RIP Dennis Hopper

A Repug who voted for Obama, as noted here (more here)...

Friday Stuff

(And I also posted here.)

"Worst Persons" ("Nooners" criticizes EPA head Lisa Jackson for attending a function that hasn't occurred yet; Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History shows up once more with a rather revealing anecdote about war - I suppose it will be left to another generation of media and political leadership probably far into the future to make the case that this guy was truly a psychopath; but Glenn Beck gets it again for criticizing one of the Obamas' daughters, and even finding a way to criticize 44 in his apology...by the way, the only thing "dubious" here is the possibility that Beck has any "integrity" that could be tarnished in any way)...

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

...and I've heard this tune a good bit on the radio lately, so I thought, what the hell - here's hoping summer gets here soon for us all.

Friday Mashup (5/28/10)

The "pre-holiday, extra-turbo version," if you will...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Huckleberry Graham (here)…

“I don’t think I can get what I wanted as part of the deal (on comprehensive energy and climate change legislation),” said Graham, in reference to the drilling provisions. “It’s no fault to Kerry and Lieberman. Harry Reid didn’t create this problem. This problem was created by BP (re: the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe and the pollution in the Gulf, of course).”

In spite of that, though, Graham blames Obama for potentially “killing” the legislation if 44 cracks down on offshore drilling? After public opinion has now moved solidly against drilling since BP decided to turn the Gulf into a toxic waste dump? And after Graham “refused to join Kerry and Lieberman when they rolled out the 1,000-page bill earlier (in May), in protest of a decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to also move comprehensive immigration reform this summer”?

As I’ve said a few times already by now, yes, Ken Salazar should have ordered a top-to-bottom review of how the Minerals Management Service awards its contracts for drilling in the Gulf, and how the oil companies receiving the awards manage their subcontractors, as well as (obvious by now) documented contingency plans for what to do in case Biblical amounts of oil are released into the Gulf, and mixing it with chemical dispersants turns everything into goo.

But that’s the fault of Salazar and Elizabeth Birnbaum, who formerly ran the MMS (though, to be fair and as I’ve also already said, I don’t know how anyone could have been expected to clean up that utter mess of an agency after eight wretched years in about nine months).

And somehow, as far as Graham is concerned, this is all Obama’s fault?

There’s a reason why the Repugs are the minority party in Congress, and it is on full display here; this whole "Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown at the last minute" act is waay beyond tiresome by now.

Also, I just wanted to highlight the following vote from last week’s Area Votes in Congress from the Inquirer here (not much else going on; Arlen Specter missed a couple of votes, though I guess he’s allowed now that the Dem primary is over and he's on the way out)…

House

Technology, science dispute. Voting 261-148, the House failed to reach a two-thirds majority needed to pass a bill (HR 5325) authorizing $48 billion over three years for a wide range of science and technology programs run by federal agencies, universities, and the private sector. Begun in 2007, the "America Competes" initiative seeks to maintain the country's global leadership in technology and innovation. The bill required a supermajority for passage because it was debated under a short-cut procedure that limited debate and barred amendments.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), and Joe Sestak (D., Pa.).

Voting no: Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Not voting: Tim Holden (D., Pa.).

As usual, the Repugs are trying to kill the best means our country has right now of developing the jobs that will rebuild our economy, and that is through seed money from the federal government such as the type allocated in this bill.

LoBiondo is a member of the supposedly moderate “Republican Main Street Partnership,” so I’m a little surprised by his vote here, though I know his party believes the only way they can be elected to power once more is to oppose everything from the Dems, no matter how worthwhile. However, these votes are utterly unsurprising for Smith (to do something in response, click here) and Pancake Joe (to do something in response, click here), as we know.

Finally, I give you Michael Gerson from the WaPo here…

...after a brief bump, support for Democratic health reform has declined. A Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll shows erosion in the intensity of support. Last month, 23 percent of Americans held "very favorable" views of the law. This month, that figure is 14 percent, with most of the falloff coming among Democrats (Republicans and independents already being skeptical). Other polling reinforces these views.

Uh, no – as noted here…

Public support for President Obama's health care reforms has increased since they were signed into law in March, a new CBS News poll shows - 43 percent of Americans now support the measures, up from 32 percent.

However, more Americans - 47 percent - still disapprove of the new laws, according to the poll, conducted May 20 - 24. That's down from March, when 53 percent disapproved of the changes.

Approval of the bill has risen among Democrats, from 52 percent to 72 percent, as well as among independents, from 27 percent to 39 percent. Support among Republicans has stayed about the same at 14 percent.

Why does Gerson still have a job?

Thursday Stuff

K.O. meets with the father and brother of Gordon Jones, one of the 11 Deepwater Horzion rig workers who was killed when it exploded and sank...

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

...and Rachel Maddow asks "did the 'Top Kill' work," and presents some truly nightmarish details on the size of some of the underwater plumes, as well as an interview with U.S. House Dem Charlie Melancon...

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

...and I'm not eaxctly sure why Maddow was cut off at 4:28 in this clip, in which she makes the case that oil companies, over the course of 30 or so years, haven't done a damn thing to make drilling for oil more safe...

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

...and in the midst of some thoroughly un-festive circumstances, I'd still like to wish a happy 65th birthday to Canadian music icon Bruce Cockburn (from the, "you tore me out of myself alive" department); he wrote this song in response to our involvement in Central America in the '80s, but after we eventually fix the mess in the Gulf, I'd like to see similar expressions of outrage aimed at our politicians and supposed business "masters of the universe" responsible, and I don't care what their political allegiance is.

Thursday Mashup (5/27/10)

1) I really don’t have anything to add to this story, but I thought it was interesting, though tragic in its own way…

More male fetuses than female were miscarried in the year after 9/11, a new UC Irvine study finds. According to a lead researcher, here's why:

In this case, women across the country were undergoing a process of "communal bereavement" -- empathizing with others, even if they hadn't experienced a direct loss during 9/11.

"It's a situation where witnessing harm, even if you don't actually suffer yourself, can actually induce harm," Bruckner said.

Female fetuses are hardier than males, because women have adapted to produce what Bruckner describes as "the alpha male." In times of prosperity and security, male fetuses are more likely to be brought to term, because there's a greater chance that they'll be healthy and robust. During periods of scarcity, however, male miscarriages are much more common.

"A woman's body faces a decision -- evolutionary, not cognitive -- of whether to carry her male baby to term, or abort the fetus," Bruckner said. "If you're pregnant in a time of low resources, there's less impetus for your body to bear that child."

Like the Mother Jones author, I’m not completely sold on the science behind this story, though I should tell you that I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase “wimpy white male” when The Young One entered our lives (his birth was complicated, though that is a story I may get into later…fine now – seems as if white male babies were the least hearty on the racial/ethnic/gender chart, or so we kept hearing from the nurses).

However, assuming there’s any truth to this, I would add that it is another reason why we should celebrate the gift of life provided by any child, whether they be male or female of whatever background.

And I’ll keep telling that to myself the next time I have to remind him to clean up his bedroom.

2) Also, what would life be like without more nonsense from former Laura Bush employee Andrew Malcolm (here yesterday)…

Well, you won't need that splash of cold water on your face to wake up this morning. Read this:

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year.

Now read it again:

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year.

As noted in the USA Today story linked to by Malcolm, though…

The shift in income shows that the federal government's stimulus efforts have been effective, says Paul Van de Water, an economist at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

"It's the system working as it should," Van de Water says. Government is stimulating growth and helping people in need, he says. As the economy recovers, private wages will rebound, he says.

Now read it again:

The shift in income shows that the federal government's stimulus efforts have been effective, says Paul Van de Water, an economist at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

"It's the system working as it should," Van de Water says. Government is stimulating growth and helping people in need, he says. As the economy recovers, private wages will rebound, he says.

Yes, it’s true that the USA Today analysis by Dennis Cauchon also quotes conservative economists, including somebody from the Hoover Institution, who of course agree with Malcolm. But no politician is going to force a bank to lend money, which many will not do in this current climate due to risk aversion, particularly with a potential wave of commercial real estate foreclosures in the offing.

That leaves the public sector to do the work of the private sector (and how funny is it anyway for Malcolm to even imagine criticizing Obama on the economy when you consider the performance of his employer’s husband here?).

3) And thankfully, I haven’t heard from Michael Medved in awhile, though I had the misfortune of finding this item yesterday about Rand Paul, including the following (in which Medved pretends to criticize Paul, but really saves his thoroughly misplaced ire for Rachel Maddow and George Stephanopoulos)…

If his interlocutors persisted in throwing back at him past statements where he questioned Civil Rights laws, the obvious retort would be: “I’ve been a private citizen, and a non-politician all my life and in that capacity I engaged in lots of philosophical speculation. Most of those abstract arguments from the past are utterly irrelevant to my campaign for the Senate. I’m now the nominee of the Republican Party for the world’s greatest legislative body. My platform is clear and specific. I’m running to cut spending and shrink government, and lift the debt burden from future generations. I’m not going to let the Democrats escape responsibility for their disastrous fiscal policies by trying to re-fight ancient Civil Rights battles of the ‘60’s where a higher percentage of Senate Republicans than Senate Democrats actually supported the historic legislation that today we all remember with pride.”

Politifact bears out Medved on the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act here (shocking, I know). However, I think the following passage from “The Vantage Point,” President Lyndon Johnson’s autobiography, is notable here (pg. 165...Johnson describes what led up to his speech before passage of the Voting Rights Act)…

I had to be at the podium in the House chamber at 9 PM (3/15), but at 8 PM, I was still writing about my experiences in a Cotulla, Texas schoolroom. The speech still had to be typed and put on a teleprompter. We never made it with the teleprompter. I had to deliver most of the speech from a rough copy lying on the rostrum.

As I stood before the assembled Chamber, the lights were blinding. I began slowly:

“I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy…At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.”

I could feel the tension in the Chamber. I could hear the emotion in the echoes of my own words. I tried to speed it up a little.

“There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue, It is wrong – deadly wrong – to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of states’ rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights…This time, on this issue, there must be no delay, no hesitation, and no compromise with our purpose.”

I looked up to the Presidential box. I could barely distinguish the faces of Lady Bird and our daughter Lynda. But I felt them with me. Then I looked straight ahead in the Chamber at my southern friends. I knew most of them were not with me. I went on:

“But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life.”

I paused for breath. In that fleeting moment my thoughts turned to the picket lines in Birmingham, the sit-ins in North Carolina, the marches in Selma. A picture rose before my eyes – a picture of blacks and whites marching together, side by side, chanting and singing the anthem of the civil rights movement.

I raised my arms.

“Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And…we…shall…overcome.”

For a few seconds the entire chamber was quiet. Then the applause started and kept coming. One by one the Representatives and Senators stood up. They were joined by the Cabinet, the Justices, and the Ambassadors. Soon most of the Chamber was on its feet with a shouting ovation that I shall never forget for as long as I live.

Believe me when I tell you that I learned just how prevalent racism remains in this country during the presidential election two years ago, which is nothing to be proud of I know (we don’t have the moral high ground on that score in PA, among other places). However, the biggest battles fought in recent memory on that landscape took place below the Mason-Dixon Line.

Maybe the numbers say more Senate Republicans than Democrats supported the legislation, but that’s totally an anomaly compared to today, when there was a “Dixiecrat” wing that, for my money, pretty much morphed into the Bush Dogs of the moment. As for the Repugs, there actually was a pretty substantial fiscally conservative but socially moderate wing that is dying a slow, inexorable death today.

Anyone who thinks the Republican Party of 2010 would outnumber the support of Dems when it comes to civil rights legislation is indeed a “Golden Turkey.”

4) Finally, for anybody who thinks that all I ever do is pick on Repug politicians, I give you the following (from here concerning the now-former head of the Minerals Management Service – I noted her among other people, places and things here)…

When the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded last month, S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, director of the federal agency charged with ensuring the safety and environmental security of offshore oil rigs, stayed in Washington while others in the Interior Department rushed to the Gulf of Mexico to assess the situation.

When Ms. Birnbaum testified in Congressional hearings last week, her boss, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, lavished praise on others who testified while largely ignoring her. And a day later, when he announced a plan to revamp the agency, it was one that would eliminate her job.

Ms. Birnbaum, a Harvard-educated lawyer who has moved among staff jobs on Capitol Hill, the Interior Department and environmental organizations for 23 years, is described as smart, tenacious, persistent and tough by more than a dozen former colleagues and friends.

But even among those who describe themselves as her friends, there is uncertainty about whether she is up to the task of remaking the Minerals Management Service, an agency widely recognized as one of the most dysfunctional in government

…

“Many of M.M.S.’s employees have worked their entire careers in an effort to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and we will not rest until we determine the causes,” (Birnbaum) said (at a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week). She said that the administration had “taken every step to improve ethics at M.M.S.” and to end the cozy relationship between the industry and agency, “although I have to say that I believe that almost all of M.M.S.’s 1,700 employees are, in fact, ethical.”

Ms. Birnbaum was largely spared the kind of tough questioning that committee members directed earlier against BP executives. Indeed, one congressman apologized for ignoring her. But Representative Gene Taylor, Democrat of Mississippi, asked her about reports of shoddy maintenance on the Deepwater rig. “Because it doesn’t sound to me, if that is true, that you folks were doing your job,” Mr. Taylor said.

And remember, Taylor is the guy who said here that the public was “overreacting” to the catastrophe, comparing the spill to chocolate milk. And he’s criticizing somebody else for not doing their job.

I’ll remember that if I ever hear of anyone treated in a hospital emergency room due to a potentially lethal toxic overdose of Nestle’s Quick.

Wednesday Stuff

Patrick Murphy spoke with Rachel Maddow last night about efforts to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" here following a report...

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

...and congratulations, James O'Keefe, you now have a criminal record - fool...

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

..."Worst Persons" from last night (Erick "Son of Erick" Erickson criticizes Obama for supposedly "skipping" the wreath-laying at Arlington in honor of Memorial Day, when in reality it had been done by Number 44's predecessors also; Bob McDonnell of VA gets the runner-up for "locking in," if you will, the NRA so they can teach gun safety courses to kids - yes, I know many NRA members practice gun safety, but here's the thing...gun safety courses for kids DON'T FREAKING WORK, MORON!!!; but Fix Noise humanoid Megyn Kelly gets top honors for being called out by a Republican congressman for factual errors - yes, I know it's shocking to realize that Fix Noise commits factual errors)...

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

..."Worst Persons" from tonight (U.S. House Reps Kevin McCarthy of CA and Mike Pence of Indiana can't even agree whether they're on a Repug "listening" tour or not - typical for the "Party of No"; Governor Rick "Goodhair" Perry, who of course railed against the "stim," used it to help balance his state's budget - somewhere, I'm sure The Eternal Molly Ivins sees this; but Glenn Beck gets it tonight, and you have to watch this epic takedown by K.O. without any attempt at a description on my part to appreciate it - it involves our closet Kenyan Marxist pre-zee-dint and his family)...

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

...and what the hell is it with Repug politicians trying to infringe on the copyrights of popular songs (here)? Gosh, first "Running on Empty" (here) and now this - part of a theme, I wonder?

Wednesday Mashup (5/26/10)

1) I give you some truly odious corporate media claptrap from Matt Bai in the New York Times today (here); I’ll save you the trouble of reading it if you choose not to and try to address what passes for Bai’s thought processes here.

There is no supposed equivalency between Dem Richard Blumenthal, running for the U.S. Senate from Connecticut, and Rand Paul, running for that body in Kentucky as a Repug. Blumenthal misspoke about his military service during Vietnam and has apologized twice, even though the Times decided to run the story despite at least four problems with its integrity, the most notable of which being that the paper didn’t even review the entire film clip on Blumenthal’s speech upon which they based their story.

Rand Paul, on the other hand, has, in his remarks to print and broadcast media, indicated that he may be disposed to repeal portions of the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act, for starters. And I don’t expect that he will be apologizing any time soon.

Bai also tells us that “war today seems more a question of degrees and limits,” supposedly in comparison to Vietnam I guess, which makes me wonder if he’s read a single headline pertaining to Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, if Bono seems “ubiquitous,” maybe it’s because your paper gives him a forum at every conceivable opportunity (some of Bono’s columns are thought provoking, and some are as incoherent as Bai’s).

And oh yeah, never forget that it’s all Obama’s fault because he hasn’t been as transcendent a politician as Bai had hoped for I suppose, but instead is responsible for “the familiar vortex that keeps pulling us back to things we had hoped to leave behind.”

Actually, that’s the best description of a typical Bai column that I’ve ever read.

2) Also, Repug Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas said here that, after the meeting he and his playmates had with Obama yesterday, that the president needs to be “less serious” and to “take a valium.”

As noted here…

As chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Roberts played a key role in investigating intelligence failures leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The first half of the Senate Report of Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq was released on July 9, 2004. At that time, Roberts said about the second half of the report, "It is one of my top priorities." However, after the 2004 election, he stated "To go through that exercise, it seems to me, in a post-election environment — we didn't see how we could do that and achieve any possible progress. I think everybody pretty well gets it." Critics have argued that a comparison between pre-war intelligence and the pre-war statements made by senior Bush administration officials may have been damaging to the Bush administration, and that this half of the report was halted to protect those officials.

Roberts also crowed about the firing of Mary McCarthy by the CIA (here), though Roberts disclosed intel himself (and McCarthy claimed innocence). Also, who can forget that Roberts was one of many in his party to spout the claim that “you have no civil liberties if you’re dead” as a supposed justification for illegal surveillance, among other things (here)?

Given all of this, I think Roberts’s comments towards Obama are more revealing that we may suspect, since the former Intel chairman’s truly unserious words and actions could easily be explained by a chemical dependency.

3) Finally, The Weakly Standard chastised PA Dem Senatorial candidate Joe Sestak here for “(doubling) down on trying GITMO enemy combatants in civilian courts.”

Funny, but former Homeland Security head Tom Ridge, he of the color-coded threat warnings (“Damn, it’s an orange day, and I’m wearing my clashing chino slacks!”), says something every similar here in USA Today, particularly the following…

The national security court system should be administered by the Department of Justice to ensure civilian, not military, oversight. To meet President Obama's desire to "never put people into a situation that elevated the risks for surrounding communities," initial detentions and trials would be held on military bases. Presidentially appointed national security judges (panels of three) would handle the habeas appeals, review warrants and applications required under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and oversee all trials. Federal prosecutors and defense counsel would be provided — as would be rules of evidence and right of appeal.

I’m not crazy about judges handling habeas appeals appointed by any president, but I think the proposal put forward here otherwise has merit (though Ridge didn’t seem to be too happy with that concept as recently as last December based on this).

And by the way, I have a message for John McCormack, the wingnut who authored this post; though there apparently was some discussion between Sestak and the Obama White House about a job, I have yet to see any evidence of a “bribe.” If you have it, then present it.

Otherwise, STFU.

Update 5/28/10: Good idea here...

Update 5/30/10: Oh, and as we know, The Sainted Ronnie R would never stoop so low as to try and convince a same-party pol to drop out of a race, right?

Update 6/3/10: Forgot about Former President Nutball also offering a job to Ben Nelson of Nebraska so he could step aside in favor of Mike Johanns in '06, as noted here...

Tuesday Mashup (5/25/10)

Some real interesting corporate media spin about Chris Dodd in the New York Times today (here)…

WASHINGTON — As Senator Christopher J. Dodd completed what might be the capstone of his legislative career last week by shepherding a major banking overhaul through the Senate, the guest book in his office offered a glimpse of why he is not seeking re-election. It includes these recent greetings from visitors who stopped by to pay their disrespects:

“Good bye and good riddance to you,” wrote one guest on May 16. “I know it’s tough, but I expected better,” said another (April 15). “Thank you for being corrupt” (March 26).

Of course, if you read a few more paragraphs into the story by Mark Leibovich (who has done better work), you find that the Senate Ethics Committee cleared Dodd of any wrongdoing.

I suppose it would have been too much trouble to note that immediately after the quote about Dodd being “corrupt” in the matter of a supposed sweetheart deal on a mortgage with Countrywide, as well as questions about another property, since it would have deprived the Murdoch Street Journal, among others, of a crucial anti-Dodd talking point. And while I wish Dodd had spoken up much, much earlier on the matter, maybe he thought it was unwise since he was still under investigation.

And how’s this for using hearsay to advocate a preconceived talking point…

Late last year, while Mr. Dodd was still a candidate for re-election, critics accused him of writing an extreme populist (financial oversight) bill in an effort to placate liberal primary voters. Some Obama administration officials grumbled that he was more committed to rehabilitating himself politically than finding a practical solution legislatively. As the public mood moved against Wall Street and in favor of a tougher bill, some on the left accused Mr. Dodd of trying to cut too many deals with Republicans.

Uh, memo to Clark Hoyt – I thought your paper had standards about anonymous sourcing.

Is it time for Chris Dodd to “turn over the reins” to his successor, who hopefully will be Richard Blumenthal (and Leibovich sticks a reference to the Blumenthal business in the story which really has not a damn thing to do with Dodd)? Probably.

But as I’ve said before (here and here), Dodd has been a friend. And he’s been a good legislator. So he screwed up by trying to run for president when he probably shouldn’t have. Since when is that an offense that earns expulsion from office?

Dodd is exactly the type of person we need in government service. And with his departure along with that of Byron Dorgan and Ted Kaufman, the Dems, and our country really, are very much the weaker for it (Evan Bayh, not so much).

Also, this tells us that Repug Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee was upset during the meeting his party’s senatorial delegation held today with President Obama, saying that Number 44 “(took) an excessively partisan approach to critical issues such as financial reform, and then (had) the ‘audacity’ to come to the Senate GOP conference and use the Republicans as election year "props."

I guess Corker would be a subject matter expert in that department, since he put a “hold” (and why is that still allowed?) on a bill funding the FAA in order to keep Fed Ex workers from unionizing here, even though the language was in the House bill and not the Senate bill (Corker wanted to prevent the language he didn’t like from being added during the Senate-House conference on the bill…guess he was using FAA workers as “props,” to say nothing of Fed Ex employees).

Also, I suppose David Shuster was a “prop,” though I’m sure an unwilling one, when Corker concocted this lie about the ad appearing below (and I suppose Canada and France were “props” for Corker when he crafted this piece of fiction here.

Also, I was going to say something about teabagger hero Tim D’Annunzio of North Carolina, but K.O. beat me to it here, so enjoy.

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

Finally, it looks like Bushco-era torture porn Fix Noise hit “24” has ended its TV run (here). What a shame that the character played by Kiefer Sutherland won’t end up serving time in prison for the rest of his life, as he should if the program showed a speck of decency.

Of course, if that happened, there’d be no way to make the feature film, which I’m sure will be forthcoming (and I’m sure show producer and right-wing flamer Marc Surnow will have even more time to work on his fictitious trash Kennedy biopic for The History Channel, which you can learn about in the following clip).

Monday Stuff

“Worst Persons” (Russell Pearce, the asshat in the Arizona “lege” who had a lot to do with the “illegal to be brown” law, gets the “bronze” for declaring a war of sorts on “anchor babies” – sounds like somebody dropped an “anchor” on his head…and you might want to check out a document called the United States Constitution also; Glenn Beck gets the runner up for trying to propagate the lie that FDR was unpopular (more in a minute); but Bill Orally gets the nod for a reference about putting NBC News reporters and broadcasters in a “hole,” a subject about which Billo knows more that he’d probably like to admit, putting in objects that usually don’t go into one, I mean)…

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

…and here’s a bit of a history lesson to tell us how “unpopular” FDR was at the time of his passing…



…and the Flyers punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals tonight (good for the team – the hell with Snider); wonder if “Adolf” is rooting for them against the Black Hawks? And I thought he was mad when "Monty" kicked Rommel all over North Africa - lots of bad words ahead...



…and I haven’t featured a “relationship” song in awhile, so here’s one.

Monday Mashup Part Two (5/24/10)

(Part One is here.)

I give you Kathleen Parker in the WaPo on Saturday (here, about the flap in Connecticut with Dem Senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal over his military service)…

Who knows what motivated Blumenthal to stretch his truth? Perhaps it was survivor's guilt.

…

Had he gone to Vietnam, as he apparently thinks he should have, he would have learned…this: Real heroes never brag, and real Marines don't lie.

OK, Blumenthal screwed up, and I believe he has been justly punished at the polls; his once formidable lead against likely Repug challenger (and rasslin’ magnate) Linda McMahon has shrunken considerably (and on the controversy, I thought Media Matters made some good points here – h/t Atrios).

Well then, I’ll look forward to a column that I’m sure will be forthcoming from Parker in response to a similar deception from teabagger hero Chuck DeVore, running for the Repug U.S. Senate nomination from California (here). And I don’t recall Parker having anything to say about a similar deception regarding military service from Huckleberry Graham (here), as well as the granddaddy of them all when it comes to Repug dereliction of military duty (here).

And I would argue that Parker’s, shall we say, antiquated notion of women in combat is on display here. Maybe she should ponder all of this before she decides to pontificate about the military again.

Update 5/29/10: And I'll await the corporate media harrumphing from Parker and her pals on Repug Mark Kirk also based on this.

Update 1 6/2/10: Lather, rinse, repeat...

Update 2 6/2/10: And the Repug military embellishment "hits" just keep on' comin' (and yes, I know this is slightly different since the man in question is departed, but if nothing else, it proves that the Repug issue here crosses gender lines).

And speaking of war, Fred Hiatt of the Kaplan Test Prep Daily's Scribble Page (Parker's co-worker), is concerned that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going “unnoticed” (here).

As noted here, the Post allowed Vets for Freedom executive director Wade Zirkle to criticize Reps. Jim Moran and the late John Murtha in Hiatt’s Op-Ed section for their treatment of former Sgt. Mark Seavey, who chided the Democratic legislators at a January 5 (’06) town hall meeting in Virginia for saying that they "have talked to the troops and the troops are demoralized." Zirkle failed to note, however, that Seavey is one of the co-founders of Zirkle's organization (and Hiatt didn’t catch that somehow). I would say that that’s bound to have a “chilling effect” on any discourse on the war.

Also, if Hiatt is going to criticize anyone for silence on the war, he can start with his own Op-Ed writers, who also ignored it on its third anniversary (here). However, that wasn’t as bad as Hiatt’s own failure to question the veracity of the pre-war claims by Dubya and his pals, as noted here.

I reluctantly have to admit that Hiatt has a point about publicizing the wars. As far as I’m concerned, though, if he hadn’t failed so miserably in his duty to educate and inform on that score, our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan might not remain the mysteries that they are, sadly, to a great many people in this country.

And finally, it looks like the Garden State is getting wise in a big way to its bully of a governor (here)…

TRENTON, N.J. - Tens of thousands of New Jerseyans gathered Saturday near the Statehouse to protest Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget cuts, saying they wanted to send the governor a message that his priorities are "out of whack."

They urged him to reconsider his proposed cuts in school aid and other programs they consider vital.

State Police estimated the crowd at 25,000, one of the largest ever to protest in the state.

Of course, that isn’t going to have an impact on Christie – as noted here, he “swiftly vetoed” a “millionaires tax” along with property rebate legislation (and this tells you what Christie thinks of clean energy development).

And what a charming tone he struck with the opposition party also in response to a reporter’s question here.

I’ve made remarks in the past about the supposed “coronation” of Tom Corbett as PA governor in the past, and I probably shouldn’t have, but the presence of Christie holding that state’s executive power is all the motivation we should need to do what we can to make sure a similar Republican tragedy doesn’t occur across the river.

Update 1 5/25/10: More from Think Progress here...

Update 2 5/25/10: A shockingly sensible editorial on Corbett from the Inky here...