Monday Stuff

Yeah, we don’t need no stinkin’ Dr. Donald Berwick to head up Medicare and Medicaid Services, do we (here…and yes, Jon Kyl really is that big of an a-hole, and isn’t that spot-on quote from Baby Newton Leroy hilarious? Wonder what the Iowa caucus voters will think of that?)…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and I guess we’d better keep waiting.

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 3)

(Part One is here and Part Two is here.)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

Collectively, the team owners of the oh-so-august NFL, who ruled from on high in March that there must be a players’ lockout (screw their goddamn self-importance and giving their fans the finger, as it were, once more – here...of course, the lockout was resolved)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

I realize that I could probably fill up this writeup at least twice over if I noted every stupid thing Sarah Palin ever said or did, but here, she bailed on a fundraiser for military families and their kids because of “safety reasons,” though – what luck! – May 2nd was the date of the fundraiser, which was also the date of the Republican presidential primary debate at the Reagan Presidential Library in California, so Just Plain Folks Sarah can go there instead (this woman is an absolute bottomless pit of narcissism…and I still say that despite the fact that Palin ultimately chose not to run).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

President Obama gets a nod for kicking his smoking habit, while holding down what is arguably the highest-pressure job in the world (short of illegal drugs, I don’t know of a worse addiction).

Dregs of the Year Nominees

Michael J. Avenatti is the lawyer representing most of1250 fans who attended the Super Bowl between Pittsburgh and Green Bay in Dallas – the NFL ended up having to “scramble” to find seats for 850 of the fans, while 400 “were forced to watch from standing-room locations around the stadium” (at the last minute, the league decided that the 1,250 seats were unsafe - here).

Given the fact that I said “lawyer” and “representing,” I’m sure you can tell where this is going (actually, about 1,000 fans are represented in the action as noted here).

Yes, the fans sued, and Avenatti is representing them.

So did the NFL “stonewall” them? Hardly. The league offered two options to the fans: The first was a ticket to next year's Super Bowl and a cash payment of $2,400, three times the face value of the ticket. The second was a ticket to any future Super Bowl, along with round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations.

In response, Avenatti is asking for $5 million in damages.

It takes an awful lot to get me to side with the National Football League on anything (see above), but I do here.

As a counter to the suit, I think the league should have extended the two options noted above for 72 more hours, but no more. And if Avenatti and his plaintiffs didn't take it within that time frame, they should have gotten absolutely nothing.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

U.S. House Repug Chris Lee of New York, who had the common decency to resign from public office as soon as a shirtless picture of him emerged on Craig’s List advertising for a date, as noted here (he’s married…are you taking notes, "Diaper Dave" Vitter? No, I figured not.)

Overlooked Fatal (And Near Fatal) Anniversaries of the Year

Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington in the face five years ago in January (and Cheney still hasn’t apologized, of course); also, Jean Harris was convicted of killing Dr. Herman Tarnower in February in 1981 (30th anniversary), and Swedish Prime Minister and cabinet official Olof Palme was assassinated on February 28, 1986.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Kansas GOP State House Rep Connie O’Brien, who said here that she can determine who is illegal because of “the olive complexion” (gee, Connie, I don’t know – looks to me like you’ve been under the sun tan lamp a bit too long yourself…better watch it, or you might get deported).

Do Gooders of the Year Nominees

The NFL Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers “walk the walk” here in issuing a statement saying quite rightly that collective bargaining is “fundamental to the middle class,” in response to the “budget repair bill” of Wisconsin’s moronic Repug governor Scott Walker; the bill would severely limit collective bargaining and eliminate the right of unions to negotiate pensions, retirement, and benefits. When asked by a reporter what would happen if workers resist, Walker threatened to use the “National Guard” against a possible walkout.

And why is anyone surprised by this (Walker’s craven stupidity, I mean)?

Dregs of the Year Nominee

No, Repug U.S. House Rep Steve King of Iowa doesn’t get it for introducing an amendment to completely defund the health care law (though that’s bad enough). He gets it for introducing such a resolution, and then – wait for it! – voting “Present” when the rule of the chair upholding the point of order allowing the vote to defund takes place (don’t worry, David Waldman of Daily Kos explains here…House procedural stuff to the “Nth” degree).

So basically, he spouts off about how he wants to defund “Obamacare”…and then votes “Present” on his own amendment.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Dregs of the Year Nominee

South Dakota state representative Phil Jensen for this (what is wrong with these people?)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee (Possibly The Century)

The human misery once dubbed “Curveball” by Colin Powell, among others, who emerged in February to tell us that he’s proud that his lies led to the Iraq war (can’t think of a punishment short of death that is appropriate for this waste of DNA...here)

…and in a related story, as they say…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell for saying that “he wants answers” on the fact that the bogus “source” he used for supposed intelligence called “Curveball” in the run-up to the Iraq war recently said that he was happy, basically, that he lied his way into catastrophe (just a few years late on this one, I would say, scary-baking-soda-in-vial-at-the-UN man...here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

The Central Bucks East school district gets it for firing teacher Natalie Munroe for making disparaging comments about students (referencing them anonymously) at her blog; I don’t agree with what Munroe did – I think there’s a time and place for teachers to bust on students like this, but not online…probably the faculty lounge – but by firing her, the school district has turned her into a right-wing darling, all in the name of supposed political correctness, to say nothing of the fact that district residents will now have to pay court costs for this mess…sooner or later, someone was going to be disciplined for some legitimate exercise of free speech, whether it was for this or contributing to a political candidate, and someone was going to sue in response…I guess this is it.

Maybe suspend her for a week if you want, but again, I think her firing was ridiculous.

Dregs of the Year Nominees

And as long as I’m on the subject of Munroe (who was reinstated), this goes out to anyone who applauded her blog posts about students as “rude, disengaged, lazy whiners,” but wouldn’t enroll their students in one of Munroe’s classes (she returned to teaching in the fall to classrooms with about 7-15 students each…interesting to see her as a “free speech” darling when the story first broke, but a pariah in the media when classes resumed in the fall for the new year)

Do Gooders of the Year Nominee

The 14 Wisconsin state senate Democrats who left the Capitol and denied a quorum so the insane Repugs (redundant?) can’t cut salaries, health insurance, pensions and bargaining rights for state employees (here - this story is ongoing of course and we’ll see what happens next, but as of February…YEEEAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! Eventually, the collective bargaining was removed by a measure from Hosni Mubarak Walker and his pals (here) that, in all likelihood, violated the state constitution, leading to the recall elections in which 2 of 6 state Repugs lost, but not enough to give the Dems a majority, unfortunately.)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Dem U.S House Rep Jackie Speier for this (and kudos to her for giving Chris Smith a metaphorical kick in the nuts, metaphorically being the only way that could happen)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Charles Lane of the WaPo for this - h/t Atrios…umm, so, if Gabrielle Giffords could “speak normally,” she would tell President Obama not to “bus in demonstrators with Walker = Hitler placards in Wisconsin” (oh, and Obama is somehow to blame for the free speech of the anti-union-busting protestors…then who on the Repug side is to blame, supposedly, for the racist signs of the teabaggers?) – yep, this is about what you can expect from a “liberal” who graduated from the staff of Joe Lieberman Weekly (and yes, it is deeply offensive).

As usual, it’s fun for corporate media types like Lane to punch hippies, as it were, but don’t DARE do that to the other side, or else your conservative house organ will lose market share.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

The Obama Administration, for vetoing a U.N. resolution critical of Israel’s settlements in the internationally-recognized Palestinian territories here (yes, I know the politics all too well, but this still stinks)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, for saying the following to supposed comedian Dennis Miller (from here, regarding the question of whether or not there were any persons or entities to whom Meloy would refuse to grant a license to use one of his songs)…

Well, I actually did have the pleasure of giving a vehement "no" to Dennis Miller recently. He wanted to use "Sons and Daughters" for the outro to his comedy show. It gave me an opportunity to not only say "no" but also to draft a little e-mail explaining in detail why it's because he is a right-wing, bigoted blow-hard. The idea of him trying to co-opt "Sons and Daughters"-- which is about conviviality and people coming together and peace-- for his lame comedy show was offensive. With commercials, we try to make sure that our politics match, at least. I pretty much draw the line when people want you to do original music for commercials. We do not make jingles.

Nicely done (and let’s not forget that Miller was voted the least popular Monday Night Football host of all time, behind even – gulp! – O.J. Simpson, as noted here).

Dregs of the Year (Possibly The Millennia) Nominee

Judge Mark Ciavarella of Luzerne County, PA was found guilty of 12 out of 39 charges in February, including racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy, in connection with the nearly $1 million payment from Robert Mericle, the developer of a PA "Child Care" center; basically, Ciavarella got kickbacks to sentence juvenile offenders to Mericle's detention center (here).

One of those sentenced was Edward Kenzakoski, who (like many others in the Ciavarella/Mericle house of horrors) had no prior offenses and was busted for possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced at 17 and, at 23, he killed himself, with his mother claiming that he never recovered from his experience.

Ciavarella is expected to serve 12 years in prison, which, as far as I and many others are concerned, isn't nearly good enough (I haven't encouraged violence at this site against anyone except bin Laden, but I'm seriously tempted to make another exception here...Ciavarella's literal partner in crime, Judge Michael Conahan, accused of doing the same thing, pled guilty and also faces sentencing).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Rick Santelli, for saying the following about the standoff in Wisconsin earlier this year (here)…

"If the country is ever attacked like it was on 9/11, we all respond with a sense of urgency," Santelli said. "What’s going on on balance sheets throughout the country is the same type of attack."

Yes, Santelli compared Wisconsin’s budget shortfall, manufactured by that state’s governor, Hosni Mubarak Walker, to 9/11 – I suppose it was inevitable from some conservative, eventually (wonder how much Santelli ever got from Dick Armey and his pals for getting that “teabagger” stuff going?)

“As Long As They Don’t Call It ‘Currents’” Citation

As noted here, the New York Times Sunday Week In Review section underwent “big changes” according to Times News Editor Bill Keller and Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal (trust me, it ended up not being a big deal – let’s just say that the departure of Frank Rich has left a gaping hole).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Wal-of-China Mart – as noted here, four employees in a Utah store wrestled a gun away from an armed attempted shoplifter. Were they given a citation? A bonus? A raise?

No, they were fired; store policy states that, if they see a weapon, “they must immediately disengage and withdraw.” And they violated the policy, so that’s that.

Shop at BJ’s or Costco instead, people.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Georgia (of course) state house rep. Bobby Franklin (and I really don’t have to identify the political party, do I?), who introduced a bill here that would force a woman to prove that a miscarriage happened “naturally” or else face felony charges (why don’t you just tag them and herd them into a pen for good measure, as long as you’re treating them like cattle anyway?)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Robert Cowie, for this (our deepest sympathies as well)…

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

President Obama, for deciding not to have the Justice Department try to defend the utterly indefensible Defense of Marriage Act here (and a Dregs citation to Baby Newton Leroy given that he actually mentioned impeachment of Obama over it here…yes, deciding not to enforce a typically ridiculous Bushco policy is a “high crime and/or misdemeanor” as far as Gingrich is concerned – Trent Franks would say the same later…too funny – wonder if our august corporate media will remind Gingrich of that now that he’s the Repug presidential front runner, which in itself is hilarious…and yes, I know the answer)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Darrell Issa, for the first of what I’m sure will be many subpoenas, particularly for the way he handled this one (not consulting with his fellow Dem oversight committee members, which would have made the subpoena unnecessary – but of course, Issa will get headlines in the wingnutosphere this way, as we know)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Philadelphia homeowner Patrick Rodgers, for initiating a foreclosure of Wells Fargo’s home mortgage office in that city; the story is here…

A Philadelphia homeowner named Patrick Rodgers, who mortgage banks with Wells Fargo, was told by Wells that he needed to take out a $1 million homeowner's policy on his house. Rodgers bristled at the demand: Because the market value of his house was far below a million bucks—he'd purchased it for $180,000 in 2002—and because the insurance policy cost $2,400. (Wells wanted the house insured for its replacement value—and the 100 year old Victorian would cost a fortune to recreate; hence, the difference in valuation.)

Here's where the stories gets fun, as Susanna Kim reported for ABC News.

To get some answers and to plead his case, Rodgers wrote to Well Fargo—who, it seems, ignored his letter altogether.

As it turns out, mortgage companies are required by law to respond to written requests within a certain time frame, which Wells failed to do.

So Rodgers took Wells Fargo to court: And won a judgment of $1,173.

According to the ABC News account, Wells Fargo failed to pay up.

So Rodgers placed a sheriff's levy against the one of the bank's local offices.

Despite all the attention—including coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer—Wells still didn't respond to his letter.

Eventually Wells got around to cutting Rodgers two checks to satisfy the judgment—but still didn't respond in writing, as required by law.

So Rodgers, at this point plainly annoyed, "turned to the Philadelphia sheriff's office to initiate a sale of the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage office in Philadelphia."

As a consequence of the action, Wells owed him another 50 dollars—for the cost of initiating the sale.

Rodgers was quoted as saying:

"Why Wells Faro doesn't pay $50 is beyond me, but you never know what's going on in the mind of these big companies,"

And so—improbably enough—the foreclosure and the sheriff's sale continues.

Off-the-scale stupidity here by WF, people (h/t Eschaton)

The “What A Shame He Didn’t Try This With Joey Vento Instead” Citation (and yes, I know Vento is now shredding mozzarella in that big pizza parlor in the sky, as it were)

As noted here…

Nickolas Galiatsatos, a pizza shop guy in Upper Darby, had a simple plan, according to police.

He allegedly tried to infest competing pizzerias with mice.

The plan, however, quickly unraveled when Galiatsatos, 47, owner of Nina's Bella Pizzeria, tried to slip a bag of mice past two uniformed police officers eating lunch at Verona Pizza around 3 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

"He asked to used the bathroom," said Fanis Facas, 24, co-owner of Verona at 8917 West Chester Pike, adding he had not known that Galiatsatos owned another pizza joint at 8445 West Chester Pike.

After some "banging around in the bathroom," Facas said, Galiatsatos came out, then purchased a bag of chips - apparently to disguise his alleged intent - before leaving.

Facas went into the bathroom and noticed footprints on the toilet seat. He checked the drop ceiling and found a plastic bag that contained a paper bag.

"I got scared," Facas said. No, he didn't think it was a bomb. He did, however, worry that it might be dog poop "or drugs or money." He alerted the two officers, Eric Colella and Ryan Wiseley, who are lunch regulars.

The officers took the suspicious package outside and found three white mice in the paper bag, said Michael Chitwood, Upper Darby superintendent of police.

This was seriously dumb (kind of reminds me of “Termites of 1938” by The Three Stooges).

More later...

Sunday Stuff

OK, to begin, I should say that I hope for the best concerning Rick Santorum’s young daughter, suffering from the affliction noted here. However, I’m pointing this out to illustrate the fact that Smerky, among others, once just about came right out and said that John Edwards was a crappy father for running for president while his wife was sick, linked to this prior post (of course, what would happen with Edwards later is another story).

Sooo…why the roaring silence from the intrepid Inquirer know-it-all and his like-minded brethren concerning Santorum, whose chances of actually winning are even more remote (yes, I know the answer, but I’m keen to ask anyway)? And here is more on what Rachel Maddow was discussing last May.

(Aw, what the heck - might as well pile on with this too.)...



…and here’s some non-holiday fare that I thought was pretty cool.

Friday Stuff

Happy 80th birthday to Reagan toady Ed Meese – this is from the archives in 1988 (mentioning Poppy Bush and “The Duke”); this is what Mark Russell was referring to, by the way (Meese is mentioned at about 4:10)…



…and kudos to Amnesty International for this (and here are some more bad memories of Former President Nutball – sorry if this causes indigestion)…



…and concerning this story, I only wish to add the following…

R. Maddow tells us
Of New York Haiku street signs
Are you kidding me?

OK, I guess theirs are better…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and kudos to The Living Elvis for this, which gives me yet another excuse for this video (also think of this tune a bit concerning GWB).

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 2)

(Part One is here.)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Sean Inanity, for saying here that we should invade Kuwait and Iraq “to take all their oil” – Number One: he’s living in at least a ten-year time warp if he thinks these are valid options, and Number Two: If Inanity was conscripted to fight in an actual battle in an actual war, he would probably wet himself.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Columbus, Georgia’s ironically named “House of Mercy,” which, as noted here, is a private charity for the homeless that “refus(es) to serve gay and lesbian homeless people” (reminds me a bit of a bad SNL sketch, though it’s sad but true I know)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Not-running-for-reelection-in-2012 Dem Senator Holy Joe Lieberman said something here along the lines of “there’d be no place for JFK in the Democratic Party” today.

Actually, if we could, we’d welcome our 35th president with open arms. However, there definitely is no longer a place in the Democratic Party for Lieberman, nor has there been for some time (in addition to cheerleading the Iraq war and abrogation of the rights of innocent Muslims, there was Lieberman’s support of Catholic hospitals refusing to provide emergency contraception for rape victims, saying infamously that “"In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to another hospital”).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

For all the good he frequently does, President Obama gets it here for somehow, after all this time and reviewing the results from that stupid debt commission (which was a Repug idea, let’s not forget), STILL not getting it on Social Security (h/t Atrios).

Do Gooder of The Year Nominee

Governor Bully himself for appointing a Muslim judge to the New Jersey Superior Court (the bar is set low, I know, but we’re talking baby steps here)

Dregs of the Year (Possibly the Millennia) Nominee

Ultra-right-wing blogger Travis Corcoran, who praised the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with a blog titled “1 Down, 534 To Go” here (throw this wingnut’s sorry ass in jail right now and spare us the expense of a trial – put him with Loughner…I’m sure they’d be pals)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Little Ricky Santorum here, for basically saying that Obama can’t be pro-choice because he’s black and is obligated to recognize the “civil rights of the unborn” (a repulsive, as well as legally specious, comment like this is what you would expect from someone who has faded fast in the field of Repug 2012 presidential nominees behind Romney, Palin, Perry, Cain, etc.)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Tulsa, OK Repug (!) Mayor Dewey Bartlett for saying here that the stim “worked,” and it’s unfair for U.S. House Repugs to attack it (thank you)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Seattle, WA Metro and County Executive Dow Constantine for deciding to cancel (after first approving) ads to appear on a dozen Seattle public buses depicting what a grassroots group called the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign claimed were Israeli war crimes here (memo to Constantine: the First Amendment applies to free speech even if it makes people upset – particularly so if people get upset, actually)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Defeated Repug U.S. House candidate Jesse Kelly here for wondering if he could run again for the seat of Arizona rep Gabrielle Giffords given her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head – Giffords defeated him last November of course (not a hint of common decency here from Kelly, who really should be one of the people trying to hide under a rock over his promotion during the campaign of target shooting to raise campaign funds)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Clarence Thomas of The Supremes, for not disclosing his wife’s income due to teabagger-related activities (hey now!) on his financial disclosure forms (this post from Think Progress describes how Scalito plays games with this requirement also – as usual, rules are for little people as far as this bunch is concerned…and Democrats, of course)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

This goes out to anybody who wrote to the Bucks County Courier Times in defense of The Beloved Mikey Fitzpatrick, saying he was where he should have been with Pete Sessions (or words to that effect) at that “reception” instead of at the swearing-in with “Man Tan” Boehner.

Fitzpatrick goofed royally. He and his pals should be adults and just admit it (sigh – see what I said above about Republicans and rules in the Thomas citation).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Joel Cheatwood, a senior vice president at Fix Noise (and if that isn’t a Dickensian name, I don’t know what is), gets it here for saying that ‘The Glenn Beck Program,’ probably above and beyond any on television, “has denounced violence repeatedly” in response to this post linking to a New York Times story today by Brian Stelter about Beck’s jeremiad of sorts against 78-year-old (nice) Frances Fox Piven.

And Beck “has denounced violence repeatedly,” huh?

Tell me another one (and here is more).



Dregs of the Year Nominee

CNN gets a mention for airing Moon Unit Bachmann’s SOTU response, which was opposed by both Democrats and Republicans (here).

This is because CNN has a longstanding romance with the Tea Party Express, the PAC (that put) on the Bachmann speech. Later this year, the network and the PAC (and potentially other Tea Party groups) are co-sponsoring a presidential debate between Republican candidates.

CNN should have no affiliation with any enterprise involving any teabagger group. It should go without saying that that should be the case, but unfortunately, it needs to be said.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Anybody who thinks this guy is some kind of expert on the budget...

The proposals by Paul Ryan and the U.S. House reps would privatize and ultimately gut Social Security and, once more, allow me to point out that Social Security has no impact on the deficit. And as for health care, the repeal advocated by Ryan and his party, according to the CBO, would cost about $320 billion (these and other Ryan falsehoods are exposed here).

If Ryan is an economics guru, then I’m a nuclear physicist (and as noted here, Ryan “voted for eight straight Republican budgets that increased spending by a staggering 50 percent”).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Ceridian Cobra Services (and the “Cobra” part is particularly apt), a Colorado health insurance company that dropped the coverage of Vietnam vet Ronald Flanagan because his wife accidentally underpaid their premium by two cents (heartless...here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Arizona State Senator Linda Gray, who said here that Gabby Giffords was shot because abortion was legalized (God almighty, the citations have poured in for January alone – at this rate, it will take 20 "Do-Gooders and Dregs" posts to cover this crazy stuff!)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Don Imus, for calling Rachel Maddow the “worst kind of coward” and a “gutless, sniveling worm” here for not defending Keith Olbermann when he resigned from MSNBC (for the record, Maddow said it was between Olbermann and MSNBC, which is utterly true) – um, try commenting on stuff you actually know about, “I-man,” like making sexist, derogatory remarks to African American women basketball players and news announcers and spending what amounts to $3 grand a night for the kids at your cancer ranch (at least that’s what was on his tax forms at the time…and it gets federal tax exempt status? Sweet!)

Oh, and here is another smooth move by this dried up old weed (calling the attacks on CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Egypt “a stunt to gain publicity”...you mean, like your name calling directed at Gwen Ifill and the Rutgers women’s basketball team?).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato who, tragically, was bludgeoned to death in January (here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug Ohio Gov. John (“I Don’t Need Your People”) Kasich here (I might be tempted to buy his moronic excuse if it weren’t for the appalling lack of diversity in his cabinet – oh, but he was talking about State Senator Nina Turner’s political party, and not her race…sure he was)…

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The Obama administration gets it here for a decision to withdraw a rule requiring employers to report musculoskeletal injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (and a Do Gooder citation to National Nurses United for calling them out over it).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Moon Unit Bachmann gets it here for unveiling her teabagger plan to cut $400 billion in federal spending, including $4.5 billion from the VA.

You know what? At a certain point, I get so fed up with the antics of these clowns that I almost get to the point where I don’t care what they do anymore (almost). Instead, here’s what I think we should do; find a building somewhere big enough to put a billboard on top of it noting this crap from Bachmann (and do this for other wingnuts as they do nutty stuff too), and on the entire side of that building, list the names of the people who actually voted for this dingbat so it becomes a matter of public record (and if the ACLU wants to go ahead and sue, sure, go ahead…maybe a month after the billboard is put up and the names are listed).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes,” for all of the snide little tricks he tried to play on Julian Assange of Wikileaks in the interview Kroft conducted in January noted here

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Reagan judicial appointee Roger Vinson for voiding the entire health care law, or trying to, here (more here)

Do Gooders of the Year Nominee

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his investigators for this (i.e., busting the Tucson gun show dealers for not doing background checks...again, I wish he would be this good on OWS later, but sadly, no)…

Dregs of the Year Nominees

“Democrats” in the U.S. House Dan Boren of OK (of course), Mark Critz (PA), Nick Rahall (WV), Mike Ross (AR), and Heath Shuler (NC) get it for co-sponsoring Repug Chris Smith’s utterly monstrous “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which somehow differentiates between “violent” and “non-violent” rape here (I hope I can never imagine the sickness of people like Smith who contemplate this stuff at all, let alone think it a fit topic for legislation).

(And for the record, Boren, Rahall and Ross all have daughters, Critz and his wife have two children – no information on gender that I can find – and Shuler and his wife have two kids named Navy and Island...uh huh...so you’re guess is as good as mine as to whether or not they could be directly impacted by this misery too.)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“Country First” McCain (never points out which one, of course), for referring to the pro-Democracy movement currently engulfing the Middle East as a “virus” (here – sure he’d be singing its praises if Number 43 were still taking up space in An Oval Office, which, fortunately, he isn’t any more...and speaking of McCain and Dubya, I give you this, which is funny considering that, as noted here, McCain said Rummy “deserved our respect and gratitude”)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Federal Judge Keith Starrett of the Southern District of Mississippi, who threw out a challenge to the health care law here (he’ll probably get a fraction of the coverage that Vinson got for his bogus teabagger ruling, though…and most shocking of all, Starrett is a Bushco appointee!)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

The bar is set low here I know, but Repug U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss admitted here that “tax increases have to be part of the mix to reduce the deficit” (will never excuse his foul, disgusting attack on Max Cleland years ago, but credit where it’s due…and he damn well better not “walk it back” - of course, no word on whose taxes would be increased, I realize).

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The Idaho Board of Pharmacy earns a dubious mention here; they basically ruled in January that it was OK for a Nampa pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription ordered by a Planned Parenthood nurse (the scrip was for methergine, which is used to prevent or treat bleeding from the uterus…so basically, the board ruled that it was OK to run the risk that the lady who needed it would bleed to death).

OMG, it’s another attack of the dreaded “lady parts”! Quick, hide the kids!

People, this garbage isn’t going to change unless we start electing politicians who actually aren’t bought and paid for by the “pro-life” “values” crowd. Elect people who “walk the walk” on women’s issues like this (which really are family issues - doing the right thing, I mean), and then, when these idiotic laws are repealed and “conscience” providers still withhold vital medicines like this, throw said providers in jail.

More later...

Thursday Stuff

Here, K.O. tells us how Frank Luntz is trying to “spin” the Occupy protests on behalf of the GOP (ummm, call me a filthy, unkempt liberal blogger, but somehow I don’t think that’s going to be good enough anymore, based on this and this)…



…and kudos to MA Attorney General Martha Coakley for this (going after BOA, Wells Fargo, Citi, J.P. Morgan, and a few other financial miscreants in a statement announced today)…



...“Worst Persons” (turns out Irrational Spew received about a third of its funding from Big Pharma while it was criticizing Obama and the health care law…let’s see now, “conflict of interest” – drat, where is that dictionary again? Wonder why it's missing from the clip; Moon Unit Bachmann gets the runner-up for alleging it's the law for a man to marry a woman and vice versa...uh, no, and she was also guilty of this boo-boo; but Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich, the presumptive Repug nominee according to him, thinks it’s fine and dandy for school age kids to clean toilets – looks like he set the “wayback” for about a hundred years ago at least)…



…and when I think of the Repug presidential candidates on my TV and computer, this song comes to mind.

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 1)

Yep, it's that time again (getting a jump on some people with this, I'll admit, partly because posting will get flakier through the month), and I'd better start getting this wrapup for 2011 together because I have a lot of stuff; like last year, it will probably take me up to New Years Eve to get to it all, so here goes.

And what is the point of this, I hear you ask? Well, aside from this being my own obligatory “year end” list, I’m noting here a lot of stuff that I happened to come across during the year that I, for the most part, didn’t post about but wanted to comment on anyway. Doing this is challenging every year, but it's particularly challenging this year - if I make it to the end of these posts, I'll tell you why.

(And by the way, unacknowledged hat tips are probably owed here to Eschaton, Daily Kos, Think Progress, Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, firedoglake, MSNBC, and a few other sites here - many thanks.)

“How About ‘Tempestt Rhadhami Is In The Kitchen With Allah’?” Citation (also heard of “Allah In The Family” – touché)

Katie Couric said here that “we need a Muslim ‘Cosby Show’” (and they’re off for 2011 – she would leave the “third eye” network later in the year)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee (and past winner)

Hangin' Judge JR of the Supremes gets it for waxing nostalgic here about what he thinks was a better time apparently, and that would be the Depression - should also contrast how many Obama/Clinton nominees have been confirmed versus Dubya's (but true to form, Think Progress beat me to it here).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

His World's Neal Cavuto, for claiming that "low corporate tax rates are good for the markets" when the graphic he presents onscreen says otherwise (here)

Do Gooders of the Year Nominees

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in NYC gets it for striking down a 2008 FCC order fining 44 ABC-affiliated stations $27,500 each ($1.21M in total) for a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue in which a partial view of a woman’s breasts and buttocks appeared (the legacy of Janet Jackson and “the tit that wouldn’t die” from the 2004 Super Bowl...here).

I usually pile onto this bunch, but it’s nice to compliment them for a change.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Dave Graham, a California homeowner who sued Bank of America in small claims court and won $7,595 from the bank after it burned him on a mortgage modification – as noted here…

Graham, who lives in Big Bear City, Calif., applied for a loan modification under the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, which is supposed to give eligible borrowers a "permanent" five-year modification if they make reduced payments during a three-month trial period.

Graham said his trial dragged on for 18 months. He said he made every payment until Bank of America told him in May that he didn't qualify for HAMP, and that he'd lose his home unless he paid about $7,000 to make up the difference between his normal monthly payments and the reduced payments he made during the trial period.

Basically, Graham got screwed over by BoA on HAMP and may lose his home anyway – “Skank of America” will probably appeal, but kudos to Graham for not taking this shit.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Antonin Scalia of The Supremes for this (giving Roberts a run for his money, I see)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama – I think the question in the title here says it all…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Our own U.S. House Rep from PA-08 Mikey Fitzpatrick, who missed his own swearing-in ceremony but found time to read his section of the Constitution in that idiotic sap that the Repugs gave to those zany teabaggers here (gee, Mikey, “President pro temporary”? That’s a new one!)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Former Bushie budget director (which should make him automatically unserious to any sentient being) and Indiana governor Mitch Daniels gets a nod; as noted here, he wants to raise the retirement age because younger people will “live to 100” because “they’ll be replacing body parts like we do tires” (of course, as Think Progress makes clear, the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd is also enjoying longer life spans, while those life spans of everyone else are growing shorter – must be nice in Daniels’ ivory tower…please don’t feed the rabble, or they’ll only come clawing back for more...I guess the "Occupy" forces would prove this later, to their credit, though I hardly consider them to be merely "rabble")

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The Obama Administration and FCC chair Julius Genachowski for approving the Comcast/NBC merger, for all the reasons noted here (I think these people need to open a dictionary and look for the term "public interest")

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, who says here that he opposes judicial filibusters (as Think Progress points out here, he’s a flat-out liar)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The individuals who own the Symphony House condominiums in Philadelphia near the Avenue of the Arts (otherwise known as Broad Street) who, despite already losing in court, are trying to drive the Jamaican Jerk Hut restaurant out of business because they apparently have a problem with “live reggae music, which (the restaurant) offers to customers on the lot next (door) on weekends in spring and summer months“ (and the sad part is that they may succeed, since Jerk Hut owner Lisa Wilson says the lawsuit “has been killing our business” – h/t Atrios, noted here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Freshman Repug U.S. House Rep Robert Hurt of Virginia, who wanted to repeal the health care law but (just like Steve King in Iowa) wanted to keep his own plan paid for by the government, of course, as noted here (Hurt is the scumbag who beat Progressive Dem Tom Perriello, so he merits extra special attention as far as I’m concerned...more here)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Steven Daglus, a Republican committeeman in Illinois who found 26 ways to trim the Arizona budget and thus provide Medicaid coverage to those in the latter state in need of organ transplants (and yep, somehow I’m sure the Arizona State football team will do just fine without financial assistance...here)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The Kentucky state legislature gets a dishonorable mention; it would be the first state to pass a bill forcing women to see ultrasound images of the fetus before abortion procedures (Didn’t Oklahoma try something like this also? And I think any male member of the Kentucky “lege” supporting this should have ultrasound images taken of their penises that would be made available for public viewing…fair is fair - here)

Do Gooders of the Year Nominee

The History Channel, for deciding in the end not to air the trash JFK biopic by torture pornographer Joel Surnow (as I've said, if he wants to make a fictitious JFK movie, that unfortunately is his right, but sell it to Spike TV, USA, SHOWTIME or somewhere else...I think it ended up on Starz or SHOWTIME, one or the other - here)

Corporate Media Pundit Interaction Of The Year (So Far, And I Don’t Mean This In A Good Way)

Digby gives us the gory details here of an interview Wolf Blitzer conducted with Paul Begala and Mary Matalin about what supposedly constitutes a “minimum wage” inside the Beltway (h/t Atrios)

Do Gooders of the Year Nominees

The Egyptians Muslims who defended Coptic Christians in that country here, who were the target of terror attacks ("we live together or we die together"...powerful, courageous stuff – somebody alert Pete King, who’s no doubt continuing his propaganda against SCARY MUSLIMS!!! anyway...unfortunately, the "worm turned" a bit on this later in the year)

The Last Word, As They Say, On Obama v. Dubya on Jobs

Here

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Sarah Palin for this – see screen shot at bottom of post; thank God that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords recovered to a degree (and screw Palin’s condolences, by the way; try toning down your ultra-nutso rhetoric first)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

Bill Badger, Joe Zamudio and Patricia Maisch, bystanders in the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Federal Judge John Roll and 11 others who restrained alleged gunman Jared Loughner before he could reload (here – Judge Roll, who, as it turned out, just stopped by to visit Giffords at the place of the shooting, was killed, along with 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

Palin aide Rebecca Mansour and conservative radio host Tammy Bruce for saying here that the gun sights on the map of “targeted” U.S. congressional districts, including that of Gabrielle Giffords, were “surveyors symbols” (yeah, “survey” this, wingnuts – h/t Eschaton)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Pundit Ross Douthat of the New York Times, who said here that “the attempted murder (of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords) is a potential gift to liberalism.” (I consider that remark to be an obscenity, much like his recent garbage about how JFK's "pay any price, bear any burden" wording during his inaugural was the same as Dubya's propaganda in the runup to the Iraq war)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Kristol Mess, for saying here that saying that criticizing Sarah Palin over the Arizona massacre that severely wounded Rep. Giffords is “McCarthyism” - particularly repugnant given that Kristol’s old man defended “Tail-Gunner Joe” as noted here.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Ousted Dem U.S. House Rep Paul Kanjorski for standing up here to J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon (tells you how stupid the voters are who voted out someone advocating on their behalf...Kanjorski went too far on Lex Luthor Scott, though)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who said here that accused Tucson, AZ shooter Jared Lee Loughner was the “liberal of liberals” (wonder if this woman bathes in the same toxic sludge that constitutes what passes for her thought processes?)

(And by the way, noting this, in a related vein, isn’t Judson Phillips the guy who said Keith Ellison shouldn't serve in the U.S. House just because he’s a Muslim? And by the way, I am continually impressed by Ellison whenever I see him speak on TV; highly knowledgeable on the issues that matter and articulate.)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Trent Humphries of the Tucson Tea Party, who blamed Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords here for her own shooting (at a point, you have to wonder what kind of a country we’ve become to produce life forms like this character)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Gotta love “Man Tan” Boehner for hosting an RNC party (a fundraiser, no doubt) here the night of the memorial service for Rep. Giffords and the other Tucson shooting victims (“hell no you can’t!”)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

CNN’s Erick (“Son of Erick”) Erickson, for claiming that Obama, while asking the country to observe a moment of silence for the Tucson shooting victims, is “accommodating atheists” here (tell me how long Erickson would last on CNN or anywhere else if he were a liberal…as if we’d have him)

Do Gooders of the Year Nominee

The Obama EPA under the direction of Administrator Lisa Jackson for, as noted here, revoking the largest mountaintop removal project for coal mining in its history in West Virginia – well done (here…get ready for the outcry from, among others, “Democratic” Senator Joe “Lock And Load” Manchin)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Recently-sworn-in Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin, for screwing up the oath of office here (looks like Mike Fitzpatrick and Pete Sessions ended up having some company on this; that state deserves her …and oh yeah, blame “the weather” – good one)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Retiring closer Trevor Hoffman, pitcher for the San Diego Padres – as SI’s Tom Verducci tells us here (bottom of page)…

He won the Lou Gehrig, Hutch and Branch Rickey Awards because of his humility and charity. (Here's one personal story about Hoffman's classy manner. After I once wrote a story about him, I received an all-time first from an athlete: a hand-written thank you note from him.) Hoffman was known for being the template of what a leader and teammate should be: unselfish and accountable. Such a legacy, beyond anything cast in bronze, is what truly should endure.

And for the record, Hoffman finished his career with a 2.87 ERA and 601 saves, and he pitched more games without winning the World Series than any right hander in history, as Verducci tells us – good luck to him (Hoffman, I mean).

More later...

Wednesday Stuff

Sure, why not give Fix Noise humanoid Megyn Kelly the "bird" one more time, as they say...

Megyn Kelly Pepper Spray Thanksgiving - watch more funny videos

...and ummm, yeah, it's the "daddy" party that's supposed to be fiscally responsible - sure (more here)...



...and I would call this more than a little bit of a giveaway by Baby Newton Leroy (may have to crank the volume)...



...and I decided to add this video because I felt like it - get it, felt?

Tuesday Stuff

I'm going to miss Barney Frank (here...not sure what's up with the spacing)...

…and even though I definitely don’t agree with, say, Bill Maher’s opinion on religion, after watching this clip, I can still understand it (as usual, Fix Noise opens up the right-wing “puke funnel,” as Atrios calls it, and pours the byproduct all over us…work with me on this, people)…

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

..."Worst Persons" ("J-Lo" and her Fiat commercial get the "bronze"...wonder what else was air-brushed or whatever into that ad?; Mann Coulter gets the runner-up...and how lame is it for a conservative to get bleeped on "Morning Joe"? Also, I think Keith means Wayland Flowers; but USA Ammo gets the top citation for its commercial telling us of the dictatorial threat of...Forest Whitaker? And I'm not completely sold on the goatee, for what it's worth)...



...and we lost this guy 10 years ago today.

Tuesday Mashup (11/29/11)

Some true hilarity from the New York Times here…Adam Nagourney told us last Saturday that California’s light rail project is a “boondoggle” (headline), was full of “brashness and ambition” and faced “what might seem like insurmountable political and fiscal obstacles” (paragraph 3); it would be finished “by 2033,” and “Republicans in Congress are close to eliminating federal high-speed rail financing this year” (paragraph 4); “‘Somebody please stop this train,’ The Washington Post wrote — while Republicans here have denounced it as a waste” (paragraph 5); “This will go down in history as one of the great white elephants in California history,” said Bob Dutton, the Republican leader of the State Senate. “It’s a boondoggle. The state cannot afford it.” (paragraph 6); and “The governor has enthusiastically embraced the plan, no matter that at 73, he seems unlikely to be around for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that is projected to be more than 20 years away” (paragraph 9).

Oh, and do you want to know what we learn in Paragraph 10? That the project is projected to generate about 100,000 jobs.

Talk about burying the lede…

Next, I give you more revisionist history from Ross Douthat (here, using the excuse of a new book by Stephen King on JFK to beat up our 35th president).

See, according to Douthat, JFK was “evasive on civil rights.”

Sure he was (from this 1963 speech)…

One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is a land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or cast system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes?

I would say that JFK sounds amazingly “non-evasive” – here is more from Douthat…

(JFK’s) Churchillian rhetoric (“pay any price, bear any burden ...”) provided the (Vietnam) war’s rhetorical frame as surely as George W. Bush’s post-9/11 speeches did for our intervention in Iraq.

I consider that observation to be pretty much an obscenity. I honestly don’t recall any speech (certainly not this one) by JFK calling for pre-emptive war against a country that was wrongly alleged to sponsor the worst foreign-based terrorist attack that occurred on our soil.

For the record, here is exactly what JFK said (from here)…

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Or course, as noted here, using any possible excuse, no matter how ridiculous, to fluff Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History is old hat for the Times’ quote-hire conservative columnist (he’s better than Bill Kristol, the guy he replaced way back when, but not by bloody much...two extremes of really bad as far as I'm concerned).

Continuing, former John McCain campaign advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin said the following (here)…

Faster growth is the key and will require a new, disciplined policy approach that does not allow social engineering, a green agenda, union activism or class warfare to trump the need for a vibrant private sector.

I guess there are a lot of ways to respond to the patent absurdity of that remark (our wonderful “job creators” in this economy are taking their sweet time about, I must say), but for starters, allow me to point out that Holtz-Eakin pushed for a corporate tax holiday that doesn’t create any actual jobs here, and earned a Paul Krugman smack down for making “shameful” assertions about health care reform here (and by the way, regarding Holtz-Eakin’s denigration of “green” jobs, it should be noted here that the U.S. exported almost $2 billion in solar technology last year).

Finally, I give you the following from Irrational Spew (here, on the subject of repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, part of the health care law)…

Of course, Democrats like Barney Frank and groups like the NCPSSM don’t actually agree with Republicans on what needs to be done with regard to Medicare spending; they live in a fantasy land where Medicare’s $23 trillion in unfunded liabilities can be solved by eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse” (and massively increasing taxes).

(And by the way, I thought Krugman had some good stuff recently on supposedly "massively increasing taxes" here.)

Hmm, let’s see now…eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse.” Now which non-Mitt Romney Repug presidential hopeful spoke out about that?

Why, it would be none other than flavor-of-the-month Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich (here)…

As far as an alternative, Gingrich trotted out the same appeal employed by Obama/Reid/Pelosi — for a “national conversation” on how to “improve” Medicare, and promised to eliminate ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ etc.

Yes, I know, file this under “blind squirrel finding you-know-what,” even though I seriously doubt that this will help Newt to win over his beloved “base.”

And speaking of Barney Frank, I want to wish the Massachusetts 4th-District democrat good luck in his future endeavors (he just announced that he won’t run for another term). Lord knows he’ll be missed, but he’s definitely earned the time to do what he wants.

Monday Stuff

The whole blogging thing is up in the air for a variety of reasons – I’ll keep you informed.

In the meantime, why in God’s name would Patrick Leahy sign onto a piece of crap like this…

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

…and I give you Willard Mitt Romney in his own words here…



…and yes, I’m actually including a Miley Cyrus tune here – good stuff, believe it or not…



…and I don’t know much about this guy, only that I like this video (a little retro actually, which is cool).

Saturday Stuff

“Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers! Pepper Spray on sale in aisle seven!”

Hey, I guess it worked so well on OWS that those smiley-faced bastards decided to try it on their customers too (more here, and no, this isn’t an episode of “Jackass” – what country am I living in again?)…



…and RIP Tom Wicker; I suppose I could find better clips since this pretty much features William F. Buckley from 1967 acting typically as a pompous ass trying to trap Wicker into admitting the dreaded “liberal bias,” but my point in presenting this here is to point out that Wicker, to me, was pretty much a no-BS guy who tried first and foremost to tell the story straight, and then just let the pundits make idiots of themselves trying to read levels of meaning or whatever into that - probably a clip out there on YouTube of Wicker on "This Week With David Brinkley," since he was good on that program also…



…and Iran-Contra hit the fan 25 years ago yesterday, by the way (a rather tongue-in-cheek "tribute" from "American Dad" appears below)…



…and as much as there’s a common thread between Wal-Mart and Iran-Contra, maybe this song tells us about it (or maybe not).

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

I got a kick out of this (courtesy of Pixdaus and Daily Kos).

...and it looks like The Onion does it again...


Obama Outlines Moral, Philosophical Justifications For Turkey Pardon

...and here's another holiday fave, with an intro by Seth MacFarlane at Stewie Griffin (and again, the captions make this hilarious as far as I'm concerned)...



...and here's more holiday fun...



...and I kind of liked this also (hat tip for this and The Onion to Daily Kos)...



...and here's a Thanksgiving message for those wonderful folks at the TSA.



Update: Definitely a hat tip to Atrios for this...

Wednesday Stuff

Kudos to retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis for this...



...and for this...



...and here’s some Thanksgiving-related stuff (this tells us another subject about which Pam Geller knows nothing)...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and happy belated 70th birthday to Jesse Colin Young.

Tuesday Stuff

To me, the takeaway isn’t Obama’s “shout out,” if you will, to the protesters (which to me was exactly the right move, and I could tell because the right-wing sites went nuts over it…of course, stating support for exactly why “Occupy” is protesting and actually supporting its goals would be even better). The takeaway is the tone of annoyance from the generic corporate media hairdo introducing Obama – sorry the crowd isn’t full of elderly white people wearing funny hats and carrying racist signs, darling…



…and I give you Willard Mitt Romney, in his own words (Think Progress explains here)…



…and kudos to Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films…



…and this song pretty much sums up 2011 for yours truly so far.

Tuesday Mashup (11/22/11)

Now that the results of the deficit “super committee” have turned out to be an utter joke, I’d like to review one such “analysis” from the AP here before the final outcome was officially decided (more here)…

It was unclear where the talks would turn next, but the GOP proposal suggested the discussions had effectively moved into a range of savings far below the $1.2 trillion the committee has been seeking.

It also appeared Republicans were jettisoning a plan for $300 billion in higher tax revenue, an offer that had exposed internal GOP divisions when it was presented two weeks ago. It also has failed to generate momentum for a compromise among Democrats.

Umm…so, the Repugs basically won’t budge on those stinking and completely ruinous Bush tax cuts, thus proving that the supposedly learned opposition has apparently rejected the basic principles of mathematics – but it’s the Democrats who have “failed to generate momentum for a compromise.” Does anyone know what that even means?

It’s impossible to compromise with individuals who insist on living in their own utterly manufactured reality in which wars are paid for by the country we invade, the warmest prior decade on record means that we are in a period of supposed global cooling, and refusing to eliminate tax breaks for the richest 2 percent of earners in this country means that we are reducing our debt.

Next, I give you the following hilarity from Fix Noise “Democrats” Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen (playing catch-up with some stuff after being “out of the loop” yesterday)…

When Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson accepted the reality that they could not effectively govern the nation if they sought re-election to the White House, both men took the moral high ground and decided against running for a new term as president. President Obama is facing a similar reality—and he must reach the same conclusion.

He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And in case you were wondering, this indeed is a recording (here).

Oh, but Caddell is a “Democrat” all right (here), and isn’t it con-vee-nient that the firm of Penn, Schoen and Berland worked on Hillary’s campaign for president (as noted here)? More is here on this also.

Continuing, I give you J.D. Mullane in the Bucks County Courier Times last Sunday (here – he’s been churning out the dookey fast and furiously on “Occupy”; as I’ve said, being a moral scold is apparently in the job description if you secure employment through this newspaper)…

I admire people who work hard to acquire wealth honestly.

A content life isn’t derived from money, or from the tawdry spectacle of tearing wealth from others. Happiness, in the classical sense, comes from wells of human wisdom deeper than the shallows of Marxism.

Will my kids do as well or better than me? If they choose. The global economy isn’t rigged against them — or against any of those unemployed 20-somethings who inhabit Occupy camps across the nation.

Each of us takes our skills to the marketplace and the market rewards us.

I thought these comments were particularly hilarious (in an unintentional way) given the fact that the Philadelphia Inquirer published this article (which, curiously enough, I found in the "Opinion" section online) by investigative journalists Donald Bartlett and James Steele, in which we learn the following (about Apple’s offshoring of all their U.S. jobs)…

The move to China came about quietly and was little noticed at the time because of the way Apple went about creating its offshore presence. Rather than build plants that proudly displayed the Apple name, as it did in California and Colorado, the company turned to outsourcing firms that partnered with the Chinese to establish plants where the products are made. Apple's plants in mainland China bear the name of their Chinese contractor, but inside they are making Apple products. The arrangement is a convenient buffer insulating Apple from oversight of its offshore workplaces.

Apple production workers in Fountain and Elk Grove bought homes, sent their kids to school, shopped locally, saved for their retirement, and lived the dream, if only for a short time.

What's life like for Apple's workers in China?

Shenzhen is a throbbing megalopolis of 10 million an hour north of Hong Kong. Just outside the city is a massive fortress-like compound surrounded by walls and protected by tight security where guards at the entrance stop each vehicle and check the identities of occupants by using fingerprint-recognition scanners.

Within the walled city are dozens of factories, dormitories, support businesses, and an on-site television network, all humming round the clock. This is the Longhua Science & Technology Park, one of the most dense concentrations of high-tech manufacturing in the world. Owned by Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, the largest manufacturer of electronics and computer components in the world, Longhua is home to as many as 300,000 workers.

They work in enormous factories, row after row of them bent over workstations that seem to stretch endlessly into the distance. They assemble iPods, iPhones, iPads, and products for other electronics-makers. Occasionally, photos surface showing workers, mostly young women, wearing spiffy white coats and caps, going about their work in what appears to be pleasant, well-lit surroundings, just as workers once did at Elk Grove and Fountain.

But that's the only similarity with Apple's former plants in the United States.

Workers at Longhua and other Foxconn plants in China work under grueling conditions - usually 10 to 12 hours a day, sometimes for seven days straight without overtime pay. They're not allowed to speak to one another on the job or to leave their workstations - not even to go to the bathroom - without permission from guards. Some of them perform repetitive tasks for up to 10 hours at a time without a break. Supervisors berate workers with foul language and warn that if they fall behind on production they will be replaced. Some have reportedly been beaten for mistakes they allegedly made on the assembly line. For all this they earn a little more than a dollar an hour at most.

These practices have been documented in numerous reports by a Hong Kong-based human-rights group, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM). Of working conditions at one Foxconn plant making iPhones, SACOM concluded: "Workers frequently endure excessive and forced overtime in order to gain a higher wage. If they cannot reach the production target, they have to skip dinner or work on unpaid overtime shifts." SACOM calls Foxconn's Apple workers "iSlaves."

Most young workers live on-site in cramped high-rise dormitories near the factories, where as many as a dozen workers squeeze into small rooms with three tiers of bunk beds. Most of them are peasants in their late teens or early 20s who have been lured to the city in hopes of earning money for themselves and their families back home, only to find themselves yoked to brutal production schedules that can become unbearable.

We also learn from the Bartlett and Steele article (and I know this has been documented elsewhere also) that Chinese workers have taken to committing suicide to get out of their factory jobs. So what was the response of the company? To put up nets around the buildings and to encourage workers “to sign a statement promising not to kill themselves and to ‘treasure their lives’."

And that is what American workers have to compete against (oh, but “the global economy isn’t rigged against (U.S. workers),” is it, J.D.?

Wonder how much a know-it-all pundit earns in Hunan province these days?

And one more thing – I believe the Bartlett and Steele piece is important to counteract the Steve Jobs idolatry that immediately leapt into media hyper drive after his death. I don't completely blame Jobs for the work being offshored, but I do blame him for not speaking out about the myriad human rights violations committed in the name of manufacturing his products.

Finally, this tells us (as noted last night) that the Delaware River Basin Commission delayed a vote on natural gas “fracking” rules due to citizen outcry against this godawful process which poses a deadly threat to not just our groundwater, but also to our food supply.

But first, this message from one-time Bucks commissioner and natural gas industry-sycophant (and Tom Corbett’s lieutenant governor) Jim Cawley (here)…

“Energy equals jobs in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Cawley told a crowd of business owners and students at Bucks County Technical High School in Bristol Township on Friday.

…

“Pennsylvania has a challenge to continue to be good stewards of Penn’s Woods, but we also have an obligation to the truth, and that we put terms like ‘Rust Belt’ and ‘Brain Drain’ onto the ash heap of history,” said Cawley.

Natural-gas drilling supports 300,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, with an average annual wage of $74,000, he said.

“There’s a potential for hundreds of thousands more of those new hires,” said Cawley. “One of the best ways we can protect public welfare is by allowing the private sector to create family-sustaining jobs.”

It’s kind of a funny thing (“funny” strange I mean); when you read this, you find out that the actual number of industry jobs created in 2009 were about half of those originally estimated, with 37 percent of those going to out-of-state residents.

Meanwhile, Dem PA Rep Steve Santarsiero tells us the following (from the Courier Times story)…

On Friday, (Santarsiero, D-31), blasted the (Pa Chamber of Commerce) for not presenting a balanced range of views on Marcellus Shale gas extraction (the meeting was the fifth of nine forums scheduled on Marcellus Shale drilling).

Because environmental groups were not part of the forum, Santarsiero said he declined an invitation to participate.

“This is an important issue for the entire state,” he said. “Even though there is no Marcellus Shale in Bucks County, the fact of the matter is the proposed drilling in the Delaware River watershed has an impact, considering we get a significant amount of our (drinking) water from the Delaware River.”

Indeed. And by the way, Jim, I have a question.

Got a match (here)?