;)
Tuesday
Oct282014
The Commentariat -- Oct. 29, 2014
Internal links, illustration removed.
ABC News: "Kaci Hickox, the nurse who was quarantined at a New Jersey hospital despite exhibiting no Ebola symptoms after arriving from West Africa, won't follow the quarantine imposed by Maine officials, her attorney said [Tuesday] night.... Hickox will abide by all the self-monitoring requirements of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Maine, [her attorney Steven] Hyman said.... Maine requires that health care workers such as Hickox who return to the state from West Africa will remain under a 21-day home quarantine, with their condition actively monitored, Gov. Paul R. LePage said in a statement." ...
... Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama said Tuesday his administration would only adopt Ebola policies that would not jeopardize the ongoing effort to contain Ebola in West Africa.'We don't just react based on our fears. We react based on facts and judgment and making smart decisions,' he said in remarks Tuesday afternoon just before boarding Air Force One":
We want stricter things than what they have been willing to (propose) and now they're incrementally ... moving toward our position. This is because they [CDC doctors] don't want to admit we're right and they're wrong. -- Gov. Dr. Chris Christie on the "Today" show yesterday ...
I think when she has time to reflect she will understand that as well. -- Dr. Christie, Sunday, explaining that Ebola-asymptomatic nurse/New Jersery prisoner Kaci Hickox will agree will come to appreciate her imprisonment when she gets over her hysteria or whatever ...
Whatever. Get in line. I've been sued lots of times before. Get in line. I'm happy to take it on. -- Dr. Christie, Tuesday, daring Hickox to sue him
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "For Christie, there is no contradiction that can't be resolved with combativeness and condescension.... [New York Gov. Andrew] Cuomo's shift came more quietly, with evasiveness and obfuscation (as the Times noted, his aides distributed an inaccurate transcript of his press conference with Christie Friday) and a note of unearned vanity." (No link.)
Maya Rhodan of Time: "Twelve winners of the Nobel Peace Prize asked President Barack Obama late Sunday to make sure that a Senate report on the Central Intelligence Agency's use of harsh interrogation tactics is released so the U.S. can put an end to a practice condemned by many as torture.... Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is among the laureates behind the letter, which also calls for the closure of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay."
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Hackers thought to be working for the Russian government breached the unclassified White House computer networks in recent weeks, sources said, resulting in temporary disruptions to some services while cybersecurity teams worked to contain the intrusion. White House officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity..., said that the intruders did not damage any of the systems and that, to date, there is no evidence the classified network was hacked." CW: President Obama should punch President Putin in the nose. ...
When you look at this chaos that's going on, does anybody think that Vladimir Putin would have gone into Crimea had George W. Bush been president of the United States? No! Even Putin is smart enough to know that Bush would have punched him in the nose in about 10 seconds. -- Speaker & international statesman John Boehner
... Dana Milbank: "The real problem with Obama is not overreach but his tendency to be hands-off." CW: I guess that means he won't punch Putin in the nose. Ah, well. ...
... How about name-calling? Is that tough enough? Luke Brinker of Salon: "Amid mounting tensions between the United States and Israel over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Iran's nuclear program, Obama administration officials are bluntly expressing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assailing Netanyahu as a 'chickenshit' and a 'coward.' Those jibes come in a new piece by Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg, who concludes that the U.S.-Israeli relationship is in a perilous position. Goldberg points to 'the comatose peace process' and Netanyahu's strident opposition to a U.S. deal with Iran over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.... A 'senior Obama administration official' told Goldberg, 'The thing about Bibi is, he's a chickenshit.'" CW: Well, okay, off-the-record name-calling is sort of, um, chickenshit.
Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Attorneys general are now the object of aggressive pursuit by lobbyists and lawyers who use campaign contributions, personal appeals at lavish corporate-sponsored conferences and other means to push them to drop investigations, change policies, negotiate favorable settlements or pressure federal regulators, an investigation by The New York Times has found."
"Freedom Summer, 2015." Jeff Toobin: "... there seems little chance that a majority of the current Court will rein in [voter-suppression law] in any significant way. In courtrooms around the country, it's been made clear that these Republican initiatives have been designed and implemented to disenfranchise Democrats (again, usually of color). But the Supreme Court doesn't care. It's a depressing spectacle, but not a hopeless one.... In light of the changes in the state laws, it's difficult but not impossible to register voters and make sure that they get to cast their ballots.... Voter-registration efforts need people -- individuals willing to do the tedious work of persuading their fellow-citizens to make the effort to register and vote." ...
... BUT. It might not do much good. See Georgia in November Elections below.
I'd Rather Be in Denmark. Liz Alderman & Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times compare fast-food chains in Denmark -- where employees earn a living wage & excellent benefits -- to those in the U.S. -- where "half of the nation's fast-food workers rely on some form of public assistance." Yeah, the Danish restaurants are less profitable, & the burgers cost a little more, but as one Danish fast-food exec said, "We don't want there to be a big difference between the richest and poorest, because poor people would just get really poor. We don't want people living on the streets. If that happens, we consider that we as a society have failed." Exactly. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. ...
... Charles Pierce: A "real, if unspoken difference between Denmark and the United States is that the members of the Danish corporate class are not trained from their adolescence to become public sociopaths. This is not a minor distinction." ...
... CW: This story, of course, brings to mind one of our top public sociopaths, Scott Walker, who said of the minimum wage, way last week or so, "I don't think it serves a purpose." So this is why ...
... Jonathan Stempel of Reuters: "A labor group in Wisconsin on Monday said it is suing Gov. Scott Walker to force him to raise the state's minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The group, Wisconsin Jobs Now, said the rate is too low, citing a state law requiring that workers be paid a 'living wage,' or an amount with which they can pay for basic needs." CW: That, Scottie, is a purpose. Our society, as the Dane suggests, has failed, thanks to nasty little runts like you.
James Ball of the Guardian: "British intelligence services can access raw material collected in bulk by the NSA and other foreign spy agencies without a warrant, the government has confirmed for the first time. GCHQ's secret 'arrangements' for accessing bulk material are revealed in documents submitted to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the UK surveillance watchdog, in response to a joint legal challenge by Privacy International, Liberty and Amnesty International. The legal action was launched in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations published by the Guardian and other news organisations last year."
Charles Pierce takes on Thomas Frank's comparison of Presidents Obama & Carter. This is a more serious post than Pierce's usual takes on the stoopid. Pierce, as have others, notes that Frank doesn't seem aware of that thing called Congress, & he goes into the history of Carter's relationship with Congressional Democrats.
Pope Francis lets on that the creation story is nonsense:
When we read in Genesis the account of Creation, we risk imagining God as a magician, with a magic wand able to make everything. But it is not so. The Big Bang, which nowadays is posited as the origin of the world, does not contradict the divine act of creating, but rather requires it. The evolution of nature does not contrast with the notion of Creation, as evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve. -- Pope Francis, Monday
It's not about sex, so maybe Ross Doo-thought can handle it. -- Constant Weader
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Benghaaazi! CW: My teevee reception sometimes goes down; over the years I've had bad phone connections & my current phone rings every time I hang it up; I am always having computer problems. Ergo, a federal agency must be bugging me. So far, the only media that seem to be taking right-wing & former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson's story seriously are Erik Wemple, the media reporter for the WashPo & the usual suspects: Breitbart & Fox "News." Who knows? She could be right. Maybe the feds were bugging her electronic devices (like the teevee, where maybe she watched "Homefront" & Fox "News") while she was writing about Benghaazi. ...
... Update. Tom Kludt of TPM: "When reached by TPM on Tuesday, CBS News declined to comment. The network confirmed last year that a security firm determined that Attkisson's computer had been 'accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012.'"
The Seattle Times-Bureau. Mike Carter of the Seattle Times: "The FBI in Seattle created a fake news story on a bogus Seattle Times web page to plant software in the computer of a suspect in a series of bomb threats to Lacey's Timberline High School in 2007, according to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco.... The revelation brought a sharp response from the newspaper. 'We are outraged that the FBI, with the apparent assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office, misappropriated the name of The Seattle Times to secretly install spyware on the computer of a crime suspect,' said Seattle Times Editor Kathy Best. 'Not only does that cross a line, it erases it,' she said."
Tom Kludt of TPM: "On Saturday, Don Surber, the [Charleston, West Virginia,] Daily Mail's lone editorial columnist, took to his personal blog to offer his thoughts on 'police brutality' and the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. 'This summer I had an epiphany as I watched packs of racists riot in Ferguson, Missouri, in support of a gigantic thug who was higher than a kite when he attacked Ferguson Police Department Officer Darren Wilson, who unfortunately had to put this animal down,' Surber wrote.... [Daily Mail editor & publisher Brad] McElhinny told TPM he was grateful when we noted up front that the post appeared on Surber's blog, home to gags about Hillary Clinton's age and commentaries on the benefits of carbon dioxide, and that it had not appeared in the Charleston newspaper. But the editor nevertheless apologized for the inflammatory characterization of Brown."
November Elections
"The Momentum Mirage." Harry Enten & Nate Silver of 538: "You might be hearing that Democrats or Republicans have 'momentum' heading into the final week of the 2014 campaign. On Tuesday, for example, a Washington Post headline asserted 'Midterm momentum belongs to GOP.' That was based on a generic ballot poll showing a 6 percentage point Republican lead. But later in the day, a Fox News generic ballot poll came out showing Democrats up by 1 point instead -- Fox had previously shown Republicans ahead.... A lot of what looks like momentum in the polls is really just random noise."
AP: "President Barack Obama is kicking off a weeklong, six-state campaign spree with a visit to Wisconsin. Obama will attend a rally at a Milwaukee high school Tuesday for Mary Burke, the Democrat trying to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Defeating Walker, a potential 2016 presidential contender, would be a major coup for Democrats. The president has been a rare sight on the campaign trail this year, where his low approval ratings make him a potential liability for his party." ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "At 51 percent, Obama's favorability rating is about 10 points higher in Wisconsin than in the rest of the country, and he addressed a mostly African-American crowd in a Milwaukee ward where he won 99 percent of the vote in 2012." Hartmann's full report contains some other interesting or odd campaign tidbits in other races. (Brief clip of President Obama's Milwaukee rally under Wisconsin below.
** Charles Pierce explains the Democrats' real electoral problem: "... because of the effective campaign of vandalism run by the Republican congress, and because of the complete inability of the Democratic party to craft a consistent economic message that doesn't sound like warmed-over DLC hash, and (yes, dear friends) because the twice-elected Democratic president didn't choose to hold completely responsible the grifters and thieves who rigged the system in the first place, there is absolutely no way at the moment for any Democratic politician -- including [Elizabeth Warren] -- to take full advantage of the success of her message. People want what Senator Professor Warren is selling. They just don't want to buy it from Democrats." CW: Read the whole post. There are consequences to hiring Geither & Summers, Ltd. & trying to sell that government "belt-tightening" message Obama repeatedly delivered during his first term. AND it isn't as if no experts mentioned this timely (Paul Krugman, ad nauseum, Joe Stiglitz).
Mark Leibovich in the New York Times Magazine: "... countless candidates seem determined to tout their fitness for these enormous challenges by trying to out-bumpkin one another.... Skilled politicians have a proud tradition of conveying utter contempt for their profession, especially when they're running to keep their jobs. This is, to some degree, rooted in our history.... The apotheosis of the modern bumpkin mode has been embodied by Sarah Palin...."
Georgia. Alice Ollstein of Think Progress: "On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court denied a petition from civil rights advocates to force Georgia's Secretary of State to process an estimated 40,000 voter registrations that have gone missing from the public database. Though early voting is well underway in the state, Judge Brasher called the lawsuit 'premature,' and said it was based on 'merely set out suspicions and fears that the [state officials] will fail to carry out their mandatory duties.' Dr. Francys Johnson, President of the Georgia NAACP, who represented the 40 thousand voters in the court, called the ruling 'outrageous.'... 'All in all -- a republican appointed judge has backed the republican Secretary of State to deny the right to vote to a largely African American and Latino population,' Johnson wrote in a press release.' Civil rights lawyer Marsha "Burrofsky said the people she registered in Dunwoody, Georgia, a more affluent and conservative community, did show up in the system, while those in more diverse and low-income communities in DeKalb County mysteriously disappeared."
Kentucky. Jonathan Chait: Mitch McConnell is afraid to vote to repeal ObummerCare. He said as much on Fox "News." Because reality. ...
... Greg Sargent: This "ad ticked off the McConnell campaign, which ... is trying to get TV stations to stop running the ad. I've checked in with Kentucky stations, and most declined to reveal their plans for the spot, though an official at one -- Fox affiliate WDRB -- told me: 'We reinstated the spot, finding the assertions factual.'" ...
... Getting Democracy Backwards. Steve Benen: "With time running out in Kentucky, Mitch McConnell decided to remind the state that he wanted to effectively eliminate the popular and effective Social Security system. Indeed, it's been part of McConnell's governing vision for many, many years. When local reporter Joe Sonka asked McConnell whether voters should expect the senator to push Social Security privatization after the midterms, McConnell replied, 'I'm not announcing what the agenda would be in advance.'" CW: Because telling voters you're going to screw them is not the best campaign strategy. So what we know about the GOP-led Senate is that it has a secret agenda. Just trust them. Read Benen's whole post.
Iowa. Iowa City Press-Citizen Editors endorse Democrat Bruce Braley for Senate because Tea party balls-butcher Joni Ernst has crazy ideas & won't show up to speak to editorial boards about them. Via Paul Waldman.
Wisconsin. Katie McDonough of Salon: "Scott Walker knows the best way to support equal pay is to repeal equal pay laws. A new ad from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker features his lieutenant governor celebrating his apparent support for equal pay for women.... Gender-based employment discrimination is illegal in Wisconsin under the state's Fair Employment Act. But in 2012, Walker quietly repealed the state's Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which gave the existing equal pay law more teeth."
Presidential Race
Heaven Help Us. Tim Alberta & Shane Goldmacher of the National Journal: Ted Cruz & Mike Huckabee, among others, are already working the crowds in the "evangelical primary." "Social conservatives are desperate to settle on a single candidate earlier than ever to avoid another 'moderate' as the GOP nominee." They like Mike.
Beyond the Beltway
Evan Perez & Shimon Prokupecz of CNN: "The police chief in Ferguson, Missouri, is expected to step down as part of the effort by city officials to reform the police department, according to government officials familiar with the ongoing discussions between local, state and federal officials. But Chief Thomas Jackson and the city's mayor say the reports aren't true. Under the proposed plan, after Jackson leaves, city leadership would ask the St. Louis County police chief to take over management of Ferguson's police force."
News Lede
TMZ: "Joan Rivers' daughter Melissa has retained a law firm that will file a major lawsuit over her mom's death ... TMZ has confirmed.... The firm -- Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, Mackauf, Bloom & Rubinowitz will file a medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit against the clinic where Joan stopped breathing and the doctors who were involved."
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Reader Comments (24)
America faces a major challenge. We need to create an Ebola policy that makes Christie able to claim he was right. Note that as I said he is never wrong so he will come up with some story. But be assured he is right and every physician on the planet is wrong. I have said this before, Christie isn't just a pompous ass, he is for real mentally ill.
Lastly, we really need a 'quarantine' policy that deals not only with medicine but with reality. So here is my idea to deal with both issues, medicine and fear (apparently the state of Maine is in a panic). Twenty one days at home. Take your temp. 3x a day. If ok, visitors allowed. You can also go out without going bowling or using a public restroom. In other words, with limited exposure and contact.
Is this medically necessary? No, but we do have to live with reality.
And BTW, last Sat. I was in NYC walking on the same place the Ebola infected Dr. I might have used the same toilet. But in Maine people have canceled hospital procedures out of fear. We have to adapt to the real world. And don't forget, playing the tough game will get votes on Tues.
lastly don't forget, in west Africa more than 200 health care workers have been infected including several Americans, just hope no one gets infected again here in the US.
Two private, politically conservative universities--Stanford and Dartmouth--have mailed "survey" brochures to various congressional districts. The survey (tailored to each district) paints the candidates liberal and conservative apparently based on who's funding their campaigns. When the folks in Montana went apeshit the schools said sorry, just ignore the mailing.
WTF is going on? http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-election-mailers-study-20141027-story.html
@JamesSinger: so much for the intelligence and integrity of the faculty at Stanford and Dartmouth...what were they thinking.
Sport Report: As I am watching the World Series Game 6, Kansas City is leading 10-0, making a seventh game likely. An announcer said tickets for that game have current online prices of $750 for standing-room tickets and $2000 for seats behind the Kansas City dugout. This in a stadium that was renovated in 2008 with the help or a 0.375% increase in the sales tax, which raised money for both the baseball and football stadiums and was approved by the voters in 2006. Ordinary people make it work but don't get the benefits.
Okey Dokey! I am standing in line to punch Chris Christie and eviscerate Scotty Walker. Also to throw some "man tan" in John Boehner's already orange face and give a well placed chop to Ted Cruz's testicles. As for Mike Huckabee--how about a picture of the crucifixion painted and signed by Dubya--with Huckie's feet nailed to the crossl
We need to fergit about these Neanderthals and start appreciating what we have. Obama is a gentleman and a scholar. Yes, he has made mistakes--and continues to do so. But he is an intelligent, decent human being who actually believes in science, and--at the very least-- has a magnificent sense of self irony. Republicans know nothing of this. They are mere parodies of their silly, ignorant selves.
@Kate Madison the problem is that these jerk heads have no difficulty getting the votes. And please note that Christie knows perfectly well the reality of science and economics. He just lies.
Lastly, this mornings paper had an article on how well NJ hospitals rate on safety. There were a few exceptions including the now famous 'Ebola hospital', University Hospital in Newark. It was rated a 'C'. I think they were being nice. So if you arriving from west Africa, I suggest you aim for JFK.
"The land of the free and the home of the dumb"
On the heels of the critics of Thomas Franks' piece comparing Obama with Carter (who was a micro manager to a fault unlike Obama––significant difference) Danny Vinik from TNR asks why can't the media give Obama credit for crisis management?
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120022/obama-better-crisis-manager-media-gives-him-credit
Since our New Jersey Governor, larger than life, is back in the news, I'm wondering WHAT ABOUT BRIDGEGATE? What the heck has happened with that probe? Anyone know?
Re: the Stanford and Dartmouth "studies."
WTF is indeed the relevant question, but I will withhold judgment until we have an answer. According to the article, it seems both university presidents were caught by surprise and are understandably in damage control mode, promising an investigation, not unlike a White House unaware of everything the vast bureaucracy it purportedly controls has been up to....or a parent's Nov. 1 chagrin at reports of his children's questionable Halloween activities.
That said, I'm intrigued by two elements of the study. First, it does seem an interesting and maybe fruitful idea to investigate the ideological splits within parties, as it seems the investigators attempted to do. Of course, the article tells us nothing about how they planned to do that.
Secondly, as number 1 son asked when I sent the article along to him: who paid for the pamphlets and the mailings? The cost of creating, printing and mailing 200,000 plus "pamphlets" could not have been inconsiderable.
Until we have answers to these and other questions, if ever, I'll just have to imagine the investigators' discomfort as they're called into the boss' office...trying to come up with convincing ways to say "oops," when even the dullest researcher must have known that in today's political environment, they were walking blind into a mine field.
Speaking of that environment, tho' there is much to disagree with in yesterday's Edsall NYTimes piece, it's still worth a look.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/opinion/nothing-in-moderation.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=
Ken: I was especially interested in the suggestion to simply ignore the pamphlets. "We let a skunk out a gunnysack in the parlor, but just ignore it," sounds kinda lame.
@James Singer: Not the least amazing part of this story is that the private universities, which have no ties to the state governments of Montana & California, put those state's seals on the mailers. "WTF?" is right.
@Ken Winkes: I suspect the cost of the mailers was footed by a research grant. It might be interesting to find out who the grantor is & what input it may have had in "commissioning" the study; i.e., does the grantor have some partisan leaning?; how broad or narrow were the parameters of the grant?, were the researchers required under the terms of the grant to send out the mailers during an election cycle? etc.
Marie
PD,
I'm right there with you. In fact, that was my question this morning after reading for days now about how the Garden State Bully has been running around shooting his mouth off again like he had nothing to worry about.
When did he get his Get Out of the Shithouse Free card? I saw that NBC, last week, announced that US attorney for New Jersey, Paul Fishman, had dismissed the possibility of any charges against Bully Boy. But, as it happens all too frequently in today's mainstream media, the reporting was shoddy. And wrong. The fact that Fishman had not yet charged Bully Boy was interpreted by the cheesecloth brains at NBC, including Brian Williams, as confirmation that all charges were off the table. NBC apparently issued a correction the next day, but you know how that works. "Christie Innocent!!" headlines are barely touched by the next day's "but maybe not" retraction on page 45 under the fold, next to the ads for miracle weight loss scams.
I recall reading somewhere that Mr. Fishman was a meticulous, careful investigator. I didn't think that meant it would take 18 months to figure out whether Bully Boy was involved or not. The bridge closure took place in August of 2013. We're weeks away from 2015. But now that genius journalist Brian Williams (immediately placed into the repeat, repeat, repeat, right-wing echo chamber) has absolved Christie of all connections to the scandal (and let's not forget, it wasn't just "inconvenient", a woman died because an ambulance dispatched to save her was stuck in traffic. An Amber alert search was also delayed because of Christie's shenanigans.) most low information types have shrugged their shoulders and moved on.
Besides, Christie investigated himself and declared himself free from all guilt or any connections to the shady business of bridge closure. You expected a different finding?
You think Republicans would stand for Obama saying that he had investigated himself and found himself completely innocent in any one of the multiple scandals they've dreamed up over the last six years?
It's still possible that Fishman may yet slap the cuffs on Gov. Big Mouth, but with the passing of each week, it seems less likely. By Thanksgiving, most Americans, if Christie was indicted on something, would barely remember the bridge closing.
Big win for the Big Bully. I guess he doesn't have much to worry about after all.
Nisky Guy,
Years ago, I got a chance to attend a world series game. My hometown team was in it and myself and a few friends who had been going to games regularly, year after year since we were kids, finally got to bask in the glory of the World Series. No matter how much it cost, we were ready to break the bank so as not to miss this chance.
But the first thing we noticed as we took our seats was that there were few familiar faces in the crowd. The seats around us normally filled with postmen and kids and firefighters and moms and dads, were taken up by lawyers in suits and stockbrokers and high rollers, many of whom had never set foot in the ballpark.
One Beau Brummel asshole who rolled in around the fourth inning and sat behind us, loudly demanded to know why a certain player wasn't on the field, prob'ly looking to impress his date with his deep knowledge of the game. I turned and just as loudly informed him that that particular guy had retired six years before and was now in the Hall of Fame. I thought about asking him if he knew that player's lifetime batting average but decided I'd already made my point, although it apparently only mattered to me and my friends.
Most of the regular schmoes who had supported the team for years simply couldn't afford the seats which were now taken up by the Richie Riches who could.
I guess these are the guys the Republicans term The Makers. The rest of us poor schmoes must be the takers.
Love, love, love that spot unveiling Mitch McConnell as the conniving, lying, back-stabbing taker he's always been. No wonder he's been screaming at Kentucky TV stations to take it off the air. I don't think it looks all that good to be doing so, however. Makes him look guilty as charged, which, of course, he is.
But we'll see if it does any good. Most people, by this time, have made up their minds and McConnell supporters only know that a vote for Mitch means something bad for Obama and hell, they'd vote for John Wayne Gacy if it meant they could stick it to the hated Kenyan.
Still, great spot.
For his part, McConnell, apparently, is running nothing but Grimes=Obama, Obama=Grimes spots. Because what could be worse than that?
And while I'm on my McConnell soapbox, to continue my rant, above, on the low, low, low critical thinking and investigative abilities of much of the MSM, I notice that certain "pundits", if can you use that word without throwing up, have been lauding McConnell as a great statesman and lover the kind of Senate politesse like there used to be (when, exactly? you mean like before the Civil War when senators were beating each other with sticks?). This, despite the fact that McConnell, for the last six years has made it his mission in life to make sure the senate is hostile territory for the president. He's on the record as saying that he wanted the administration to fail outright and would do whatever he had to do to make sure that failure was the only option.
Suddenly THIS guy is the avatar of fucking etiquette and professional comity? Might as well appoint John Bolton to the presidency of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Just disgusting.
Oh, the "pundit", by the by, was George Will. You get it now, right?
Akhilleus , in order for Bully Boy to have been involved in Bridgegate directly he would have had to spend a minute or two as governor of NJ. That has never happened. He only appears when he has 'positive' bullshit like today when he claims success in Sandy recovery which of course has been a nightmare. No, Christie did hire all of the scum actually involved but that is it. And the idea that he tried to hide the scandal after the fact again requires thought and planing. Never happened.
Marvin,
Thanks for clearing that up. It's a bit like the defense of the cat burglar who declares that he couldn't possibly have stolen that diamond necklace because he was out of state casing a house for a different job.
Oh, wait a minute, I just had a brain synapse misfire...trying to picture Chris Christie, dressed in black, climbing up and down drain pipes as a second story man. I guess he'd be okay at the going down part.
And a belated thanks for your invaluable take on the inside baseball of medical schools and hospitals in the Garden State. Always great to hear from someone who has been there and who knows whereof he speaks.
And speaking of synaptic misfires....
John Boehner's declaration that Bush would have punched his good buddy Putin in the nose, the guy he claimed to have looked into his soul and deemed a "good person", is as pure an example of the terrible toll of delirium tremens as I've seen in years.
Boehner's like the drunk guy at the end of the bar, slurring out invective and fantastical assertions one after the other, until collapsing in a heap on the floor, lost in an alcoholic miasma.
Not to mention that such braggadocio coming from the most impotent and ineffective house speaker in living memory is unseemly past the point of embarrassing.
Aye, twas a good one, there, Johnny. Sure, you'll be havin' another one now, won't ye?
Ak: We can only hope that Boner's Bar doesn't have a piano. Otherwise he might be singing John Valby covers to his pals before falling off his stool.
Breaking news:
Angus King switches endorsement from Cutler to Michaud
If only Cutler would get the message. Despite calls for him to step aside he vowed to stay in the Maine governor race to the finish. He asks voters to 'vote their conscience' —something that he apparently doesn't have. Blaaggh!
Akhileus: Boy did your tale of "regular folks" being shut out of attending the World Series years ago resonate with me. Only my story differs in detail: it was last month, it was a musical on tour, and I am no longer poor or struggling (thankfully). Anyway, I wanted to attend a Broadway show on tour with my husband, daughter and her boyfriend. For the four of us selecting good but not the best seats, it would have been $1200. The cheapest seats were $155 apiece. We didn't go, and it made me sad. I just don't know who can pay these prices. There are only so many Microsoft millionaires in Seattle!
Unwashed,
I hear you, brother.
But if Cheeto-Man did have a piano, and if he could stay sober long enough to tinkle those butt-stained ivories (a big if)...I'm guessing Dr. Dirty would be right in Boehner's wheelhouse, but had he been the kind of cool dude he wants everyone to think he is, he might be playing this song.
That is, if he could (A) play the piano in the first place and (B) then be able to accommodate Waits' arbitrary atonalities, neither of which I'm sure of.
But I'm guessing the song that most closely Boehner most closely associates with, is this one.
Oh, and by the way, the answer to Jimmy Buffet's question is YES.
Oh, and it applies to McConnell and Walker and Scott and Perry and Gohmert and McCain and Palin and, well, hell, pretty much every Republican, but also Chuck Todd and Limbaugh and Brian Williams and....
Victoria,
As a long-time opera fan, I can relate.
Way back in the 90's, I took in a performance of Das Rheingold at the Met in NY. An orchestra seat then was $95. I don't know what it is now, but I'm guessing I'd be financially better off listening to the Saturday broadcast.
Unfortunately, that option's not available to you and your family for Broadway shows on the road.
A few weeks ago I linked a wonderful show about how Jews created the American Musical Theater and left us all the richer for it. I wonder how ubiquitous those show tunes would have become had it been virtually impossible for 95% of all Americans to experience them in the context of their staged presentations.
A big part of the problem is that, unlike so many European countries, the performing arts are not taken seriously in this country. Not only that, but denizens of the Brownbackistans in this country very likely consider the arts the work of the devil and not something that their precious spawn should be exposed to.
More disintegration of the culture and the arts via the puritanical, paranoid, and uncivilized auspices of conservative ideology.
Oops, I forgot to link that song that most closely identifies with Boehner:
Here it is. Enjoy.
Ak: I must agree that your selection more likely. One I had forgotten about but now makes me chuckle at that vision of Johnny the Boozer.