This Just In...

So, NOW It's Terror

I guess when a guy named Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez goes on a shooting spree, it's terror. When thousands of other Americans do it, we have either shrugs, oh wells, or fucking crickets. Check out the headline on Fox News

TERROR STRIKES CHATTANOOGA 
 Kuwaiti-born gunman opens fire on Tenn. military centers, kills 4 Marines

And Drudge...

MUHAMMAD SHOOTS UP MARINES IN TENNESSEE; 4 DEAD'MOTIVATED BY ISLAM'

And any of the other right wing sites...

Sense a pattern yet?

Oh, and were there guns at either of the military facilities? Y'know...the whole gun free zone dealio...

If conservatives are serious about stopping guys like Abdulazeez from shooting people, maybe we should refine our gun laws. Once again, another example of someone who not have been allowed to own a gun had we passed Manchin Toomey.

False Patriotism and Scoring Points In A Game No One Else Is Playing

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Demons of Progess

A recent discussion on Facebook made me realize that my frustration with conservatives has two levels. The first is that I simply don't understand how they can believe the lies that are peddled to them inside of the bubble. These fictional tales can easily be torpedoed by a simple check of the facts. But that's not even the worst part.

The second level is what really drives me nuts. That's when they very erroneously believe that liberals are the ones that are actually brainwashed. Their media are the ones telling the lies and only conservative media tells the truth. They essentially turn it around (Projection/Flipping) and truly think people like me are the ones that have fallen victim to the "liberal" media. This notion is completely false.

With each level, no amount of reality will persuade them yet I think we are coming to a turning point in this country in terms of information gathering. The conservative bubble isn't going to hold for all that much longer as reality comes crashing in (climate change, antiquated gun laws, poor macroeconomic policy etc) and destroys it. I already know that, while there is certainly liberal bias out there, it's not the out and out lying and propaganda that we see coming from the Right. Liberals, by nature and definition, are very reflective people and recognize the shortcomings of their own views and policies. That's where the over-analysis comes in to play. Conservatives are the exact opposite. They don't reflect at all, are set in their ways, never change and under analyze.

They are, in short, the demon to progress and that's why I can never be one.

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.

Indeed, David

David Frum's recent piece on guns is simply brilliant. He's right. The president does need a Plan B. What should that be?

First: The president can direct the surgeon general to compile a scientific study of the health effect of individual gun ownership.

The second step that might be taken -- again without the need for any congressional vote -- is for the Senate to convene hearings into the practices of the gun industry analogous to those it convened into the tobacco industry in the 1990s.

Agree and agree.

Actually, we need more than just one scientific study on the health effects of guns. As Frum notes in an earlier piece, there's a whole lot of lying going on. And bad social science. This jibes with a recent article from the Christian Science Monitor that illustrates, despite the convoluted bullshit from the Right, there is very little date to support the assertion that guns make us safer.

As a 2012 Congressional Research Service report on gun issues points out, law enforcement agencies do not collect self-defense information as a matter of course, and the available research thus depends on limited numbers of surveys and other self-reported information.

That's why Frum points out the obvious in his comment regarding Gayle Trotter's testimony before Congress.

Thrilling. Also wholly imaginary. Such Rambo-like defenses of home and hearth do not happen in real life, unless the home also happens to contain a meth lab. (The oft-cited statistic that gun owners draw in self-defense 2.5 million times a year is a classic of bad social science.)

Yes, managing a fantasy. These types of situations are pure fantasy but that certainly won't stop the right wing media industrial complex from brainwashing their all to willing followers whose brains are already hard wired for more fear. So, we need to fucking bury them in scientific studies that show the effects that guns have on public health.

The other important step is to unfuck the gun makers.

Gun makers often design their weapons in ways that present no benefit for lawful users but that greatly assist criminals. They don't coordinate the issuance of serial numbers so that each gun can be identified with certainty. They stamp serial numbers in places where they can be effaced. 

They reject police requests to etch barrels to uniquely mark each cartridge fired by a particular gun. They sell bullets that can pierce police armor. 

They will not include trigger locks and other child-proofing devices as standard equipment. 

They ignore new technology that would render guns inoperable by anyone except their approved purchaser. 

Why? Why? And why?

Seriously, WTF, gun manufacturers? I had no idea that any of this was happening.

Frum's piece draws an important comparison with the cigarette industry and I think we may be seeing the nascence of a very effective way to deal with gun violence in this country. If we do to the gun manufacturers what we did the tobacco lobby, we're going to reduce the gun violence in this country. If we combine that with dealing with mental health more effectively, it's going to make for an even further reduction in gun related deaths.

They Want A Mailing List

A nice summation of what happens when you allow hucksters to run your political party. As I have been saying, they don't want to win elections anymore. As Bill says below, if they are Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Bill Whittle, they just want a mailing list. Sadly, if they are your average voter, they just want to "win" arguments and flock all to willingly to these mailing lists.

Oh, and good Lord, was the montage of the same exact book being sold over and over again fucking hilarious! I wonder how much longer they will fall for it...

 

Whither Sarah...

We don't hear much from Sarah "she scares the 'hell' out of Markadelphia" Palin these days. Every few weeks, she'll pop up, say something predictable and boring, and then retreat to her Alaskan bunker to wait out the "coming apocalypse."

But the recent news that her and Fox News have parted ways has left a whole lot of sour grapes in her mouth which have translated into some..ahem... interesting remarks. First of all, she's calling for a "larger audience." But wait, I though Fox News had the largest audience of the news networks. What happened? Oh yes...the election last year. Of course, this comment could just be her way of covering herself for being ousted at Fox. But I think it's more than that. The GOP does need a larger audience but in order to do that, they are going to have to change and, thus far, they are refusing to do that.

She also called for "more truth telling in the media" which made me laugh so hard I think I broke a rib. Considering that most the words out of her mouth are complete lies, maybe she should start with herself. The real money quote, though, was this.

“I encourage others to step out in faith, jump out of the comfort zone, and broaden our reach as believers in American exceptionalism,” she told the conservative news site in a short Q&A. “That means broadening our audience. I’m taking my own advice here as I free up opportunities to share more broadly the message of the beauty of freedom and the imperative of defending our republic and restoring this most exceptional nation.”  

“We can't just preach to the choir,” she said. “The message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience.”

Yes, please, by all means DO broaden your audience. I have encouraged many of conservative friends and commenters here and on Kevin's site to leave the bubble and stop preaching to the choir. As of yet, they have declined. So, maybe Sarah can be the trailblazer!

I'm looking forward to her explaining how our country needs to be "restored" considering we have the largest economy and the most wealth of any other nation on the planet. I'd like to hear how we can better defend our republic when are armed forces are already larger than the next 20 countries combined. This doesn't even include America's soft power in the world with products like the iPhone. I think her message of "restoration" is going to be a wonderful juxtaposition to our impending energy independence in the next decade.

And I'd really like to hear her try to convince the American people that Democrats don't believe in American exceptionalism. It's a lie that hasn't worked in the last four elections.

So, please, Sarah, do take your message of liberty and true hope outside of the bubble. My question for you and any others that follow suit is this

What are you going to do when reality smacks you upside the head? 

An Anarcho-Capitalist Pleasure Palace

With the Wisconsin recall election less than two week away, it looks as though Scott Walker will hold off the recall efforts. I predict he will win. Of course, he may not be able to govern in the way he would like because I also predict that one of the four senate recall elections will flip back to the Democrats and tie him up at the State House. Honestly, though, I don't think this matters to him as he now has his sights set on the national stage.

Politico has a great piece on how the recall elections have turned Walker into a conservative hero. Indeed, the right wing media industrial complex with its all too willing audience will welcome him with open arms and shower him with money on how he stood up to the evil teachers and civil servants who are ruining our economy on a daily basis.

So why did the recall effort fail? Again, Politico lays it all out here.  In my view, there were several factors that inhibited the Democrats. Tom Barrett is a great guy and would be a magnificent governor but he already lost that election once. The alternative (Kathleen Falk) was far too liberal. Had the Democrats put up a great candidate...someone like Russ Feingold, for example....Walker would have been toast. There was also the issue of recall fatigue. People these days just can't pay attention that long and give a shit. Believe me, I know, I'm a teacher:)

I guess what frustrates me the most about all of this is the ignorance of the facts. When it comes to jobs, neither side in the recall election can claim victory. The latest jobs numbers show no real significant movement either way. Certainly Walker is well short of the 250,000 jobs that he promised to create but no one really thinks is was serious (he is a politician, after all) and it won't matter if he ends up with a net loss. His supporters will still be there because they don't want to admit they were wrong (shocking, I know).

Lost in all of this is Walker's promise to create 10,000 new businesses in his first term with his private sector friendly policies. How's that going? Well, not so good. 

The scorecard: After one year of the Walker era, there were 9,485 fewer businesses than at the end of 2010, Gov. Jim Doyle's final year in office. It's improved somewhat in recent months, but the total of existing entities was still down 4,338 as of April 30, 2012, compared with December 2010. The picture is worse if you look only at Wisconsin business entities doing business here, and exclude out-of-state businesses that must register here to transact business. Those "domestic” business entities were down 10,189 after Walker"s first year, and down a total of 5,741 after 16 months. So the numbers have gone backward.

Hmm....sort of reminds me of all the numbers I have been putting up about how the economy does worse when there is a Republican in the White House. Of course, this doesn't matter, though. Again, to admit fault....

The one thing that I do feel pretty good about (aside from one of the state senators likely getting the boot) is that guys like Walker always end up with the same fate. Indeed, the FBI probe that is currently going on in Wisconsin may come back to haunt him if not something else. But for now, though, it's a pretty bitter pill considering the nearly one million people in Wisconsin who are currently cheering to be ruled by the Koch Brothers.

Hey, maybe Wisconsin could be part of RandLand as well. I'd have to get my mom and John Waxey out of there first, though, before it turns into an anarcho-capitalist pleasure palace!!

Bachmann A Go Go

Nikto has covered the Michele Bachmann "I'm Swiss-I'm not Swiss" story quite well but I wanted to throw an extra thought into the mix.

Her hurried and nervous retraction is further evidence of how powerful the right wing media industrial complex is in those circles. In short, she knows who her sugar daddy is...:

Here's Wonkette's take on the whole thing which is a fucking riot!

We Want YOU!!!

Are you a washed up actor or actress that needs a gig before you get spit out the bottom of the porn industry?

Well, the right wing media industrial complex WANTS YOU!

Take Janine Turner, for example.  She couldn't find work anymore in that liberal cesspool called Hollywood (buncha fucking socialists who don't want to make any money) so she parlayed her talents to reach a willfully ignorant audience of millions eager to fork over the hard earned cash to commiserate with others in their fear, paranoia, anger and hatred.

Here's an example of what YOU can do!

Here are some tools. When the Democrats start ranting, use the GIRLFRIENDS acronym to forge through the storm.

G: Get Reasonable. Want to teach your children that laws don’t matter? Be a Democrat. 
I: Informed on Phony Contraception Battle. Want your children to lose their religious freedom? Be a Democrat. 
R: Republicans Are the Women’s Party. Want your daughter to be constrained by government? Be a Democrat. 
L: Legislative Liberty Is Lost. Want your child to live under tyranny? Be a Democrat. 
F: Fuel and Energy Policies Are a Farce. Want your child’s transportation to be a horse? Be a Democrat. 
R: Return Women to the Workforce. Want your daughter to live off the government? Be a Democrat. 
I: Insolvency — Sinking in a Sea of Debt. Want your child to live in debt, hounded by creditors? Be a Democrat. 
E: Entitlement Society — “Give me Liberty and Gimme, Gimme!” Want your child to be dependent on other people’s money? Be a Democrat. 
N: National Security — We Are Vulnerable. Want to teach your child it’s okay to be bullied? Be a Democrat. D: Darkness — Democrats Want Us to Be in the Dark. Want your child to sit in the dark? Be a Democrat. 
S: Sick — Our Health Care Will Soon Be Hopeless. Want your child to be sick for a year? Be a Democrat. 

Steady paychecks guaranteed by Bill Whittle. And remember, it doesn't matter at all if you believe what you are saying or are even factual. This has $$$ written all over it!

So why let Sarah Palin get all the market share? This is one oil well that won't dry up (wink wink!)