First Draft

Clearly, Members of the Military Loathe Obama

Seeing he's a communist socialist terrorist, and all.

A.

Consequences for Partisanship

Digby:

That commie bastard Al Franken broke the rules. He actually had the temerity to introduce a bill that made Republicans look bad when they voted against it. Somebody's going to have to talk to that guy. That's very uncivil.

When Al Franken ran for the Senate last year, the former “Saturday Night Live” star had to reassure skeptics that the fierce partisan attacks he lobbed at Republicans as an author and radio host wouldn’t define his style as a legislator.

But because of one of his first pieces of legislation, Democrats now have their most brazen attack line of the emerging 2010 campaign season: that Republicans are insensitive to rape victims.

This is why Politico's a bunch of smug morons. In the real world, there are no consequences for partisanship. People didn't vote Republicans out of office in 2006 and 2008 because they were mean, partisan jerks who failed to use the right fork at dinner. They voted Republicans out of office because Republicans failed to make their lives better. 

They may say in polls that they want Republicans and Democrats to work together, but that's just because we have as a country absorbed so much total bullshit from Dr. Phil that we think we really do have to learn everything we need to know in kindergarten. Saying you think people should be nice to each other is what you're supposed to say. It's like saying you despise negative campaigning and the killing of tiny puppies. In reality, we are not all that complicated a political people. We want our lives to not suck, and if on balance we could be on the side of the person hitting somebody in the face rather than the side of the person getting whalloped, that would be nice too.

I know Politico and their ilk likes to put out there the idea that it matters or something, if people are nice to each other, but really, nobody gives a damn. It's not that freaking complicated. Do stuff that makes people happy and you'll keep getting elected. Do stupid crap that no one wants and you won't. How you speak to one another really doesn't mean anything at all. 

A.

Unlucky 13

My former Congressman Dollar Bill Jefferson (of $90k in the freezer fame) was sentenced on Friday the 13th to 13 years in the slammer. Dollar Bill's sentence sets a new Congressional crook record topping Duke Cunningham's by 5 years.

It's a pathetic end to what should have been an inspiring life story. Here's the money quote from the Picayune's account of yesterday's sentence hearing conducted  by Federal Judge TS Ellis:

"I have no doubt you have led an extraordinary life; you have accomplished a great deal," Ellis said to Jefferson, who stood before him in a dark suit and blue shirt. "It makes this even all that much sadder for me and many others.

"Obviously you are a man of great gifts. It is a tragedy these gifts have been squandered."

The 13-year sentence represented an ignominious end for Jefferson, who rose from the humblest beginnings in the small northeast Louisiana town of Lake Providence to attend Harvard University. He went on to become the first African-American to represent Louisiana in Congress since Reconstruction and a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

He raised five daughters, each with undergraduate and graduate degrees from prestigious universities.

Jefferson was brilliant but greedy. He was dubbed Dollar Bill way back in the 1970's by his one-time mentor turned enemy, then New Orleans Mayor Dutch Morial.

Greed will get you every time.

Weekend Question Thread: Five Things in a Box

This is a game someone whose fiction I used to read would play. Say you're meeting me for the first time. A week before we meet in person, you send me a box with five things in it, to see, or touch, or smell, or taste, to tell me everything about you. The box can be as large or as small as you like, but it must contain five things and five things only.

What's in the box?

A.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

A.

From Your First Cigarette

When you're a whore, you're a whore all the way:

Forcible rape only, no date rape, no marital rape, no Roman-Polanski style rape. Presumably because a girl or woman in any non-forcible rape situation would have been "asking for it" anyway. Which leads to another question--how in the hell would that be enforcable? A woman would have to provide a police report with her insurance claim? Bart Stupak isn't only a misogynist, he's a piss poor legislator.

Via the Crack Den. 

A police report wouldn't be enough, of course. Give these people that, and they'd ask other questions, draw up other qualifications, make it a booklet-length examination, like the fucking SAT. The woman -- no, girl -- would have to be young, and religious. She'd have to have never so much as looked at a man before. She'd have to have abstained from any and all drugs and alcohol not just the night she was raped, but for all time. She'd have to have been accosted in broad daylight, surrounded by armed guards, and probably carrying a weapon herself. She'd have to have been tied up, tied down, duct taped to the bed, to the chair, gagged, blindfolded, completely immobilized. She'd have to have been wearing a burka and walking five steps behind her father and five big, heavily muscled brothers.

She'd have to have a clean record. She'd have to have good grades, but not too good. She'd have to have no blemishes, no bruises, shiny hair, but not too shiny, and a pretty face, but not too pretty. It would be better if she didn't even have her period, it would be better still if she was mute. Blind. Deaf. She'd have to be everything that everybody loves, in order to be the national poster girl for Quit Fucking Raping Women You Assholes, because anybody less than completely virtuous doesn't deserve our clucking over her on the evening news, doesn't deserve our consideration, doesn't deserve our time.

She'd have to have been born perfect, to pass the little tests these people put up before they have to give a shit. She'd have to find her way past all their little barricades, all the things they throw out their in the road like fleeing villains in a chase movie trying to keep their essential humanity off their tails. She'd have to find a way to satisfy their vision of a perfect victim, because we've internalized enough Reaganite bullshit to know that imperfect victims don't deserve our sainted sympathies. We've internalized enough Welfare Queen, Katrina-Victims-Have-Big-TVs media to know that if even one person games the system, then the whole system and everyone it helps is tainted forever and should be thrown out in favor of some Dickensian dystopia of private workhouses run by Holy Mother Church. Moreover, we've given in enough to our own fears and our private selfishnesses to know that if we can make up a plausible story in our heads, the myth won't be busted, and what we used to call conscience will be susceptible to drowning in decent brandy.

I've said it before, I've said it often: We spend more time hunting around for ways to psychologically excuse ourselves from giving a fuck than we ever actually spend solving any of our problems. If we put our national attention toward doing the job in front of us instead of finding ways to avoid it, we would cure poverty, hunger, famine, pestlience, skinny jeans, and death. Instead we're just trying to find ways to make it okay that we don't want to do anything, and would rather eat burritos and watch TV. I do it too, in ways large and small: Let somebody else take care of it. Let somebody else worry for a minute. Let somebody else deal with the world. I'm tired. And if I feel guilty about that, well, one easy way around that guilt, that feeling of vague complicity in a culture that says there is no woman who can't be debased just for the fun of it, is to say fuck it, she shouldn't have been wearing that dress.

And she shouldn't have been walking alone, late or too early, and she shouldn't be at a party without ten friends to watch her drinks, and she shouldn't be uppity or she'll need to be brought low, and she shouldn't get drunk, and she shouldn't get high, and she shouldn't shoplift, and she shouldn't hook, and she shouldn't have married that asshole anyway, and she shouldn't have let him come inside, and she shouldn't be so pretty, and she should be prettier, and she should take a self-defense class, and she should carry mace, and she shouldn't have screamed, and she should have fought back, and she should have just shut up and liked it, and she should be exactly what I think I would be like, could be like, am like before I can see myself in her, and she should have the decency not to make me think that hard or care that much.

Forcible rape. A police report wouldn't be enough. There will always be a way around the audacious urge to give a flying fuck.

A.

Quitting Time Booster Shot

Welcome to the QTBS where we will keep on walking that road. Will you follow?

 - The Balloon Boy’s parents have pleaded guilty to charges associated with the hoax. The only question left is if this kid will ever get past being known as Balloon Boy. I’m seeing this kid in a decade, hitting on some girl at bar or something. He takes her back to his place, they start going at it and all of a sudden, she goes, “Wait a minute! You’re Balloon Boy! No wonder you popped so early…”

- Note to Jon Meacham: The new Newsweek sucks. Its Web site sucks. Its approach to journalism sucks. Cutting 12 positions isn’t going to improve anything.

- OK, here’s a first: A lawyer upset because someone was being mean to her. Here’s something that’s way too common: Lawyer grabs a rocket launcher to go after a fly.

- People think it wasn’t a keen idea to bring Jayson Blair in for an ethics discussion. Really? Ya think?

- I got nothing on this one.

- From the “So, how’s that working out for you?” file: Anthony Kennedy, one of the SCOTUS’s staunchest defenders of the First Amendment, apparently asked some student journalists to “clean up” the comments he gave during a speech at their high school. His PR flack said he doesn’t have a policy of doing this, but was likely made by a staff member in an effort to be helpful. So in other words, he’s normally good with the First Amendment, except when he can have a staffer poke at a bunch of high school kids to make him look better? Yeah…

- And finally, from the “your IQ must be at least two digits to conduct satire” department: A satirical newspaper at Reed College is under fire for publishing an article talking about a new U.S.-based Holocaust. The students said it was supposed to be a spoof on Holocaust deniers, but some people didn’t get the joke.  How hard is it for people to figure out that some things aren’t funny? I remember George Carlin trying to disprove this point once by doing a set on how rape can be funny. The whole set was awkward, painful and not funny. And this guy was a pro…

 Thanks for letting me share your air. Be back next week.

Doc

 

Malaka Of The Week: Jasen Bruce

This week's entry combines malakatude with dumbassery, redneckery and xenophobia. The last word is the key since, like malaka, it's a Greek word and this week's malaka attacked a Greek Orthodox Priest in Tampa, Florida and not because services are too damn long either. It's a classic case of post-9/11 paranoia:

Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car Monday evening when a bearded man in a robe approached him.

That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.

What the priest got instead, police say, was a tire iron to the head. Then he was chased for three blocks and pinned to the ground — as the Marine kept a 911 operator on the phone, saying he had captured a terrorist.

Police say Bruce offered several reasons to explain his actions:

The man tried to rob him.

The man grabbed Bruce's crotch and made an overt sexual advance in perfect English.

The man yelled "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," the same words some witnesses said the Fort Hood shooting suspect uttered last week.

"That's what they tell you right before they blow you up," police say Bruce told them.

Bruce ended up in jail, accused of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was released Tuesday on $7,500 bail. Marakis ended up at the hospital with stitches. He told the police he didn't want to press charges, espousing biblical forgiveness.

But Tuesday, Bruce wasn't saying sorry.

It's a sad saga of stupidity and ignorance. If Father Marakis is like most Orthodox priests, there was a big ass crucifix around his neck, which could have been a clue to Mr. Bruce that "allahu akbar" was the last thing he was likely to say. Hmm, I wonder if he called the guy a malaka instead? Probably not. 

I somehow doubt that Father Marakis either groped or tried to rob Mr. Malaka: there are some people who see a terrist under every bed and beneath every robe. And the hysteria may get revvved up all over again in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings, which strikes me as more about a man cracking up than Islamic radicalism but there's a lot of malakatude out there.

I had just finished this post when I learned that this is not the first time Jasen Bruce has been accused of attacking someone. In this two year old instance, it was a Tampa truck driver so obviously the terrist thing was just an excuse. Jeez, just when I was going to calll Jasen Bruce a symptom of a larger problem, it turns out that he's a bad tempered thug as well as a misguided malaka.

Hat Tip: Jude

Neat trick. Now go screw yourself...

The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is perhaps one of the best and strongest tools that citizens (note I didn’t just say media) have in holding public boards, organizations and institutions accountable. It provides access to meeting minutes, public votes and hundreds of other documents that allow us to feel at least a little bit better about how things work, especially as they apply to the government.

Over the years, I’ve never ceased to be amazed at the lengths to which people will go to try to dodge their responsibilities under this act. I’ve seen people reject requests for all sorts of spurious reasons, including minor typographical errors, “confusion” regarding the specificity of the request and the ever popular “this request is overly broad.” There are also much broader and innovative dodges as well. For example, during the 2008 presidential campaign news came out about Sarah Palin’s “shadow email” system in which her public account was almost untouched while business was conducted on private carriers so that FOIA couldn’t touch the governmental emails.

While none of this surprises me, I have to say that the folks in Milwaukee have outdone almost everyone in the fight to keep your nose out of their business.

According to a Student Press Law Center release, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has declared that any document that identifies a student, even the recording of a student’s voice speaking at a public meeting, qualifies as a confidential record. Thus, they claim, these materials are not public record and are protected under FERPA (a.k.a. The Buckley Amendment). This declaration came after the Post, the UWM student newspaper, had made FOIA requests regarding things such as the names of college employees who sit on student disciplinary panels and travel records for student government officials who took trips at taxpayer expense.

The purpose of FERPA is to protect students’ rights in regard to personal information that they garner throughout their education. The act was initially used to guarantee that students could look at and use their own records as they saw fit. In short, it granted conservatorship over the students’ records to those students, as opposed to the institution. Most schools have a list of directory style information that they are allowed to release without student approval, but things such as student grades have been viewed as off limits. However, FERPA does allow the disclosure of information to parents regarding alcohol or controlled substance violations found at the school, even if the student is not a dependent. FERPA also allows for the disclosure of information in various other ways, including the provision of material to organizations conducing studies for the disclosing institution for things such as test creation or student aid programs.  In short, this isn’t an iron-clad law that prevents any material from ever being released about any student ever.

What is also clear from this act is that the act is about educational records, as opposed to public records. Students are not shielded from having their names on a police blotter if the university police arrest them during a protest or for illegal substance abuse. Students who seek to serve on a public board, such as a city council or county commission, are not granted carte blanche anonymity because of their collegiate status.

Over the years, students have fought for the right to be represented in organizations and on boards that tend to directly effect them. Madison, for example, was debating the merits of adding a student to its Alcohol License Review Commission. The UW system has two student regents on its board to help shape polices for the campuses around the state. If UWM’s argument were to be taken to it’s most extreme conclusion, none of these things would qualify as public meetings any more because of the mere presence of a student. Worse yet, it would behoove any and all organizations that sought to hide from FOIA requests to add collegiate members and then shield themselves with the Buckley Amendment.

The student journalists, with the help of the SPLC, have filed suit in Wisconsin to help slap some sense into UWM and there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll win this one, presuming common sense prevails. However, the bigger issue appears to be this: If you are doing things you don’t want people to know about, and you are a public institution of any kind, stop doing them. Trying to stifle the media only makes it look like you’ve got more to hide.

So, please, stop pitting one important set of interests (student representation) against another (people’s right to know) in hopes that they’ll tear each other apart and you’ll win. It’s a neat trick but in the end it confirms for all of us that you are the assholes we thought you were.

Friday Ferretblogging

People. Bucky has gotten fat. He is like two of Puck at this point. I would complain, or attempt to exercise him more, but he's like a ginormous stuffed animal and the colder it gets (and the less the heat seems to work) the nicer it is to have this park itself on your lap all morning:

 

A.

Friday Catblogging: Vintage Oscar

Oscar is not a dignified critter. In fact, he's a twenty pound doofus. We adopted him in 2005. The woman who was fostering Oscar is very sweet but a bit on the neurotic side when it comes to critters. Her cat hissed at Oscar and she was convinced it would traumatize him. So, she separated the two and kept the Big O in the bathroom when she wasn't home. She's the only animal rescue person I've ever met who was a Republican so our stock line is that we saved Oscar from the Republican bathroom.

Here are two snaps of Oscar before he became a Democat:

 

Your Hands Can Heal

Maybe it's just this time of year, that it always seems like the world is ending, but this is the kind of thing that wears out the speakers:

A.

When Amy Sullivan's Talking Sense

You know you're fucked:

... Stupak himself has declared that if his language doesn't make it into the Senate version or is altered in conference committee, "There will be hell to pay."

Stupak immediately followed the threat by insisting, "I don't say it as a threat." He continued, however, "but if they double-cross us, there will be 40 people who won't vote with them the next time they need us--and that could be the final version of this bill." Which, of course, seems like the very definition of a threat. It's unclear why altering the language of Stupak's amendment in conference would be double-crossing him--Pelosi agreed to an up-or-down vote on his amendment; she didn't, and couldn't, promise that it would end up in the final version of health reform.

I'm also not sure that Stupak can count on 40 pro-life Democrats to oppose health reform in the final hour. The best estimates from House Whip James Clyburn--which match what I'm hearing from calling around--are that the Stupak amendment moved about ten Democrats who would otherwise have opposed health reform. Given the very small margin of victory, the Democratic leadership needed all ten. But it also looks likely--and I'll have more on this later--that a compromise short of the Stupak amendment would have assuaged almost everyone but Stupak.

In other words, this is grandstanding from some asshole, and while I'm happy he's winning the Suffering Olympics this week, I'm getting kind of sick of this idea that everybody who's poor ought to die so he doesn't have to think about some slut having an abortion she didn't somehow earn by being 12, or raped, or something.

I know talk about framing of the debate bores everybody witless, but this is one of those times when the framing is so pitifully bad for Stupak and his friends that I can't believe they don't see it: You shouldn't get to see a doctor because somebody, somewhere, might see one for some reason you don't approve of.

We knew this was going to be the argument, way back when, but I honestly thought it would be coming from Republicans. Not Democrats.

A.

"From Cy Young to Sayonara"

That was how Yankee Third Baseman Craig Nettles described the plight of reliever Sparky Lyle after the Bronx Bombers signed Goose Gossage to be their closer in 1978. It also fits what's going on in the New Orleans print media world. The Times-Picayune had its finest hour in the wake of Katrina and Federal flood. Columnist Chris Rose became a star for his highly personal and idiosyncratic coverage of life in the evacuated city. Rose was previously known for light and frothy writing but was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the stories that were collected as 1 Dead In Attic.

Times have changed and like other urban dailies, the Picayune is in trouble. There have been a wave of buy outs but most of the takers have been near retirement anyway: yesterday Rose became the latest critter to jump off the sinking ship.

As far as I know that notorious newspaper killer, Athenae is not implicated in the Picayune's problems but she's pretty darn crafty so ya never know.

It's a day for strained metaphors for me. I compared the Picayune buy outs to, uh, a Who elpee at my blog. And like Sparky Lyle, Chris Rose has gone from Cy Young to sayonara; unfortunately, the Goose is nowhere in sight...

Depends On Your Definition of "God's Work," I Guess

From Album3

Certainly the Supreme Being would hedge a little bit here and there, short his insurer if necessary -- right?

But you do have to wonder just who Lloyd Blankfein thinks the Supreme Being is...

'He's 25 Years Old'

At the risk of being called a pathetic woman acolyte, I need to bring you this Joke making a joke of himself story because even if his ire is directed at a moron, it's just so completely JOKE:

Now that's a panel discussion! A heated debate between Time magazine's Joe Klein and the New Republic's Jamie Kirchick spilled off the dais Tuesday into a hallway confrontation where Klein called the younger pundit a "dishonest [expletive]" and a "[expletiving] propagandist."

Klein told us today he's not sure he uttered the "propagandist" bit -- heard by a few witnesses -- but stands by the "dishonest [expletive]" part.

"Absolutely. He's a [expletive]," Klein, 62, told us. "He's 25 years old, and he's one of those people who has opinions but no facts or experience."

Far be it from me to defend somebody who spends all his time giving out-of-context tongue-baths to Charles Krauthammer, but what the fuck does Kirchick's age have to do with anything? As usual, without seeing his opponent's Boy Wonder Journalism Badge and Merit Patches, Joke can't assess the argument. I would have a lot more sympathy for Joke's position here — because really, Kirchick kind of sucks, and clearly took Klein's comments about Krauthammer way farther than Joke meant them — if Joke hadn't hauled the goddamn YOU'RE NOT OLD ENOUGH FOR YOUR OPINIONS canard out of his bag of canards.

That one makes me crazy. I mean, I'm sorry these kids today get columns when you had to work for yours way back when, but go bitch to someone who cares. Or play in traffic. Whatever. Just fucking argue the point. God, these people make me tired. You can be right about something even if you're not a 62-year-old. There is no age you must attain, no test you have to pass before you can make an ass of yourself in America's leading publications. Something for which Joke should thank God every single day.

A.

Beyond mere homophobia: a sad day for Rhode Island

Yesterday, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri, vetoed 25 bills passed by the State Assembly. One of those bills would have changed existing state law to add "domestic partners" to those authorized by law to make funeral arrangements for each other.

That's right. The Governor says if you are gay, and your partner dies, you can't claim their body and you can't arrange for their funeral or cremation. Not just because you're gay but because ... wait for it:  it would threaten traditional marriage.

In his veto message, Republican Carcieri said: "This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue.

Now, maybe I'm having trouble remembering my American history but I could swear that the concept of separation of church and state had more than just a little bit to do with the founding of Rhode Island.

So that magistrates, as magistrates, have no power of setting up the form of church government, electing church officers, punishing with church censures, but to see that the church does her duty herein. And on the other side, the churches as churches, have no power (though as members of the commonweal they may have power) of erecting or altering forms of civil government, electing of civil officers, inflicting civil punishments (no not on persons excommunicate) as by deposing magistrates from their civil authority, or withdrawing the hearts of the people against them

I wouldn't go so far as to say Roger Williams is rolling in his grave, but this other kind of "incremental erosion of principles," the ones the state upon which the state was founded, makes this already sad story even worse.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Carcieri is a member of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), whose mission is "to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it." In addition, last month, Carcieri delivered a speech against marriage equality to the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), an organization so rabid in its homophobic zeal, it almost makes NOM seem normal in comparison:

"MFI does not consider homosexual behavior to be merely an alternate lifestyle or sexual 'preference'; it is an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, families and society. Our compassion for those plagued by same-sex attraction compels us to support the healing of those who wish to change their behavior. MFI strongly opposes any efforts by political activists to normalize homosexual behavior and all attempts to equate homosexuality with benign characteristics such as skin color, or the 'gay rights' movement with the civil rights movement."

In his statement yesterday, Carcieri gave two other reasons for the veto:

As written, he said the bill would allow the decisions of a "partner'' of a year to take precedence over "traditional family members,'' and he believes a "one year time period is not a sufficient duration to establish a serious bond between two individuals...[relative to] sensitive personal traditions and issues regarding funeral arrangements, burial rights and disposal of human remains.''

Carcieri said he was also uncertain "how it would be ascertained in many circumstances whether [a couple] had been in a relationship for year'' since there is "no official or recognized form'' of domestic partnership agreement in Rhode Island. He called this proviso "vague and ill-defined.''

One bright spot: The existing law protects the wishes of those who have created pre-planned, formalized funeral contracts.  Carcieri's veto can't change that.

David Brooks Talks to Us About Therapy

Thank God. I was so confused:

There was a national rush to therapy. Hasan was a loner who had trouble finding a wife and socializing with his neighbors.

This response was understandable. It’s important to tamp down vengeful hatreds in moments of passion. But it was also patronizing. Public commentators assumed the air of kindergarten teachers who had to protect their children from thinking certain impermissible and intolerant thoughts. If public commentary wasn’t carefully policed, the assumption seemed to be, then the great mass of unwashed yahoos in Middle America would go off on a racist rampage.

Worse, it absolved Hasan — before the real evidence was in — of his responsibility. He didn’t have the choice to be lonely or unhappy.

First of all, it's not like Middle America doesn't have a history, fuckpuppet. Second, I don't recall the conversation being so policed that this dickhead couldn't get a hearing. Third, OH MY GOD, it is not the job of therapy to provide you with excuses. If it seems that way, David, I suggest you find a new therapist, because explanations for why you are fucked up and permission to go on fucking up are not the same thing.

I kind of want to send David to my recently-retired doc, whose advice often took the form of, "So that makes you unhappy? Yeah, you should cut it out." On the other hand, she'd probably slap him in the face with a dildo. I mean, I know that's my instant desire upon reading this kind of mealy crapola.

For what it's worth, I think the coverage that attempts to explain "why" someone would go on a shooting spree is always annoying. How you talk to your children about national tragedies is up to you and if you're looking to Good Morning America for tips, or worse yet David Brooks, maybe it's time to put down the crack pipe and take the little tykes to the park.

But Brooks isn't making the point that our journalism is stupid. He's making the point that, as usual, liberals are pussies and his imaginary scenario is the only one that matters:

And evidence is now mounting to suggest he chose the extremist War on Islam narrative that so often leads to murderous results.

The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality. It ignored the fact that the war narrative of the struggle against Islam is the central feature of American foreign policy. It ignored the fact that this narrative can be embraced by a self-radicalizing individual in the U.S. as much as by groups in Tehran, Gaza or Kandahar.

It denied, before the evidence was in, the possibility of evil. It sought to reduce a heinous act to social maladjustment. It wasn’t the reaction of a morally or politically serious nation.

Yes. A morally serious nation would have found some hippies to kick the shit out of and then gone to blow up Pakistan. 

Via whet.

A.

Veteran's Day

Scout:

I didn't realize that hundreds of retired veterans became Katrina evacuees who were sent to Washington DC. And over 4 years later they are still there awaiting the completion of the rebuilding of their retirement home in Gulfport, Mississippi. From the Sun Herald:

WASHINGTON — The hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Gulfport’s destroyed Armed Forces Retirement Home today are looking at their last Veterans Day in Washington. And for almost all of them, it couldn’t come too soon.

For four years, they have adapted, or not, to life at the beautiful Washington campus, but with 10 months to go before the newly rebuilt facility reopens on the Mississippi Coast, the veterans talk of little else but getting back to Gulfport.

SNIP

Of the 414 residents in Gulfport when Katrina hit in 2005, about 350 were evacuated to Washington — many on 10 buses provided by AFRH. Now there are 202 Gulfport residents still in Washington, said AFRH spokeswoman Sheila Abarr, and at least 170 are on the return list

Here is the Gulfport construction cam to keep tabs

And conservatives said Mississippi was all rebuilt years ago....

A.

Armistice Day

Link:

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel marked Armistice Day alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy at Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in a ceremony that both leaders said underlined their two countries’ reconciliation.

In the first appearance by a German leader at the ceremony held at the time of Germany’s First World War surrender on Nov. 11, 1918, Merkel noted that today’s event followed by two days the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the division of Europe.

“It’s based on our friendship that we will be able to deepen our partnership in Europe and on both sides of the Atlantic,” Merkel said in a nine-minute speech. “It’s together that we will get to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.”

France invited Merkel to the 91st anniversary of the end of hostilities in 1918 “to honor the memory of the combatants and to celebrate peace,” Sarkozy’s office said in a statement.

The chancellor’s presence was “a strong symbol of Franco- German reconciliation in the service of European construction,” the Elysee Palace said.

The visit by Merkel follows other efforts by France to involve German leaders in ceremonies that were once restricted to the allied victors of the 20th century’s two world wars.

A.

Boy, I'm Glad We Defunded ACORN

Solved damn near all our problems:

Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees. American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

A.

Oh, GOOD FOR YOU

Because there hasn't been enough of a backlash already:

Politicians, Muslims, and law enforcement are concerned about a 'backlash' against Muslims. Now is the time for a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders. Muslims know what materials are being taught in their mosques and they know many of the materials instruct young Muslims to kill innocent people who do not adhere to Sharia law. If Muslims do not want a backlash, then I would recommend a "house cleaning." Stack every Saudi, al Qaeda, Pakistani, Taliban, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood piece of material from their mosque and have a bonfire. Tell the American, Jewish, and Muslim community this hatred will no longer be allowed in their mosques.

Boy, this is just this little be-overall-ed fuckwit's moment, isn't it? He's just ready to seize on the death and destruction to make his point that his book is awesome and we should all listen to him.

NOW is the time for a backlash? What the fuck do you think the past eight years have been, pal? Maybe you were reading Little Green Footballs at the time but War Preznit mouthed a few words of conciliation shortly after 9/11 and then left his slavering hordes to their own devices while they broke windows and beat up Arab shopkeepers. Paint your chests red, white and blue, boys, and vote Republican, because terrorists are in your base pwning your noobs. The president's a terrorist. Nancy Pelosi's a terrorist. That Sikh dude that lives down the street and shovels your snow sometimes, he's a terrorist too. Muslim jokes are hilarious. It's never a bad time for a good old-fashioned Quran burning in Middle America.

And every time we think things have calmed down, and maybe we'd be able to respond to tragedy like adults and prosecute those responsible instead of turning into a community theater production of The Crucible, here comes some dickwad to make out like every shopping mall in Nebraska is full of jihadis. Now's the time for a backlash. As if the backlash had ever stopped.

A.

The Lone Republican

My Congressman, Anh Joseph Cao (pronounced Gow) is in the headlines because of his vote in favor of the House health care reform bill. He's been called a hero by some and denounced as a sell-out by others. He's neither: he's an accidental Congressman who was only elected because of an indicted (and later convicted) opponent, 11 term Congressman Dollar Bill Jefferson, and timing. In New Orleans, the party run-off primary was delayed until the day Barack Obama carried it 75-23 because we evacuated for Hurricane Gustav in September. Jefferson won the Democratic nomination because his opponent was a twitty white former teevee anchorwoman. The Congressional general election was held one month later when Obama was not on the ballot to bring out African-American voters who would have held their noses and voted for Jefferson. Cao narrowly defeated Dollar Bill by a mere 3 points, 50-47. Cao was also the beneficiary of the elimination of the open primary in federal elections in favor of party primaries. As the old adage goes, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Do I sound churlish and partisan? Maybe so, but the Accidental Congressman has earned my skepticism. I *am* glad Cao voted for the bill instead of following his previous pattern on major bills proposed or supported by the Obama administration: he'd hint that he was considering breaking with House Goopers, get praised by his backers in the NOLA media and then vote no. The main reason Mr. Cao did not dance what I like to call the Cao two-step this time was because of the anti-choice Stupak Amendment. Mr. Cao was a Jesuit seminarian before dropping out and holds, shall we say, Jesuitical views when it comes to women, families and gays. His vote for the health care bill was based more on political expediency than on courage. Make no mistake about it: Cao is a *real* conservative Republican on 95% of the issues, which is why Newt Gingrich has taken him under his wing. I know that the teabaggers think Newt is now a moderate but that says more about them than the former Speaker.

Mr. Cao should enjoy his time in the national spotlight as it's likely to be fleeting: he was more or less a lame duck from the start. At the recent Rising Tide conference I moderated the politics panel and asked whether Cao was "a hardy survivor or an endangered species?" The unanimous answer: endangered species. The health care vote should help him some BUT the district is overwhelmingly Democratic and African-American. And I'm not the only white progressive who's ready to vote Mr. Cao out. Then there are the racial politics of the district. New Orleans was one of the last majority black districts to be represented by a white representative, the legendary Lindy Boggs who served until retiring in 1990, which means that many in the African-American community are determined to re-take the seat. An acquaintance of mine told me: "We waited patiently for Lindy to retire but this dude's one and gone."

Mr. Cao's re-election campaign should be entertaining for political junkies like me but downright nasty and racially divisive for the community much like the 2006 Mayoral election campaign. 

An Open Letter To Betsy Markey

Dear Congresscritter Markey,

Enjoy the salutation, because that's as civil as this letter is likely to get.

Nice work there on the health care reform vote.  You must be proud to be the only member of the Colorado Democrats in Congress who voted no.

Let me tell you what you've won with that vote:

1)  A demoralized base wondering if you're worth voting for, let alone walking the pavement for like many did in the last election.  I was one of them--three Saturdays in a row before the election, walking door to door, despite my decrepit knees.  Yes, I was mainly doing it for Obama, but I was doing it for all the Democratic candidates.  People like me won you that election.  And we can lose it for you, too.

2)  The votes of probably ten independent voters who might have been swung by this vote.  The others probably would have voted for you over the Republican or the Republican over you no matter what.

3)  A Democratic leadership who will remember this vote the next time you have something you need for Colorado.  Thanks a lot, Betsy.  You gave us two fuckings for the price of one.

4)  If I have anything to say about it, you've won a primary challenge that will make your ears bleed.  It's just not enough for you to be better than Marilyn Musgrave.  (Hell, that's like being better than getting shot with a nail gun, or better than living on Venus, or better than...oh, hell, fill in your own blank: ______________________________________________________________________________)

5)  A lifetime supply of Rice-A-Roni, though you'll have to talk to Nancy Pelosi to get it.

Remember this:  you cannot win this district without the enthusiastic support of the Democrats living here.  When Karl Rove is telling Democrats they need to run to the middle, you know that's political suicide.  You blew this one, Betsy.  All you can do now is hope that you get a shot at redemption so you don't end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear:  Americans want health care reform.  They want a public option.  They want this, and if you give it to them, they'll reward you.  If you stand in the way, they will punish you.  It's that fucking simple.

A concerned constituent, a.k.a. BuggyQ

The Table of Contents is the Problem!

Michael Steele, whose blog is no longer called "What Up?" but is still riddled with grammatical errors and also general nonsense:

From 1 PM to 1 AM, we exposed 12 truths about the Obama-Pelosi government-run health care experiment, and we answered your questions via email, Facebook and Twitter, comparing the 1,990-page monstrosity that is the House Democrats’ bill with the 219 page GOP bill, which was unveiled just this week.

[snip]

Second, it’s won’t kill jobs.

It's might, however, kill any English teacher that happens to read it.

The commenters, all 11 of them, are not impressed:

The RNC sends me weekly requests for money and support. I was a PCO in Wa. state (until I was bounced out for being too conservative) and continued to support the party until the McCain debacle last year, which I worked for and supported financially in desperation. No more! I will not lift a finger to help banana Republicans (try carving a man out of one) demonstrate fealty to the Constitution and the Christian principles of our founding. A good start would be to discipline traitors like Rep. Cao and Senator Graham for their persistent betrayal of the above mentioned document and principles in the interest of getting their smug faces on TV. They must be stripped of their positions on committees and replaced with real republicans. Now you will say: that's not going to happen. I've already told you something else that's not going to happen. I'll tell you again, I will not lift a finger to help banana Republicans get elected.

Well, and you have to carve men out of them!

A.

Babysploitation

The wingnuts are getting nuttier by the day and this time it's not one of the big nuts, it's a lesser nut, Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona. Mr. Shadegg pulled a really tacky stunt during the debate on the House health care reform bill. He brought a baby named Maddie to the floor and used her as a prop. It was hard to tell who was the ventriloquist and who was the dummy. No strike that: Mr. Shadegg was both and he should ashamed of himself for practicing babysploitation without a license.

After seeing that clip, I'm as maddie as hell and I'm not going to take it any more. Oh wait, that's Howard Beale going off in Paddy Chayevsky's Network but the Paultards, Beckheads and teabaggers have appropriated it so I can't use it now. What a pity.

Did you notice Maddie trying to escape the clutches of Shadegg? She obviously didn't sha-dig him and ended up shattered, shattered, sha-doobee:

Standards and Priorities

Virgotex sends this along, which is surprisingly germane to a conversation I was having in meatspace this weekend:

On Thursday afternoon, when word came about the shootings that left 13 people dead at Fort Hood, just up the road from Austin, it seemed like a made-to-order test for The Texas Tribune, a brand new 12-person Web-based newsroom.

They scrambled the jets, made plans, and then — stayed put.

The big coverage on the site, TexasTribune.org, on Friday was not about the aftermath of the shootings, but the 50 highest paid state employees and an exclusive about a state representative who had switched parties.

The Texas Tribune was conceived and devised to cover the politics and policy of Texas state government. During lunch on Friday at the Roaring Fork on Congress Avenue in Austin, seven staff members recalled the previous day, when the siren of a big story blew.

“We were all sitting around talking excitedly about what we were going to do with it,” said Elise Hu, who came to The Tribune from KVUE-TV. “And then you could see Matt,” she said, indicating her colleague Matt Stiles next to her at lunch, “was about to blow his stack.”

“It wasn’t our story. Should we have just been one more news organization rushing to Fort Hood? I don’t think so,” said Mr. Stiles, who joined the Web site from The Houston Chronicle.

Now, they could have done the usual. Which would have been to climb onto the top of the giant pig fuck the story turned into, try to win the morning and the afternoon, fail to get anything the AP and the American-Statesman didn't get, and then bitch in public about how awful pile-on journalism is and how hard it is to have to do it all the time but hey, what can you do? Instead they stood alone. 

The trouble with doing that, of course, is that the world is blowing up on TV in front of you and the instinct, honed by years of abject stupidity, is to run towards the thing that's on fire. I know the feeling well. It's not always a bad idea. But when you're wired for something else, have the guts to say that and stick to it. Be who you are and don't be ashamed of it. The only thing makes people feel you've got something to apologize for is you apologizing.

Eventually, the story will come to where you've been all along and then you'll be miles out front and nobody can catch you. Nobody gave a shit back in 2005 when Doug Feith was exposed by the liberal bloggers as the crook that he was, but boy was everybody interested when Congress finally came to the same conclusion two years later. Not only were we fucking right, we were fucking right way early and that gave us all a hell of a jump once the rest of the press caught up.

A.

A Palate Cleanser

Via Megan.

A.

Today on Tommy T's Obsession with the Freeperati - "We won, even though we lost" Edition

Good morning, everyone!

Well, Ms. A said that I was going to have some fun with this, so who am I to disappoint her?

Let's suit up and open the containment chamber for this Pyrrhic Victory edition of "Obsession".

Doug Hoffman has a Free Republic account!

Well, no - not really. A helpful Freeper has posted his concession email:

NY-23 2009: America has changed [Hoffman concedes defeat to Owens]
Doug Hoffman for Congress ^ | 2009-11-04

Posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 11:58:12 PM by rabscuttle385

America has changed, and you have helped. Although we did not succeed in winning this election, we have succeeded in making sure political parties and special interests no longer take the people for granted. I believe we have sent a powerful message and laid the groundwork for future conservative campaigns.

I congratulate Bill Owens on a hard won victory. In our tradition of free elections, our country continues. And although Bill Owens has won, I believe America is turning the page to a new dawn.

Start spreading the news...Doug Hoffman can win
Conservatives, this is the place where we begin

You RINOs begone...we've had quite enough
We want some real conservatives with the right stuff

Doug Hoffman knows we have been on a big spending spree
It must stop now or we're through, you're gonna see

So give Doug support as Sarah has done
The move to take the country back has just begun

Yes, we can win it there...we can win anywhere
Doug Hoffman for upstate New York

The ideas of freedom, sound fiscal management and citizen government have sprung back into our consciousness. Our founding fathers would be proud of New York 23. It was here that our principles, those that have been the foundation of our nation, came back to life with a vengeance. And it was here that the people rose up against the political bosses who tried to impose their will. It was here that people reached out to control their own destinies again.

Despite the election results, I am optimistic for our future, because now I know that I am not alone in wanting to repair our great nation. Throughout this campaign I have been inspired by the outpouring of support and the intensity of that support.

I’ve met many different people in this campaign, from many walks of life and many professions; each with a different personal story to share. Yet we are all united in the belief that by participating in democracy, we could inspire change.

I urge that no one feel defeated, for this was only one of many elections. We came close, we put our agenda in front of the nation and the nation took notice. The worse thing we could do now, is not continue forward. Next year there are other elections and other candidates who have drawn inspiration from our efforts.

I would like to thank all of you who placed your faith in me, who worked tirelessly and shared your enthusiasm with those around you. You are all patriots, you have all stood up for your country and I am honored to stand among you.

Thank you,

Doug Hoffman

To: rabscuttle385

Bummer. Thousands of votes remain uncounted, and I’m not even talking disenfranchised soldiers.

3 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:00:40 AM by rmlew (Democracy tends to ignore..., threats to its existence because it loathes doing what is needed)

To: rabscuttle385

Job well done, Hoffman. Thanks for your effort and your faith in Conservatism. May the GOP grow into a real political party due to your efforts and those like you. As for RINOs... BWAHAHAHAHAHHAH!

6 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:00:58 AM by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)

And then a flicker of reality peeks through:

To: rabscuttle385

We lost bigtime tonight. The other races were meaningless compared to this one. Winning this was imperative to teaching the GOP a lesson that it refuses to learn. I think that any meaningful win in 2010 is dead at this point, because we’ve lost the fight in our own party that needs to take place before we can win on the national stage.

7 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:01:13 AM by perfect_rovian_storm (The worst is behind us. Unfortunately it is really well endowed.)

You've really gotta love that sig line - it's every "conservative"s core fear writ large.

To: perfect_rovian_storm

We lost bigtime tonight. The other races were meaningless compared to this one. Winning this was imperative to teaching the GOP a lesson that it refuses to learn.

No... the GOP lost a seat tonight. They were the losers. We are the winners because we kicked them in the shins and got their attention.

I think my son tried that once when he was four. It didn't work out all that horrorshow for him, either.

Conservatives won tonight. If Hoffman had won, he'd be in an ineffective minority party. Just taking up space. He should consider running again in 2010... 

...so he can take up space then?

12 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:04:40 AM by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)

To: Mmogamer

Yes, apparently, I’m ‘nuts’. It must be that I’m not ‘nuanced’ enough to get the idea that a GOP win is a win for the people in the GOP who are fighting to win the country back. We LOST tonight. At least my team lost tonight. Yours might have won, but my team’s hopes of fixing what’s wrong with the GOP lost in a bad way.

14 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:05:25 AM by perfect_rovian_storm (The worst is behind us. Unfortunately it is really well endowed.)

To: perfect_rovian_storm

We won 2 out of 3 and you’re saying we lost big time? Scuzzy was unmasked as the flaming liberal that she is. Newt was outed as the party liner that he is. We lost bigtime? Oh, I don’t think so. Go read Sarah Palin’s latest Facebook entry and man up.

20 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:06:57 AM by ReneeLynn (Socialism is SO yesterday. Fascism, it*s the new black. Mmm Mmm Mmm.)

I think he meant "Go read Sarah Palin's latest Facebook entry and lube up."

To: April Lexington

If Hoffman had won, he’d be caucusing with the Republicans and it would be a win for all. All would have come together under our terms. That is gone now.

24 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:07:47 AM by perfect_rovian_storm (The worst is behind us. Unfortunately it is really well endowed.)

To: ReneeLynn

WE didn’t win anything. The GOP won two races. Conservatives went out on a limb to teach the GOP a lesson in NY23 and we lost. We may celebrate along side the Republicans on the other races, but WE lost this one.

27 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:09:29 AM by perfect_rovian_storm (The worst is behind us. Unfortunately it is really well endowed.)

To: Hildy

rOVIAN...IS NOT ONE OF US!!!

54 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 12:18:44 AM by Texas4ever (God is in control!)

Much more as the Self-appointed guardians of "conservativeism" descend on Perfect Rovian Storm (which at some point probably sounded like a really cool screenname for FR) in a perfect storm of stupidity, right after the jim-jam-jump!

Paying for Things You Don't Like

A short list of things, inspired by this nonsense, that I would like to defund because I have moral qualms:

David Vitter's health care

The electricity, copy paper and intern hours devoted to producing a resolution honoring Rush Limbaugh

Both wars

Wars in general

Especially wars the public has decided it's had enough of

War profiteering

Rape Gurney Joe Lieberman's health care

Freedom Fries

Seriously, the Congressional cafeterias. It should only serve that which is served to the poorest public schoolchildren in DC. Anything fancier is unconscionable.

I don't know where we got this idea, probably from the glibertarian crowd, that we govern like you order fast food. You don't have to pay for anything you don't like! Well, guess what? You'll be eating your fucking hash browns because I want my McChicken and you'll motherfucking like it. We all have to pay for things we don't like, things we consider objectionable, things we have deep moral qualms about.

I don't know when abortion became the only issue about which you could have moral reservations, either. Got moral reservations about the war? Shut up, hippie. Moral reservations about whether the state can force a woman to bear a child against her will? We'd better respect your point of view lest we look compassionless. This isn't even my pro-choice talking, it's my bullshit detector going off.

A.