;)
The Commentariat -- Dec. 13, 2013
Required Viewing. Many thanks to James S. for the link:
If Bob Byrd Were Alive, He'd Die. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Members of the Senate currently are engaging in "an endurance contest to see who could be the most spiteful. As the sun rose on Friday, the Senators had worked through a second straight all-night session — called by Democrats as a way of retaliating for Republicans' delaying tactics on confirmations.... Democrats, hoping to make the situation so unpleasant for their colleagues across the aisle that they eventually break, are scheduling votes at all hours of the day and night. [Majority Leader Harry] Reid is threatening to refuse to let anyone go home until a backlog of dozens of nominees is gone -- even if that means spending Christmas Eve in the Capitol. Mr. Reid has votes planned through Saturday afternoon and will push through another battery of nominations next week, including some that would each require 30 hours of debate, like that of Janet L. Yellen to lead the Federal Reserve." CW: Give 'em hell, Harry. You're my Person of the Year.
Paul Kane & Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "The House overwhelmingly passed a 2-year bipartisan budget deal Thursday evening, possibly signaling a truce in the spending showdowns that have paralyzed Washington for the past three years. In their final action of the year, the House approved the budget 332 to 94, with 169 Republicans and 163 Democrats voting in favor, and 62 Republicans and 32 Democrats voting against. Earlier Thursday, lawmakers agreed unanimously to approve the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets military pay and policy, and to extend current agricultural policy after negotiators failed to complete a new Farm Bill." ...
... Cameron Joseph of the Hill: "Six of the eight House Republicans running for the Senate on Thursday voted against the budget deal.... Reps. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), top Republican Senate recruits who don't appear to face any threats in a primary, both voted against it, as did a trio of Georgia Republicans facing off in a crowded GOP primary: Reps. Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey and Jack Kingston. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), who just announced a primary challenge to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), also voted against the bill.... The only Republicans running for the Senate who backed the budget bill were Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is seeking to challenge Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), running for an open seat." ...
... Andy Sullivan of Reuters: "Congress is poised to nearly halve the salary cap for U.S. government contractors after years of dramatic increases driven by skyrocketing executive pay. A broad budget bill that won approval by the House of Representatives on Thursday would lower the cap to $487,000 a person, down from its current level of $952,000. The Senate is expected to pass the bill next week. The measure would be a partial victory for the White House, which for years has sought to rein in contractor reimbursements that fund salary and other personnel costs. In May, the White House proposed limiting the reimbursement level to $400,000 a person -- the amount Barack Obama earns as president." ...
... Susan Cornwell of Reuters: "The bitter ideological feud tearing at the Republican Party boiled over on Thursday as the U.S. Congress considered a bipartisan budget deal with angry recriminations between the Republicans' top elected leader and the powerful conservative organizations that have been tormenting him for years." Speaker Boehner takes another whack at "the far right":
... Greg Sargent: "There's some choice hilarity here. Boehner says conservative groups 'pushed' Republicans into the destructive government shutdown fight. You'd almost think he was some kind of passive, helpless onlooker, rather than, you know, the leader of House Republicans. Also, as you may recall, Boehner actively wanted Republicans to make a stand around the debt ceiling, which, if anything, was crazier than the shutdown standoff."...
... Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "If Boehner wants people to believe that something has really changed, then why are they blocking a vote on extending emergency unemployment insurance? Why aren't they allowing a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act? What about immigration reform? Why, in the very same press conference, did he once again talk about repealing Obamacare and getting to the bottom of Benghazi? Boehner wants the media to believe the GOP has changed -- that it's become grown up and responsible. They might report what he wants, but for it to be true, he needs to deliver more than press conference theatrics -- he needs to deliver substantive change."
... Ginger Gibson of Politico: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told Democratic House members at a meeting Thursday morning to 'embrace the suck' and encouraged enough members to back the budget deal on the floor to allow passage...." ...
... Paul Krugman: "One of the truly remarkable things about American political discourse at the end of 2013 is the fixed conviction among many conservatives that the Obama era has been one of enormous growth in government.... the actual numbers show that over the past three years we've been living through an era of unprecedented government downsizing.... These harsh cuts ... were unnecessary..., the cuts did huge short-term economic damage ... [and] a long-term degradation of our prospects, reinforced by the corrosive effects of sustained high unemployment." ...
... Gene Robinson sees House Republicans' acquiescence on a budget deal as a wake-up call for Democrats to buff up their "vision": "If the Republican Party really intends to get back in the game, voters will be presented with two competing visions of how to move the nation forward -- instead of one vision and one cartoon. If the progressive vision is to prevail, it needs to be fresh, vivid and clearly relevant to the moment. Same-old, same-old used to be good enough. It's not anymore."
... Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "The manufacturing sector has experienced a modest renaissance since it hit bottom during the Great Recession.... Wages, however, are falling. Although the average wage for all workers, adjusted for inflation, has declined by about 1 percent since May 2009, Bloomberg reported, it has declined by 3percent for workers in the more-profitable-than-ever manufacturing sector.... If laws are not changed to enable workers to form unions without fear of being fired, the battle for higher median, not just minimum, wages will eventually be fought in the legislative arena as well." Meyerson relates Boeing's anti-worker activities, made more egregious by the fact that Boeing doesn't have to worry about competition as do some manufacturers.
Beutler's Gallery of Morons: Jennifer Rubin, Ron Fournier & Mark Halperin.... Brian Beutler of Salon: "Obama's shutdown critics look like morons after budget deal. Back in August and September ... most conservatives, and several allies of convenience in the mainstream media, argued that Obama needed to get his hands dirty and negotiate a settlement of both issues, even if it meant paying a modest ransom to the GOP. That his refusal to be extorted, to haggle over the terms of his own surrender -- to say nothing of his prior inability to strike a grand bargain with the same hostage-taking party -- amounted to a failure of leadership.... On the merits the Murray-Ryan plan should have been just as acceptable in September as it is now. But Republicans weren't temperamentally prepared for it then. And it's only happening now because Obama refused to be extorted into accepting a GOP-authored plan...." ...
... Charles Pierce on "the rehabilitation of Paul Ryan." Pierce notes, as I did, that the New York Times is cooperating magnificently in this effort. So is Patty Murray, Pierce says. But this is the graf every schoolchild should learn, lest s/he grow up & vote for the Reptilius Wisconsinitus:
Paul Ryan has not changed a single one of the core beliefs, or the policy prescriptions, that Joe Biden laughed off the stage in their debate last year. He still wants to privatize Social Security. He still wants to voucherize Medicare and eliminate Medicaid. He still bristles inwardly with contempt for everyone on any kind of public assistance -- except, of course, for the young Paul Ryan, who went through college on my tax dollars. (You're welcome, dickhead.) He cooperated in this deal not because he believes government should function in order to do the most good for the most people, but because the entire national economic debate is still being conducted largely on ground of his own choosing. He's learned nothing except patience.
AFP: " Twenty immigration reform activists ended a fourth week of fasting Thursday just steps from the US Capitol building, as they received support from top Democratic lawmakers." ...
... Julia Preston of the New York Times: "As the Republican-controlled House of Representatives wrapped up its work for the year on Thursday with no progress on immigration, leaders from both parties said they would return to the issue early in the new year.... Despite the biting chill, the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, surrounded herself on the steps of the Capitol with dozens of Democratic lawmakers and with advocates who had been fasting in a tent on the National Mall to push the House to vote on an immigration bill." ...
... Reid Epstein of Politico: "Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that some of his ancestors came to the United States illegally and said it's fruitless to compare the immigration system of the 1800s to today's.... Biden ... called on House Speaker John Boehner to allow a vote on the comprehensive immigration reform bill the Senate passed in June."
Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic: "... the farm bill [is] the poster child for the state of dysfunction in Congress and American politics.... Despite facing the greatest drought since the Great Depression and broad and deep support for a bill in the Senate, the House managed to reach new depths of dysfunctional embarrassment when Majority Leader Eric Cantor singlehandedly blew up a delicate compromise forged by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and ranking member Collin Peterson. Cantor decided to get behind a provision on the House floor aimed at cutting food stamps dramatically over 10 years; instituted punitive new work requirements; gave states financial incentive to drop eligible people from the food-stamp rolls; and took away states' flexibility over waivers of job-training provisions...."
David Sanger of the New York Times: "A presidential advisory committee charged with examining the operations of the National Security Agency has concluded that a program to collect data on every phone call made in the United States should continue, though under broad new restraints that would be intended to increase privacy protections...."
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "Anticipating more health care disruptions, the Obama administration Thursday announced a batch of measures intended to help consumers avoid lapses in their care and coverage as the president's overhaul takes effect in January. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced a one-month extension of a special insurance program created by the law for people who cannot get coverage because of health problems. Scheduled to expire at the end of the year,the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will remain in place through January."
Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "The Transportation Department said on Thursday that it would consider banning the use of cellphones for voice calls aboard airplanes, a reaction to public outrage at a Federal Communications Commission proposal to lift a rule that has long forbidden the use of mobile phones during flight. Still, consumers are likely to soon be able to text, check email and connect to the Internet on their cellphones while their flight is above 10,000 feet. The F.C.C. voted 3 to 2 to go ahead with its own measure to solicit comment on whether to repeal the rule on connected devices. But all five commissioners said they shared the public's doubts about such a change."
"Govern in Poetry." Tim Egan: "Today, wallowed in the worst slump of his presidency, President Obama should reach for some words that will outlive him. This guy can write and he can speak, but he's put those talents in a drawer for much of his presidency. In just the last few weeks, though, Obama has shown that his lyrical gifts could still get him off a road leading to yet another mediocre presidency. His speech on income inequality as the defining issue of the day, and the stirring words in the rain on behalf of Nelson Mandela ... showed what Obama can do when he's oratorically unleashed."
Madelaine Ostrander of Yes!, in Nation of Change, on the evolution of Bill McKibben from writer to activist.
David Remnick of the New Yorker on Russian oppression of gays. CW: What the Olympic games need is a gay Jesse Owens to show up Putin as Owens did Hitler. (This is not a Hitler analogy, John McCain; just an historical reference. There's a difference.) I hope every athlete will overtly show support for gay rights.
John Brenahan & Rachel Van Dongen of Politico: "Ryan Loskarn, the now ex-chief of staff for GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), appeared in federal court on Thursday after being arrested and charged with possessing and distributing child pornography. A nervous Loskarn, whose hands were visibly shaking, was detained as a flight risk and because he is a threat given his alleged crimes involving children.... It is unclear why it took federal agents almost three years to question or detains Loskarn after his name and address first emerged in a child pornography probe. The article describes some of the content retrieved from Loskarn's hard drive." ...
... Steven Nelson of US News: "A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Thursday says Jesse Ryan Loskarn attempted to hide an external hard drive loaded with 'hundreds' of child porn videos when police knocked down his door with a battering ram.... The criminal complaint charging Loskarn with possession and distribution of child pornography offers graphic descriptions of children being sexually abused by older men in videos the longtime congressional aide possessed and shared."
Faux "News"
Charles Pierce: "Today's Washington Post -- which features an op-ed by kindly Doc Maddow, whom I hope managed to avoid getting any Thiessen on her in the process -- sends a heartfelt holiday greeting to Fox News news-reader Megyn Kelly. I would advise wearing a raincoat while reading it, however." The WashPo feature, by Dan Zak, is here. CW: Also, some of you may not want to miss the cheesecake slideshow, which is probably the actual purpose behind all the copy. ...
Yo, Megyn. Here's what forensic anthropologists say Jesus would have looked like.... Megan Kelly, Christian Scholar. Hadas Gold of Politico: "On Wednesday night Megyn Kelly declared on her Fox News show that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white.... Kelly said on Monday when she appeared on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,' 'I'm a straight news anchor, I'm not one of the opinion hosts.... The way we do it on the Fox News Channel is the straight news anchors like us give a hard time to both sides.' It seems as though there may be other things to debate that are 'straight news' beyond whether Santa and Jesus where white." CW: St. Nicholas was probably a Turk or an ethnic Greek, & Jesus is portrayed in the Gospels as a Semitic Jew, though there's little evidence either of them was a real person. Anyway, not Anglo-Saxons. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "It's probably appropriate that an anchor on the media network which annually gives us the maddening agitprop over the 'War On Christmas' has kicked up a stir by insisting that Jesus Christ and Santa Claus were (and presumably 'are' for believers) white folks, just like most Fox viewers.... It seems especially idiotic to claim a race for a mythical figure like Santa Claus.... The principal of absolute equality before God is a central principle of Christianity or at least forms of Christianity that haven't succumbed to the secularism (yes, that's what it is, folks) that associates the faith with cultural or political conservatism or the pride of white identity." ...
... This is the piece, by Aisha Harris in Slate, that set Kelly to explaining to all the Foxbot kids -- and she was addressing children -- that no matter what color you are, kiddies, Santa & Jesus are as white as Megyn. CW: See what you're missing by not watching Fox "News"? You could have found out that the imaginary Santa Claus is white. Definitely white. There are all kinds of racism, people. And sooner or later they will show off every kind over there at Fox "News." ...
... NEW. Jonathan Merritt of the Atlantic: "Setting aside the ridiculousness of creating rigidly racial depictions of a fictitious character that does not actually exist -- sorry, kids -- like Santa, Kelly has made a more serious error about Jesus. The scholarly consensus is actually that Jesus was, like most first-century Jews, probably a dark-skinned man. If he were taking the red-eye flight from San Francisco to New York today, Jesus might be profiled for additional security screening by TSA." ...
... NEW. Contributor P. D. Pepe points to this New Republic post which has some fairly wonderful portraits of Saint Nicholas & Jesus "which wouldn't make it on Fox News."
... CW UPDATE. I get all my news from the "Daily Show." This time I went with a hint from the show & found a Guardian story, detailing how a British facial reconstruction expert took the measurements of what is regarded as the skull of St. Nicholas & created a reconstruction that looks like the photo to the left. Now, let's compare the reconstruction to traditional images of St. Nick:
Top row: Russian icon, ca 1900; Forensic reconstruction/Anand Kapoor, 2004, used by permission; Russian icon, 2001 Bottom row: 19th century Russian icon; Russian painting, ca 1990; USA icon, 2000. ... A right jolly old elf? Hardly. A white jolly old elf? Nope.
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News Ledes
AP: "A Kansas man who prosecutors say sympathized with violent terrorists was arrested Friday as part of an FBI sting after he drove a vehicle loaded with what he thought were explosives to a Wichita airport. Investigators allege that Terry Lee Loewen planned to attack Wichita's Mid-Continent Regional airport in a plot aimed at supporting al-Qaida. Loewen, a 58-year-old avionics technician who worked at the airport for Hawker Beechcraft, was arrested before dawn as he tried to drive onto the tarmac." CW: I predict we're going to learn that NSA data sweeps led the FBI to Loewen.
Denver Post: "A student who carried a shotgun into Arapahoe High School [in Centenniel, Colorado, part of suburban Denver,] and asked where to find a specific teacher opened fire on Friday, wounding two fellow students before apparently killing himself, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said."
Guardian: "Snow covers swaths of the Holy Land as storm Alexa continues to cause havoc across the Middle East. Meteorologists in Jerusalem said it was the worst storm to hit the city for 60 years, with snow reported to be 50cm deep in some areas." CW: A sure sign White Jesus is coming home. And meteorologists predict White Santa will land at Ben Gurion to give modest consolation gifts to the kids left behind.
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Reader Comments (24)
Boehner is pathetic "I say what I mean and I mean what I say." Well, memory loss is a byproduct of alcoholism. He was "pushed" into the strategy of using a shutdown to force the ACA to be defunded. As if his weakness as a Speaker wasn't on full display, he felt the need to be completely clear that his balls are irrevocably lost.
I think the series of recent "credibility" riffs are twofold. Even to somebody who has never meant a smoky room and a bourbon he didn't like, the loud idiots picking their noses at the back of the room aren't making points with the American public. Boehner has to disengage himself from staring at his navel lint and pretend that he gives a shit...until after the Holidays. He's trying to walk a nonexistent line. Instead of identifying members as ignorant, mean spirited obstructionists, Boehner assigns blame to "outside organizations". They're not the ones with votes.
Secondly, he has made a deal with Ryan to back him for a presidential run. Ryan has to distance himself from the other screaming idiots and act as if he isn't a breathtaking wingnut in his own right. Boehner is trying to help him with that and getting quite an assist from the MSM. In exchange, Ryan has agreed to support Boehner on votes (until he doesn't).
Unfortunately, Boehner's internal fortitude is like warm jello. So he'll probably go home for the Holidays, drink a lot and forget WTF he said before he left.
@Diane-
Wish I did not agree with you, but I could have written your words. John Boehner is an addict--both alcohol and nicotine--and therefore not reliable in his actions as Majorityy Leader. Or, I might add, in the rest of his life. Sad.
Paul Ryan is so transparently ambitious and phony that it makes me smile. Anybody not from Janesville, Wisconsin (I am sure) can see that clearly--although they may not be smiling!
Although I am not particularly a Hillary fan, I think she has the best chance of any Democrat to be elected President, and I hope she wins in 2016. Just think--at least one, possibly two or three appointments to the Supreme Court--if she has eight years! (Scalia cannot last that long. He will die of evil.) We could have a very different country with some decent, thoughtful Supremes!
Good grief! Is there nothing so petty that Faux "News" can't get their knickers in a twist over? I guess not, if Megyn Kelly is any example.
When my wife was a little girl in Sunday School, their teacher had them coloring a picture of Jesus (drawn from life, no doubt). When the teacher saw my wife's picture, she was horrified that my wife had given Jesus BROWN skin. Being a logical little girl, she knew a man from the Middle East, since he had brown skin, Jesus must have, too. The teacher slapped her. That was the beginning of the end of my wife's foray into religion.
Sheesh! Be it ever so petty, there's no place like Faux.
@Barbarossa: "And a little child shall lead them," EXCEPT when the teacher is too stupid to learn from her pupils. Thanks for sharing. Kudos to your wife. She was brilliant from the beginning.
As Mike Filton of Popular Mechanics wrote in his report on the anthropologists' supposition (linked unto the picture above), a man who resembled typical North American depictions of Jesus, i.e., tall, "lean, with long, flowing, light brown hair, fair skin and light-colored eyes ... would have looked very different from everyone else in the region where Jesus lived and ministered.... According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane before the Crucifixion, Judas Iscariot had to indicate to the soldiers whom Jesus was because they could not tell him apart from his disciples." The Gethsemane story is just that, of course: a story, not a report of an historical incident. But plainly, the author of Matthew did not imagine Jesus as a person of extraordinary physical appearance, which is what Kelly claims.
Marie
What is it with Jennifer Rubin's eyes? She looks like an axe murderer with a bad hangover. The other two look like your run of the mill dumb schmucks, but Halperin's crooked smile is a window to his soul ( assuming he has one).
Here are some paintings depicting the two characters of fiction, Jesus and St. Nick, that Megyn Kelly hasn't seen––apparently. Seems this is getting a whole lot of attention which I find quite wonderful. Jon Stewart had fun with it last night.
And speaking of Fox and its sparkling news for nitwits, spied that spiffy stud from Wisconsin talking to Hannity, the half-wit and sure enough Ryan was saying exactly what we all thought was in his granny starving heart: Wait! he says, we just have to be patient in order to do want we want and he lists all those items cited in the above stories on him.. So anyone who thinks this man has had a change in anything is, I'm afraid sadly mistaken. But let's give credit to Patty Murray who spent many a breakfast with him talking about their families and such––and such bonding belies the true nature of the guy who smiles so sweetly as he passes her the raspberry jam.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115908/megyn-kelly-says-santa-jesus-are-white-these-pictures-say-otherwise
@RogerHenry: For more 'amusement,' take a look at the caricature used with Jennifer Rubin's column. ( I believe was illustrated by my favorite animated/political cartoonist, Anne Telnaes—with WaP0!!) Not only the eyes, it's the mouth. It's a great capture. Every time I see it, I think, "Telnaes, you sly fox!"
See also: Ann Telnaes' most recent: "McCain compares Obama to Chamberlain" http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/telnaes/
@PD Pepe: Thanks for the heads-up on Hannity/Ryan. The transcript is here. I couldn't force myself to read the whole thing, but here's a money quote on Ryan's continuing plan to starve granny & every other unlucky ducky who isn't a defense contractor:
"Sean, let me just make the last point, which is permanent law changes, permanent spending cuts -- they take time to develop, but they -- they're not -- if they're going to be undone, Congress has to pass a new law to undo them. To your point, you're right on the money. This is not an agreement to balance the budget. That's what our budget does. Guess what, Sean? Elections have consequences. We're going to have to win a couple of elections to actually pass the kind of budgets that you and I are in favor of, the one I passed in the House just last spring."
Marie
Re; "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas; whiter than the driving snow; I'm dreaming of a white Jesus; the one we white folks all know.
I'm dreaming of a white Santa and his cry; "Ho, Ho, Ho"
Just like the pictures from crib clearly show.
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas with my all heart and soul
may my stocking be overflowing with white coal."
Late Christmas night at Kelly's pad
X-mas pudding dreams; Or are we not fucked?
He's back; but He's black. Cookies?
Whatever you think of Megyn Kelly (I don't watch her, except when John Stewart offers her up on the Daily Show), she seems to undrstand how to do business for Fox. This is one perceptive quote, her talking with WaPo Dan Zak for his extended playmate of the month piece on her yesterday:
“People feel validated when they hear their own emotions accurately described by someone on television,” Kelly says. “And I think when you ignore their genuine heartfelt feelings, they feel diminished. And I think it’s like scratching an itch, to hear someone in a position of power — somebody with a big microphone at least — give voice to what you’re feeling.”
She is saying right there that her job is to amplify people's preconceptions by playing to their feelings ... the essence of the Right Wing's solipsistic information bubble. So, I give her big points for self-perception and forthright description of her job.
If somebody hired her to do real news work, she would probably be good at that. Too bad.
More on Megan Kelly: see last paragraph of Andrea Terkel's HuffPost piece on "Media Matters Declares Victory: 'The War On Fox Is Over' "
"We deal with reality. She's not as vitriolic," said Carusone (Media Matters Exec. VP). "On the other hand, she is in some ways more pernicious because her credibility has not been completely and totally eroded ... so she has the potential to legitimize and validate smears and lies in ways that some of the more disreputable figures on Fox can no longer do, which just presents a new challenge."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/13/media-matters-fox_n_4433207.html
Roger,
Oh, Mark Halperin has a soul alright. It's just that you can't see the outward affects of his inner stupidity and loopy solipsism. Somewhere hidden in his DC townhouse (or wherever the hell he hangs his empty suit) there must be a Dorian Gray-like portrait that shows good ol' Mark in true form, drool running out of both sides of his mouth, dunce cap on crooked, soft-core porn on the tube, GOP playbook in his lap, eyes crossed and tongue flapping.
Don't forget, this is the guy who once declared that Bush didn't really want to be president (what, they forced it on him??) but once he was there, he did a better job than most others (other presidents) could have done.
That comment alone must have darkened the Dorian Gray portrait considerably.
So he's not a soulless piece of shit. Just an exceptional piece of shit.
Diane,
When I heard Boehner's quote about "...mean what I say and say what I mean" I was convinced that the Modern GOP is, indubitably, the first American political party that bases its thought processes and platforms solely on fiction. And now they've gone from Ayn Rand, the Bible, the Paul Ryan budget, Mother Goose ("the sky is falling!"), Willard Romney (truly a patchwork fictional character), and Reagan hagiographies to......Dr. Seuss.
"I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one hundred percent"
Even better, Horton IS an elephant.
What's next? Conan the Barbarian? Can't you just see right-wing congressional types dressed up in armor, carrying spears? Just picture Mitch McConnell with a broadsword and your day will be complete.
According to the NYT, former AK gov. Mike Schmuckabee is 'thinking' of running for POTUS again. Sorry but that name and the word 'think' don't fit in the same sentence.
And if you need more evidence of the right's complete enslavement to fiction and fictional characters, I give you Megyn Kelly's (and Fox's) obsession with the skin color of such characters. (So glad, by the way, that she's a "straight news anchor" because the race and skin color of Santa Claus is of vital importance and deserves coverage in a national newscast. Where do they find these fucking people? Can you imagine Walter Cronkite doing a piece on Santa's skin color???)
It's a wonder that they haven't insisted that Jim in "Huckleberry Finn" wasn't really black. After all, he and Huck are pretty much the only honorable characters in the entire novel.
Next major debate, what kind of cologne did John Galt favor? Insipid minds want to know. My money's on Old Spice. The old sea captain would have appealed to Mr. My Way or the Highway. Or maybe he prefers the same kind used by Li'l Randy: Aqua (Buddha) Velva.
I think John Galt used the same cologne as the Granny Starver, Obsession.
@Akhilleus. No, no, no! Galt had his own natural musk that drew the ladies to him. He didn't rely on artificial scents. Also, he was white.
Marie
Finally, someone in official Washington publicly recognizes Republican thugs for who and what they are and says so with no weasel words.
Darrell (Rap Sheet) Issa, charged with investigating all things Obama including how often the president changes his underwear and what kind of cologne he uses (Drakkar Noir?), in his quest to deep-six the ACA no matter how much it will hurt average Americans, has demanded, in a crayon smeared letter, that the House and Human Services Department turn over sensitive documents related to the security of the healthcare.gov website for, er, investigation and oversight type stuff.
The HHS has told Issa to blow it out his ass. Hurray for them.
Their reason? They can't trust this piece of shit not to disclose these documents and publish them online in order to encourage hackers to further disrupt or completely bring down the website. And they said so.
Issa not trustworthy? Why, the idea. Just because he's been arrested for auto theft, convicted of possession of an unregistered hand gun, has had multiple weapons charges and arrests, stole the company that made him rich then torched his own offices for insurance money after removing all vital business documents and client lists, charged with repeatedly using his office for personal gain, and charged further with appointing committee members with close ties to entities being investigated, and the fact that he's a serial liar are no reasons not to trust the guy.
Are they?
Tee-hee.
I'm sure the GOP Powers that Pee, when they appointed this loser, were hoping they'd have a bull to run over Obama, but all they got was a bollix.
HHS to Oversight Chairman: Fuck off, Darrell.
Marie,
Wait. John Galt had girlfriends? I always thought he'd be more the amour-propre type. Who could be good enough for Mr. Wonderful?
Poor, conflicted Dagney Taggert , Reardon she had, Ah but that Galt guy, such a stud. Oh well, the hidden valley was big enough for all their ego's and obsessions.
I had originally meant to convey this observation first thing but got sidetracked by Santa Claus' complexion.
So I hear that Kim Jong Un's uncle was executed yesterday. The poor man. It seems he was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed (with startling alacrity, I might add) for, among other things "...corruption, drug use, gambling, womanizing and leading a dissolute and depraved life."
Had he lived in the west, he could have been the mayor of Toronto.
Re, HHS Doesn't Trust Issa Politico story -- the idea is probably true (HHS doesn't trust Issa), but the actual justification for refusing to turn over sensitive documents may be somewhat more prosaic. Issa's committee refuses to accept the control responsibilities for sensitive documents that they subpoena, e.g. they won't provide safes, vaults, loggers, boundary security, and designated control officers. The resulting "in camera" rules mean that the agency providing the documents retains custody, even though the docs are in a location on the Hill. In some cases agencies have to provide their own personnel to control and record all access to the docs, and a door control to prevent members or staff from removing docs. Copying is not allowed, because the committee won't accept accountability.
Usually, an agency is willing to sign the docs over (which conveys full accountability), but the committee does not want to accept the investment in security facilities, people, workload and accountability.
Just another way committees incur costs that accrue to executive agencies.
May I present: Exhibit A from the Ross Douthat School of Blogging & Journalism: "Tea party cools off" that's the headline from Jennifer Rubin's column today.
First, she acknowledges "Tea party sliding downhill..." then goes on to this sneaky 'attack.' At first glance, you'd almost think she got religion. She appears to approach her topic with a disarming mea culpa, but, ah, but my friends read on...as she drops in three little words (see parentheses):
"But in the rationalizations lies one of the reasons for the group’s decline: perpetual victimhood. No one likes a complainer, particularly when failure after failure is blamed on others. (Think President Obama.)"
Bitch!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/12/13/tea-party-cools-off/?hpid=z2
One more reason to never trust a single utterance of Fox's "hard (to believe) news anchors" is provided by Megyn Kelly in her ludicrous assertion regarding the race of Jesus and Santa Claus.
As "proof" that Jesus was white, she declared that it's a "verifiable fact" that he's an historical personage. Okay. Two things. First, there IS no way to determine, categorically, that Jesus was an historical figure, ie, that he did, indeed, exist. And the gospels are not historical documents. None of the Evangelists ever met Jesus. Their stories were written decades after the he would have lived. And because he was a poor Jew who was executed as a criminal, hundreds of miles from Rome, there was no official record. (Marie can correct me on this since she has an uncanny knowledge of this stuff.) So how is this historically "verifiable"?
It ain't. Unless you're A, NOT a hard news anchor, B, not an historian, C, not a thinking person, or D, a liar.
It's a pick 'em.