Please Cut the Crap!

DC Teabaggers Make the Founding Fathers Laugh From Their Graves

Apparently, the teabagging isn’t going so well, at least in DC. Fox News’ Publicity Department should be ashamed…

First off, some genius thought the initial idea, to dump 1 million teabags in the Potomac River, was a good idea on some level. Now, anyone with a pulse would have to admit it was a pretty goddamn stupid idea to pollute a river as a political protest, especially since the government would probably have to pay for the cleanup. Have you seen the Potomac River? It’s better than it was when I was a kid, but it’s still not all that clean, so polluting the river with a million teabags wasn’t going to fly, especially as a protest of government spending. Oddly, they had to cancel when they found out such an act would be illegal. Who could have ever imagined that, huh?

So, according to The Washington Post, the right wing geniuses who thought polluting a river to make a point was a slamming idea, decided to move the protest to Lafayette Park, which is the park directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. That plan involved the dumping of the same million teabags (why a million? I've never figured that one out...) on the ground and yell at them or something. Well, the truck showed up at the park, and started unloading the teabags, but it turned out they didn’t have a permit -- (What? You need a permit to dump a million teabags in a public park? What is this, Russia?), so they sent to truck off to who knows where, and the 1500 or so protesters “braved” the spring rain to express their displeasure at… um… what exactly?

Arthur Delaney of The Huffington Post was there, and provides the following quote, which is priceless.

"I'm here to protest the spending and the taxes and the government running the private affairs of private industries," said Steve, 51, a computer programmer who took the day off to drive from Northern Virginia and pay "a big chunk of money" to park in a downtown garage. "I'm here to protest the bailing out of companies when they should be going bankrupt."

So, let’s get this straight. A computer programmer, who makes his living on machines that were largely created and improved using government research and investment money is protesting the use of government money to support commerce? Also, how stupid do you have to be to pay $18-20 for parking (which is what it costs around there), when there is a Metro Station right next to Lafayette Park and two others within two blocks in either direction, with both train lines going to and from Northern Virginia, and costing less than $3 each way?

Did I tell you these righties aren’t very bright?

I’m not going to comment on the sign this asshole was carrying., except to note that the extent of right wing "cleverness" seems to be their mass adoption of “Urkel,” the iconic nerd from “Family Matters” to refer to Barack Obama. Sad, isn’t it?Bush looked more like Urkel than Obama does, except for the color of his... now... wait a minute...

The teabaggers also wanted to hold a second protest in front of the Treasury Building – which seems somewhat pointless, given that the Treasury Building is next to the White House, and adjacent to Lafayette Park, but that idea was scotched by the Secret Service. As most who protest near the White House know, protests there are usually forbidden, because it’s too close to the White House service entrance.

Of course, to top off this crapper of a day, apparently one of the protesters wasted a bunch of federal security money, by throwing an empty box over the damn White House fence. So the Secret Service have to clear the area, and use a robot to figure out it was nothing.

So, the net result of the DC teabagger? Nothing was accomplished, about 1500 people (or fewer) spent some time in the rain wishing they had some tea, and they wasted thousands of extra federal security dollars, just so they can bitch about a tax bill that has actually gone down under Obama or, in the case of one computer programmer, to bitch about government money, when his entire job exists because of past government spending…

When the right wing can’t waste money, as they have for the last 28 years, they just waste time…

Teabagging for Profit Once Made a Person a… Never Mind…

You know, when you look at the right wing “teabagging” episodes happening all over the country today, you really can't do anything but laugh. Here, we have a bunch of extremely rich, authoritarian morons asking middle- and working-class people to protest in mass numbers against a tax increase on the rich amounting to 3% of the amount over $250,000. And he's moronic clowns -- the viewers of Fox news -- are gladly taking to the streets in favor of something that hasn't happened yet and may not actually ever happen, under the guise of mimicking the glorious American Revolution. Of course, the issue during the revolution wasn’t the “taxation” part, but rather the “without representation” part. But let’s leave their “revolutionary” ignorance for another column, shall we?

This is just another example of why I consider neocons to be extremely stupid. They can call liberals any name they want, but the fact of the matter is, you'll never catch a liberal protesting something that doesn't exist, may not exist, it doesn't affect most of the people. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a really long time know that I happen to think that the liberal side of the ideological spectrum is too often politically dumb as a post, but the fact of the matter is, we are at least educated enough to know when someone's yanking our chain for their own benefit.

The right wing would have you believe that all of these teabagging parties are a “grassroots" movement of sorts. But if you look really closely at the people organizing this thing, it's hard to find one who isn't already a millionaire, or in the case of Rupert Murdoch, a billionaire. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey (did anyone even suggest to Dick Armey that associating his name with something called “teabagging” was sure to get more people tittering than enraged?) By design, people like that can’t start a “grassroots movement.”

See, there's something you right wingers should know; in order to conduct a grassroots movement, you kind of need grass roots. You know, like regular people. You’d have to get your “base” to put down their AM radios, their Skoal and their NASCAR programs long enough to care about something that really matters. The impetus has to come from the people, not from a bunch of millionaires who want to save a few tax dollars, while they stick it to everyone else.

This is a Fox News publicity stunt, and nothing more. They have promoted this ad nauseum for several weeks, and they have made this an” us versus them” type of an issue. You see, when only a few hundred people show up in a few dozen cities, and no one in the "mainstream media" covers it, Fox news will be able to rally the troops, and say the mainstream media just doesn't care about the idiots who watch their channel. In other words, Fox viewers, your favorite channel is hosing you. They are once again treating you as little children who are too stupid to know what's best for you. Once more, the leadership of the right-wing treats the right-wing rank-and-file as a bunch of brain-dead idiots.

Of course, why wouldn't they?

One of the things I like to point out when talking about protests, even when liberals do so, is the relative ignorance of many of the protesters. I remember one time, many years ago, when that day of a job interview in Washington DC coincided with one of the myriad World Bank protests that happen every year on certain days. Because the subway was crowded and it was a nice day, I decided to walk to my interview. So there I was, wearing a dark suit and feeling playful, so I started asking protesters I passed what they were protesting. No one could really tell me.why they were there. Essentially, they were present for a social event; they were there because they felt like they were supposed to be there, even though they had no idea why. Most were dressed as pseudo-hippies, but you could tell by their electronics and the SUVs they were driving that they were a bunch of rich kids. bored out of their skulls and looking for something to do. Now, call me crazy, but if you're going to protest something, at least know what you're protesting

Imagine my surprise when the idiotic far right wing lost their political power and their leadership adopted the same moronic tactics that out of power liberals have been using for years and years. It’s almost a natural. The one difference is, as wrong-headed as liberal protesters can be much of the time,

If you look at the tea parties that are supposedly happening today, there are two issues. The main issue is taxes. Essentially, these idiots have been asked to protest taxes that haven’t been passed yet and which, when passed, will cost those making over $250,000 in extra 3%, but only 3% of the amount over $250,000. They don’t seem to have noticed that the recent stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Obama actually reduced taxes on 95% of the American people. How receptive do you think Americans in general will be to such a so-called grass-roots movement when most of them are seeing a tax decrease.

The second item of protest is government spending, which is a real hoot. This portion of the protest is wholly ironic, given the fact that these same people have run the government for most of the last 28 years, and increased the national debt from approximately $1 trillion in 1980, to approximately $11 trillion now. The only time the federal budget decreased in size during the last 28 years was during the Clinton administration. And as soon as Clinton left office, and the neocons ran the whole show, they proceeded to spend like drunken sailors for eight years. Not only did they spend the country into oblivion,; they also refused to regulate financial institutions, who proceeded to rape the treasury for all that they could. Now, three months into a new administration, and at a time when the economy is in freefall because of their insanity; NOW, they suddenly take up the mantle of fiscal responsibility. Complete silence, absolute complicity, and even argumentative support for absolute fiscal irresponsibility for eight years, and now, they’re worried about our children and grandchildren.

You know, one of the great traditions in American history has been the tradition of protest. I am not faulting right-wing morons for actually protesting things they feel are wrong. But I am laughing at them for allowing themselves to be led around by the nose by a people who truly wish to screw them, and not in a good way.

“Teabagging” is not a news story, it’s a publicity stunt. Fox News has created an event to keep its audience from leaving in greater numbers, and they’ve disguised it as a “grassroots” movement. To expect other news organizations to cover that would be akin to expecting Fox News to cover an MSNBC-sponsored event, which isn’t very likely.

We Reveal Our Right Boob Once Again...

This has been coming for quite some time...

You knew it was just a matter of time...

The Republican Party leadership is absolutely morally and ethically bankrupt these days. I actually feel sorry for Republicans, by and large, because their leaders are absolutely worthless. They have become the "Party of No," and they demonstrate absolutely no ideas whatsoever. Now, I know this for a fact; average Republicans have ideas; some of them are even good ones. But the leadership of their party has nothing.

And no one exemplifies the political bankruptcy better than our Right Boob...

It's time to reveal our Right Boob of the Week...

Right Wing Idiot(s) of the Day for March 25, 2009

This one was a little too easy today... I don't even need an introduction.

Fox News

Yes, that's right. The entire channel seems to be having a major meltdown. They're usually bad, but the last 24 hours seems to have reached a new low.

Yesterday on the Noise, dingbat Gretchen Carlson started propagating the talking point, when she was interviewed Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs:

Dingbat: ...one of the interesting things that came up yesterday in the news, Robert, was the fact that maybe some of this executive compensation would spill over to other publicly traded companies. So, in other words, executives who work at institutions that are not receiving taxpayer dollars -- that your administration may, in fact, put a cap on their salaries as well.

Gibbs: Well, look, there are not plans to do something broad like that. The president has always believed that shareholders in a company ought to have a nonbinding say on the CEO pay of somebody in a company. I think that's a common sense rule and regulation that allows and empowers shareholders to have a say in what makes sense.

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 24, 2009

I didn't have a lot of time today, and I was really wondering if I was going to get a chance to post this today.

Then, just about three minutes ago, someone sent me a link to the following, and the choice was easy...

Our Idiot of the Day is a woman I used to actually have some respect for at one time. In fact, she's one of those right wingers whom I don't believe is actually a right winger, but just says stupid shit just to gain attention for her career.

But today, she went over a really serious line, and this one deserves an apology.

Today's Right Wing Idiot of the Day is....

Barney Frank Calls Scalia a "Homophobe" Frank's Right As Usual!

Seriously... you have to love Barney Frank. He seems to be one of the few Congressional Democrats who just says what he thinks, without running it through a "political expediency" filter.

In a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com, Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (why has he not been impeached? Do we have no standards?) a "homophobe." He was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that Supremes might eventually have to decide on whether the federal government should be allowed to deny recognition to same-sex marriages.

"I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."

Click the link to see the video and my commentary:

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 23, 2009

Look, folks; there is no doubt this person is deranged. There is also no doubt she will be featured on this blog more than a few times in the future. But this time, she’s gone over a very serious line, and it’s time to rein her in.

There is no contest for our Right Wing Idiot of the Day, who is… who else?

Because There Just Isn't Enough Right Wing Radio Already...

Apparently, The owners of the Washington Right Wing Moonie Times want to do for radio what Fox News has done for television news.

This is from this morning's Washington Right Wing Moonie Times:

The Washington Times will launch a syndicated radio show later this spring, dedicated to the newsroom's investigative reporting and accountability journalism, Executive Editor John Solomon said Sunday.

The three-hour morning show will feature investigations by The Times, exclusive interviews with national newsmakers and discussions with reporters from The Times newsroom.

The move is part of an overhaul of The Times' products started last year, including a redesign of the Web site and newspaper, as well as new online videos, podcasts and mobile updates.

"I think the goal here is to take what we've done so successfully in print and translate it to radio," Mr. Solomon said. "The concept is that when you tune in in the morning, it's not going to be yesterday's news."

Talk Radio Network, home to such nationally syndicated talkers as Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage, will carry the show.

This has to be nipped in the bud, folks...

Great Series on the 20th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Our buddies at BuzzFlash have begun a great series on what happened when the Exxon Valdez created one of the worst non-natural environmental disasters in history. Hard to believe it's been 20 years since I willingly bought gas from Exxon. I think I've stopped at Exxon about a half dozen times in 20 years, and only because my car was running on fumes, and it was my only choice. I still avoid them, much as I avoid Wal-Mart.

Anyway, check out their series here...

We Now Reveal Our Right Boob... of the Week...

We started it as a homage to Janet Jackson, and her incredible impact on the Super Bowl years ago.

Our feeling was, as nice as her right boob was, the public was too distracted to see the real Right Boobs out there spewing forth crap every day.

But we had to take a break for a while. But with a new president, and a new attitude in the country, it's time we started actually burying the right wing, once and for all. They still have far too much influence.

This week's choice for Right Boob was not easy to come up with. I mean, there is a treasure trove of bullshit to dig through every single day, and it's really difficult to whittle it down to just one.

This week, however, the choice was easy, possibly even predictable, although I doubt it. Our Right Boob wasn't big enough on any particular day to showcase it, but every day, Our Right Boob added the right wing idiocy.

And so, be sure to keep the children away, because without further ado, we reveal...

Our Right Boob of the Week...

Megyn Kelly of Faux News... a Lying Sack of Shit.

Apparently, Fox News has decided the Jerry Springer Show should be their future model for "news" interviews.

For any of you who call us liars because we say that Fox News is full of shit about 90% of the time, we offer this interview. Not only is Megyn Kelly a liar, but she apparently thinks shouting the lies louder than someone else somehow makes them more true. She should be embarrassed., although she works for Fox -- shame seems to be impossible for them. Watch the video, and I'll explain why she's a goddamn liar. (And Megyn, if you're reading this, I DARE you to sue me...):

Is that amazing, or what? First of all Megyn, you can't use the terms voter fraud and election fraud as if they both mean the same thing. They are not the same thing.

Voter fraud is when people vote who shouldn't, for whatever reason, or if they vote more than once. In other words, it's when a voter defrauds the system somehow. Got that? VOTER fraud is when a VOTER defrauds the system.Hence the term.

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 20, 2009

Dishonorable Mention: Pat Buchanan:

Why doesn’t this guy just go away?

Okay, he’s not the worst of the right wing idiots, because he can occasionally say something rational, which seems to be beyond the abilities of most right wingers.

But then he sends shit like this out in e-mail. (It's courtesy of right wing cult facilitators "Human Events," so it's possible Buchanan didn't write it, but if he didn't, he should sue):

(The U.S. financial crisis) all began with the corruption called sub-prime mortgages.

The motivation was not wicked. Democrats wanted to raise home ownership among African-Americans from 50 percent to the 75 percent of white folks. Rove Republicans wanted to do the same for Hispanics.

Banks were morally pressured by politicians into making home loans to folks who could not remotely qualify under standards set by decades of experience with mortgage defaults.

Okay, Pat? How stupid are you? 

The law Buchanan cryptically refers to, of course, is the Community Reinvestment Act. The CRA can’t possibly be cited as the reason for the economic meltdown, for many reasons. Would you like to hear some of the reasons?

1. It only applied to neighborhood banks in specific areas. Only about 5% of all banks were affected by the CRA.

2. It ONLY applied to banks. This crisis was primarily caused by subprime instruments written by mortgage brokers, not banks.

3. And if you don’t believe me, believe the Federal Reserve.

How The Neocons Screwed Us, And Why We Can't Let It Happen Again

I hope no one is betting the farm on Congress being able to tax AIG bonuses to get the money back. The Constitution kind of forbids that sort of thing, and for good reason.

Say the party in power was the Republican Party, and they proposed a bill that instituted a special tax for auto workers to pay for the bailout of General Motors?

Yeah, now THAT doesn’t seem fair, does it?

I know we’re pissed off, and I know we’re tired of this crap, but we have to keep our heads in this situation. This economy took neocons a long time to screw up, and there is no “magical formula” which will fix the whole mess in a couple of months. This situation is the end result of 28 years of supply-side economics, culminating in the “free market uber alles” of the last eight years, in which deregulation was championed, and the regulations Republicans couldn’t kill were routinely ignored by an administration that decided that, as long as it LOOKED like someone was making money, whatever “the market” did was perfectly okay.

If you want to know what brought our economy down, it’s actually relatively simple, even though it looks complicated.

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 19, 2009

Normally this will be a contest between two or three people, but today’s idiot is so clear cut, there isn’t room for a runner up. I mean, Eric Cantor's a moron

Today, it’s not even a contest…

Today’s Right Wing Idiot of the Day is…

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 18, 2009

Dishonorable Mention: Representative Connie Mack (R-Florida)

Look, I can’t say I’m overly impressed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and a reasonable case can be made that someone more suitable could be found. But to publicly flog the guy by saying the following is just a bit beyond the pale, especially from a creep like Connie Mack.

"Well before Timothy Geithner became Secretary of the Treasury, he was working hand-in-hand with AIG and other financial institutions to provide them hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money as one of the key architects of the financial sector bailout. I was outspoken against the bailouts then, and I'm even more outraged now.

"I've had serious concerns about Secretary Geithner from the moment he was nominated. In the months since, he has shown us time and again why he was the wrong choice for this critical post.

"This week's news on the AIG bonus scandal is but the latest fiasco under his watch and he has lost the confidence of the American people.

"Quite simply, the Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster. The Treasury Department is in disarray. Taxpayer dollars are being wasted. America's economy hangs in the balance. America needs and deserves a Treasury Secretary who can truly lead us forward.

"Timothy Geithner should either resign or be fired for the good of the country, and President Obama should nominate a new Treasury Secretary with the experience and leadership skills America deserves."

Gosh, where does one start?

Let's start with the fact that the subject of bonuses for firms getting bailout money did not originate under Geithner. In fact, this concept has been building to a crescendo since the first bailout money was given to these pirates six months ago.

The bulk of the AIG bailout money came from Hank Paulson, not Geithner. And Mack knew this. In fact, back in September, he said the following about the $700 billion bailout plan:

“I didn’t run for Congress to be party to the destruction of freedom and free markets. Sadly, the so-called compromise on the financial sector bailout continues to do just that.

“I opposed the original Paulson plan because it would have destroyed the free-market system. This so-called compromise will do the same. It compromises the cornerstones of America and it deserves to be rejected.”

Funny how even Mack was blaming this on Paulson and Bush six months ago; at a time when he was actively campaigning for McCain. But suddenly, everything is Geithner’s fault. Once more; I’m not saying Geithner’s the best thing to happen to Treasury since sliced bread. But to blame Geithner for all of the problems with AIG and others is to ignore the last administration’s role in all of this.

But Mack is but a runner up. Even he can't hold a candle to our winner...

Today’s Right Wing Idiot of the Day is….

Right Wing Loons Rail Against Judge Hamilton

It seems the far right is having a conniption over President Obama’s first judicial nomination, as they have already started their full-court press against the guy.

Obama’s first nominee is US District Court Judge David F. Hamilton, who will be elevated to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hamilton has been on the district court in Indianapolis since 1994, when President Clinton nominated him, and was elevated chief judge last year. Before becoming a district court judge, he worked as general counsel to Evan Bayh, when Bayh was governor of Indiana, and served as chairman of the Indiana Ethics Commission.

Oh, and did I tell you he once served in the board of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union? What a bastard, huh? We simply can’t have such folks working in our court system and interpreting our laws, can we?

Well, apparently, the now-toothless Republican hit machine has decided to go after this guy. On the CBN News web site, a hack named David Brody writes a hit piece that starts with the following:

Maybe the Obama administration should have nominated George Hamilton instead of David F. Hamilton. The hollywood actor may have an easier time at confirmation.

Get it? Isn’t that cute the way he took Hamilton the actor and Hamilton the 15-year district court judge and…

Is there a right winger anywhere with a sense of humor? Seriously?

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 17, 2009

 Dishonorable Mention -- Sean Hannity:

One thing is for sure; this asshole will be a regular here. It’s almost unfair. It’s obvious the man is like a T. Rex – he has this enormous head, and a tiny little brain floating around inside.

His latest? On last night’s “Hannity” program on Fox News, Hannity actually claimed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has blocked Republicans in the House from participating in the democratic process.

"Republicans can't offer amendments; they can't offer alternative bills."

Come on, folks; who really depends on Fox for news? And who would listen to Hannity about anything? Is the guy even capable of saying anything true? He certainly seems to assume his followers are too brain-dead to pick up a goddamn newspaper. Or perhaps they can read it, but they don’t remember it a week later. One thing is for sure; Hannity counts on the stupidity of his minions to make a pretty sizable living.

If Hannity had bothered to Google this issue before grumbling and bumbling, he would have  discovered that House Republicans actually offered an alternative to the S-CHIP program bill, and it was voted upon on the House floor. He would also have found out that If he had gone to Thomas and typed in the word “amendment,” he would have found that approximately 40% of the 856 amendments therein came from Republicans.

What a fool. But as big a fool as he is, how dumb are the reprobates who actually listen to him?

Runner-Up: Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida

Imagine a World in Which Journalists Report the News

Once upon a time, just after the earth cooled, I think, I wrote for the Baltimore News American, a major big city newspaper that bit the big one about ten years after I was there, in the first round of newspaper deaths back in the 1980s.

I worked there every Thursday as part of an Independent Study program for my high school. They arranged for me to write news stories for an admittedly goofy, uniquely ‘70s section of the Sunday paper, entitled Young World.

When I started, I just wrote basic copy, which is a clever way of saying, I rewrote things people sent me, in order to fit them into a smaller space, around the ads. This was in the extremely early days of computerized typesetting; in fact, I remember the typesetters were increasingly nervous even then, more than 30 years ago, about the encroachment of computers on their jobs. So I would write the stories,  on a manual typewriter (I was such a shitty typist; still am) and someone would load them into the one computer we had in the corner of the city room, and they had to fit.

I did nothing but that for a month or two, but my editor (whose name was Jon Stewart, coincidentally) had confidence in me, and started giving me stories to follow up on – stories with a byline.

Right Wing Idiot of the Day for March 16, 2009

Our Right Wing Idiot of the Day nominations were plentiful, so even narrowing it down to three was difficult. But here are the choices:

Dishonorable Mention – Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Meghan McCain (tie):

The dunderhead Hasselbeck just can’t deal with facts, and it’s getting depressing. The few times I’ve seen the young McCain, she’s tended to be somewhat refreshingly honest. But not this time.

On today’s episode of “The View,”  Hasselbeck asked Ms. McCain if she “felt vindicated” because of recent comments by President Obama. You’ll recall that her father, during his presidential bid, spastically tried to formulate a response to the economic crisis by claiming that “the “fundamentals of the economy are strong,” back at a time when they most certainly were not.

The young McCain responded, "It's ironic it's the exact language and the exact terms he used earlier. I am sure he does feel vindicated."

These two women should really check their facts before they speak, and stop ripping the Republican talking points off the wire and repeating them, because they’re embarrassing themselves.

President Obama actually said nothing that even approached McCain’s insane declaration about the economy while it was in free fall. This is what he said last week:

"If we are keeping focused on all the fundamentally sound aspects of our economy, all the outstanding companies, workers, all the innovation and dynamism in this economy, then we're going to get through this."

There’s a distinct difference above. While McCain was declaring the entire economy strong last September, Obama was simply suggesting the government focus on those few aspects of the economy that were still strong, and build upon those. If these two women want to be taken seriously as journalists, and not parrots, they should know the difference.

Runner-Up -- Tucker Carlson: