It looks like the Republican War on Condoms was just the beginning:
The NRCC is banging the good old culture wars drum today, sending out a raft of press releases asking if rookie Dems from conservative districts back the inclusion of anti-sexually transmitted disease programs (in the stimulus package). (link)
and
Grassley launches porn inquiry
The “it,” of course, is pornography. And Grassley has seen it deep in a demurely titled section of a report from the National Science Foundation — a report that says NSF employees have been spending significant amounts of company time on smut sites and in other explicit pursuits. (link)
Do these fuckheads really think the American public is interested in this when we’re facing the deepest recession since WWII? David Broder and Dick David Gregory may get their panties in a twist about this, but I have a hard time believing anyone who’s about to lose their job gives a fuck.
Dave
Shouldn’t that be "the sound of one hand fwapping"?
Snail
I’m guessing you mean David Gregory. I don’t know much about Dick Gregory’s position on smut.
Keith
Porn surfing is a gateway activity that leads to compulsive flag-burning and appreciation of art that mocks religion, y’know.
Joshua Norton
So didn’t the Justice Dept. under Gonzo. What’s their point?
Incertus
What was Grassley’s reaction to the story about the Interior people fucking oil company employees and snorting meth in the offices? I’m having trouble remembering.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Why should this surprise anybody?
Just reread "What’s The Matter With Kansas?"
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
You’re looking at the Republican Party for the foreseeable future.
John PM
R: Do you support programs that prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases?
D: Yes. Only an idiot would oppose a program that helps prevent the spread of STDs.
R: Well, Sir, I am opposed to such programs.
D: OK, then, I will put you down as someone who encourages the spread of STDs. Good day.
R: Wait, what…?
Zach
Include a requirement that the NSF use some of the stimulus money to create an internal disciplinary process if none exists (or improve what does exist) for abuse of organizational computer resources. It’d probably pay for itself in increased efficiency if computer use at NSF proper is anything like that in the academic labs it funds.
Of course, Grassley focusing on the porn aspect instead of the waste-of-time aspect in general is ridiculous, and from the article linked it seems like NSF is well on top of this already. Grassley uses the fact that they’ve undertaken several investigations as evidence that there’s rampant abuse rather than evidence that NSF is already aware of the issue and dealing with it.
John PM
Oh, please, please let some industrious hacker change that title to "Grassley launches porn site."
Comrade Dread
I’d think given that millions are out of work that the liquor, porn and weed markets would be booming.
MattF
This is what complete political bankruptcy looks like. No policy on current issues, except to hope that the opposition screws up. Always reaching back to the past– 9/11, Reagan, culture war. Denial that the electorate has rejected trickle-down-supply-side-bubblicious economics and war as fundamental and eternal truths. And assuming that the new guy is a patsy.
offal
What was Grassley’s reaction to the story about the Interior people fucking oil company employees and snorting meth in the offices? I’m having trouble remembering.
Speaking as an Iowan, Grassley is one of the better GOPers out there.
Speaking as a person whose has lost his job, there are a lot worse ways Grassley could be spending his time.
I think you’re a bit guilty of a feign feign attack DougJ.
ET
Trying to play magician.
While they dredge up the old chestnuts on sex on the one hand they are trying to distract views from what they are doing or in this case not doing, regarding the economy on the other.
I know Republicans of today don’t believe in bi-partisan efforts (though they want to look like they do so they talk up a storm) but shit, they need to grow up. Very few people get everything the ever, want all the time, forever and ever amen.
JGabriel
Grassley: "Yo, where’s the porn?!?! I wanna see me some anal!"
Ok. I just grossed myself out. Image/Brain Scrubber needed.
.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
At least the porn industry’s one sector of the economy that looks fairly robust. Why should we stomp on that?
latts
Well, it’s not like scientists had anything useful to do during the Bush Administration…
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
Freedom is messy.
Stuff happens.
JGabriel
Incertus:
I don’t know, but to be fair, Grassley has a pretty good record on anti-corruption. For instance, Grassley was one of the witnesses to testify against Lurita Doan, an appointee from his own party, during the Congressional inquiry.
So it may not be warranted to assume Grassley has the R’s standard IOKIYAR attitude towards corruption.
.
Tom
Shouldn’t that be NSFW employees?
JGabriel
@Scruffy McSnufflepuss:
You sure about that?
It was reported just a few weeks ago that the porn industry is seeking a bailout.
.
SGEW
Yeah, like anyone can even afford we . . .
Um.
Never mind.
(goes back to
scrapingdoing productive legal activities)Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@JGabriel:
Does this mean the invisible hand of the market has stopped masturbating?
Capitalism is truly dead.
Napoleon
he is actually one of the handful of Reps I consider to be honest and would give the benefit of the doubt as to his motives.
(PS, didn’t he want to investigate certain churches most of which were known to be strong supporters of the right for a violation of their tax status? That is as close to touching the third rail for the Republicans).
TenguPhule
Some people get off on that…or so I heard.
TenguPhule
Given how often Politico gets it wrong and Republicans lie, I question the existance and reliability of this report.
TheHatOnMyCat
And why wouldn’t they? If we were stupid enough to put crap like that into the stimulus package, then we should expect them to bang that drum. That’s why that crap shouldn’t be in the package.
The real outrage is that some dumbfuck Dems put things like this in there because they thought …
…everyone would be distracted and wouldn’t dare criticize the package.
Take that crap out, and the problem goes away.
Dreggas
people who held a convention, where there were parties featuring bands with names like "Hookers and Blow" should really not worry about this shit, then again it’s the republicans.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@TenguPhule:
Or maybe the Republicans are worried that the porn stars are depleting our nation’s crystal meth reserves to a dangerous extent. Without adequate methampetamines, Republican leadership cadres’ homosexual excursions will wane in frequency and intensity, crippling their spending on entertainment. This loss of spending can’t help the overall economy, and without meth, no amount of stimulus is going to revive it.
So really, we need to kill the porn industry, in order to keep closeted homosexual meth-related trickle-down economics alive. It all makes perfect sense now!
jibeaux
Well, there hasn’t been a lot of *science* going on for the last 8 years. They had to do something with their time…
Tsulagi
@Scruffy McSnufflepuss:
Not so sure with stories like this…
Adult industry titans say economy has made Americans ‘go limp’
If that firewall is breeched, if even the porn industry can’t keep it up, is there really any bottom to this economy?
Zifnab
@TenguPhule:
I eagerly await the stunning report that indicates some student intern was caught surfing 4chan after hours and was promptly fired approximately three years ago and that no other instances have emerged since.
But yes, give it to the GOP to try and work porn into damn never everything.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@Tsulagi:
I’ve been developing my own theories on the subject as this thread has progressed. I’ve reached the conclusion that crystal meth is a commodity in short supply, and that trickle-down economics employs far more people than the porn industry does. Due to the porn industry’s overuse of meth, honest, hard-working closeted homosexual Republican and Christian Fundamentalist meth users are unable to binge sufficiently on illicit drugs and man-on-man sex. This creates a ripple effect of shortages, as they spend less on entertainment, resulting in less money going to gay hookers and male strip clubs and bribes to policemen catching them playing footsie in airport restrooms, resulting in a spending freeze which cripples the economy.
I hope that explains to you why the porn industry must go. There is no other way for supply-side economics to survive.
Comrade Darkness
Keep it up Repubs. It’s working sooooo very well for you.
Just 5 red states left. (the Mormon Belt… a.k.a. the Magical Underwear Belt)
MikeJ
When you say Politico "gets it wrong" you imply that they are trying to publish factual statements. They get what they want exactly right.
jenniebee
Amanda Marcotte wrote about this yesterday. She was teetering between fear of the Overton Window and delight, because, as she says, contraception is #3 on America’s list of favorite things, inferior only to breathing and food. A bunch of sixty year old men huffing and puffing about the evils of teh heterosecks when Mr. and Mrs. American have just cut semi-monthly movies and dinner at Red Robin out of their budget doesn’t sound like a winning strategy to me.
Also, Nathan Fillion in Nailing Your Wife.
ksmiami
NOW DO YOU BELIEVE ME? That these Repukes are a bunch of perverts who loathe sex, women’s rights, anything sort of "icky" and helping the poor get a boost to compete. Someone needs to send spiked brownies to congress soon
The Tim Channel
This is great news. More stupid shit from the Republicans. The gift that keeps on giving. With their new leader (Rushbo) hoping for Obama failure, and Sarah getting ready to run for Preznit, the outlook for liberals couldn’t be better.
Enjoy.
les
@TheHatOnMyCat:
I’m pretty sure that the provision they’re bitching about is actually funds that would go to the states for Medicaid family planning services; including contraception, pre-natal care and anti-STD programs, but not only those. All things considered, it seems pretty appropriate to the times–republicans may be dickless, but their constituents don’t seem to be buying the abstinence schtick.