The Court Prepares to Deal Us Another Blow

I guess it's inevitable that I would seize an opportunity to shout out my own opinions about the three day dumb show that we were forced to endure this week at the Supreme Court.  I have heard so much nonsense about what happened there, even from normally brilliant commentators like Randi Rhodes, that I have to at least say what I think is really happening.

First, I would like to deal with a bit of judicial precedent.  I'm not a lawyer, but I think anyone reading the following will get the point.  This involves the notion that the "individual mandate," i.e. the requirement that people buy insurance, is some sort of outrage to the Constitution and the founding fathers.

Here is something that, I am positive, every Supreme Court Justice (well, except maybe for that jackass Clarence Thomas) is fully aware of:

"In July, 1798, Congress passed, and President John Adams signed into law “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen,” authorizing the creation of a marine hospital service, and mandating privately employed sailors to purchase healthcare insurance."

1798.  Less than ten years after the passing of the Constitution, a Congress still largely made up of the very founding fathers that the Republicans claim to revere, passed a law with an individual mandate to buy health insurance, and it was signed into law by another founding father, John Adams.

This law was never legally challenged; its existence utterly destroys the Republican claims that an individual mandate is some sort of an unconstitutional abomination. 

If you have any doubts about my claim, click on the link above, where you can find the original text of the law.

Now, let me turn to a little bit more recent history, that of Republican Supreme Court appointments in the last half century.

This story starts with Richard Nixon and the Southern Strategy.  Given the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court Justice, Nixon attempted to use it to pander to Southern racists by attempting to appoint two far-right wing Southern judges, Clement Haynsworth and G. Harold Carswell, both grossly unqualified, to the seat.  After the Senate turned them both down, Nixon chose an even more extreme character, an Arizona corporate tool with a history of open suppression of the minority vote, William H. Rehnquist.  When the Senate, fatigued with this game, gave in and accepted Rehnquist, Republicans learned a big lesson:  if they were just belligerent and obstructive enough, and if the candidate didn't have too blatant a racist past, they could force the Senate to agree to almost anyone, no matter how indifferent they were to the law they were selected to uphold.

Thus followed a sorry history:  the open admirer of Mussolini, Antonin Scalia, the comically unqualified Clarence Thomas, another Arizona Republican, Sandra Day O'Connor, Alito, Roberts; the entire pack of them sharing one single distinction- an utter disregard for the law and for precedent when it stood in the way of the rich and of corporations getting their way.  In plainer terms, every single one of these Justices was corrupt.

In general, these very intelligent individuals have managed to thinly disguise their real agenda, simply turning the country degree by degree, in an endless series of 5-4 decisions, toward the right.  But like a sleeper cell, they wait away the years, until they have the chance to do the real damage for which they were appointed.  Twice, now, they have thrown off their cloaks and struck death blows to American jurisprudence.

The first was Bush v. Gore.  This still stands as the greatest act of judicial corruption in the history of our country.  As a result, we had eight years of corporate plundering of the wealth of the United States, until our economy collapsed, spiralling down into a near depression.  The basis on which the five-vote majority made their decision was utter nonsense, and yet the weak Democrats allowed them to engage in this vicious attack on all of us without the slightest consequence.

The second treachery was the Citizens' United decision- once more, rendered with the barest pretense of a justification, and which again threw the country into the hands of the ultra rich.  As with Bush v. Gore, no one important enough to matter dared state the obvious- that this was an utterly lawless act of corruption.  Again, the justices involved in this crime escaped without penalty.

Now comes chapter three in this sad litany.  By now, those who were stunned last week at the illogicality, the childishness of the corrupt Justices' arguments should know better.  They know they face no danger of being unmasked by the cowardly Democrats, or of facing the slightest penalty for their corruption, and like any sort of serial criminal they grow more bold and careless with each offense.  At this point, they are openly mocking their opponents, demonstrating that they need no precedent, no persuasive argument, to do what they want, what they were selected to do.  They are set upon remaking this country into a corporate oligarchy, and that is the goal they will further with their decision in this case.

It is time for us to forget the notion that we have the right, through our elected representatives, to try to make this a better country.  America is not ours any more- it belongs to the Koch brothers, and the Mitt Romneys among us, and their servants on the Supreme Court are about to give us another lesson in that fact.

A Hollywood History Lesson

From our friends at the Vanguard News Service (no link on this one):

"Yes, the Jews Are the People of the Lawsuit, But They’re Also the people of plagiarism. (Back in the 1940s/1950s, Jewish composers wrote many popular songs. Some of those songs were used in Hollywood movies. They were good songs, which is exactly why you should question their origins. The Jewish “composers,” in all probability, stole the songs from gentiles and claimed them as their own, just as Jews have stolen the credit for so many other things in “the arts.” In fact, Hollywood was started by shifty Jews who illegally used gentile technology to create a film empire)."

Just thought that you would like to know that:  A) Jews can't write good songs... all those guys from Irving Berlin and Al Jolson to Lieber and Stoller etc. etc. etc. stole their thousands of hits from...someone.  And we know that someone wasn't Jewish, since, well, Jews can't write good songs.  And we also know that a good Christian like Elvis Presley, say, or Jimmy Page, would never steal a song from, say, some poor black blues musician.*  And, B) Gentile technology?  I bet you never knew that good film making wasn't about great writing or great direction,  about great storytelling, great acting, great editing, costumes and sets, no, it is all about the mechanics of the projector, which Jews didn't invent, so they deserve no credit for any movie they ever worked on.

We here at Green Eagle just love bringing you this sort of incisive historical analysis.  We hope you have appreciated this dose.



*I'm referring here to Elvis' hit Hound Dog, and Led Zeppelin's theft of Killing Floor, which resulted in their being sued by its real writer, Howlin' Wolf.  You know I could come up with a hundred more examples of this sort of thing.


Update:  I've been schooled by my wife.  Turns out, Hound Dog was indeed originally a hit by Big Mama Thornton (I saw her sing it once,) but it was written by Lieber and Stoller.  Leading me to the obviously totally impossible conclusion that Elvis stole his song from a Jew!  (actually, 2 Jews.)  Well, I'm sure that some Conservative blogger can do the "research" necessary to prove that Lieber and Stoller stole it from Paul Whiteman or Lawrence Welk or someone else who is definitely not Jewish.

Wingnut Wrapup

Here we go:

Dick Morris, Fox News:  "If Obama Is Re-Elected, Bush's "Legacy" Will Be Derailed"

Forget it, Dick.  We're not that lucky.  We're going to be paying for Bush's legacy for a hundred years.  That's why a Republican has to be as stupid as Dick Morris to even mention the guy's name during a campaign.

Chuck Norris, Town Hall:  "Not All Presidential Orders Are Created Equal"

Only the ones by Republican presidents are legal.  And by the way, Chuck, shut up, already.  You're almost as annoying as Ted Nugent.

John Ransom, Town Hall:  "The “Bi-Polar" Presidency...The truth is that while the mainstream media cabal treats each iteration of Obama Version 2-point-whatever as a brilliant political ploy, each iteration only fills Americans with more misgivings about him. If that weren’t the case we wouldn’t see Obama continually trying to reinvent himself every three months."

No joke here- just a perfect example of Republicans blaming Democrats for every one of their own failures.  If it weren't for the "etch-a-sketch" thing, do you suppose we'd be hearing a totally groundless accusation like this?  Here's another example:

Rachel Alexander, Town Hall:  "Obama's Doublespeak Will Cost Him the Election...Obama reads cleverly written speeches from his teleprompter which do not reflect his actual left wing positions nor reality. "

Same thing, with added teleprompter.

Bob Owens:  "Was Trayvon Martin a drug dealer? "

There's no depth they won't plumb.

Bob Owens:  "If he didn’t weigh as much as a small house, I’d love to midget toss Reverend Al and the rest of the race parade right out of Florida, banished from ever speaking again about the intersection of racism and gun violence."

Yeah, Bob, you'd like to banish all liberals from ever speaking again about anything.  Probably, given your obsession with guns, by the George Zimmerman technique.  By the way, have you even seen Al Sharpton lately?  Try it- he's looking pretty thin.  But then, knowing what you are talking about isn't really a right wing thing, is it?

Victor Davis Hanson, Pajamas Media:  "Say, whatever happened to that angry mob that blamed all the world's ills on the president from 2001 to 2008? "

Don't worry, Victor.  We're still here, we're still angry, and we still blame "the president from 2001 to 2008."  Funny that you can't even bring yourself to mention his name.  At least that makes you smarter than Dick Morris.  Of course, that isn't saying much.

Astute Bloggers:  "The Left  thought Hitler was fine until he broke his pact with Uncle Joe"

Another sterling historical lesson from the right.  Just to remind you, Astute one, attacking the left in Germany was the main excuse for the Nazis' existence from the very beginning, and it was the Republicans in this country who fought every effort to aid Hitler's enemies.

Astute Bloggers:  "OBAMA CAUGHT ON TAPE MAKING A SECRET DEAL WITH RUSSIA...I THINK THIS IS THE BIGGEST STORY OF THE LAST 3 YEARS:  IT PROVES THAT OBAMA IS A TRAITOR"

Because diplomacy is always conducted totally out in the open, so negotiations conducted in private are an absolute proof that Obama is a traitor.  That makes sense.

Ben Shapiro, Town Hall:  "Obama's Big Trayvon Lie...Focus on the last part of Obama's statement: "All of us have to do some soul-searching."  No, Mr. President. We don't."

Hey, so a white guy murdered a black kid.  So what?  What do people like Ben care? 

Sher Zieve, Renew America:  "USA under siege: Congress and Obama vote in secret to end Bill of Rights and other atrocities"

Well, apparently it wasn't so secret, since you know about it, Sher.  And look on the bright side- at least they seem to have voted to end all other atrocities too.  That's a step in the right direction.  Although it may be the end for your column.

Brett C. Decker, Renew America:  "There is only one thing scarier for the future of America than all of the debt and bad policies President Obama has built up since his 2008 election: It's what the prospect of an Obama second term would bring. And the president isn't being honest about what his secret plans are"

Of course not, Brett.  If he was honest about them, they wouldn't be secret any more.  I'd think even you could figure that out.  Now, even though they are secret, Bret seems to know all about them (Probably Sher Zieve does too.)  Obama's just been waiting for his second term to crush the United States.  Anyone could see that.  He figured he'd just spend the first four years playing golf.  No sense rushing along his evil plans.

Astute Bloggers:  "IF YOU WANT TO DEFEAT OBAMA, THEN IT'S TIME FOR YOU FOLKS TO WRITE MITT A CHECK"

You think a car elevator is cheap?

Astute Bloggers:  "WHEN YOUR PRESIDENT'S FRIENDS ARE YOU NATION'S ENEMIES, YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM...OBAMA'S ALLIES ARE SPONSORING ASSAD - WHO IS TARGETING SYRIAN CHILDREN.  WITHOUT PUTIN AND MEDVEDEV'S SUPPORT, ASSAD WOULD BE THROUGH."

Well, you see, O Astute ones, Russia is not Obama's ally.  Individuals do not have countries as allies- other countries do.  Russia is our country's ally.  And if you let your minds drift back, you will remember who is responsible for that state of affairs- a guy named Ronald Reagan.  Think about it.  Preferably before you shoot your mouths off again.

Rick Moran, American Thinker:  "Gingrich, Romney in secret talks"

And you thought Obama and Medvedev were scary.  By the way, do you think we might have finally found out who this guy was referring to:

Joe Kovacs, World Net Daily:  "'Angel of God' spotted with baby rescuer...Heavenly hand helping save thousands of children?"

I don't think so, Joe, but you sure have provided us with a sterling example of why people don't put all that much stock in what they read at World Net Daily, or as we call it at Green Eagle, the Weekly World News of paranoia.

Erik Rush, World Net Daily:  "A commie president and the Trayvon tragedy...Exclusive: Erik Rush sees Obama prepping for domestic bloodshed, national emergency...the truth is clear: President Obama is a communist, laboring with like-minded comrades to actualize a long-embraced communist agenda – and their end game is fast approaching."

Really, no comment needed on that.

Tina Korbe, Hot Air:  "Sarah Palin: I think the president’s comments on Trayvon Martin were orchestrated"

Orchestrated?   You mean, he actually planned what he was going to say?   Oh no, the words just dribbled out of his mouth by accident.  Even Obama wouldn't stoop to the Communist tactic of thinking in advance about what he said, would he?  No, that really would represent the end of our Republic.

Although, now that I think about it, why should I be surprised that Sarah Palin regards it as peculiar that Obama would think about something  before he says it?

Ed Morrissey, Hot Air:  "Catholic cardinal accuses Obama of attempting to divide the church"

How about if we just try to divide the child rapists from the rest of you, and then put them in prison?  Or would that be an unacceptable intrusion on freedom of religion too?

Bryan Preston, PJ Tatler:  "Could Obama Face Impeachment for Aiding the Muslim Brotherhood Regime in Egypt?"

Like I've been telling you, if Obama is re-elected and the Republicans still control the House, he is going to be impeached for something.  They really don't care what.  It worked with Bill Clinton, and the Democrats didn't make them pay any price for the worst abuse of Congressional power in the history of our country.  Why wouldn't they do it again?  So get that popcorn cookin'- the drama is about to begin.

And thus comes an end to another peek into the sewer that is the American right wing.  Don't you worry- we'll have more before you know it.

The Smartest Single Sentence About Trayvon Martin

That I have heard anywhere, from Captain Fogg at the Swash Zone:

"A License to Carry a Concealed Weapon is not a License to use it."

Pretty much says it all, in my opinion.

No Such Thing

An honest Republican, I mean.  Case in point today, the poster child for bipartisanship and darling of the Washington insiders, Senator Olympia Snowe:

"Retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe has finished grading the president’s report card. President Obama gets an “F” in bipartisanship"

Not one word from her, of course, about her Republican Senate colleagues, who made it clear from the day Obama was elected that their number one priority was to destroy him, and who have spent the last three and a half years damaging the country in an effort to make it impossible for him to win reelection.

Here's a sample of Olympia Snowe's own "bipartisanship," as described by Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine:

"The Obama administration, desperate to win her vote, wooed her with endless meetings and pleas, affording her a once-in-a-generation chance to not only help pass health care reform but make it smarter, more efficient, and more compassionate. Instead, Snowe tormented the administration by dangling an elusive and ever-changing criteria before their noses. She at first centered her objections around the inclusion of a public option. Democrats removed it, and she voted for the bill in the Finance Committee, only to turn against it when it reached the decisive vote on the Senate floor. Snowe complained that the process was happening too fast, and that it was too partisan, which seemed to be her way of saying she wouldn’t vote for it unless other Republicans joined her."

This has always been Snowe's modus operandi, along with the couple of other fake Republican moderates in Congress: endless stalling, while working to water down any Democratic proposal, constant public claims to be working in a bipartisan manner (which the press laps up) and then, in the end, voting with all the rest of the Republicans to kill the legislation. 

Olympia Snowe's "bipartisanship" has always been a Republican dumb show designed to allow the ever-compliant press to promote the illusion that Republicans have a shred of intent to work with Democrats.  They've picked out a couple of Republicans from relatively liberal States, and licensed them to pose as bipartisan, so they can claim that it's Democrats that won't reach across the aisle; and as long as these phony bipartisans understand that in the end they are required to vote the Republican party line, as Snowe did in virtually every case.  That dishonesty is the role that Olympia Snowe has played for years, and that's how she intends to end her career.

A Conspiracy Too Far?

I am afraid I have to report on one of the most spectacularly stupid conspiracy theories about Obama that I have ever heard.  Naturally, it comes from the execrable Jerome Corsi (who gave us the Swift Boat smears) and is being promoted at the global headquarters of anti-Obama idiocy, World Net Daily.  Here's the gist of it:

"CHICAGO – Did the parents of former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers help finance Barack Obama’s Harvard education?...A retired U.S. Postal Service carrier who delivered mail to Tom and Mary Ayers in a Chicago suburb in the late 1980s and early 1990s and claims to have met Obama in front of the Ayers home emphatically says yes"

Oh, my God in heaven above.  Did you ever hear anything so stupid in your life?  Well, hold on, the mere assertion that Bill Ayers' father paid for Obama's education, as absolutely insane as that is, is not by any means the height of Corsi's craziness.

Who was Bill Ayers' father anyway?  I mean, who knows, right?  Given that he is Bill Ayers' father, and was apparently a key player in making a Communist Muslim the President of the United States, you'd guess that he was the head of the Socialist Workers' Party, or the Spartacist league or something, right?  Well, we can thank Mr. Corsi for answering this question for us:

"Hulton recalls that he had one conversation with Tom Ayers, who was retired as CEO and chairman of Commonwealth Edison, shortly after the Ayers family moved into their home in Glen Ellyn."

Yes, the man who helped so much to promote this Communist enemy of our Capitalist way of life, was the Chairman and CEO of one of the nation's biggest power companies!  Can anyone think of a more insane, delusional assertion than this?  You might as well insist that the Koch Brothers are hiding Leon Trotsky in their basement.  This "theory" surely represents a new height in combined stupidity and disingenuousness. But wait!  we still have months before the November election.  My bet is that this unbelievable idiocy will fade into oblivion in the face of Republican lies to come.

About As Far Out Of Character

as I can get, but I loved this.  It's a Jesus metal band full of geezers:



I found it when I was (needless to say) looking for something else.  I don't know why I'm posting it, but I got a kick out of them.

Cut My Taxes!

The only thing Conservatives care a damn about...today's episode:

"The granddaddy of property tax revolts is now underway in North Dakota.

The North Dakota group, Empower the Taxpayer  writes "On June 12, 2012, the voters of North Dakota will have the opportunity to make North Dakota truly 'Legendary', as the first to pass a state constitutional amendment that will abolish the property tax, prioritize spending by the legislature, and finally give local governments something they never had: true local control over spending."

Public unions and proponents of big government are now involved in a major wave of fearmongering because North Dakota counties get about 60 percent of their revenue from property tax.

If the amendment passes, school districts will simply have to get funding from another source, or cut budgets."

It's "fearmongering" to point out that these great patriots are working to cut the budget for schools, police and firefighters by 60%; and it is perfectly responsible to tell them to get their funding from "another source," whatever the hell that might be.

"Backers of the measure say there's plenty of revenue to go around without property taxes. But local government officials say eliminating property tax would create chaos.

In the north central North Dakota small town of Carrington, population 2065, Mayor Don Frye wonders if businesses will build in his city if the snow isn't plowed, or the sewers don't work.

Those are just scare tactics, says Charles Tuttle. He's one of the organizers behind a measure to abolish property taxes."

Scare tactics.   Don't worry, the cities can finance their sewers with bake sales or something.  These people claim every day to be patriots, but they refuse the most basic responsibilities of a citizen.  Their prime motivation in life is nothing but greed, and they don't give a God damned what kind of country they will leave their children and grandchildren, if only they can pay a couple of hundred dollars less in taxes.  That is what their children and our country are really worth to them.

Justified

"Larry Pratt, the executive director of Second Amendment group Gun Owners of America, offered a rare defense of the man who killed Trayvon Martin, saying George Zimmerman was acting in self defense when he shot the Florida teen."

Don't you libtards get it yet?  A white man is always acting in self defense whenever he is in the presence of a black man. This wasn't the case in our country- before 1865.  No one asked all those black people to come over here and upset our white paradise, you know.

Well, you know what to do.  A vote for Rick Santorum is a vote to bring back the happy days.

The Biggest Waste In Medical History

From TPM:

"Report: Former VP Dick Cheney Received A Heart Transplant

The Associated Press has learned that former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant Saturday and is recovering at a hospital in Virginia."

Wingnut Wrapup

Let's just start out with a really reasonable suggestion:

Monte Kugliowski, American Thinker:  "...there are too many oddities with Obama... the reasonable thing for Obama to do is end all doubt.  If he had nothing to hide, wouldn't Obama want to quickly remove doubts and restore confidence?

The only way to end all doubt is complete transparency.  Complete transparency means actually releasing his birth certificate."

Yeah, that's right...all Obama has to do is release his birth certificate and everyone will be satisfied!  The whole thing will be over!  Why hasn't anyone in the White House thought of that?  It's so simple when you think about it.  Monte continues:

"It is necessary to highlight some of the unique Obama oddities.  For if the oddities did not exist, the protective response -- No other candidate or president released his birth certificate for authentication, so why should Obama? -- would make perfect sense.  But Obama is no ordinary American."

Of course not!  Obama isn't an "ordinary" American, no, he's a...well, you know, don't you?  I don't have to explain it to you, do I?  Just take a look at him.

Gabriel Garnicia, Renew America:  "I recently wrote an article detailing how the American Catholic Church is fighting its detractors with both hands tied behind its back"

Well, at least they won't be able to get their hands on any more boys.

Bob Beauprez, Town Hall:  "The Oil Scarcity Myth...Obama's basis for his 2%-of-the-world's-oil-reserves claim is the narrow definition of “proven reserves”

Yes, Obama's basis for his claims is that silly thing known as "facts,"  while those on the right know that there is actually an infinite supply of oil underground here in the U.S. so it's perfectly okay to just let the oil companies do whatever they damn please.

Town Hall:  "Who's talking about Sasha, Malia? It's dad, again"

Yes, it is a specimen of degraded left wing dishonesty when Obama thinks about his kids.  A couple of the comments on this idiotic article:

"for comrade hussein his brats are simply campaign props-he claims to care about the average American but the brats attend an exclusive school. Kind opf hard to be one of the great unwashed when you live the life of the elitist's but with racist parents like the hussein and moochelle the hutt, it is far more likely the brats will grow up to be same thinking racists "

"The most Pro Baby-Killing President in History cares about his Daughters ...?  A wife and daughter are mere tools — Election Props.  There isn't a shred of evidence that they are anything but — remember creepy Al Gore? "

"This guy is soooooo full of crap....I can smell him from my house.  Someone oughta ask him what month & day his daughter's birthdays fall on...or their teacher's names.  I gues his kids are now fair game from here on out........"

Nice, huh?  Believe me, there was plenty more.

John C. Goodman, Town Hall:  "How We Can Keep From Going Broke"

Doing away with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  Surprised?

Guy Benson, Town Hall:  "War On Women: Feds Cut Off Women's Health Funding to Texas"

The article doesn't make it clear that this happened after Texas Republicans violated the terms of the health care grants in order to pander to right wing religious fanatics, thereby legally invalidating their right to the money.  No, that part of the story was irrelevant.

Star Parker, World Net Daily:  "Republican race just getting started"

Oh, God in heaven above, just shoot me now.

Kathryn Lopez, Renew America:  "The War on Men...I am woman, and I'm offended."

I couldn't really be bothered to click on this to see what it says, but I assume it's a lament that the government won't buy contraceptives for men.  That's the real tragedy.  And by the way, Kathryn, you are not woman, you are jerk.

Mark Calabria, Town Hall:  "Do Liberals Oppose Affordable Housing?"

If they didn't, they would prove it, by (ready for this big surprise?) doing away with regulations!  What a creative solution, and what a surprise, coming from Republicans!  Mark continues:

"So it appears that while liberals push for more federal housing subsidies, they fight against more housing"

Less is more!  More is less!  Up is down!  Lies are truth!  etc. etc. etc.

Andrea Ryan, Gateway Pundit:  "CROWD BOOS as Hundreds of #Occupy Midwest Goons Crash Annual StL St. Patrick’s Day Parade...The #Occupy Midwest Goons crashed the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in St. Louis this afternoon.  Some of their standard anti-social, revolutionary, and illegal rioting was captured on video...These Occupiers are nothing but a bunch of felons."

And here's the offending video:



Some real rioting there, huh?  Some real crimes committed right in public.  Well, we must certainly agree that liberals have no right on earth to behave like this.  Or to even be on earth.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:  "Bristol Palin wrote President Obama this weekend asking him when she can expect his call. After all, what Sandra Fluke suffered cannot compare to the months of vile abuse Bristol has suffered from far left pundits"

Listen, Bristol, maybe if you'd used birth control Obama would have called you too.

Matt C. Abbott, Renew America:  "'My Soul Pants for The Living God"

Soul pants?  You mean like this?

Gina Miller, Renew America:  "This past Friday afternoon brought a new executive order from the White House. It was titled, "National Defense Resources Preparedness." This order sent the blogosphere and conservative news followers into a terrified frenzy."

A terrified frenzy?  that's their normal state.

"Judge" Andrew Napolitano:  "Is the CIA in Your Kitchen?"

If they are, could you please ask them to do the dishes?

John Ransom, Town Hall:  "Obama’s Pipeline is Always Half Full of It"

Don't you just love right wing humor?  So original, so subtle.

Michael Reagan, Town Hall:  "I don't know about you, but watching the Republican primary season is making me feel like a judge on the "The Gong Show."

Michael, the Gong Show was funny, not pathetic.

Newsmax:  "Bachmann: Congress, Not Supreme Court, Should Decide Obamacare"

They already did, Michelle.  Remember?

The Lonely Conservative:  "If You Support Paul Ryan’s Budget the White House Says You’re of Diminished Capacity"

Diminished moral capacity, anyway.

That's enough! Bye for today.

The Press- Helping the Republicans Avoid Oblivion

Today's example, this wretched piece of deliberate distortion from Robert Samuelson at the Washington Post, humorously entitled "Flunking the Medicare Debate:"

"...many Democrats despise vouchers, which (they say) would “privatize Medicare” and “end Medicare.” The language is self-serving demagoguery intended to terrify seniors...Vouchers would not “end Medicare.”

Listen, you unapologetic liar, Democrats say the Republican plan would “privatize Medicare” and “end Medicare”because it will.  They are telling the truth.  Everyone knows that the ultimate goal of the Republican party is to destroy Medicare, along with Social Security, the minimum wage, union rights and every single thing that Democrats have ever done for the American people.

And yes, vouchers would end Medicare, if by "Medicare" you mean a program that allows people to afford health care.  You might as well say that replacing Social Security checks with a monthly kick in the ass would not end Social Security, because people could still get kicks in the ass for free.

This is not press confusion.  It is the use of the press to deliberately spread disinformation which is useful to the Republican party.  And Robert Samuelson is not a journalist.  He is a paid liar.

Republicans Work For Health Care Reform

Finally, the long promised Republican alternative to Obamacare!  Yesterday, the Republican-controlled House spent most of the day debating H.R.5- their self-named "HEALTH" bill!

Well, to save you the trouble, Green Eagle read the text of the bill.  Here is what it features:

1.  Cutting the time patients have to file malpractice lawsuits.

2.  Limiting punitive damage to $250,000, an utterly meaningless amount when the defendant is a huge health care company or pharmaceutical manufacturer.

3.  "In particular, in any health care lawsuit in which the attorney for a party claims a financial stake in the outcome by virtue of a contingent fee, the court shall have the power to restrict the payment of a claimant’s damage recovery to such attorney"

I.e. making it impossible for plaintiff's attorneys to take cases on a contingent fee basis, requiring plaintiffs to bear for years the often multimillion dollar costs of suing a corporation up front.  This has been an element of "tort reform" since the very beginning, and is designed to make it impossible for individuals to sue companies.

4.  "Punitive damages may, if otherwise permitted by applicable State or Federal law, be awarded against any person in a health care lawsuit only if it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that such person acted with malicious intent to injure the claimant"

Something that makes it virtually impossible to recover punitive damages against pharmaceutical manufacturers, since nothing they have done, however malicious, could be interpreted as being motivated by an intent to injure that specific claimant.

5.  "No demand for punitive damages shall be included in a health care lawsuit as initially filed. A court may allow a claimant to file an amended pleading for punitive damages only upon a motion by the claimant and after a finding by the court..."

Thus vastly increasing the cost of filing a malpractice lawsuit.



Well, there you go...claiming to be passing legislation to improve health care, the Republicans are doing nothing but attempting to achieve their decades-old goal of "tort reform," which as I have pointed out before, is nothing but an attempt to make it impossible for ordinary people to seek legal redress against the rich.  Republicans are nothing but criminals- every single one of them- and they all belong in prison, alongside their rich masters.

The Biggest Lie of the Decade

Mitt Romney:

"I keep hearing the president say he's responsible for keeping the country out of a Great Depression," Romney said at a town hall in Arbutus, Maryland. "No, no, no, that was President George W. Bush"

What a dick.

Raw Hatred Republican Style

I almost hate to do this to people, but, courtesy of Little Green Footballs, and Randi Rhodes, where I first heard this, here is a "religious" person introducing Rick Santorum the other day.  If you can stand three minutes and forty one seconds of sheer evil, try listening to as much of this as you can take.  More than anything, I hope you will just listen to the tone of this disgusting man, filled with hatred and violence.  If this is Christianity, if this is Republicanism, no decent person will have anything to do with them:



I repeat:  This man is evil; the people who applauded his hate are evil, and the candidate who  stood by without objection while this man introduced him is evil.  If you are so blind that you cannot see and hear the truth of this, you have been touched by evil too.

Oh, and by the way,  the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not Jesus.  Stuff that up your piehole, jerk.

A Textbook Right Wing Lie...

Right here at Green Eagle.  Yesterday I wrote a post about my belief that Romney's run to be the Republican nominee was in fact little more than a business transaction on behalf of his backers, not really a political campaign in the traditional sense at all.  This is something that I have been thinking about for some time, but due to some pretty demanding work and family situations, I hadn't managed to put my thoughts down on paper.  What interested me is that, as far as I could tell, no one else was looking at Romney's attempt to capture the nomination this way, and yet it was really the only explanation I could see for his conduct.  I may be wrong about this, particularly given that I am the only person I know of who has said this, but it is my opinion.

Well, my post garnered a comment from Anonymous, part of which I want to repeat here:

"Anonymous said...is this he left's new strategy to go after the "enemy dujour",because i seems all the left wing blogs have the same story.

Looks like you all get the same memos and then run with them."

Well, I just went back and checked all of the major left-wing blogs that I read, and sure enough, not one single one of them has a similar story.  

Now, as we know, Republicans do have real talking points- instructions passed out by the likes of Grover Norquist and Richard Viguere regarding what they are required to say in public.  Anyone who has followed politics in the last couple of decades has seen these actual documents revealed on a number of occasions.  What's more, we see over and over again, nearly simultaneous posts all over the right wing blogosphere and rants in the Conservative media making the same points, often with very similar language.  On the other hand, there has never been the slightest evidence of the issuance of formal talking points by Democrats.

Thus we come to a simple fact:  Anonymous' claim is a lie, no more and no less.  Furthermore, it is an example of a phenomenon that has become common the last few years- the accusing of liberals by conservatives of the dishonest tactics that conservatives most commonly practice.  Some people have called this projection, but it is not projection.  Projection is a psychological phenomenon; what is going on here is an attempt by Conservatives to muddy the waters and disguise their own vile behavior by falsely claiming that everyone does it.  They know they are lying; as usual they don't care.

The Buying of the Nomination...

In the age of Citizens United.  There has been so much oblivious nonsense uttered by our mainstream press (and many liberal blogs too) about Romney's supposed weak performance, as he squeaks by with two or three percent wins, or essential ties, in primary after primary.  What our unintrospective journalists seem to not have figured out is that Romney is not winning primaries, he is buying them- and when you buy things, you pay the lowest price you can. 

Now that our corrupt Supreme Court has licensed the rich to spend as much as they want to sway elections, Romney has adopted the rich man's strategy:  No matter if the voters don't like him, as long as he can make them like the other guys a little bit less.  And thus, a campaign that depends totally on spending just enough on negative ads to give him a bare victory.  No need to pay for a resounding win when a squeaker accomplishes the same thing, and increases his backers' return on investment. 

This is the new reality of Republican politics.  It is going to be a horrible spectacle to see it played out in the general election.

Megalomania

Thy name is Newt.  This guy is one sick character:

"Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says his ideas are so big that the news media can't cover them and his opponents can't comprehend them.

"The level of effort it would take to change the system is beyond the imagination of most elected officials and beyond the imagination of most candidates," Gingrich remarked. "The thing I find most disheartening about this campaign is the difficulty of talking about positive ideas on a large scale. Because the news media can't cover it and, candidly, my opponents can't comprehend it."



And what might those massive ideas be?  For a hint, I went back to look at Newt's greatest intellectual contribution to American culture, the Contract with America, from the 1990's,  Here is a pretty good selection of the brilliant, unprecedented thinking contained therein:

"A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment

cuts in social spending to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement

prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility.

strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws

No U.S. troops under U.N. command

capital gains cut and indexation

limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation.

A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.

require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase"

In other words, the exact same garbage that Republicans have been peddling since 1920.  This is one truly narcissistic, deranged egomaniac, and yet he ran virtually even in the various Southern Republican primaries.  Oh, by the way, there is one massive political thinker who is on Newt's level:

"Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who's been able to talk like this," Mr. Gingrich told a banquet crowd here, referring to his own policy ideas on energy, brain science and other matters. "That's why I'm still running, because the gap is so huge."

Ronald Reagan.  Apparently, you have to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease to be Newt's intellectual equal.  Finally, something we can agree on.

Well, there you have it: a crazy egomaniac, an ignorant religious lunatic and a greed-maddened rich guy who made his money destroying companies- the Republican field.

Wingnut Wrapup

Time for another descent into the "thinking" that drives the Republican party these days:


Gina Miller, Renew America:  "Last week, steam shot out of my head as I read an e-mail press release that came here to the radio station. It was followed a day later by a glowing story in our local newspaper. It was the proud announcement of an award from the U.S. Green Building Council being given to a housing development in our Mississippi Gulf Coast city of Ocean Springs. Apparently this new housing development has met all the criteria to be praised as "green" and "sustainable," and an example of so-called "smart growth."

What's wrong with that? Well, just everything. What am I talking about? I am talking about the Constitution-busting theft of private property rights and heavy-handed control of our way of life."

Giving someone an award...apparently, that's what passes for "Constitution-busting theft of private property rights and heavy-handed control of our way of life."  At least if you are a Democrat.  And Gina, if steam is really shooting out of your head, you are probably due for a tuneup.  See your mechanic before you need some really expensive aftermarket parts.

Steven Kokx (yes, that's right- that is what he claims his name is,) Renew America:  "Santorum's political suicide...Rather than sticking to his considerable working-class, Reagan-Democrat appeal, he kept wandering back to his austere social conservatism."

"Austere" apparently being a conservative synonym for batshit crazy.

Lloyd "Colored Man For Hire Cheap" Marcus, Renew America:  "Today, women who have fornicated with every male within a ten block radius of their home go on national TV and are celebrated as victims."

This is in reference, of course, to the woman attacked as a slut by Rush Limbaugh.  Apparently, Lloyd feels free to accuse her of having " fornicated with every male within a ten block radius" without a shred of evidence about her real sexual activity.  Lloyd, go to hell, the sooner the better.

Bryan Fischer, Renew America:  "Secular sharia: Imam Obama to Christians: convert, submit or go to prison"

Does this man ever tell the truth?  Note:  Bryan is what passes for a good Catholic these days.  Go figure.

Ed Lansky, American Thinker:  "Obama tells the Iranians not to call his bluff - but why shouldn't they?"

Oh, I don't know.  Maybe because it's not a bluff?  You might want to check in on Osama Bin Laden and Moammar Gaddafi for some input on that one.

Mark J. Fitzgibbons, American Thinker:  "Santorum's intellectual evolution to a strong constitutional conservative"

You call that evolution?  Finally, conservative evidence that evolution is a myth.

Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Town Hall:  "Sheriff Joe Arpaio Exposes Forgery of Obama's Selective Service Registration "

First the short birth certificate, then the long birth certificate.  Then, some incomprehensible nonsense about his social security number, now this.  It will never end- just one time wasting, racist lie after another, and they are so proud of themselves for the speed at which they can replace a discredited one with a new one.  Man, these people need to find something constructive to do with their time.  How about Macrame, guys?

Marita Noon, Town Hall:  "High Gas Prices Advance Obama's Socialist Agenda"

A few sentences into this pathetic screed is the following:

"Until the current precipitous price increases, energy seemed absent from the overall debate. Now the GOP candidates are all talking about how they would maximize American resources to bring down the price of gas and, rightly so, putting President Obama on the defense. "

So, Marita, exactly how is this good for Obama?  Marita never tells us that.

Star Parker, World Net Daily:  "If you think about it, Andrew Breitbart’s untimely passing from this life, at the age of 43, might be seen as the ultimate message that this man of media could deliver."

What, better dead than red?  Really, getting into a screaming match with some guy in a bar and then dropping dead on the way home is not my idea of a great message.

Betsy Galliher, American Thinker:  "Girl Scouts: The Awful Truth"

Believe me, you don't want to know.

Conservative Crusader:  "Could Obama be Impeached over Libya?"

Now, not only are they ready to impeach him over something he supposedly did wrong, they think they can impeach him over something he did right.  Talk about a no-win situation.  Oh, except for winning this November.  Just letting you know, so you don't get too depressed after it happens, Mr. Crusader.

Silverfiddle, Western Hero:  "When Rick Santorum preached about the Devil attacking America I was doing a face palm while my wife was standing and cheering.

"It's about time somebody told the truth!"  She was fresh off of seeing her prayers answered as Univision announced God had given Hugo Chavez another tumor, "hopefully fatal, and before the election."

She was praying for someone to get cancer?  Silverfiddle, I think you need to sit her down and have a talk with her about what it means to be a Christian.  I'm not sure she gets it.

J. Christian Adams, Pajamas Media:  "Al-Qaeda Bar Advancing Inside DOJ...Obama promotes defender of American Taliban John Walker Lindh."

Yes, if your law firm defends a person the right doesn't like, you are a member of Al Qaida.  J. Christian Adams, for those who may have forgotten, was a Bush appointment to the Department of Justice, where he devoted all his time to investigating oppression of right wing Christians.

Bridget Johnson, Pajamas Media:  "Cheney: Don't Count on U.S. Intel Assessments on Iran"

Well, we will certainly take that advice seriously, considering how accurate U.S. intel assessments were under Cheney.

World Net Daily:  "Witchcraft growing threat to kids in U.K."

Right.  We'll keep that in mind.  Idiots.

Jack Cashill, American Thinker:  "Time for New Look at 2008 Obama Passport Breach"

In 2008, some Bush administration officials were caught illegally snooping in Obama's passport files.  This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Obama was up to something deeply criminal.  Jack finishes his column with the following words:  "Breitbart lives!"

Wrong again, Jack.

Arlen Williams, Renew America:  "GOP voters: don't fall for pundits' psyops, Mitt Romney is a traitor"

And Arlen means it, too:
 
"Traitor" is extreme term. Yet that is what he is, by thoroughly demonstrated conspiracy fact."

Conspiracy fact.  Man, I couldn't have put it better myself. 

World Net Daily:  "Is this the face of the perfect woman?  Imagine Taylor Swift, Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johannson all combined"

The perfect woman.  I guess I don't even have to say why I found this interesting.

World Net Daily:  "San Francisco drug addicts unionize"

I guess even drug addicts in San Francisco are smarter than workers in the South.

George W. Bush: Keystone XL Is A ‘No-Brainer’

Well, I guess you would know a no-brainer when you see one, George.

Bob Owens:  "BOMBSHELL: Sandra Fluke an Obama-affiliated Marxist ringer "

No comment needed.



And finally, a Blast from the Past, from one of our former favorites here at Green Eagle, who seems to have descended into intellectual obscurity for some unknown reason:

Reverend J. Grant Swank, 2008:  "If in the Oval Office, he will see to it that biblical Christianity is erased completely. There will not be one sign of the Judeo-Christian heritage left once B. Hussein is in the White House."

Boy, were you right on target there, J. Grant- one short term later, and there is no sign of Christianity left in the country, all due to the unceasing Mooslum attacks of B. Hussein Obama.  Why, oh WHY, didn't we listen to you when we had the chance?

What the Hell Is Wrong With This Country?

Or at least the Republican part of it.   Can you even think of anything sicker than this?

"A proposed new law in Arizona would give employers the power to request that women being prescribed birth control pills provide proof that they're using it for non-sexual reasons. And because Arizona's an at-will employment state, that means that bosses critical of their female employees' sex lives could fire them as a result.

Yesterday, a Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed Republican Debbie Lesko's HB2625 by a vote of 6-2 ...Lesko states, with a straight face, that this bill is necessary because "we live in America; we don't live in the Soviet Union."

Where someone might be able to get birth control pills without being fired.  The Republican party has deliberately created a very ugly monster in this country, and I am afraid to even think what we are going to have to do to be rid of it.

Death of Another Republican Myth

Here's a wonderful chart from Talking Points Memo this morning, showing a little of the truth about the Republican lie that they are the fiscally conservative party, and the Democrats are the big spenders:

You can see two things from this chart.  First of all, the "out of control Democratic spenders" (as usual) actually kept government spending totally in line, despite a near-depression, while the "fiscally conservative" Republicans used massive government spending to combat the recession in the early years of the Reagan administration.  Second, you can see that the Republican party refused to use a proven recession-fighting strategy when it had the potential to help a Democratic president, regardless of the damage they were doing to the country.

A political party run off the rails, and sunk deeply into unapologetic sedition- this is the explanation for the poor state of the country today.  And yet, the gigantic Republican lie lives on, eating away at our economic security and sending us ever further into the third world.

Who is Really Responsible for Afghan Massacre?

A murder rampage by an American soldier, who killed sixteen, probably marks the end of all hope that anything good will come of our decade-long involvement in Afghanistan.  Now, everyone is screaming for the death penalty for this guy, but that may just be a convenient way of evading the real responsibility for this slaughter:

"The U.S. Army staff sergeant who allegedly murdered 16 Afghan civilians in a dead-of-night spasm of shooting, stabbing and fire-setting is reported to have suffered a traumatic brain injury during a deployment to Iraq in 2010. That bit of medical history could prove significant in the promised investigation by U.S. military officials -- and potentially, in the soldier's criminal defense. Or not.

Research on traumatic brain injury has established a clear link between brain trauma and irritable, aggressive behavior that can be explosive, often without apparent warning or provocation."

President Obama, you have had three years to show some leadership and state clearly that the war in Afghanistan was lost when George Bush and Dick Cheney decided to devote our military to committing a criminal aggression against Iraq, rather than finish their job in Afghanistan.  That is the truth, and by running from that truth, you have made things like this inevitable. We should have been out of Afghanistan and Iraq within months of your election, and every miserable thing that has happened since is the result of your cowardice.  Now, you are screwed no matter what you do, and you have attached your name to our failure in the Mideast, which should have stood as the clearest example of the failure of Republican foreign policy.  Instead, you have virtually paved the way for further failures like this.

South Carolina

I'm so proud of the State where I currently reside.  You may have heard that our Republican Lieutenant Governor just had to resign over a few ethical slips.  Here's his replacement:

Hint:  It's the guy in the middle, in the Confederate uniform.  Man, what a great place this is.

Hug Gate- The Anatomy of a Phony Conspiracy

Well, I think it's useful to spend some time on the tremendous "scandal" that Andrew Breitbart was about to release- a piece of film from Obama's college days that Breitbart said would destroy Obama.

Let's talk about the truth first.  In 1990, Derrick Bell, the first black tenured professor at Harvard University, held a protest.  He was angered that Harvard law school had denied tenure to a female black professor.  Unsurprisingly, the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, one Barack Obama, was selected to introduce Professor Bell.  This demonstration was covered by Boston PBS station WGBH.  Here is the entire surviving footage (from WGBH) of Obama's introduction.  It is important that you take the one minute and seventeen seconds to watch this, as it shows how absolutely inoffensive Obama's remarks were:



That's it!  And all in the service of a purported rabid black racist who is actually a Harvard law professor. 

Oh, wait a minute, there's more!  Obama actually HUGGED professor Bell after introducing him!  According to Breitbart's followers, evil liberals edited this shocking footage from the video.  Actually, it was never in the video, but here is a widely circulated photo of this abominable act:

Now, let us turn to a small sample of the right wing's reaction to this event, which Breitbart claimed would result in Obama's being crushed at the election next November:

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:  "BREITBART VIDEO Shows Obama Urging Peers to Embrace Radical Crackpot Racist Prof...Breitbart.com Editor-in-Chief Joel Pollak and Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro appeared on The Sean Hannity Show tonight to discuss the Obama Harvard protest tape that was kept from the American public by the democrat-media complex back in 2008...The complete footage from 1991 shows Barack Obama leading a protest at Harvard Law School in support of Professor Derrick Bell, a radical academic tied to Obama’s racist pastor Jeremiah Wright. The unedited tape also shows Barack Obama embracing this radical professor. In the unedited video Obama encourages students to “open up your hearts and minds” to this radical race-baiting professor.

The democrat-media complex purposely hid this tape from the American public in 2008"

Well, no they didn't hide it.  It was broadcast in full during the 2008 campaign, but who cares about facts.  Now, may I point out to you how unlikely it is that "radical crackpots" are made tenured professors at Harvard?  Of course, Hoft is counting on his readers to know nothing about Derrick Bell, and to be ready and eager to believe any right wing smear about any black man.  And of course, the unedited video does not show Obama "leading" a protest, it only shows him introducing Bell.

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall:  "Barack Obama Palled Around With Radical Professor"

Pretty much the same as Jim Hoft, above, as well as numerous other wingnuts who insist that there is something "radical" about this Harvard professor, with the addition of the Sarah Palin phrase "palled around," which is a sort of cue to the anti-intellectual base of the Republican party that it is okay to believe any vile thing about Harvard people.

Frank Gaffney, Town Hall:  "Andrew Breitbart, Our Samuel Adams"

I guess he's talking about the beer, because Breitbart sure as hell didn't have a damned thing in common with the America patriot, whose career did not consist in being a lying prick.

Tony Katz, Town Hall:  "Vetting Obama: Leftists Take Steps To Prevent You From Learning Anything"
 
Except for the facts that A) they didn't; and B) there is nothing to learn from this pathetic piece of video, except that, contrary to the claims of many wingnuts, Obama actually did go to Harvard.

"This is a man so extreme that, as we’ve reported, he wrote a story in 1993 in which he posited that white Americans would sell black Americans into slavery to aliens to relieve the national debt"


How could anyone be so degenerate as to suggest that White Americans would sell Black Americans into slavery?

Ed Driscoll, Ed Driscoll.com:  "Obama’s Mentor: We Hid this Video Throughout the 2008 Campaign"

Obama's mentor?  Bill Ayers?  Jeremiah Wright?  Saul Alinsky?  Satan? No, some guy named Charles Ogletree.  Man, Obama had a lot of mentors.  And this story seems to be questionable too, because the tape in question was freely available during the 2008 campaign.  Well, surprise, surprise...this one has another big, Breitbart style lie in it.  The full tape of Ogletree's remarks has now been released, and it turns out that Ogletree was actually making a joke about how he and his fellow professors looked so much older than they did twenty years ago, and Breitbart, in his inevitable fashion cut out the context of Ogletree's remarks, to make it seem like they were trying to hide something about Obama.  They never change.

Joe Kovacs, World Net Daily:  "'Smoking gun' in Breitbart mystery video...Major cover-up alleged in 2008 presidential campaign"

What exactly it was they were covering up, I can't say.   It sure wasn't anything in this tape.

Thomas Lifson, American Thinker:  "The first of the posthumous Breitbart tapes debuted last night on Hannity, and today on Breitbart.com.  You can tell the left is concerned by the fact that:

1. Ben Smith, now running Buzzfeed, pre-empted the debut by licensing the same tape from WGBH TV in Boston, and running it, minus a couple of shots, and then rushed to dismiss its significance.

2. There has been a rush to conclude that this is much ado about nothing"

Much ado about nothing.  Those damned liberals, reverting to the worst refuge of scoundrels- telling the truth.  And to think that their rebuttal of Breitbart consisted of releasing the tape themselves.  What a strategy, if liberals really thought there was something bad here.

"Update: J. Christian Adams of PJ Media points to another tape showing black students occupying a Dean's office as part of the same effort to force tenure for a black professor who didn't earn it. One of the students seen occupying the office looks a lot like Michelle Obama."

Oh my God, there goes Obama's re-election.  His wife was in a protest twenty years ago- if it is even her.

Trust me, I could go on and on here.  If this incident proves anything, it is what a blameless life Obama has led, and what a pack of vicious liars Conservatives are.  Well, we've had that proven so many times, we really didn't need another lesson.


Extra Added Bonus:  If you are feeling particularly masochistic today, you could go here, where you will find a host of incredibly tedious videos about how Obama had Breitbart killed to prevent the release of this video.  Honestly, I couldn't force myself to wade through much of it.

A Little Good News From Ohio

About one of the most loathsome Republican house members (and boy is that a crowded field:)

"In OH-02, Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, who first won office in a 2005 special election and has always had a rocky road to re-nomination, was knocked off by surgeon and Iraq war vet Brad Wenstrup, 49-43"

Good riddance.

Here's The Most Unsurprising Surprise of the Day

Bain Capital owns half of Clear Channel, which employs Rush Limbaugh.

Pig

This just in:

"Fox Business Network host Don Imus is calling Rush Limbaugh an "insincere pig" after the conservative icon begrudgingly apologized to a Georgetown University law student for calling her a "slut" and a "prostitute."

Can you even conceive of what it takes for Don Imus to think you are an insincere pig?  The mind boggles.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

From a site I stumbled across at work.  I'm not sure I'm falling for this particular dream come true:

Here We Go Again

A little polling news from Daily Kos, about Super Tuesday:

"PPP Super Tuesday polling: Good news for Mitt Romney, as Rick Santorum slips ...The news is good for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and bad for Rick Santorum in PPP's final polls of the three biggest Super Tuesday states.

Mitt Romney is consolidating his chances to put Rick Santorum away and gain traction tomorrow, in a series of Super Tuesday polls from Public Policy Polling"

Once again, even the most astute political observers (and the people at Daily Kos are certainly that) fail to grasp what is going on here.  In Ohio, as in virtually every contest so far, Romney simply waits until a week or a week and a half before the primary, and then cuts the legs out from under whoever is ahead of him with an avalanche of negative ads paid for by his rich backers.  He eats into their support just enough to give himself a 2-3% victory- any more than that would be a waste of money.  And thus, step by miserable step he closes in on the Republican nomination, in another victory of wealth over democracy.  The people behind Citizens United must be so proud.

Of course, this is all child's play compared to what Romney and his backers have lined up for Obama.  Will it work?  Stay tuned.


Update:  This remark, from Talking Points Memo:

"The polls out of Ohio are starting to look a lot like Michigan, with a probable come from behind victory for Mitt. "

All the democracy money can buy.

Stupefying Historical Ignorance

Or just jingoistic lying?  Rick Santorum the other day:

"In the previous 2,000 years, life did not change," he said. "And then America came around and said, 'No, no more dictators, no more kings, no more classes, no more nobility.' We believe in limited government, not an all-powerful state. We believe that if we liberate people, we recognize the rights that God has given every person then the world will change."

Yeah!  It's all about us!!!

Republicans Vote to Force Sharia Law on American Workers

Well, that's the headline that we should be using about the despicable Blunt amendment narrowly rejected by the Senate, because that is what it would allow Muslim business owners to do.  Funny, it's okay for the Republican party to spend years accusing Obama of bringing Sharia law to America when everyone knows that is a total lie, but when Republicans in Congress vote openly to do exactly that, there is no one with a public voice who will point it out. 

I know I am harping about this lately, but how do Democrats expect American voters to see the truth when there is not a major person willing to say it out loud?

How Real Is The Republican Primary Process?

You know I have said all along that the rich guys always get their candidate in the Republican party, and the "base" are just suckers, over and over again.  Well, how about this for evidence:

"Michigan’s two at-large delegates to the Republican National convention will be awarded to Michigan native Mitt Romney, following a vote last night by the state party’s credentials’ committee. 

The vote came despite the party’s rules that the two at-large delegates are supposed to be awarded on a proportional basis based on the statewide popular vote. Romney won the statewide vote by a 41% to 38% margin over former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. 

The rest of the state’s delegates will be split evenly between Romney and Santorum because each won seven congressional districts across the state. 

As a result, Romney gets 16 delegates and Santorum 14."

Democracy, Republican style. Everything is totally fair as long as the rich guys' choice wins.  Hey, nothing wrong with that, right?

Andrew Breitbart Dies

And thus we lose  a duplicitous bastard, a big ass motherfucker, a prick who was a special pile of human excrement.

Oops, that wasn't Andrew Breitbart.  That's what Andrew Breitbart had to say about Ted Kennedy the day Kennedy died.

Wingnut Wrapup

 Well, while we've been watching the pathetic display of wankerdom that is Mitt, Green Eagle has been neglecting the little people- the rank and file that are working so hard to turn the Republican party into the new Stahlhelms.  Let's just take a few minutes to give them the attention they've earned, starting with this remark:

"don’t worry, if obama wins you won’t have to worry about anything except how that brown shirt and those jack boots are gonna fit while you’re standing in that bread line , and bowing to the east on your little gov issued prayer rug."

A random comment on a random PJ Media post.  Well, at least they are giving us jack boots to wear while we are standing and at the same time kneeling on our free prayer rug.  If we elect a Republican, we are going to have to pay for that pair of jack boots, and buy another pair for a rich person too.

Sarah Palin:  "Newt Is Toughest Fighter in the Race"

Good point, Sarah.  Makes me think, though, you might be better off supporting Mike Tyson.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:  "Just so you know…We were warned.  A Sunni cleric says, “Allah will soon send an American Gorbachev to end the American Empire.”  This was back before America elected Obama."

Nice that Jim has finally given up on his endless hatred of Muslims, and now regards them as the font of all wisdom about our country.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:  "Report: Obama Administration Is Giving Away 7 Strategic Islands to Russia"

Well, actually, they are not strategic islands so much as they are useless and uninhabited islands in the Arctic ocean off of the coast of Russia.  A quick minute or two with Wikipedia will reveal that the United States has never claimed these islands, and has always recognized them as Russian territory.  So, how is that evil Obama giving them away?  Who knows.  Still, this is something to add to the long Conservative list of things that Obama didn't do, that are his fault, such as the economic collapse and the military disaster in Iraq.

Town Hall:  "Ron Paul: US Slipping Into a Fascist System "

Which, given Ron Paul's long history of association with Aryan Supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups, is presumably the best news he's heard all day.

Derek Hunter, Town Hall:  "Why “Progressives” and not “Liberals”?"

Why "Conservatives" and not "Dumb Asses?"

Ken Blackwell, Town Hall:  "Why bring up Rev. Wright now?"

Because you've got nothing else?  That's my guess.

Bob Owens, Confederate Yankee:  "Bruce Springsteen’s new album an ode to Occupy Wall Street ...He clearly knows nothing of how this nation was founded, or what the role of the government should be in our lives.  He sure as Hell doesn’t understand America."

I don't think I need to waste a second explaining how stupid that was. 

Bryan Preston, PJ Media:  "Unless Your Name Is Barack Obama, You Won't Be Surprised to Learn that The Pill Is Not Free"

Barack doesn't know that?  I wonder why he wants insurance companies to cover it then?

Ron Radosh, Pajamas Media:  "Was the Father of the A-Bomb a Communist and Soviet Spy?"

Leaving aside the fact that this is utter nonsense, let us ask what it means when Conservatives have to go back to 1943 to find a left wing boogy man.  Not much luck digging anything up about today's Democrats, huh, guys?   This is even more pathetic than the jerk featured in Wingnut Wrapup a couple of days ago that thought that it was vital to our national security to discuss whether John F. Kennedy had affairs back in the early sixties.  Well, when it's all you've got, it's all you've got.

Jeannie DeAngelis:  "Is Obama purposely altering America's religious complexion?"

Complexion...a  new low in not-so-subtle racism, or just one of the stupidest comments ever?  We leave it to you to decide

Lloyd Marcus, Renew America:  "Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated." Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood."

A wonderful contribution to our historical understanding from Renew America's favorite house nigger, Lloyd Marcus.  If you google that quotation, you will get over 8,000 hits, virtually every single one of them from right wing websites, including many of our favorites here at Wingnut Wrapup.  Needless to say, there is no shred of evidence that Margaret Sanger ever said or wrote any such thing. 

And, if the "house nigger" thing made you mad, tough.  This guy has sold his soul to white racists for years now, and he doesn't deserve any better treatment.

Jim Kouri, Renew America:  "New York City is nation's #1 terrorist target, say officials"

That should make you happy, Jim.  It's wingnuts' number one target too.

Gabriel Garnicia, Renew America:  "Catholics are not stupid, they have just been hijacked...temporarily"

If by "temporarily," you mean two thousand years.

John Ransome, Town Hall:  "This is What a President Looks Like"

How can I put this politely?  Well, what a President looks like is someone without a suntan, if you catch my drift.

Pat Buchanan, Town Hall:  "Is Obama's America God's Country?"

No, Pat, it's not.  This country belongs to the American people.  Well, even though we all know that by second grade or so, it isn't really that surprising that it is a mystery to the guy who claims that Hitler didn't want World War II.

David Steinberg, PJ Media:  "A Pulitzer for PJ Media? The Case for Our ‘Every Single One’ Series"

Hey, I never knew that you could give yourself awards like this.  Green Eagle is giving himself a Nobel Prize in theoretical physics for his advanced research in the at-rest state of matter, conducted during a nap last weekend.  Oh boy, I can hardly wait to start spending the prize money!  The first thing I'm going to buy is a nice hammock.

Michelle Malkin, Town Hall:  "The $4 Billion Obamacare Slush Fund for Progressives"

This has the potential to develop into quite a scandal.  On the planet in the other universe where it happened.

Leon Wolff, Red State:  "Richard Lugar Calls TEA Party Voters Morons"

The truth hurts.

John Ransom, Town Hall:  "Too bad GM is so broke that they can’t afford to pay the US government back the $23 billion they still owe us."

Well, not so much "owe" us.  Actually, the government still owns $23 billion in GM stock, which it could sell any time it wants, but since the auto bailout worked so well, the stock price has been going up, so Obama decided to hang on to it a little longer.  If the Kock brothers did this, the wingnuts would call it a brilliant investment.  When Obama does it, not so much.  Capitalism- it's only for Republicans.

Chuck Norris, Renew America:  "Whom would America's founders elect president?"

Just in case you're interested, I'll cut to the chase here:  Chuck thinks George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, et. al. would have voted for Newt Gingrich  Yes, they fought and died so Newt Gingrich could be President.  There's no way to even ridicule this adequately.

James Lewis, American Thinker:  "Here Comes Obama's 3 AM Phone Call...No American president has ever allowed an international crisis to come so close to the brink."

No? how about what happened in 1939?  Was that an international crisis that came "so close to the brink?"  How about when your guy ignored memos warning about 9-11?  How about the Cuban Missile crisis?  How about Korea?  How about... oh, well, you get my point.  Yes, whatever happens in the world, it's Obama's fault for not bombing some brown person first, even though if he did it would be an unconstitutional abuse of power without the consent of Republicans in Congress, who would never give it, for fear Obama would secure one more nearly costless foreign policy victory.

Joseph Farah, Renew America:  "Where Ron Paul goes off the rails"

Everywhere.  I think that pretty well sums it up.

Bryan Fischer, Renew America:  "Does the GOP's "big tent" have enough room for Rick Santorum?"

Listen, Bryan, the GOP's big tent has had room for Rick Santorum for twenty years.  The real question is, why?

David Limbaugh, World Net Daily:  "Blame leftists for rise of religious conservatives"

Blame leftists for everything, even your own behavior, huh, David?  That makes sense.

Newsmax:  "Dershowitz to Newsmax: Obama Could Be ‘Chamberlain of 21st Century’

Yeah, that's right.  Except for the fact that Chamberlain was a party-line conservative who fought every step to prepare Britain militarily to face Germany, because it would involve raising taxes.  Except for that, Obama is just like Chamberlain.  Somehow.

Town Hall:  "Newt: Bibles Burnt, Churches Torched, Christians & Troops Are Murdered...Nobody In Middle East Apologizes"

Naturally, after demonizing Muslims for years as semi-human savages, what could make more sense than turning to them as a guide for our own behavior?  High quality thinking as usual from our very own home-grown Taliban.

Gateway Pundit FEATURED STORY:  "Cocky Obama Jokes With UAW Workers About His Inevitable Reelection"

Inevitable reelection...deal with it, sucka.

Jeannie De Angelis:  "Excuse me for laughing, but the flawed logic of liberals has run into sort of a lesbian conundrum up in the blue-blue state of Massachusetts. Seems three women who proudly fly the rainbow flag were arraigned for beating up a gay man in a Massachusetts train station. All three ladies were charged with participating in a hate crime."

"Flawed logic."  Apparently that consists in holding everyone to the same standards of the law.  See, even when people that liberals normally defend commit a crime, we insist on prosecuting them.  Man, is that a laughable example of warped thinking.  Anyone knows that when a Republican commits a crime it's just fine with other Republicans.  Well, Jeannie, I hope you got a good laugh out of liberals enforcing the law.  It sure is a blot on our justice system.

Pam Geller, World Net Daily:  "America does not apologize to savages and cannibals and ghouls.  Stop apologizing and start carpet-bombing...Stop apologizing to these savages and start fighting.  I do not apologize that the United States of America is “the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world...I am ashamed of my country.”

And the way to prove that we are the noblest and most moral country in the history of the world is to kill a lot of people.  Good thinking there, Pam.  I just want to add that we don't usually let Pam in here any more, but I thought this was such a perfect sample of right wing morality that I would make an exception just this once.

Astute Bloggers:  "MITT/SANTORUM 2012 = IKE/NIXON IN 1952?"

Yeah, as soon as Mitt wins a world war like Ike did. 


Enough.  See you soon.

Amazing What You Can Accomplish

When your foreign policy doesn't consist of screaming threats and abuses at any country that doesn't do exactly what our warmongers want:

"North Korea agreed on Wednesday to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches, and to allow checks by nuclear inspectors, in an apparent policy shift that paves the way for resuming long-stalled disarmament talks.

The surprise breakthrough, announced simultaneously by the U.S. State Department and North Korea, also includes U.S. food aid for the impoverished state and makes possible the resumption of six-nation nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang. The news followed bilateral diplomatic talks in Beijing last week.

"These are concrete measures that we consider a positive first step toward complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner," White House spokesman Jay Carney said."

Eight years of mindless threats and abuse under Republicans produced nothing except more hostility and danger.   Here's what you get when you let Democrats run things.   And to think that, when the Bush administration took over, the Republicans and virtually all of the mainstream press spent their time crowing about how the "grownups" were back in control.  The Republican party now has a virtually unbroken century-long history of being disastrously wrong about everything, but they are still presented as a viable opportunity to the people who have been right about everything.