Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

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

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

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

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Let me file that under fuck it.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Come on, man.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

People are weird.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

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Not Much Question What Will Happen Now

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An earned day of rest and celebration for teabaggers, who claimed their first political scalp today.

In a huge development in the NY-23 special election, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has announced that she is suspending her campaign, citing an inability to win in light of recent polls and a lack of money — leaving this race as a vote between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, and a strong message that the Republican Party can no longer nominate moderate candidates, or else face a right-wing revolt.

party-hat

Think that this one taste of blood will satisfy the birthers, supremacists and Christianist extremists who fuel the teabagging movement? Wingnut, my friends, has not yet begun to peak.

Before moving on to something else, take a moment to sympathize with coalition builders like Newt and David Frum, no doubt tearing their hair out at the runaway success of Sarah Starbursts’ insurgent crusade.

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How They Do It In Chicago

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As much as I love the professional climatologists who write RealClimate, they rarely let the anti-science crowd bait them into the kind of high dudgeon that makes PZ Myers or Tom Levenson so much fun to read.

Part of the reason for their patient tone is that most denialists are either too limited (e.g., Inhofe) or too mercenary (TechCentralStation, George Will) to absorb any correction. Since the debate opponent won’t even acknowledge that you exist most of the time, real climate scientists usually write for interested third parties. That is what makes the response from RC to the pseudo-denialist authors of Superfreakonomics (in truth, contrarians of the vanity kind that DougJ writes about), professionals with credibility to defend, so worthwhile to read.

I have very much enjoyed and benefited from the growing collaborations between Geosciences and the Economics department here at the University of Chicago, and had hoped someday to have the pleasure of making your acquaintance. It is more in disappointment than anger that I am writing to you now.

I am addressing this to you rather than your journalist-coauthor because one has become all too accustomed to tendentious screeds from media personalities (think Glenn Beck) with a reckless disregard for the truth. However, if it has come to pass that we can’t expect the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor (and Clark Medalist to boot) at a top-rated department of a respected university to think clearly and honestly with numbers, we are indeed in a sad way.

No more excerpts. The whole post is great so go read it.

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Open Thread – Thursday Weekend Menu

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A note from Bad Horse’s Filly:

So it’s Friday and I totally forgot to send you the link for last night’s menu. It is one of my favorite recipes, Garlic, Garlic Chicken… I forgot yesterday was Thursday until I saw on my own blog this morning that it posted.

On the board tonight:
(1) Garlic, Garlic Chicken
(2) Loaf of a good crusty Artisan bread
(3) Sliced Pepper Salad
(4) Hot Apple Cider with Ginger Snaps

Click here for recipes and shopping list.

P.S. I compounded the delay by not reading John’s forwarded email sooner. My apologies to BHF, and I hope she’s been able to dig out from the Denver area’s surprise snowfall(s) without too much pain!

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Because I can

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Having fun with the new toy.

ant 1

Some of you guys have posted first-rate pics on my photo threads, so I will turn it over to you for a while. Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

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Kaplan v. Public Option, continued

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David Broder inveighs against Harry Reid with a tone normally reserved for politicians who have had sexual relations with interns:

There is an air of desperate improvisation to Sen. Harry Reid’s scheme to pass a “public option” as part of health-care reform but at the same time provide an easy exemption for any state that objects to it. The warning flags ought to be flying for anyone who can count to three — let alone 60.

[….]

I’m not entirely convinced that the public option is as essential as liberals seem to think it is. But if they are right, I don’t see how they can justify abandoning it for an uncertain number of people who have the bad luck to live in states with conservative governors and legislatures.

If a compromise is needed to get the bill to the Senate floor, far better to try Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe’s suggestion of a trigger mechanism that would activate a public option if private insurance policies at affordable rates were not broadly available.

If I am ever so senile that I believe that insurance companies wouldn’t find a way to rig a trigger mechanism, I want my feeding tubes removed.

Update. Commenter dmsilev makes an excellent point about one of Broder’s claims.

——————-

And there’s also this bit of history FAIL:

That issue was settled in the realm of economic policy during FDR’s second term, after enough new Supreme Court justices were seated to uphold the New Deal measures an earlier conservative majority had struck down. In the area of civil rights, Lyndon Johnson and a Democratic Congress put an end to the doctrine of states’ rights. Are we now to reopen those issues to make it easier for this generation of Democrats to short-circuit the legislative process?

From the Wikipedia article on Medicaid:

Medicaid was created on July 30, 1965, through Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Each state administers its own Medicaid program while the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) monitors the state-run programs and establishes requirements for service delivery, quality, funding, and eligibility standards.

State participation in Medicaid is voluntary; however, all states have participated since 1982 when Arizona formed its Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) program. In some states Medicaid is subcontracted to private health insurance companies, while other states pay providers (i.e., doctors, clinics and hospitals) directly.

And there are a whole bunch of other programs (highway funding and education come to mind) which are run in a similar manner; states can opt out if they want, but then they don’t get the money.

-dms

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