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Showing posts from March, 2013

The Greatest Ever Commander Speaks!

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Greater than Caesar!  Greater than Napoleon!  Greater than Nobunaga or Hideyoshi!  Greater than Alexander!  Greater than Genghis Khan! That would be this guy, according to today's declaration of war against the United States and South Korea- a fat, petulant 29 year old with exactly zero military experience:  As they say: "They should clearly know that in the era of Marshal Kim Jong Un, the greatest-ever commander, all things are different from what they used to be in the past." Okay, here is what is really going on behind this ridiculous bluster:  North Korea is a country that keeps its entire population in near starvation while it devotes practically all of its resources to its military.  Anyone with the slightest experience with dictators knows perfectly well that a large part of those resources are siphoned off into the pockets of top-level politicians and military leaders.  Kim himself is said to have five billion stashed overseas. Kim's main job as &

This Guy, As Usual

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  "Over the past few weeks, there has been a remarkable change of position among the deficit scolds who have dominated economic policy debate for more than three years. It’s as if someone sent out a memo saying that the Chicken Little act, with its repeated warnings of a U.S. debt crisis that keeps not happening, has outlived its usefulness. Suddenly, the argument has changed: It’s not about the crisis next month; it’s about the long run, about not cheating our children. The deficit, we’re told, is really a moral issue.  There’s just one problem: The new argument is as bad as the old one" Just go and read it .  It's no wonder that the Obama administration, devoted to the interests of Wall Street as they seem to be, won't let him anywhere near a position where he could take any action.

The Only Story That Counts

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The press sure is full of stories about gun registration, gay marriage and immigration these days.  Of course, that doesn't leave much room for a story that got a little attention recently but is already on its way to being forgotten forever.  And here it is: "Income Growth For Bottom 90 Percent Of Americans Averaged Just $59 Over 4 Decades:  Incomes for the bottom 90 percent of Americans only grew by $59 on average between 1966 and 2011 (when you adjust those incomes for inflation)" Fifty nine dollars.  That's what upward mobility has to offer American workers in return for a life of labor- fifty nine dollars. I've never taken to putting things in bold text before, but I am making an exception here, because there is not one single fact which indicated the miserable degradation which has overtaken our country over the last forty years or so.  In the same forty years, the GDP (inflation adjusted) of the United States has gone from $1.49 trillion to 14.99 tri

Wingnut Wrapup

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The wackos have been pretty active the last few days.  I'd think it might be the arrival of the spring mating season, but really, the thought of these guys reproducing is enough to put me off my feed for days.  So, I'll just get on with ruining your day as usual: Tom Tancredo, World Net Daily:  "The suicide of the Republican Party" The greatest news I've heard in years!  Oh wait, it's only one more right wing jackass blabbing about nothing.  Never mind... Craig McMillan, World Net Daily:  "Is 'Y2K' still looming?" No, Craig, it happened about thirteen years ago, if I remember correctly.  Still, not so bad- a Conservative who is only 13 years behind the time.  Most of them are still stuck around 1823. Thomas Lifson, American Thinker:  "Sandstorm disrupts Obama's Holy Land travel...It is a certitude among modern intellectuals that only rubes believe in signs and portents." And what do you make, Thomas, about the fact that the la

False Equivalence

An analysis I have heard too much of lately: "The GOP is divided into two factions symbolized by what New York's Dan Amira calls "the world's worst investor, Karl Rove, and the world's worst vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin." Rove, an establishment figure and Bush family stalwart, wants to win. Palin, darling of the Tea Party, the grassroots, and talk-show fans, wants purity — which she believes will bring victory. It's déjà vu all over again: The Goldwater Republicans in 1964 and the McGovern Democrats in 1972. Both groups later tempered their rough edges and became more influential in their parties. But first they clung to extreme platforms far outside the mainstream of American politics. And they lost badly." Goldwater was a racist who lost to Lyndon Johnson, who brought us the Civil Rights act and Medicare.  McGovern, because of his totally justified opposition to the Vietnam war, lost to Nixon, a crook who was soon kicked out of the

"The Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated"

Here's a wonderful example of the right wing echo machine at work.  Yesterday, we had this report from recent Accuracy in Media award winner* Jim Hoft: "Breaking Report: Assad Shot By Bodyguard – Hospitalized in Damascus" Pretty soon, this story was breaking out all over the wingnut world: New York Daily News:  "Unconfirmed reports of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s shooting highlight chaos in country" Free Republic:  "Bashar al-Assad was killed by a bodyguard" Before It's News:  "There are reports of Assad being assassinated coming our of Israel, not sure what this means but it very well could be the Isaiah 17:1 prophecy, the burden of Domascus event or the beginning of it. " Isaiah 17:1- is that the one that says "In those days shall come a great host of jackasses braying their loud brays, and verily all the jackasses will take up the braying until men of good will go mad from the sound" and on and on, most of them bein

More Wonderful News

"Officials say a vial containing a virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever has gone missing from a research facility in Galveston, but say there's no reason to believe there's a threat to the public." Oh no, no reason at all.  

Wingnut Wrapup

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Before getting going, I would like to mention what I think of as the mirror image of Wingnut Wrapup- a collection of links to really good blog posts, compiled weekly by Infidel 753.  I always find numerous things there that I missed and that are well worth reading.  Here's a link to the latest version. Okay, enough with the compliments.  Now, back into the sewer: Guy Benson, Town Hall:  "Priorities: Obama Habitually Late with Budgets, but not NCAA Brackets" No one is going to call him a Communist because of his NCAA picks.  Okay, maybe Jim Hoft. John Ransom, Town Hall:  "Out of Ideas, Governments Try a Bank Heist...With liberal ideas firmly in the saddle, civilizing us, so to speak, we have come a long way...This ladies and gentlemen is what Hope and Change! gets you eventually." Yes, you read that right.  Forced austerity, and making ordinary citizens pay for the misbehavior of banks, the centerpiece of conservative economic policy  across Europe and at h

Graph of the Day

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From Daily Kos, statistics on initial unemployment claims from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Of interest to anyone who wonders if Republican claims that the stimulus accomplished nothing are true. What can be seen in this one simple chart is that Republican management of the economy produces disaster, while Democratic management eventually repairs the damage.  Of course, we are bombarded constantly by the Very Wise People in government and the media, with an account of reality that is the exact opposite of these facts.  Of course, these are the same Very Wise People who assured us that the Iraq war would be a cakewalk, and that everyone in Iraq would love us when it was over.  This is part of the grotesque sickness of American culture today- you can't be recognized as a reliable spokesman until you have been disastrously wrong about things for years.  That shows that you have no sense of honor or self respect, making you a perfect spokesman for people who want nothing but

Gun Legislation- The Inevitable Becomes Obvious

A quote from Daily Kos today about gun legislation shows that even most of the good commenters on the left still suffer from a serious inability to accept reality: "Universal background check could be as dead as assault weapons ban...Three months ago, it seemed unthinkable to all but a few observers that the only new gun legislation that would emerge from the Newtown slaughter would be lukewarm addendums to what is already being done. Unthinkable that the most sensible legislation imaginable, running background checks on everybody seeking to buy a gun, might not be able to find a majority in the U.S. Senate." It seemed unthinkable...not to Green Eagle.  I predicted here shortly after the Newtown massacre that, despite this legislation being favored by 90% of Americans, the Republicans would see that nothing could make its way through Congress. Republicans have mastered the art of preventing anything being enacted that does not serve the interests of their corporate ma

The Tenth Anniversary- Whoopee!

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I don't have much to say about the tenth anniversary of the American war of aggression in Iraq, so I'll get it over with fast. I remember watching on TV as Colin Powell gave his infamous speech to the United Nations.  As did a lot of other people, I knew beyond a doubt that he was lying his ass off.  Anyone who said so, unfortunately, was shouted down as a traitor.  Powell was complicit with Bush, Cheney, et. al. in perpetrating what Justice Jackson at the Nuremberg Trials called the worst war crime of all- starting an unjustified war.  Of course, none of them was held accountable in any way for this action, which may have resulted in the deaths of a million innocent people.  It was obviously far less serious than Bill Clinton's blow job. Well, here, courtesy of Mother Jones , is what we are going to end up paying for it: And what did we get for the six trillion? " ...the United States gained little from the war while Iraq was traumatized by it. The war rei

The Most Abominable Smear of All

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In case you are unaware of it, History Channel is currently broadcasting a ten-part miniseries called "The Bible," produced by a couple of right wing Christian fanatics.  Here is a picture of Satan from that show: There is absolutely no language that I know to express the depths of degradation that are acceptable to the right in America today.

Wingnut Wrapup

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Let's start things off with a video that the tea party people made to show (over and over again, apparently) to their fellow Conservatives at the CPAC conference this week: Isn't that delightful?  What a brilliant portrayal of those evil liberals and what they want for America.  Well, now, on with the rest: John Ransome, Town Hall:  "Thank God for the Koch Brothers" Because who could be behind their attempt to destroy our democracy but God?  Answer me that one smart ass.  Yeah, what kind of Commie would think that God wasn't all in favor of a country ruled by a couple of fascist billionaires?  And yes, this dick said that with a straight face, and apparently really means it.  Scary, huh? Guy Benson, Town Hall:  "Revealed: How Paul Ryan Reduces Deficits by $4.6 Trillion and Balances the Budget" With this girl's help: Otherwise, nothing but the same old Republican lies.  Surprised? Dennis Prager, Town Hall:  "Marijuana: Another

Green Eagle Looks at the Ryan "Budget"

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Well, here we go again: another year and another cynical, phony "budget" produced by Paul Ryan for the Republicans.  I am going to list in some detail the provisions of this deeply dishonest document; it is going to make for a relatively long post, so I want to summarize it first. The two chief features of the Ryan budget are the reduction of the top tax rate from 39% to 25%, and the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.  It is vitally important to notice that this is nothing but a massive giveaway to the rich, beyond anything we have seen proposed before, even by corrupt Republicans.  You would have to be a fool to think that this has anything to do with decreasing the budget deficit. Now, for the feature that is nowhere to be found in the budget:  As has been Republican practice for the last several years, this document claims to balance the Federal budget by resorting to Republican promises about "closing loopholes" and "eliminating fraud and waste.&q

And All Has Fallen Into Place

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Joe Lieberman has taken a job with the American Enterprise Institute, the biggest right wing lie factory in the country. It's so nice when people find their true calling in life.

Paul Ryan Lays It All Out

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The greatest Freudian slip of all time: "...we're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people." Pretty much the Republican plan, in a nutshell.  How many mainstream reporters will decide that it would just be so unfair to mention this "slip" of the tongue?

Wingnut Wrapup

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Today's edition of Wingnut Wrapup is respectfully dedicated to Jim (Dim Bulb) Hoft, who has probably been cited here for idiocy above and beyond the call of duty, more than any other person in history.  In fact, he has two mentions in this post. Some of Hoft's latest (of course never corrected) lies are that the Homeland Security department has purchased 2700 tanks to use against American citizens, and that Bo the White House dog has his own motorcade.  Why the special citation for Jim today?  Because Jim is at the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual meeting, about to receive their "Accuracy in Media" award.  Nothing on earth could possibly demonstrate better the utter disregard for truth and, in fact, common human decency, that is such a characteristic of right wing thought. Well, let's start with this item from Breitbart.com: Yes, the dedicated reporters at Breitbart.com found a piece at a satire website, and reported it as a totally serio