Handicapping the 2032 Presidential Election

For the Republicans, it's the darling of CPAC (again, if you don't know what CPAC is, no worries), 14 year old author Jonathan Krohn.



And for the Democrats...

Malia Obama.
It's going to be adorable.

I was going to go with Chelsie Clinton, but she'll be president long before 2032. There's also the outside shot that Dick Cheney will be immortal and, once again, our supreme overlord--this time permanently--by then.

Rising Up, Back On the Street

Gingrich makes his entrance at CPAC to... wait for it... Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". Just when you thought there was no one to lead this party.



By the way something, if you don't know what CPAC is, don't worry about it.

Eating a Dandelion

My girlfriend, the lovely and delightful Stacy Sedai, has started her own blog--Eating a Dandelion.

I interviewed her about the site recently, here's what she had to say:

J: How would you describe your blog?
Stacy: Life, ridiculous.
J: Care to expand on that?
Stacy: Life is ridiculous and I blog it.

Don't miss it.

And, just so our dog doesn't get jealous of all the attention I'm giving Stacy, here's a picture of Jazz:

Insanity Train Leaving The Station

Rachel Maddow talks to the guys who wrote the Left Behind series. Buckle up.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obama Sets Iraq Withdrawal Timetable

The President announced today how the Iraq occupation will end. In his speech at Camp Lejeune today, Obama said, "By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end." He went on to add that all troops will be out by the end of 2011.

TPM has highlights from the speech:



This should be happening faster, but it is nice that the drawdown is meeting no significant political opposition.

Now we need a plan to get out of Afghanistan. I'll give the man a few days to work on it.

While We're At It, Can We Re-Do The Last Eight Years?

Norm Coleman wants a re-do. How about best two-out-of-three? Race ya to D.C.? Go!

Pelosi Finds The Table

Pelosi wants criminal prosecutions. Real profile in courage, that one is.

Will You Put Him On The Air When He's in Jail?

I just watched Chris Matthews put Tom DeLay on the air. Will no one prosecute that dude? Furthermore, DeLay accused everyone from President Obama to our dog Jazz of wrecking the economy when the last time I checked, it was Tom DeLay who was very high on the list of the schmucks that got us where we are today. To his credit Harold Ford, Jr. told him that, but DeLay has no shame. He even claimed that David Brooks isn't a conservative because Brooks mocked Bobby Jindal's insane response to Obama's speech.

President Obama Issues Timetable on Healthcare Reform

He also reminds us that no one messes with Joe. I did not know that, but I suddenly believe it.



Great speech. Here's the whole thing:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Steele Could Motivate Moderates to Jump Ship

I don't think RNC Chair Michael Steele wants to spend much time on Arlen Spector's to-do list.



Nate Silver explains why Steele's threat is bad strategy:

Theoretically, moreover, there would be little to stop any of them from pulling a Jeffords and caucusing with the Democrats. If one assumes that the principal motivation of each Senator is to win re-election -- and that's never a bad guess -- then the three Republicans must already be wondering whether life might be easier in the Democratic Party (or more likely, as independents who caucused with the Dems). If Steele pushes too far, he risks actuating this outcome.

This guy is going to do for the Republican Party what Howard Dean did for the Republican Party. Greatly reduce their numbers, and perhaps sooner than later.

Everyone Knows Obama Is a Commie

Just like Alan Keyes said. And now everyone knows. So, when do job assignments get posted? And how does agriculture work, just asking in case I get shipped to Kansas or something.

Sad Day for Human Rights

Winding up as Secretary of State means that Hillary Clinton has to be the one who has to tell everyone the sad news about the U.S. having to play ball with China no matter how many human rights they trample. She's quite dignified as well. She doesn't bother spelling out that the actions of the last administration--killing our reputation in the world and our economy--make it impossible to dictate jackshit to the Chinese. CBS's anchor in this piece knows that but he seems to think he's committing journalism by making it look like Hillary Clinton doesn't care about human rights.

Keep Shrinking That Base

Well, Bobby Jindal may have shored up his street cred with the dwindling Republican base by sticking it to President Obama and unemployed people in one fell swoop. Good for him, now he and Sarah Palin can compete over who gives the concession speech on election night in 2012.

At least one GOP governor is prepared to take the share--$90 million--of the people of Jindal's state that he so self-righteously set ablaze.

Chris in Seattle has more at The Great Endarkenment.

Would You Drink Something Invented By This Man?

Did you know that conservative talk host Michael Weiner, who goes by the name Michael Savage on the air because he's so savage, co-invented an energy drink? Not only has he invented an energy drink, it's called Rockstar and Pepsi is going to distribute it. I almost want to hear what his callers sound like hyped up on that stuff. Almost. Of course, Pepsi already makes my preferred energy drink--Diet Mt. Dew. I guess I finally have the motivation I need to get off that carbonated swill.

Weiner is also continuing to flog the notion that the Fairness Doctrine is coming back to ruin American radio. Thom Hartmann did a few segments on this earlier in the week and it turns out no one can seem to find the actual text of the original fairness doctrine. I haven't had time to verify that, but I will, because the fairness doctrine Weiner and the rest are yammering on about is nothing like the fairness doctrine that Reagan killed off.

By the way something, there's no need for any legislation to bring down right-wing radio. The crap these drones are humming through your car speakers is so ridiculous it hurts conservatism. Furthermore, as the economy crumbles so will the radio monopoly that sustains the lock out of liberal voices on the air. Bankruptcy will do what regulation would not--diversify the radio industry. No doctrine necessary.

The Mayor of Lansing Kicks Ass

Keep talking to mayors, Fox News. That'll break up your little web of illusion rapidly (note the $70 dollars an hour for autoworkers lie making a comeback, albeit slightly repackaged).



By the way something, how hilarious is it that Fox is using webcams via skype to talk to the mayor of a major American city.

Sanchez Strikes Again

I love the way Rick Sanchez say BILLION, like that's a lot of money or something.

What, No I Can Has Cheeseburger?

Time has a list of the top 25 blogs. Yet again, IST... totally not on the list. This is getting ridiculous. Incidentally, 538 isn't on the list either, so I guess we're probably in a two-way tie for 26th.

In all seriousness, what does Time know about blogs? These are the people paying Mark Halperin. Sure, there's some great blogs on their list. For example, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Andrew Sullivan, Paul Krugman, Crooks and Liars, Mashable, Said the Gramophone and Bad Astronomy are on my own reading list. The problem is I'm just not convinced anyone at Time really has a feel for blogs. It guess it's good that they at least represented MP3 blogs, and no offense to Gramophone, but I am Fuel You Are Friends, You Ain't No Picasso, Largehearted Boy, and about thirty other sites do what StG does as well or better. Daytrotter's not on the list! And there's no diarists or military bloggers either. This list isn't really breaking much in the way of new ground.

And as for Time's backhanded slap at DKos, well, Tommy handled that one quite well over at PM.

Lightning Round--Non-Stimulus Edition

New York Magazine: Nate Silver picks the Oscar winners! Seriously? This guy's everywhere.

First Showing.Net: Quentin Tarantino previews Inglourious Basterds.

io9: Pretty picture from space.

Slashdot: Word on the street has it that Windows 7 has oodles of pesky DRM. The word Draconian is used.

Times Online: That whole Dubai thing... just about over.

Bush Takes Act To Canada

On March 17th, former President George W. Bush will give a speech about his "eight momentous years in the Oval Office" and "the challenges facing the world in the 21st century" before the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. The event, Bush's first since leaving office, will draw a private audience of 1,500. Private audience, as in, don't expect bloody hands or flying shoes from this friendly bunch of Canadian business men and women.

(More at Les Enragés)

Tommy Christopher Drinks Salvation!

Wow, it's been awhile. Sorry, ISTers, it's no reflection on you. I'm a little surprised you're all still here, though, what with Bush out of office now.

To make up for my delinquency, I have an Ice Station Tango EXCLUSIVE!

Before I do that, I want to congratulate Jay on his awesome link from C&L yesterday, I'm jealous. I only ever get links from people who hate me, or from conservatives who kinda can stand me.

So, what's the big exclusive? Well, I attended my first White House press conference this week, and I've got related content that you won't find anywhere else but here! (Click here to see what the rest of the riff-raff got from me already)

First up, here's the video of me ambushing David Axelrod as he finishes his Maddow interview.

That was cool, right? I felt a little bad about poaching Rachel's guest, but not really. I was dying to get a question in after listening to some of the shit that got asked at the presser. I don't want to disparage anyone by name, but if I get drunk enough, who knows?

I'm going to tell this in confusing, stream of consciousness style because I want to. First, let me explain the headline.

After the press conference, I crossed the East Room to try and corral Rahm Emanuel, but he was too fast. Instead, I decided to take some pictures, including my patented Podium's Eye View shot. That's when I saw The Glass.

You saw The Glass, too, during the press conference. It was in the President's hand whenever some reporter asked a question long enough to afford him a sip.

So, yoink!, I snagged it, drank about half of it, and immediately felt the competing sensation of being super-awesome, and wanting to be nice to Republicans no matter how dickish they are to me.

Later, as I was about to exit the grounds, some toolbag in the guardhouse made me go put the glass back, so I went to the breakroom in the Press Briefing Room, and transferred the contents to a water bottle, where it remains, inside my freezer.

So, if anyone accuses me of being an Obama water-carrier, I can correct them. I am an Obama water drinker/storer.

After the press conference, there were 2 reporters escorting Helen Thomas out across the lawn, and others coming up to her and asking for photographs. This is what I was talking about with fucking asshole O'Reilly. Real journalists have nothing but reverance for Helen. Nobody went running up to anyone else, not even the TV guys.

Helen is very unassuming off camera. I got a picture with her beforehand, and she was really stoked that I wanted it. That amazes me.

I took 2, here's the one I didn't use at AOL. See? EXCLUSIVE!

I got to DC at about 3:15, so I wanted to shoot some video of the President's arrival on the South Lawn aboard Marine 1, but the press office blew it when they put in my credentials. They used the wrong birthdate. It took them too long to fix it, so I shot some video of the White House, with the sound of a helicopter in the background.

I didn't feel so bad when Chuck Todd came along and was DENIED! But then, he got in after a couple of minutes, and I was pissed off again.

When I finally did get in, I found the Press Briefing Room, where I took my Helen Thomas pics, shot some video, and posted a story about that porn star who's maybe running against David Vitter.

I had to leave to move my car out of the garage onto the street. That sucked, because when I got back there was a long line to get in, and I had to be cleared through security again.

On the bright side, I was on line with Ana Marie Cox, the hottest and bestest blogger in the world. I amateurishly asked her for a picture, but I think I redeemed myself a little by calling a buddy of mine in the press office to grease the wheels a little. Then, I un-redeemed myself by telling her and Helene Cooper the story of me taking a picture of a screw in front of the White House.

But then, I re-redeemed myself by helping them find their way around once we got inside.

Then, Helene un-redeemed herself by getting to ask the President a question. But she redeemed herself by not asking about A-Rod.

After the press conference, I was standing around in the East Room, talking to a couple of other journalists who I didn't recognize, and we were talking about what the lede was going to be. I wondered if this is how these narratives form, guys shooting the shit after a press conference.

For me, the story was that Obama has bent over backwards as far as he's going to, and the Republicans have to catch up or just sit in the corner. That, and Obama isn't going to want to hear shit from them about how he's fixing it. They fucked it up, not him.

Oh, and apparently, Sam Stein getting a question was a huge deal. He took a good shot at asking a tough question, but he formulated it in a way that was guaranteed to get talking points. The way to throw these guys off-message is to give them something they're willing to agree to, or have already agreed to. He asked if Obama would rule out prosecuting the Bush Administration "right now." There's no way you get a good answer to that.

I would have formulated it like this. "You've said that criminal acts from the last administration will be punished,that no-one is above the law. Does that include former President Bush?"

Then, you yell out the last part as a follow-up when he tries to do the talking point.

This is totally not a knock on Sam. Press conferences have become entirely too much like those Polaner All Fruit commercials. Not only that, if Obama had called on me, I probably would have vomited, shit my pants, then passed out, so I give Sam credit for getting his question out at all.

It was such a great night, I didn't want it to end. I was like a kid standing on 2nd base at Yankee Stadium. I knew it would never feel like this again.

I'll probably talk more about this tonight on Unusable Signal. Check us out at 11pm.

Here's some of the other video I shot that day, seen here for the first time. It's just raw, some of it corresponds with this story. (If you don't see it yet, check back. I hit "publish" by accident before I was ready.)





I also humbly apologize, again, for being absent from this awesome Station for so long. If it makes you feel better, I also haven't posted on my personal blog since July.

Thanks, and thanks to Jay for inviting me.

Compare 44 with 43

Contrast Obama's town hall meeting earlier this week in Ft. Myers...



...with Bush's reaction to a woman at a 2005 townhall.

Republicans Hate America! Example # 6,781,237

The House of Representatives just passed the Economic Stimulus bill by a vote of 246-183. Not one single Republican vote...nada, zip, zero.

So, on to the Senate where a vote should happen later today.

Just one thought on distributing the monies: if your Representative voted against the package he/she obviously thinks their constituents don't need the help. So all of the $787 billion dollars should be equally divided amongst the other districts!

If your state has 2 Republican senators and they both vote against the bill...sorry, no money for you! If your state has 1 Republican and 1 Democratic Senator (like Missouri), you get 1/2 of the allotted money.

Just like Fox News - "fair and balanced" according to your elected representatives wishes. Then sit back and wait for the mid-term election results.

Someone Did a Poll On Investigating the Bush Administration

Someone finally polled the American people on how they would feel about investigations into lawbreaking by the Bush Administration. It's one of those three answer polls where you get add two of the categories together, reframe it, and claim victory.

WASHINGTON — Even as Americans struggle with two wars and an economy in tatters, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds majorities in favor of investigating some of the thorniest unfinished business from the Bush administration: Whether its tactics in the "war on terror" broke the law.

Close to two-thirds of those surveyed said there should be investigations into allegations that the Bush team used torture to interrogate terrorism suspects and its program of wiretapping U.S. citizens without getting warrants. Almost four in 10 favor criminal investigations and about a quarter want investigations without criminal charges. One-third said they want nothing to be done.

(more)

So depending on which way you want to see things, either two thirds want investigations or you could say 60% are against criminal charges. My thinking has always been that real investigations would bring forth information that would lead to more support for charges.

Regardless of the poll, plenty of investigations are already underway with more to come.

Hearts and Minds

Here's an idea. Let's get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iraq's Prime Minister sounds like he wouldn't mind:

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that the era of US dominance in Iraq was over, in a broadside to Washington almost six years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The Shiite premier, boosted by the strong showing of his allies in provincial elections, said Iraq was now taking charge of its own destiny and was making good progress towards rebuilding the war-torn country.

His remarks were a pointed rebuke to US Vice President Joe Biden, who last week said Washington would have to be "more aggressive" in pushing Baghdad towards faster political reform.

"The time for putting pressure on Iraq is over," Maliki told reporters when asked about Biden's comments.

People in Afghanistan think we're more to blame for the situation in that country than the Taliban.

The Media's Precarious Stretch for Balance

In the wake of the President's masterful performance at his prime time news conference last night, the media really had to wrack their collective little gray brain to come up with criticism, you know, for the sake of balance! So today we have to listen to all the balance monkeys in the LSM ask these two extremely lame questions:

1) Is Obama ruining the economy by talking about how fucked up the economy is?

2) Why's Obama so mean to Joe Biden?

I would say that by making it perfectly clear that he understands how bad the economy is, Obama is actually instilling confidence in the American people. Confidence in the President may not extend consumer confidence, but can you imagine how dazed this county would be if we had woke up today with the realization that the person in the White House still lived in fantasy land?

As for the jab at Biden, it's just shtik, people. Yes, Biden is comically off-message and, yes, it does bother Obama--especially when Biden took a shot at Justice Roberts with Obama cringing right next to Biden--but that doesn't make Biden a dumb-ass any more than Al Gore's notorious stiffness made him a stooge. Gore was a fantastic VP, yet he was the butt of abuse from Bill Clinton throughout his presidency.

Norm!

Norm Coleman's God can't even rig a statewide election.

When asked about the recount and how it is affecting him personally, Coleman said he starts every day with a prayer and that he knows “God wants me to serve.” Coleman did later temper those rather immodest remarks by adding that he “is not indispensable” and that others can serve as well. Coleman closed the interview with an appeal to Gallagher’s listeners for contributions to his campaign website.

(more)

Bush's God got him in twice. I don't know what's wrong with Coleman's God.

Really, Kelloggs?

SNL's Seth Myers weighs in on Michael Phelps losing that big cereal endorsement gig.

Bullpucky!

Rachel Maddow takes out a pair of pliers and a blow torch and goes to work on the GOP's line of attack on economic stimulus, repeatedly referring to their bullshit as "bull-pucky" as she breaks down the situation point by point.

These Are Not the Jobs You're Looking For

Michael Steele, by most accounts, was the least idiotic of the those in contention for the position of RNC Chair. So, while I'm disappointed that we didn't get the amusing sideshow some of those other guys could have provided--I was rooting for you, Mr. Blackwell--Steele is off to a great start. Check out this Jedi mind trick he tries to pull on George Stephanopoulos.

Here's the whole thing:

Stephen Colbert on Rush Limbaugh's GOP

Last week the man who I think should be the figurehead of Republican Party, Stephen Colbert, broke down the turn of events that landed the man who he uses as his ringtone, Rush Limbaugh, as the figurehead.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Army of One

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

What Have We Here?

George W. Bush, two days after his inauguration, jacketless in the Oval Office. What a tacky display. I can't wait for Andrew Card to denounce and reject his former boss.

Don't Let Korn Get Stimulus Money!

Spending our taxpayer money on hardcore has-beens like Korn is bullshit. If we're going to be wasting money in this vein, it should go to Weezer or Tool.

What You Are Hired For Is To Help Us

Like a lot of people, I have a collection of lines from movies in my memory banks that pop into my head when my feelings match the mood of a character as they utter their famous, or not so famous, line. It doesn't have to be some ubiquitous utterence like, "Life is like a box of chocolates," or "Give me back my son!" It can be any obscure line in Bottle Rocket or The Big Lebowski. For instance, every day last week, I woke up dreading going to work, and every morning I would express that sentiment in my head with Anthony's (Luke Wilson) line from the beginning of the third act of Bottle Rocket when he calls Bob on the walkie-talkie and says, "I really don't want to do this robbery." It didn't matter that I wasn't going to be robbing anything, the similarity between Anthony's reluctance to do the robbery and my reluctance to get out of bed, take a shower, commute for an hour to get underpaid for eight hours, only to then commute for another hour back home made my fixation on that line the perfect vessel for my angst.

Similarly, today, as I watched Republican after Republican get up and pretend that more tax cuts will stimulate the economy, despite the evidence to the contrary, the line in Glengarry Glen Ross uttered by Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) to Williamson (Kevin Spacey) during Pacino's molten monologue near the end of the film--"What you are hired for is to help us, does that seem clear to you? To help us? Not to-fuck-us-up"--kept repeating in my head. In my mind's eye I could see President Obama walk up to Lindsay Graham and say to him, "What you are hired for is to help us, does that seem clear to you? To help us? Not to-fuck-us-up."

Anyway, here's the sequence leading up to Roma's explosion.

I Don't Care If He Gives The State of the Union In His Jammies

I don't care if Barack Obama is wearing this:

in the Oval Office as long as he's getting the job done. You know the job fixing all the shit that people like George W. Bush and his Chief of Staff Andy Card did to America?

Mr. Card, the fact that a guy like you is stepping up and making the assertion that the dress code in the Oval Office is the least bit important appropriately signifies the lame attitude of Bush-world. Fuck you all. You should be laying low hoping that we forget you, but there you are, empowered by the media you helped create, bathering the opinions of a moron. And they have the nerve to put down blogs. Mr. Card, people like you think that if you dress the part then somehow you can fool the American people into thinking that you have the goods to do the job. Cheney's dressed-up puppet president never did and you, Mr. Card, sure as shit didn't have the goods either or else you wouldn't have been stupid enough to be the mark standing next Alberto Gonzales in John Aschroft's hospital room.

"Welcome to Oklahoma..."

...set your watches back 50 years!"

That's what I usually said whenever I flew into OKC International (?) airport years ago back when I travelled for the corporate world. The amount of years changed depending on the political climate at the time.

Today we have Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) speaking to a meeting of the John Birch Society. Kern, the wife of a Southern Baptist minister, should be remembered for her past rants on gays and lesbians. From 2008: "I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam" and my favorite "One of my colleagues said We don’t have a gay problem in our community… well you know what, that is so dumb. If you have cancer in your little toe, do you just say that I’m going to forget about it since the rest of you is fine? It spreads! This stuff is deadly and it is spreading. It will destroy our young people and it will destroy this nation."

Well, she's back and open for business.

Per the Oklahoma City Gazette, Kern has discovered the elusive Gay Agenda!
How I've missed it all of these years is beyond me. It was never discussed in any of our secret meetings. But it was found hidden in a book called "After the Ball".

Kern laid out various points of a "homosexual agenda" in which gays would ultimately triumph by convincing the world that homosexuality is a "superior lifestyle."

Said Kern to choruses of "amens": "You know, I've done a lot of reading on this. I wish I could describe to you their behavior. I will not because I would be redder than this suit. It's their behavior that we oppose. The theme of equality and freedom is the approach that the homosexuals are using today — totally perverting the true intention of what our Constitution meant.

The homosexuals get it — it's a struggle between our religious freedoms and their right to do what they want to do...The solution is another Great Awakening, folks. We need a spiritual revival, and that will only come if God’s people, especially you pastors, will stand in your pulpits and vocally preach the word of God and thus declare the Lord this sin, and preach it in love, only then does our nation have a chance of overcoming the scourge of AIDS, HIV and the devastating destruction that the homosexual lifestyle is bringing on your children and our grandchildren."

As Andy Towle said, "God help us all."

Back Under Construction

I wasn't liking the way the blog was loading, so I'm switching to sturdier (I hope) template.

Gone? He's Not Gone! He's Never Gone!

Joe Klein's most recent goodness--this rip job on Dick Cheney who has made a habit out of running his mouth since retiring from public service.

Here's the set up: Cheney imagines a terror attack and blames it on Obama.

Klein responds with four points of light, but this is the best one:

Cheney has supported to combat terror in the past, especially "enhanced" interogation techniques, are quite probably illegal. He is criticizing the Obama administration for not being willing to defy international law.

Sometime during the long primary season Klein was born again hard, and he has been on point ever since.

Scalia Snaps at FAU Undergrad

Who would have thought, Scalia's a prick. Shocker. He also reiterated his stance on Bush v. Gore, which is the not-at-all infuriating "get over it". Isn't karma a funny thing?

Dean On HHS Short List?

Speculation is heating up that my main man Howard Dean might be stepping into the void left by the vaporization of HHS nominee Tom Daschle.

Perhaps Dr. Dean could get Surgeon Genral Gupta to perform brain surgery on Craig Crawford for suggesting Newt for HHS.

Happy Blogroll Amnesty Day

It's not a national holiday yet, but Blogroll Amnesty Day has its own rich history. Terrence at The Republic of T covers the bases. The way it supposed to work is I link to a few blogs with less traffic than mine so as to spread the word about smaller quality blogs. One small snag there... I don't do a lot of volume traffic-wise at this blog, so I'm just going to link to blogs who deserve more traffic.

Blue Herald: Question Girl has questions. Good ones.

I Can't Believe It's Not a Democracy: Bankers tried to hire a shitload of foreigners because the work cheaper than Americans.

Stop All Monsters: Dave says a short goodbye to Tom Daschle. By the way something, Dave agrees with me about this whole Christian Bale thing.

Liberals are Cool: Has the story of Citi contemplating backing out of a $400 million deal for naming rights on the Mets' stadium. Oh my God. Moving on, this blog has the greatest masthead EVER.

ThePoliticalCat: Has an epic post about overpopulation.

Gotcha Media: Matt watches stuff, like Mornin' Joe, so we don't have to. But we do anyway. Well, I do. Stupid Morning Joe.

Contrary to Popular Opinion

A couple of things in the news today that I seem to be reading differently than most people.

1. Christian Bale's freakout was not so bad. Apparently the guy's uptight and his behavior in that sound clip is ridiculous, but, as I argue over at The Explosion,this particular temper tantrum is not anywhere near as bad stuff working stiffs hear from their asshole bosses on a daily basis.

2. I'm impressed with Joe the Plumber. This guy gets work. The Pajamas Media War Correspondent thing doesn't work out... Bam! He's a strategist for the G.O.P. Apparently no one over there knows what they're doing anyway, Joe can't possibly make things worse for them.

Thom Hartmann on Countdown

Perhaps a dark horse candidate for the 10pm MSNBC slot, Air America's Thom Hartmann joined Keith Olbermann last week to chat about having a gratuitous "n" at the end of their respective last names. Okay, they trashed greed. What did you think they were going to do?

Who Is This George Soros Of Which You Speak?

Reactions to the demise of Pajamas Media continues to pour in from all over the blogosphere. I would hire Joe the Plumber to cover it for me, but since this is one of the only left wing blogs that George Soros has somehow overlooked in his willy-nilly funding of said type of blogs, I have no room in the budget for such a prominent and experienced correspondent.

So, sadly, all I have for you are links to several other unfunded-by-Soros blogs written by people finding it hard to stop laughing.

Blue Gal:

While we lefty bloggers corpse-hump Pajamas Media before the burial, I just have to laugh at the claims made by the mourners.

Pammy seems too easy a target...oh what the hell. No linky, but you know where to go for the giggles:

Soros, Hollywood libtards and Google-type asshats embarrassingly fund the leftwing sites vis a vis Moveon.org et al, the right has none of that. None. We live on fumes.

Got that, fellow lefty bloggers? You and I live on Soros/MoveOn largesse! Where's my check?

Monkey Muck:

Hahahahaha. Excuse me I need to catch my breath because I'm laughing really hard. And loudly as well. Hahahahahahaha.

What's that? What's so funny? Well, it seems that all the ad revenue is drying up for the right wing group called Pajamas Media. And they are blaming it on the left! Hahahahahahahaha. Seriously hahahahahahahahahahaha.

And they also claim that the left wing blogs, like mine, stay afloat because of the largess of George Soros and Moveon.org. Hahahahahahahahaha, how funny and paranoid is that? I don't take ads because I don't blog to make money, I blog because I like to write and to make people think and laugh. I never met George Soros and I certainly never took a dime from him. Even though they do some good things, Moveon.org annoys the shit out of me and I don't take any orders from them. I'm an ad free totally independent blogger with ad free totally independent content.

Jesus' General:

Although it is a sad day, I will not mourn Pajama's Media death. Instead, I will honor them with the kind of important, hard-hitting investigative journalism that made them what they are today. So please join me as I expose Islam's breakfast jihad.

Oliver Willis:

Time to point and laugh at the right again. You know how they always point to problems at the NY Times as somehow symptomatic of the success of liberal based media even though liberal media is thriving on the web (in many cases without big conservative moneybags behind it)? Do that.

Blogger Interrupted:

There’s no demand for what they do. Pretty simple. Because what they do is perpetrate fraud, in a profoundly disgusting way, on a vast and systemic scale.

PJ Media bloggers are liars, racists, sexists, misogynists, bigots, hateful, and just plain stupid. Their network is built on this fake house of cards, and each card is weaker than the other, from the top down.

Firedoglake:

The whole PJ's thing was preposterous on its face, as any number of people pointed out at the time, often quite scabrously. There were a lot of reasons to think this, not the least of which was the obvious fact that the people running it were, and remain, morons. But the biggest problem facing the Jammies enterprise was always ideological.

Between this and the bonus post-Super Bowl episode of The Office I can't remember when I've laughed quite so hard.

Obama Proposes Modest Defense Cuts

The defense budget skyrocketed in the last year of the Bush administration and now President Obama is proposing an 11 percent cut, which would leave the budget significantly higher than the 2007 level. Of course, to right wing bloggers this is the end of the world.

Did we go to war with the Klingons or something in 2008? Why did the budget jump from $463 billion in 2007 to $536 billion in 2008? Obama's figure--$483 billion--is still more than the 2007 number and more than enough to destroy the solar system. Yet according to the nerfherder at The Jawa Report, this is all about Obama cutting funding for troops. The truth is, there's plenty of unrealistic projects that can be taken out of the system long before anyone has to charge into battle with slingshots. Furthermore, we're at the beginning of a 16-month drawdown in Iraq, so it's only logical that less money would be needed.

Hopefully Obama will get us back on a peace footing quickly, then he can take a page from a Republican, President Dwight Eisenhower, and use the Pentagon budget for the most pressing national security concern we face, our own crumbling infrastructure.

Was Phelps Caught With Performance Debilitating Drug?

A UK rag produced a photograph of Olympic hero Michael Phelps smoking from a bong. The only thing more annoying than someone who swims well being anointed a celebrity worth millions of dollars is the condescending tone of this insipid article about how he's throwing it all away. Seriously, Why should Phelps be penalized for taking the opposite of a performance enhancing drug?

Here's legendary comedian Eddie Izzard's take on what he calls performance debilitating drugs. Well he SHOULD be legendary.



In all seriousness, the prohibition on weed is ridiculous. Here's a submission for the 2009 NORML Ad Contest that sums up the painfully obvious:



Only Phelps himself could say it better. Next time, Michael, toke up before you dive in the pool and show the world how harmful weed is by winning the gold high as shit. You can do it, man!