Green Eagle

I wonder what he's giving up to the Republicans today.

That Joe Lieberman can't make it worse.   Think the Republican plans for medicare are bad? "Lieberman, Coburn unveil Medicare plan Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) acknowledged that there's something in their Medicare plan for just about everyone to dislike. But they say it's necessary to bring the program under control. "Nobody's going to like this plan. We understand that," Coburn said at a press conference Tuesday as he and Lieberman rolled out their proposal. Most of the plan's savings would come from some form of benefit reductions or shifting costs to seniors — a stark contrast to the Medicare cuts believed to be on the table in talks over the debt ceiling." We know Tom Coburn, one of the most corrupt members of Congress, is against anything that doesn't benefit the very rich, but holy Joe claims to be a decent man. "(Lieberman) said he hopes the proposal will create a "bipartisan beachhead...

Via Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs, we learn that Michelle Bachmann had this to say when announcing her campaign for president today in Waterloo, Iowa: "John Wayne was from Waterloo." Almost right, Michelle.  Actually, John Wayne Gacy was from Waterloo, Iowa.

Listen, let's forget politics here and just talk one sheets: Is this one of the most pathetic things you have ever seen, or what?

I was amused by this story in the New York Times today: "In assessing the condition of the 1.6 million people who live in Gaza, there are issues of where to draw the baseline and — often — what motivates the discussion. It has never been among the world’s poorest places. There is near universal literacy and relatively low infant mortality, and health conditions remain better than across much of the developing world.  Israel’s critics say the fact that the conditions in Gaza do not rival the problems in sub-Saharan Africa only makes the political and human rights crisis here all the more tragic..." I guess, if the residents of Gaza were all multimillionaires, it would make the situation there one of the worst catastrophes in world history.

Here are two things that are true, were true the day that President Obama took office, and will continue to be true forever: 1.  Republicans caused our current economic problems by following an "ideology" which is nothing but a cover for delivering the country's wealth into the hands of the rich.  This Republican behavior is what caused the Great Depression, and it is what caused the 2008 economic collapse.  After Bush, as after Reagan and after Hoover, Democrats were left to clean up the mess, while Republicans screamed abuse at them for every move they made. 2.  The aggression against Iraq and the war in Afghanistan were collectively one of the greatest military blunders in the history of warfare.  The incompetence of the Bush-Cheney administration and their viciousness toward the local populations left these wars absolutely un-winnable in any meaningful fashion.  Not one penny spent after Obama was elected could change that fact, or produce any kind ...

In case you have not yet heard about this, please take a look at this chart, from Talking Points Memo: The top chart projects the budget deficit if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire; the lower chart shows what will happen if they are renewed. Yes, if Congress does nothing, and allows the Bush tax cuts to expire, the entire budget deficit will disappear by the end of the next Presidential term.  I'll tell you what- this would probably cost my family a couple of thousand dollars a year, but at this point I would gladly pay it to shut the Republicans up about this bogus issue which they caused and which they are now blaming on the Democrats, as usual. Not that the Republicans won't have plenty of other bogus issues to trot out, but at least we would be treated (for the second time in three decades) to the sight of Republicans screaming about the national debt while piling it up, and Democrats fixing the problem.  Not that right wingers would give Obama any more cr...

For a little amusement, check out this site, which I found via Little Green Footballs. It contains a bunch of real headlines, with the leads for the stories from Fox.  It'll give you a good laugh.

Roger Cohen in this case: "Something immense is happening as the world transitions to a hyperconnected state where, for many, the distinction between the real and virtual worlds has ceased to exist.... As Bob Dylan put it, “Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?” "for many, the distinction between the real and virtual worlds has ceased to exist?"  Really, when the New York Times wants to publish an opinion piece on something, do they deliberately hunt out the single person on their staff that knows less about the subject than anyone else? Does Mr. Cohen really suspect that people online can't tell the difference between, say, the real world and World of Warcraft?   God, talk about not knowing what it is.

"A new anti-abortion movie called "Gates Of Hell" envisions a world where the government outlaws abortion because a group of black terrorists begins murdering abortion doctors." Produced, incidentally, by a writer for World Net Daily.   My prediction?   This film's grosses are going to make Atlas Shrugged Part I look like Titanic.

Out of about 100,000. Sorry, Barack, you're pulling out about 90,000 too few.

You know who I'm talking about: "Is Sarah Palin already finished with her national bus tour? While the Alaska governor hadn't publicly announced additional stops beyond her East Coast jaunt earlier this month, Palin aides had hinted she'd take her bus tour to key primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina. But according to Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy, those plans are now in "limbo," as Palin has opted to stay in Alaska, where "skies are currently alight for over 19 hours a day and the Bristol Bay salmon fishing season is nearing its peak." A spokesman for Palin did not respond to a request for comment." This lunatic woman can't even finish her supposed "vacation."  But it's all fine, right?  She's a serious political figure that has earned a place in the national debate. God help us. Update:   Well, now that she's made a fool out of herself once again, Sarah is claiming that she had to go ho...

I turn my back and the rats come out... Let's start out with a wonderful commentary on the causes of the recent Arizona wildfires: Katie Pavlich, Town Hall:  Al Gore Blames Climate Change Rather Than Greenies For Fires in AZ...While speaking at the Games for Change Festival in New York City (funny how they always hold these "climate change" conferences in energy sucking cities) yesterday, Al Gore blamed the massive Arizona Wallow fire on climate change." Funny they hold their conferences in big cities, huh?  Why don't they hold them at the North Pole or in the middle of the Sahara Desert?  It must be that they are a bunch of criminals that don't really believe in global warming.  I sure can't think of any other reason.  Katie maunders on: “Today, the biggest fire in the history of the state of Arizona is spreading to New Mexico. Today, the biggest flood in the history of the Mississippi River Valley is under way right now,” Gore said. “At what po...

Take this guy for example: "James Richard Verone woke up June 9 with a sense of anticipation. He took a shower. Ironed his shirt. Hailed a cab. Then robbed a bank. He wasn’t especially nervous. If anything, Verone said he was excited to finally execute his plan to gain access to free medical care. Until last week Verone had never been in trouble with the law. Now he hopes to be booked as a felon and held in prison where he can be treated for several physical afflictions." See, just like the Republicans say, the medical care system in this country works just fine for everyone.  No need for a change.  Just get back to whatever you were watching on TV, and forget about it.  People a lot smarter and a lot richer than you are taking care of everything.

Think the one attacking Janice Hahn was an anomaly?  This one, from a Republican candidate in Nevada, takes on the Chinese, instead of rappers, with a phony Chinese reporter: " And it's still 16 months until the election.  This is just going to get worse and worse, with these ads being run by unidentifiable groups, and the Republican candidates, of course, claiming no knowledge of them.

Debunked by Brad DeLong, who is right so often that he has, of course, been denied a seat at the media table alongside such luminaries as Erick Erickson and Andrew Breitbart. Brad presents this chart: and comments: "Not only is (the Republican) claim that Obama's policies and not the recession have "discouraged business investment" simply wrong--nonresidential business investment has grown under Obama much more strongly than other components of GDP--but the claim that business investment is lower than we would expect it to be at this stage of the recovery is simply wrong: it is higher." Not that the truth will stop the mainstream press from swallowing whole the standard Republican lie about how bad Obama has been for the economy.

Who else?  Joe Lieberman.   It's not just Democrats that Holy Joe enjoys stabbing in the back: "Joe Lieberman, first Jew on a presidential ticket, (is) embracing Beck, the leading purveyor of anti-Semitic memes in the mass media. One of the most visible Jews in America was making common cause with a man who invoked apocalyptic Christian theology in promoting his rally in Israel." Dana Milbank, who claims to still respect Lieberman (for some utterly incomprehensible reason) trots out the usual mainstream press apologia for him, asserting that Lieberman must be unaware of Glenn Beck's long history of antisemitism.  Well, you can't sell that crap here.  Lieberman knows perfectly well who and what Beck is.  Not only is he willing to betray the Democratic party, he is willing to betray the religion that he claims is a centerpiece of his life. This real life Wormtongue is truly one of the most loathsome characters in the country.  He'd better hope that h...

 In case you haven't seen this ad, please take a moment to look at it.  It is a Republican political spot attacking Janice Hahn, an absolutely decent L.A. politician who is running for an open Congressional seat.  You should really see it. I have mentioned  my expectation that the Republicans, enabled by the corrupt right wing justices on the Supreme Court, are about to launch the most nauseating electoral campaign any of us have ever seen.  Well, here's an early view of what to expect in the next year and a half.

Whatever... These people have really been boring me to tears lately.  It's taken me days to concentrate enough to put together this load of their crap.  Too bad Obama or some other Democratic leader can't be bothered to call them out on their endless lies. Dennis Prager, Town Hall:  "What Weiner Did Was Worse Than an Affair...If I were a member of Congress, I would not be livid at every one of my colleagues who had had an affair. But I would be livid at Weiner." Because, of course, the guys who had affairs were Republicans, and therefore they walk with God.  Weiner had sex with no one and never even met the targets of his e-mails, but what he did is far worst than actual serial adulterers like David Vitter and Newt Gingrich, because Weiner is a Democrat.  Hope I cleared that moral issue up.  Of course, Dennis isn't done exposing himself as a world class hypocrite: "I cannot think of a single event that symbolizes the decline of American society as m...

Here's a story from yesterday that the vast majority of our "liberal" press found far less interesting than Anthony Weiner's twitter habits: "Ohio Congressman Is Convicted in Sex Case, but Aide Says He'll Run for Re-election Representative Donald E. Lukens, Republican of Ohio, was convicted today in a case in which prosecutors said he had sex with a 16-year-old girl." Goodness me, I wonder why no one in the media was interested in this story.

Or just Texas?  This news just in: "(HARDIN, Texas) - Deputies who swarmed a rural Texas neighborhood Tuesday to search a farmhouse where a person claiming to be a psychic told officials multiple bodies were buried found no evidence of even a single homicide, a sheriff's official says. "We have to take tips like this very seriously,"  (Liberty County Judge Craig) McNair said." You do?   You do have to take claims from self-appointed psychics seriously?  And why, exactly? No, on second thought, don't tell me.  I don't really want to know.

Listening to Thom Hartmann's show this morning, I have been very surprised as both Hartmann and a long succession of callers argued that what he did is personal and should not result in political consequences for him. I totally disagree.  This man's distasteful behavior has given the press ammunition for years to come to use specious arguments of equivalence to dismiss the most vile Republican abuses.  Furthermore, he has enabled the press to continue to treat one of the most malignant smear merchants in recent memory as a reliable source, which will allow him to continue his efforts to destroy left-leaning organizations and political figures.  How many groups like ACORN and individuals like Shirley Sherrod will Andrew Breitbart now be able to crush, thanks to Anthony Weiner's lack of self control? I don't care what Anthony Weiner's politics have been in the past.  This man has demonstrated to all of us that the needs of the entire nation mean less to him than h...

Meaning me.  No way to get around it, I've been as gullible as many of the right wingers I make fun of. The Weiner man did it all, exactly as accused, and we now find he did more than we even had heard. I fell for his denials, hook, line and sinker.   I'm sorry, and I'll try to be even more cynical about politicians in the future. The worst is, Weiner was going after that crook, Clarence Thomas, and that is now completely out the window.  So this hideous, corrupt person will remain on the Supreme Court, selling us out to the rich as fast as he can, all because Anthony Weiner couldn't keep his penis to himself.   Man, I hope his (very beautiful, by the way) wife, who he only married a few months ago, dumps him flat.  Anyway, he's through, so he can tweet all the college girls he wants.  I don't ever want to hear him open his big fat mouth in public again.

This headline: "New film on Palin is a fawning one-sided valentine to her" That would be the soon-to-be-released film by a right wing loon and made with Palin's cooperation.

No shit, Sherlock.

I am sure that many of you have, by now, heard numerous stories lately about the alleged connection between cell phones and cancer. Here is a detailed article from Orac, one of the best defenders of real science to be found online, revealing the (usual) lack of any real scientific understanding behind this latest scare, and pointing out the extreme weakness of this alleged research and its conclusions. As usual, this story is likely to be nothing but the usual alarmist hooey, like the vaccine-autism nonsense we hear so much about.  I just thought you'd like to know.

 Well, let's just start out with a very, very small sample of the filth the right is spreading about "Weinergage."  Do I need to remind you that it seems that Congressman Weiner didn't send this alleged twitter post and the "victim" swears she never received it?  Of course, when did the truth or common human decency stop Republicans?  Well, here we go, through a very dirty looking glass: Town Hall:  "'Weinergate' Scandal Escalates...Rep. Weiner Evades Questions about his Twitter Troubles" He evades questions about something that never happened.  That just goes to prove what a scum he is, and by extension every other Democrat on earth.  Whereas when a Republican cheats on his wife, it means nothing.  NOTHING, I tell you. Guy Benson, Town Hall:  "Democratic Congressman Battles Mounting 'Weinergate' Scandal " Mounting, because Republicans won't stop spreading the smear, even though it's a lie.  Compare that to t...

As we have heard, Sarah Palin's use of a mass transportation vehicle is a totally original way to campaign, never ever thought of before, which shows her creative genius as a politician. This picture must have been taken after Sarah announced her plans.

This news, from CNBC: "The UK economy is set to experience the slowest pick-up in consumer spending of any post-recession period since 1830, according to a Financial Times analysis of official forecasts."  It's all Obama's fault, of course. Somehow.