One for the Ages

A unionized public employee, a teabagger and a CEO are sitting at a table.  In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it.  The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, looks at the teabagger and says, "Watch out for that union guy.  He wants a piece of your cookie."

Fun with Numbers

According to the Financial Times (article is behind a paywall, citation from here):

The Republican plan to slash government spending by $61bn in 2011 could reduce US economic growth by 1.5 to 2 percentage points in the second and third quarters of the year, a Goldman Sachs economist has warned. 

Now, I trust Goldman about as far as I can throw them, ethics-wise.  But I do trust them to be clear-eyed when it comes to economic projections.  That's their bread and butter.

According to this website, the GDP from Q4 2010 was $13.38 T.  That's more than thirteen trillion dollars.  So if the economy grows by 1.5 to 2 percentage points less, that's at least $200 billion dollars less money sloshing around in the economy, paying people and buying stuff. 

How many jobs do you suppose that is, even after the super-wealthy take their outsized cut? 

Oh yeah.  They don't care.

Dear slight majority of Americans:  You voted for these guys why again?

How the Other Half Thinks

Scott Walker got punk'd yesterday, and had a 20 minute phone call in which he spoke quite candidly about what's going on in Wisconsin with Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast (or 50 Most Loathesome fame), thinking Murphy was David Koch of the Koch brothers.

You can listen to the call here:



and here:



Edited transcript here.

Koch Whore Pays the Vig

If there was any doubt that Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is anything other than a bought-and-paid-for thug for the parasite class, this and this should put those doubts to rest.

If he was arguing in good faith, that Wisconsin's budget troubles necessitate some collective belt-tightening and that public-sector unions have to do their fair share of the tightening, that would be one thing.  Those unions have said over and over that they'd be willing to sit down with the governor, and would even make many of the concessions he's asking for in order to strengthen Wisconsin's budget picture.  But that's not what he's asking for.  In fact, he's not asking for anything, he's playing Big Daddy and telling them what he's gonna do, and what he's gonna do is strip away the public-sector unions' collective bargaining rights.

So why does Scott Walker hate working people?

Something I've Noticed

When Republicans win, by whatever margin, it is not only a mandate from the people, but God's will, and everyone who thinks otherwise can go suck it, and shut up, that's why.

When Democrats win, by whatever margin, it is evidence not only of voter fraud, but the hijacking of our great nation by dangerous, un-American forces bent on destroying everything the Founding Fathers stood for, and Republicans and their associated cadres of Libertarians, militiamen, and now Tea Partiers have not only the right but the absolute obligation to do everything in their power, to lie, cheat, threaten, and kill if need be, in order to take their country back.

Pre-emptive Schadenfreude, or The Silver Lining

Everybody seems to agree that today will be an electoral bloodbath, not only for Democrats, but sane people who would like to see the nation's problems addressed in a constructive manner by qualified grownups in general.  And of course I do not wish to downplay the severity or tragedy that I believe is afoot.

But there is something funny that I think will come as an unintended consequence for those making up the bulk of the Tea Party movement.

From much of what I have read, the Tea Party is largely made up of anti-Socialist activists who have lots of time on their hands to go to rallies and listen to talk radio because many if not most of them are on some sort of state-sponsored financial support, be it Social Security, Federal Disability, or Medicare.  And while they do not appear to appreciate or even see the irony of such a position, there will be ironically hilarious consequences to their activism and votes for their wing of the Republican party.

See, the two things I think we can credibly expect from a Republican-controlled House of Representatives are a) investigations, most if not all of them spurious, into any- and everything the White House does or has done, and, more importantly, b) another Government shut-down like they pulled in the '90s when they don't get their way legislatively.  And that's where the hilarious irony kicks in, because when the shut-down occurs, all those dumb fucking assholes who voted Tea Party and who live on Social Security, Disability, and Medicare are suddenly going to stop receiving those checks.  If the shut-down goes on long enough, some of them may lose their homes, or become sick, or possibly even die, and it'll be their own damn fault for not paying sufficient attention to the actual policy outcomes and political platforms of the people and party they voted for.  They'll have to live in the dog-eat-dog paradise that is the unregulated market without the social safety net government properly provides, and may their God help them when they are suddenly forced to realize just what that really means.

And, individually, it will be tragic.  Just absolutely horrifying.  And it may make me a bad person to think that it's funny, or will be.  But I suppose I am, at heart, American enough to enjoy seeing people get what they deserve, and as I am forced to watch this land that I love turn away from what I believe in my heart to be the right way forward, and to become less than it is or should be, I cannot help but take some small comfort in the suffering of those who helped bring it about.

Curb-Stomping the Bitch

You know she had it coming.  If the damned media hadn't edited the video you'd see that that woman was totally a Muslim sleeper agent, probably illegally Hispanic, and that the ironic Republicorp Employee of the Month award she was attempting to give Rand Paul was so dangerously unConstitutional and would have done such grievous ideological and political harm to his anointed candidacy, that the Confederacy Republic, God bless her, would never have recovered.  So really, these large and seemingly irrationally violent men should lauded as the heroes they truly are, bravely and selflessly wrestling this small, suspiciously swarthy woman to the ground and stomping the Satan out from under her disguise wig.

Hell, bitch is lucky they didn't express their Second Amendment rights, too.  You know she was asking for it.  They all are.


UPDATE:  The curb-stomper in question appears to be directly involved with Rand Paul's campaign.  Which makes Paul's non-condemnation on Fox news even more craven.  I guess what they say about lying down with dogs must be true...

Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow

While we were distracted searching for Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, Iran began revving up its actual nuclear program and Osama bin Laden and his fanatics ran free to regroup in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We handed Al Qaeda a propaganda coup by sacrificing America’s signature values on the waterboard. We disseminated untold billions of taxpayers’ dollars from Baghdad’s Green Zone, much of it cycled corruptly through well-connected American companies on no-bid contracts, yet Iraq still doesn’t have reliable electricity or trustworthy security. Iraq’s “example of freedom,” as President Bush referred to his project in nation building and democracy promotion, did not inspire other states in the Middle East to emulate it. It only perpetuated the Israeli-Palestinian logjam it was supposed to help relieve.

-Frank Rich

PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD

As requested by John Cole, my favorite political blogger.  Pretty f-cked up sh-t.  Read about it here.

This Is Awfully Smart and Well Put-Together

Further Evidence that Teabaggers are Dicks

Some folks, while caucusing in a rented classroom at the nearby middle school, got it in their heads that the classroom’s teacher was a commie liberal indoctrinating the children with commie liberalism, and so they just dug through all of his stuff and trashed the place.

-Wonkette

Hear fawking hear.

True Dat

Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty.
-Bill Maher

Hmmm...

It's almost as if the right-wing crowd is only offended by government abuses when they're imaginary.

-Steve Benen

I hadn't thought about it that way, but you have to admit, it makes a certain amount of sense. Otherwise, why is it that the Tea Party, who are, apparently, so upset over government overreach, not rallying against Arizona's new immigration bill? Seems like it'd be exactly the kind of thing they'd be up in arms against, if their stated reasons for their protest were factually accurate.

Whatever the explanation, I'm sure there's not a racial component to it. I mean, it's not like we have a Hispanic in the White House.

Credit Where Credit is Due

"...It does offend me when one out of every three citizens in the state of Arizona are Hispanics, and you have now put a target on the back of one out of three citizens, who, if they're walking their dog around a neighborhood, if they're walking their child to school, and they're an American citizen, or a legal, legal immigrant -- to now put a target on their back, and make them think that every time they walk out of their door they may have to prove something. I will tell you, that is un-American. It is unacceptable and it is un-American."
-Joe Scarborough

He's right. It is un-American.

It's like in every movie ever about Nazis or Commies or Fascists or whatever other totalitarian regime, historical or fictional.

"You have papers?"

I don't think the incrementalism is creeping anymore, at least not in Arizona.

To the Late-Night Kids From the Bar Last Night

So, I generally have two responses when people I don't know ask me to hook them up at the bar. The thing you have to understand is this: at this point, you're already an asshole. In fact, even if I know you, and have swung you a little love in the past, you're still an asshole for asking. The reason you're an asshole is that a shot is a shot and the price is the price, and it's up to me, not you, to decide whether and when to bend or break the rules. And if I do decide to do that, it's usually for a good reason: either you're a friend, or a regular, or somebody who's been good to me, who's built up a bit of goodwill through playing the game according to the rules.

And one of the rules is this: you never ask for anything that you do not expect to pay full price for, no matter what your history with the establishment or the person serving you. Period. It's not classy, and it's not okay. It may be that you have some relationship with the place, or the people serving you. It may be that you have been comped a drink or two in the past, or had your bill discounted because the people there like you. Good for you. Probably you did something to deserve it, and you should figure out what it was and keep doing it.

But when you walk in the door, you have your money ready and you expect to pay for what you get, just like everybody else.

What he said.

Asshole of the Week

And if we do a proper job, if we break the windows of hundreds, thousands, of Democrat party headquarters across this country, we might just wake up enough of them to make defending ourselves at the muzzle of a rifle unnecessary.
Sons of Liberty, this is your time.
-Mike Vanderboegh

Mike Vanderboegh is a 'Christian Libertarian' and former militiaman who lives outside Birmingham, Alabama. Recently, he's gotten a lot of attention for his online call to break the windows of Democratic party offices nationwide, in response to passage of the Affordable Care Act, which he deems an unacceptable intrusion of government into the lives of its citizens. And despite the fact that people have taken him up on it, and have indeed taken things even further (death threats, noose-faxes, the gas line at a Democratic Congressman's brother's home intentionally and maliciously cut), he stands by his call to vandalism.

So, you ask, what does this principled libertarian, who so abhors government handouts and the redistribution of wealth to the poor and the sick, do for a living? You know, when he's not committing acts of sedition and encouraging petty criminality in the service of right-wing terrorism?

Why, it turns out Mr. Vanderboegh doesn't work at all. Doesn't earn his money by trading his skills and his productivity for money in the free market. Nope. Mike Vanderboegh is on federal disability.

That's right. This principled libertarian is just another welfare queen, buying t-bones with his food stamps. Probably has a cell phone, too. I bet if he were old enough, he'd probably be on Medicare.

What an asshole.

True Dat

"It's no good for a family values Republican to get picked up on a DWI. But substantially worse to get picked up for a DWI after leaving a gay nightclub with an unidentified man in a state vehicle."
-Josh Marshall

Go Rachel