Placing blame.

So, Cheney was on Fox News this weekend being interviewed by, to borrow a phrase from Rush, Republican butt-boy Chris Wallace. Cheney was being Cheney, so there's no real reason to go into his interview in depth. He's upset about CIA investigations, he kept America safe, Torture is Awesome, the Rule of Law is so passe, blah, blah.

I'd like to focus for a moment about the Bush/Cheney 'kept us safe' claim. This post from Crooks and Liars touches on this a little (and has the interview, if you can stand it). What has always amazed me is that Cheney continually claims credit for keeping us safe except, well, I'm fairly certain 9-11 happened on his watch. I don't know why they get a pass on this. I really do not know, except that I do. This country still (STILL!) has a slavish devotion to the idea that Republicans are Responsible Adults, and Democrats are Dirty Hippies. 

It is annoying. There are no shortage of people who blame Clinton for the 9-11 attacks. Just Google "Clinton Responsible 9-11" and click to your heart's delight. Here's a good one.  Still, it amazes me that Cheney/Bush get a pass for 9-11.  Yes, we kept you safe, except for that one little, tiny time we didn't, but that was some other guy's fault. It was the Fall!  The good teevee was coming on after the long summer! It's not out faaaaaaaaaaaauuuult!

Let me take a stab at an analogy. Say Cheney is baby-sitting for you. He does this every day for eight years. Somewhere around 9 months into his baby-sitting term he leaves the baby outside the grocery and a dog mauls the baby and takes off an arm or two. Then nothing happens to the baby again for 7.25 more years. Did he keep the baby safe? Is that any comfort to this 2nd grader who now has to hold his crayons in his mouth? Then to top it off, he loudly proclaims that a) he did not harm the baby, b) left the baby better than he found it, and c) it doesn't matter anyway because the whole event was really the previous baby-sitter's fault because he would occasionally go to the same grocery store.

Look, I don't blame 9-11 (entirely) on Bush/Cheney, though their hubris certain didn't help anything. I won't say 'no one', but it was not widely thought that anything on that scale could happen at the time. I am in no way a truther, and I've always given them a bit of a pass for the original attack. But Pride is one of the deadly sins, and America has always had it in spades. And Cheney's behavior, along with the behavior of his minions, has since been inexcusable. It's amazing to me that this man can still run around the country crying 'Terrorist Lover' to anyone who happens to think that Maybe Torture is Wrong. He is a discredited sad old man and the world would be a better place if he would finish his life in quiet retirement. But of course, he does have his fans, and always will.

If Cheney was a Democrat, well, first, he would be a completely different person, but more importantly, FOX, Rush and the dittoheads would actually consider him at fault for the attack that happened on HIS watch. Instead, he gets to mouth off on FOX News 8 years later about how he kept us all Safe. Except for that one time. I think this lone citizen said it best.

Anyway...

Things that are not helping.

Let me take a moment to castigate (castrate?) MSNBC. Apparently they, while charging the people that are bringing guns to these town hall meetings with being insane racists, cropped the head off a photo of one of these individuals. Unfortunately, it appears they did not crop the head off this individual to protect his identity. No, he was a black dude. Some crazy brought a fucking gun to a Town Hall, AND he just happened to be black.  Predictably, the right wing went nuts. Also, predictably, their nutzary was twofold. First, obviously, since ONE black guy brings a gun to a town hall, none of the other white guys could POSSIBLY be RACIST. No, they are good Americans who are just exercising their rights. 

But, secondly, and more importantly, the Left Press does NOT get to lie. Often, the Right treats the mere expression of an opinion with a Liberal bent as Lying, which is why it is especially important that Liberals fact check their shit before presenting anything. (Just ask Dan Rather, not that I consider him a lefty, but he certainly said something naughty about the Chimp.) Now, I personally do not have to worry about this as I pass only opinion and very little fact. But mainstream press outlets do have to worry about it. And if MSNBC wants to fashion itself as a Liberal response to Fox, (which incidentally will be slow going as long as Big Joe is on every fucking morning) they are going to have to make sure this shit doesn't happen. So, if a Nut shows up at a town hall meeting with a gun and he's black don't just try to push the convenient 'Racist' theme, no matter how true or deserved; push the Nuts theme. Nuts come in all sizes, shapes and colors. It's a great country.

Anyway...

Apocalypse wow...

I've longed held faith that the human race has the power to destroy itself. In fact, I believe it's likely. Actually, I don't think we could destroy the entirety of the race. We are too smart and resourceful a species. Undoubtedly a few would survive, perhaps in caves deep underground, with a well placed clean water spring and heated from the core of the earth. Survivors will dine on rats and bats while waiting for the nuclear night to die down. At any rate, the madness of human population explosion is bound to end eventually, one way or another, and the survivors will probably end up living more like the American Indians, or other 'indigenous' peoples from across the globe, who lived for thousands of years before European ideas of advancement and greed became the norm for 'progress'.  I mean, I like the electric guitar as much as the next head-banger, but one has to wonder, is it worth it? I don't know.

Anyway, Slate did this awesome thing recently where they came up will 120 or so ways America might meet its grizzly end. Granted, these scenarios focus just on the end of American dominance and not a full fledged world-wide Apocalypse, but hey, it's something. Check it out.

Two points of view

So, about a week ago Glenn Beck called Obama "a racist" and said he had "a deep seated hatred of white people." Now, I will be the first to admit that I have a deep seated hatred of Glenn Beck. Why? Because he says patently stupid and inflammatory, and generally unhelpful, things in front of a national audience. After he said this incredibly Stupid Thing he walked it back 30 SECONDS later. He walked it back, 30 SECONDS later on FOX. He was amongst friends is what I'm saying. That's how stupid what he said was.

So, as a result, ColorOfChange started e-mailing advertisers to alert them to Glenn Beck's unsubstantiated and completely nuts comments and encourage said advertisers to not support this sort of program. Quite a few advertisers have pulled out, including Geico and Men's Wearhouse. 

Redstate.com objects to all of this. If Glenn Beck goes, the Liberal Nation will be empowered and Conservatives will be on the chopping block! After all, Glenn Beck is just the sort of person you want representing the Conservative point of view. And, of course, they do so in the most reasonable way possible, "Obama Brownshirts Try to Silence Glenn Beck." So, if I am understanding correctly, anyone who supports reasonable political discourse in this country (and obviously I do not personally hold myself to the 'reasonable' standard, but I'm not on TV), is a Nazi and anyone who thinks Glenn Beck is a fucking moron is on Obama's personal payroll. Glad I understand RedState's position.

Anyway...

Nothing for Nothing

So, the living will consultation provision is out of the health care bill. Good job, Wingnuts! Way to make things worse! Again! You must all be so fucking proud! You can read about this news pretty much anywhere, but for the full flavor of paranoia with just a soupcon of psychosis you have to check out the comments at Michelle Malkin. 

Anyway, I don't know WHY Democrats do this shit. To recap, a perfectly reasonable provision is added to a bill, Living Wills are a good thing, and as with most good things, providing funds and encouragement (though I'm not sure encouragement was included in the Bill) to do good things is not bad. So, good provision added to the bill. Then Prominent Republicans, I'm looking at YOU, Sarah, make up ridiculous lies about the provision, I believe the phrase "Death Panels" was thrown around. The Sheep bought it and went to town halls to throw Hissy Fits, Fox News reports it as gospel, and... Surprise, Surprise, the Democrats take out the good provision in order to... WHAT?! 

Seriously, What!? They are not going to get ONE vote, nobody who is against heathcare believes the Dems are acting in good faith anyway, so WHAT exactly do they hope to accomplish by caving?

One thing I grudgingly admire about Republicans is they will fight to the death for what they believe even when what they believe is proven tragically and factually wrong. I mean, this is also why I can't stand Republicans, but a bit more of that sort of spine from the Dems would work wonders. But, no, they want Chuck Grassley to think we're all friends. Fucking idiots. So now, once again, the HealthCare bill is weakened for No Reason Whatsoever. Good job, fucknuts.

Anyway...

Fox News, Protectors of Free Speech

So, Steve Benen posted a video today, and said little except to lament the state of political discourse in our union. And like an idiot I watched it.  Now, the video is 7 minutes of unedited Fox madness and I can really not tolerate much more than 30 seconds at a time, but it was interesting to watch the whole thing.

Anyway, the video is of Fox 'Correspondent' Megyn Kelly going after Bill Burton from the White House. Now, sadly, this video was posted as 'Bill ignores Kelly's questions", all conspiratorial like, which is pretty much how Megyn tried to frame the 'conversation'. What I saw was a government official trying to have an honest conversation with the press and he couldn't Quite believe the level of stupidity he was dealing with. But hey, I'm one of those idiot Libruls.

So, the first 3 minutes of the video was dedicated to Megyn asking if the White House was going to Delete the e-mails after they had responded to them. Now, I barely made it past this, because it is blisteringly stupid. There is a records act which Prohibits the deleting of White House e-mail, you may recall the Bush Administration had a little trouble with this policy. Then, after Bill struggles to understand why she's asking if he is doing something either A) unnecessary, or B) illegal, Megyn switches gears and states that she does Indeed know about that retention act, and that this is a really a free speech issue.

My suspicion is that she was trying to trap Bill, but let's not speculate and assume she's working in good faith (which she wasn't or she would've brought up the act right away, rather than wallowing in innuendo for 4 fucking minutes, but...).  She now states that people might be worried about sending an E-mail to a neighbor, because that e-mail might be forwarded to the White House.  Keep in mind, the people she is likely referring to now feel comfortable showing up to town halls with "Death to Obama" signs. Ok, one guy did this, but I've yet to see any serious outcry from the Right.

Though, I have to say, I understand this fear; not necessarily legitimate, but I understand. Thinking back, I wouldn't have wanted people forwarding my e-mails anywhere where they could be read by Karl Fucking Rove (even though I'm sure my e-mails are all in a database somewhere already, along with yours), so it's fair that a person might not want shit forwarded to David Axelrod.  However this concern would carry FAR more weight if Megyn or her 'news' network gave a good goddamn about privacy during the Bush administration. For the last eight years Bush has been mining telecommunications and e-mail completely indiscriminately in the name of warring terror. This is well documented, Congress passed a retroactive law to protect Telecom agencies from any punishments for cooperating with Bush spying demands. (Barack signed off on that, I might add, after he PROMISED NOT TO. Kind of a big deal to some of us.) So, this seems more like a concern for Fox ONLY when Democrats are in power. Principles are principles, or so I've been told, at least for some of us. 

Despite the hypocrisy of Fox, they do have a point. I would call this a minor error on the part of the White House.  But they do finally have a website set up now to handle all the Healthcare bullshit that's been flying around out there, mostly perpetrated by people like Megyn, I hope they keep it up. And maybe we won't have to send them e-mails, though really, thanks to Bush, the Executive Branch (i.e. Obama) already has access to ALL your shit. To sum up, spying is legal, privacy is passe, and Fox, despite current protestations, helped it happen. 

Anyway...

HealthCare Crisis. Solved!

I've been following the healthcare debate fairly closely for a while now.  I'm fairly sure HealthCare will get passed, and I'm fairly sure it will be better than what we have now. And I'm fairly sure it will be improved over time. And, should all this come to pass, I am damn fucking sure that in 30 years you will have small government, conservative idiots screaming, "Tell the Government to Keep their Hands off my ObamaCare!"

I was trying to find this one, rather heartbreaking, video of a woman who's Grandmother and sister are both being kept alive by Medicare, but she's still at a Townhall terrified of 'Government Intervention." Anyway, her fears are not uncommon and if you look, it is not difficult to find people who express the sentiment, "Tell the government to keep their hands off my MediCare!" Such people are deeply confused. Clearly. However, they do provide a solution to solving the Healthcare debate. 

I think that President Obama should call for a six month spending freeze on Medicare and Medicaid. Sure, people will die. Probably quite a few people. But it's ok, because the only thing keeping those people alive is the evil federal government. And the best part of this plan is it will have broad support from the Republicans, because they hate wasteful spending on things like the health and well-being of the citizenry.

Then, after six months of seeing their Grandparents not getting the federal assistance they need to live, perhaps all these idiots screaming at these town halls will be ready for a serious discussion on healthcare. The ones still alive that is.

Come on, Obama. You've proved you're willing to kill people in Afghanistan for the greater good. Now you just have to be willing to kill them here. Good luck.

Anyway...

All the Little Bubbles

I've been thinking a lot about the various crazinesses that have been going on since Obama was elected President.  And there have definitely been people who are showing up at these healthcare town halls that are completely unhinged. They are actually, genuinely, angry and scared that their side isn't in power anymore. And I understand that, I was angry and scared when MY side wasn't in power. (I don't think it's a equal comparison exactly, but I'll let it go. For now.). 

Anyway, my point is this. 53% of the population voted for this man. I realize you get the motivated crazies to come out to these things, but honestly, don't these people know ANY liberals? I mean, I know Conservatives. I have Conservative friends and relatives, and we talk politics (granted, it's about the only thing I can talk about at length) and sometimes things get heated, but I don't hate them afterward or ever. I just don't know what kind of life you have to have where you are clearly not getting ANY input from the other side to tell you that you are off your nut.  (Also, I don't like using the word 'side' exactly, but for purposes of this post it will do.)

I've been doing this thing where I randomly surf blogspot for items of interest. I stumbled across this nutjob the other day, rightwing.blogspot.com . The guy has stopped blogging, but he had this to say as the final paragraph of his final post (below the picture of him with the fish), "Cindy Sheehan, and those like her, don't deserve the freedom they currently enjoy. They deserve a bullet in their heads."

Jesus. Now I don't think this guy is dangerous, but I have to say, What The Fuck? Seriously. I get angry at Conservatives, particularly media figures like Rush, but I don't think he should be SHOT. Fuck, man. That's heavy.  

My point is, I am a raging liberal, and I write this blog to be funny, to practice writing, and so my head doesn't explode. And I will rag on 'Republicans' a lot, but the thing is, I don't HATE them. (I mean the general populace, not people like Rush who I actually do hate, but still do not wish to Shoot him, just wish he would retire and/or suffer chronic laryngitis.) Unlike a lot of people out there, I don't need an enemy to justify my existence, I really just need my existence. 

Anyway...

Plug Life

So, this is the start of my new blog. I had an old blog, but I wanted a new name so here we are. So, I thought, what better way to start my new blog than to give some props to other people I enjoy reading. 

The Faster Times - A new on-line magazine. I will admit my main interest is because my girlfriend writes the Death Blog. She's awesome, Death is awesome (as a topic of discussion) and she writes insightful things on the topic; do click. I will also say the site bears merit beyond the contributions of people I'm sleeping with.

Political Animal - I've been reading Steven Benen for at least a year and probably more now. He's probably the most centered, reasonable person I read. He posts like a machine and he's insightful. Great general info site.

Salty Salutes - This is my friend, Dave. He writes about music. He has great taste and takes the time to find obscure videos on youtube. You can benefit from his efforts by clicking the link. You'll probably like his blog better than mine. It's more useful, that's for certain.

Digby's Blog - Digby is an old-school blogger. She's great, and she has assistance from certified militants Tristero and DDay to keep things edgy.

Crooks and Liars - How can you not love that? And they have videos! The kids love videos.

Memeorandum - Not really a blog, but a great snapshot of what's being discussed by the blogosphere on any given day. Also a great source to see what right blogs are saying about a particular topic. Without, you know, adding them to your favorites.

The Daily Howler - I do occasionally disagree with this guy, but he does go after the Liberal establishment, particularly Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow, and let's face it, they deserve it. He can be slightly repetitive, so far as topics go, but an insightful, annoyed liberal worth reading.

Instaputz - Three smart-alecks who do their main writing for other blogs. The only people I know who have a 'mainstream' blog who swear almost as much as I do.

I read others, but that's a good sampler.

Anyway...