Holy crap, Sarah Palin commented on my blog post

Yesterday I put up a post titled, "So, Sarah Palin, how's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?" Today I find this in my comments:

Anonymous said...

Understandably your article helped me truly much in my college assignment. Hats incorrect to you send, choice look progressive in behalf of more interdependent articles soon as its united of my favourite subject-matter to read.

I know Sarah Palin-speak when I see it. Thank you, Sarah, thank you. I'll never wash this comment again.

So, Sarah Palin, how's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?

And, American People, don't forget that they warned you: Soylent Green is your grandparents who were murdered personally by Barack HUSSEIN Obama via his communistic DEATH PANELS.

...grandma got run over by a health care...

Anti-health care reform junkies freaking out

THERE ARE HEALTH CARE COCKROACHES CRAWLING ALL OVER MY SKIN!!!

The St. Louis Tea Party Coalition will hold a candlelight protest tonight ouside Russ Carnahan’s office for the millions of elderly patients who will die under Obamacare.

You'd think something called "Death Panels!" could, like, die.

Deep Thought

If so many American pundits and politicians didn't have the very bizarre need to say things like "The U.S. has the best health care system in the world!" we might actually end up with a health care system that doesn't suck.

Pearl Jam: Black

It's weird to have a song in your head that you can't actually understand the words to.



P.S. This is a really good video and recording.

Why don't Republicans want to lower the deficit?

The health care bill LOWERS the deficit by more than $1 trillion in 20 years. It saves money. It reduces spending. It costs less. It's fiscally responsible.

That's good. Right? isn't it what Republicans constantly scream about - fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction?

Obligatory chart that should make everyone who votes Republican because of "fiscal responsibility" never do it again (click to enlarge):

Good God

How the Catholic Church still exists at all is completely beyond me.

Cardinal Sean Brady has said he was at meetings in 1975 where two abused children signed vows of silence over complaints against Fr Brendan Smyth. [...]

Smyth's child abusing continued for many years after 1975.

Makes me sick to my stomach.

Meat thermometer-large popcorn day at the theater?

Or: Don't bring a neck to a meat thermometer fight. Or something.

Aztec Two Step: Prisoner

Lordy, didn't know these guys* were still doing their thing. So good. (*Music plays automatically at their site.)

A Question: Does Wolf Blitzer have a boss at CNN? [updtd]

Is there anyone there who watches what he does, to see if he's doing what might be called really awful, bad, terrible, offensive, monumentally shitty journalism? Because I swear to god, it sometimes seems like he could one day rape a baby goat on his show, and then do it every day for the next week. Nobody at CNN seems to care about anything he does.

It's not the first time that Blitzer has made it clear that he has either no respect for the kind of law that went into the making of the U.S. Constitution, or that he is simply much more stupid than people would assume.

Update: Wolf regrets the chyron . Great.

Orrin Opens His Hatch

And out falls a lie.

"Hockey final: Stanley Cup Game 7 on steroids"

That might be a bit much, McClatchy, but what the hell, it is truly awesome hockey.

12:15 p.m. Go, Ryan Miller.

Update: Congratulations, Canada. Great game, U.S. And Sid the Kid - Canada already has the Mounties and the maple leaf. They don't need another freaking icon.

Flash Tsunami Model for Chile Earthquake

Goes out 24 hours. Looks like Alaska may get hit hard. Look out, Chignik. (Maybe not.) Rough time for arrival: 6:30 p.m. PST.

He Murdered a Veteran

Joseph Stack killed a U.S. military veteran, Vernon Hunter, and there is virtual silence on the issue. And the guy who flew a plane loaded with extra fuel into a building, killing a government employee and veteran, is for some reason not a "terrorist."

Two Words: Ryan Miller

That would be the goalie of the best team in the National Hockey League (official standings notwithstanding), the Buffalo Sabres, who stopped 42 shots in an outstanding performance yesterday as the US hockey team beat the powerhouse Canadians 5-3. Just awesome.

Bonus: From the first link, Alyssa's Milano's twit.

Photography: Marlon Kowalski

On the Web.

"I'm living in Freiburg, Southern Germany.
Anyway, this city is ailing in cultural terms."

GOP Senator Says He Understands Rapist's Frustration

Might as well have:

Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts is clearly not an overly bright individual, but this is just mind-boggling. Asked about the guy who flew his plane into a federal building yesterday, he says this:

I don't know if it's related but I can just sense not only in my election, but since being here in Washington, people are frustrated. They want transparency. They want their elected officials to be accountable and open and talk about the things affecting their daily lives. So I am not sure if there is a connection, I certainly hope not, but we need to do things better.People are frustrated. They want transparency, they want their elected officials to be accountable and open and talk about the things that are affecting their daily lives.

He just expressed solidarity with the guy. In fact he seems to TRY to make him into a Tea Partier. Unbelievable. He added that "Nobody likes paying taxes." Wrong, Scott. Grownups who enjoy being citizens of a great country and all the benefits that go along with it actually do like paying taxes. I'm proud to pay taxes. Only selfish immature dolts who live on anti-tax slop fed to them by people like Rush Limbaugh don't. Time to grow up.

Update: Yet another teabagger happily - and I mean happily - links the attacker to the teabagger cause.

GOP Rep Introduces "Holocaust/Zyklon B Remembrance Day"

Might as well have.

Oregon Rep: "Pointing Out My Plagiarism Is a Political Ploy!"

What a dope.

And way to go, Blue Oregon. This is exactly right:

But Wingard's plagiarism betrays the truth: He doesn't work very hard, he's not very intelligent, and he has no credibility.

And he doesn't know a thing about Climate Change. That's why he had to steal someone else's (ill-informed) thoughts on it.

Boys Can Be Convicted of Torture

Boys aged 10 and 11. Adults, who ordered that torture become official U.S. policy, torture that in several known cases led to death, apparently can't.

Extra: Section 2340A.

This Just In: Dan Quayle Still Stupid

Take it away, dumbass:

"They're gonna go to budget reconciliation, which I believe would set a very bad precedent, because essentially -- if they could do it, and I don't know if they can do it, but if they could do it -- what you have done, effectively, is to take away the filibuster in the United States Senate," Quayle said. "So, therefore, you have 51 votes in the House and 51 votes in the Senate. That is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. That is not the constitutional process."

Forget the "51 votes in the House" - that's just a slip. (I hope.) But " 51 votes in the Senate. That is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind"? Are you kidding me? Here's a passage from the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 3:

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

If the Founders gave the Vice President the power to break ties in the Senate, they gave the Senate the power to pass legislation with 51 votes. That's exactly what they had in mind. You dick.

"My State Room Is Dry - So the Titanic Can't Be Sinking!"...

...said the countess.

Rachel Maddow on Modern Republican Hypocrisy

Worth every second. (Transcript here. Relevant part starts around two-thirds of the way down the page, after "COMMERCIAL BREAK.")

An Amphibious Bus

Holy crap I want one of these:

The £700,000 Dutch-made vehicle can carry up to 45 passengers. The vehicle runs like a normal coach on the road but when in water uses a hull to float and is powered by twin jets.

There's video of the bus driving into and across a river a Glasgow, Scotland, at the link. Too cool.

U.S. Military Bases Must Carry the Morning-After Pill

Wingnut heads ASPLODE:

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon for the first time will require military bases worldwide to offer emergency contraception or the so-called morning-after pill, a military spokeswoman said Thursday.

Remember, what we're talking about here: this is contraception medication. It prevents conception. It prevents any spermy/eggy funny business. When the powers that be behind anti-abortion groups, which universally opposed making the morning after pill legal, say they just want to stop abortion, or they just want to stop late-term abortion, they are lying. It is only a first step. They want to make contraception medication illegal, too. What they want is power over women.

* "The powers that be behind" added.

2-Year-Old Craps Pants, Says "WAAAH!"

Yep.

P.S. There's a Sarah Palin magazine on newsstands. An entire magazine devoted to one person. And that person is Sarah Palin. I am not making that up.

Loudon Wainwright: New Paint

If you're not familiar with the old Loud'O - and you really should be - this is a really nice song/story to be introduced with. And, uh, watch out: at about 3 minutes 30 seconds in somebody really close to the camera coughs. Scared the crap out of me.

At the station you can meet her
With that smile you couldn't cheat her
A woman that kind is hard to find
It's good to take a girl
In the not so very good world
And walk in the park until it gets dark
Sometimes I feel ugly and old
Excuse me baby if I'm acting bold
My head gets hot but my feet aren't cold
Excuse me if you will

Take a breather on a bench
Helps to build up the suspense
Then the two of you go to a movie show
If she's woman there's a chance
That she maybe likes to dance
So you go to the hall and you out step em all
Don't make a hullabaloo I'm not the hoipaloi
I'm try any trick and I'll pull any ploy
I'm a used up twentieth century boy
Excuse me if you will

She takes you home to meet the folks
Laughing at the fathers jokes
Shall we watch TV, it's all right with me
Time to go you're going to miss her
In the doorway try to kiss her
Oh it tastes so good, like you hoped it would
If I was 16 again I'd give my eyetooth
I'm tired and I'm hungry and I'm looking for my youth
I'm a little uncool and I'm a little uncouth
Oh excuse me yes excuse me if you will

At the station you can meet her
With that smile you couldn't cheat her
A woman that kind is hard to find

Oh Dang: J.D. Salinger Has Died

R.I.P.

NYT obit here.

Photo.

The Samuel L. Jackson State of the Union Address

Go. Read. Laugh. Fall over. Die.

"Hey Jersey Shore - sit the f*ck down!"

Super Spy/Journalist Ordered to Live With Mommy and Daddy

Funnier and funnier.

And, uh, wow:

James O'Keefe and his crew of intruders did not intend to tap Mary Landrieu’s phones, but rather disrupt service and gauge the office’s response to being cut off from constituents, a law enforcement official tells MSNBC.

Remember, these doofuses are charged with "entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony," which carries a punishment of up to ten years in prison. If disabling a phone in a Senator's office is a felony, these guys may be in more trouble than I thought.

John Aloysius Farrell on Obama and Alito

In the U.S. News and World Report:

The Court deserved the smackdown it got from the President of the United States last night, and Justice Sam Alito's rude protest--this year's Joe Wilson outburst--was just further proof of what a bunch of political hacks the justices have become.

Tell The Malkin: Oregon Says "Bite Me"

The Malkin and a host of others are wetting their pants over my state's wonderful referendum result last night. The Malkin says "Oregon to Business: Screw You."

Why does The Malkin hate America? Do Republicans now hate Americans voting?

And: Actual Oregon businesses would like to tell The Malkin to shut her f*cking pie hole:

The Oregon Small Business Council, representing about 400 actual small businesses that employ people and put money into local economies and stuff like that, pretty much nailed it (emphasis mine):

"The decision was made that the return on the investment in terms of having quality education for a skilled workforce was deemed to be the right move," says Andrew Plambeck, director of the OSBC. "Small business owners have children in public schools, and we benefit from the services that would be cut if these measures did not succeed."
"This election is being painted as business vs. labor," Plambeck continues. "How it really works out is Big Business vs. Oregonians."

Big Business (and teabag-mentality) against Oregonians. That's exactly what it is.

Here's another actual Oregon business owner (The Malkin doesn't even live here):

I don’t relish paying taxes; nobody does. But I consider them a fair price for doing business in a state that values education. I’m in the communications business, so I depend on educated readers. I wouldn’t do well in a state that didn’t care about its schools.

I believe most business owners would agree that educated, trained, skilled citizens are essential to a strong economy and an attractive quality of life.

The Malkin wouldn't agree with that last sentiment. She needs ugly people to keep her audience strong.

Hey, Idiots: Obama Didn't Use a Teleprompter With the Sixth Graders

Sadly No! corrects the fools. And even Jon Stewart (and Raw Story) got this wrong. Too bad.

Here's the video of Obama with the kids, sans teleprompter.

Passing Health Care Reform SAVES Money

Democrats have done a terrible job countering the "It costs too much!" screams from the teabaggers and other Republican miscreants regarding health care reform. How difficult is it to get this across:

• Passing a health care bill, say the Senate bill, which will cost $849 billion over ten years, SAVES money- billions and billions - because the government would spend MUCH MORE than $849 on health care over the next ten years without the bill.

• Again: The government already spends money on health care. We just do it horribly. Passing the bill would save billions and billions of government dollars.

• Passing the bill would save money - while providing thirty million more Americans with coverage, and ending the odious practice of denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions.

How hard is that to get across to the "It costs too much!" crowd?

Many Dark Actors [updt]

The Bush-Blair legacy gets darker and darker. More here:

"The official heading an inquiry into the suspicious death of a British weapons inspector who cast doubts on the main argument for invading Iraq has secretly ordered all evidence locked up for 70 years.

Lord Hutton, who chaired the 2003 inquiry, which controversially concluded that Doctor David Kelly's death has been a suicide, secured a 70-year seal on all major evidence, including medical records — none of which had ever been made public.

The unprecedented move was revealed last week, sparking fresh uproar and allegations of a government cover-up, since by 2073 anyone with the least interest, or stake, in the case will probably be long dead.

Kelly was mysteriously found dead in the woods near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003, just days after his name was leaked as the source of a pre-war BBC documentary that undermined the now-notorious 45-minute dossier as highly exaggerated."

David Kelly may have killed himself - how the hell would I know? But a 70-year seal on medical records? That protects national security how? This horrible story just got much, much worse.

Emptywheel has much more.

Update, 1/27/10: The medical records will be released to a group of doctors.

Hey Dems: Grow a Pair

This is a funny video, but this just isn't funny anymore. Democrats might have actually managed to screw meaningful heath care reform - while having a supermajority in the Senate, a 78-seat majority in the House, and a Democratic president - who campaigned on health care reform - in the White House. It's just unbelievable.

Supreme Court: Elections Not Corrupt Enough; Need More Money

Justice Stevens sums it up perfectly in his dissent against today's Supreme Court decision:

"While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

P.S. Republicans love this decision. And Democrats hate it. Just to note. (John McCain may be one of the very few exceptions.)


More.

More.

Arguing With Large Pieces of Wood

When you're fighting a political army that that has "Tea Party" rallies against "too much government spending!!!" - and they actually support Republicans - what do you do? It's like arguing with wood. Honestly. If you showed a Tea Partier this chart (click to enlarge), it would mean nothing to them. It would change nothing. (And I agree with them on too much spending!)

It is impossible to win arguments with wood. Wood always wins.

And it's not just Tea Partiers. Check this out, from the great minds at the Washington Post, concerning last night's Republican win in Massachusetts:

"Voters, not just in Massachusetts and certainly not just in the Republican Party, are worried about government spending. Budget deficits and the national debt alarm many Americans, and rightly so."

Voters are worried about spending! And rightly so! That's why a Republican won last night!

Jesus in a freaking burkha - what do you do?

P.S. Last night was one of the biggest Republican victories in decades. They now have 41 seats in the Senate. The Dems: only 59. Sigh.

Chart source.

How to Save Health Care Reform

I think the Democrats should turn power over to the Republicans right now so they can fix our broken health care system by cutting taxes, starting unnecessary wars, and driving up the deficit even further than they have in the past.

Sound good?

"Palin" is So Close to "Pain"

Ow. Just ow. "All of them"? Are you kidding me? She walked into another "all of them" moment? Good gawd, that is just too much.



And is it just me or does Glenn Beck hate Sarah Palin? She looks close to tears when he says, "What, for a beer?' to her "collectively they came together" gibberish.

Ellis Paul: 3,000 Miles

I met this good dude years ago at the mighty Kerrville Music Festival and he just now popped into my head. Nice memory, nice guy, really nice songs. Here's one:

Shorter Michael Gerson of the Washington Post

"Brit Hume's on-air proselytization of Tiger Woods showed intolerance toward Buddhism - and that proves that everybody but Brit Hume is guilty of intolerance. Including - though I'm not aware of it because of the depths of twisted nonsense I've gone to writing this article - me."

Deep Thought

There is no such thing as a "Republican".

All Hail Our CIA/Blackwater Overlords

Not like it's anything new I guess, but still:

In 2004, the CIA sent a team from the private security firm Blackwater, now Xe, to Hamburg to kill an alleged al Qaeda financier who was investigated for years by German authorities on suspicion of links to al Qaeda, according to a little-highlighted element in a Vanity Fair article to be published this month.

This is related to the illegal assassination program born under the Bush administration in 2001 and revealed to Congress only in June 2009.