July 2009 Archives

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Speaking of former Governor Palin, this is the best synopsis that I’ve seen of the incoherent babbling she called a farewell speech. From Gawker: “It's like Peggy Noonan, Jack London, and William Faulkner wandered into the woods with three buttons of peyote and one typewriter, and only this speech emerged. And she wrote this speech! In advance, on paper! What does any of it mean? It is amazing.” You betcha!...

The “birthers,” that formerly fringe element of the Republican Party who still question the citizenship of President Obama, are back in the news because of this video from a townhall meeting held by Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware. The disturbing part of this clip is not the lady waving her own birth certificate around and screaming “I want my country back,” but the cheers she gets from the others in attendance, and the boos Rep....

As Congress struggles with healthcare reform, there is a lot of incendiary rhetoric, dire predictions and hyperbole coming from Republicans and especially the jabbering class on television and radio.  They scream a continuous stream of silly hot button talking points like "socialism, socialist, government takeover, rationing," etc., etc., designed to scare people, protect the insurance companies and big pharma, and ultimately kill healthcare reform.Rather than engage at their level, with all the screaming, let's just...

Last week at their national convention, the Young Republicans elected a new chairman who had been caught cheering on racist comments on her own Facebook page and who is known for racial and ethnic slurs.  Why would they do that, you ask?  Well, you never really know, but her opponent had her own problems; she had been embroiled in an alleged voter fraud incident that had forced her to resign from her job with the...

Here are some interesting pieces that I read this last week:Farewell to Harms - Peggy Noonan about Sarah PalinShe Broke the GOP; Now She Owns It - Frank Rich  on Sarah Palin Police Raid Boosts Francine Busby - Politico.  Police, complete with helicopter, raid Democratic fundraiser, rough up the candidate and guests, uses pepper spray, arrests host.  Nice.Did Santorum Tip Off Ensign? - TPM Muckraker.  John Ensign pre-empted a disclosure about an affair by announcing...

As Republicans worked feverishly last week to politicize the Honduran coup and deportation of it's president, Manuel Zeyala, they made some pretty amazing statements trying to tie President Obama with Castro and Chavez.  In making their false arguments, of course, they left out the other 190 countries in the UN and the OAS that condemned the events in Honduras.  In the heat to the oratorical battles, Mel Martinez, now apparently GOP spokesman for all things...

Republicans, in concert with conservative bloggers and publishers, are taking one of the strangest political positions I've ever seen, next to, that is, the idiocy of cutting taxes during time of war.  In their continuing down-is-up, black-is-white, sky-is-purple world, they are now backing the military coup against the democratically elected president of Honduras, all to score cheap political points against President Obama.  In supporting the illegal military coup, conservatives (and now Congressional Republicans) are advocating...

As a fun bit of time trivia, at 5 minutes and 6 seconds after 4 am this morning, the time and date was:04:05:06 07/08/09Numerologists put all kinds of significance on that time alignment, but I just think it's interesting....

Vocal opponent to healthcare reform, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, had an uh-oh moment when was pinned down by questioners at a town hall in Waukon during the Independence Day break.  Clearly unhappy attendees were asking him about why he had such great healthcare and they didn't.  His handling of the situation was, uh...awkward:So.  Grassley's doesn't even know how much his plan costs or what his deductible is.  Clearly, he is so secure with his...