Friday Stuff

Wise words from someone else who is leaving, unfortunately (I can't recall "crossing swords" with Dorgan over anything - a "straight shooter" who we need, and someone else whose seat may end up flipping to the "R" column - more here)...



...and tonight on "Countdown," Howard Fineman said that voters would get turned off by rhetoric such as this from Obama - I say that if any Dem is going to go down (which isn't certain either), it's better to do it giving it your best shot than to do it with your own hands tied...



...also, though I detest Ed Snider, congratulations to the Flyers for rallying from a 3-0 hole to beat Boston four games to three tonight here (only the third time in NHL history this has happened - maybe they'll drive Adolf and Montreal over the edge again - dare I hope?...how's the view, "Cindy"?)...



...and I think this is a cool new tune (no vid) - ah, say hello to the weekend!

Friday Mashup (5/14/10)

(By the way, for some reason, there was no congressional votes writeup in the Inquirer last Sunday, so I can’t bore you with my opinions on that subject for today...and I also posted here.)

Looks like Just Plain Folks Sarah Palin Dontcha Know has put on her red high heels again and is stomping around on the war path about some other make-believe instance of umbrage (and yes, I suppose I shouldn’t care either).

Anyway, she’s being interviewed here by Fix Noise humanoid Megyn Kelly on an Illinois school administrator's decision to cancel a girls' basketball team's trip to Arizona, which has apparently attracted nationwide attention. George Fornero, superintendent of District 113 in Illinois, which oversees Highland Park High School, defended the decision by Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson and said it was not a political statement in response to Arizona's new law.

Yeah, right (and as noted here, the girls had apparently been selling cookies to pay the expense for the trip – I think, on balance, Hebson did the right thing, though it was deflating to the players I’ll admit, and for Hebson to claim that this is not a response to the law is ridiculous).

With that in mind, I now give you Palin…

I want these girls to feel empowered and "go rogue" if they must. Figure out a way to protest a decision like this and figure out a way to get there on their own. If it can be done, not being sanctioned by the school, [they should still go to] this tournament.

Without their parents or a family member? Does thinking like this give us some unintentional insight into how Palin’s daughter ended up “in the family way” before marriage (hey, the ex-guv is the one who put her family in the spotlight, not me)?

As I read this, though, I couldn’t help but think that many people who side with Palin no doubt opposed the initiative noted here, which was “midnight basketball” proposed by Bill Clinton in the early ‘90s (soo…it’s OK for people with whom Palin feels a kinship to develop their character through the sport, but nobody else?).

And by the way, before you tell me that, “yeah, well, what Sarah is proposing has nothing to do with the ‘gumint’ and you tax-and-spend li-bu-ruuls,” remember that midnight basketball was first proposed by Poppy Bush as one of his “thousand points of light.”

Update 5/15/10: More on Hebson with the appropriate context here (h/t Atrios)...

As noted here, U.S. House Repug Mike Pence of Indiana has been busy propagating another wingnut talking point making the rounds, namely that the U.S. shouldn’t do anything to help bail out Greece through the International Monetary Fund, which makes me wonder what on earth Greece ever did to earn wingnut enmity in this country (yes, I know the country is a little “leaky” when it comes to Terra! Terra! Terra!, but as nearly as I can see, its worst crime has been financial ineptitude and nothing more...I got into some of this also here).

This post, though, tells us that, though the cost of any U.S. funds is still in question because aid would be pooled among at least 15 IMF countries, it could end up to be the comparatively small amount of $3 billion.

I’m sorry, but given that number, I’m not inclined to beat up on Greece over an aid request of this amount, when you consider that, as noted here, “allowing (Dubya’s) tax cuts to expire for married filers with incomes above $250,000 and single filers with incomes above $200,000— the top 2 percent of U.S. households[1] — will avert $826 billion in added deficits and debt over the next ten years.”

And guess who favors continuing those tax cuts? Why, that would be the same Mike Pence, as noted here.

Also, the perpetually angry Brent Bozell criticized Comedy Central here for “censoring images that might offend Muslims,” though, as he sees it, they have no problem with satirizing Christianity and a certain 43rd president, focusing his ire on “South Park” in particular (disclosure: I don’t watch the show any more because the gross-outs got tiresome).

I give you Bozell…

In the 2005 Comedy Central special "Merry F-ing Christmas," Denis Leary called the Christmas story "bull(bleep)" and said the Virgin Mary must be a myth since someone surely "banged the hell" out of her. In the 2006 "South Park" episode that spiked Mohammad themes, the show ended with Jesus wildly defecating on President Bush: "Look at me, I'm Jesus. Would you like me to crap on you, Mr.

Bush? Mmm, yummy, yummy crap!" And there was Stephen Colbert’s 2008 Christmas special, where Toby Keith sang about (and a cartoon Santa laughed at) Christians blowing up an ACLU lawyer's house.

Gee, I would have thought Bozell would like something like that. Color me shocked!

And by the way, criticizing cartoons is one thing, but criticizing a live adult person who allegedly is not a cartoon (and I’m referring to Keith) is something else, since the Dixie Chicks basher-and-non-apologizer at least has a say in whether or not he chooses to participate in the behavior Bozell finds objectionable (and as noted here, Keith certainly isn’t a stranger when it comes to objectionable behavior).

Finally, in a story related to behavior one might consider objectionable, the New York Times reported today on ads in which words for “ass” and other terms related to male body parts have been bleeped or sanitized in one way or another.

Even though I am a parent of a child, I will not get myself exercised if he occasionally uses the word “ass” or some kind of mild scatological reference, as long as we point out to him that he is not to use these words in the company of others. Besides, I was always taught that kids react inversely to the extent of the original adult response generated by their behavior; in other words, if the young one sees me overreact in response to something, he might be more inclined to try it again as part of a game of one-upsmanship (of course, as a parent, I am a final arbiter of bad behavior, and doling out the correct response and/or punishment is my responsibility).

With that in mind, I should tell you that we stress to him that proper communication using age appropriate, reasonably intelligent language is something we expect, and to do any less diminishes the way others see him and, in all likelihood, the way he sees himself.

Oh, and by the way, I found out today that “Law and Order” was cancelled (here).

…

What the fuck??!! :-)

Thursday Stuff

If I ever find myself living in a place where a political campaign ad like this is acceptable (Uh, questioning the teaching of evolution? Didn't we settle that, oh, say, about a hundred years ago?), I hope I am in a state where I have basically passed on to the "pearly gates" (hopefully) and my inert earthly remains are all that can be subjected to such idiocy...



...and Jon Stewart does it again (the problem is that I don't think the "choke on a pretzel" moment ever ends for the idiots in question)...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Release the Kagan
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

..."Worst Persons" (Tom Shales has no room to lecture anyone on journalistic ethics as it turns out, his smarmy condescending sexism notwithstanding towards one of K.O.'s buds - another would be attacked shortly; the roadside team in Sparks, Nevada needs a proofreder...oh, excuse me, prufreader...oh, skip it; but Just Plain Folks Sarah Palin gets it for criticizing Rachel Maddow's neck for supposedly protruding veins while the former half-term governor spoke at a backup sump pump convention - the jokes write themselves, people)...

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

...and speaking of Maddow, she filed a report tonight on the 25th anniversary of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia that I got into here, and I can think of no other song for the occasion (I'll add the video report when it is available).



Update 5/14/10: Here is the Maddow clip on MOVE.

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

Thursday Mashup (5/13/10)

(And I also posted here.)

This tells us that congressional Dems were getting ready to pass the COMPETES Act, a bill to increase investments in science, research and training programs, as The Hill tells us.

Yeah, well, the bill was ready to pass, but guess what happened…

House Democrats had to scrap their only substantive bill of the week Thursday after Republicans won a procedural vote that substantively altered the legislation with an anti-porn clause.

…

…the Republican motion to recommit the bill -- a parliamentary tactic that gives the minority one final chance to amend legislation -- contained language prohibiting federal funds from going "to salaries to those officially disciplined for violations regarding the viewing, downloading, or exchanging of pornography, including child pornography, on a federal computer or while performing official government duties."

That provision scared dozens of Democrats into voting with Republicans to approve the motion to recommit. After it became clear the GOP motion was going to pass, dozens of additional Democrats changed their votes from "no" to "yes." In the end, 121 Democrats voted with Republicans -- only four fewer than the number of Democrats who voted with their party.

But because of additional changes contained in the motion, Democrats decided to pull the bill from consideration immediately following the passage of the motion to recommit.

Soo…in the name of some twisted impulse of budget austerity (which was nowhere to be found in the earlier part of this decade when they were in charge, of course), the Repugs play some game of “values voter” nonsense to scuttle funding in job-creating technologies.

Just remember that the next time you hear about a Republican resurgence in November.

And by the way, watch this to find out why this matters (more here).

Also, as noted here, Tom Carper is at it again, people…

The White House said Thursday it would fight efforts under the Wall Street bill to limit states from pursuing tougher consumer regulations than the federal government.

Diana Farrell, deputy director of the National Economic Council, said the administration opposes amendments – including one backed by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) – that would restrict state attorneys general.

“We intend to fight those and oppose those,” Farrell said on a conference call with the Iowa and Connecticut attorneys general.

As a reminder, it should be noted that Carper voted yes on that horrible bankruptcy bill in 2005. And as also noted here, he asupported Holy Joe Lieberman in the U.S. Senate Dem primary in Connecticut against Ned Lamont. And finally, as noted here, Carper floated that ridiculous idea of the state-run co-ops in an effort to get it introduced into health care legislation.

I know a lot of this stuff is common knowledge, but it bears repeating (what a shame that Carper’s seat isn’t open this year – I know it would hurt to flip it to an “R,” but that’s just about what Carper is anyway).

And finally, wingnut (te?) Debra Saunders tells us the following (here)…

During most of (Elena) Kagan's tenure from 2003 to 2009, Harvard University gave the military a one-finger salute, then let recruiters in through the back door.

You're supposed to feel better about the "ban" -- I should note Kagan has called it a "ban" -- because it didn't really ban anything.

When the Bush administration threatened to withhold federal funds from Harvard University in accordance with the 1996 Solomon Amendment -- which requires colleges to grant military recruiters the same access as other employers or forfeit federal funds -- the law school relented and opened the door for the university to continue receiving federal funds.

But Kagan did not go gently. She sent out a strongly worded memo denouncing the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy as "deeply wrong -- both unwise and unjust." No doubt, the memo had an important symbolic effect as well.

Saunders goes on to call Kagan “a bully in an ivory tower” for supposedly leading the charge against military recruiters on Harvard’s campus.

It’s a funny thing, though – as Think Progress tells us here…

In reality, Kagan never booted, banned, or barred recruiters from Harvard Law School. As White House adviser Valerie Jarrett noted on MSNBC this morning, “One of the years she was dean, actually [military] enrollment went up on campus.” Here are the key facts:

1) Kagan briefly prevented the military from using the school’s Office of Career Services (OCS), but never barred recruiters from campus, allowing them to operate through the school’s Veterans Association during her entire tenure.

2) Harvard Law School has a long-standing policy designed to prohibit employers that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation from recruiting through the OCS, but made an exception for the military, which Kagan observed.

3) Seeking to fully enforce Harvard’s policy, Kagan supported an effort to overturn the Solomon Amendment, which would have stripped Harvard of $400 million in federal grant money had she barred recruiters from using the OCS.

4) In 2004, a federal appeals court ruled against the Pentagon on the Solomon Amendment, and Kagan briefly prohibited the military from using the OCS.

5) In 2006, the Supreme Court overturned the appeals court, and Kagan reinstated the military’s right to use the OCS.

Even ultra-conservative Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano understood this, explaining that Kagan was “following the law as it then existed.”

So, I have only this to say in response to deflating more military-related fiction from the wingnutosphere on Kagan:

Dis-missed!

Wednesday Mashup Part Two (5/12/10)

(Part One is over here.)

Kathleen Parker of the WaPo doesn’t think Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is “ordinary” enough (here)…

Certainly New York City dwellers would argue that they struggle with ordinary concerns, just in a more dense environment. But New York, like other urban areas, tends to be more liberal than the vast rest of the country. More than half the country also happens to be Protestant, yet with Kagan, the court will feature three Jews, six Catholics and nary a Protestant. Fewer than one-fourth of Americans are Catholic, and 1.7 percent are Jewish.

One does not have to be from a rural Georgia backwater (Clarence Thomas), or the child of recently arrived immigrants (Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito), to qualify as a justice, though it might help in claiming identity with ordinary people. One could even argue that it matters only that one regard the law with utter neutrality.

But the president adheres to the ordinary-people principle, and so the question must be asked: Does Kagan meet the standard? She may have other qualifications, including her willingness at Harvard to invite conservative scholars to her faculty. But a New York City girl who attended a prep school, Ivy League colleges and law school -- who once barred military recruiters from Harvard's recruitment office and was an adviser to Goldman Sachs -- can't be characterized as anything close to mainstream America.

Either Obama may want to tweak his operating narrative -- or geography may well be Kagan's wound.

And Parker won a Pulitzer for stuff like this, people (i.e., how “ordinary” is anyone in Washington anyway?).

Closer to home, the Bucks County Courier Times tells us the following here about Daryl Metcalfe...

Last week, state House Rep. Daryl Metcalfe introduced House Bill 2479, described as an Arizona-style immigration law that would give police new, wide-reaching power to enforce immigration laws.

GOP lieutenant governor candidate Daryl Metcalfe is running on a simple platform: the governor should do what the Butler County state lawmaker believes Pennsylvania residents want - or else.

And, what Metcalfe, 47, believes Pennsylvanians want is the person running the state to protect their pocketbooks and personal freedoms.

As noted here, Metcalfe also protested a resolution to recognize last October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month because “it has a homosexual agenda,” and he called Iraq and Afghanistan war vets “traitors” for opposing his energy policy here.

And by the way, Metcalfe’s own version of Arizona’s “illegal to be brown” law is supported by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR); not really surprising I guess since FAIR was involved in the Arizona law.

However, did you know that, as pointed out here, the Southern Poverty Law Center that FAIR is a hate group whose "key staff members have ties to white supremacist groups”?

The Courier Times tells us that the current leader in the Repug Lieutenant Governor’s race is none other than Bucks Commish Jim Cawley. However, given the fact that the ticket with presumptive Repug gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett would likely implode with a teabagger-simpatico wingnut on the ticket, I have only this to say.

Go, Metcalfe!

Also, there has been a lot of right-wing yammering about whether or not the Obama Administration supports a so-called value added tax, or VAT (here). I don’t know whether or not that will ever be implemented, and somehow I have a feeling that those screaming about it the most know about as much as I do, or possibly even less. I also don’t know whether or not it would be detrimental to our nascent recovery.

What I do know is what I learned from here, and that is the fact that our tax burden in this country is at its lowest level since 1950.

Still, though, those zany teabaggers with their funny hats and their oh-so-clever signs will always complain about how our Kenyan Marxist president who won’t reveal his Hawaiian birth certificate (snark) is such an oppressor to them. And with that in mind, I came across the following in this New York Times story…

The rise of Tea Party advocates, accompanied by protesters across the country waving copies of the Constitution as they demonstrate, underscores the degree to which voters could be aroused by debate at the confirmation hearings over interpreting the Constitution.

I should tell you that I read that sentence three times and still didn’t understand it. However, I should also point out that, if the teabaggers were supposed to be such experts on the Constitution, they would know that Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 clearly states as follows, as noted here…

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.

Gee, I hope nobody tells Glenn Beck. He might have another one of his crying jags leading to a nervous breakdown (hmmm – on second thought…).

Tuesday Stuff

"Worst Persons" (Matthew Ray Creel of Galveston, TX kept his "weed" in the court order paperwork he was given for - wait for it! - smoking the aforementioned cannabis; Brian Kilmeade of Fix Noise tries to blame the New York Times for supposedly revealing Terra! Terra! Terra! stuff about the would-be Times Square bomber - yeah...the problem is that the cellphone stuff Kilmeade is braying about was all in the public domain already - like, WAAAY already, people; but Shandy Cobane of the Seattle Police Department gets it for his utterly vile attack on a suspect while kicking him in the head and spewing racial epithets at him...diversity training is good for some people I believe, but not for this numskull, though I'm sure new employment in Arizona awaits)...

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

...and as I watched this, I recalled Monty Python's "How To Defend Yourself Against Fresh Fruit" - "derdang?"

Tuesday Mashup (5/11/10)

It didn’t take Fix Noise long to try to take charge of the slowly-unfolding (and you KNEW it would) Elena Kagan corporate media circus, did it?

As noted here, under the headline “Kagan Slobbers All Over ‘Rock Star’ Obama” (sourcing this story)…

"[Obama has] rock star qualities. The eloquence, the magnetism, the great looks, the brilliance."

In response, I give you this item, in which the following was said about the relationship between former Bushco education secretary Margaret Spellings and Number 43…

“She and Bush have a special relationship, a camaraderie,” Mr. Spellings said of his wife, adding, “She trusts him, and she loves him.”

If Kagan acted like a groupie, then Spellings acted like a “work wife” at the very least (and I’ll reserve comment on Spellings’ husband).

And oh noes, we have another “OMIGOD the Dems are DOOMED!” story (here)…

Despite a slight uptick in hiring this spring, the May 7 jobs report could show an increase in unemployment among twentysomethings as the strengthening economy entices job seekers who had given up back into the labor market.

Unemployment has been stuck at 9.7 percent since January, and for those under 25 it's a considerably higher 18.8 percent. Fewer than 60 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds had jobs in the first quarter, the lowest level since 1964.

…

The bottom line: Unlike hopeful college graduates who aided Obama's 2008 campaign, grads are busy job hunting and are abandoning Democratic politics.

Really? “Abandoning Democratic politics” you say? Even though, noted earlier in the story, we discover that “55 percent (of younger voters) leaned Democratic, vs. 37 percent Republican, according to polls conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press from October 2009 to March 2010”?

In response, I give you the following (from here, among all voters)…

PRINCETON, NJ -- Republican registered voters' enthusiasm about voting in this year's midterm elections has declined significantly in recent weeks. As a result, Republicans' advantage over Democrats on this measure has shrunk from 19 points in early April to 10 points in the latest weekly aggregate.

So why do I bother to respond to stuff like this from Business Week? Because trying to drill home misinformation like this leads to the very apathy predicted in the story, to the point where Democrats decide to sit out the election and our corporate media can crow about how brilliant they supposedly are.

When elections are based on the issues, by and large Dems win. When elections are based on extraneous “values voter” nonsense, faux teabagger umbrage and veiled threats from politicians, the media elite and their acolytes, Repugs win (and for the results of those sorrowful outcomes, see McDonnell, Bob, Christie, Chris, and too many others).

Also, the following letter appeared in the New York Times today (here)…

To the Editor:

Re “Fear Itself” (editorial, May 6):

The Terrorist Expatriation Act, which Senators Joseph I. Lieberman and Scott Brown introduced last week, updates a 1940 law to account for the enemy we are fighting today and provides our government with additional antiterrorism tools to help prevent the type of attempted attack that occurred at Times Square in New York.

The bill makes essential updates to Title 8 United States Code Section 1481, which has seven very clear grounds for which American citizens can lose their citizenship. It updates the law by adding an eighth category of acts: providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization or actively engaging in hostilities against the United States or its allies.

The proposed legislation would not retroactively deny Americans due process. The bill is not retroactive in any way. Additionally, there is a robust administrative procedure within the State Department, including an appeal process, that permits the loss of citizenship to be challenged in American courts.

The Terrorist Expatriation Act will enhance our ability to defeat terrorism and does not threaten our civil liberties. Those who join our enemy with the intent of waging war on America should no longer be entitled to the rights and privileges of American citizenship, including the rights and privileges of having a United States passport that can be used as a tool to wage terror against America.

Marshall Wittmann
Washington, May 10, 2010

The writer is the communications director for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

In response, I give you George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley (here)…

While the burden would be on the State Department and you would have access to court review, the agency process could make it difficult to contest such findings — particularly with the use of secret evidence (and barring the use of evidence by the defendant on national security grounds).

Stripping citizens of their citizenship could also create stateless persons — a problem in international law. Moreover, this process could occur at the same time that a person is fighting criminal charges — adding to the practical and financial burden.

I object to Lieberman’s bogus bill on principle, and also because….well, because it comes from Joe Freaking Lieberman, people, who I have no reason to trust on anything!

Besides, as noted here, the law exempts those who would fight for Israel.

And given the information listed here (as well as that country’s Iraq war cheerleading, which of course they’ll never admit), that exemption is both laughable and utterly insulting.

Monday Stuff

"Worst Persons" (Joe The Plumber wants to beat up Bill Maher and tried once to steal women's underwear...and would you believe this guy actually won elected office as a Repug in Ohio?; Mann Coulter gives us another crackpot history lesson, this one about those "liberal" World War II isolationists - shouldn't this woman be in jail for legitimate vote fraud in Florida by now?; but Oklahoma Repug Mary Fallin gets the honors tonight for using taxpayer dollars to publish and send a mailer telling her constituents - and others in her state, since she's running for governor - how she doesn't waste...taxpayer dollars - yep, this supposedly august civil servant watching her constituents purse voted for the bailout, as noted here...you can also read about some "funny business" with Fallin and a state trooper)...

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

...and now, time for another chapter in the ongoing saga of "Young Goths In Love" - don't hurt yourselves, kids (and Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are nowhere in sight, shockingly enough).

Monday Mashup (5/10/10)

(I’m heading into another iffy posting period, by the way – maybe yes, maybe no…and I also posted here.)

Frank Rich opined as follows in the New York Times yesterday…

In his speech in Ann Arbor, (Obama) keyed off from a question written to him by a kindergarten student in Virginia: “Are people being nice?” As the president joked, “even a kindergartener” could be provoked to ask that question by the “24/7 echo chamber” of cable news, where talking heads make “their arguments as outrageous and as incendiary as possible.” He called yet again for the restoration of “a basic level of civility in our public debate.”

As president, Obama is a seriously flawed messenger for this sermon. First, as he conceded in the same speech, fisticuffs (not always verbal) have been a staple of American politics since the birth of the Republic. Second, anything he has to say about shouting pundits will be regarded as special pleading from a Democratic president who is the target of nightly shoutfests on Fox News, a frequent subject of public White House complaints. Third, his administration is notorious for its fierce message management, restrictive press access and undisguised hostility to nettlesome journalists of all media and stripes.

I understand Rich’s point. However, when a “Jeff Gannon” equivalent appears in the White House press corps, then I’ll take notice.

As opposed to, say, throwing a luau for the press or some kind of a Fourth of July barbecue, there’s something Obama could support that, I believe, would ease the sometimes tense relations between his administration and the Fourth Estate (justified on occasions like this, I’ll admit), to say nothing of representing an act of basic fairness. That would be a press shield law overseen by an actual court judge, as opposed to the watered-down version he currently supports that would “not (allow) any shield protection on any instance where the administration declares that the matter involves ‘significant’ harm to national security,” as noted here.

In some ways, this administration has a little bit too much of a Bushco mindset. A press shield law is one of them (and on the issue of land mines also, as noted here – kudos to Sen. Patrick Leahy for forcefully advocating on behalf of U.S. participation in the treaty to ban these wretched devices - update: related info appears in this prior post).

Returning closer to home, our PA-31 State House Rep Steve Santarsiero informs us of the following from his home page…

Many Bucks County residents would be adversely affected if the New Jersey legislature approves legislation that would require all state, county and local government employees, as well as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees in the state, to reside in New Jersey within four months of employment for new hires and two-and-one-half years for existing employees. Join me in opposing this regulation and urging New Jersey to 'grandfather' in current employees, making them exempt from the residency requirement, rather than force them into an unplanned, negative economic situation.

Oh yeah, this is the legislation that Steve’s Repug opponent “Self” Ciervo doesn’t think is a big deal.

Nice constituent service orientation there, Dr. Rob.

Steve also co-sponsored a bill that “protect(s) our state forests from additional natural gas drilling until its impact can be evaluated and would give the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources enough time to assess the impact of natural gas drilling on state-owned land” (H.B. 2235).

Also, according to Steve…

…“the state House Intergovernmental Affairs Committee approved my proposal to call for a federal convention to amend the U.S. Constitution in order to limit campaign contributions and expenditures….the resolution (H.R. 653) cleared the committee by a vote of 12-9. It now moves to the full House for consideration. In light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to end restrictions on corporate and union money in politics, this effort to reform our campaign finance system is needed now more than ever. I remain hopeful that support for a constitutional amendment that protects campaign finance laws from being overturned will continue to grow on both sides of the aisle.”

To contact Steve, click here.

Finally, I give you some true hilarity from Repug strategist John Feehery here…

Always a left-of-center newspaper, the Post is now best known for being a lapdog to the current White House occupant. On the cable television shows, the Post’s line is best exemplified by the almost comical devotion to the president by Eugene Robinson, Jonathan Capehart and E.J. Dionne. For them, everything the president does or says or thinks is simply wonderful, and everything that his opponents say or do or think is well, either stupid, racist, fascist, sexist or un-American.

These are the folks who represent the Post to the cable world.

We have now learned that the Post is taking it a step further in the cyber-world. They don’t see their competitors to be The New York Times, The Associated Press or even Politico.

Nope, they see their competition to be left-wing bloggers from The Huffington Post, the left-wing Talking Points Memo or even the more left-wing The Nation.

Oh, and Feehery also gives us this mystifying sentence…

And as anybody can see from the ratings of Fox News and MSNBC, being a liberal lapdog for this president is just a bad way to make money.

I’m quite sure Feehery isn’t seriously suggesting that Fix Noise is a “liberal lapdog.” And as far as MSNBC not making money, I give you the following here from February concerning “Countdown”…

Ratings can be read many ways, and Olbermann put a more immediate spin on his numbers last night. “This program’s ratings actually grew from December to last month by 5 percent at 8 o’clock and 6 percent at 10 o’clock,” he said. “Grew, in a month in which CNN did exceptional, almost continuous coverage from Haiti. Grew to 27 percent ahead of CNN and 24 percent ahead of Headline News. Grew from the end of a year, in which MSNBC replaced CNN as the number two-rated news network among younger viewers in prime time.”

So the idea that MSNBC is getting rid of Olbermann is ludicrous. He put the cable channel on the map in prime time. And he still has the most-watched cable news program that’s not on Fox News Channel. (Olbermann averaged 1 million viewers last month.) What network would get rid of its most valuable player? That wouldn’t make sense.

And Feehery thinks the WaPo is descending into some kind of liberal internet hell? I guess that’s why they concocted this little scam in which participants could pay for access to D.C. “movers and shakers,” as well as cutting pay checks for George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, David Broder and Fred Hiatt (to say nothing of firing Dan Froomkin, after they did everything they could to hide his blog and try to drive his hit count to zero).

Why do I have a feeling that this is merely sour grapes on Feehery’s part? Maybe it’s because the paper hasn’t given him any more column space to write fluff fodder for his fellow Repugs, as it once did here for the benefit of a certain “Dancing With The Stars” castoff.

Update: Oh, and here is another "liberal" WaPo moment.

Sunday Stuff

I recently wondered if a "Red-Eyed Sheep 2" ad was on the way - here is my answer (funny stuff with a serious message -h/t The Daily Kos)...



...and I realize that the BP spill in the Gulf is utterly horrific, and as far as I'm concerned, Bushco's fingerprints are all over it due to the MMS mismanagement, though Ken Salazar doesn't look too good at the moment either; still, though, I couldn't help but think of this song.