Friday Stuff

Hopefully back to posting soon, or Monday at the latest - we'll see...

Meanwhile, with an impending weather calamity facing this country, always count on Eric Cantor to be as big of a sleazy weasel as you can imagine (here)...



...and this song has nothing whatsoever to do with hurricanes, wind or rain, so here it is.

Thursday Stuff

Happy 90th birthday, believe it or not, to boomer icon Monty Hall (I can give you the birthday cake, or you can have what's behind Door Number 2 where Carol is standing...sssh, don't tell him it's 50 cases of Shinola...and "Irene," huh? And I'll bet those two Pontiacs would go for about four times that amount now, fully restored)...



...and from a huckster for fun, I now give you a huckster for real (if you like George W. Bush, you'll love Rick Perry)...



Update 9/3/11: Perry is worse than a joke - he's an obscenity (here).

..."Worst Persons" (Indiana State Rep Phillip Hinkle gets it for the reasons noted here - and as long as we're quoting Yes lyrics - well, I was going to say that "yours is no disgrace," but that would be a lie of course; Florida Congressman Steve Southerland continues to struggle under the apparently oppressive yolk of a low-six-figure salary and free health benefits and myriad other perks...God, are the Florida voters who elected these clowns the stupidest life forms in the universe, or what; but L.A. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt takes it for subjecting Vin Scully, of all people, to a fan poll that apparently will dictate whether or not Scully still has a job...the Phillies are my team, but as someone who respects a pro even if they're on the other side of the diamond, I think there's no way a legend like Scully should have to put up with this...got chopped off a bit at the end, but you get the idea)...



...and no, this isn't a weather forecast, though I suppose it could be.

Thursday Mashup (8/25/11)

I give you the following from clownhall.com…

PaulAzinger:POTUS has played more golf this month than I have. I have created more jobs this month than he has.

(By the way, this is one of the reasons why I hate Twitter, even though I know it’s the wave of the future, as they say. There are some concepts/ideas/themes/whatever that have no business being boiled down to 25 words or less, or whatever the maximum is. If people don’t have the time or the mental capacity to absorb more information…well, they just have to generate more time or more brainpower, that’s all.)

Update 8/28/11: OK, maybe "hate" is too strong - I see that Twitter has value as a "rapid fire" mode of communication, but I'm just saying that it shouldn't be used as a tool for critical analysis of substantive content, that's all, though often it is.

This “tweet” is from golfer Paul Azinger, who seems to have done well turning himself into a cottage industry after winning eleven tournaments in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s; in addition, he organized the U.S. Ryder Cup-winning golf team in 2008 (as noted here, though, the celebration was not without some rather pointless jingoism). He has also survived a bout of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and he has written two books about his career and his illness.

However, based on this, it seems that he’s “tweeting” to find out how successful he would be were he to run for public office.

Sooo…exactly how many jobs have you supposedly created this month, Azinger (and by the way, if you’re going to criticize Obama on that, it’s really weak to give the wretched 112th Congress a pass on this since the president, for the most part, doesn’t make law himself). And only a duffer would criticize a commander-in-chief for actually playing golf on his vacation.

Unlike this guy, of course (Number 43, I mean)…



Note to Azinger; it's nice that you've achieved some degree of success organizing a bunch of golfers, but if you have a plan, get in the public arena for real and tell us what it is, as opposed to taking shots at somebody else. Otherwise, you’re not “shooting for par” (sorry for the golf colloquialisms, but they’re too tempting…family members play it, but I’ve never been any good at the game myself).

Next, I give you J.D. Mullane of the Bucks County Courier Times, lamenting the recent passing of Joey Vento, proprietor of Geno’s Steaks in South Philadelphia (here)…

Joey Vento’s demand that his customers speak English was not about hate, as his critics said. It was a stand for common sense, a defense of the most precious bond that Americans share, a common language, English.

I think Vento’s “English only” policy was stupid; I mean, if he had such a problem trying to understand what his customers were saying, why didn’t his menu have letters or numbers associated with the selections? It’s a lot easier to understand “1, 2 or 3” or “A,B or C” instead of “cheese steak with or without onions, mushrooms or pepperoni,” or something. However, I understand how someone can make a case that he should have been allowed to put up his sign, stupid as it was.

But like Azinger, I think Vento let a little bit of celebrity go to his head; as noted here, he asked how you could give health care to 30 million people and save money over 10 years. “I’ve got a bridge to sell you if you believe that,” Vento said.

In response, I give you this (and as I pointed out at the time, we can be grateful that no one elected Joey Vento to a damn thing).

Continuing, George Will sneers as follows from his ivory WaPo tower here…

The residues of liberalism’s Wisconsin Woodstock — 1960s radicalism redux: operatic lamentations, theatrical demonstrations and electoral futilities — are words of plaintive defiance painted on sidewalks around the state capitol. “Solidarity forever” was perhaps painted by a graduate student forever at the University of Wisconsin. “Repubs steal elections” is an odd accusation from people who, seeking to overturn the 2010 elections, cheeredDemocratic lawmakers who fled to Illinois — a congenial refuge for labor-subservient Democrats — in order to paralyze the duly elected legislature. The authors of the sidewalk graffiti have at least read Jefferson: “The tree of liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants.” The tyrant is “$cott Walker American Fa$ci$t.”

Our well-kept right wing pundit would do well by his readers (assuming they weren’t as close-minded as he is) to read this, including a map of all of the states where labor is fighting back as a result of the power grab by the Kochs and Hosni Mubarak Walker in the “cheese head” state (with the Wisconsin tactics played out across the country).

And as noted here…

To recap: Democrats, using only volunteer help, forced recall elections in 75% of the Republican-held Senate districts eligible for recall. Republicans, on the other hand, forced recall elections in only 37.5% of the eligible Democratic districts, even with paid help and questionable tactics, including using forged signatures and offering free drinks to people in exchange for signing the recall petitions.

Early on, many observers and professional pundits argued that the recalls would be not only a referendum on Scott Walker and his supporters in the legislature, but also a measure of how Wisconsinites felt about the 14 Democratic senators leaving the state to block the bill. Reading the elections in those terms, the Republicans and Scott Walker lost big. They lost in one third of the six recall districts represented by Republicans, and gained no seats in the districts held by Democrats. As State Senator Lena Taylor of Milwaukee phrased it during a Madison, Wisconsin broadcast on MSNBC last week, she and her fellow Democrats “went into their backyard, into their sandbox, took their toys and made them ours.”

What about the Wisconsin 14 who left the state to slow down Governor Scott Walker and his allies in the legislature? Only three of them faced recalls, and they all performed strongly, one even better than he did in 2008.

Also, this tells us that the Dems have their work cut out for them in an effort to recall Walker, though a lot of that depends on the right candidate; it’s basically a tossup at this point, but definitely not a majority of support for Walker by any means…we’ll see.

Finally, the following column recently appeared in the Doylestown Intelligencer by Neil Samuels, vice chairman of the Bucks County Democrats…

Bucks County Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Pat Poprik recently made an outrageous and demonstrably false comment to your newspaper concerning the arrest of four Republican county employees, including the elected register of wills, Barbara Reilly.

Poprik claimed that Democratic County Commissioner Diane Marseglia is as responsible as Republican County Commissioner Charley Martin for not uncovering the alleged felonies and crimes that occurred in the courthouse (which included theft, conspiracy, tampering with evidence and official oppression).

Poprik’s exact quote was: “Diane was a commissioner at the time this took place. If Charley should have known, then she should have known.” Really? Did Poprik not read the grand jury report that led to the arrests? I find that hard to imagine, since the Republican Party headquarters where she spends so much time is frequently mentioned in the grand jury’s final report.

The grand jury cites numerous witnesses swearing under oath that employees from the county Register of Wills Office were paid with tax dollars for working on Republican political campaigns during work hours in the county courthouse and got paid off the books for working at the polls on election days. And 10 separate witnesses specifically admitted under oath that they and other employees also frequently left work and crossed the street to Republican Party headquarters to stuff envelopes, make phone calls or do other campaign chores.

Some readers might legitimately wonder whether any of these department employees ever worked on Democratic campaigns or at Democratic headquarters, and the answer is a resounding “no” for a very simple reason. As the testimony of the now-arrested administrator Candace Quinn is summarized in the report: “Quinn added that Reilly is also a Republican, as is every employee at the Register of Wills. Quinn admitted that in her 18 years in the office, there has never been a Democrat working there.”

Typical Repug garbage; in response, to help Dem Bucks County Commissioner candidates Diane Marseglia and Det Ansinn, click here.

Wednesday Stuff

I was driving back from Maryland yesterday on 95 when we had the earthquake - felt to me like tractor trailers passing by anyway, so I didn't notice much of anything (though Le Manse Doomsy was briefly disturbed for a time, as reported by my "better half"...all is well, though, and hopefully that goes for everybody else).

So, cue the obligatory video...



...and RIP Jerry Leiber (pics are from the film "American Graffiti," including a few actors we know well by now who were very, very young at the time - video goes for about 30 seconds too long, but it's still good)...



...oh, and as a reminder, here is the very definition of a "fighting Dem" (and in a related story, I was sorry to hear about this)...



...and were FDR alive today, I'm convinced that he would take dead aim at the Koch Brothers, for reasons such as those described here (this is a case study in using right-wing code language for "dog whistle" purposes, and also for fighting back).

Wednesday Mashup (8/24/11)

Oh noes! Looks like the Obama Administration is in trouble on the jobs issue (here)…

House Republican leaders used the new economic forecast from the Congressional Budget Office to criticize their Democratic counterparts for slowing the creation of jobs.

“The bottom line in this underwhelming report [is that] … President Obama’s policies are continuing to make it harder for the private sector to create jobs, and that’s continuing to make it harder to balance the federal budget,” Speaker of the House John Boehner wrote in a statement.

And check out this hilarious bit of editorializing in what purports to be a “news” story from The Daily Tucker…

The Republicans’ focus on jobs, rather than deficits, reflects recent polling that shows swing-voters are more concerned about high unemployment than high deficits.

Really? Anybody see a jobs bill from this bunch? Anybody?

And it sounds like Orange Man and his pals actually like the CBO now, doesn’t it?

Wonder why they didn’t here last January, when the CBO said that trying to repeal the health care law would add $230 billion to the deficit?

What a bunch of frauds (and here is an important reminder from Dem U.S. House Rep Joe Crowley).

Update 9/1/11: Oops, looks like the Repugs don't like the CBO again (here).

Next, someone named Maggie Gallagher at Irrational Spew Online here wonders if the gay marriage issue will spell defeat for Dem Dave Weprin, who is running against Repug Bob Turner for the New York seat that used to be held by Dem Anthony Weiner.

Well, seeing that gay marriage enjoys enough support to allow that state to become the sixth in the country to legalize gay marriage (here), I would be inclined to think that Gallagher and her pals will have to look somewhere else for a “wedge” issue (at the moment, Weprin appears to lead Turner by six points, as noted here).

As for the Repug candidate, Turner attacked Weprin for supporting the “ground zero mosque” here and also claimed that the Zadroga Bill shouldn’t cover volunteers who aided with 9/11 rescue and recovery here. So yeah, it looks like Turner is a good little Repug who would be a dutiful servant to the House Repug “leadership” (and more on Weprin is here).

Also, Joe Nocera opined as follows in the New York Times yesterday (here)…

Boeing’s aircraft assembly has long been done by its unionized labor force in Puget Sound, Wash. Most of the new (787) Dreamliners will be built in Puget Sound as well. But with the plane so far behind schedule, Boeing decided to spend $750 million to open the South Carolina facility. Between the two plants, the company hopes to build 10 Dreamliners a month.

That’s the plan, at least. The Obama administration, however, has a different plan. In April, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Boeing, accusing it of opening the South Carolina plant to retaliate against the union, which has a history of striking at contract time. The N.L.R.B.’s proposed solution, believe it or not, is to move all the Dreamliner production back to Puget Sound, leaving those 5,000 workers in South Carolina twiddling their thumbs.

Seriously, when has a government agency ever tried to dictate where a company makes its products? I can’t ever remember it happening. Neither can Boeing, which is fighting the complaint. J. Michael Luttig, Boeing’s general counsel, has described the action as “unprecedented.” He has also said that it was a disservice to a country that is “in desperate need of economic growth and the concomitant job creation.” He’s right.

I don’t know of a “government agency” dictating where a company makes its products either. However, I would suggest that providing tax incentives to companies to offshore our jobs, to say nothing of signing crappy trade deals into law, helps to “dictate where a company makes its products” also, and I don’t hear anything near the squawking on that that we should be hearing as far as I’m concerned.

Also, it should be noted that, in the 2008 Boeing strike, workers ended up losing $7 grand in salary, which demonstrates yet again that labor strikes rarely have clear winners and losers (here). And in ’09, Boeing said here they had to open the S.C. plant because they couldn’t get a no-strike deal with the machinists, but now, they say they would have opened the S.C. plant “regardless of the labor issue,” which sounds like a flip-flop to me (and as noted here, Boeing originally committed to a second plant in Puget Sound in ‘07, but switched to South Carolina in ’09…so, as far as I’m concerned, they went back on their word concerning their original deal).

In addition (here)…

Boeing executives, including (Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Jim Albaugh), have been saying good things about the importance of engineering in recent months and have shown “some signs” of following through on that talk, (Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace union spokesman Bill Dugovich) said.

“We’re looking forward to seeing more of that,” he said. “It’s good to hear the president of BCA say they’ve outsourced too much and they won’t outsource key technologies in the future again. Certainly the wing technology is one technology we pointed out repeatedly that that’s just a critical skill and institutional knowledge that should stay within the Boeing Company.”

As for production certainty and cost control, Dugovich said: “We recognize that those are important concerns for Boeing, and they’re concerns for us, too.”

In a letter to union machinists, International Association of Machinists District 751 President Tom Wroblewski agreed with Albaugh’s statements about the Puget Sound aerospace workers, outsourcing, Washington’s business climate and the desirability of putting future commercial airplane programs in the area.

“As far as his comments about strikes and wages go, well, I found it interesting that he’d say something like that just days after he and CEO Jim McNerney both collected $3 million bonuses,” Wroblewski wrote.

I’m willing to entertain a discussion on the merits of the Obama Administration’s efforts to tell Boeing to keep its aerospace jobs in Puget Sound. However, there are plenty of other examples of companies leaving their workforces high and dry for purposes of both on and offshoring, so when one comes along where unionized workers are being protected and they’re getting the work done…well, just don’t expect me to be terribly sympathetic to the company line, that’s all.

(More from Media Matters – turns out that Nocera’s column is more appalling than I imagined…he pledged to write another column about Republicans and non-job creation later, so it sounds like we have more false equivalency on display here.)

Finally, I give you the following from a speech Florida Senate Repug Marco Rubio gave invoking The Sainted Ronnie R (here)…

The answer to what the proper role of government is really lies in what kind of country we want to have. And I think the vast majority of Americans share a common vision for what they want our nation to be. They want our nation to be two things at the same time.

Number one: they want it to be free and prosperous, a place where your economic hopes and dreams can be accomplished and brought up to fruition. That through hard work and sacrifice you can be who God meant you to be. No matter who your parents were, no matter where you were born, no matter how much misfortune you may have met in your life, if you have a good idea, you can be anything if you work hard and play by the rules. Most, if not all, Americans share that vision of a free and prosperous America.

But they also want us to be a compassionate America, a place where people are not left behind. We are a nation that is not going to tolerate those who cannot take care of themselves being left to fend for themselves. We’re not going to tolerate our children being punished for the errors of their parents and society.

So, we are a nation that aspires to two things – prosperity and compassion. And Ronald Reagan understood that.

In response, I give you the following…

Rubio called for raising the age of eligibility to receive Social Security benefits here – so much for compassion.

He opposed adding immigrants to the census here.

Of course, Rubio favors tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations (here).

And that including making the Dubya tax cuts permanent (here).

Also, did I mention Rubio’s education plan cuts tax credits for low-income families to help rich pay for private schools (here)?

And as long as I’m on the subjects of The Gipper and “compassion,” I’d also like to offer the following quote (from here)…

“Is it news that some fellow out in South Succotash somewhere has just been laid off?” (3/16/82)

That Ronnie sure could turn a phrase, couldn’t he?

Monday Stuff

Gee, President Obama takes out both bin Laden and Quadafi - no wonder the wingnuts are beside themselves (And what calm, rational folks the Quadafi regime are, aren't they, as seen below? And no, I don't have a clue as to whether or not that's the correct spelling of his name...I don't know what it is anyway - I want to get to at least one more video on this, but probably not tonight; also, probably no posting tomorrow)...



...and considering the above, doesn't this look like a genius move from Former President Nutball in September 2004 (but ssshh, nary a word of reproach from our corporate media - audio at about :37)...



..."Worst Persons" (yep, I would say that Lamar Smith is a subject matter expert on embarrassing behavior, more proof that "values" charlatan Tony Perkins is a fraud, and sleazy weasel Eric Cantor penned some true dreck today in the WaPo, which I'm sure warmed the cockles of Fred Hiatt and his coal-black heart)...



...and RIP Nick Ashford - along with Valerie Simpson, this is one of their signature tunes…my condolences.

Monday Mashup (8/22/11)

Remember here, when the teabaggers got all upset at Marvel because, in a Captain America comic, they were depicted as holding completely authentic signs, and in the face of criticism, editor Joe Quesada utterly caved and apologized?

Well, in a related story, as they say, I give you this (the correct way to handle such a dustup)…

This year, Marvel Comics announced that multi-racial Miles Morales would be the new man behind Spider-man’s red and blue mask in “Ultimate Spider-Man.” Right on cue, right-wing punditry erupted in a racist rage against the idea of a biracial hero. Defunct Fox News host Glenn Beck lashed out at Marvel, calling Spiderman “a stupid comic book” and attributed the change as an intentional nod to Michelle Obama’s apparent agenda to “change our traditions.” In response, “Ultimate Spider-Man” writer Brian Michael Bendis found reason to celebrate: “We pissed off Glenn Beck, and that was amazing. I don’t think Glenn Beck is an idiot because he’s a conservative. I literally think he’s just an idiot. Regardless of his belief system, he’s just a lunatic. So that was hilarious…I told my wife that she doesn’t have to get me anything for my birthday because nothing will make me happier than this made me.”

Wallopin’ Websnappers!

Also, Tyler Cowen opined as follows at The Old Gray Lady yesterday (here)…

THERE’S been a lot of bad economic news lately, yet we may be overlooking the most disturbing development of all: our economic productivity has been weakening. This isn’t just a problem for the United States. Because America remains a leader in technology and innovation, it is also a matter of concern for the entire world.

Cowen actually cites some legitimate sources for his claim; our ridiculous health care expenditures in this country which basically don’t equate to better patient outcomes, our “expenditures on the military and domestic security” which “generally doesn’t produce useful goods and services that raise our standard of living,” the fact that the Chinese aren’t “taking the lead in creating breakthrough products,” etc. Oh, and Cowen also says, “One problem may be offshoring by American companies” though “(his) point is not to attack offshoring” (of course).

But out of all of this, Cowen arrives at the following conclusion…

“…Americans have not been getting the job done…”

I don’t know what “Americans” Cowen is referring to here, but this tells us the following…

WASHINGTON — The United States is out of step with the rest of the world's richest industrialized nations: Its economy is growing faster than theirs but creating far fewer jobs.

The reason is U.S. workers have become so productive that it's harder for anyone without a job to get one.

Companies are producing and profiting more than when the recession began, despite fewer workers. They're hiring again, but not fast enough to replace most of the 7.5 million jobs lost since the recession began.

Measured in growth, the American economy has outperformed those of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – every Group of 7 developed nation except Canada, according to The Associated Press' new Global Economy Tracker, a quarterly analysis of 22 countries representing more than 80 percent of global output.

Yet the U.S. job market remains the group's weakest. U.S. employment bottomed and started growing again a year ago, but there are still 5.4 percent fewer American jobs than in December 2007. That's a much sharper drop than in any other G-7 country. The U.S. had the G-7's highest unemployment rate as of December.

Also, this tells us how Americans are working part-time jobs to supplement their income.

This is pretty much what you’d expect from a “glibertarian” like Cowen, though, who blamed “immigrants who consume public services” for the deficit here and extolled our supposedly glorious private sector health care system in this country (as opposed to that baaad “big gumint” supposed Obama scheme of health care reform) here...so I guess what he says here about HCR basically constitutes a "flip flop," doesn't it?

Continuing, I give you the following inanity from The Daily Tucker (here)…

Barack Obama’s presidency is a disaster. But however low the Dow drops, however high unemployment goes, however many more times we engage in dubious foreign policy adventures like the Libyan war, one thing is for sure: Conservatives will never call for the assassination of the president.

Oh, that’s rich (would that it were true).

This tells us the following…

Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service.

(Note: This must be a right-wing site…a tipoff is all of the typos. However, the source information looks credible.)

Also, as noted here…

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

Also, wingnut Repug U.S. House Rep Paul Broun of Georgia was just a little bit late in responding to the supposed “joke” from a constituent about assassinating Obama (here), and this idiot Rex Rammell in Idaho made a supposed joke about “hunting” Obama here (and by the way, we’re still waiting for an apology for this).

Make no mistake – I agreed with practically nothing that Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History said or did during his ill-fated term, but despite that, I never wished for violence against him physically or against any other public figure. There are plenty of ways to express disagreement without acting in that uncalled-for fashion, and we should all hope and pray for the safety not just of President Obama, but of all of our public officials.

Also, I know it’s hard to believe, but it looks as though the Republican Party has finally found a tax cut it doesn’t like (here)…

Republicans are balking at President Obama's proposal to extend the payroll tax deduction for another year:

"It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn," says Rep. Jeb Hensarling, "but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again."

And why aren't they eager to extend it?

The 12-month tax reduction will cost the government about $120 billion this year, and a similar amount next year if it's renewed.

That worries Rep. David Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, and a member of the House-Senate supercommittee tasked with finding new deficit cuts. Tax reductions, "no matter how well-intended," will push the deficit higher, making the panel's task that much harder, Camp's office said.

…

Here's why Republicans don't want to do it: it's a twofer. They get to screw the President and they get to screw the middle-class, all at the same time. It's what they refer to as a "golden opportunity" and they don't want to pass it up.

This is typical for the bunch who removed a middle-class tax credit in January here (without a lot of fight from the Dems as nearly as I can tell). And from the “looking into the crystal ball” dept., I give you the following from Dem U.S. House Rep Pete Stark last December…

If Republicans want tax cuts for the wealthy, we should demand that they explain how to pay for them right now. We know how they will be paid for in the long run -- once Republicans are in the majority and flip-flop back to caring about the deficit, they will insist on "deficit reduction" legislation that slashes important programs that help working families -- all to pay down the deficit that this proposal creates.

In addition, this confirms the fact that the Dubya tax cuts were a complete failure; we experienced the lowest increase of GDP under Dubya than under any other president since JFK. And this tells us that they’re not deviating from the script in any way whatsoever (memo to President Hopey Changey: beat them over the head with this, metaphorically speaking, from now until Election Day...and here is more proof).

Finally (and speaking of Republican congressional numbskulls), I give you the following from the web site of Mikey The Beloved (here)…

“The vast majority of jobs created in our economy today are by small and independently owned businesses,” said Fitzpatrick at the town hall. “So if the federal government is serious about finally reducing unemployment, it needs to listen to the people that are in this room today. The ideas I heard today, including reforming the federal tax code, reducing excessive and redundant regulatory burdens, enacting real cost containment for healthcare, and preventing excessive litigation, are important steps I will advocate for in Washington to help jump start our economy.”

Fitzpatrick is already a co-sponsor of the REINS Act, which would require that Congress approve federal regulatory action that is expected to have an economic impact of at least $100 million.

“Already”? He’s been in office for eight months. What, does he expect fanfare or something?

As noted here, however…

(The REINS Act) would stop any major regulation issued by any federal agency from taking effect until it receives approval from both houses of Congress and the president. Boehner justifies the bill as a “transparency” and “accountability” measure, but it clearly takes aim at the White House, which, with the GOP now in control of the House, is relying heavily on agency rulemaking to advance its agenda in areas such as health care, financial regulation, and clean energy.

Yep, with the gridlock created by the wretched 112th Congress, particularly in the House, Orange Man and his pals are trying to hamstring the only means the Obama White House has of carrying out its agenda.

Of course, a Dem’s notion of implementing change in the face of congressional obstruction is a Repug’s notion of “excessive and redundant regulatory burden,” isn’t it?

Where are the jobs, Mikey??!!

Sunday Stuff

The first 3:30 or so of this clip is good, but Bernie Sanders really nails it in the last 30 seconds here (yes, it's a broken record, and I'll keep repeating it as long as I have to)...



Update 8/22/11: Good job by Sanders here also...

...and I meant to include this on Friday, but I changed my mind at the time, so here it is now.