Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Democrats are back in array!

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

“woke” is the new caravan.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

We won’t go back.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Crock Pot Craziness / The Libertarian Menance

The Libertarian Menance

by | 144 Comments

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Commenter Captain Howdy sent in a gem of a blog post from a Republican candidate for Congress who is incensed that “Ron Paul Libertarians” have taken over her local nominating convention and won’t allow prayers or the Pledge of Allegiance. Here’s a taste:

When I then mentioned that Chris Fields had been advocating, to our Republican college youth, the legalization of pot smoking, this brought loud, lengthy cheering and clapping, and then the announcement that my time was up. I mentioned that President and General George Washington did not advocate pot smoking and that if he did, we probably would not have won the American Revolutionary War.

This is what is going on in your Republican Party folks.

The whole thing is worth a read, if not for the part about the clown in a flag suit, then for the obligatory Nazi reference.

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  2. 2.

    low-tech cyclist

    I love the unintended irony of the GOP Congressional candidate saying “I mentioned that President and General George Washington did not advocate pot smoking and that if he did, we probably would not have won the American Revolutionary War,” and following up with “This is what is going on in your Republican Party folks.”

  3. 3.

    rea

    Old George grew marijuana on his plantation, although admittedly he mainly used it for rope-making.

  4. 4.

    LittlePig

    Now wait a minute. Ol’ George grew hemp for rope, and while none too potent, it is hard to believe the hard-drinking father of our country didn’t sample a little.

    Good God, this puritanical revisionist history gets old. Pot is only illegal because black folks smoked it, and that only from the 1930s.

    Being a Republican is a form of Alzheimer’s.

  5. 5.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    I’m sure there is a good reason why this post wasn’t titled “Pot Wars 1: The Phantom Menace”, but I can’t think of it right now. Too bad, the Darth Paul jokes were just laying there waiting to be used.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    Doesn’t that guy know about the famous painting, “George Washington Crossing the Delaware with a Bag of Doritos and a Lid of Michoacan”?

  7. 7.

    General Stuck

    During the Bush years, I was a daily watcher of Washington Journal on Cspan, which was where I first experience the “Paulites”. Half the calls were from these morons, like a swarm of spam bots spouting off this or that glibertarian talking point, and always, the closer that Ron Paul was their personal Jesus, or some kind of prophet for the human race. Way creepy, and they haven’t changed much.

    Speaking of car wrecks, just listened to Luke Russert filling in for Chuck Todd. Made me almost miss Chuck with the juvenile wankery.

    BREAKING NEWS

    The Boner just endorsed Mitt Romney, the day after Senate wingnuts killed the Buffet Rule. The ads they write themselves.

  9. 9.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    God, her bio (and pic, for that matter) is a nightmare come to life:

    Lynne Torgerson of Minneapolis: Public speaker, lawyer, litigator, Constitutional expert, Congressional candidate, opinion writer, teacher and pro-Israel Christian who recently won Attorney of the Year. She wishes to educate, expose and stop the political ideological part of Islam and protect American freedoms of speech and religion.

    Wow. Done anything useful, hon? No?

    A “B-Ark” candidate if there ever was one.

  10. 10.

    psycholinguist

    You know, when you read the list of all the things her opponent supports (e.g. gay rights, elimination of the TSA, elimination of the Patriot Act, etc.) I find that I really like that guy. That poor woman just sounds so utterly confused, its like the audience hasn’t been listening to Rush and she can’t understand it. And the clown flag thing is a beautiful image.

  15. 15.

    rlrr

    I always considered libertarianism (small “l”) as some sort of unattainable ideal, much like Utopian soc1al1sm…

  16. 16.

    Unseen Majority

    Great link. My face hurts from smiling. Almost as good as having Santorum still in the race.

  17. 17.

    Culture of Truth

    All these guys fantasize about being generals, leaders, war heroes, standin’ their ground and killin’ the bad guys hopped on drugs comin’ to steal their stuff and take their women…

  18. 18.

    Steve

    Much as I’d like to believe the Continental Army was the well-drilled colonial equivalent of Seal Team Six, they really weren’t. Not to disrespect them, considering that if not for their sacrifices we’d all be speaking English today.

  19. 19.

    srv

    You know, that’s what they need. Take that crazy Cain video, and have a bunch of glibtarian Fonzi’s smoking in the next RP commercial. Toke, not War, Man! Brownies, not Greenbacks!

  20. 20.

    Culture of Truth

    Oh, sorry that was a female candidate? Well usually it’s guys who invoke military exploits from 200 years ago, but hey, equal opportunity.

  21. 21.

    Petorado

    Torgerson’s last paragraph is right on so many levels, but not in the way she intended it:

    This is your Republican Party folks. Do nothing at your peril.

    I think that every time any Republican poobah, talking head, or pundit spouts off about how they want to shape our world.

  22. 22.

    burnspbesq

    Good news from the Supreme Court this morning.

    The court demied a petition for cert filed by former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling. You may recall that a couple of years ago, the Supremes used a prior appeal by Skilling to substantially limit the use of “honest services fraud” charges against corporate defendants. Well, Skilling didn’t walk as a result of that decision. The case went back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which then ruled in effect that the conviction for honest services fraud was harmless error, because on the evidence presented the jury could have found Skilling guilty of securities fraud. That ruling stands as a result of the denial of cert, so Skilling stays in prison.

    Not that that does much for the thousands of former Enron employees who foolishly invested all of their 401(k) money in company stock and lost it all when the house of cards got blown down. But it’s something.

  23. 23.

    Jay in Oregon

    @rlrr:
    Your comment makes me think that someone needs to come up with a “male performance medication” called Ertaria.

  25. 25.

    shecky

    If libertarians were consistently like this, I’d be on board. I mean, who doesn’t want to pledge allegiance to the clown?

  27. 27.

    Ash Can

    Holy moly, this was hilarious. Great find. And at the end of her post, it reads, “Leave a comment (you must be a member of this blog to comment).” And there are zero comments.

    I almost want to sign up to leave the comment that this blog post was the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time, but I’m afraid I’d end up with a crapload of spam, cookies, viruses, spyware, trojans, worms, robocalls, etc.

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    George Washington did not advocate pot smoking

    To his neighbors around Mount Vernon, G.W. was known as a prominent stoner.

  29. 29.

    Davis X. Machina

    well, since this tread is shot to hell.

    Blind pig, meet acorn. Acorn, meet blind pig.

    He [Romney, ed.] often cites his business background as commending him for the presidency. That’s his forgivable absurdity. Instead, what his career has given him is the businessman’s concept of self — that what he does is not who he is. This is what enables the slumlord to be a charitable man. This is what enables the corporate raider to endow his university. Business is business. It’s what you do. It is not who you are.Lying isn’t a sin. It’s a business plan.

    Richard Cohen in this morning’s Washington Post.

  30. 30.

    SenyorDave

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: I like to think that George Washington would vomit at the thought of Lynne Torgerson serving in Congress.

    I also could imagine a scene where Washington is sitting around with Jefferson, Hamilton and a few other inner circel members with a galss of whiskey in one hand a doobie in the other had just blwoing off some steam.

  33. 33.

    Carnacki

    I’m sure that Republican woman criticized all those Republican tea baggers in American flag clown outfits too and those who have tattered flags flying from their pickup trucks

  37. 37.

    burnspbesq

    There was a piece on NPR last week about how Orrin Hatch is facing a challenge from the right as he seeks nomination for a seventh term in the Senate. My reaction when I first heard it was incredulity. It’s mind-boggling that there are people to the right of Orrin Hatch.

  38. 38.

    Argive

    Every person seated was a Ron Paul Libertarian. The Convention was overrun by Ron Paul Libertarians. More than 2/3 of the delegates were Ron Paul Libertarians.

    All shall feel the wrath of the eternal swarm!

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Reminds me of so much of Don Corelone’s dialog in The Godfather.

    “This isn’t personal. It’s business.”

    (cue sound of Chicago Violins turning Sonny Corelone into hamburger)

  40. 40.

    Steve in DC

    I got a huge laugh out of that. The GOP really does not know what they are going to be in for. The libertarians truly believe in letting the gays marry, pot smoking, avoiding wars, getting rid of the patriot act, and all the other “hippy shit” they spout. Most social conservatives truly believe the libertarians are some sort of leftists.

    At the same time most libertarians view the social conservatives as some sort of big government in your bedroom, “it’s ok when our president does it”, government spending, social programs loving leftists as well and hate them for it.

  41. 41.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @General Stuck:

    Half the calls were from these morons, like a swarm of spam bots spouting off this or that glibertarian talking point, and always, the closer that Ron Paul was their personal Jesus, or some kind of prophet for the human race. Way creepy, and they haven’t changed much.

    Do you know who was also seen as a “personal Jesus”?

  44. 44.

    Mr B

    It is increasingly common to see clothing with the image of the flags forming a substantial part of the piece. Views vary as to whether some of this is an act of disrespect.

    Such actions may be undertaken for a variety of reasons:

    – As a protest against a country’s foreign policy.
    – To distance oneself from the foreign or domestic policies of one’s home country.
    – As a protest at the very laws prohibiting the actions in question.
    – As a protest against nationalism.
    – As a protest against the government in power in the country, or against the country’s form of government.
    – A symbolic insult to the people of that country.

    So it appears that this person was wearing the US flag in order to desecrate our flag.

    Like this hippie: http://www.defense.gov/home/images/photos/2005-05/photoessays/pi20050529a4.jpg

    That’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers, at Arlilngton National Cemetery, for the annual Rollling Thunder memorial ride to honor America’s war veterans.

  45. 45.

    gocart mozart

    I mentioned that President and General George Washington did not advocate pot smoking and that if he did, we probably would not have won the American Revolutionary War.

    Wasn’t Wahington a hemp farmer? Although I concede that whiskey was the drug of choice for the revolutionaries. Can we have better troll politicians?

  46. 46.

    lgerard

    This is the part that I appreciate

    “Jacquelyn America proudly mentioned more than once that she has been working with the Somali community.”

    Helping victims of a war torn society better themselves

    Traitor!

  48. 48.

    cervantes

    Actually there is evidence that George Washington smoked pot. He did grow hemp, and there is an entry in his diary about pulling the male plants “rather too late.” Just sayin’.

  52. 52.

    Nutella

    Heh. She was shocked that those awful libertarians don’t know that our cherished constitution is perfect. So shocked that her hair is standing on end.

  53. 53.

    japa21

    @burnspbesq: All his opponent needs to do is remind the voters that Hatch recommended Ginsberg to Clinton as an acceptable nominee for the SC. Clinton had never heard of her before that.

  55. 55.

    HeartlandLiberal

    On my personal blog where I post my political and philosophical rants from time to time, I recently added a link to “The Onion”.

    I put the link in the section with links to online political news and blogs.

    How can anyone tell the difference anymore between satire and reality in our current culture? These candidate’s site certainly leaves me baffled as to which it is.

  57. 57.

    General Stuck

    If we’re lucky, the Paulites will bring a big batch of Alice B Toklas brownies to the RNC convention, and the wingnuts will nominate Tommy Chong for preseenet.

  58. 58.

    Gus

    So she is in the running to be the sacrificial lamb to Keith Ellison in their falls Congressional election? Man, Minnesota Republicans used to be of the old fashioned moderate variety. Harold Stassen, Dave Durenburger, and Arne Carlson were typical of MN Republicans until the last 10-20 years. Now they’re all insane.

  60. 60.

    kindness

    George Washington did smoke pot. He grew hemp on his farm and his wife used medicinal marijuana to combat the symptoms of her time of the month. It’s documented.

    Why is it that these people don’t seem to know the history they claim to hold so dear?

  61. 61.

    gocart mozart

    Then, a clown came forward, dressed in garb, with a very large hat, that somewhat resembled a flag. In Wikipedia, wearing a flag is a form of flag desecration.

    Fortunately, the clown was not in wikipedia at the time, so no harm no foul. Fuckin’ loopholes! How do they work?

  62. 62.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @HeartlandLiberal:

    How can anyone tell the difference anymore between satire and reality in our current culture? These candidate’s site certainly leaves me baffled as to which it is.

    Poe’s Law. It rulz the Intertubes.

  64. 64.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    My family PUMA/wingnut has a huge sad (seriously, seriously depressed) this morning as she has just realized the Kenyan line-jumper who chiseled Hillary out of her rightful spot is going to win. Again.

    I’m honestly feeling bad for the GOP rank n’ file right now. They’re not even mad at Obama (yet), they know they’ve inflicted this disaster on themselves.

  65. 65.

    Canadian Shield

    “She wishes to educate, expose and stop the political ideological part of Islam and protect American freedoms of speech and religion.”

    What the Hell?

  66. 66.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @kindness:

    Why is it that these people don’t seem to know the history they claim to hold so dear?

    Because actual history has a deplorable liberal bias.

  67. 67.

    Woodrowfan

    I love that a self-proclaimed “expert” on the US Constitution and a lawyer relies on Wikipedia (!) for her definition of desecrating a flag.

  69. 69.

    Violet

    This is the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. This woman actually claims to be a writer? I think she might want to rethink that career choice.

    If Ron Paul Libertarians would take over the Republican precinct meetings and other gatherings around the country, imagine the hilarity that would ensue.

  71. 71.

    Steve in DC

    @Forum Transmitted Disease

    My mother and sister will NEVER forgive Obama and his supporters for knocking Hillary aside. They are typical liberals from Northern Virginia. Economically they are Republicans and when it comes to FP issues they are hawks… but abortion, and vaginas oh my! Pay working class people a fair share, NEVER! That’s horrible. But if a woman with a law degree does not get paid fairly than that’s just tragic.

    It was Hillary’s turn! It was a woman’s TURN!

    It’s outright hilarious. When it comes down to it they are boilerplate rich Republicans that advocate crazy economic nonsense and spend most of their time hand wringing that the Democrats won’t do the responsible and bold thing and just get rid of fucking social security. Yet they continually vote Democratic, making sure to vote for the local kleptocratic Democrats simply because somewhere, some female CEO didn’t get as much as a man did.

    I’ve long thought we need to shrink the party to get anything done on the economic front. Because as of now we’ve got a ton of “fuck the poor, teachers unions suck, let’s cut social security” centrists in the Democratic party marching under causes such as feminism. And till they are removed they will continue to be a cancer.

  72. 72.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Canadian Shield:

    What the Hell?

    __
    This is a survival mechanism. When under attack Republicans emit word-clouds of seemingly random verbal chaff the way that squids squirt ink into the water, and then make their escape in the resulting confusion.

  73. 73.

    patrick II

    I would probably be enjoying the social conservative and libertarian dissonance more if I didn’t think they were all going to turn around and vote republican anyway.

  74. 74.

    Woodrowfan

    If Ron Paul Libertarians would take over the Republican precinct meetings and other gatherings around the country, imagine the hilarity that would ensue.

    Don’t caucus me bro!

  76. 76.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @burnspbesq: There was a piece on NPR last week about how Orrin Hatch is facing a challenge from the right as he seeks nomination for a seventh term in the Senate.

    I believe he’s out of the woods – the caucuses happened a while ago. He was scared, though. For the first time I can remember, they bothered to advertise the Republican caucuses; there were signs all over my neighborhood. I think Hatch was behind that, for once hoping that more normal people than wingnuts would show up, because for the first time the wingnuts were even further right than him (amazing as that is, as you say.)

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    @kindness:
    Oh, don’t act so surprised. You know quite well whom you’re talking about: Bible thumpers who’ve never read the parts about kindness and generosity, “strict constitutionalists” with no grasp of two centuries of jurisprudence and scholarship regarding America’s founding document. The only American history they “know” is what confirms and sustains their prejudices.

  78. 78.

    replicnt6

    Approximately 6 people were seated on the stage.

    Am I the only one who thinks that this is a number you should be able to actually count and not approximate?

  79. 79.

    Martin

    Oh, noes! Obama has proposed new regulation on oil speculators. Willard is going to have to throw his cape on yet again and save the looters of our commodities markets. Thank goodness there’s someone available to preserve our endangered billionaires.

  81. 81.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @replicnt6:

    Am I the only one who thinks that this is a number you should be able to actually count and not approximate?

    She is a wackadoodle christianist moran. I think we can cut her some slack after the first hand.

  82. 82.

    scav

    @replicnt6:

    Approximately 6 people were seated on the stage.

    Am I the only one who thinks that this is a number you should be able to actually count and not approximate?

    Might have been a few zombies, vampires, or other members of the shambling dead (Cheneys?) present, given the crowd.

    ETA: To count or not to count? (ah-ah-ah) That is the question.

  88. 88.

    Steve in DC

    @patrick II

    A lot of libertarians do not vote Republican, they aren’t a monolithic group.

    Some of them, the taxes and small government first group (aka the Grover Norquists) do swallow their pride on social issues and vote R. Many of the more brain addled (black helicopters are after me man) just don’t vote at all. Lastly a lot of libertarians are former liberals for whom the wars and civil liberties issues are the biggest deals that won’t vote for either major party since both really suck on those issues.

    The movement is rather fractured. It’s been remarkable at turning out people to support Ron Paul, but it hasn’t converted much of that into votes for Republicans.

  91. 91.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Only 19 minutes until the envelope is opened and we find out who the wanker of the decade is!

    The tension is palpable!

  93. 93.

    gaz

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    This is a survival mechanism. When under attack Republicans emit word-clouds of seemingly random verbal chaff the way that squids squirt ink into the water, and then make their escape in the resulting confusion.

    Where would you like your internetz delivered?

  95. 95.

    EdTheRed

    Kyle: George toked weed, man?
    Slater: Absolutely George toked weed, are you kiddin’ me, man? He grew fields of that stuff, man, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Fields.
    Kyle: He grew that shit up Mount Vernon, man.
    Slater: Mount Vernon, man? He grew it all over the country, man. He had people growin’ it all over the country, you know. The whole country back then was gettin’ high. Lemme tell you, man, ’cause he knew he was onto somethin’, man. He knew that it would be a good cash crop for the southern states, man, so he grew fields of it, man. But you know what? Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Martha Washington, man, and everyday George would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man, when he come in the door, man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man.

  96. 96.

    catclub

    @Steve in DC: “At the same time most libertarians view the social conservatives as some sort of big government in your bedroom, “it’s ok when our president does it”, government spending, social programs loving leftists as well and hate them for it.”

    And yet they both end up voting for whoever gets the GOP line on the ballot. Funny that.

  97. 97.

    Villago Delenda Est

    OK, Atrios has really put himself in the running by putting that earworm in my head…

  102. 102.

    Ash Can

    @Steve in DC: “Swallow their pride on social issues,” my ass. They blow them off, don’t care about them. That’s how Ron Paul can get all this “remarkable” support from them. They’re all self-centered white males to begin with, so when a pol comes along who isn’t offensive to their interests, they’re on board, regardless of how anyone else is affected.

  104. 104.

    Liberty60

    @patri
    ck II    :
    My thoughts as well.
    Because at the end of the day, the only thing libertarians fidn more disturbing than the Talibangelical nanny state, its the prospect of the looters getting free stuff.

    So they vote Republican, straight ticket.

  105. 105.

    Nutella

    “Then, a clown came forward, dressed in garb”

    Dressed in garb? Better than a naked clown, I guess, but dressed in garb doesn’t mean anything at all. Apparently she based her writing style on a study of the works of S Palin.

  107. 107.

    catclub

    @Ash Can: Why is 4%, or less, of _Republican Primary Voters_ (a notably small and insane subset of America) even considered remarkable? It is far smaller than the crazy 27%.

  108. 108.

    Cargo

    And I was certain it would be Bobo, but I guess friedman makes more sense. I did say Bookmark this, Libs! so that means i was bound to be wrong. :)

  110. 110.

    Cargo

    I swear to god, if Obama just came out and said “I will legalize marijuana in my second term”, he would win in an landslide. That’s 95% of Ron Paul’s support right there – people think he will legalize drugs. (except he’d just let the states do what they’re doing now)

  111. 111.

    Ash Can

    @catclub: Maybe it’s remarkable because it shows up on the radar screen at all.

    But thank goodness it’s so small, because these people are a mess. They either agree with Ron Paul’s Stormfront tendencies, or they’re so stunningly delusional that they’re able to convince themselves these tendencies don’t exist. It’s fucked up.

    ETA @Cargo #109: As catclub points out, 95% of Paul’s support is a drop in the bucket. Obama may yet win in a landslide, but he wouldn’t need Ron Paul’s supporters to do it.

  112. 112.

    YellowDog

    Follow the links to her campaign website. It’s a hoot. Her “Issues” page is a Teavangelical stream of consciousness. Keith Ellison is the Representative from her district, so there is plenty of Sharia Sharia Sharia. The sections on food are amazing. Did you know that your tomato is part fish? (Actually, there were tests of a genetically altered tomato, with a flounder gene, but it was never grown for commercial sale.) Plus, I was interested in her claim on the front page that she won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court “on constitutional grounds.” I found an expanded reference to the case on the website for her criminal practice. It involved a criminal case that she won in the 8th Circuit. The State of Minnesota filed a writ of certiorari with the Court, which was denied. Yep, that’s a win before the Court. As a native Minnesotan, I can only shake my head.

  114. 114.

    dj spellchecka

    Every person seated was a Ron Paul Libertarian. The Convention was overrun by Ron Paul Libertarians. More than 2/3 of the delegates were Ron Paul Libertarians.

    oh,nooooooooooos…f#ck*ng democracy, how does it work?

  115. 115.

    nastybrutishntall

    LadyBuck Turgeson actually shouts out Mother Jones! Unironically! And quotes Wikipedia on flag desecration! How is this not a spoof?

  120. 120.

    Bulworth

    This is what is going on in your Republican Party folks.

    Gotta big hunch that four decades of Less Government! Less Government! has been absorbed by some folks.

  121. 121.

    slippy

    @Forum Transmitted Disease:
    Whenever someone on the Right says they are a Constitutional expert, I immediately derive that they have never read the document nor do they even understand figuratively what it is about.

    Because, when they start telling us what the Constitution is, they are invariably dead wrong.

    This only applies to loud right-wingers.

  122. 122.

    celticdragonchick

    I noticed that she is not allowing comments. Figures.

    What I would have posted if I could…

    **********************

    – want to eliminate the TSA

    *good riddance*

    – want to eliminate the Patriot Act

    *good riddance*

    – are anti-war

    *I think most of us have had enough war for the past 11 years at this point*

    – are pro gay rights

    *why is that a problem?*

    – don’t want to protect Life with legislation

    *Why do you want big government sneaking into your womb? Most women are adults who can make their own decisions on whether they want to be pregnant. If you want to be told by the law to “choose life”, then have at it and leave the rest of us out of it.*

    – have a pro Muslim agenda

    *pro freedom means freedom for everybody, including Muslims and atheists*

    – are generally anti-Christian

    *Utter hogwash*

    – don’t want to support Israel

    *Israel is a big girl with over 200 nukes. She can take care of herself. American taxpayers have enough to deal with without paying for Israeli weapons*

    – don’t want to prevent a nuclear Iran

    *Iran will do what it wants whether we like it or not. It is almost certainly impossible to keep Iran from getting some sort of nuclear capability in the long run. That means we have to rely in deterrence, like we did with the Soviets*

    – want to legalize illegal drugs

    *Again, why do we need the nanny state dictating what people do with their bodies?*

    – want to legalize prostitution

    *see the above*

    Best wishes…

    Annemarie Dickey

    (A former Republican)

  125. 125.

    Captain C

    I mentioned that President and General George Washington did not advocate pot smoking

    This may have already been mentioned above, as I haven’t had a chance to go through all the comments yet, but as per The Emperor Wears No Clothes (and other sources) George Washington definitely grew hemp, and likely smoked it, too, given that there are letters from him instructing his gardener to separate the males from females, which you don’t do if you’re just growing hemp for industrial/commercial purposes, but you must do if you intend to smoke it for medicine and/or recreation.

    Robert Anton Wilson’s Nature’s God has some comical scenes with a stoned (but highly functional and able) George Washington.

  127. 127.

    Catsy

    @YellowDog:

    Plus, I was interested in her claim on the front page that she won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court “on constitutional grounds.” I found an expanded reference to the case on the website for her criminal practice. It involved a criminal case that she won in the 8th Circuit. The State of Minnesota filed a writ of certiorari with the Court, which was denied.

    IANAL, but this sort of blatant misrepresentation of the legal record seems like the sort of thing that ought to merit some sort of complaint to the Bar.

    Just sayin’.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @burnspbesq:

    I thought it was interesting that the first “NYT Picks” comment for that story was this (from Glen of Palo Alto, CA):

    Both admire, even adore, the United States, they say, for its entrepreneurial drive, innovative spirit and, not least, its academic excellence . . .

    Then why are they trying to transform America into France? It’s really sad that such obviously gifted researchers can’t see how greater government redistribution of wealth and income is destroying our nation’s entrepreneurial drive, innovative spirit, and ever-increasing standard of living. Evidently, economics is no longer a discipline in which academic excellence is prized–at least not when it conflicts with the prevailing politics of the academy.
    __
    Inequality is a fact of life. Get over it.

    Just pure bullshit from end to end. Hey, Glen, they’re not proposing to turn America into France; they’re proposing to turn America into . . . Eisenhower-era America! Yeah, I know–radical as hell.

    From the article:

    [. . .] Mr. Saez has estimated the “optimal” top tax rates for the wealthy–getting the most revenue from those most able to surrender it–to be between 45 and 70 percent.

    And, Glen, if inequality is such an immutable fact of life, how come it has gone up and down so much over the last century? Yeah, I know: socialist government intervention. Blah, blah, blah.

    Finally, what genius at the Times thought this was worth tagging as a noteworthy comment (out of about 760)?

  129. 129.

    LanceThruster

    @gaz:

    Accepted with pleasure (along with a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster chaser)

    The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is “The best [fictional] drink in existence” and appears many times in the series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” where its effect is described as being “rather like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon, wrapped around a large gold brick”. Due to the large fan base of this excellent franchise and the fact that no official (and actually pursuable) recipe for one was ever given by Douglas Adams the writer, supposed mixes of the drink have popped up all over the internet.

    Read more: Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster recipe http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink12215.html#ixzz1sK5vSoEf

  130. 130.

    YellowDog

    @Catsy:

    I don’t about the Minnesota State Bar Association, but if Orly Taitz still has a license, the “bar” must be pretty low (even lower than puns).

  131. 131.

    Roy G.

    Just another ‘Minnesota Nice’ batshit blonde – you know there are more where Wretched Gretchen Carlson (faded beauty queen, now FOX fluffer) came from!

  133. 133.

    Barry

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: “Lynne Torgerson of Minneapolis: Public speaker, lawyer, litigator, Constitutional expert, Congressional candidate, opinion writer, teacher and pro-Israel Christian who recently won Attorney of the Year. She wishes to educate, expose and stop the political ideological part of Islam and protect American freedoms of speech and religion.”

    ‘Attorney of the Year’ of what?

  134. 134.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s really sad that such obviously gifted researchers can’t see how greater government redistribution of wealth and income is destroying our nation’s entrepreneurial drive, innovative spirit, and ever-increasing standard of living.

    There’s greater distribution of wealth? Really?

    Actually, Glen, what’s killing that “entrepreneurial drive” these days is a banking system that doesn’t like to give loans to small businesses anymore; an education system designed to ensure a population of thoughtless little turnips; a health care system that makes you a virtual slave to your employer (if you’re one of the lucky ones); and a GOP that supports the monopoly power of entrenched interests (and squashes innovation) wherever it finds it.

    I’m sure the fact that most Americans have figured out that The Game is Rigged doesn’t help matters, either.

  135. 135.

    gocart mozart

    Charlie’s take and a BJ shout out:

    So, without further ado, and with a hat tip to the folks over at Balloon Juice, let’s meet Lynne Torgerson, shall we? She’s running in the 5th Congressional District in Minnesota, hoping to replace Keith Ellison, who is young, black, a Muslim, a progressive and, therefore, practically everything that makes Glenn Beck weep into his morning bowl of Thorazine Puffs.

    Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/lynne-torgerson-speech-ron-paul-8160565#ixzz1sKJ8pKVt

  137. 137.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Mr B:

    I once heard a pretty convincing speech against a flag protection amendment that pointed out that under the code, pretty much any use of not just the flag but any recognized U.S. ensign in any non-standard way is considered a violation, which would cause all sorts of problems for existing companies (clothes manufacturers included)

    Frankly, I agree that wearing the American flag as a piece of clothing is a violation of the code and thus technically desecration, and also that violations of the code are protected under the First Amendment, mainly so I can use that rhetorically to rein in the T-shirt nationalists who give the rest of us a bad name

  138. 138.

    AA+ Bonds

    I don’t ever really cheer the Ron Pauling of anything but it’s nice to know we’re still in a stage of competing proto-fascist ideologies

    Torgerson and her Paulist opponents will line up readily behind a single party line as soon as a Leader arises, so be aware of that

  139. 139.

    AA+ Bonds

    Steve in DC is under-performing today, barely a nibble

    But I’m pretty sure that there’s another persona ready to go in that quarter so, upward and onward

  140. 140.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Steve in DC:

    Because as of now we’ve got a ton of “fuck the poor, teachers unions suck, let’s cut social security” centrists in the Democratic party marching under causes such as feminism. And till they are removed they will continue to be a cancer.

    Weak sauce, you started strong with your “mother” and “sister” (people on BJ will seriously still buy stuff like that in 2012!) but you need to space out “feminism” a little from your manufactured party-split; you’re tipping your hand

  141. 141.

    burnspbesq

    @John M. Burt:

    France[’s] redistribution of wealth and income is destroying . . . entrepreneurial drive, innovative spirit, and . . . standard of living. Then why do they have more social mobility than the U.S.?

    Because STFU ya commie, that’s why.

  142. 142.

    burnspbesq

    @gocart mozart:

    Oopsie, Charlie needs to read SCOTUSblog more often.

    (By the way, I thought that “on constitutional grounds” was the only way you could win a case before the Supreme Court — Bush v. Gore notwithstanding — there not being a talent competition and all.)

    The Supremes take cases involving statutory issues all the time, generally because two or more circuits can’t agree on the proper interpretation of the statute. Tax, bankruptcy, IP, criminal sentencing.

    They heard oral argument in two purely statutory cases yesterday: a bankruptcy case and a case involving how retroactive Congress intended the 2010 amendment that equalized the sentencing treatment of powdered cocaine and crack to be.

  143. 143.

    Barney

    Ironically, Lynne Torgerson ran as an Independent in 2010. So when she says “this is what is going on in your Republican Party folks”, she really does mean ‘your’, not ‘our’.

    And her reason for running as an Independent seems to have been that the Republican candidate, a Pentecostal minister, was insufficiently anti-Muslim:

    Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips said Ellison should be kicked out of Congress for being Muslim. And Lynne Torgerson proclaimed that Islam promotes criminal behavior. Great.

    But Joel Demos, the only real challenger in the race, was a class act. A Pentecostal minister, he steered clear of attacking Ellison for his faith, sticking to the Republican narrative of decrying too much government spending.

  144. 144.

    Ken_L

    ‘Approximately 6 people were seated on the stage’ … cos you know it gets hard to count properly after 3.

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