"You Can Justify It in the End"

"....Now the valley cried in anger
'Mount your horses! Draw your swords!'
And they killed the mountain people
Swore they'd won their just reward.

Down they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
'Peace on earth'...was all it said."

Who's the Child Now?

One of the truths lost in the "debate" over whether or not the Bush administration's treatment of its prisoners constituted torture is the reality that, in the wake of 9/11 our leaders turned into frightened irrational little children, bent foremost on revenge and swift if uncertain justice. Decisions were made in anxious haste, with only retribution in mind and no clear regard for the long-term consequences to our national reputation or our long-held, much revered Constitutional ideals. The Bush administration dismissed who we are as Americans in pursuit of unholy justice. We are all cheapened by it, and someone should pay the price.

Recall that when George W. Bush was first elected selected as president, many were heard to say that "at least now the grown-ups are in charge." I beg to differ. Clearly, with this shameful chapter in American history, whether any one individual is made to pay, we have demonstrated that, like children in a moral quandary, our ideals are not so immutable when tested as we would have the world believe.

Torture? What Torture?

"Enhanced Interrogation Techniques." Indeed.

First, they beat him. As authorized by the Justice Department and confirmed by the Red Cross, they wrapped a collar around his neck and smashed him over and over against a wall. They forced his body into a tiny, pitch-dark box and left him for hours. They stripped him naked and suspended him from hooks in the ceiling. They kept him awake for days.

And they strapped him to an inverted board and poured water over his covered nose and mouth to "produce the sensation of suffocation and incipient panic." Eighty-three times. I leave it to others to debate whether we should call this torture. I am content with the self-evident truth that it was wrong.

All approved from on high. When do we start the war crimes trials again?

Meet the New [GOP] Bosses

If the Republicans think these losers are the men to rescue them from the political wilderness well, I hope they brought some extra rations and a compass. The so-called "Panel of Experts"? John McCain, Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney.

I mean, didn't John McCain just get trounced in an election?

The Housing Bubble

Here at my place of employment we've been working on the reassessments for all the properties that have lost value since the housing market collapsed. For the longest time I had been saying that it seemed like the Central Coast of CA -- in particular the San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach/Arroyo Grande corridor -- was fairly well insulated from the crash. Home prices were declining only minimally (perhaps even holding steady) as recently as last spring. No more.

As we work our way through these reviews, it's clear that the whole damn County got hammered in 2008. We're now seeing declines as great as 40%-50% in desirable areas like Shell Beach and old town SLO. Property values haven't retrenched to 2003 levels yet, but they are clearly on par with what we were seeing in 2004. If I had to pinpoint it, I'd say the peak of the housing bubble in SLO County was the fall of 2005.

Unclear on the Concept

I was walking downtown yesterday and a guy walks out of the store in front of me. He's in his 20s, tatted up, skate rat looking guy...dropped his lighter as he was going to fire up a smoke. As we proceed up the street (he's about 15' ahead of me) he turns around and sez, "That's some communist bullshit right there." I look over to where he's pointing and see a meter maid writing out a parking ticket for someone who exceeded the time allotted on their meter.

For the record, right or wrong, whether you agree with the use of parking meters or not, that ain't no communist bullshit right there. It doesn't have a damn thing to do with communism.

Fix It Again Tony

Big job for little FIAT. Are the Italians going to be able to save one leg of the auto industry's three-legged stool?

Ulitmate Peace

Some friends of mine are trying to bring peace, love and understanding to the Middle East....through Ultimate Frisbee.


"Mutual respect, friendship, integrity, non-violence and fun."

A Presidential Syllogism

REPORTER to PRESIDENT OBAMA: "Do you believe the Bush administration sanctioned torture?"

OBAMA: "Yadayadayadayada...I believe waterboarding is torture."

UNSPOKEN IN THE ANSWER: "The Bush administration okayed the use of waterboarding."

SYLLOGISTIC LOGICAL CONCLUSION: "The Bush administration okayed the use of torture."


So when do we start the prosecutions?

100 Days

[h/t to the Ghost]

True Story...I Guess.

More total bullshit from Michelle Bachmann:


Ha Ha!! "Hoot-Smalley!!"

Here's what really happened: When Franklin Roosevelt took office, unemployment was already about 25%. And the tariff referred to here was actually the Smoot-Hawley bill, co-authored by Republicans Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon, and signed into law by President Herbert Hoover.

The Republican Party

With the recent defection of the senior senator from Pennsylvania, the Republican Party has been reduced to a mere "Specter" cypher of its former self. Check out these numbers compiled by Daily Kos:

Check it -- Republicans are now down to 40 senators, distributed in these states: AK: 1, AL: 2, AZ: 2, FL: 1, GA: 2, ID: 2, IN: 1, IA: 1, KS: 2, KY: 2, LA: 1, ME: 2, MS: 2, MO: 1, NE: 1, NH: 1, NV: 1, NC: 1, OH: 1, OK: 2, TN: 2, SC: 2, SD: 1, TX: 2, UT: 2, and WY: 2.

--Republicans are present in 26 states, which doesn't sound so bad. But it means that almost half the country doesn't have any Republican Senators. Only 14 states lack a Democratic Senator.

--Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, and North Carolina (and maybe even Florida if Crist doesn't jump in for the GOP), are all top candidates for sending two Democrats to the Senate after the 2010 elections. That would further shrink the GOP into its deep South and Mormon Corridor strongholds.

--Of the GOP's remaining 40 senators, 17 of 24 come from the South (FL, NC, SC, AL, MS, GA, VA, TN, KY, LA, AR, TX). That's up from 15 after the 1998 election.

--Of those remaining 40 senators, only 3 of 24 come from the Northeast (ME, VT, NY, MD, PA, CT, DE, MA, NH, RI, WV, NJ). That's down significantly from 9 after the 1998 election.

--Of those remaining 40 senators, only 10 of 26 come from the West (NM, CA, OR, WA, AK, HI, MT, ID, UT, NV, AZ, WY, CO). That's down from 16 after the 1998 election.

--Of those remaining 40 senators, only 10 of 26 come from the Midwest (IL, MN, MI, OH, WI, IA, MO, KS, IN, ND, SD, OK, NE). That's down from 14 after the 1998 election.

As they say at the local chili cook-off, "Stick a fork in 'em, they're done."

Wingnut Nation -- Shrinkage Edition

It must really, really suck to be a chickenshit, scaredy-cat little whiny-ass titty baby, but clearly that's what all the small-penised a-holes in this video are:

They'd do better to invest in the Little Blue Pill than a .357 magnum. I mean, people, have you ever seen a more ridiculous mullet than the one sported by the guy at 1:02? Self-awareness much? Not in this vid.

Bias? What bias?

ABC? Check.
NBC? Check.
CBS? Check.
CNN? Check.
NTY? Check.
Reuters? Check.

Telemundo? Check.

BET? Check.


No questions taken from FOX.
That ought to give Sean Hannity another week of material.

Accessibility

Tonight was President Obama's third nationally televised press conference in just 100 days in office. Former President Bush had only four nationally televised press conferences during his eight years in office.

Obama Press Conference

Watching President Obama's press conference tonight, I was particularly struck when he spoke about how much easier his job would be if he were able to "wave a magic wand" to repair the economy or end the war in Iraq. Seems to me our previous president expressed the same sentiment, but Dubya's answer reveals plenty about how drastically the philosophy has changed within the Oval Office:

Did I Miss Anything?

I was out of town for a few days. Anything weird happen while I was gone? Like maybe Air Force One buzzed Lower Manhattan? Or perhaps Arlen Specter switched parties to become a Democrat?

It's On

I'm thinking we're soon going to reach a tipping point where it can no longer be denied that people in the Bush administration -- the US fucking government, fergawdsakes -- committed war crimes and will have to pay.

Washington — The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuse by U.S. personnel during the Bush administration of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At least 44 pictures will be released on May 28 -- making public for the first time images of what the military investigated as abuse that took place at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
[...]
"This will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration's claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational," said Amrit Singh, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the agreement as part of a long-running legal battle for documents related to Bush-era anti-terror policies.

The photo release decision comes as President Obama is already trying to quell a drive to investigate Bush-era anti-terror practices. But now the photos and a series of other possible disclosures stemming from the ACLU lawsuit threatens to fuel the already explosive controversy.

Additional disclosures to be considered in the coming weeks include transcripts of detainee interrogations by the CIA, a CIA inspector general's report that has been kept mostly secret, and background materials of a Justice Department internal investigation into prisoner abuse.

In each instance, President Obama and his administration are being forced to decide whether to release material entirely, disclose it with redactions or follow the lead of the Bush administration and fight in court to keep the material classified.

Last week, Obama opted to demand relatively few redactions when his administration released Justice Department memos detailing the Bush administration's justifications and strategies for harsh interrogations.

Finally, perhaps, someone besides pathetic little Lyndie England is going to take a fall for these crimes against humanity.

The Perfect Pint

My favorite bartender considers this a work of art. Thanks Colin!

It Becomes Clearer Every Day

That every action undertaken by the Bush administration was stupid, wrong or evil...and in some cases all three.

Perez Hilton Dishes on the Pageant

In case you missed it, here's her comically stoopid answer:

Miss California: “Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.”

So What?

If you're like me, you probably hoped you'd never have to hear from The Great National Embarrassment ever again. But let's revisit the whole Iraq War debacle just one more time, so you can witness the fucking President of the United States saying, "So what?" when a reporter points out that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq until after the U.S. invaded.

"So what?"
What an abomination.

WE. ARE. AMERICA. [oops.]

Shep Smith, whose side are you on, anyways?

Tortured Logic

• It doesn't really matter to me whether the trials take place in The Hague, in Spain, or even in Leavenworth, Kansas, the war criminals in our midst really need to spend a good long time on the inside of a prison...if not eternity at the end of a rope.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [above: The Axis of Evil]

Evil II.

Leave it to erstwhile Democrat Joe Lieberman to use 163 words to reply to a question to which the answer should be a simple "Yes."

Van Susteren: First of all, is waterboarding torture?

Lieberman: Well, I take a minority position on this. Most people think it's definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people. It's a terrible thing to do. I've said in the past, and I'll say it again to you -- that I want the President of the United States, in a given circumstance where we believe somebody we've got in our control may have information that will help us stop an attack, an imminent attack on the United States like 9/11 or, God forbid, worse, we ought to be able to use something like waterboarding. But generally speaking it ought not to be on the table.

Incidentally, I believe General Hayden when he says that not just waterboarding, which he stopped, as I understand it, but a number of the other items on that list that has been published, really did work -- did help to give us a lot of the information that we have about Al Qaeda.

Evil.

[click here for more accurate view.]

WTFH???

Some people just don't get it. And they make the rest of us gub'mint workers look really, really bad. For the record, my union "negotiated" a 3% pay cut this year, plus [currently voluntary/soon-to-be-mandatory] time off.

Take that, union hating bee-yotches.

Yo Quiero Taco Bell

You thought the wingnuts were pissed about President Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez? The bow to some Saudi sheik who probably was having drinks with George H.W. Bush ten minutes prior to meeting Barack was an absolute outrage, no? Well lookee here, as our appease-o-matic commander-in-chief stoops to exchange pleasantries with the ayatolla's president of Mexico's dog!!! The horrah!

It's not like anyone in our government has ever exchanged ill-advised greetings with despots or hounds previously, have they?

WHOOPS!!!!

The French Taunting

This is where I'll be at 7:30 tonight.

What's a refrigerator....?"

....and why am I being "required" to clean it?

They must think I keep my beer in there, that's all I can figure.

The People the Teabaggers are Fighting For

How a family that makes more than $250,000 a year can still feel needy...

For the Parnells, their perception of themselves is based on the math. The value of their house is down $60,000. Ms. Parnell says the couple's gross income last year was about $260,000. Taxes, premiums for medical care and deductions for Social Security and their 401(k) contributions cut the gross to about $12,000 per month. The family tithes $1,300 a month at their church. Their mortgage, second mortgage and payment on land they bought is nearly $4,000 a month. Other expenses, including their family car payment, insurance and college funds, as well as basics like food, utilities and donations to charities, leave them with about $1,200 left over each month.

They've got $1,200 in disposable income at the end of every month, a veritable slush fund of wealth when you consider how many Americans are forced by circumstance to get by on that much as their entire gross monthly income. Cry me a river indeed.

And what does that socialist liberal fascist Obama want to take away from them in additional taxes? Why he wants to make them pay $12 more a year in taxes, that's what! The bastard should be impeached I tell ya!

Most Misleading Headline Ever

Practice Makes Perfect

If waterboarding works so well, why would we have to do it to someone 183 times?

Practice.

minutemen

"The Roar of the Masses Could Be Farts"

Grammar Police Dept.: Apostrophe Abuse

From a for sale sign in our office lunchroom:

They're All Wet

Illustration of how Bush administration attorneys justified waterboarding to the decider commander in chief:

"No imminent threat of death or organ failure."

Sunday Show Recaps

I finally found a website that "watches the Sunday shows so you [I/we] don't have to. Sample exchange from Meet the Press as logged by The Bobblespeak Translations...

Gregory: dick what the fuck is with the ridiculous teabagging parties

Armey: quite frankly Obama cut taxes but frankly I just discovered that since 1980 raising spending and cutting taxes is bad!!

Ford: fuck you

Armey: but it's inevitable that if you increase spending and debt you have to raise taxes!

Ford: what happened to supply-side economics?

Armey: never heard of it

Pearlstein: i just remembered since 1980 we have to live within our means

Gregory: do we really have to pay taxes or should we just use magic beans??

Easton: the non-existent tax increases are a real animating force for the GOP

Gregory: wow

Armey: we should raise taxes on the poor!!

Ford: um what the fuck dood?

Armey: i came on the defend the rich!

Ford: now we see the hypocrisy inherent in the system!

The New Sheriff

As we come up on the first 100 days of the Obama administration, it's worth celebrating that the American people have elected a transcendental leader, and most certainly the best man for the job in these trying times...

Direct, assertive and utterly self-assured, Obama has used his broad popularity, a driving ambition and a sweeping agenda to move America in a wholly new direction.

Just shy of 100 days in office, he has ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison and a troop withdrawal from Iraq; made it easier for women to sue for job discrimination; eased a ban on stem cell research; extended healthcare coverage to millions of children; ousted the head of General Motors; reached out to the Muslim world; moved to ease tensions with Cuba; traveled to Canada, Europe, Turkey and Latin America; and set aside huge tracts of wilderness for federal protection.

More broadly, Obama has seized on the worst economic crisis since the 1930s...and set out to reshape major aspects of everyday life: the price we pay to see a doctor, the size of our children's classrooms, the fuel we put in our cars.

Playing for Change

Read all about this wonderful project, right here.

A Bit of Americana in SLO

We've got a little jewel right here on the Central Coast of CA....
Sunset Drive In - The best video clips are right here

Punk Rock Classics

This punk rock kid walks into McCarthy's last night and he's in full regalia: Spiked-up 12" mohawk, metal studs and tats all over, DocMs, might even have been wearing a kilt (can't recall for sure). You know, the whole deal. His leather jacket was festooned [good word, no?] with cut-up tshirt logos from all kinds of bands...from the golden era of punk rock: Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Misfits, Pistols, Clash and...Dr. Know! "Hey!," I told him, "I went to high school with Kyle Toucher." [He is Dr. Know, for those of you not in the "know."] Kid was semi-impressed, or a least he pretended so, but mostly I think I established that I'm a bit of an old f#ck. As for the (relatively) new school punk rockers (Green Day, Rancid, NoFX), I've always kinda liked these guys:

I'm with Stoopid

All that's missing are the matching t-shirts...

Epic Fail: Veep Dept.

The man who pulled the trigger on Sarah Palin wanted us to let him have his finger on The Button?!?

About-to-be Republican presidential nominee John McCain had a long list of 26 possible vice presidential running mates last summer. None of them knew they were being considered.

Former Reagan counsel A.B. Culvahouse was in charge of the candidate partner vetting process and helped the Arizona senator pare down the list. But McCain, Culvahouse revealed Friday, was intrigued by Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old Alaska governor and mother of five.
[...]
Near decision time, Culvahouse said, McCain asked him for the "bottom line" on Palin.

"John," Culvahouse replied, "high risk, high reward."

To which McCain, the former Vietnam attack pilot who flew off and landed on aircraft carriers before spending six-plus years as a POW, replied, "You shouldn't have told me that. I've been a risk-taker all my life."

Game over.

Train Song

I Gave My Love a Cherry

Don't mess with Texas.

Red State ignorance on display for all the world to see...

Short version:
HOST OF FAMILY FEUD: "Name something Ellen Degeneres is known for."

REDNECK DAD: "She's known to not care for our country."

BUZZER: BZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!

Worser still...

Maybe this explains why so many people had time to go teabagging in the middle of the day...in the middle of the week.

Sacramento -- California's unemployment rate hit 11.2% with the loss of 62,100 jobs last month, reaching its highest level since the government began keeping systematic records in 1976, the state reported today.

I'd hate for the federal government to send money here so we can hire people to fix the roads and stuff.

Teabag The Last

They sure start 'em young. Look at this smug little bastard.

Barroom Economics

In which I prove on bar coasters that the overall standard of living for the average citizen (by measures of education, health care and wealth) is less desirable in the United States than that which is seen in Europe:

Huevos

It takes balls of steel to step up and do this at a Teabag Party...

So 20th Century

Somebody ought to tell George Will that Fred Astaire has been dead since 1987. He was born in 1899 for heaven's sake! Grace Kelly, god love her, has been gone since 1982. Nobody, and by that I mean nobody, is taking their fashion cues from either of those two anymore.

Honeymooning...

In the wake of all these moranic Teabagging protests, it's worth remembering that Barack Obama has been president for exactly 86 days. Something tells me the teabaggers are more pissed about losing the election than they are about anything else.

Apples and Oranges

The difference between us and them:

Left-wingers turn out by the tens of thousands in cities around the world to protest an unjust war based on lies. Right-wingers turn out by the dozens in cities around the nation to protest a tax cut for 95% of all American taxpayers.

The Double Entendres Just Keep on Coming

COOPER: "It's hard to talk when you're teabagging."
GERGEN: "Hahahahahaha."

Best Grammatically Challenged Teabagger Sign

From "I'am" to "mor[t]gage," this teabagger couldn't get it done...

Found it!!

The stoopidest sign of Teabagger Day:Yankee fans. What can you say? Dumbass.

WWtDCT?

What would the Dixie Chicks think of this kind of crazy talk?

True Story

For the most part, that whole Boston Tea Party thing was a trade issue, not a tax issue.

On December 16th, 1773, three ships were docked in Boston harbor filled with cargoes of tea from the royally chartered East India Company. The previous year, in a scheme to help fund colonial rule in India through the East India Company, the crown had decided to dump tea cheaply on the American colonies, but with a tax added to raise revenue.

American colonists drank prodigious amounts of tea, but it was almost all contraband tea. Dumping cheap tea on the American market would hurt the business of the contraband smugglers, many of whom had high status in the colonies. It also was a tax on colonial tea-drinkers, who had no representation in Parliament. Thus, it was taxation without representation.

Twitter Message

Classic Teabag Day tweet from a reporter in Outer Wingnuttia:

"White House lawn evacuated bc someone threw a tea bag over the fence."

Keepin' it classy

Super-offensive teabagger poster...only a little bit racist:

They Write Letters...

SLO Tribune:

Don’t blame Bush
I don’t like how everyone is blaming the war on former President George W. Bush. He may have thought of the idea, but Congress had to vote and the vote was let’s go to war.

It’s not that he had nothing to do with it; that I know. I give him a little of the blame, but it’s not fair to say it’s entirely his fault because it’s not.

Now we have President Barack Obama saying he can help the economy. He is spending all the money we don’t have. He wants taxes raised, but only for people that earn a certain amount of money. I wonder what will happen in the future.

Carrie O., Sixth grade
Shell Beach Elementary School

I'd hate to underestimate the precosciousness of a child, but how much help do you think little Carrie had in writing this letter to the editor? I'm sure she's real pissed about the Obama tax policy.

Happy Teabagging Day!

Drop in on someone!

Point of Clarification

It's not inexpensive health insurance people need.

It's inexpensive health care.

On Arguing with a Rock Star

Allow me to share with y'all a grrrreat (well, pretty good, anyway) Exene Cervenka story.

X is, for me, the greatest band I've ever seen / heard / experienced.... you know the drill. I must have seen them 20 times in the '80s, and at least 5 times since they last reunited. The first time I ever saw them was when I was still in high school and I drove up to Santa Barbara when they played at the Arlington Theater. [Perhaps spring 1980?]

Anyway, X played -- with full original lineup -- at a freaking tattoo festival up here in Paso Robles at the Mid-State Fairgrounds a couple of years back, and through certain connections my pals and I got back stage. It was not the first time that had happened. Back in about 1986 or so, we were hanging with X after a show at Oscar's in Santa Barbara. Exene was at least 8 months pregnant, and could easily have gone into labor at any moment. She was, as they say, ready to pop.

Fast forward to near present, circa 2006, and I am backstage with Exene (and the rest, natch) following the Paso show. I start talking to her about the Oscar's show and saying, "Oh yeah, it was 1986...you were pregnant, blah blah blah..." Exene looks at me with this weird look and sez, "No, it was 1987." I, who had had a few beers by then, insisted, "No, it was 1986, I looked at my ticket before we drove up here to the show." She sez to me: "It was 1987('you fool' implied). Don't you think I would know when my son was born?" Disssssss-missed.

I got home that night and looked again at the ticket. 1987. D'oh! And that's my story of the night I got into an argument with Exene Cervenka about what year her son was born.

I'm Going to the Tea Party in Pismo Beach (for laughs)

Always The Victims
I can never figure out if the teabaggers really believe evil libruls are going to show up with 2x4s at their stupid rallies.

No one gives a shit. If any evil libruls show up it will be to laugh at you.
-Atrios

6:30pm tomorrow at the pier. Bbmmmwwwahahahahaha! Eejits.

ZOMFG!! Can you say that on teevee?

David Shuster slips one by the censors to pwn the "teabaggers" and their "teaparties"....

The people who came up with it are a familiar circle of Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, both of whom have firm support from right wing financiers and lobbyists…[so]if you are planning simultaneous tea bagging all around the country, you’re going to need a Dick Armey.

Watch it here:

Arrrrrrr, Matey!

Harry Kalas RIP

"Long drive. Watch that baby. Outta here. Home run. Michael Jack Schmidt."

Close your eyes, and it's a muggy summer evening, and on the TV in your den and on the radio in your car, and you've just tuned into the Fightin's, and all you need hear is The Voice and from the sound of it, without knowing the score, you can tell instantly whether they're winning or losing.

"I always felt it was a privilege," he said. "It was like the people were inviting me into their homes. That's quite an honor."

Harry Kalas called every one of Mike Schmidt's 548 home runs...plus a whole lot more.

Philadelphia went quiet yesterday afternoon. Harry Kalas died at the ballpark, and the city lost its voice.

A Kiss is Just a Kiss....

Can you believe the wingnuts are all up in arms because President Obama bowed to the Saudi royal prince at their meeting last week?

The nerve.

Polling for Data

Get your own Poll!

Home...is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there.

Going to see Stop Making Sense on the big screen tonight. Can you believe that movie is 25 years old!?! The above clip is the wonderful tune "Naive Melody." Damn, I love that purty little song.

April 8, 1994: Kurt Cobain Found Dead

Nirvana's masterwork:

Baracknophobia!!!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Magic Beads

Thank Gawd for the magic beads.... What century are we living in?

Harold & Kumar [Goes] to White Castle House

Here's a story that's sure to make some conservative heads explode. Kal Penn, the actor who played Kumar in the dope-fueled "Harold and Kumar" movies, has taken a job working in the Obama administration.
[Yeah, I wasn't sure I read that right at first either.]

Deep Thought

Just imagine how we'd all be feeling right about now if we had that curmudgeonly ol' Navy man John McCain trying to steer the ship of state.

Warm Fuzzy Photo of the Day

Barack Obama greeted by member of London's Metropolitan Police. The photo appeared in the German magazine Stern, which captioned it thusly:

"It is this nonchalance and courtesy with which the young US President wins people's hearts: Barack Obama greets the guard with a handshake as he steps into Downing Street with PM Gordon Brown."

From BAG News: "In German, "Höflichkeit" is a much bigger word than just "courtesy", though: it's also politeness, courtliness, comity--even suavity, but with a positive inflection."

Usury Country

What sort of impact do you suppose the rising unemployment rate is having on the Payday Lending industry?

AMY GOODMAN: In the early ’90s, there were fewer than 200 payday lending stores in the country. Today it’s a $40 billion industry with more than 22,000 stores. There are more payday lending stores than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. As more Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, the demand for payday loans is increasing.

We’re joined now by two guests who have been following this story. Journalist Daniel Brook joins us from Philadelphia. His article “Usury Country: Welcome to the Birthplace of Payday Lending” appears in the new issue of Harper’s. He is also the author of the book The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America.

And we’re joined by Ginna Green of the Center for Responsible Lending. The group is releasing a report today that reveals payday lenders are significantly more concentrated in African American and Latino neighborhoods in California than in white neighborhoods.

Daniel Brook, let’s begin with you in Philadelphia. A very interesting piece in Harper’s. You begin in Johnson City, Tennessee, where I’m actually headed in the next few weeks. Talk about exactly what payday loans are.


DANIEL BROOK: A payday loan is a short-term, high-interest loan. Here’s a typical transaction. Let’s say you work at a fast-food restaurant, and you’re going to get paid next Friday, but you’ve had an unexpected expense, say your car broke down, and you need money now. You would go to a payday lender. You’d write out a check for, say, $230, and they’d give you $200 in cash right then. The check, you know, would be bad, and it would be dated to your next payday. Then, when your next payday rolls around, you’re supposed to reappear at the payday lender and buy your check back in cash for the full $230 value.

Now, on the face of it, it already sounds like a high-interest loan, but it’s typically much worse than that, because the percentage of borrowers who, when their payday comes around, are able to pay it off is very small. I mean, even industry-sponsored research shows that only a quarter of borrowers are able to consistently pay off their payday loans when they come due at the end—at their first pay period. State research shows rates in the 70s or 80s or close to 90 percent of borrowers can’t pay these off. So it’s clearly a debt trap.

Ha Ha!

Take that, FOX News eejits...& Sean Hannity ignoraymouses....

Mr. Obama's overall approval rating, meanwhile, has hit a new high of 66 percent, up from 64 percent last month. His disapproval rating stands at 24 percent. Nearly all Democrats and most independents approve of the way the president is handling his job, while only 31 percent of Republicans approve.

Perspective

via Atrios --
Just Like The Dixie Chicks
"While our discourse is still very stupid, it is better than it used to be. Because I think people often forget just what it was which caused the Diane Sawyer-blessed months-long public flogging of the Dixie Chicks, I think it's useful to provide the occasional reminder.

Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.

"As conservatives all over the place are calling for revolution, it's worth remembering what got our media all excited in early 2003."

Wrong Wingnut

Looks like I demagogued the wrong wingnut when I hypothesized the Binghamton, NY mass murderer was a right-wing psycho. Turns out it was this guy in Pittsburgh, PA:

We're gathering more information about Richard Polawski, the 23-year-old man who decided to kill three Pittsburgh police officers and wound three others because it appears he was afraid they -- at the behest of the Obama administration -- were going to take his guns away. (Dude, they definitely are now.)

Seems he was laying in wait in a carefully planned ambush...

Chan No! Park

Phillie fans looking for early reasons to be pessimistic about this season need look no further than this spring training pickup; here's your 5th starter:
UPDATE: We didn't even need to wait for Chan No to take to the hill to start booing. Phillie fans, here's your #1 starter. Hurry back, Cole Hamels.

A Real Joke of a Newspaper

Last week, the LA Times saw fit to print this screed from a Rush Limbaugh-loving eejit, in which he insulted the intelligence and political IQ of liberal readers of the once-great newspaper and "[threw] down [the] gauntlet" by challenging them to listen to the drug-addled gasbag. This week, the Times printed this comedy response piece:

Last week in these pages, Andrew Klavan, a conservative who writes for the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, addressed himself to liberals, insisting that "whatever you claim, you still haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh."

He concluded with a proposal: "I am throwing down my gauntlet at your quivering liberal feet. I hereby issue my challenge -- the Limbaugh Challenge: Listen to the show. ... Ask yourself: What's he getting at? Why does he say the things he says?

Why do so many people of goodwill -- like that nice Mr. Klavan -- agree with him?"
We asked four local liberals to take that challenge, and one fallacy in Klavan's argument quickly became clear: They all had already listened extensively to Limbaugh.

Here's what they concluded from the experience:

And that's it. Nothing. Nada. Apparently they think they're being funny. And they wonder why people are abandoning their paper by the thousands?

Early morning, April 4 / Shot rings out in the Memphis sky

"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." --Martin Luther King, Jr. April 3, 1968

Harmonic Generator

Shooting at NY Immigrant Center

So, if the psycho who killed more than a dozen people at the Binghamton, NY immigrant center turns out to be yet another right-wing Bernie Goldberg fan, will we get any kind of an apology from Goldie for his incendiary rhetoric? Will Lou Dobbs call off the implied fatwa he's put on "illegal immigrants?" Will Michelle Bachman rethink her call for an "armed revolution?" It's long past time for the right-wingers in the public eye to step back from the brink and refrain from their remorseless provocation of their more weak-minded followers.

Credit Crisis Primer

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Lemmy

A certain good friend of mine has a wonderful and heartwarming familial affinity for Lemmy. And how many time have you ever read a sentence like that? Maybe one day soon the Ghost will share with us the story about how his dad sat on a plane next to the Motorhead legend and forged an improbable friendship out of it. In the meantime, I'll just post this homage to Fraser Kilmister at Crooks and Liars and offer up a quote...

I took a guitar to school and was immediately surrounded by women. I couldn't play it, but with all due respect, you do have to learn a couple of chords eventually. Not too many, though -- that can ruin you.

...and a clip:

Obama at the G20

I just watched President Obama's G20 press conference on C-SPAN. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see the leader of our country treated with respect and representing us with dignity, intelligence, thoughtfulness and grace. He's smart; he's glib; he's funny; he's knowledgeable. He knows WTF he's talking about. George W. Bush, on the other hand, didn't even know what the G20 was as recently as last October.

As an added bonus (although surely no one is happy we're in this fix), President Obama used the word "contagion" to describe the world's present economic predicament. Twice. I'm guessing Dubya doesn't even know that's a word in the English language, but it's a pretty fair description of what's going on.

You should look it up: Contagion.

Thanks Georgie.

FYI: Believe the Hype

Via WaPo -- The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, says a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

[emphasis added]

Exposed At Last

Don’t the last two months give you the feeling that the scales have finally been pulled away from the eyes of the American people? Whereas once there seemed a frustrating tendency for the populace to take the loons in the Republican Party seriously, it appears now that they stand before us in all their embarrassing, wrong-headed, cynical, naked glory. The curtain has been pulled back, and it’s becoming clearer every day to one and all: the erstwhile Republican emperors have no clothes. They’ve got nothin’. The people who don’t want to destroy America are finally in charge.

Karma's a Bitch

Perhaps the following cynical tale helps explain the dire financial straits in which General Motors now finds itself...

Dear EarthTalk: Did the car companies really conspire to kill the trolleys and streetcars of bygone days to force us to become dependent on automobiles instead?
-- Taylor Howe, San Francisco, CA

Indeed, in the 1920s automaker General Motors (GM) began a covert campaign to undermine the popular rail-based public transit systems that were ubiquitous in and around the country’s bustling urban areas. At the time, only one in 10 Americans owned cars and most people traveled by trolley and streetcar.

GM began by funding a company called National City Lines (NCL), which by 1946 controlled streetcar operations in 80 American cities.

“Despite public opinion polls that showed 88 percent of the public favoring expansion of the rail lines after World War II, NCL systematically closed its streetcars down until, by 1955, only a few remained,” writes author Jim Motavalli in his 2001 book, Forward Drive.

SCOTUS

WESTON, FL— In a public ruling made this week while peering into the home of 28-year-old resident Laura Daltry, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito stated that "in no way whatsoever" is the right to privacy explicitly upheld by the U.S. Constitution.

Technology Corner

New Portable Sewing Machine Lets Sweatshop Employees Work On The Go