Guv'mint-Run Healthcare Administered to Protestors of Guv'Mint-Run Healthcare

I have a weak spot for delicious irony. And this story reads like it's straight out of The Onion...When US Rep (and noted victim of The Crazy) Michelle Bachmann organized her "press conference" and encouraged teabaggers, birthers, and other friends of Orly Taitz to attend, the last thing she probably expected was a Spinal Tap moment:

But, as with a similar rally by Democrats a week before, unpredictable things tend to happen in the wide-open spaces of the Capitol's West Front. Minutes into the rally, a breeze toppled the American flag from the stage.

More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician's office -- an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care -- rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.

...

By the time it was over, medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care. But Bachmann overlooked this irony as she said farewell to her recruits.

"You," she said, "are the most beautiful sight any of us freedom fighters have seen for a long time."

Stonehenge anyone? The stupidity continues:

The lawmakers set the tone early, when Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) asked for the Pledge of Allegiance because "it drives the liberals crazy" to hear the "under God" part (his bravado was premature, for he left out the word "indivisible").

My goodness people...if you're going to pull pseudo-patriotic martyrdom bullshit, at least get it right. But this part really bugged me:

The actor Jon Voight, standing with the lawmakers, said of Obama: "Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Reverend Wright to damn America?"

Yes, Jon. And Reverend Wright made you abuse and abandon your super-hot daughter too. Oh, and I think he was probably behind those two hillbillies who almost raped you and made your buddy ned squeal like a pig too. You know them boys was on guv'mint-run healthcare, dontcha? Sometimes I think Ronny Cox got the rawest deal in that movie...he was the best of 'em, you know.

Almost At A Loss For Words...

My Next Bumper Sticker

High Court to Hear Skilling Case

We're continuing to reap what we sowed by letting the Bush Administration run rampant for 8 years. The Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal of Jeffrey Skilling's conviction on fraud charges relating to his role in the collapse of Enron. If they overturn Skilling's conviction, the two main actors in the Enron ponzi scheme will have gotten away with their crimes. With two Bush appointees on the court, I won't be surprised if it happens.

True Patriots Hang Jack-Booted Census Worker

Idiocy...sheer idiocy:

When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

Next up in Kentucky: lynching people because they file tax returns.

Fundie Pastor Prays for Obama to Die...Parissioner Takes Gun to Obama Town Hall

They're showing their true colors. After the vitriolic bullshit and lies about death panels, government-funded abortions, and other right wing make-believe, the troglodytes are frothing at the mouth almost enough to destroy themselves. After an astroturf teabagger shill brought an AR-15 to an Obama town hall meeting, it was revealed that his pastor prayed for Obama to die and go to hell, making it a cetral theme of his sermon:

The sermon, which was titled "Why I Hate Barack Obama" and also contained virulent anti-gay themes...

Once again, these people have nothing meaningful or insightful to say, so they revert to idiocy, hate, and outright lies to prevent reform. They're the real America-haters.

Barney Frank and the Teabaggers...

Barney Frank lays into an idiot teabagger during a town hall meeting.

Sanford Likes His Business Class Seats

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford claims to be a frugal fiscal conservative. But he sure likes his airline hospitality, according to AP. The governor spent thousands in state funds to fly in business and first class on domestic and international trips.

I wish I could fly first class everywhere. That would be fun.

Paranoid, Delusional, Massochistic Fantasies

There’s a paranoid delusional state among wingnuts these days. It’s both frightening and amusing at once. Today I saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck in St Louis:

I’ll keep my guns, my freedom, and my money.

You can keep the change.

One part of me wanted to find the owner of the truck and try desperately to provide him with a dose of reality. But I doubt it would have taken hold.

Some wingnuts have this fantasy that Obama and his minions are coming for your guns, with the ghosts of Mao Tse Tung and Lenin in tow. Despite legions of evidence that such a thing just won’t happen, they hold fast to this idea of the ATF knocking down their front door, killing their family, and taking their guns. They also hold fast to the laughable notion that an armed population can somehow hold the government in check…with its tanks, its planes, armed unmanned drones, cruise missiles, and vast treasure. Laughable. But somehow the fantasy lives…it’s almost like they want it to happen; they want to be martyrs for the cause.

The right has fed on paranoia and fear for the better part of a century now. They get some of their power from red scares, xenophobia, and myths resulting from paranoid fantasies. That’s ultimately self-destructive. Too bad they end up dragging the rest of the nation down with them.

Over 6000 Years Old!

Thanks to Keith Olberman for this one. Today's worst person in the world is State Senator Sylvia Allen from the great state of Arizona. While speaking in favor of approving a permit to mine uranium, the distinguished State Senator reminds us that the Earth is over 6000 years old...and predates all those pesky environmental laws.



You heard right...we need to mine Uranium, which has a half-life of 4.47 bilion years and is used to carbon date artifacts from the earliest human civilizations (8000 years ago) and to do so, we need to get around those environmental laws that weren't around when the Earth was created 6000 years ago. Classic.

We Cannot Simply Turn the Page

A cogent, thoughtful piece from Frank Rich today in the New York Times. As much as President Obama wants to move the country forward and deal with our common, pressing problems, the specter of the Bush Administration's misdeeds will prevent him from doing so:

TO paraphrase Al Pacino in “Godfather III,” just when we thought we were out, the Bush mob keeps pulling us back in. And will keep doing so. No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can’t. Until there is true transparency and true accountability, revelations of that unresolved eight-year nightmare will keep raining down drip by drip, disrupting the new administration’s high ambitions.

Rich details several scandals that have only recently come to light, including Donald Rumsfeld's bible-laced daily briefings to Bush on the Iraq war, framing it as a modern day crusade. Rich makes it clear that the Bush Administration broke the law, and that they must be held accountable for this country to move forward.

I've been saying this all along...we can't just let bygones be bygones. When Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, his apologists claimed that his motivation was to keep the nation from tearing itself apart over Watergate. But the net effect of his pardon was to let abuse of power go unchecked, emboldening future administrations to flout the law. Think of it this way: if the American people had held Nixon accountable and sent him to jail for ordering a third-rate burglary, would George W. Bush have brazenly violated domestic and international law to torture and spy on people? I think not.

Idiocy Only Wingnuts Can Believe In

Granted, it's hard to be a Republican these days. Their numbers are dwindling, the Bush Recession has turned them into a regional party comprised mainly of wingnuts, and the public is with President Obama on almost all major issues. The national GOP has turned to cynicism and obstructionism in a time of true crisis. But every so often the wingnuts truly go off their rocker and say or do some things I can hardly believe. A few examples:

The California Mayor and The Watermelons
Los Alamitos, CA Mayor Dean Grose has announced that he will be stepping down from his position on March 2, after sending an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title ‘No Easter egg hunt this year.’

Texas GOP Congressman Claims Recessions are Just Part of Freedom
This morning on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, a caller asked Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) how Republicans would solve the current economic crisis. He replied by insisting that the best cure was more tax cuts, and said that recessions are simply "part of freedom."

Rush Limbaugh's Female Summit
Why do women hate him? Could be the misogyny.

John Bolton Suggests Nuking Chicago, CPAC Audience Cheers
A little collateral damage never hurt anyone...at least according to Bolton.

These people were in charge just a few short months ago. Is it any wonder that our nation is in crisis?

Joe the Dumber: War is Hell, Reporters Should Be Banned

It's the gift that keeps on giving...between Sarah Palin and Samuel Wurzelbacher, the comedy shows are getting plenty of material in this almost-post-Bush era. The latest bit of comedy comes from Joe the Plumber Country Music Artist Blogger Author War "Correspondent". He's touring Israel during its latest offensive against Palestinian territories, and he apparently longs for the propaganda-driven newsreels of WWII:

I'll be honest with you. I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I-I think it's asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for'em. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer--and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers. I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, 'Well look at this atrocity,' well you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

I didn't realize Joe the Dumber was old enough to remember World War II, which ended in 1945. Oh, and I don't think they had many theaters with propaganda newsreels during World War I. The Wilson Administration didn't need to resort to that...they had the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act handy to put dissenters in jail. So I guess Joe really is pining for the good old days, where questioning or reporting on a war could land you a prison term.

I wonder if Joe sees the irony/hypocrisy of complaining about media coverage of a war while he's masquerading as a war correspondent?

An Appropriate Tribute: Brutish, Unnecessary, and Obsolete

In what is perhaps the most fitting recent tribute I can think of, the US Navy has commissioned the last of its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and named it after George H. W. Bush. The new carrier...

cost $6.2 billion and took five years to build. It towers 20 stories above the waterline, has a flight deck of more than 1.8 hectares, and measures 333 meters long.

It's also the last in the line of Nimitz-class carriers, and is largely obsolete in a modern world where "force projection" against nation states is a thing of the past. A $6 billion dinosaur, floating the world's oceans, impotently touting American imperalism...what a fitting tribute to a one-term failure of a President who screwed up the economy, started an unnecessary war, and gave us a son who turned America into a third world nation.

Will the Supremes Attack Voting Equality?

The Bush Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging parts of the 1965 voting rights act, which prevents states with a history of voting intimidation and discrimination from changing their election laws and procedures without federal approval. This provision was meant to stop these states from arbitrarily changing their laws to keep minorities from voting.

I don't know what's more disturbing...the fact that the Bush Court agreed to hear this case, or the rather amusing arguments put forward by the plaintiffs:

"The America that has elected Barack Obama as its first African-American president is far different than when" the law was first enacted in 1965, they said.

So Obama's election, on the coattails of the biggest economic collapse in three generations, as well as the negligence and malice of the GOP, means that discrimination is over in America? So we should just go about our business and trust in the good hearts of formerly racists regions in the South to let black folks vote...yeah, right. I can see the Bush Court using this as an excuse to overturn much of the progress made from the struggles of the 50's and 60's.

John Roberts Channels Sally Struthers

John Roberts thinks that judges make too little. That paragon of conservative judicial activism, the very same one whose party wants the rest of us to make less, whose party that hates all public employees, thinks federal judges need substantial raises. Maybe we should take up a collection.

Thou Art Cursed, O Bristol Palin

Right wingers and the press are smitten Jesus-style with the birth of Sarah Palin's first grandaughter:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol has given birth to a son, People magazine reported on Monday.
...
"The baby is fine and Bristol is doing well. Everyone is excited," Jones told the magazine. The couple have said they plan to marry.

Wait...they're not married yet? According to The Bible, that's a sin...and it's punishable by a 10 generation expulsion from the church:

23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Sorry, Bristol...looks like your son won't be able to attend the Wasilla Assembly of God™ to listen to grandma talk about people and dinosaurs coexisting and bleating on about how our soldiers are doing God™'s work in I-rak. You'll just have to go to a sensible church, where they don't interpret the Bible with selective literalism.

Bush Channels Nixon

From the "I am not a crook" files:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081228/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_legacy

WASHINGTON – First Lady Laura Bush disagrees with critics who call the presidency of George W. Bush a failure.

"I know it's not, and so I don't really feel like I need to respond to people that view it that way," Mrs. Bush said in an interview that aired Sunday. "I think history will judge and we'll see later."

I think history has already judged him...and so have the American people.

Blaming the Unions

We all know the Republicans and their sponsors in the corporate supremacy movement are out to destroy organized labor. It's part of their ideology, and they've been chipping away at the unions for years. And now they have the biggest private sector prize of all in their sights: the UAW. Senate Republicans circulating a memo encouraging their members to mount an assault on the UAW as part of the proposed bailout for auto companies. The GOP and their allies in the corporate media then spent a great deal of airtime blaming the UAW for Detroit's problems. And the media has played right along, citing an utterly false assertion that GM workers earn an average wage of $70 or more per hour, compared to US-based workers in Japanese auto companies who supposedly earn much less. That number is completely off base, as it was calculated by taking into account the benefits paid to retirees, as well as other figures designed to inflate the number. But it hasn't stopped the media outlets from parroting the $70+ figure right, left, and center.

The real cash wage for these workers in 2006 was $39.68. According to GM:

TOTAL COMPENSATION
The total of both cash compensation and benefits provided to GM hourly workers in 2006 amounted to approximately $73.26 per active hour worked. This total is made of two main components: cash compensation ($39.68) and benefit/government required programs ($33.58).
The average annual cash compensation for hourly employees in 2006 was $39.68 per hour. Included in average earnings are straight-time pay, Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), night-shift premiums, overtime premiums, holiday and vacation pay. In 2003, GM workers logged 41,363 (hours in 000's) in overtime hours for an average of 371 hours per worker; in 2004, 39,409 overtime hours for an average of 374 hours per worker; in 2005, 33,555 overtime hours for an average of 337 hours per worker; and in 2006, 27,265 overtime hours for an average of 315 hours per worker.

Benefit/government required programs in 2006 added an additional $33.58 for each active hour worked. These costs include: group life insurance, disability benefits, and Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB), Job Security (JOBS), pensions, unemployment compensation, Social Security taxes, and hospital, surgical, prescription drug, dental, and vision care benefits.

So these supposedly rich, profligate union auto workers are averaging around $39 per hour in cash pay. And that's before taxes. And this graphic (from the New York Times) makes it clear that much of the auto makers' labor costs come from "legacy costs" or what they promised to retirees:



Much of those legacy costs, including health care for retirees, have been foisted onto the UAW itself beyond 2010.

The real problem in Detroit has more to do with the credit crisis (which was engineered by the free marketeers' allies on Wall Street) as well as the auto manufacturers' insistence on making SUVs instead of high-quality economical vehicles. The Republicans, factually off-base as usual, are once again scapegoating working people for the nation's problems.

Some Cafe Press Classics

Sure, the election is over...but there are some classic shirt designs still out there:



And my favorite: