Wow!

Glenn is on fire.

It is indeed difficult to believe that the country will so quickly return to power the same Republican Party -- in an even more warped and primitive form -- that virtually destroyed the U.S. over the last decade through a mix of extreme corruption, recklessness and lawlessness. But nothing is more foolish than underestimating the dangers that come from this potent mix of economic oppression and the aggressive fanning of racial and ethnic resentments.

More Religion

I am glad the NYT publishes stuff like this but it would be nice if they put the truth in the paper.

So where is this “media?” Two sources, and they are — no surprise here — the usual suspects. The first, of course, is Rush Limbaugh, who claims the largest radio audience in the land among the microphone demagogues, and his word is Biblical among Republicans. A few quick examples of the Limbaugh method:[....]
Climate-change denial is a special category all its own. Once on the fringe, dismissal of scientific consensus is now an ariticle of faith among leading Republicans, again taking their cue from Limbaugh and Fox.
It is nice to see that other people understand republicanism is a religion and you need faith to believe in it.

Faith

As with trust, faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief "not resting on logical proof or material evidence.

Do Not Care

The GOP plan is to do nothing because they do not care about you.

Should They Be Prosecuted?

Diaper Dandy Goes Into A Rage

Republican senator David Vitter, best known for paying prostitutes to put diapers on him, goes into a rage at the airport.

Why?

Are is the republican channel sniffing Bristol Palin's panties? Because that is what republicans do! But seriously what does she add to the public discourse? From Think Progress we get this exchange.

VAN SUSTEREN: I don’t want to pry to personally, but I mean, actually, contraception is an issue here. Is that something that you were just lazy about or not interested, or do you have a philosophical or religious opposition to it or…

BRISTOL: No. I don’t want to get into detail about that. But I think abstinence is, like — like, the — I don’t know how to put it — like, the main — everyone should be abstinent or whatever, but it’s not realistic at all.

Also, this brilliant proclamation from young Miss Palin. “It sounds naive.” Bristol added, “I just — I hope that people learn from my story and just, like, I don’t know, prevent teen pregnancy, I guess.”

If the republicans or her mother are going to trot out an unwed teenage mother, they should at least teach her to speak well in public. If Bristol were under 18, this would constitute child abuse. What exactly is this supposed to accomplish?

It is morally wrong to ask that question on TV. Think Progress has the video.

Liars!

That is what the republicans are. They can not win an argument by telling the truth so they lie and the media repeats their lies, so they have every reason to keep on lying. Steve Benen has a good post about the stimulus bill lies.

But putting the hypocrisy aside, I have to say, it's become pretty tiresome to hear Republicans talk about the debt. First, more than 90% of every GOP lawmaker in Congress endorsed a "stimulus" measure that would have added $3.1 trillion to the debt. If the party were overcome with fear about the budget and "generational theft," why vote for such a plan? (For that matter, why run on a 2008 platform calling for -- you guessed it -- trillions of dollars in additional debt?)

Second, the latest Republican attacks presuppose some credibility on debt reduction. It's probably worth reminding NRCC spokesman Ken Spain that Republicans who ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility added $5 trillion in debt, in just eight years, onto a pile for our grandchildren -- and have nothing to show for it except a deep and ugly recession.

Evil Bastards

I had forgotten about the right wing domestic terrorist Jim Adkisson. But dday at Hullabaloo has a post reminding us how the right wing hates America. This was not some random act of violence but egged on by the morally bankrupt conservative movement, that is led by the drug addled Rush Limbaugh. dday links to Sara at Orcinus who ends her post with this.

Among Adkisson's ranting was a clear statement: "This was an act of political protest." Which means that it was, by definition and his own admission, an act of domestic terrorism.

Our radio hate talkers incited a man to commit an act of terrorism. Just sit a minute and take that in. And the next time you hear them foaming on about how liberals are "soft on terrorism," reflect on the fact that they'd better hope to hell we don't get any more serious about it -- because if we do, their asses are going to be the first ones in the dockets.

If you do not remember Jim Adkisson, he was the guy in Tennessee who killed several people in a liberal church.

Republicans Still Not Serious

The sensible republicans cut to the stimulus bill will cut lots of jobs. Here is Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, who believes the spending should have been at least 50% larger.

Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among the most effective and most needed parts of the plan. In particular, aid to state governments, which are in desperate straits, is both fast — because it prevents spending cuts rather than having to start up new projects — and effective, because it would in fact be spent; plus state and local governments are cutting back on essentials, so the social value of this spending would be high. But in the name of mighty centrism, $40 billion of that aid has been cut out.

My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years.

From Steve Benen.

Dean Baker is thinking along the same lines: "We should talk about the spending cuts as job cuts. So cutting $100 billion from the stimulus means that they cut 500,000 jobs. (Working with the Romer-Bernstein numbers, $100 billion would increase GDP by $150 billion. This equals 1 percent, which they calculate translates into 1 million jobs. We divide by two [2-year savings] and get 500,000 jobs.) So the Collins-Nelson crew just cost 500,000 people their jobs. Isn't fiscal responsibility wonderful?"

The republicans will do whatever it takes to ruin the economy.

Republicans Want A Great Depression

That is why they are delaying the stimulus bill. Barack Obama should go on the TV and start ridiculing them for listing to the drug addled ravings of Rush Limbaugh. Who has said he wants Obama to fail. Republicans hate the American worker. Anyway, new jobless number is out and guess what? A new record!

New claims for unemployment benefits spiked to a quarter-century high of 626,000 last week, as businesses continued shedding workers to cope with the economic downturn.

The number represents a larger-than-expected increase over the 591,000 people who filed for benefits the week before, and sets the stage for another jump in the unemployment rate for January when it is released on Friday.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits also rose, to nearly 4.8 million, and is now at the highest point since recordkeeping began about 40 years ago.

Traitors

The south is still full of traitors. The republican party has become the party of the south. The dixiecrats have died or become republicans. Digby has a great post about the party of NO! I think you would do well to read it in its entirety, but I want to highlight this.

Much like the southern confederates of Lincoln's time, the modern Republicans believe that until Democrats sign on to their ideology, openly and without any deviation, they must stop them, no matter what the consequences. When they are in the majority, they dominate without apology and when they are in the minority, they throw themselves into the machinery to obstruct anything that isn't part of their agenda. They are perfectly willing to destroy the country.

More later.
More: I could not remember a comment that described my brother in law a cheap labor conservative and lover of southern heritage.* From the Guerrilla News Network. Via Libby

The ugly truth is that cheap-labor conservatives just don’t like working people. They don’t like “bottom up” prosperity, and the reason for it is very simple. lords have a harder time kicking them around. Once you understand this about the cheap-labor conservatives, the real motivation for their policies makes perfect sense. Remember, cheap-labor conservatives believe in social hierarchy and privilege, so the only prosperity they want is limited to them. They want to see absolutely nothing that benefits the guy – or more often the woman – who works for an hourly wage.

Bold is mine. But describes my b/l.
* Southerners like to say "Heritage not hate" when defending the battle flag of the confederacy. But it is their racist heritage and their treasonous heritage they are defending.

Picture Is Worth

Jill at Feministe has two pictures of presidents signing womens rights bills. Go over and compare and contrast.

Let Them Eat Sh*t!

wastewater, originally uploaded by matthewnstoller.

Oregon's Senator Gordon Smith says let them eat sh*t! If you do not know Mr Smith owns a large food processing company, Smith Frozen Foods. It has hired illegal aliens over the years too! But according to the Sierra Club his waste water pond collects municipal(human feces) waste from the nearby town of Weston. He then will use the water on his fields. How often I do not know. Matt Stoller has a great paragraph that sums up the whole conservative movement.

That is completely gross, but totally in character for Republicans. Rick Perlstein has documented what he calls 'e coli conservative' policies has led to contamination of, among other foods, spinach, peanut butter, tomatoes, Taco Bell lettuce, mushrooms, pet food, and more. You just don't expect a Republican Senator to actually grow and sell these contaminants for millions of dollars (which he then used to stay in office). Usually, it's a little less direct than that, large agribusiness bribes the Republicans to do their bidding, and then these companies drop sewage into our food supplies. I guess in these hard times, Gordon Smith has decided to cut out the middleman.

Boycott Smith Frozen Foods!

Forced Pregnancy

The people who are against abortion are for forced pregnancies. They do not care about the health of the mother. They have no problems with rape. They will just blame the victim. Sick uncaring people they are.

The people behind the ad.

Republican Porn

Kieth Olbermann discuses republican pundit Rich Lowry"s VP debate column. Via Atrios.

James Wolcott on Lowry.

Good thing Palin didn't blow a kiss at the camera or Lowry might have fucking fainted. I'm not a licensed psychotherapist but when you think the people on TV are addressing you personally and directly it's often a sign of incipient dementia.

I confess to being immune to Palin's contrived charms. Everything about her strikes me as phony--she possesses about as much depth as aluminum siding.

Via Kos who Thinks there is something wrong with these people.

It's like Care Bears meets Jenna Jameson!

War Crimes

From McClatchy

It was largely the work of five White House, Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers who, following the orders of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, reinterpreted or tossed out the U.S. and international laws that govern the treatment of prisoners in wartime, according to former U.S. defense and Bush administration officials.

The Supreme Court now has struck down many of their legal interpretations. It ruled last Thursday that preventing detainees from challenging their detention in federal courts was unconstitutional.

The quintet of lawyers, who called themselves the “War Council," drafted legal opinions that circumvented the military's code of justice, the federal court system and America's international treaties in order to prevent anyone — from soldiers on the ground to the president — from being held accountable for activities that at other times have been considered war crimes.

Via Atrios

Immoral Republicans

Majikthise says:

With so many Republican scandals, it is getting difficult to keep track. I think we need to come up with some catchy mnemonics. In the meantime, remember: Issa's the alleged car thief. Fossella's the bigamist facing DUI charges.

I still find it funny that Issa made his money from car alarms. He is the voice on the classic car alarm ad that says "Back away from the car."

Toxic

The Bush administration has become toxic. It is so bad that a former member of the Hitler youth, the Pope, will not break bread with him. The former Attorney General can not find a job. John Yoo, Bush's torture enabler only has a job because of tenure.

I am no fan of the Pope but I wish more people would follow his example. Do not eat with these people. Not only Bush, but the whole lot of them, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powel,Tenet, Feith, Addington, Levin, Yoo, anyone involved in this torture.

Freedom

The video is of Ritchie Havens sing the song Freedom/Motherless Child.

In honor of Don Siegalman being released from prison. It was Bush league justice that got him convicted.

Bush League Justice

The question is how many more Sue Schmitz are there. This is what the US Attorney's are doing to keep their jobs. Scott Horton keeps up with her story.

I am still looking at the charges and the evidence relating to them. At this point I’ll just say I’m terrifically unimpressed. The charges are at a minimum filled with hyperventilation and distortion, and it may be much worse than that. But even if they were true, what would the solution be? Is it normal to bring a federal prosecution against a school teacher who fails to perform all of her teaching plan? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? The normal course would be for her contractor (which is not the state of Alabama) to fire her. And in fact they did. That firing was contested, and the court ruled that her firing was wrongful. It’s on appeal now. Of course, these are “inconvenient facts,” so the Birmingham News doesn’t share any of them with you. The Birmingham News is not interested in fairly presenting the facts, it’s engaging in character assassination. . . of a 63-year-old retired social studies teacher. It’s mind-boggling.