scams like trading shots of liquor for signatures, delivered EXACTLY ZERO PETITIONS TO RECALL DEMOCRATS.

Let this be a signal lesson to YOU, Teabaggers, about (a) what a pathetic, despicable fraud it is for you to represent yourselves as a grassroots movement; and (b) WHAT REAL GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE. We're taking our country back, Teabaggers, from the TYRANTS who wrested the statehouses from the people on false pretenses. In Florida, Tea Party governor Rick Scott is at 29% approval; rest assured, he's a one-term disaster; in Ohio, John Kasich's approval has taken a similar nosedive and a recall petition is underway; and in Wisconsin, Walker stands at 39% approval, with a recall petition looming. Polls indicate he would lose to the Democrat, any Democrat, in a landslide if they had an election do-over today.

Come election day, you'll have a decision to make, Teabaggers: Either stand with the people, or allow the corporate jackals to continue pulling your strings. It's not only something as lofty and inchoate as your country that's at stake — it's YOUR Social Security and Medicare, too.

Sarah Palin Does "Apocalypse Now"

All you movie buffs out there — Remember this famous, seminal scene from Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, Apocalypse Now...? Chris will know:

Well, if you can believe it, here is Sarah Palin's take on one of film's most memorable lines. Was it by design? Who knows. The woman is like a pop culture sponge, a street theater performance ... artist?!? AAAaargh!

SLUTS, Writ Large: If You're Gonna Write/Whine About Misogyny, First Understand What IT Means

When Big Eddie essentially suspended himself for ten days from MSNBC to satisfy the sluts at NBC corporate for his referring to wingnut hate radio host Laura Ingraham as a "slut" and a "media slut"— which is a variation on the venerable "media whore" used to describe the media cancer, which has metastasized from a once healthy watchdog for the people to shilling for corporations and special interests — I personally felt what Ed said was quite offensive to all the decent sluts of good character I've known in my day. And I must say, they would most likely take offense at being compared to the revolting Laura Ingraham, with that nasal whine of hers that sounds like the plaintive tones of a sea lion in heat. (Can you imagine living with your own personal air raid siren?)

Of course, the wingnut media worked itself into a lather over this, digging for "a pattern of invective" on Big Eddie's part. To be a wingnut is to be cluelessly unironic and genuinely surprised and confused when a liberal slides off the rope-a-dope and strikes back with a combination body blow and left hook to their glass jaws. They crumple and whine a lot. It's really unseemly when guttersnipes dish out the invective 24/7 but can't take a hit. Unmacho too, which explains the "manly man" braggadocio from Laura's misogynistic pals. But these are the same folks, like our bud Poor Jeff over at the DC frat house, who consider BIG infrastructure projects such as Hoover Dam — featured in one of Rachel's promos for a return to "can-do" American greatness — as so much "Americana" relegated to the yard sales of the American spirit, a relic of a once great past. But thinking conservatives (they do exist) are appalled by the wingnut "meme" to sell off our assets to pay off our debt.

David Frum offers us a tortured defense of nonprivatization based on practicalities, with a complicated discussion of what constitutes "value." For liberals, it's very simple: Selling off  to the highest bidder (China?) what defines our greatness and our history, what must be nurtured and preserved, is tantamount to treason. Part of the American ethos is, when times are tough, we hold on to those things that define us as a people. One is our history. Another is the vast expanse of public lands set aside by act of Teddy Roosevelt, one of our greatest and most visionary presidents, as America's patrimony for future infinite generations of Americans to enjoy. Our history and our land are bound together in the greatness of what America is. They are not for sale.

Meanwhile, countries like Brazil and China are cleaning our clocks when it comes to infrastructure projects that will maximize their economic growth potential. Recently, Brazil moved to limit sales of its farmlands to foreign interests, China in particular. In fact, Brazil's leftist government has "edged closer to the United States" in its growing unease over China's neo-colonialist designs on its farmlands and the increasingly dependent economic relationship this has wrought:

While visiting China last month, Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, emphasized the need to sell higher-value products to China, and she has edged closer to the United States. “It is not by accident that there is a sort of effort to revalue the relationship with the United States,” said Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “China exposes Brazil’s vulnerabilities more than any other country in the world.”

No, I haven't strayed off-topic; only expanded the definition of "slut" to include examples of capitalist sluts — Chinese speculators — who own large portions of America's debt and hustle Brazil's economy with a quickie fix in exchange for its long-term assets and wealth. The ruling right wing elites who own much of our wealth and now seek total control of the government(s) —states, too — of the United States are more closely aligned to these Chinese speculators than to our own people and government. They would like nothing better than to sell off our national assets to the highest bidder — China, Russia whatever — as long as they make a buck. They have already devastated our industrial base, and would have allowed the Detroit Big Three automakers to go under, if not for the forceful intervention of the Obama administration. Today, our troubled automakers are resurgent and Chrysler has paid off its debt to the American government years ahead of schedule. The taxpayers actually made money on interest earned. And the partnership between business and unions was key to Detroit's rise like the Phoenix from the ashes of annihilation.

The Republican Party has been overrun by a radical, right wing element, the transnational capitalist sluts who would sell our patrimony to the highest bidder. Some thoughtful conservatives recognize the threat but are incapable of stopping it. Otherwise "reasonable" Republicans in government have become zombies of a sort — terrified of being "primaried" by Teabagger zealots — which lands them in the Crazies Zone and pretzel-twist contradictions on everything from the debt ceiling to governing rather than posturing for their money masters.

The radio media sluts Big Eddie spoke about, which includes Ms Ingraham, are the very well paid shills for this right wing element, whose ultimate loyalty is not to America but to the unencumbered movement of billions in investment funds overseas, with the warp speed of a gazillion electronic Bytes. These are the monuments the Right pays homage to, not the idyllic "Americana" concrete and steel monuments built during the FDR administration, when large government projects contributed not only to lifting us out of the Great Depression but to an unparalleled age of prosperity and growth for the Middle Class, one whose downward spiral fault line is traced to the election of Ronald Reagan.

Not surprisingly, Ingraham's reply to Big Eddie's heartfelt apology was a snarky rejoinder plugging the latest of her worthless books:

“Re. the crude comments made about me by Ed Schultz on his radio program: First, I was surprised to learn that Ed Schultz actually hosted a radio show. Is it only available online? Second, I have to get back to recording the audio edition of my new book “Of Thee I Zing.” Now I’m tempted to insert one additional zing–about men who preach civility but practice misogyny.”

First of all, Laura, you must be familiar with the old adage "sticks and stones may break my bones (but words will never hurt me)." It's your stock-in-trade: the "zinger." I don't recall you protesting the misogyny — i.e., hatred of women — of your colleagues, Beck and Linbaugh and Levin and Hannity and O'Reilly and, etc. (Oh, I get it now: As long as men don't "preach civility" it's okay to be hateful misogynists ... boys will be boys, right Laura? By this nonstandard, your colleagues are exempt.) But even worse, you've been woefully silent, along with most women on the right, on the GOP's war on women — from raising taxes to make women's access to health services more difficult, including abortion, to cutting programs that impact poor women and children in particular. This is real, legislative misogyny — not simply a well-meant insult hurled in a radio show. Where are you on this, Laura? Silence is consent. Considering your recent bout with breast cancer, you would deny less fortunate women the life-saving cancer screenings that saved yours.

Big Eddie, a mysogynist? Please. He's a happily married dude with six kids. So he made a mistake and let his mouth get ahead of his brain. It's a common affliction of wingnuts. Rachel will school you on the facts of life, Laura, you S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-hit for brains!

Remember The Paul Ryan Tossing Granny Over The Cliff Ad? (Scroll Down)

The Idiot Puditocracy was "shocked," SHOCKED, I say, even as they replayed it several times. Which was GOOD. Well, apparently these Beltway idiots were too busy being shocked by graphic demonstrations of the TRUTH to cover the REAL-LIFE application of Republican policies to savage our seniors.  DO YOUR JOBS, MEDIA RATBASTARDS!

What's More Disgusting: Sarah Palin Or The Breathless Media Coverage She Attracts?

Sarah Palin's pathological self-promotion, co-opting the biker event in D.C. for her own narcissistic purposes, is just the latest in this sociopath's attention-craving stunts. The woman is truly repulsive. But what's most disgusting about her America-the-Stupid it's all about me campaign is the cottage industry of politics as celebrity entertainment fake "journalists" spawned by Mama Grizzly to cover her fake ... whatever self-promotion she's into next. Most of these fake "journalists" are fawning young women, breathlessly reporting on the "optics" and "cosmetics" (Media Pundictocracy buzzwords) of Palinworld. Almost to a person they breathlessly repeat the mantra that they "think" she's "running." And none of them have the vaguest notion of, or foundation in, American politics, history, and civics, which was how a cub reporter used to land such assignments back when the press was called the Fourth Estate. (What is it now?)

The Idiot Punditocracy has weighed in on the fake presidential aspirant's campaign and her evil twin from Iowa: "Tension between the camps," they say ... Oooh, this is really REALLY momentous "news." Can it get any shallower than this? Just get out of our face, Sarah, you sick, stupid, sociopathic narcissist. And take your little media acolytes and sycophants with you. Go to Alaska or Afghanistan, why don't you. Siberia, Chernobyl?

ATTACK OF THE BELTWAY MUNSTERS!

Beware fellow Americans. In case you haven't noticed, the CRAZIES have taken over the asylum. (Of course you have, once Paul 'Eddie Munster' Ryan terrorized the nation with his 'plan' to KILL MEDICARE.) After weeks of constituent pummeling over Ryan's "radical right wing social engineering" followed by the stunning Democratic victory in New York District 26 — since the 1800s an ironclad Republican stronghold — the GOP Beltway MUNSTERS still don't get it. Actually they do, but the Beltway MUNSTERS are pushing the line this is all a "messaging" issue ... So Paulie Munster gets out there with a Powerpoint presentation akin to the ones given by political hack and chief GOP propagandist, Michael Steele. His multimedia BULLSHIT must have impressed Marbles Mouth corporate, who hired him as an MSNBC "political analyst," hence ruining the network's tenuous grasp of progressive programming in its inexorable progression toward CNN-ization. MSNBC now has its Alex Castellanos.

Speaking of NBC and Idiot Punditocracy GOP tool David Gregory, did anyone notice that in Mitch McConnell's Sunday shows appearance (was it with Gregory, as usual for GOP leadership? ... I couldn't tell) he used the Obama campaign slogan "change" rather than END or KILL Medicare, which should have been Gregory's and the rest of his Idiot Punditocracy Beltway Media comrades' responsibility to correctly characterize what the Ryan plan to KILL MEDICARE would do? I alluded to it in this blog — how Gregory literally put talking points in Newt's mouth, including the highly misleading euphemism for KILL, "change"— but they couldn't have picked up on it here, since no one in those circles of HELL reads this blog (do they?) ... Still, it's aggravating to see the Gregorys of this world handing some McConnell Frank Luntzite factotum their Sunday talking point on Medicare: "Oh ... the Republicans are only going to change it." That's like saying the climate change tornado that tore through Joplin, MO claiming dozens, maybe hundreds, of lives ... "changed" the town's landscape. Just in time for the boss's appearance on Meet The Press. Remember, the Republican plan to KILL MEDICARE will KILL THOUSANDS OF OUR FELLOW CITIZENS. David Gregory is a disgrace to journalism. Such as it is.

McConnell revealed the Republicans' new strategy in their war on the American people, which aims to destroy Medicare and Social Security: They're doubling down. They're not retreating from their Stalingrad, AKA, NY-26. McConnell's high-stakes poker game is to hold us, the American people, hostage to their radical schemes by linking any vote to raise the debt ceiling with deep cuts in Medicare. This requires leadership and spine from Democrats, to stand firm with 80 percent of the American people, and the message-vote from NY-26 that Medicare and Social Security are OFF THE TABLE. Here we go again.

In the meantime, Paul Ryan is thrilled to have gotten the most sought-after endorsement for any Republican — from the Lord of Darkness, Satan's Consigliere himself:

For All The Sluts On Right Wing Hate Radio: Limbaugh, Levin and Beck

Aka, slutty, scumsucking, bottom-feeding guttersnipes (oh yeah, and that guy on Fox who race-baited President Obama, then said he meant the President had a drinking problem for sharing a pint of Guinness with some Irish bar patrons in his Olde Ancestral Home) ...

This song is for you, ladies: