The Continuing Saga of Adolescents

Check out Sean Davis's piece on the recent National Climate Assessment. A fine and illustrative example of adolescent behavior in many, many ways. Why are there people that actually take these people seriously?

Good Words (I ♥ Quora Edition)

From one of my Quora questions...

I can't speak to the conservative pundits who I don't listen to or follow, but I can say a few things about conservative forums I've trolled. The typical commenter has a very different POV, informed by an entirely different set of 'facts'. If I can make some gross generalizations about their worldview: 

• the world they live in is a scary, scary place filled with monsters they are constantly being beseiged by: the federal government, lazy brown people who commit crimes and appropriate their hard earned tax dollars, liberal bureaucracy, liberal media trying to brainwash them 
• the world is full of sinister conspiracies--malevolent, omniscient forces are always at work in the world and target them specifically 
• they are amongst a band of surviving 'real Americans' that still uphold 'traditional values' in contrast to the sinful, frivolous, un-American populace 
• news and events are local--they have little interest in international affairs or global perspectives on American issues 
• America is the best, the greatest, and is exceptional in every way--that specialness is constantly being threatened from within by liberal elements who are sabotaging this ideal and trying to make the country more like the rest 
• you must agree entirely with all of the stated beliefs of their conservative agenda, or you are a dangerous, free-thinking liberal--it's very binary 
• if you are hold progressive positions, or don't identify with reactionary paranoid extremism, you are immediately presumed to be lazy, non-taxpaying, of dubious virtue and poorly educated.

Well, that pretty much sums up Kevin Baker, every single one of his commenters, and the right wing blogsphere! I wonder if they will ever realize this is exactly how they are and change...

I have to admit as well that I appreciate the wider audience.

Justice for Bullies!

Yeah, I'm thinking this is what should happen to right wing blog commenters as well...:)

Name Changed to Protect the Guilty

Samuel Warde has a piece up about political discussions on digital media that is fucking hilarious. It looks like it's been up for awhile but has just now been making the rounds in my social media circles. Check out some of the lines from "Name Changed to Protect the Guilty."

Well, first you commie fucktards would have to change the law and that is not likely to happen, but if you somehow manage it, I and many others will fight.

I can barely tolerate you leftist/statists as it stands.

Hillary doesn’t stand a chance, not now. You are stuck on stupid, Sam, and you deserve whatever insults are thrown your way. You have ignored the truth and support Statism. It’s your religion. You are as bad as a Muslim in my opinion.

Diversity causes division. America was once the melting pot of the world but the leftist trumpets diversity and division, not unity. I do respect the American way of life, you’re the one that hates it and wants to change it into a socialist State. The wheels are coming off the administration and this will be the year of scandal. I’ll be pretty happy if we see some resignations and an impeachment proceeding. Hopefully we will drive a stake through the heart of statism forever. 

Don’t act like the Democrats are any better than Republicans because they have pretty much helped bring this country down. The slide has not stopped. Freedom will soon be a thing of the past.

Seems awfully familiar, doesn't it? :)

The Gun Free Zone Myth

I was at a conference at my daughter's junior high and began chatting with a few of her teachers, some of whom I know personally and consider friends. We ended up back in one of the group offices and I caught sight of a postcard on a desk belonging to an English teacher at the school, Mr. Nelson. It was displayed so that only he could see it which I thought kind of odd since there really is no privacy in staff offices. One of the teachers recognized that I noticed it and rolled her eyes.

"Scary, huh? Can you believe people think like this?"

Of course I could given my experience with gun blog commenters. The caption read "Gun Free Zone" and the photo was the one below.

My first thought was why he would want to look at this all day? What kind of a major fucknut is that loopy about guns that they need to stare at this? And why would he position it so only he could see it? Perhaps not to offend anyone but it also seemed sort of secretive which lends to my theory that the Gun Cult are really a bunch of cowards.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this but I know I don't like the idea of someone with this mentality teaching in my daughter's school district. The staff says Mr. Nelson is a good guy and I've met him once and he seemed alright, I suppose,but quiet. Recall as well that the idea that Hitler banned guns and that's why the Holocaust happened is total bullshit.

Fear, paranoia, hate, anger, shit your pants, rinse, repeat...

FL-13 Special Election

The special election being held today in Florida's 13th Congressional District is being touted as a "bellwether" for the 2014 mid term elections and a referendum on the ACA. Haven't we seen this movie before?

Here is what I predict will happen. If Alex Sink wins, there will be a little bluster and chest thumping from Democrats about how this means the public has embraced the ACA and the GOP should finally just shut up about it. They will also say that this means the 2014 elections aren't a slam dunk for the Republicans. This will all be quickly forgotten as the president won this district in 2008 and 2012 and Sink is expected to win.

If David Jolly wins, the right wing blogsphere will explode with howls of "I told you sos" and high pitched and overly excited voices about how this spells doom for the president in the fall. The left wing media will hand wring themselves to death and pray every night to their Rachel Maddow doll that somehow, some way, things won't be so bad this November and the president will save the day.

All of this prognostication (on both sides) when there aren't even candidates officially set yet in nearly all of the elections. Wow!

The Long Game in Ukraine

Critics of the president's policy towards Russia are failing to recognize (see: willfully ignorant) that Putin has already lost the war. The March 16th vote may bring a secession of Crimea to Russia but the Ukraine will end up firmly in the European camp and stay that way.

“Yanukovych freed Ukraine and Putin is uniting it,” said Iegor Soboliev, a 37-year-old ethnic Russian who heads a government commission to vet officials of the former regime. “Ukraine is functioning not through its government but through the self-organization of its people and their sense of human decency.”

I realize the cottage industry of Obama haters are adolescent in going for the quick one but they might want to consider how foolish they are going to look in a few months. It never ceases to amaze me how they don't get the term "The Long Game."

Kevin Baker Hits The Big Time

It's been a few weeks since I poked my head in at Kevin Baker's site. I think it's only fair that I check in once in awhile as I know for a fact that he reads my site every day. The first post I saw was this one. It seems that Kevin has finally arrived. Check out the video below.




You know you've hit the Big Time when Colbert makes you look like an absolute fool. I am curious as to what Kevin would have done differently in terms of the Ukraine issue. It sure is awfully easy to be a critic...

Of course, the insecurity is still at an all time high with this post. Kevin, dear, why are you so unsure of yourself? You do realize that I have teenagers in my life who do virtually the same thing when they show me long and antagonistic text conversations to feel better about themselves and their side of the argument. What are you afraid of?

The Real Story Behind Global Cooling

Right wing commenters on the inter webs love to do their little adolescent dance about how global cooling was all the rage back in the days when they didn't have man tits and could still see their penises. But Doug Struck's recent piece in Scientific American (you know, that magazine for scientists that has been published for nearly 170 years with past contributions from people like Albert Einstein) details exactly how the Church of the Climate Denier has lied about this theory.

For example, the author of the global cooling piece...

"When I wrote this story I did not see it as a blockbuster," Gwynne recalled. "It was just an intriguing piece about what a certain group in a certain niche of climatology was thinking." And, revisionist lore aside, it was hardly a cover story. It was a one-page article on page 64. It was, Gwynne concedes, written with a bit of over-ventilated style that sometimes marked the magazine's prose: "There are ominous signs the earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically..." the piece begins, and warns of a possible "dramatic decline in food production." 

"Newsweek being Newsweek, we might have pushed the envelope a little bit more than I would have wanted," Gwynne offered.

Oh really? I'm most shocked that they would leave out these details...

State of the Union A Go Go

As is usually the case, the president delivered an excellent speech in front of the nation calling for action in multiple areas of our society that would improve our nation a great deal. His main focus was inequality, citing multiple areas in which we could improve the disparity between the very wealthy in this country and everyone else. He spoke of his health care law, tech hubs, improving the tax code, immigration, and a whole host of other issues, ending with a very poignant and moving tribute to a wounded Afghan vet named Cory Remsburg.

But cynicism is the rule of the day presently in Washington and with good reason. We still have a Congress full of Republicans who will never allow the president to succeed on anything. Their maturity level (see: 12 year old boy) simply can't stand that someone they don't feel is befitting of the office of president will be viewed positively in any way. They are so insecure that even a small degree of success somehow translates into a boiling pit of sewage for them. The only possible movement we might see this year is on immigration and that's because GOP leaders know they are fucked in the election if they don't do something. The Latino vote has become far too important to disregard any longer. So, I suppose I should happy for at least that.

Yet I am not. We used to be a nation that got things done and strove for higher ground. We weren't held back by petty adolescents whose only conviction was their vanity. People who were..well...nuts didn't win elections. People like Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY).



Or people like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who said after the SOTU speech last night that "The world is literally about to blow up." Boiling pit of sewage indeed.

Or people like Fox News analyst and retired Army general Paul Vallely who have called openly for a coup d'etat.

Seriously, what a fucking clown show. And there are millions of people that fall for this shit?

The political press and beyond have talked extensively over the last week or so about how important this speech was for the president if he hopes to tread water in the 2014 elections and not lose any ground. Given the jack wagons on the Right and their behavior, I'm wondering how long it will be before the dam bursts and we can finally be rid of the right wing blogger mentality that seems to overshadow the GOP these days.

Honestly, it can't come soon enough.

Eight Inches

Remember a couple of weeks back when that ship carrying scientists and adventure tourists got stuck in the Antarctic and the 12 year olds laughed and pointed? Well, it turns out that there was no connection between that event and climate change.

The episode had little connection to climate change — shifting winds had caused loose pack ice to jam against the ship — and this was far from the first time that a ship had been trapped, even in the Antarctic summer. But sea ice cover in the Antarctic is changing, and scientists see the influence of climate change, although they say natural climate variability may be at work, too. “The truth is, we don’t fully understand what’s going on,” said Ted Maksym, a researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Unlike the Arctic, where sharp declines in recent decades in the ice that floats on sea surfaces have been linked to warming, sea ice in the Antarctic has actually increased, scientists who study the region say. Averaged over the entire Antarctic coast, the increase is slight — about 1 percent a decade. At the same time, larger increases and decreases are being seen on certain parts of the continent.

In short, listen to science, not the right wing blogsphere.

This incident calls for a reminder of the Top Ten Right Wing Lies Regarding Climate Change with special attention to this one. Another great resource on all the lying is Skeptical Science. Here is their analysis of the Antarctic lie.

Meanwhile we have eight inches...

Beheadings?

"Obamacare Medical Codes Confirm: Execution by Beheading To Be Implemented in America."

I think it's safe to say at this point that the Right is going to get far worse than I imagined as they get older...

Now What?

Issa on defense over Benghazi statements

On Sunday, “Meet the Press” host David Gregory asked Issa to respond to The Times story, which was published online Saturday. The story also said the Benghazi attacks were “fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.”

Here is the full story from the New York Times. I wonder if there will be any retractions and mea culpas from the right wing blogsphere (I'm waiting, Kevin). After all, their investigative abilities and infrastructure is ever bit as extensive as the Times, right? Once again, never buy into right wing hysteria and witch hunts. Invariably, they are just fucking wrong.

And the bubble continues to contract..

CBS and Benghazi

I've gotten more than a few emails wondering what I thought about the CBS News-Benghazi hullabaloo so I guess I better comment about it. My reluctance stems from a now core belief not to feed the insanity inside the right wing bubble. Give them a shining example of how lying about Benghazi is rampant and they will...continue to lie about Benghazi. Why? Because they are adolescents.

Besides, I think Bill Maher did a much better job of summing it all up than I ever could.

“He told a story about Benghazi and the night the s—- went down that was very damning to Obama. And of course, Fox News and the National Review and all the right-wing outlets said, ‘Hey! You gotta watch this!’” Maher said. Maher read a tweet from the National Review’s Jonah Goldberg that said the segment “corroborates” with Fox News’s reporting. “It sure does, ‘cause it turned out to be total bulls—-!” Maher said Maher then asked why there haven’t been retractions from the conservative media who promoted the interview, after it turned out to be a false account.

It will never cease to amaze me how people get sucked into this crap purely based on their emotions and pathological hatred of the president and anyone to the left of the 1 yard line on the right side of the field.

Intellectually Bankrupt Indeed

I can't think of a better example of just how intellectually bankrupt and adolescent Ayn Rand followers (see: right wing blogsphere) are than the recent admission of plagiarism from Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. The words "Rand" and "plagiarize" do seem to fit together in some sort of perfect way, don't they? Being a Randian isn't really all that deep nor intelligent (obviously, if they cut and paste from Wikipedia) and essentially can be summed up in one sentence.

It's OK to be a douchebag.

Update: Apparently, it's OK to plagiarize as well. Breitbart.com has just hired Rand Paul. 

No Revolution

I poked my head into Kevin Baker's site, The Smallest Minority, for the first time since I was voted off and found this. Aside from the usual warped and psychotic rightwingblogspeak, I'm trying to figure out what he meant by this...

I'm reminded once again of Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles, his magnum opus. I recommend you read (if you haven't) my überpost on it from January, 2010. 

This will not end well.

Obviously it could be the usual bloviating anger and irrational fear  backed up with absolutely nothing (why do they continue to think that posting on blogs makes you powerful and scary?) but I think perhaps that Kevin truly believes that he and his fellow cult members might need to "take back the country." To that, I say this..

There will be no revolution as long as men have titties. 

The House of Right Wing Bloggers

Yesterday was Exhibit A in terms of what our government would be like if it was run by the right wing blogsphere. Adolescent, chaotic, emotional outbursts, no cohesion, bloviating with no real defined goals ...that was the House of Representatives yesterday. They tried to come up with a plan to counter the Senate's effort to end the shutdown but couldn't do it. Can they even govern anymore?

John Boehner may very well lose his speakership over this but then again he might not. Who else is going to take his place? The GOP is so fractured and splintered now that any power they may have held onto after the 2012 elections is now gone. Like an obstinate teenager, they have not improved their situation politically. They have not made any inroads with women and Latinos nor have they moderated their message to appeal to independents. In fact, their disapproval among independents is now at 70 percent with their approval ratings split 50-50 within their own party!

So, the lesson for folks like Kevin Baker (who oddly commented here recently after voting me off his own site...huh?) is this: you don't know what the fuck you are doing. You are completely out of your depth. You need to go to therapy and work on your problems with authority and losing. Your juvenile emotions cloud any ability you might have to solve our nation's problems. Time for you and your ilk to be sent to military school while the adults (as they always do) take care of the business of America.

In short, say goodbye to GOP control of the House of Representatives.

Sowell Goes Full Moonbat

A conservative friend of mine posted this piece by Thomas Sowell on his Facebook wall. Check out this insanity.

Perhaps the biggest of the big lies is that the government will not be able to pay what it owes on the national debt, creating a danger of default. Tax money keeps coming into the Treasury during the shutdown, and it vastly exceeds the interest that has to be paid on the national debt. Even if the debt ceiling is not lifted, that only means that government is not allowed to run up new debt. But that does not mean that it is unable to pay the interest on existing debt.

I've come to the conclusion that Jesus of the Right Wing Blogsphere is not as intelligent as I thought he was. Either that or he is just trying to play to his audience for dollars. He's certainly done that in the past. And I still can't figure out why he doesn't write "Liberals are stupid" for everyone of his books and columns. He certainly could save more time.

But if he does actually believe what he has written here, then he has officially gone full moonbat (as well as not understanding basic math). Raising the debt ceiling does not allow the federal government to spend more money. Congress authorizes how much money the government is allowed to spend and they have already done that. The debt ceiling only determines whether the U.S. government can borrow enough money to fulfill the spending obligations that Congress has already passed into law, like Medicare reimbursements or military pay not to mention unexpected crises that arise that may need funding.

He's not alone either. Politico has a piece up about the default deniers in Congress.

“Spending a day highlighting the debt and the deficit in Congress as part of raising the debt ceiling is probably a healthy thing,” said Tony Fratto, a consultant at Hamilton Place Strategies and a White House and Treasury official under President George W. Bush. “But the moment you start talking seriously about not raising the debt limit it becomes dangerous. And a lot of members of Congress are now saying things that give evidence that they have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to the debt limit and the way government financing works.” 

The tax money the moonbats are talking about speak won't be enough to cover the daily expenses of the government. We already hit our debt limit last May and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has been doing things like tapping exchange-rate funds to raise extra cash. A recent analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center shows that the government will bring in roughly $222 billion and owe roughly $328 billion between Oct. 18 and Nov. 15, assuming the government is open, hence the date of October 17th and the threat of default.

Of course, none of this takes into account the uncertainty factor and how that will play with the image of the United States and interest rates. Sowell simply ignores this. The treasury will be in the position of having to choose which obligations to honor and which ones it won't. And the drastic spending cuts will have an extremely adverse effect on the economy, cutting growth massively. it would lead to another recession.

Whether they choose to believe it or not, a $175 billion dollar cut in government spending would take about 1 percent out of the economy. Stock markets would likely fall. Household wealth would shrink. Consumer confidence would plunge as Americans would cut back on spending. Higher rates on debt would raise borrowing costs, including mortgage rates. That's just the cut in spending, mind you, not an actual default which would add fuel to the flames.

The American Taliban doesn't really care about any of this and simply wants to burn the house down at this point. They want American to fail on Obama's watch. I guess Sowell is has now joined them.

Senator Right Wing Blogger

If America wanted to know what it would be like to have a right wing blogger for a Senator, now they do...Ted Cruz from Texas. Let's make sure he has the basics first.

Massive hubris...check
Sole conviction=own vanity...check
Adolescent power fantasies....check
Temper tantrum...check
Compromise seen as weakness...check
Undeterred by facts and new information...check
Bullying and baiting...check

So, all the fundamentals are there. Adding in the core element of having no real goals or policy (other than to burn the house down in a full on teenage fit) and it's plain to see what life in this country would be like when bloviating buffoons are put in charge.

But there's one other characteristic that is needed for the complete picture: cowardice. That's right, these people are fucking cowards. They light fires and then run away laughing. That's exactly what Cruz has done here and the people that love and support him do the same thing in the media and the blogsphere.

The good news is that this will eventually come back to bite him on the ass as it did with Sarah Palin. In many ways, Cruz is now the Honey Boo Boo of Washington DC sort of like half term Governor Palin...ugly, uneducated and a relatively short shelf life.