Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

A consequence of cucumbers

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

This blog will pay for itself.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

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

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Second rate reporter says what?

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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Archives for June 2011

I Should Just Buy a Cilice And Not Make You All Suffer From My Self-Inflicted Pain

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I checked in at Andrew’s after taking a couple weeks off, and Sullivan, noting the political wreckage for Republicans for supporting the Ryan Plan that Andrew himself fluffed for weeks as bold, serious, and every other glowing term he could think of, states:

Good news for the Democrats. But until the Dems propose a serious alternative to rein in Medicare’s costs, bad news for the country.

The Ryan plan did nothing to rein in Medicare costs. NOTHING. All the Ryan plan did was STOP PAYING FOR THEM and pretend that the elderly could use free market voodoo and get better plans with vouchers. That isn’t reining in the costs, that’s just not paying them and telling the elderly to piss off. I suppose we could also abolish the military and that would “rein in” our defense spending costs. I’ve got a serious alternative to rein in educations costs. I’m going to burn all the schools and then cut taxes by 4 trillion! See how easy this is? We can have the budget balanced in no time.

I’m sorry to keep doing this to you. I should probably just start cutting myself instead of reading him, but I can’t stop.

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Banksters Caught in the Immigration Crossfire?

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Ok lawyers:

A decision by the Supreme Court last week upholding an Arizona law imposing harsh penalties on businesses that hire illegal immigrants could foreshadow a serious regulatory headache for national banks that have local mortgage lending subsidiaries.

The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts on behalf of the court’s five more conservative members, said that Arizona was allowed to add much tougher state penalties to those contained in a 1986 federal immigration law. In legal terms, the court held that federal law did not “pre-empt” the states from enacting and enforcing local licensing laws when it comes to employing illegal immigrants.

In reaching this conclusion, the majority opinion rejected the argument that Congress intended the federal system to be exclusive.

“Implied preemption analysis does not justify a ‘freewheeling judicial inquiry into whether a state statute is in tension with federal objectives;’ such an endeavor ‘would undercut the principle that it is Congress rather than the courts that preempts state law,’” the opinion declared, quoting past cases.

So what does this have to do with banking regulation?

The narrow reading of preemption in this case may undercut a broader reading the Supreme Court gave in 2006 to pre-empt a broad reading under the National Banking Act. That case was decided by a vote of 5-3, with Justice Clarence Thomas sitting out because his son and daughter-in-law worked for the bank in question.

The contest in the banking case was whether states could regulate the state chartered subsidiaries of nationally chartered banks. The state subsidiaries are used by national banks to make mortgage loans, auto loans, small business loans and provide investment advice.

Any opinions? And is it normal for them to undercut rulings made that recently? Is this sloppy, just make shit up to fit the ideology/right wing need du jour, or can these rulings both be correct?

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Open Thread: Toxic Emissions FAIL

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(Jim Morin via Gocomics.com)
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And yet, Greg Sargent reports at the Washington Post, the “GOP [is] losing the argument over Medicare“:

With the debate still raging over whether the Dem victory in NY-26 is a bellwether for 2012, Dems will pounce on these striking new findings from CNN:

A new national poll indicates that a majority of Americans don’t like what they’ve heard so far about congressional Republicans’ plans to change Medicare.
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According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, a majority also don’t think the GOP has cooperated enough with President Barack Obama and, for the first time since they won back control of the House last November, the number of Americans who say that Republican control of the chamber is good for the country has dropped below the 50 percent mark…
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“Half of those we questioned say that the country would be worse off under the GOP Medicare proposals and 56 percent think that GOP plan would be bad for the elderly,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Opposition is highest among senior citizens, at 74 percent, suggesting that seniors are most worried about changes to Medicare even if those changes are presented as ones that would not affect existing Medicare recipients.”

The suggestion from CNN seems to be that the Ryan plan, in addition to being unpopular, has caused the GOP’s overall image to sink even as the arguments from both sides have been publicly litigated. That would square with the finding of other analysts who claim that Republicans are particularly vulnerable because the public finds arguments against the plan persuasive. Also, the nearly three-quarters of seniors who oppose Ryancare would suggest that they are rejecting a primary GOP defense of the program: That it doesn’t impact anyone over 55.

The poll, curiously, also finds that a majority of conservatives and even 50 percent of Republicans oppose the plan…

Post your positive goals for the evening below. Yes, ‘plus-many’ beverage planning counts as positive…

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Hunstmania!

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I wonder how long the GOP’s only sort-of adult presidential contender can keep going when a serious polling outfit can find one (1) guy in Iowa who names him as his first choice. Palin pulled fifteen percent, Gingrich twelve and Michele sparkly-eyes fourteen. Mitt Romney might be leading with 21% or he might not; with Mitt you never know.

The pander strategy would serve Huntsman better if the field wasn’t already crowded with usetabe adults who had to redeem their sinning selves by embracing the pure light of supply-side jesus.

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Both sides do it

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How many ways can these fuckers find to say “both sides do it”? The always awful David Von Drehle:

Change is urgently needed. ObamaCare envisions change within the existing structure of the health care industry, while Republican Paul Ryan’s proposal would impose change by having elderly patients buy their own coverage, using government vouchers. Both of these represent huge departures from the status quo. If this election educates voters to make an informed choice between these options, we’ll be a stronger country for it.

But we certainly didn’t see that sort of informative campaign in the special Congressional election in New York’s 26th District last week. Instead, we saw candidates accuse each other of trying to destroy Medicare.

The Ryan plan ends Medicare. It is that simple. A voucher program is not Medicare. Telling voters that the Ryan plans ends Medicare is a statement of fact. We have reached a point in our discourse where Villagers think that it is sad and unfortunate when voters are told the truth.

Ruth Marcus:

Barack: You make some reasonable points.

Paul: So do you. We should do this again.

I get tired of saying this over and over but Medicare is a reasonably functional component of an otherwise dysfunctional health care system. That is all there is to this debate, when one looks at numbers. It’s cheaper than private insurance and its cost is growing more slowly than the cost of private insurance.

With each passing day, I became more sympathetic to Robespierre.

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No Respect

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Last night, Rosie got underneath the bed before I could crate her, and since I had worked in the yard and garden and cleaned the basement and steam-cleaned half the carpets, my shoulder was killing me, I was exhausted, and I just didn’t want to deal with trying to get her fat ass out from under my bed with treats and a broom and said to hell with it and went to sleep. This morning, I woke up to this:

Why yes, that is two separate messes within 12 inches of the GOD DAMNED carpet cleaner that I had left out so I could move the furniture and do the other side of the room today.

I’ve never had a dog who vengeance shits like this before, but this is not a dog who was held inside for hours unable to relieve herself. She did a #2 at 11:30, I went to bed at 12:15, and that was there at 6 am. There was no food on the ground for her to eat all night and make it impossible for her to wait until 6 am. The water bowl was elevated (as I do every night) for Tunch only, yet because she is a vindictive bitch who hates me, Rosie had to force out whatever she could onto my clean floor. She has no urinary infection, she has no bowel problem, she’s just a bitch. That’s not a “OMG MY LEGS ARE CROSSED I CAN’T HOLD IT ANYMORE” bowel movement- I know the size of her BM’s. That’s a “HAHAHAHA FUCK YOU JOHN COLE AND YOUR STUPID CAT AND LITTLE RAT DOG” mess.

I love the dog, but there are seriously days when I want her to go on vacation with Mitt Romney. I think this is some sort of payback for me being such a bastard to my parents as a kid, or for some other sin I have committed and must pay a cosmic price. Or maybe she’s a Republican and she just likes to leave messes for Democrats to clean up.

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