Twit of the Year Show

via Harper's

I have this image in my head of what it's like to be inside the Republican campaign. It's like the great "Twit of the Year" skit by Monty Python's Flying Circus. Except that these twits are kind of mean and angry and they're throwing poop at the people watching them. And occasionally clubbing one of their own to death in retribution. Did you notice how Goldfarb went to "pals around with" instinctively? "Palling around with terrorists" was a big hit for Sarah Palin but this guy is just grasping for straws. The "Straight Talk Express" has become the "Say Anything That Pops Into Your Mind Express." They act like fucking third graders. They do something wrong that you see yourself and they stand there and say straight to your face, "I didn't do anything." They'll make a mistake or get carried away and they can't quite bring themselves to just admitting it and continuing on. "Say Whatever Express" fits better on the bus marquee. All the same, they're a particularly nasty bunch of twits.

Socialism

I hear Barack Obama is actually Mao Tse Tung reincarnated.

And also (to quote Sarah Palin*) that he thinks we should share our toys.

He's obviously un-American and an elitist that will hand us over to Osama (see? even his name sounds like that!) and wave the white flag of surrender everywhere.

This presidential campaign has gotten so tedious I think my head will explode. The Republicans' tone has gotten so shrill they're starting to sound like an un-oiled engine about to seize up.



*She says, "And also" a lot.

Palin Says Obama = Socialism

I find the stuff she's saying to be bizarre at best. This would be like Joe Biden standing up and saying that under a McCain/Palin administration we would invade Poland and kill all the Jews. Craziness.

Cindy McCain Claims She’s ‘Just Like Any Other Female Human’

Cindy McCain Claims She's "Just Like Any Other Female Human"

Slimey to the Moon

Thanks to Media Matters.

Palin and Ethics Violations

I'm again running a bit late with this but I heard an interview with a columnist and former editor of The Anchorage Daily News and thought I'd copy the editorial here. I think the description of her reaction as Orwellian is dead on. It's more than a lie.

Palin vindicated? Governor offers Orwellian spin (10/13/08 22:02:58)

Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part."

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.

Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: "I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."

In plain English, she did something "unlawful." She broke the state ethics law.

Perhaps Gov. Palin has been too busy to actually read the Troopergate report. Perhaps she is relying on briefings from McCain campaign spinmeisters.

That's the charitable interpretation.

Because if she had actually read it, she couldn't claim "vindication" with a straight face.

Palin asserted that the report found "there was no abuse of authority at all in trying to get Officer Wooten fired."

In fact, the report concluded that "impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."

Palin's response is the kind of political "big lie" that George Orwell warned against. War is peace. Black is white. Up is down.

Gov. Palin and her camp trumpeted the report's second finding: that she was within her legal authority to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. But the report also said it's likely one of the reasons she fired him was his failure to get rid of her ex-brother-in-law trooper.

That's not "vindication," and surely Gov. Palin knows it.

Gov. Palin does have a defense. She could have said:

"I'm gratified that the report confirmed what I said all along, that I had the authority to terminate Walt Monegan as public safety commissioner.

"I absolutely disagree that I violated state ethics law. In repeatedly complaining about trooper Mike Wooten, Todd and I were not pursuing a personal vendetta. We were trying to protect the integrity of the Alaska State Troopers from having an arrogant, almost-out-of-control law-breaker in their ranks. Because the action we were seeking was in the public interest, not purely our personal interest, there is no ethics law violation."

Gov. Palin and her husband felt so passionately about Wooten because the case was so personal to them. Their passion blinded them to any other considerations.

They had no sense that the power of the governor's office carries a special responsibility not to use it to settle family scores. They had no sense that legal restrictions might prevent the troopers from firing Wooten. They had no sense that persistent queries from the governor's office might be perceived as pressure to bend state personnel laws.

Gov. Palin and her husband were obsessed with Wooten the way Capt. Ahab was obsessed with the Great White Whale. No Wooten, no peace.

Has Gov. Palin committed an impeachable offense? Hardly.

Is what she did indictable? No.

But it wasn't appropriate, especially for someone elected as an ethical reformer. And her Orwellian claims of "vindication" make this blemish on her record look even worse.

You asked us to hold you accountable, Gov. Palin. Did you mean it?

Bottom line: Gov. Palin, read the report. It says you violated the ethics law.

Yard Sign Theft

Video of Obama sign being stolen by fat white woman in an SUV.

The Republicans have been shouting for years that their candidates' yard signs are being stolen but the only evidence of theft I have ever seen has been Democrats' signs being lifted. It's as if the Republicans are using code to tell their followers to get out there and steal Democratic yard signs. Yes, "as if."

Been There, Done That

Or, Repeating History for Lack of Remembering It

From the January 1933 issue Harper's Magazine

Inside the R.F.C.: An adventure in secrecy

By John T. (John Thomas) Flynn

The Congress which now presides over the dying months of President Hoover’s administration will, let us hope, bring to an end that fatuous adventure in secrecy which has stained the record of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. In the very act of its birth the R.F.C. was stricken dumb by the President. Thereafter for five months it passed round hundreds of millions of dollars of public money to banks and railroads without affording either to the public, or even to Congress itself, a grain of information about the identity of the objects of its bounty.

...

Before lifting a corner of the curtain let me insert a word about this dangerous notion that government can be safely conducted in secrecy. There is a school of politicians–in close communion with their business allies–who hold to what is sometimes called the idiot theory of government, because of certain expressions which the President himself has let fall. There is a belief that the citizens are stupid; that the less they know the better off they will be; that knowledge in their immature minds will frequently produce economic disorder, and that they will be better served if they will entrust their affairs to the strong and able men set over them by Providence and a well-oiled election machine. The theory ignores a very old truth: that if there are foolish citizens there are also selfish rulers; that the poor judgment of the masses is to be trusted hardly less than the bad ethics of their leaders, and that, in any case, those who supply the funds for governments and the blood for wars have a right to know what is being done with their money and their lives. [more...]

Vote McCain, He's Just Like W Except Older With a Worse Temper

See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die

Insane & Failin'

McCain's Robocall About Ayers

According to sources these robocalls began today, the day after the debate. It is just staggeringly pathetic that they keep beating this dead horse especially considering that McCain's transition chief lobbied* for Saddam Hussein, there's McCain's direct involvement with the Keating 5,** and McCain's friendship with traitor and felon G. Gordon Liddy. In my opinion people like Liddy have done far more to damage this nation than Bill Ayers ever would have wished.

*two of his associates were jailed for this
**who arguably cost the citizens of the US far more than the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers combined

Thoughts On the Last Presidential Debate

Obama: Very cool headed, answered all but one question directly, seemed like the calm adult, exuded confidence and understanding.

McCain: Seemed oddly rattled and afraid at the beginning, snorted, sighed, rolled his eyes, bared his teeth, arched his eyebrows (looking surprised and angry as a result), tried several maneuvers that have worked in the past but fell very flat for him, didn't ramble as much as last time, seemed a bit thrown off at times and repeated himself too often.

HBO's Presidential Debate

Was There Too Much Sex And Profanity In The HBO Presidential Debate?

McCain Comics

Some really funny stuff here.

This Modern World: Google It Yourself

Art Cars For Democracy!

Inflatable Art

These are pretty damned cool.



via

Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies is a really great little television show. It's visually striking. It's sweet. It's funny. It's a bit weird. Watch it!

Poetic Justice: Richard Fuld Decked

...Vicki Ward, a US journalist, said "two very senior sources - one incredibly senior source" had confirmed it to her. "He went to the gym after ... Lehman was announced as going under," she told CNBC. "He was on a treadmill with a heart monitor on. Someone was in the corner, pumping iron and he walked over and he knocked him out cold.

"And frankly after having watched [Mr Fuld's testimony to the committee], I'd have done the same too."

"I thought he was shameless ... I thought it was appalling. He blamed everyone ... He blamed everybody but himself." [more]

The Debate(s) in a Minute

For some reason this site's videos won't embed here so just click on this sentence.

Something I'd Like to Say to John McCain

I'm not your friend, buddy.

"That One"

So last night's debate wasn't anything special. If you've been paying attention to the Presidential race at all you learned nothing new. At different points (and sometimes on the same question) the candidates did not answer the question asked, surprise surprise. I was most disappointed with Obama's lack of an answer to the question whether or not health insurance should be treated as a commodity. I personally think we should have a national health care system that takes care of everyone. The current system only takes care of those that can afford it and those that can afford it are becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. Obama did mention several times that health care is bankrupting many of us but did not go on to explain how these bankruptcies are destroying the legacy of the middle class (and any chance of the poor passing on anything to their children) while enriching the wealthy.

Do you think McCain referring to Obama as "that one" might be a cleverly masked racist comment (by using a pronoun meant for non-humans)? Another way to paint hims as "the other?"

809? No. $800 Billion

A nice little spoof that has been worming its way around the 'net:

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN: I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAMM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

Not in America!

I looked back and haven't written anything about the police brutality that has become a common part of any protests these days. The difference between the RNC police brutality and the dogs and fire hoses in Selma is mostly the dogs and fire hoses. People were beaten, tasered, gassed, and arrested without cause. The Secret Service even took legitimate press credentials from journalists so that they could be arrested and abused. There's a reason I call these people Nazis.

A Quick Note

I have this funny suspicion that some really big things are being done quietly or secretly at the moment and we won't hear about them until after the election. The "loans" to Detroit auto makers for instance, negotiations and actions in the Middle East that may run counter to civilized behavior (Bob Woodward intimated on Real Time with Bill Maher that we were assassinating a lot of people in Iraq), Secret Service involvement in rights violations (kidnapping and brutality at the RNC), and on and on and more than we can see right now. Is the gamble by our shadowy overlords (OSO) that by distracting us with the Palin/McCain implosion we won't see them ripping the last shreds of our ability to remain human from us? We've been so trained to view the world as if what celebrities do is the most important thing going on. So who are the biggest celebrities of the moment? Obama and Palin. Coincidence? Do you think only Palin is a pawn of OSO? Goshes.

By the way, I'm still bummed that Lieberman wasn't named as McCain's VP. They made such a cute couple.

Great Line(s) for Monday

Daniel Chun: The contrast between Obama and McCain could not be greater. This is like choosing between an orgasm and a punch in the throat. The fact this is a close race is a terrifying outrage...

Debate Skit from SNL

Banksta Please!

www.sinfest.net

Ehhhh?

What do you say? I can't hear you because I'm too fucking old to be able to hear you because I'M FUCKING OLD!!!

More Thought(s) on Palin's Debate Performance

Mavericks, mavericks, we're mavericks [smirk], team of mavericks, mavericks, mavericks, fear [crinkle nose], mavericks, mavericks, mavericks, glad to be mavericks [wink], mavericks, mavericks, oh you betchya we're mavericks [nod, wink], mavericks, whole bunch o' mavericks, mavericks, did I mention mavericks [crinkle nose], mavericks, mavericks, oh, and that we're mavericks, mavericks, mavericks, darn it [wink].

Palin said "Maverick" 22 times during the debate. She fell short of kissing at the camera.

Something that bugged the piss out of me was when she said of Biden's wife being a teacher, "God bless her. Her reward is in heaven." Isn't that fundamentalist for "if she were a better person she'd be a millionaire like me?"

And yes, Palin and her husband are worth a LOT of money.

Hang Up and Drive

Steve Greenberg:
Confirmation of what everyone dreaded: the engineer of the Metrolink train in the Chatsworth head-on collision was text-messaging just seconds before the fatal crash. This has implications beyond trains -- a British study found the impairment in driving a car was much worse during texting than it was under alcohol, with younger drivers vastly more likely to engage in that dangerous behavior.

We really need national laws to deal with cell phones in cars. I've seen one major accident caused by someone yacking on his phone several years ago and have seen so many near misses I couldn't begin to guess the number. Here in Kentucky a woman had a cell phone related wreck and her severed arm was found near the accident with the phone still in the hand.

Dear Congress,

Sinfest

First Thoughts on Tonight's VP Debate

Joe Biden: There wasn't a question he didn't understand in depth. He answered all the questions and rebutted all he could.

Sarah Palin: She doesn't know what an Achilles heel is. She spent most of her time either repeating herself or just saying things she'd practiced rather than answering the questions asked.

Homer Simpson Tries To Vote

"This can't happen in America! Maybe Ohio, but not in America!"

Yes, our shadowy overlords have already decided this election, as foretold in this little video thingy from the Onion.


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

'Nuf Said on the Wall Street "Crisis"

Thanks to Un-Certain Times

On Tonight's Vice-Presidential Debate