Maddow: Michigan GOP bill would allow takeover of local governments

The sick part about this: they'll still have people who believe them when they call themselves the party of "small government."

Deep Thought

There is no such thing as a "Republican".

Immigrants Making U.S. Safer?

Even undocumented immigrants?!? Modern Republican head asplosion in 10, 9, 8, 7...

So how has this city of poor immigrants become such an anomaly? Actually, it may not be an anomaly at all. Many criminologists say El Paso isn't safe despite its high proportion of immigrants, it's safe because of them.

"If you want to find a safe city, first determine the size of the immigrant population," says Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. "If the immigrant community represents a large proportion of the population, you're likely in one of the country's safer cities. San Diego, Laredo, El Paso—these cities are teeming with immigrants, and they're some of the safest places in the country."

Deep Thought

Spending trillions of dollars on an unnecessary war is awesome - and spending $800 billion to repair our broken economy is a treasonable outrage.

Sheriff Arrested For LEGAL Jail Food Scam

This will make you want to bite a chair:

A northern Alabama sheriff was in federal custody Thursday after a judge ruled he purposely fed inmates skimpy meals so he could make money from an unusual system that lets sheriffs turn a profit on their jail kitchens.

Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett testified at a Wednesday court hearing that he made $212,000 over three years by cheaply feeding prisoners — every cent of it legal under a Depression-era state law and reported on his tax forms as income.

But U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon ordered federal marshals to arrest Bartlett after hearing a string of skinny prisoners testify they were served paper-thin bologna, bloody chicken and cold grits in the north Alabama county's jail.

More here.

More Americans need to understand that this is an illustration of the Modern Republican dream. They want everything - Social Security, the military, prisons, schools, they'll even go after the Post Office - privatized, because they can cheat the system like this sheriff does - legally - and make a ton of money. This is all they mean by "small government." It's the entire story. They are all Boss Hogg wannabes.

Tony Perkins To Lead GOP Out of Hole He Lives In

Too much. The White Supremacist for Jesus wants to save the Republican Party.

I guess most people are aware that people like Perkins made the Republican Party the horrible deformed beast it is today. But it's worth repeating, isn't it?

Republican Blogosphere Wins Big in Austria

Wow, they're more powerful than I thought.

"John, You Were Wrong"

Excellent video using pieces of last night's debate, and flashbacks to john McCain saying really stupid stuff.

Children & Lying

From the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry:

Lying that may indicate emotional problems:

Some children, who know the difference between truthfulness and lying, tell elaborate stories which appear believable. Children or adolescents usually relate these stories with enthusiasm because they receive a lot of attention as they tell the lie.

Other children or adolescents, who otherwise seem responsible, fall into a pattern of repetitive lying. They often feel that lying is the easiest way to deal with the demands of parents, teachers and friends. These children are usually not trying to be bad or malicious but the repetitive pattern of lying becomes a bad habit.

There are also some children and adolescents who are not bothered by lying or taking advantage of others. Other adolescents may frequently use lying to cover up another serious problem. For example, an adolescent with a serious drug or alcohol problem will lie repeatedly to hide the truth about where they have been, who they were with, what they were doing, and where the money went.

Bob Herbert is Angry at Republicans

And Democrats. Just a piece:

Liberals who didn’t have a clue gave us Medicare and Medicaid. Quick, how many of you (or your loved ones) are benefiting mightily from these programs, even as we speak. The idea that Republicans are proud of Ronald Reagan, who saw Medicare as “the advance wave of socialism,” while Democrats are ashamed of Lyndon Johnson, whose legislative genius made this wonderful, life-saving concept real, is insane.

Stop Arresting Pot Smokers

It's none of the government's business, and it's a waste of money. And Barney Frank and Ron Paul agree:

In a shot at Republicans, Frank said it was strange that those who support limited government want to criminalize marijuana.

Strange and a strangely common kind of ModernRepublican hypocrisy.

Perfect: They'll Leave Government and Go Into War Profiteering

It's like they planned it: Dick Cheney and cabal got themselves the reigns of the U.S. government, began a giant clusterfuck of a war, have almost completely privatized the operation of said war, and in January they'll leave their relatively low-paying government jobs and go into the war profiteering business.

The eight-year plan, almost complete.

(Cold comfort to the loved ones of 4,083 dead Americans: at least they didn't get Social Security, too.)

Soldiers Cremated at "Pet Cremation Service"

"Small government," anti-regulation Republicans want a world like this:

The U.S. military has, since 2001, cremated some of the remains of American service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at a Delaware facility that also cremates pets, a practice that ended yesterday when the Pentagon banned the arrangement.

The facility, located in an industrial park near Dover Air Force Base, has cremated about 200 service members, manager David A. Bose estimated last night. It uses separate crematories a few feet apart to cremate humans and animals, he added, insisting that there had "not been any people gone through the pet crematory."

If that's not bad enough, fallen American troops are not supposed to be DROPPED OFF LIKE LAUNDRY:

The Friends Forever manager said that service members usually dropped off remains and returned the next day to pick them up. The practice is “contrary to the normal procedure,” in which the military is supposed to provide “an escort for all service members killed overseas during transport to the United States, and again after ‘medical processing’ at the Dover mortuary as the deceased returns home for interment.”

Support the troops, my ass.

More at CNN.

And the link to the facility, Forever Friends Pet Cremation Service.

Support the Troops, BushCo Style

A soldier's dad videos his son's barracks at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina (his son just returned from Afghanistan), and posts it on YouTube. This is your Army on Cheney, Bush, and Halliburton.

Your Daughter's a Slut

The Modern Republican Party in all its glory:

COLORADO SPRINGS — “In my parents’ day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are,” Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Larry Liston said during a GOP legislative caucus meeting in Denver. “There was at least a sense of shame.

“There’s no sense of shame today," Liston continued, according to the The Gazette of Colorado Springs. "Society condones it. ... I think it’s wrong. They’re sluts. And I don’t mean just the women. I mean the men, too.”

"There was at least a sense of shame." Yup, we sure knew how to be ashamed and to vomit that shame into our children in the old days. It's really a shame that we lost that. It's a shame that we don't "send them away" and "shun" them anymore.

What the hell happened to us?

The Cons Defined

From Neo- to Paleo- and beyond, a helpful list of definitions and defining characteristics:

As schisms in the GOP become more pronounced and erupt into a low-intensity civil war, a quick look at the party's factions will be useful for future scorekeeping.

Corporate Cons

These are Wall Street Republicans, hungry for big federal contracts, less business regulation, increased immigration, happy foreign trading partners, and the protection of the established corporate elite.

Government spending: Pro
Aggressive foreign policy: Against
Immigration: Pro
Traditional values: Irrelevant
Notables: Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Wall Street Journal editorial board


Paleocons

This are the old-school anti-communist, anti-immigrant, John Birch Society types. They loathe foreign entanglements, government spending, affirmative action, and multiculturalism.

Government spending: Against
Aggressive foreign policy: Against
Immigration: Against
Traditional values: Pro
Notables: Ron Paul, Robert Novak, Reagan Democrats


Theocons

This is the Christian Coalition/Moral Majority crowd, desperate for the wedding of state and religion, desperate to prevent the wedding of same sex couples. Unafraid to spend tax dollars on "faith-based" initiatives, while seeing immigrants as a replenishing source of new converts and religious foot soldiers.

Government spending: Pro
Aggressive foreign policy: Against
Immigration: Pro
Traditional values: Pro
Notables: Mike Huckabee, Pat Robertson, James Dobson


Neocons

These are the pointy headed "intellectuals" holed up at think tanks like the Project for a New American Century, moving their little armies around a Risk gameboard. Paranoid of the boogeyman under the bed, they feel secure only when dropping bombs on brown people overseas and are obsessed with keeping others as scared as they themselves feel.

Government spending: Pro
Aggressive foreign policy: Pro
Immigration: Against
Traditional values: Irrelevant
Notables: John McCain, Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman, the Washington Post editorial board

"Send Wounded Soldiers to Baghdad" [Updtd]

If you're not already convinced that the Modern Republican party has been hijacked by a bunch of broken sociopaths who have lost even a trace of human decency and thoughtfulness, check this or this out.

"Let's replace these reluctant Nellies with America's finest citizens," he said in a statement. "Our wounded warriors will serve our country efficiently, effectively and with undying patriotism."

In an attempt to diss State Department employees for their wholly understandable resistance to being sent to Baghdad - against their will - Hunter suggests we send guys and gals already wounded in Iraq back to Iraq.

What a freaking genius.

It's not like they haven't done enough or anything. Or that State Department vets are resisting the postings because they've determined that there's not a damn thing they can do in the mess that is Baghdad except be wounded or killed, so sending already wounded soldiers there might just be freaking idiotic.

God. What is wrong with these people?

UPDATE: Juan Cole says: "Time to Close the US Embassy."

"A Debased, Sad Fantasy"

One (former) Republican on the urge to hurl his typewriter through someone's front window.

Presenting President Noah. And His Ark.

I was doing what any red-blooded American should have been doing during the Republican debate last night: drinking in the bar. Luckily, Crooks & Liars taped the best bits.

People have to step back - no, farther - and really think about this: We may have a Republican presidential candidate, a person who may very well, against all good sense, become president, who doesn't believe in evolution. In the 21st century.

We have to all retrace our steps and find out when this bus got so far off the track and sent us this deep into crazy land. Thirty years ago my Catholic priest in Sunday school even admitted to us kids that Adam and Eve weren't real. It wasn't a threat to his spiritual security to accept scientific findings. What the hell has happened to us?