Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Fight them, without becoming them!

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Let there be snark.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

People are weird.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

No one could have predicted…

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

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Archives for April 2009

A Vote of No Confidence

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No one could have predicted this would happen:

Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Frederick was ousted Saturday after a troubled 10-month tenure capped by devastating losses in last year’s elections.

The state party’s governing central committee voted 57-18 to remove Frederick after key Virginia Republican elected officials and top party leaders called for him to resign or be fired.

The effort to sack the conservative, often combative and sometimes embarrassing state legislator from Prince William came after 58 members of the central committee signed off on a list of 10 charges against him.

Frederick, if you recall, was a colorful character:

With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” he said. “That is scary.” It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama’s controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. “And he won’t salute the flag,” one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, “We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born.” Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii.

I have no idea who will replace him.

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The Dave Niewert Decade

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We don’t need to wonder about this one. Eight hours ago four Pittsburgh police served a warrant on a kid in a neighborhood that I could walk to. The man, 23-year-old Richard Poplawski, opened fire with an AK-47 from an upstairs window, wounding all four. Local, State and transit police responded quickly, nonetheless, some of the wounded officers remained in the line of fire and could not be reached for hours. Four officers died from their wounds; Poplawski gave himself up at 11 AM.

Mr. Perkovic and other former classmates said they were surprised by this morning’s events. Mr. Perkovic said Mr. Poplawski was opposed to “Zionist propaganda” and was fearful that his right to own weapons would be taken away.

Another friend, Aaron Vire, 23, said he’d helped Mr. Poplawski and Mr. Perkovic with a radio show they’d broadcast on the Internet, discussing “girls and life.”

Mr. Poplawski had supported Republican candidate John McCain in the presidential election and had “very spirited debates” about Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Vire said.

Mr. Poplawski was opposed to Mr. Obama’s election, which he thought would result in the loss of his rights, Mr. Vire said.

“He wasn’t a racist but thought some of his amendments were overlooked,” Mr. Vire said.

Mr. Poplawski told him he bought his guns “because he felt the quality of life was being diminished,” Mr. Vire said.

“He said he’ll be ready if there’s ever an invasion of the United States and that he had stockpiled foods and guns for that eventuality.”

How is that “orderly revolution” going, Michelle? How about that laundry soap rebellion, Erick? This is what Glenn Beck’s citizen army looks like. People like Michelle Malkin fantasize about citizens rising up against the (Democratic) state. They stoke their followers’ paranoia with bullshit that, mostly, they know is bullshit, for ratings and a shot at political traction. Did they expect the American revolution?

In response to John’s famous Peak Wingnut post I pointed out that political irrelevance will hardly stifle rightwing victimology but feed it like CO2, manure and sunlight. I tend to call the relevant phenomenon ‘toxic victim syndrome’, or TVS. The feeling that one is a powerless victim has a corrosive psychological effect. It exempts self-appointed victims from normal moral standards. It justifies (in one’s own mind) an endless list of behaviors that an ordinary person would never consider.

Later I highlighted a psychological study demonstrating that people tend to believe insane conspiracy theories more when they have less power over their own life (say, political power). My conclusion stands.

[A]bout peak wingnut theory. Republicans (and Republican bloggers) will spend at least the next two years with about as much political control as a bug in a jar. You can make your own conclusions.

***Update***

It looks like I am the second person to cover the story on this blog. Oh well. Call my post nearly-on-site reporting.

I still do not know whether any of the police killed today are people I know [Edit: no]. I hope not, but at the same time that feels somehow selfish. Every one of them was somebody’s friend and family.

***Update 2***

Speaking of Dave Niewert, his post has more context.

***Update 3***

The Missouri Information Analysis Center must feel ashamed right now for writing a report smearing the upstanding citizens of the modern militia movement.

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Internet consumption billing

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It’s coming to my area:

In April, Time Warner Cable will begin collecting information on its customers’ Internet use in the Texas cities of Austin and San Antonio and in Rochester, N.Y. Consumption billing will begin in those cities later this summer.

Fighting29th explains:

There’s nothing wrong with the concept of usage-based Internet pricing, but all of the usage tiering I’ve seen is unrealistic. Time-Warner’s is no exception: by one calculation, their top tier, which is still pretty limited, would lead to $200/month in overage charges for a family whose use I’d classify as “moderate”.

I will switch to our other broadband provider, Frontier, ASAP, but they have also proposed internet usage caps (of 5GB). Fighting29th expands:

There’s little or no competition in the home Internet market — Time-Warner has a monopoly in large parts of the 29th district. One way to get a real market here and elsewhere is to treat Internet service the way we treat telephone service. Local service – the connection to the nearest switching center – would be the responsibility of Time-Warner or Frontier and have a regulated, low price based on the actual cost of delivering the service. At the switching center, other, nationwide bandwidth providers would be able to compete with Frontier or Time-Warner for our Internet business.

Like long-distance, once real competition hit the market, we’d see an ever-diminishing cost for Internet bandwidth. It’s only because TWC and Frontier have a monopoly that they’d even consider $200/month Internet pricing. Their recent actions have shown that their Internet monopoly needs to be broken.

A website has formed to fight this, but who knows how successful it will be.

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More of Glenn Beck’s America

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Charles Blow writes:

At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That’s 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann’s Minnesota.

Coincidence? Maybe. Just posturing? Hopefully. But it all gives me a really bad feeling. (Where’s that Pepto-Bismol?!)

That sounds like an increase from 4.3 million to 5.5 million (a little over 25%). There may be other causes besides Beckism for this but a 25% year-over-year is certainly significant.

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Glenn Beck’s America

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I’m afraid we are going to see a lot more of this:

A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said. Friends said he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Three officers were killed, said a police official at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard would only say that at least five officers were wounded, but wouldn’t give any other details.

***

One friend, Edward Perkovic, said the gunman feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.” Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said he feared that President Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he “wasn’t violently against Obama.”

Perkovic, a 22-year-old who said he was the gunman’s best friend, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, “Eddie, I am going to die today. … Tell your family I love them and I love you.”

Perkovic said: “I heard gunshots and he hung up. … He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot.”

Vire, 23, said the gunman once had an Internet talk show but that it wasn’t successful. Vire said his friend had an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum.

And, of course, when you point out that certain individuals with all their talk about “revolution” and “armed insurrection” are inciting this kind of behavior in unstable people, you will get howls of protest about the 1st Amendment and what not. Sure, crazy people do crazy things. But that doesn’t make it responsible to encourage them, which is what a lot of really foolish people are doing right now for purely political reasons.

If nothing else, the next few years is going to mean full employment for Dave Neiwert.

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