Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Not all heroes wear capes.

We will not go back.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

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Archives for 2003

Finally

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Someone is finally standing up to the Ernst Hollings (D-Disney) and his gang of RIAA thugs:

The recording industry’s wave of subpoenas that target individual computer users has drawn the critical attention of at least one influential lawmaker on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Thursday that criticized its recent spate of subpoenas and asked for detailed information on how the process is working. Coleman said the RIAA may be going too far.

“The industry has legitimate concerns about copyright infringement,” Coleman said in a statement. “Yet, the industry seems to have adopted a ‘shotgun’ approach that could potentially cause injury and harm to innocent people who may have simply been victims of circumstance, or possessing a lack of knowledge of the rules related to digital sharing of files.”

Atta boy Norm. Another good reason to have sent Mondale packing last year.

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Political Quiz

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Took the Politopia Quiz:

You would feel most at home in the Northwest region. You advocate a large degree of economic and personal freedom. Your neighbors include folks like Ayn Rand, Jesse Ventura, Milton Friedman, and Drew Carey, and may refer to themselves as “classical liberals,” “libertarians,” “market liberals,” “old whigs,” “objectivists,” “propertarians,” “agorists,” or “anarcho-capitalist.”

(via the Burnt Orange Report)

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You Know Who You Are

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Ricky J. West has an excellent post/rant up about the lunatic fringe that the left embraces- in fact, seems to be trumpeting in order to return to the halycon days of Democrat dominance on the national level. The left is very fond of tarring the right with their extremists- on some days, that seems to be the entire point of Dave Neiwert’s Orcinus (or, as I am fond of calling his site- “Republicans are Secretly Fascists and Most People Are Too Stupid To Recognize It”). If you think I am exxagerating about Neiwert, btw, check out the very first posting on his page- it is always the same- some variation of this meme:

I hate to keep sounding like a broken record, but the fascist motifs trickling their way into mainstream Republican politics (which is the focus of the “Rush” essay, of course) are starting to come fast and furious — at a much faster rate, I’m afraid, than I think most of us anticipated.

Tighten the tinfoil hat, Davey boy. If we really were fascists, we would have come for you long ago.

At any rate, in a nice how do you do, Ricky points out who the real meme spreaders are in the Democrat party:

Each and every link from this post was taken from moveon.org.

Yes, folks, the ‘darling’ of the left side of the blogosphere is the genesis of this entry (mostly pertaining to the WOT). The same moveon.org (in the form of peace.moveon.org) that used as one of its arguments against a war in Iraq that Hussein would use his WMDs against our soldiers (no note that he didn’t have them….back then). Or, if we acted, that Hussein would unleash his arsenal on Israel, who would (of course) use chemical or nuclear weapons. Which would then cause Pakistan to launch nukes against India (I kid you not). Or, if Israel didn’t do that, they might attack Iran. Or it could launch nukes against Jordan.

No, the examples given here are not ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ thought, IMO. They are reactionary at best and arguments put forth by folks who could be considered rather loony at worst. So, if you’re one of the people who signed up to vote in the ‘online’ primary or if you think moveon is such a great and forward-thinking entity, try to remember that most reactionaries consider themselves to be rather mainstream, as well.

And the best part is, Ricky has links to all of the nonsense. Go read it and enjoy, and then watch the memes trickle down from the lunatics like Chomsky, MoveOn.Org, Common Dreams, to the politicians and the respectable ‘moderate’ bloggers.

This is not to say the right does not have our share of headcases- the difference is we distance ourselves from ours- we don’t embrace them and say we need to get back to our ‘roots.’

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Gay Marriage Debate

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The Catholic church has come out with another strong condemnation of gay marriage, and once again, I am confused as to what the debate is really about. It is clear what the Vatican does not approve of (buggery of small children- we’ll get back to you on that one- consensual sex between consenting adults- jeebus, are you out of your mind?):

The Vatican today condemned gay marriages as “deviant” in a document that instructs clergy and Catholic politicians on how to stop the legislative momentum in favor of gay marriages in North America and Europe.

In a 12-page set of guidelines, issued with the approval of Pope John Paul II, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith urged Catholic lawmakers to lobby and vote against bills that would recognize gay marriage, saying they have a “moral duty” to do so.

The congregation, which was formed in the sixteenth century to defend the church against heresy, defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman and said that “homosexual acts go against the natural moral law.”

So, the Vatican is against ANY recognition of marriage, same-sex unions, whatever you may call it. MY own personal stance is that I am in favor of extending the legal benefits of marriage to homosexual couples, I would just prefer that they use a name other than ‘marriage.’ I think many people would have no problem with a legal contract known as same-sex unions, but what seems inflammatory and troublesome is calling it marriage. Is this a middle ground that many others share?, or am I the only one who is nuts on this? My approach seems to be rather simple (I am opening myself up for accusations of simple-mindedness, I know), but it seems to me what upsets most people is the use of the term marriage, not the legal benefits or recognition of homosexual unions.

Am I way off base here?

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It’s the Economy, Stupid

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The Times has two encouraging stories for Bush, one of which is good news for all of us:

The U.S. economy, lifted by consumer and business spending, broke out of the doldrums and grew at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2003, the strongest showing in nearly a year.

The improvement in the gross domestic product in the April to June quarter, reported by the Commerce Department Thursday, came after two straight quarters of lousy economic growth. GDP increased at just a 1.4 percent pace in both the final quarter of 2002 and the first three months of this year.

Light at the end of the tunnel? For Bush, it seems that the tax cuts are coming when they are really needed:

The refund checks have started arriving, and for many residents here, the $400-a-child tax credit, part of President Bush’s latest effort to stimulate the economy, could not come at a better time.

Matt Ross, a father of two, said he intended to pay a few bills and, with school starting in a few weeks, buy new clothes for his children. Robert and Sharee McCutcheon, who also have two children, said their money would go for school supplies and Christmas presents. Roger Kintz, father of two girls, including an aspiring Olympic gymnast who is competing this week in Detroit, said his money would help pay for the trip.

Bridgett Bedwell, the mother of two boys, was thinking about her family dentist. “I’m fixing to have braces for my kids’ teeth,” she said. “That check really helps me out, especially when the braces are costing me $4,000.”

Spend. Spend. Spend. This is precisely what President Bush and Republican lawmakers were hoping for in enacting tax cuts that included an increase to $1,000 from $600 in the tax credit for children. Against concerns about the rising federal deficit (now projected at a record $455 billion) or the cost of maintaining troops in Iraq (almost $1 billion a week), supporters of the tax cuts, which passed the House largely on a party-line vote, argued that a sluggish economy was best improved by Americans’ keeping more of their money so they could spend it. On Friday, the Treasury Department began mailing out the first of more than 25 million checks, $400 for each child who was 16 or younger in 2002.

This graf really gives you some insight into how some Democrats think:

Others, less taken by Mr. Bush’s job performance, questioned the timing of the tax cut, suggesting either that the money could have been used for other things

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Support Our Troops

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I saw this in the local newspaper last night (it is weird being at the parent’s house- at home I have no newspaper delivered because broadband lets me get to all the newspapers I want), and it just infuriated me:

Bellaire officials can legally eliminate the position of village street commissioner even though the employee is a U.S. soldier presently serving in the war with Iraq.

Bellaire Village Council is reviewing a plan containing ideas to reduce costs in the village, and one of those ideas is the elimination of the street commissioner’s position. The job is currently held by Vince DiFabrizio, who presently is serving with the 463rd Engineers Detachment 2 in the Persian Gulf.

Bellaire faces a projected general fund deficit of more than $100,000 this year, and this figure could be greater in 2004, Village Clerk Thomas Sable has informed council members. The salary for DiFabrizio, as street commissioner, is paid from street department funds and not from Bellaire’s general fund.

Belmont County Director of Veterans Affairs Cindy Maupin said terminating the position is legal, and DiFabrizio isn’t protected because he holds an appointed position.

“They can’t take away his job, but they can eliminate his appointed position,” she said. “If he were a union member, or if the position were a permanent job, the employer would be required to give him another position when he returns.

“He is not protected from having his position taken away because it is not considered a permanent job. As the mayor changes, the mayor can bring in his own person.”

Maupin, a former mayor’s secretary in Bellaire, is familiar with the employees there.

“I think it’s pretty bad that they’re talking about doing this, and (DiFabrizio) is not here to defend himself,” she added. “They’re doing this while he is gone.

“It’s not very nice, but there’s nothing that can really be done about it. If his were a permanent position, he would stand a chance in requesting another position within the city.”

Staff members in the office of U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, checked into the matter and discovered the same information. While federal law does protect the jobs of those called up for duty, employers may eliminate positions if it is deemed necessary for the “normal course of business.”

Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it right.

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