Peak Wingnut

Get ready. It's coming...

1. This person might be the next Senator from Nevada...



Via Yglesias. This comment in the thread nails it.

Sure, barter can work. It worked well before industrialization. But the idea that you go to your GP, and pay him a sack of potatoes, but you need x rays, and the x ray guy wants the GI Joe with the kung fu grip for his kid, so you find someone who has that and trade him potatoes, but then the blood test guy wants neither, so you give him literally the shirt off your back, and then you promise the specialist that you’ll mow his lawn for two years…

2. The new Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, will be a tax cheat/imbezzler under investigation by the IRS for ripping his own party off. In Arizona, McCain has to fight off one of Abramoff's cronies, J.D. Hayworth—an acknowledged windbag who guest hosts for Laura Ingraham.

That's three certifiable teabagging maniacs with a good chance of joining the already crazy ranks of the GOP caucus. They aren't going to be pulling them in the proper direction.

And if those candidates, and others like them, win races, it will only embolden the rest of the freakshow.

UPDATE: Booman does a nice breakdown of two of these races...

Stupid Like a FOX

DEALER, NO DEAL
The newest right-wing meme is the conspiracy theory that Obama forced Chrysler to shutter dealers that are Republicans. Why do they think this? Because the list of closing dealers is overwhelmingly Republican. Case closed, right?

Only if you are Michelle Malkin or one of the morning douchebags on FOX.

Nate Silver spends all of five minutes blowing a hole in this garbage:

There is just one problem with this theory. Nobody has bothered to look up data for the control group: the list of dealerships which aren't being closed. It turns out that all car dealers are, in fact, overwhelmingly more likely to donate to Republicans than to Democrats -- not just those who are having their doors closed.

[...]Overall, 88 percent of the contributions from car dealers went to Republican candidates and just 12 percent to Democratic candidates. By comparison, the list of dealers on Doug Ross's list (which I haven't vetted, but I assume is fine) gave 92 percent of their money to Republicans -- not really a significant difference.

There's no conspiracy here, folks -- just some bad math.

More like bad faith. Surely these jackasses are aware dealers are overwhlmingly Republican—they're business-owners after all. They're also overwhelmingly white, middle-aged men in suburban and rural areas...

Silver used political donations to determine party affiliation—searching for auto, car and automotive "dealer" as listed occupation. One of the mouth-breathers crashes the thread and accuses Silver of being disengenuous because his statistics "fail to distinguish between owners and employees..." The fact that those people would list themselves as "salesperson" or "mechanic," and not "dealer" is beyond them.

--

SAVE ME
The worst argument against a Supreme Court nominee ever was made the other day by economist Greg Mankiw. Does the fact that Sotomayor spends most of what she earns say something about her qualifications?

Apparently, the new Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is an example of the latter [a spender, not scrimper--Mr F.]. The Washington Post reports that the 54-year-old Sotomayer has a $179,500 yearly salary but...

"On her financial disclosure report for 2007, she said her only financial holdings were a Citibank checking and savings account, worth $50,000 to $115,000 combined. During the previous four years, the money in the accounts at some points was listed as low as $30,000."

My grandmother would have been shocked and appalled to see someone who makes so much save so little.

I'm more appalled by a supposed economist passing judgment on someone because of the amount she has in the bank...perhaps she's a generous philanthropist? A big traveler? OR perhaps maybe a single woman with no children and someone who has a lifetime appointment in her career at a big salary, and generous pension and has no need to sock money away for the future like Mankiw's grandmother?

Jumping the Shark

Jesus F--king Christ

I saw this and had to verify it in case it was an Onion gag. It's not. This is a real Florida license plate currently steamrolling its way through the legislature, soon to be blessing you at a red light near you.

My reactions, in order:

1. "Jesus Fucking Christ, are you kidding me?" (No, seriously, that's a common utterance for me.)

2. "That's it. Fuck this noise. Every state goes back to ONE FUCKING PLATE. Plain letters on a solid background. This shit is out of hand."

3. "Where are his fucking arms?"

4. "Why is he blue?"

5. "That is off-the-charts tacky."

6. "This ought to be a real hit with the Jews down in Florida."

7. "The Governor is REALLY trying to hard to make up for the missing H.

8. "Are the letters ZOM BIE available?"

UPDATE: I'll withdraw my opposition to that plate if Florida allows my alternative to that super-Aryan Barry Gibb Jesus...

(My source for that art is this kick-ass church—almost worth moving to Finland for!)

Worse than AIG

The marketing asshats that convinced NBC to do this are this week's most overpaid, worthless employees.

Stupidest Post of the Day

If you had a problem with the Republican response the other night, it's not because supposed GOP bright light Bobby Jindal gave a staggerly weak, utterly empty, intellectually vacuous list of stale GOP talking points in between completely irrelevant and confusing personal anecdotes in the style of Fred Rogers...

It's because he has brown skin, and you aren't dealing with the deep racism you're harboring.

So declares Ann Althouse. Who never met a pair of pajamas or a carton of orange juice that didn't have devious psychological implications.

UPDATE: Althouse doubles down.

Bite me.

So, followers of Mrs F's blog might be aware of the tight financial situation we are in. It occured to me that the quickest way to make a dent in that situation is for me to sell my car and replace it with something significantly cheaper (ie: under $2,000).

Here's my ad on craigslist:



So I've had versions of that ad up on craigslist for a couple weeks, had several bites, but no buyer yet. I've come down a bit in my asking price and am willing to negotiate, but only to a point, and not that much...yet.

Here's an email I got this morning:

Hi

I am interested in your car so would you please sent me the Vin number of the car?

And I am expecting to buy your car for $6500 because kbb price is that I saw.

What do you think for $6500?

I am living in Columbia SC and if you say ok, I would like to come and test drive.

Thank You

"You're fucking high" is what I think.

You Cannot Be Serious

ATTENTION NORTH CAROLINA:
This is not a snowfall. This is what happens to the kitchen counter when you brush off the ice cream carton.

Seriously. Kid F's school was canceled this morning. Not as a result of this apocalyptic blizzard, but in anticipation of it. Yes, the message this morning said, "Due to the weather forecast for tomorrow, school will be closed Tuesday, January 20."

School was canceled throughout the land on the threat of snow. No word on milk and bread supplies...

UPDATE: Mrs F agrees, and reminds you what a snow day SHOULD be.

Unbelievable Palin Video of the Day

Sarah Palin is asked whether abortion clinic bombers fit her definition of terrorists... Watch for yourself:

"I don’t know if you’re going to use the word ‘terrorist’ there..."

What other word would you use, Governor?

I'm not sure which is more offensive: her ham-handed attempt to work her Ayers talking points into her non-response, or the blatant wink-and-nod this was to the fringe right.

I'd say the Army of God's record stacks up pretty well against the Weather Underground, and they are just ONE of these groups. They alone killed more people, set more bombs, sent out anthrax threat letters, maintain an online hitlist, and had members all over the FBI Ten Most Wanted List. The original Weather Underground only targeted property and gave warnings of their attacks. AoG bomber Eric Rudolph killed people at clinics and a gay bar—but I suppose they don't meet your definition of "innocent." What about the people killed and maimed by the bomb he set in the crowd at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta?

So yes, Governor, you fucking monster, you sure as hell use the word "terrorist" there.

And Senator? Sitting there with your fucking Maverick™ thumb up your ass while she spouts this bile right in front of you? You still "so proud of her?" Reap what you've sown, you worthless coward.

UPDATE: Look at the two of them again...Which one is the VP? McCain is baggage to her now—she's not campaigning for now, she's laying groundwork for 2012.

How Big?

Big enough for Paulson and his new checkbook to attend the G8 Summit...

Budget expenditures, 2008 Country Ranks:
1. United States $2,731,000,000,000
2. Japan $1,575,000,000,000
3. Germany $1,477,000,000,000
4. France $1,372,000,000,000
5. United Kingdom $1,237,000,000,000
6. Italy $1,029,000,000,000
7 Hank Paulson's Bailout $700,000,000,000
7 8. China $634,600,000,000

Sorry, Canada. Maybe you can come back next year...
8. Canada $551,200,000,000

[h/t Balloon Juice]

Check My Math. Please

My calculator isn't big enough to handle the math, and it's been far too long since I had to do math unassisted...

So this "bail-out" is pretty much like handing my family a bill for $10,000. Is that about right? One trillion dollars divided by approximately 100,000,000 households?

Are you fucking kidding me?

And this isn't even going to buy us any assets like the S&L bailout did, or even any regulation or accountability?

This is handing the Bush Administration a blank check to dole out as they see fit?

Do I have all that right?

Where the fuck is Obama's ass-kicking ad on this?

She's Done.

There's much more to say about the new low Hillary established today, and I'll be coming back to unload, but for now I'll let KO handle things...



UPDATE: I don't see how anyone in the real world (which excludes Taylor Marsh, Jeralyn and the irrational faction* of Shakesville—no link because this never happened over there...) can possibly stand by her any more. Not after this.

Not because it was malicious. Or that she actually is staying in the race because Obama might get shot. But because this was an unnecessary gaffe of epic proportions.

I actually understand the context she was invoking—that campaigns have extended into June—but why she felt the need to use RFK as her example instead of, say, Hart/Mondale, but then to compound her unforced error by not just alluding to, but actually using the word "assassinated" in reference to the soon-to-be first black nominee for PResident in a country with a bloody legacy is simply incomprehensible to me. Sure, what she said is "historically true", but it was completely gratuitous and unnecessary, not to mention unbelievably insensitive, even cold-blooded. Screw it—sociopathic.

And she has gone to this well before. More than once. This was just the first time there was a video. Like Tuzla, the fact that there is a pattern negates any claim of "off the cuff slip." There is no reason for her use RFK as her example or to tread anywhere near the assassination of a rival.

As I am sure she is well aware Barack Obama was granted Secret Service protection earlier than any candidate since, well, RFK—who was running just after the assassination of that LBJ coattail-rider Martin Luther King.

She just gave the superdelegates all the cover they need to pull the plug on her, and simultaneously torpedoed any shot at VP. A silver lining I suppose.

Her campaign's strategy of hanging around until some scandal or mega-gaffe decided the nomination was a success—but like everything else, just not the way they planned.

[TPM has the original statement and the non-apology apology clips here.]

* Update and clarification: I read regularly at Shakesville, and I'm not really sure why, but I do. It is an enjoyable place for me, I suppose, because there's actually a debate as opposed to agreement. But it can be frustrating and annoying...There are contributors and commenters over there that are as in the tank for Hillary as the die-hard moron Bush-supporters, and that's who I was referring to. Melissa has a thread up on the RFK debacle today, and she has a pretty reasonable reaction, though I think she downplays it a bit.

LIVE IN PORTLAND! The Decembrists! (some Obama guy might show up)

Obama's Decemberists
Posted by: Hugh Hewitt Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 7:30 PM

Turns out that Obama's opening act at the megarally was The Decemberists, a hugely popular indie rock band, which typically opens their concerts with the Soviet National Anthem.

How odd that the MSM didn't tell us that a few of the 75K in attendance may have come for the tunes.

And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem? The concert went for 45 minutes and was widely pitched on Facebook etc. But did the band trim their act to make it Obama-appropriate?

Yeah, you tool, like The Decembrists are U-freaking-2. The opening band had nothing to do with who and how many attended that rally. I appreciate the fact that Obama is providing some entertainment for the crowd who often has to wait hours for the candidate to appear. If Hewitt and the others on the right think there are tens of thousands of devoted Decembrists fans that could care less about Obama or politics, yet decided to line-up for hours ahead of time, go through security, sit in the sweltering sun and through a speech they care nothing about all for 30 minutes of free music you are, to put it kindly, brain-damaged.

As "proof" Hewitt cites an "evite" from the Obama campaign. That evite actually neglects to even mention the band by name—instead listing band members as special guests.

Trying to claim that Obama's big draw was his merely piggybacking on a Woodstock concert crowd is beyond mendacious, it's freaking hilarious.

[Hewitt sources this even more hilarious "article" from Newsbusters—check the comments, hysterical. I got to Hewitt from Sullivan.]

Is This a Real Question?

From NPR:

Politics & Society
If Your Neighbor Poses as Your Husband, Is it Rape?

Day to Day, May 5, 2008 · Massachusetts is the latest state to consider putting a new crime on the books: rape by fraud. Currently, a sex act only qualifies as rape if physical force is used. We talk to a woman who was tricked into having sex with her boyfriend's brother, who pretended to be her boyfriend — and unable to convict him of rape because of this limited definition.

Yes, that's fucking rape. It's not about physical force, it's about consent. What the fuck is wrong with Massachusetts? A woman who consents to have sex with her husband, and then when the lights come on finds out it's an impostor, was just raped by any common sense interpretation of the term I can fathom. I cannot even believe this is a law.

--

Oh, and do you know what else is rape? THIS. And the fucking assholes in Oklahoma just wrote this into law...

Dick(s) of the Week: Lubbock Airport TSA

Fucking outrageous.

Traveler says she was forced to remove nipple ring

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

[...] Hamlin, 37, said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on February 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Hamlin's attorney...

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

[...] TSA officials said they are investigating whether the agency's policies were followed.

Unless her nipple was pierced with a functioning handgun, this action by the TSA is complete bullshit.

Setting off a detector is cause for a more thorough inspection, a hand/wand detector, a (same-sex) pat-down, and finally a same-sex visual inspection if needed. Once the metal "threat" was identified as a piercing, she should have been thanked for cooperating, apologized to for the inconvenience and sent on her way.

Seems clear to me that "policies were violated." Offering an opportunity to remove piercings in private to forgo a pat-down is the policy. Forcibly removing piercings already identified and established is not. Those sadists need to be fired, and this woman should sue the fucking pants off the TSA.

Worst. Cops. Ever.

This is ridiculous almost to the point of unbelievability. I kept waiting for the Onion News Network anchor to come on. If Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown ran the Minsk Road Police...



[h/t The Agitator]

BREAKING! I'm About to Defend Hillary

Friday, the blogosphere was going crazy over Hillary's "Parents better not fall asleep on Obama's watch" ad the other day. I found it objectionable as a Dem on Dem ad, and already said my piece on it (scroll down to read, and see the video). But Ann Althouse took a closer look and found something else [emphasis mine]...

"Why are the letters 'NIG' on the child's pajamas?"

Asks a commenter — "Tom" — on my post about the new Hillary Clinton commercial, the one that shows several children sleeping and then Clinton taking a national security phone call in the middle of the night. You can see the commercial at the link, and the pajamas in question are on display during seconds 11 and 12. On pausing, staring, and thinking, I believe these are pajamas that say "good night" all over them, but the letters "NIG" are set apart by a fold in the fabric.

Is the campaign responsible for sending out a subliminal message to stimulate racist thoughts in the unsuspecting viewer? It is either deliberate or terribly incompetent. There is no other writing on screen until the very end of the commercial, and if letters appear in any place in a commercial, they should be carefully selected letters. Certainly, each image is artfully composed and shot and intended to deliver an emotional impact...

Here it comes...Althouse is nuts and this story is complete crap! There is a simple explanation for why this is NOT subliminal racist messaging—THIS IS STOCK FOOTAGE! Hillary and her ad team didn't "artfully compose and shoot" this, this is footage purchased from a stock photo/video source and assembled into an ad.

How do I know this? Because it's what agencies do. It is cost- and time-prohibitive to cast, set-up and shoot stuff like that. It's why Obama's response ad uses the SAME footage of the house exterior and the other kids at the beginning—they both bought the footage. I suspect the only reason Obama's ad doesn't show the same pajama shot is that his ad has already cut away to footage of him.

I am not aware of any stock video houses that offer a category of "subliminal N-words for use in campaigns against black candidates." This is simply a coincidence that the word NIGHT is partially obscured.

[...] nothing compared to "NIG" isolated on a sleeping child's shoulder in an ad intended to create doubts about a black man's ability to take an urgent phone call at 3 a.m., an ad authorized by a candidate who has already heard accusations that her campaign is slipping racial material into its attacks on her opponent.

This is either a revolting outrage or shocking incompetence.

More projection there...I'm not sure the message of this ad has anything to do with Obama being a black man answering the phone, just that he's inexperienced, according to HRC.

Althouse and anybody else making any kind of deal out of this are looking through a delusio-microscope to find shit that simply isn't there. Althouse is the same columnist who dissected the stupid Clinton "Sopranos" ad a couple years ago and found vaginas in every plate of onion rings and carrot-penises ready to dive into them. Ridiculous.

[via Benen]

WTF?

This seems absolutely outrageous to me...

Secret Service Ordered End to Gun Checks at Obama Rally

NEW YORK The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported late Thursday that security details at Barack Obama's rally in Dallas (of all places) on Wednesday "stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

"The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security," reported the paper's Jack Douglas, Jr. More than 10 days remain until the Texas primary and a key vote for president.

"Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on. '"Sure,' said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a 'friendly crowd.'"

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

Are you fucking kidding me? And in Dallas for crissakes?!?

[via TPM's CAmpaign Wire]

Bushonomics

We can't get rid of these clowns fast enough...

[NYT link] The Pentagon on Monday will unveil its proposed 2009 budget of $515.4 billion. If it is approved in full, annual military spending, when adjusted for inflation, will have reached its highest level since World War II.

That new Defense Department budget proposal, which is to pay for the standard operations of the Pentagon and the military but does not include supplemental spending on the war efforts or on nuclear weapons, is an increase in real terms of about 5 percent over this year.

Overall since coming to office, the administration has increased baseline military spending by 30 percent...

[...] Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Admiral Mullen have said military spending should not drop below 4 percent of the national economy. “I really do believe this 4percent floor is important,” Admiral Mullen said. “It’s really important, given the world we’re living in, given the threats that we see out there, the risks that are, in fact, global, not just in the Middle East.”

[...] “The secretary believes that whenever we transition away from war supplementals, the Congress should dedicate 4 percent of our G.D.P. to funding national security,” Mr. Morrell said. “That is what he believes to be a reasonable price to stay free and protect our interests around the world.”

Over half a trillion dollars—not including the war? Fucking absurd. Almost as absurd as the idea of tying the funding of anything to G.D.P. Unless The Decider (or anybody else) is willing to index government tax revenues to G.D.P. as well.

If you want to set a floor percentage of the budget for defense, fine, but this idiotic.

UPDATE: Hilzoy did a much better job on this the other day...including this chart (via Ezra):

Ezra adds: "Our spending is 43 percent of the total. Not the total on that chart. The total of the world."

All of the candidates running for PResident are calling for various increases of some sort (Barack Obama included, apparently) This is unacceptable. You want to shift money from ridiculous weapons programs into human costs? Fine, do it. YOu want to add troops? Great, do it at the expense of whatever fucking nuclear weapons Bush is still buying. There is no reason we should be spending anything close to this much of our money on this. Not while the rest of the country falls apart. Fuck that. Not EVER.

And don't give me any shit about "what about at a time of war?" Remember, this doesn't even include the fucking war!!!

Angry Black Man?

Over the last few weeks there've been videos of Mitt Romney, Bill Clinton and others "losing their cool" in public, with the press or out on the stump. Tuesday, ABC News tries to fit Barack Obama into the same category. He's "losing it" because the Clintons are in his head. Or something.

Here's Obama—while shaking hands, greeting supporters and signing autographs—responding to this insightful, thought-provoking, issue-oriented campaign coverage: "Are you allowing President Clinton to get in your head?"



[NOTE: TPM squeezed that to fit under a minute. ABC's video starts slightly earlier, is higher quality and uninterrupted—but I can't embed it.]

Now read how ABC portrays the event [added emphasis mine]:

Is Bill Clinton Getting in Obama's Head?
ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: It should have been an easy question for Sen. Barack Obama: “Are you allowing President Clinton to get in your head?”

Yet, it took Obama three tries to answer the question, in what turned into a testy exchange with the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny following a campaign event in Greenwood, South Carolina.

"I am trying to make sure that his statements by him are answered. Don't you think that's important?" Obama shot back, while walking away.

When Zeleny yelled a follow up question suggesting the Illinois senator had not answered the question, Obama fired back angrily, "Don't try cheap stunts like that."

Obama then walked away and shook hands with the mass of voters that surrounded him.

A few minutes later, Obama came back and confronted Zeleny again.

"I will answer your question though off the record, would you like to talk off the record?" Obama asked. Zeleny refused to go off the record and then motioned toward the gaggle of TV cameras gathered around him.

Obama then returned to his supporters and began shaking more hands before returning a third time to the group of reporters.

"My suspicion is that the other side must be rattled if they’re continuing saying false things about us," Obama finally responded, ignoring follow up questions as he left the room.

Maybe this ABC jackass-reporter ought to pepper me with inane questions to find out what "testy" tastes like...